100 posts tagged “me”

• Seeing random shoes (not pairs of shoes) alongside the street or road. How do shoes get thrown out of a car? And why do they throw just one? Does it make sense to throw one and keep one? What good is one shoe? Unless you're a pirate, I guess, but to my knowledge there aren't a lot of pirates in Rochester.
• Old guys with ring tones that sound like porn. Seriously, I witnessed this today. This guy who had to be 80 was standing there and just as I passed him by, his phone rang. Boom-chicka-bow-wow.... Well, ok, to be honest, I've never watched porn (and have zero interest in doing so), but that's what everyone says the music sounds like.
• Why I say I'll do things that I know I have no talent or capacity for doing. I think it runs in certain parts of my family that people think they're capable of things they're not. I really hope I didn't inherit that gene. I might have, though. We're having a baby shower for a coworker tomorrow and I thought a rubber ducky theme would be fun. I have this recipe for a ducky cake, and in the picture it's just the cutest thing. I've made it before, but what I apparently forgot is that to build this cake requires an ability to transcend the laws of physics. It was one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in a while and it looks terrible. (I had to pour myself a glass of Malbec afterward.)  I'm going to bring it in tomorrow because I'm too tired to run to the store right now for a normal cake, and I'm going to ask opinions. Like anyone would say that it looks dumb anyway...  I've come to the conclusion that I'm an idea person. Which means I need to work my way up enough to where all I have to do is think and I'll have people to do the actual work for me.
• What posesses people to steal pumpkins off of people's porches and smash them in the street. Someone please enlighten me: how can this possibly be fun? It's rude, it's stealing, it's destructive, it's messy, and it makes little kids cry. Where is the pleasure in that? Or maybe the more appropriate question is, what kind of person finds pleasure in that?

[Insert something witty here that summarizes this post in to a nice tidy package. I never was good at introductions or conclusions.]

I'm pretty psyched. No more school, no more studying. I'm a MOM again!

I know I made lots of references to tests & stuff on Facebook, but here's the rundown on how this is all working out. I've been taking anywhere from 2-7 credits per semester, year round, since the summer of 2006. The degree I am (was!) working on was a BS in Clinical Laboratory Science. It's a distance program offered by the University of North Dakota - who has a pretty developed CLS program - and they have a deal with the Mayo Clinic for current lab employees to attain their CLS degree, where all of the clinical lab work is done either in the labs here or by staff that come down from UND 3-4 times a year. I already have a BA in Biology Health Professions (with a chemistry minor), so many of my credits transferred from Northwestern to UND. So I had all the prerequisites, I only needed the classes that are clinical lab-specific, like clinical microbiology (different from regular micro in that it only focuses on bugs that cause disease in humans), parasitology, urinalysis (which really is kind of interesting once you get past the fact that you're messing with people's pee - you can find out a lot about someone's health), hematology, and clinical chemistry (which is all those test for enzymes & stuff that get run on blood). Blood banking is also a major component of the CLS curriculum, but since I teach blood bank - actually teach in this very program to an extent - and have a certification in blood banking - they let me out of those classes and gave me credit at only half the cost of tuition. Bargain, eh?

So anyway, that's what I've been working on and complaining about for the last three years. The last couple of semesters have been particularly rough. My final class was a 2-week-long lab in Hematology, which took place in August. I had to register for it as a fall class, though, so I'm still waiting for the "official" final grade on that (even though I already know what I got). After that, I spent about a month studying for two big tests I had to pass. The first was the comprehensive final that UND gives. I have to pass that in order to pass the program. The passing score is only 70%, which normally I wouldn't even blink at because I'm an A/B student.....but this was HARD and I knew it was going to be hard. I was actually more worried about that test than the board exam. So I used one of those worksheets where you color in the bubbles (with a #2 pencil, of course) and then the person down here who proctored the test was supposed to fax that answer sheet in so that I'd know within 24 hours how I did. Well, almost a week went by before I heard about mine. I finally emailed my advisor asking how I did. Turns out that the girl who proctored me faxed one side of the answer sheet twice, rather than faxing both sides. **sigh** But he was nice enough to at least tell me how I did on the stuff he had information on. My weak area was - no surprise - clinical chemistry. The bane of my academic existence.

The second test I had to take was the national Medical Technologist board exam. Passing that test would make me an official certified Medical Technologist, or lab tech. This one is the "real deal," so to speak. I was so stressed about it. I took the test on Friday, Sept. 25 and took the two previous days off work to study. Which I'm glad I did...there was more cramming for this test than I care to admit. So I was able to take this test right here in town, and it was a computer based test. What was really nice was that right away when you're done, this test tells you whether you passed or failed. I passed. I won't get my actual score for another week or so, but beyond simple curiosity I don't even care what my score is. No one will ever look at it besides me and the UND people. The funny thing is, I got a LOT of blood bank questions! I couldn't believe it. I mean, I didn't even study any blood bank except for a few "numbers" things and I was kind of figuring I'd get very few questions on it anyway. That's just the way my life works. I was somewhere between laughter and disbelief when those blood bank questions kept coming up. I totally believe in the providence of God, so I was also thanking Him for giving me questions I knew the answers to.

So now I'm done. Well, pending the result of my UND final. I still haven't heard back on that. The proctor girl is part of our CLS program here and they were getting ready for a HUGE inspection around the time I took the test, and now she's had a baby, so who knows if UND even has the results. I'd think they'd have gotten it in the mail by now. I'll wait a while longer and then email them...I hate being a pest.

My official graduation ceremony is Thursday, November 19. They have a ceremony for us during a time when the UND staff is down here. There are a handful of people graduating from my program, a few that are getting their MS in CLS, and one getting a certificate in laboratory financial management or something like that. I've been asked to speak at the ceremony, to give the greeting from the CLS/certificate students. So I have to figure out what I'm going to say.

Oh yeah, also, many people have asked me why I'm in school when this isn't an advanced degree, and isn't required for me to keep my job or get a promotion. There are a few reasons. 1) The MT/CLS certification is required in many places to even get a job in a lab. By having it you are saying that you have the background knowledge that a lab tech needs. I (and many others) got jobs at Mayo with just a biology or chemistry degree because Mayo's need for bodies in chairs is so huge, they can't limit their hiring to MT's (although it is their first choice). And they have the resources to teach people what they need to know to work in that particular area. I'm a perfect example. So really I'm just getting to where I should have been all along. I don't intend to ever leave Mayo, but you never know where life's going to take you so I feel like I'm more marketable now should I ever need to be. 2) If I do get tired of blood banking and decide to do something different, I know where I would and would not want to work (although I had an idea of that before). 3) Back when I was in college the first time, I'd thought I would get MT certification. My advisor encouraged me to apply for programs. I decided not to, for reasons I won't go into right now, but I have always regretted it. This was a great way for me to do something I've always wanted to do - to take care of what I've always considered to be unfinished business - and I'm thankful that the opportunity was there. It was definitely harder in some ways to do it this way than if I'd just done it back when I should've, but I guess that's the way it goes.

It feels good to be done!  I was going to use this blog post to talk about what I've been doing since then, how I've been rediscovering my life, but I'll save that for later.

I'm halfway through my last class. Yay! It's technically a class but it's actually a lab, and very specificially it's my clinical training, so there are no lectures involved. The lab goes M-Th from 4-7 pm and I've had to put in some extra time because I'm slow & methodical. I'm completely ok with that. I don't mind working hard, but I am truly sick of staring at notes & studying for tests.

What I'm really liking is that I can come home and watch TV and do household stuff. (If I was a better student I'd be reviewing hematological disorders for my lab, but the unknowns this week are open-book, so why?). I'm liking being able to be a wife & mom again. I'm far from being done w/school-related stuff, as my biggest hurdle - the board exam - is still ahead, but I'm enjoying this downtime at home while I have it.

I've been baking, and have even cooked a few real meals. I bought a carpet steam cleaner and have done a room per week for the last two weekends. I said this on my fb, but I'm still amazed at how brown the water is when I dump it out! The carpets really don't look all that different - fresher, yes, and minus a few spots but not necessarily cleaner - but apparently there was a lot of dirt down there. I'm really hoping to keep a cleaner house once school is done. I'm tired of living in filth.

It's kind of funny how I'm enjoying doing all these things that I used to consider a burden. I'm sure it won't take long before housework once again becomes a burden, but for now I'm going to ride the momentum and get some stuff done around here. On some level I think all I ever really wanted to be was a wife & mom so I like the opportunity to actually be those things. Run errands for Brian while he paints the house. Teach Bailey to bake. Watch the NASCAR race with Joey. That's the good stuff.

Not long ago I listened to the VERY LAST online lecture of my CLS college life.

For my own entertainment, I will now comprise a list of the things I have left before I will be done, along with a rough estimate of exactly when these things will happen.

• Two tests for Hematology I (one on anemias, hemoglobinopathies, & thalassemias; and one comprehensive final)
• Two worksheets and two open-book quizzes for Hematology II (on anemias, hemoglobinopathies, & thalassemias)
• One test for Hematology II (on anemias, hemoglobinopathies, & thalassemias.....I know, convenient, huh?) All of these tests/quizzes will hopefully be finished by early next week but are due August 5 so I have some cushion time if I need it. I can't believe I'm ahead of schedule for once.
• One two-week lab (M-Th, 4-8 pm, August 10-20; this is Hematology III)
• A CLS final, given by UND, which will cover everything in the program (hematology, microbiology, blood bank, chemistry, coagulation, urinalysis, mycology, phlebotomy, blah, blah, blah) - probably September-ish
• My Medical Technology board exam (also called Clinical Laboratory Science board exam, depending on which organization you choose to become certified with; some people take both. I don't see the need.) Hopefully also September-ish, since the CLS final is designed to be similar to the board exam. I'm hoping I can just do one big study bender and be done with it.
• Graduation! UND actually comes down to Mayo to award diplomas to all of us in this program, as well as a couple of other programs they offer. This will be in November, and there will be an actual ceremony with robes and everything. In all honesty, while I appreciate that they do this for us (I've participated as faculty in the past and it is a nice ceremony), I'd just as soon they mail it to me. Somehow the second bachelor's degree doesn't feel like as big of an accomplishment as the first one did, especially when people at this point in their careers are usually working on Masters. Oh well. I chalk it up to making poor decisions back-when and am just grateful to have the opportunity to get to where I should have been fifteen years ago.

And then, I will stop posting stupid blog posts and fb status updates complaining about school! Woo-hoo!

Undcls

Every Clinical Laboratory Science student I've talked to has, at some point in their schooling, diagnosed either themselves or someone around them with some kind of rare and crazy disease that they've read about. Many disorders present with the same nonspecific symptoms: fatigue, lethargy, headache, malaise, etc. Show me one person - a student especially - who's not worn out and prone to the occasional headache!

So as a CLS student, it was with a very weird sort of delight that I discovered that I actually do have a disorder. But here's the thing: my disorder is in MY WORST SUBJECT!

Chemistry.

Ugh.

I went to the doctor the other day, thinking that I was messed up from my trip down the steps on my butt a couple of weeks ago, and in the process made a comment about being very tired lately. I've been anemic before, and thought it was happening again. Well, as it turns out, my hemoglobin (iron) is fine.....but my thyroid is messed up!

Dang hormones! I never understood them in the first place.

I guess I will go read up on thyroid function now. That will be one section of the board exam that I'll be sure to pass.

My poor blog, it's become so neglected. I promise one of these days I'll actually have something worthwhile to say. In the meantime, I'll try to scrape together a TonT.

Loathe:

• Being tired all the time.
• Watching my poor boy and his friends get crushed in three baseball games over the weekend. This was his second (and last) tournament of the season. We got to the point where we were just hoping for them to make some plays because there was no hope for them winning.
• Having to hear my little boy say, "I stink at baseball!" and try hard to fight back tears even though he was around his friends. :(  (For the record, he doesn't stink. He has some things he needs to work on, but I maintain that he's got potential to be a solid player, even if he never becomes a star.)
• Knowing that Joey's team that's been practicing for 5 weeks on a team we paid $60 for him to be on got crushed by a team of kids mostly a year older than them, that's been together since March, whose parents paid $500 for them to be on. Seriously! In third grade!
• Not losing weight like I've wanted to since we restarted South Beach a couple of weeks ago. I've lost 2 lbs. I started closer to my ideal weight this time so knew the weight loss would be less dramatic, but still I was hoping to see some better results. Oh well. Plug away, I guess.

Love:

• Watching my kids when they don't know I'm watching.
• Watching a project at work that I've been leading for almost a year finally come to fruition. We're working on getting everyone trained and will implement on July 21. The new process isn't perfect, but what process ever is? It's WAAY better than what we currently have. I feel such a sense of accomplishment, and I daresay I'm looking pretty good to the higher-ups! I had a great team, though...which goes a LONG way. I'm proud of them.
• Cuddle Time: a ritual in our house where all 4 of us pile onto Brian's & my bed and just watch something on TV. And cuddle. :) The kids are always asking, "Can we have Cuddle Time?" I love that they want to do it, even when we have to say no.
• The unpredictability and variety of midwestern weather. Last week it was pushing 100; today it's not even 70. As they say, if you don't like the weather in Minnesota, just wait a few minutes. Gorgeous weather is always nice, but I need it to change now & then. I could do without snow, though.
• Even though the games were not so great, at Joey's tournament last weekend I got to meet all of the parents. It was so much fun. In particular I spent a lot of time talking to the mom of a boy that Joey has gotten to be good friends with over the last half of the school year. Now they're on the same team for both tournament and house league baseball. I like her a lot. And the really cool thing is that they're thinking of switching their son to Schaeffer Academy after he finishes elementary school, just like we plan to do with Joey! Crazy. She said she's been praying for a good friend for her son, and to think that my guy might be the answer to her prayers just about makes me want to cry. In a good way.
• Holidays! Because they equal days off work!
• That Brian checked out the X-Files movie from the Bookmobile today. I'm finally going to see it, Kelly!

Are you bored yet? LOL

As aforementioned, I fully plan to give this blog some attention once I actually start having coherent thoughts again. :)

I haven't done this in forever! 

Today I loathe:

• My inability to finish this semester strong. I'm really struggling. It's not that I've lost interest in the subject matter, but I have lost interest in spending all my time on this. I'm fantasizing too much about actually having free time. :)
• Thinking about American Idol tonight, I will be very upset if Danny goes home. He's way better than Kris. Everyone knows Adam's going to win, so in a way I think tonight is the finale, Kris vs. Danny.
• That I heard this song on the radio today coming home from work and I can't figure out what it is! I didn't get a good enough grip on the lyrics to google them, the radio station doesn't post the songs they've played, and of course the DJ was no help. The song had kind of a Maroon 5-ish feel to it (but I know it wasn't M5), and there was a very simple but catch bass line at the beginning and throughout that had a very string-ish sound. (Does that make sense, it was the type of sound you'd hear in a band room, not on the radio.) Any ideas on what it might be? I'm streaming Maroon 5 on Pandora to see if it comes up (which I think it did sometime over the weekend).

Today I like:

• Awards night at AWANA. Not only that it's the end of year for the kids (which means we get our Tuesday nights back until fall), but they both finished their workbooks this year - which is no small feat! My kids make me proud. :)
• Brach's Milk Maid caramels. Yum.
• As aforementioned, American Idol. And speaking of reality TV, I'm happy that my team won on The Amazing Race.
• My students. We are on week 5 of 6 so I think we're all tired (and this is their last rotation before graduation so they've got to be so ready to be done!), but they're so good - smart, positive, cooperative, always have their stuff done, let me know if they're going to be late/absent. I got lucky but now I'm going to be spoiled for next year!
• That I borrowed an immunology book from a coworker that is actually helping me understand this stuff!
• This necklace & bracelet, part of what I got for hosting a Silpada party. I love how colorful & pretty they are.

Silpada

OK, gotta go. Happy Tuesday!

I'm so tired. It's only 6:30, on a Friday night even, and I'm thinking about going to bed. I make mysefl laugh because I so don't have a life. Ah well, it's all good.

Do you ever think about how your life might have turned out differently had you made different decisions at different points of your life? I don't regret anything in my life other than not having done all this school stuff 15 years ago when I should have done it. That and maybe not having gone to med school. But it's intriguing. For example, I met my husband while on a work trip over spring break at my college. I didn't have the money it cost to go, and my parents came up with it - I don't even remember asking them for the money. And how drastically did my life change? He is truly my other half. But what if we had never met that week? There were lots of Spring Service Projects - what if I'd gone on a different one, like the glamorous trips to New Orleans or Mexico, instead of to boring South Bend, Indiana? Would I be married to someone else? Who would my kids be? Or would Brian and I have met in some other capacity at another time because we were meant to be?

Also, the way I came into my job. It's a long story, but I kind of fell into blood banking. Now I love it.

I also wonder if seemingly random conversations or decisions affect our lives in certain ways, with long-lasting impact that we don't even realize. Unintentional things that people have said and done to me have impacted me deeply, some for the good and some for the bad. I wonder if those people know that. More gravely, how have my random comments and actions affected other people?

You know, every now & then you'll see a TV show or something where a person goes back in time and sees how every single decision they've made over time leads up to their current situation - which often, as the plot turns out, isn't as bad as they think.  It's interesting to think about, isn't it?

• Read some books because I actually want to.
• Polish all my shoes.
• Sleep. A lot.
• Make my family some really awesome meals.
• Invite people over so I can make some really awesome meals, complete with killer desserts.
• Get back into making wine.
• Go on cool hikes & bike rides with my kids.
• Catch up on all my TV shows that are hanging out in the DVR and driving Brian nuts.
• Put in a decent effort at work.
• Give my house a really, really good cleaning.
• Go through all my clothes and get rid of things I don't wear or that don't fit.
• Get a haircut.
• Repaint the chipped woodwork on the main floor of my house.
• Paint the guest room.
• Try to get my backyard back into decent shape.
• Shop just to kill time.
• Watch a LOT of TV.
• I might plop myself into a chair and not move or think for several days. I might not even speak.
• See if I can figure out how to play piano.
• Get my flute out and see if I can still play it.