34 cents

I have wanted to blog one last time before vaca, so here goes what will likely be a half-assed effort.

My co-worker who was on the fence about leaving finally decided to stay which is excellent news. the sad part was what a struggle that was. With the support of both the head of the clinic and the lead MD, they went to whomever it was who decides on such monetary things with the sole goal of getting him $1/hr more. $40 a week. After some calculations and what have you the financial person offered him..........34 cents. $13.60/week. But, they assured him, he could expect a similar bump in another year. I don't know enough expletives to serve this situation effectively. Anyway, the lead PCP made an impassioned plea which stated, among other things, that a doctor might leave due to the continued staff upheaval, and finally the dollar was granted. Does not exactly make me hopeful about my own raise, but I am thoroughly proud of all involved who fought to keep a solid employee around for what really cannot mean much in the operating costs of an entire clinic.

The only other thing of note was our attempt to broaden our horizons tonite by watching a documentary about a school built in Afghanistan and run by a doctor who works at KP. Well, after he was up on stage for about 30 minutes prior to said feature starting ranting and carrying on about everything from education to poppy production, we decided it wasn't worth our time to even bother sticking around any further. So the only expansion I felt was of the throbbing in my skull from a killer headache. Lovely. Note to guy trying to get donations to support what appeared to be a good cause: shut the hell up and let your movie do the talking!

Off to bury my head under a pillow and pray that tomorrow at work is quick and painless and that there is enough time in the day to get the dozens of things on my to-do list accomplished.

another week comes to pass

This past week has been remarkable only in its rather unremarkableness (I am fairly certain I just made that word up). It has been, by and large, like any other week. Work was stressful, especially Monday and Friday, the MA in my pod is still contemplating leaving (and leaning further that way as the days, and the bullshit he deals with from patients, pass). I will be very unhappy if that happens, but I certainly can't blame him. More money and the promise of a more tolerable position is pretty tempting, even at the cost of a further commute. Will be interested to see how it plays out obviously.

The weekend was spent in the hunt for my first IPOD touch. I have kind of wanted one for awhile, but have an Ipod already (though now a few years old) and couldn't justify it in my head. But, sometimes you just have to treat yourself :) Anyway, compared the newest model to the older ones and also briefly considered the Microsoft Zune (and discarded it after finding their apps.......well, spartan is a generous term) and ultimately ended up buying a used model (with warranty) from someone on Craigslist. Tia and I both are having a blast playing with all the free and cheap apps. It is much much more than a glorified ipod like I had originally thought. More like a do it all handheld tech toy. So much fun and time wasting potential. Now I just need to figure out how to sneak it to work :)

Spent most of the rainy weekend in relative slow motion. Met the in-laws for happy hour (and were pleasantly surprised with a wonderful room upgrade for the cruise, which is awesome!) on Friday, went to a local thai place on Saturday with a groupon, and wandered around downtown today after popping over to the library. Nice if only because it was relaxing......and I think we both felt like thats what this weekend called for.

4 more work days to go! Cannot wait for vacation.

6 guys

This was another hellacious week at work. Almost felt punished for having a 3-day weekend. The calls were brisk and the crazy quotient was extremely high. I don't know what the statistics are, but I would venture to guess that 10% of the patients probably take up 90% of my time (and that of everyone at the clinic). The mental illnesses often usurp any physical ailments. Then, on the other side, the MDs bitch if they aren't seeing enough patients and bitch if they have to see certain patients without enough time. It is a fine line that you end up crossing on occasion because you cannot help but do so. The high point of the week was one of our special patients (who, I am not being factitious, was told not to come to her phys therapy appts because she reeked of urine) came to the lobby and began a profanity laced tirade in front of staff and patients alike because they would not refill her narcotic. Lovely.

As to what to do about the whole job situation, the answer remains unclear. I am still planning on doing nothing until I return from vacation, but unlike before the vacation is actually nearing (finally). I am still welcome at my old position, but that position seems to be changing rapidly. They are 'rethinking' it due to budget.....which as you can imagine does not mean anything positive for the employee. On the table are 12hour shifts at the Park, eliminating weekend patients so they can keep no more than 1 staff there, and combining the two big location (GS and Eman) into one large IV team that will travel btwn them. Will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Also, another former co-worker left as she had planned which means that the entirety of their under-40 staff for the Park is gone. So, going back (if a position even existed) might not mean even remotely the same job anymore.

The weekend has been pretty mellow. Spent Friday nite with the guy living off of Groupon, which is a fascinating concept. According to his site: The premise is simple: No cash. The Groupawn (customer chosen to Live Off Groupon) has nothing but a year’s supply of Groupons good for the best things to eat, do, see and buy across the country. From skydiving and upscale cuisine to body waxing and foreign language classes, Groupon deals will shape the Groupawn’s daily life. He will need to rely on the kindness of strangers for social niceties (like tax and tip) and basic human needs (like somewhere to sleep and a ride to any of Groupon’s 60 cities.)

So, it sounds like an intriguing concept and one that most of us would be hard pressed to actually do..........but he was jovial, garrulous, and massive (6'6") so I am sure he will fare better than most. Plus, with $100,000 at the end of the year, it is a worthy venture. We met our friend/former Realtor Joleen, the groupon guy, and about a half dozen other people at Miss Delta for dinner and to discuss his adventures. It was a fun gathering, though I was far less impressed with the service/food. Were everyone not hanging out, it would have been unbearable and I would have left. As it was, it took more than an hour from seating until our dinner came. The restaurant was full, but not huge. The food itself was not terrible, but neither would I highly recommend it. The flavor was lacking in most everything I ate (save for the sweet tea, which was quite delicious). Overall, there are better options for your dining dollar.

Made it out to 5 Guys on Saturday early evening for dinner (we were in the area). They win time after time in the 'best fast food burger' comparisons. Though, after eating there, it is a rather unfair comparison. A cheeseburger at McDonalds might run about a buck, same with Wendys, BK, etc. A cheeseburger here cost closer to $4 (single) and $5 (there normal double patty) and these are built to order. Overall, it was MUCH more like eating a restaurant quality burger. The hand cut fries were a particular high point. Definitely heavy food though. This isn't the kind of place you will want to go for a jog after (though you might wish to). Quite good, but something to put into the 'eat rarely' column.

Yeah for football being back! Going to go enjoy it (while secretly lamenting that it is Sunday). Hopefully this week will be better.

DINK(y)

I had heard the term dink before, but it is still funny to me and I was surprised when one of my coworkers mentioned it when he was asking where I was going on vacation he said, "of course you two can live in the Pearl and go on a cruise, you're a couple of dinks." Dink stands for dual income no kids (and if you add the 'y' it stands for yet). Not sure if kids are in the future or not, and despite where my opinions often lean, I realize there are benefits to having them, but for right now it is great not having a little bundle of responsibility.

Friday nite after work I was invited to a Happy Hour with coworkers (I did not make it there due to a rather involved story that centers largely around my own directional challenges), spent Saturday out trying the Pope House Bourbon Lounge (the mixed drinks and the bourbon ice cream were amazing) with some new acquaintances, Sunday volunteering at CAT giving away over 3 tons of food (my biannual 'do something nice for others' day :) and then going to a friends party, grilling and playing Rock Band with a wall projector (and in an incredible sound system........they clearly LOVE that game), and then today took a trip out to the Casino before holing up for the night. Stuff we couldn't do with a kid (hell, not with a dog really).

Back to it tomorrow. More food reviews soon. Have to write more about the Pope House (kick ass happy hour). Can't wait to see what kind of calamities the patients of the clinic got into over a 3 day weekend that they didn't think needed immediate attention at an urgent care center or a hospital. It is shocking.

Changes

Work drama, it is just inherent in any business I guess. Tia deals with it in spades (mostly related to her contact with outside vendors or different sites) and I deal with it in more of an immediate sense. Though I try not to be involved in it, it certainly affects me as it affects those around me. The biggest thing of the moment is the relative instability of staffing.

The way our clinic is set up, each doctor has one medical assistant. They really work in teams of 2......one doing rooming functions like setting up the rooms, getting vitals, taking patients back and doing any in-clinic tests required along with refill requests, and the other on the phone with call ins, doing prior authorizations, and arranging the various scans, blood tests, etc that the doctors order. The team has to be fairly symbiotic, as they both tackle issues relating to the same doctors, so it is hard when there is a weak link or, in this case, someone new who is learning on the job.

When I accepted the position, the pod I work in (there are 4 total pods, each with ostensibly 4 doctors/4 MAs/and 1 nurse) had 4 MAs with experience ranging from 17yrs to 7 months. No one, however, was remotely new. Overall it was evidently quite cohesive. I say 'was' because the day I started was evidently 1 day past one of the other MAs leaving. She was replaced by a float. Then, just a few short weeks later, another MA (who had been there for a few years), also left. They replaced her with a new hire and jettisoned the float. So, within the first month, we had lost 2 veteran staff. Now, the formerly newest MA got offered another position (almost all offers have gone thru Providence which is apparently renowned for paying more and providing better benefits) and is strongly considering it. So, in less than 2 months, I may go from the least experienced to the second most experienced in our pod of 5. Not very comforting I have to admit because, though I do not perform the same duties, I lean heavily on the MAs. Suffice to say I am not happy and my podmates are downright distressed. In addition to this, another new MA who was hired for our pod, was instead kept in another pod.

In news directed related to me, there were another 4 interviewees for the triage position and at least one of them will be offered a position. Now it is an issue of them accepting, making it through all the hoops associated with getting hired in (background checks, drug screens, etc) and then getting set up and trained. So, best case, probably a ready to go product by mid to late October. I hope hope hope by flu season. Somehow I imagine that is going to totally suck.

I still waffle frequently about my job, but I am not sure what else to really do at the moment. I still waffle in much the same way about school. A constant dance of should I or shouldn't I. Here is hoping for the clarity or at least some rest on the long weekend. Then back to god knows what.

Pearl

Finally we have dragged our way into September. Not that the months earmark any dramatic shift, except that tomorrow is a Friday before an honest-to-god three day weekend and that this month also means a real vacation......so for those reasons alone I am happy to see September arrive. Although it seems longer ago, it has been less than a month since we pulled up stakes and moved downtown, and I am still feeling burned out by it. Or perhaps it is work. Tia and I have both had our bouts of frustration and our responses have vacillated between ennui and 'hey, I hear there are teaching opportunities in Dubai!' Mostly, I think we are both just trying to hold on until our vacation at the end of the month and hoping that it will provide the time away we need to recuperate and deal. We shall see.

In other news, living here is still quite good. The downsides of not being able to open your windows because of loud noises, a rather penetrating odor that frequently bespoils our senses from the brewery (it smells of fermentation, but it is blocked out by not opening windows), and sharing confines and common spaces with many others is more than made up for by the bevy of conveniences that this location affords. Just tonite we wondered out our doors to enjoy the art, food, and spirits of first Thursday........all just a few blocks away. We have wondered a number of times into one thing or another going on that we did not even know about. There is a vibrancy to this area that I completely missed out upon living in the burbs. I can say I lived in Portland at that time, but only now do I truly feel like I live here.

Computer system was down all day at work. I have to laugh at how much we truly rely on it to do our jobs. Since I did not work in this field before, I can scarcely imagine how the system functioned at all. With all the docs seeing pts all day, how do you let them know about issues going on without interrupting them constantly and what things are really worthy of that? It is fingers crossed that the system works tomorrow since the best hope was that it would automatically reset at midnight. Not looking forward to tomorrow if it has not.