90 days and 100 degrees

I did not know it was possible to be this hot in Portland. I have seen the temperature edge past the 100 degree mark on occasion here, but not for days at a time. The weather online suggested it got up to 107. I might as well move to Phoenix!

I agree wholeheartedly with the concept behind the phrase, "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." The idea being that we are at fault if we don't learn from our initial missteps (or other people's chicanery as the case may be). I wish I would not continually find myself going through the first go round of being fooled however. I found out today at HR (I have been working for the past week) that my benefits don't start for 90 days from hire. All of them. I had never encountered that before, so I had not even considered positing that question at interview or since, especially since it was not brought up by the other staff members or the doctor. Working in the medical field it seems rather ludicrous. I don't think the intent was malicious, but rather an oversight. When I mentioned it to Tia, she seemed to find this a fairly ordinary circumstance of employment. So, now we have to pay a fairly considerable monthly sum to add me back to Tia's insurance lest my gall bladder be non-covered with my new insurance as a pre-existing condition. I have to admit it right now, being a grown-up can be a REAL bummer. I realize how little concept I have of things like health care, 401K, and all the other things to do with employment and being a grown up except for pay rate and time off. Maybe I need to just move to a country with socialized medicine and a social safety net and call it done. Clearly the capitalist system is beyond my grasp at the moment and disappoints me at every turn.

Other than the considerably disappointing news regarding my health care, the job itself is going swimmingly. I thoroughly enjoy the patient interaction, the spectrum of care, and the other members of the staff as well as my supervisor. The hours are, for the most part, quite agreeable as well (though Friday morning's early start time is an adjustment that I have not been able to make as yet). I still haven't completed all facets of training, but I have now done a few blood draws, a number of ID (intra-dermal) tests, which are very much like TB tests in that you are injecting a fluid (in this case an allergen) under the surface of the skin. Only, instead of a single wheal, each patient may get as many as thirty such injections at a time. Needless to say, it takes awhile. I have also done a few of the allergy injections and a lot of the general patient information, pulmonary function testing, and assorted other tasks. There is still a lot to learn, but at least I feel like I am making progress instead of feeling constantly befuddled.

I am o ff to sit directly in front of the fan. You stay classy blogosphere.