Restive State

I always wanted to work in acute-care. In nursing school I was interested in the sick folks. The really sick folks. Working SNF just didn't fit that need. Sure they were sick, but not in the way I craved. I wanted, no, needed to take care of those folks who could turn either way in a matter of 15 minutes. Not ICU sick, but nearly. Now I have that chance.

I got a new job. Doing what I want, where I want to do it and when. I'll be getting sick hearts and the people who come with them. It won't be easy but it will keep me engaged. Training started this week and so far, I know I made the right choice.

And for the SNF? Yeah, I don't work there anymore.

'Til later...

I have found "meaningful employment." Or at least a job that I can sign "RN" after my name. No more telemarketing, janitorial, light industrial, warehousing; I'm finally putting all of the hard work of nursing school to work. And what a job it is. I feel like more of a drug mule than a nurse. I think that in the 3 days I have worked, I've passed more meds than I did during my entire time in school. Or at least it feels that way.

The place is a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF), alternatively known as a nursing home. In addition to long-term residents, there are folks who need skilled care greater that what a regular residential place can give. But it is a far cry from anything I have ever done. I nearly walked out my first day due to sheer frustration and the overwhelming nature of what I was dealing with. The second day was a little bit better: I didn't feel like just walking out of there. The reason why is simple: sheer numbers. Try 26:1. Give or take. All needing multiple meds, not to mention Accuchecks, insulin, PRN pain meds, inhalers, nebulizers and whatever else crops up int he course of the day. And it is just me handing all of this out. Sure, there are aides for the ADLs and daily routines of life, not that there is time for the nurse to do any of that, but the amount of work is astounding.

But a job is a job, and the pay is much better than the place I was previously offered a position with, (or at least enough to justify driving across town at 5am to get there.) It is by no means a permanent thing, merely a chance to work and get some experience while I find the right job. Yes, this sounds very mercenary, but, I spent a lot of time working for my license and I am going to do all in my power to get the job that I really want, that's just reality.

And, I have an interview for that job a week from Tuesday...

Til' later...

I realized that I needed work in order to pay the bills. Sure, it is a natural concept. Work. Earn money. Pay bills. Yet finding work is so much harder than I anticipated. While still searching for the "right" job, I've been forced to look for alternative means of work. In other words, I joined the wonderful world of temping.

I saw the ad, and it talked about Nike manufacturing. I figure, this was right up my alley having shipped these very same parts while at KAL. So I go in, take the aptitude test. Which was actually more than putting a mirror under my nose to see if it fogged over (evidence of breathing). Filled out the necessary paperwork then have an interview. No worries, then I'm scheduled for orientation. Go there and sit the very basic run-through with the notion that I will be filled in more the first on the site. Which, unbeknownst to me, and never let on to during the whole process until now, could be the first day of the shift of this week, but may not be. No one said it was as needed, or that it was not a 100% thing. Sure, I should have known, but I was not thinking that this was a PRN job. The literature said "immediate openings for all positions." So now, I have to worry about if the job I have, is actually going to work me. I'm trying to stay positive, but it is getting harder every day.

On the brighter side, my application for large hospital group was turned in, and I even had a chance to speak to HR about the process. Now comes the waiting for the call to interview. I'm hoping that the gap between school and now, will not be a huge minus for me. I am willing to explain the circumstances, but to do so I need to get my foot int he door to talk to someone. All I want to do is work in a hospital as a nurse and put that 3 years to good use.

One last note, November 5th is coming, which is Jonas's birthday. We were hoping to go to the beach for that day to spread ashes in the ocean he never got to see. Due to the road we've traveled lately, we aren't going to do that, at least right now. Each day the emotional wound gets a little less raw, but somethings just tear it open. Losing two children in less that a year is more that anyone should have to go through. As I write this, I think that if things we going the way they were supposed, Mia would have been born not too long ago, just a couple of days. Not a day goes by where I don't question and wonder why this has happened. The thing we wanted the most has been denied to us. All we have left of our 2 angels is memories and pictures. Right now, I'm just maintaining, hoping to make it through the next couple of weeks and it seems near insurmountable. I don't want to deal with life. I don't want to deal with all that we have to deal with currently. I just want things to work out the way they should be. Linda and I need to heal and move on, but it is so hard to do so when things look as bleak as they do now. I believe that there is hope and that things will eventually will work out, that we will have our family like we always wanted, but getting there is the hardest thing to do.

'Til later...

Almost a year ago, to the day nearly, I posted on the inability of drivers in Arizona, notably Flagstaff, to drive. In a post titled, "Overcompensation" I laid out these reasons and theorized that things were better elsewhere.

I was wrong.

They suck here too. Really, who comes to a screeching halt on a freeway in ruch hour? Well if you drive the 26 anytime, that is a very good proposition. And usually for no apparent reason. On this same road, driving west-bound you get sun in your eyes. It's not like this is a new development for anyone who has ever driven this road, yet everyday, when the sun hits their eyes, like little Oregonian vampires, we react and slam on our brakes.

In the middle of traffic.

Traveling at 55mph.

Because there is a bright shining ball of yellow levitating in front of you.

Not that you couldn't see that there is sun ahead of you beofre you drop into the valley and take appropriate measures; like putting down the sun visor before you pass into the light. Far too smart and well-thought out for Oregonian drivers.

Now my favorite pet peeve has to do with the city of Beaverton, who seems to the believe that no one can turn left at an intersection without a turn light. Gone is the ability to turn left on the green light, no, you're stopped by the red arrow banning all movement, even when there is so little traffic that you push your car through the turn. And to make matters worse, the sensors and timing for these lights are so shoddy that you can sit for what seems like an eternity at the light waiting to go, watching all the others continue on their way. While nice when there is traffic, a blinking yellow would be a nice touch.

Oh well. Til later...

The Test
Two weeks after we got to Oregon, I sat for the hardest test in my life. Having graduated back in May, and having been broke until recently to pay for the test, I had not taken my NCLEX exam to earn my nursing license. After the events of August, I was really in no shape emotionally, intellectually or psychologically to take this test, but I knew I needed to do so. On a Tuesday morning I drove to the testing center, nervous, shaking and fearing the worst. Even the help of NOFX and my theme song from school didn't put the shakes away. Seventy-five questions late I walked out saying, "Do you want fries with that?" to start practising for the career path that I felt I had earned with my dismal performance. You see the minimum number of questions on the NCLEX-RN test is 75. They figure that by that point in the test, you're either minimally competent (in other words, you'r enot going to outright kill someone due to stupidity), or you're hopeless and need to start thinking about possibly a career change. Sure, I had been in this spot before. Many times in school I walked out of the test feeling this exact same way and did just fine, even great. But it was different this time. So many times I felt that I was lost adn guessing. It was guessing guided by what I knew, following the ABCs and Maslow, but guessing. The rest of the day was spent trying not to think about the test and trying not to drive the wife crazy. The following morning I pulled up the State Board site, to see maybe if they had posted the results early. And they had. There was my name, with RN attached to it. I had done it! All of the time, the stress and worry had finally paid off.

New Grad Blues
Now that I had those precious initials, RN, after my name, I believed that a job would be a sight easier to obtain. Boy was I wrong. The thing that many people do not realize about the nursing shortage in this country is that it is a shortage of experienced nurses. Not being an experienced nurse made my job prospects scarce to minimal. Most facilities only have certain times where they take new grads as they have to make arrangements for preceptors and orientation (so as not to throw us fresh meat to the lions). Unfortunately, I had missed all of these times so opportunites are scarce. Yes, there are openings in long-term care and skilled nursing. Both honorable specialties in the nursing field, but not my area of interest. Yes, I could work at a LTC/SN facility, but I would be unhappy and always looking for the chance to bolt. WIth my upbringing that would not be an option. I don't leave people in a bind.

So here I am, singing the new grad blues. Everyday I log onto to the various hospital websites looking for new openings that I may qualify for. At least minimally enough to get an interview. I peruse the newspaper on-line. Not being from here though, I don't know the economic landscape, and how the various organizations hire. Some have said to just walk onto the floors, look for the manager and hand out my resume. Easy to say if you've done clinicals there. Me, I have to use gMaps just to find the places. But, I have faith. I have persistence. I have to ability to do menial labor until the job I want pops up. I may not want to, but I will.

Til later...

Preface
So much has happened since the last time I posted. Life has changed enormously and in so many different ways. While we always wanted to move back to Portland, it was never supposed to be in this particular fashion. We were supposed to be here waiting for the birth of our child, me with a job and working and the two of us in a happy blissful state.

Nice dream.

The reality is far from that.

The Reason
We lost our little angel on August 18th after 8 wonderful days of having her with us. We never got to hold her, or hear her cry, or do all those things that parents should be able to do. She spent her life inside an isolette, with lines running into her little body and a machine helping her breathe. She fought from the start, always trying to prove the doctors and the statistics wrong. She showed us how strong she was when she moved and squirmed, when she sucked on her endotracheal tube, when she held on to our fingers in a totally natural way. She touched so many lives in her short time in this life. There were many special moments that we will remember and cherish forever. We still have pictures and memories to keep her in our thoughts for as long as we live. After we lost Jonas, we believed that this could not happen again and our Mia Rose was part of the healing process after losing Jonas and now she has gone as well. We have two little angels to look after us now.

The Move
So after Mia left us, there was no reason to stay in Arizona. Why stay in a state that where we lost two children? With no jobs, no place to live, hardly any money but the help of our family, we left. Yes, we were running away from things that we could not really expect to escape from, but it made sense, at least in an irrational way. Linda left first, flying to Seattle as she was in no shape to make the long drive from Arizona. After cramming as much of our life into a rental truck that we could (pictures to come), my dad and I hit the road. Two days later we pulled into Portland. As luck would have it, we had a place to live, and people to help us unload. So here we were. Made it to Portland, had a place to live, still umemployed, still broke, not pregnant and trying to assimilate the shock of moving from a small town to a large city.

This will be my last post for a long time. Not that anyone reads this anyways, but if there are readers, I want them to be aware.

Friday morning, the 18th of August, our baby, little Mia Rose, passed on. She lived for 8 days and succumbed to sepsis. Words cannot describe the grief and pain my wife and I are living with right now. In fact words have no real meaning to me right now at all.

Thank you all for the prayers and good thoughts. Hopefully, one day this too will pass and the healing will begin.

Removed Verizon Advertising

Yes, that is my wedding band around here arm.

Mia Rose after her first meal.

add:

She had a good day today. Found out that the ultrasound of her brain showed no bleegin, not no IVH, which is a great thing in babies so small. Second, her echocardiogram showed that her PDA had closed. Finally, she got her first meal other than TPN. SO it was a good day.

Removed Verizon's advertising.

Our little Mia resting to grow big and strong.

Nothing like reading about the "evils"of fast food while eating it.

moblogged from: Springerville, AZ - 03JUL2006

It seems my cat has been posessed by the spirit of Al Bundy.

In a grim reality check, Team USA was eliminated from the World Cup this morning. What is funny is that no one will really care. Football is seen as a youth sport, not a major sport here in the States, with none of the hysterics reserved for it in our worldly brothers. We have no soccer hooligans, people don't call in sick to see important matches and frankly no one really cares.

For the US to compete at the world level is still impressive, even if we are the short-bus riding special kids on the playground. Maybe one day we'll wake up and realize that 300lb. behemoths crashing into each in between commercial breaks is not sport, but spectacle reminiscent of Rome's gladiators. Until then, I'll be watching world football however I can.

Til later...

I never got into "American Idol", or for that matter that Nashville-Idol show, or even back in the day, "Star Search." They are the spectacle of a nation thirsting for "entertainment." But I have to admit, I'm hooked on "America's Got Talent" that wonderful mash-up of the "Gong SHow" and "American Idol" in spite of the wonderful trainwreck it is.

I mean what were the producers smoking when they thought re-hashed this one up?
Lessee, let's get 3 "celebrity judges. David "I haven't worked since Baywatch, but Germans love me" Hasselhof, Brandy "A TV Camera hasn't been trained on me since 'Moesha' and I have only one name," and Piers "I wish I was Simon Cowell" Morgan. Then we'll parade all the freaks you see performing on many street corners in nearly every major metropolitan area in front of them. Sprinkle in some folks who think this is American Idol or Star Search who may actually have talent to make the show not look like so much of a set-up. Then, the stroke of brilliance: instead of a giant gong, we'll give each judge their own buzzer. Of course if the judges want though, even if the act gets "gonged", they can still pass on to the next round, if the judges vote them through. At least that way we can show favoritism to old people and young children and not look like total jerks.

And so it was created.

Tonight we had an 8 year-old stand-up comic, a dancing inflatable cow, a rappin' granny, a juggler who until playing with knives couldn't juggle, a gospel singer, a geriatric stripper and many more. To say that show will be a smash is a little early, but knowing our nation's love for the strange, odd, and those moments in life where you shake your head and go "why?", it's going to do well.

So for you viewing pleasure, the geriatric stripper:




'Till later...

I realized the other day, it had been a very, very long time since I had updated, well, anything in my life. So I'm sitting here with the smell of fresh burning Ponderosa pine in the air thinking about the last month.

So let's do the re-cap:
May 12th, last day as an extern...no more student life for me. Soon I will be a professional.
May 13th, graduated from nursing school. Yes, 3 of the hardest years of my life finally have the pay-off.
May 17th, turn 30. "Nuff said.
May 27th, sister-in-law graduates from high school. Starting to feel old.
June 3rd, wife has 10-year high school reunion...feel a little bit older.
June 9th, learn I had been turned down for a job in Oregon, life falls apart.
June 14th, still trying to pick up the pieces of my life.

Oh yeah, the town's on fire too...

So it's been crazy, beyond many things. Still trying to get myself back together once again, which seems like a neverending task, but someday, it will happen!

'til later...

That's what I'm on. The end is so close that it is really hard to fathom that it is so close. I've finished my nursing classes, finished the HESI tests (did pretty darn good too if you ask me!), finished clinicals and all their paperwork, all that's left is my Microbiology final. Tomorrow that too will be done and I'll be as free as a bird. Pinning is Friday and so is graduation, but I'm not going to that having walked once already. Sure I have 2 more extern shifts left, but it will be closing out of that experience. Oh yeah, did I mention I have a job? Offered where I extern, but I also have an interview in Portland for the unit I really want. Time will tell.

The end is getting even closer...

Til later...

This sign always cracks me up. Considering I had to send my taxes in today, that was a very good thing!

"Tax collectors warn that on April 17, Americans had better fess up to what taxes they've avoided through Internet shopping--or else."

Yeah, so what's new. They all want their tax money.

I still believe that it is crock to have both a sales tax and an income tax. Give me one or the other, but not both. It's like having a double income tax, one pre, the post. In some places, like where I live, the internet is the only way to get some things. They're just not carried in town (or they are, but only at one place, where anyone driving by can see you go in...and know you've been a dirty person). So now in addition to the pain in the ass it is to get some things, now I'm going to get taxed on it. Great. More issues. The tax rate here, thanks to the bloody tourists is over 8%. The town believes it can make its money off the tourists and screw the locals in the same fell swoop. And they do. While this year I owe the state nearly $400, I've spent thousands in sales tax, from gas to food and everything in between, so it makes it doubly hard to shell out the cash to the government.

'Til later...

read more | digg story

So here it is, the end is near.

Nursing school, that is. Now I have to try to find a job. Right. Simple. There's a nursing shortage right?

Mainly due to my lack of self-confidence, I'm having a hard time feeling that anything will generate out of the applications I've already submitted and hence a further feeling of futility to submit more. To make matters worse, the rest of the family is hoping, no, depending on me getting a job in the NW so we all can escape exile in this state. It freaks me out. Then to think about moving, getting a new place, shipping the Bug, moving, packing, graduating, turning 30, moving, getting a new job, going somewhere new...it all makes me a bit, well, insomic (is that even a word?).

So I stay up, until I can't keep my eyes open, watching TV, palying Fable, stumbling over the Web, all in a desperate attempt to somehow subvert my fears and calm my anxious brain. Only problem is that it makes me tired and grumpy the next day.
Bitching about it only clears my mind for a moment, so I'll stop now and enjoy the clarity.

'Til later...

Oh yeah, time flies where you're crazy busy. Lessee, according to the listing it's been a month?! Ok, time tocatch back up.

1. Capstone
Awesome, frickin' awesome. The chance to be totally immersed in a professional area was unbelievable. (see here and here for background). Because I live in small town, and word travels, I can't say too much about it, for respect of HIPPA and patient rights,but I will break it down a little for y'all.

While I didn't get a chance to intubate (kind of outside my scope of practice...) I saw several. Saw a couple of ODs, one real bad one with tricyclic antidepressants...very bad mojo. GCS went from 15 at the scene to below 9 on arrival and was dropping even faster until they got a tube in a sedation on-board. Had a guy come in with a stab wound and part of his omentum hanging out. Lucky for me, I knew the OR nurse that night and followed the patient to surgery to watch. It was crazy watching the surgeon stick most of his forearm inside the guy's belly. Knife wounds are "not a good thing", he bought himself a splenectomy and chest tube, but survived. There were sad moments, where patients didn't make it. There were happy moments, like when I started my first real IV successfully (note key term here: successfully).

I put nearly every facet of my education to use during this rotation, from kiddos to the elderly, IVs to chest compressions in CPR (extremely tiring!). So many interesting things happened that one of the charge nurses dubbed me a "bad luck charm" as whenever I was there, bad cases seemed to come in. I think it was just her. But as I was telling one of the nurses, they may have created a monster. I had originally wanted to go into emergency medicine, but lost interest. But now it was back, with a vengance. We'll see how things pan out.

2. Spring Break
Spring break? What Spring Break? Never had one, never will again.

3. School
At this point, 37 days left 'til graduation. It doesn't seem possible, that the end is almost here. It freaks me out, but exciting as well. We'll see how the next month goes.

4. Jobs
I have an interview next week already. Other apps are out and in process. While the interview I have isn't my dream facility, if nothing else comes through, I will be happy there. My wife may not be however. I hate how it is a waiting game. I moved once without a job, and will never do it again. No job, no move. Simple as that.

Well that's the update. 'Till later...

Oh yeah, it's April 5th and it is snowing outside my window...

Last night was the first "day" of Capstone. By "day" I mean 7p -7a, the night shift. Oh yeah, it's the first of the month too...
Anyways, started out with a trauma. Guy walks into the road, in traffic, 100 feet from crosswalk. Gets hit. Buys himself a broken tibial plateau and months of PT. Not an auspicious start. But it gets better. Yes, much better.

For some reason, Friday night is drunk night. And we had them in spades. So many in fact, that I thought most of PD was in our ED not out on the street. I will never understand what drives people to drink so much, be belligerent to people who are wanting to help and just generally make a scene. I mean really, you're in cuffs, have gotten bum rushed by the cops once for being a pain, why do you try to run out of the unit? (that was funny...they pulled him back into the room by his arms and legs...). I have a new respect for the PD though, the stuff they have to deal with on a nightly basis is pretty incredible.

Our next big one was a guy brought in by the PD for fighting. He's beat up, looks like he went a couple of rounds with Tyson (at least his brother), drunk and cuffed to the stretcher. Yes, great fun was had by all. And that was the theme of the night. It was either assualts, drunks or folks with nausea and vomiting. I didn't do as much as I had wanted, but I did get one real good IV start which boosted my confidence to new levels.

Totals so far:
IV: 1 Foleys: 0 Wounds: Too many already Traumas: 0

There's still a long way to go...

Not Keystone, rather Capstone.
And what is it? Call it a senior project/internship/preceptorship, whatever. It is 3 weeks working as a nurse (although with one following your every move...), not getting paid, but still reaping the benfits of the experience. Granted, as I have been doing my externship since May (for which I do get paid for), it's not all that foreign for me to pull 12 hour shifts. In fact, I have grown to love them. 8 hours hifts are so, well, short. I feel like I'm just about hitting my stride, or at least my functioning level of competence by about hour 5. With a 12 you've got a long time to make up for any "issues" you may have had previously. With 8, you're almost gone. Anyways, I digress.

Right now, I'm counting my lucky stars. First, I get to stay in town. The other options meant at least a 1.5 hour drive each way, if not more. Second, it's atthe hospital where I work (which is a given that there is only one around.) Third, I drew the ED. At night. Probably weekends. I'm going to see so much crazy shit, I won't be able to get it out of my head. And for that I'm grateful. Sure, I would have rather it been in the day. But I'm getting the witching hour...oh the joy and the horror.

I don't start until the end of the month, but I'm sure there will be grisly stories to share.

And speaking of grisly stories, I'm not even going to talk about this week's test. That whistling sound you heard? Yeah, that was my grade dive-bombing into a fiery blaze of glory. Not a pretty test. Hopefully Wednesday we'll find out exactly what went wrong.

'Til later...

I'm no crazy cat person, but this guy keeps me in line. He also wakes me up in the middle of the night and generally wreaks havoc. As you can see, he is both an airplane fanatic and a user if iTunes.

In this light I think briefly of our governments' monitoring of our personal electronic communication. Big up to Google for not complying with the DOJ's request for a weeks worth of search requests. I can't believe that we live in the "Land of the Free" but have many of our moves watched, recorded and filed. I'm not of the tinfoil hat brigade, but I do worry. What use is it of the Fed's the sites I go to (no kiddie porn, no Islamic fundamentalist, no bomb-making; stuff about organization, pictures of my family, my art and my career.) Granted now, I'm probably on the list. But it goes to show that there is something fundamentally wrong with our country. Just something to chew on.

'Til later...

Finally, after months of waiting, the snow has returned.
Only problem is that it is gone already. To me, this is not a problem. In fact, I've been loving this. Sure it's been chilly, but the lack of snow has really boosted my spirits. My you may ask? Let me count the ways:

• not having to dig my car out from under tons of snow to get to work in the morning.
• not freezing on my way to work, or having to use my glove and the 12volt plug-in heater as defrost (yes, that is my daily driver above...)
• no mud tracked into the house, and no mud to destroy the white shoes I have to wear to clinical.

and last but not least by any measure:

• no tourists

Many people here in town survive off of tourist dollars and love for them to come and spend their money in our town. But I have grown to loathe them. They flock into the stores, into the restaurants, allow for the gas stations to hike the prices due to "demand", drive like idiots in the snow, and generally cause havoc for the locals. The worst sin though is entitlement. They act like we are here to serve and be at their beck and call, just because they deign to grace our town with their presence. For example, last winter, my wife and I, laong with another couple decide to go out for dinner on a Saturday night. Bad idea. I realy think we were the only ones besides the staff in our local zip code in the joint. As we are standing there waiting, little brat from the Valley with parents stride into the join with attitude full-on. Looking at the crowd, little brat goes, "Didn't you make reservations dfad? I don't feel like standing around waiting." Of course, they got a table before us...
Yes, I'm a little bitter about it, but I can admit it, and that is always the first step.

On the lighter side though, I started my new position at work and absolutely love it. 5 hours goes by like nothing else and when you don't have to talk to stupid people, it makes it even better.

School starts this week. I can't decide if I'm excited or scared sh*tless. It is the last semester and I'm a little feaked out. I know what I want to do, where I want to work, but I still have to pass the last set of classes (Advanced Nursing Concepts and Microbiology) and the NCLEX. It's a daunting load to have to deal with, but somehow I'll make it...I hope.

Til later...

Not forgotten, just left behind by progress. Twin Arrows sits next to I-40 as it traverses northern Arizona, a relic of the old Route 66 days left to disintegrate and fade into memory.

Future-casting, like meteorology, is one of those fields that you can guess at generalized trends and point to nebulous predictions and claim you're right. I've never said that I know what the future holds, nor do I want to. Sure, I have hopes and fears about what the next year brings, but I'll never put it out there on the line. Some do, and some make a ton of cash doing it. The reason I bring this up was that I was reading the paper the other day at work and came across this little tidbit:

What's Next:
Classic Rock. The "Top Trends 2006" report from the Trends Research Institute...says young listeners are revolting against the hit machine. Institute director Gerald Celente says this generation is finding "heroes in Lennon and Dylan. This is a first in American history."via Arizona Republic

I'm sorry, but this is news? I've been listening to both of these guys since I was in high school and there were always many who did as well. It is a natural progression to find out what music is all about. I have a theory on progression of musical taste and interests, that based on this, really holds some water.

First, because it is readily available, and it pisses off your parents, you start out by listening to Top 40 style music. Today it's all about TRL, American Idol and Clear Channel molding and shaping to tastes of youth, but it's not really that far of a departure from how I started, just packaged differently. I started with Top 40 in the wasteland of the early to mid-80s. This gets modified as you adopt one particular style of music that really grates on your parents, but still is a popular genre. For me that was hip hop, early NWA, 2 Live Crew and yes, Vanilla Ice (so I was a loser, everyone else liked him...for a moment). Then I began to branch out, explore more types of music and thanks to a vibrant music scene, found music I liked even better, while still retaining some of the pop culture DNA in my taste. Then, I found classic rock. Hendrix, the Doors, the Beatles, Dylan, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and more. My journey into music caused me to look for the roots of what I liked and drove others to do the same. So this has always been done, maybe not on a scale predicted by the researchers, but there nonetheless. I've taken this even farther, getting into American roots and folk music, going way back and enjoying every minute of it.

The thing that I noticed as I perused the Institute's publications is that they all share a "well, d'uh" attitutde to me. Maybe it's just that I read entirely way too much, or that the things they bring up are concerns for me as well, but none of it is really earth-shattering. You can read the public sample here. While the journal is intended to provide large corporations the "hip" cool-hunting edge into the American psyche, it's not really all that revolutionary. Those on the bleeding-edge of culture are already beyond these trends. They're geared toward middle American values and mores, which is more of the population than some would like to admit. BUt it's still interesting to read and laugh at.

'Til later...

It was a truly eventful holiday season, so much so that I haven't had a chance to write anything about it. Suffice to say the picture above just about sums it up. We spent Christmas at the in-laws. The day before we got there, the TV broke. I'm not a huge TV person, but it is nice to have it around. But it was broke adn the girls nearly had a fit. So we did what all goo red-necks do: put the working TV on top of the disabled TV... I really feel like part of the family, they even fight in front of me. But I did spend most of the weekend performing tech support for bot my father and sister in-law. I guess that goes with the territory. I keep thinking I need to start charging for that... Like I said though, it was great. For once, I totally surprised my wife with her gifts. She was not expecting what she received adn she loved every one. Finally, I've learned how to do this.

But it was good. Along with millions of other people this year, I too unwrapped an iPod (the 512 Shuffle) and absolutely love it. I won't go on about it, because it has already been written, but this was rather funny: "iPod Shuffle Voted White Trash King". The confirming factor of that was that Wal-Mart was basically sold out of every iPod accessory they had, except a couple of iTrips and iTunes cards, (now remember this particular Wal-Mart is in red-neck country). I keep joking with my wife that we need to stop resisting, put a car on blocks in the yard, start dressing up in wife-beaters, knock out a couple of teeth and move into a single-wide. For some reason it just doesn't appeal to her and I don't know why...

And like this kid (who may or not be real), I didn't get an XBOX 360 either. Which suits me just fine, I have enough to do without plunking myself in front of it for the rest of Spring Semester.

And speaking of Spring Semester, I only have 1 more left. That's right, in about 18 weeks, yours truly will have to ability to test for his license. It scares the hell out of me, but I know that it will be a good thing. There's just a couple more hurdles to jump through, like Microbiology and Advanced Med-Surg Nursing and of course my senior "project", Capstone. But as the saying goes, I've made it this far already, now is not the time to start slacking. Today I've been consumed with getting things ready, getting into classes and making plans for the end fo school, all the while freaking out about whether or not I'm good enough to get into what I want to get into. So much for self-confidnence, eh?

But a word about New Years. We live in a small town in Northern Arizona. Not particularly small, but small by my standards. For New Years, we drop a Pine Cone. Yes, a Pine Cone. I'm not making this up. They hang it off of one of the old hotels in downtown with an LED sign counting down to New Years, and it drops just like the Ball in Times Square. Of course at about midnight +2 minutes, they hoist it back up, ruining the illusion. But it is fun, cram hundreds of people, many of them very drunk, on a cold night into a public area and call it a party. Hilarity ensues. People started yelling and screaming 10 minutes before midnight, in a bout of prematurity. The bars emptied and we became close friends with many stranggers in the mad press of humanity that flooded the streets. This year we couldn't even count right, as the crowd was totally off from the clock, but corrected itself at about 4 seconds before. So another year ended in the same way it began, loudly, racously and with great fanfare. Here's to a better year!

'Til later...