Still kick'n
Yeah, I'm still here. I guess if I'm going to have a blog for anyone to look at, I ought to post something once in a while. Since my last post just a few things have occurred.
The spring semester at Alvernia is over. I finished classes on a Friday and on the following Monday started at Hershey Medical Center as a "Nurse Extern I" (NEI). My job description at this point is somewhat comparable to a CNA/PCA. I am getting a lot of hands on experience and getting to see what it is like to routinely work on a very busy med-surg floor. However, the educational aspect of practice does not seem to be driven as much as it is in college. Yes, I am learning things but not as much as I expected to. I am getting some much needed hands-on practice though.
We are being given two half-days to spend time in observation on a special floor of our choice. I did the first day already, and picked the PACU (Post-Anasthesia Care Unit, aka recovery room). It wasn't as intense as I expected, because the anasthesiologist would bring the patients back in a far more stable condition than I expected. I made the mistake of going down to the PACU right away at 7:00 AM when I was supposed to only go at 9:00. They said I should just stay though, and I got to watch them do some nerve blocks before the patients were sent of to the OR. I have picked the SICU (Surgical Intensive Care Unit) as my placement for the second observational day, but haven't gone yet. Maybe I'll post something about that later.
This past Thursday, the 21st, summer classes at RACC have started and I am enrolled in two sections, Statistics and Philosophy, worth a total of six credits. I go to classes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and work at least three 12 hour shifts per week at Hershey. The externship at Hershey is officially completed at the end of ten weeks, so that is approximately halfway done. I was told that I would likely be able to briefly interview with someone in the department that schedules "float" personnel, and continue working as an aid wherever I would be needed throughout the hospital for the rest of the summer if I like. Also, my boss from last summer would immediately and gladly if I would want to go back. From a financial standpoint it would be better to go back to building silo's, but from an educational standpoint it would be better to stay at Hershey.
As if that all isn't enough to keep me busy, I've also been trying to get some "summer fun" projects done. I am the proud owner of what appears to be a gloriously unsophisticated conglomeration of Chevy S-10 pickups and blazers. I have a '91 4wd pickup that I bought after crashing my first vehicle back in 2000. It has 180K miles on it now and is rusting out. I want to sell it later this year. Then there is a '93 2wd pickup that is a lowrider. I bought that one because I missed that first lowrider that I crashed. I used to drive it with the factory engine, but it never ran right, so I junked the engine. Now that it has sat motionless in the garage ever since a few months before I started college three years ago, I finally got it back out, and am in trying to put what I hope is a better engine and transmission in it. Then there are the three sorry looking S-10 Blazers that I have. The blue one is nearly stripped, in true Stauffer fashion, of all it's good parts, and will soon be heading off to the junk yard, but for now it decorates the driveway for all the neighborhood to see. ....and my niece wonders why they call me a redneck.... :-) That Blazer was my tuff-truck last year until it suffered a bent frame from ramming into a concrete barrier and trying to push it around in the arena at Shartlesville. This year a couple of my buddies helped me take all the parts, including our homemade roll bar, out of the blue Blazer and put them into a red & black blazer that I got for cheap from a firefighter that I run calls with at Bernville. We had the red & black Blazer ready to go to the tough trucks one week after the spring semester at Alvernia ended. Quick work. The only other S-10 Blazer I have is a Grey one that I got as a package deal along with the red/black one. The interior and the body are not in perfect shape, but not bad for as old as it is. I think it has a blown head gasket though, so I plan to pull that engine out and either fix it or put another one that I have into it.
Till it's all said and done I hope to drive my lowrider to school this fall and have the grey blazer on the road before the snow flies this winter. I'll use the grey blazer for winter driving because it is 4wd. The red/black tuff truck is running, and immediately available to go mudd'n or field hopping, or whatever you call it, or to give my nephews some "driving lessons." Once all of this is accomplished, I hope to get rid of everything else.
School starts at Alvernia for the autum on August 27. Currently I am registered for 17 credits, but I have never attempted that many before and will probably drop one of the classes before the semester even starts. I'll admit it, I'm not the brightest student out there. The choice of classes to drop is either Spanish II, and take it in the spring of '08, or else drop the genetics class which would be optional anyway. I want the genetics class because it is the only biology class that I need yet to obtain a minor in biology. Choices, choices.... maybe I should just try to wing it and take all 17 credits anyway. I'll be glad when these next few months are past. I'm hoping that I'll be able to focus more intently on the nursing classes during my last three semesters of college, and graduate feeling more ready to go.
Oh, by the way, the kittens pictured below in the last blog are gone; we gave them to a neighbor. Also, I've decided on a name for that black cat: Nittany.
The spring semester at Alvernia is over. I finished classes on a Friday and on the following Monday started at Hershey Medical Center as a "Nurse Extern I" (NEI). My job description at this point is somewhat comparable to a CNA/PCA. I am getting a lot of hands on experience and getting to see what it is like to routinely work on a very busy med-surg floor. However, the educational aspect of practice does not seem to be driven as much as it is in college. Yes, I am learning things but not as much as I expected to. I am getting some much needed hands-on practice though.
We are being given two half-days to spend time in observation on a special floor of our choice. I did the first day already, and picked the PACU (Post-Anasthesia Care Unit, aka recovery room). It wasn't as intense as I expected, because the anasthesiologist would bring the patients back in a far more stable condition than I expected. I made the mistake of going down to the PACU right away at 7:00 AM when I was supposed to only go at 9:00. They said I should just stay though, and I got to watch them do some nerve blocks before the patients were sent of to the OR. I have picked the SICU (Surgical Intensive Care Unit) as my placement for the second observational day, but haven't gone yet. Maybe I'll post something about that later.
This past Thursday, the 21st, summer classes at RACC have started and I am enrolled in two sections, Statistics and Philosophy, worth a total of six credits. I go to classes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and work at least three 12 hour shifts per week at Hershey. The externship at Hershey is officially completed at the end of ten weeks, so that is approximately halfway done. I was told that I would likely be able to briefly interview with someone in the department that schedules "float" personnel, and continue working as an aid wherever I would be needed throughout the hospital for the rest of the summer if I like. Also, my boss from last summer would immediately and gladly if I would want to go back. From a financial standpoint it would be better to go back to building silo's, but from an educational standpoint it would be better to stay at Hershey.
As if that all isn't enough to keep me busy, I've also been trying to get some "summer fun" projects done. I am the proud owner of what appears to be a gloriously unsophisticated conglomeration of Chevy S-10 pickups and blazers. I have a '91 4wd pickup that I bought after crashing my first vehicle back in 2000. It has 180K miles on it now and is rusting out. I want to sell it later this year. Then there is a '93 2wd pickup that is a lowrider. I bought that one because I missed that first lowrider that I crashed. I used to drive it with the factory engine, but it never ran right, so I junked the engine. Now that it has sat motionless in the garage ever since a few months before I started college three years ago, I finally got it back out, and am in trying to put what I hope is a better engine and transmission in it. Then there are the three sorry looking S-10 Blazers that I have. The blue one is nearly stripped, in true Stauffer fashion, of all it's good parts, and will soon be heading off to the junk yard, but for now it decorates the driveway for all the neighborhood to see. ....and my niece wonders why they call me a redneck.... :-) That Blazer was my tuff-truck last year until it suffered a bent frame from ramming into a concrete barrier and trying to push it around in the arena at Shartlesville. This year a couple of my buddies helped me take all the parts, including our homemade roll bar, out of the blue Blazer and put them into a red & black blazer that I got for cheap from a firefighter that I run calls with at Bernville. We had the red & black Blazer ready to go to the tough trucks one week after the spring semester at Alvernia ended. Quick work. The only other S-10 Blazer I have is a Grey one that I got as a package deal along with the red/black one. The interior and the body are not in perfect shape, but not bad for as old as it is. I think it has a blown head gasket though, so I plan to pull that engine out and either fix it or put another one that I have into it.
Till it's all said and done I hope to drive my lowrider to school this fall and have the grey blazer on the road before the snow flies this winter. I'll use the grey blazer for winter driving because it is 4wd. The red/black tuff truck is running, and immediately available to go mudd'n or field hopping, or whatever you call it, or to give my nephews some "driving lessons." Once all of this is accomplished, I hope to get rid of everything else.
School starts at Alvernia for the autum on August 27. Currently I am registered for 17 credits, but I have never attempted that many before and will probably drop one of the classes before the semester even starts. I'll admit it, I'm not the brightest student out there. The choice of classes to drop is either Spanish II, and take it in the spring of '08, or else drop the genetics class which would be optional anyway. I want the genetics class because it is the only biology class that I need yet to obtain a minor in biology. Choices, choices.... maybe I should just try to wing it and take all 17 credits anyway. I'll be glad when these next few months are past. I'm hoping that I'll be able to focus more intently on the nursing classes during my last three semesters of college, and graduate feeling more ready to go.
Oh, by the way, the kittens pictured below in the last blog are gone; we gave them to a neighbor. Also, I've decided on a name for that black cat: Nittany.
posted by GKStauffer at 19:31
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