The perils of the modern student

I thought it was dangerous NOT to bring a notebook and pen to class when I went to PrivateU. Most of the time we got handouts of every professor's PowerPoint presentation.

One day, the copier broke. You'd have thought the world ended with some of the kids (yes, because they were much younger than me) went into hysterics."Go to the computer room and ask them if you can borrow some paper." I said. (I had my own and a laptop to take notes.)

After several students were peeled off the lecture hall ceiling, they got their wits and got the paper.

So tonight as I'm going through my homework for the latest class, I realize that I bought two e-books this semester because I waited too long to order the real ones.

Well, how on earth do you reference your citations in perfect APA format if you don't have page numbers? Thanks to my dear Google (aka the lifesaver) I found the answer. Yes, people, the APA folks have known about this for years already.

Welcome to the 21st century, RehabRN. I like my e-books. They are a lot lighter than the real ones!

That is all...back to homework. Enjoy your weekend no matter where you are.

It's Friday

And one day, I'm glad is over. My very last paper of grad school is finally done.

But nothing today could be as noteworthy (or notorious) as the school shooting in Connecticut today.

As a mother of a child who could have gone to school there (Bubba's the right age group), I am numb. Numb to think that someone would kill his mother, steal his brother's identity, then go and kill as many as possible in an elementary school.

I could somewhat understand if the shooter chose adults with whom he had a grievance, but he did not. He killed defenseless little children.

Some things I just can't understand...the terror, the grief, the unspeakable sadness for families, first responders, for all the people of Newtown.

I will just pray. For all of them.

Sometimes you're the windshield...

And sometimes, you're the bug, as the song says. Nevertheless, it's Friday and I survived.

It was a busy week punctuated by technical difficulties, rascally coworkers, and stressed out providers who bark orders at you, then apologize later (after you've got a nice case of indigestion).

That was just my side of the house in the beauty of the old, untouched, 70s era Hotel. The new, renovated part of the Hotel is shiny, and the infection control nurse is worried about me. "If you don't have a sink in there where you see patients, what are you going to do?"

Turns out I do have a sink, since I use a clinic room that has one. Problem averted. He/she makes me nervous since one of the therapists tried putting the popcorn machine used by the volunteer group in my clinic room. "No dice." I told the therapist. "We have to move it or it will be confiscated." Thankfully, we found a couple of legal spots for the machine in the renovated Hotel section down the hall. Yes, we'll have to walk, but it has its own spot ensconced next to the nutrition refrigerator.

There was sadness, too. One of our very sick patients got back home and died the other day. He was a sort I wasn't sure would get out of the Hotel. He was elderly and got sick while he was over for his annual check-up. He just bounced back and forth for a while. I was happy to see he was up and motoring around with his wife, who became a minor celebrity on the unit when she was featured in a newspaper story about our town before he left us. They never did hold that "autograph session" I was always teasing them about in the lobby, since we have a paper box nearby.

Godspeed Mr. V.  You fought the good fight. We'll miss you and your "famous" wife, too.

I do take chances, too

I take my chances, yeah I don't cling to remorse or regret
I take my chances, I take my chances, every chance I get
--Mary Chapin Carpenter, I take my chances, 1992

And since the instructor told us to go for it, no APA format needed, I took that chance.
Looks like it paid off  in a good review...yes!