Writing, writing, writing

Yes, I'm doing homework. Theories are the name of the game this week and boy, are they dry!

When I'm not working on homework, I got notice recently that I will have another poem published in PublicU's arts journal. Should be interesting to see if any other nursing students were selected. Last year, I was the lone nursing student/nurse to be selected.

Back to writing! Must keep going before work!

Spent

I'm still tired from my weekend shifts. It does not help that I slept horribly last night. I had what was one of my biggest meetings today. I am in contention for a brand new position at the Hotel and while it was posted on job hunting sites galore, there are very few people being considered.

Happily, I made it through our meeting/interview without a hitch. I believe I made my points that I would be a good person to work at this new Hotel position. It involves management, but is so far removed from my current work (and that of the SU). It will require a lot of mental stamina, more than physical, and not a lot of perks (no office, but plenty of freedom).

Only time will tell...more stories to tell later. Stay tuned.

Not exactly appropriate

Ah, I LOVE being in charge of the Hotel Rehab (yes, I say that with much, much irony). Thankfully, my last spate of being at the wheel were relatively busy, then boring. Boring is not bad when one is in charge.

So much fun. Got to do a lot of education. One, why does Nurse X disappear with Patient Y, asked one of our newer to us nurses? And the  answer is ...she always does when Patient Y comes in for his annual checkup. Is it appropriate that she leaves her other patients to take care of this one? Not really, but since she's a fave of the nurse manager, it happens.


Mr. D., one of our newest rehabbers is doing really well, now that he realizes that we are in the business of getting you to function to your highest ability. He's going out with the therapists and doing more every day. I'm just crossing my fingers that this continues, because he's getting to the A student status among our patients really fast.

I love it when people realize a) we are not really a hotel,  b) inpatient rehab is merely a stop on the journey, and c) we can really help you help yourself if you listen and do what we ask.

You only get as much out of rehab as you put into it.

More to come....

Hootin' an' hollerin'

Yes, the March Madness continues. The woo-hoos, and "Go big blue" chants were echoing in the hallways recently. Everyone who can get out of bed is getting into the fever of March Madness, and the ones who can't are still getting involved. One of our normally needy characters was up in his wheelchair and he actually got his roommate some pizza while a group of folks were watching the basketball games recently. It's made the last couple of shifts very pleasant, after some craziness late last week.

Spring is still trying to come back, and so are some of our regular visitors, just like the famous swallows. One is marooned at another facility waiting to get in, since we don't have an isolation room (very common story at the Hotel) for his/her bug. Another is getting ready to move across the country, so he/she's coming to us for a check up before heading out on the big trip.

And it'll be fun in the RehabRN house soon...party time for Dahey. Bubba is very excited, since the birthday candles will be out again.

Stay tuned...

You wanna go?

Some veterans who like snow will be hitting the slopes in Snowmass, CO for this year's Winter Sports Clinic.

And if you're in NY, you might appreciate this article about the senior centers in the city and throughout the state in today's NY Times.

Everyone NEEDS some place to go. Folks, remember even if you don't belong to one of these groups, you can always volunteer to help them out, or find a similar operation in your own neck of the woods.

Enjoy your day wherever you are!

Lessons in life

Sometimes you just have to pass on opportunities that come your way.

I did that on a recent shift when the Slug brought his/her kids to the unit while they waited for Parent #2 to pick them up.

Tweener, the Slug's sporting child came in while I was eating and asked, "Is it fun to work with  my Parent (the Slug)?" Of course, I immediately quashed the urge to jump all over that one. Kids in Tweener's age group like sarcasm, but tend to feed it right back to parents when they think it's needed, especially as a weapon. Tweener decided to regale me with the "My parent doesn't do this, is grumpy at home and sometimes mean. They say Parent is a lot of fun to work with."

I remembered my New Year's resolution to get out of the gossip and downing of others, so I had a good time using those therapeutic communication skills to extricate myself.

"Well," I said, "You know, nursing, especially here at the Hotel, can be a hard job. (Tweener shakes head) Do you want to be a nurse?"

Tweener says yes, but he/she's really interested in veterinary stuff, however, he/she's not sure about drawing blood.

"You know," I said, "You might change your mind. It's not surprising that it seems scary. It's a job we have to do, but if you're good at it, you learn how to do it without hurting anyone." Tweener nodded head in affirmation.

"I'm going to go get some pizza. See ya!"

And so another placid shift passed at the Hotel and I thanked my lucky stars, even as I scraped the springtime snow off my car.

Stay tuned...

It's snowing again...

Okay, that's not this song but even though the calendar says spring, it's snowing in RehabLand.

What fun!

Queen of BBS

Yes, I am old enough to remember this BBS, but I never had a computer to use it while it was in its heyday.

The BBS I'm talking about it is the crux of what we do as rehab nurses. My preceptor G. told me as a young rehab nurse that most of what we do is about "bowel, bladder and skin." Yes, it surely is, and I had a lot of time to discuss these issues with a couple of patients recently.

Eddie is a guy who's had a lot of bad luck. His Hummer was attacked in Iraq and he lost three buddies. He made it out of there with a mild TBI and his life. He recuperated and things were going along nicely, when he was minding his own business driving home one night and ran off the road dodging wildlife in the rural area he lives in. As a result, he became a paraplegic.

He's still young enough to see the bowel routine as a boring routine. And since it becomes a synchronized routine for many patients, you can expect results at about the same time every day or every other day, depending on how you do it. Yes, he had results at his usual time, while he was doing something else he wanted to do. Lots of cleanup followed--to him, the wheelchair and his clothes. He was upset, but I managed everything so in the end, he was laughing. There are worse things...

Happily, while it's been crazy at the Hotel, we've been  able to get things done. It's required a lot of teamwork. People feeding other people, people transferring people, people helping vendors bring in new mattresses. I may have only sat down once or twice, but we got things done.

Let's hope it stays that way! Stay tuned...

Stealth operations in progress

Planning birthday for Dahey. Will be fun trying to do work while he's around this weekend. May have to invent some excuses.

More to come.

Sadness

The last line really got me...
In Japan, Hasty Burial for the Dead (from www.nytimes.com)

In the news...

Warning: Leaving a rehab nurse to her own devices to surf the 'net while the educators debate over who's doing the central line checkoff at the preceptor fest may lead to some Internet entertainment.

I had no idea...
I just found out the Ken doll was discontinued in 2004 (What did Barbie need him for anyway?) Never fear, doll aficianados, Ken is back...and he'll resemble a football player. W.T....?

Anywho, for all you Iowa State Cyclones, Kenny's gonna look like this character who won a contest.

Somehow...
I don't think this recent study featured in Reuters is going to keep any of our folks at the Hotel from requesting Viagra et al. That surely didn't stop Mr. D. from asking recently, even though his wife died years ago.

Yes, sex can kill you, US study shows

I think maybe he's just going to ask for more bran muffins and salads, if eating fiber really can reduce heart disease (from UPI)

So...
If I'm going to eat today, it's gonna be comfort food. Maybe not the recipe in this article, but it's going to be good.

Stay tuned...

What a difference

Yes, a day does make a difference. I did not feel as if I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  Same patients (minus the admit), but more quiet and getting things done. I felt as if I accomplished something.

There always is something lacking in communication, though. One of my patients was crabby, because I took his wheelchair from his favorite spot and moved it. This was for a number of safety reasons, but he was pouting  all day, according to our NP. I did a couple of treatments and he slept most of the day.

My other patient is a rehab nurse's worst nightmare or trainwreck. Imagine a non-compliant diabetic who has survived major, major surgery (and has the scars to prove it), a G-tube among other tubes, and is just plain flighty. One minute, he/she can't get up, then family comes, poof! All's well. We push him/her to do therapy and sometimes it works, sometimes not. If we were a CMS supported rehab, he/she'd have been out on the streets long ago. 

At the end of the day, I went to a meeting. I was horribly unprepared because the nurse who actually attends our regularly scheduled department meeting just forgot to tell me about it. I was supposed to report nursing's views on a patient I've seen, but barely know. Guess I'll be busy learning about him/her for the next meeting!

Now, Bubba has enlisted me to hang the hummingbird feeder. We'll see how that goes...more to come.

I need track shoes

On some days this is true and recent shift was one of those days. My two patients were slow, so I read up a little on them, got things going, then my admission (one of several, so all RNs got one) shows up almost 2 hours early.

It was just run, run, run after that. One catheter works, one doesn't. Had to call in the catheter cavalry (our resource nurse) to get the  last one in. Not sure how the patient's home health nurse got a non-Coude in him, but I went with the resource nurse's suggestion of a Coude. Happily, we had one in his size. Much joy!

At least, I wasn't ordered to get urine drug screens on a few of our folks, like some of my coworkers. Apparently, the weather was so nice this weekend, a few patients found some interesting "herbs" in the nearby forest area. The doc on call was suspicious yesterday and he/she decided to make it a fun Monday by requesting the drug tests.

I also got a couple of other tasks since one of the nurses went home early, but got them done and out the door I went. It was just stupid.

Bubba decided not to go to baseball practice this afternoon. With the beginning of spring, we are now getting into the beginning of allergy season here in RehabLand.

More later...stay tuned!

Spring break, yes!

Finally! Grad school is closed! No homework this week. A little related reading for next week's assignment, but no time crunch to finish all the homework by 5PM on Friday.

What a way to celebrate the first day of Spring! If not, just find something pretty like these Sunday Sweets. Give me a daisy or two, or that lily-of-the-valley one...lovely!

Sometimes a good thing...

Is not so good, especially if you're in Bolivia and like your quinoa. This newest "superfood" is now expensive since everyone in the world wants to eat it.

Now, I'm back to perusing my recipes for dinner. More to come...

Virus?

The stare.
The glaze over their eyes.
Big screen TV is on.
They have a piece of paper and snacks in front of them.
Someone gasps when a person asks to watch something else.


Yes, the illness they call March Madness has descended on RehabLand. All we can do is let it run its course, for there is no cure.

Dreams

Yes, they sure can seem like reality, at least, that's what one of my patients told me recently.

Mike (not his real name) was snoozing away with his CPAP on, when I came by to ask him when he wanted to get ready to get up. He blinked and looked at me with eyes as large as saucers and said, "I'm so glad you woke me up. My brother just got shot."

I had heard it was a rough night in his room in report and he told me, "No, I just had a dream I was out hunting with my brother and he had just got this huge buck and then someone shot him in the chest." Needless to say, I was a bit stunned.

Mike continued and said he wanted to get ready, so I set him up to do so. I have to help him wash his legs and feet and as I was doing that, he told me, "You know, I've had those near death experiences."

"Really?" I said. "Was it like they say it can be with the light and all?" Mike shook his head and said it was, and one instance, he said, "It was the softest, sweetest light I have ever seen. I felt so peaceful. But I couldn't go."

So I asked him why not. "Well, I could tell my girlfriend was in the room and I asked if I could take her, and they said no. So I went back, woke up, and there she was, holding my hand."

Thankfully, Mike didn't dream about his own death. That is a story that really scares me. Over the short period of time that I've been a nurse, I've only had three patients tell me they dreamed about dying and or seeing dead people in their dreams.

Those same three are no longer with us. They died within months of those dreams. It kind of scared me at first, but I realized, in all of them, that it was not a fearful dream, but rather a comforting one, because they were not alone.

Truth or fiction

1. Patient NPO secondary to flunking his swallow test is allowed to "swish in his/her mouth and spit" a celebration Oreo cookie milkshake from a local restaurant per MD after he already did it.

Same patient now has WBCs of 16000 and diagnosis of aspiration pneumonia.

2. Patient returns with odd strings poking out of left dorsal back after lithotripsy. Same patient says, "If I can't lift more than 10 lbs, how can I transfer myself when I weigh over 200?

3. On patient discharge sheet from World Renown Hospital....maybe they missed this part on the diagnosis.
"If you feel dizzy after taking pain medication, do not attempt to walk or drive."
Diagnosis: paraplegia secondary to MVA.

Only you can decide...more later

Little miracles

First, it was the 60 year old man floating on his roof.

Today, some survivors were found in the rubble.

Finally, when you have to make a terrible choice in a split second, sometimes, somewhere, someone is looking out for you.

And yes, I do believe all dogs go to Heaven.

Charge of the Light Brigade

I got a lot of requests when I was on rounds as the charge nurse recently. Lots of emergency calls on the call light: "Could someone come over here and turn off these lights?" Yes, even the charge nurse runs around turning off lights when all the fun stuff comes on TV. It's only an emergency if it puts a glare on your TV.

The charge nurse brigade just got some new tasks since the boss is away training. The evening charges get to make the assignment, because the daytime charges (doing boss's job while he/she is away) refuse to do it. "I don't want people mad at me!" said Daytime Charge Nurses. I'm having flashbacks to Saintarama. Fortunately, I didn't have anyone changing it when I wasn't looking, as happened there.

I did have one very passive-aggressive 12 hour person, who I'll call D (for Diva) who wasn't too excited with  her assignment. I gave D, a nurse assistant, the same assignment as the night before (plus one person) and she stood around for the first hour of the shift in our patient lounge, far in the back, kvetching away with one of the nurses. Perhaps she  was perturbed that she didn't get a light assignment, since she thought she deserved one. The other nurse she talked to had a lighter assignment than D because she can pass meds, which D cannot. Everyone else had 3-4 people (one of my better nurses had 5 until a 12 hour person came in to pick up part of the assignment) and so did D. Somehow, I don't see how that's so tragic. No one else complained.

To top it all, one of her patients, Mr. X., who was pretty much self-care, said she only came in the room once during the four hours she was supposed to be taking care of him. Thankfully, one of my other nurse assistants (who had a patient  in the same room) saved the day by helping Mr. X out. Since Mr. X. was a new admit, his new nurse (D's replacement) and I straightened the rest of his paperwork out by the end of the shift.

Despite everything, we did have a good shift. K. the charge on the night shift came in early and ran a very special errand. She got goodies so the night shift could celebrate with Mr. A. on the morning of his birthday. Mr. A. has been on our unit for nearly a year. The night crew all went to his room and sang Happy Birthday when the breakfast trays showed up. His nurse on evenings bought him a present he'll really enjoy: Milky Way minis.

All in all, between drama and sugar in all forms, it wasn't a bad night.Stay tuned. More to come...

A break in the action

Since I had one here in the SU (I'm only here for a day...) I thought I'd get this latest one out while I was thinking of it and since the last two patients just cancelled due to weather (the "too wet" excuse, of course!).

=================================================================

Dear Gen Y Coworker:

Yes, this is a gravy job. You make way more money than in your previous job as a driving instructor (who had personal experience with DUIs). This job means you can take all sorts of groovy trips every freaking month because of your 12 hour shifts and regale all the old people with them, since they view you with a sense of awe and contempt.

But please stop telling me how "boring it all is" today. I'm tired of answering all your call lights while you text the latest paramour about when you're leaving to gas up the car and pick him/her up.

And just a tip, asking to leave early, "just because" won't work with the charge nurse. You'd need to think of something else, like that "almost perforated appendix" story from a month ago.

Don't forget your AAA card in case your rider can't change a tire, or look cute enough to stop traffic.

Sincerely not,

RehabRN

Call a spade a spade

Working with F, I learn a lot of things that happen on the night shift. She is in tuned to a lot of things going on.

Recently, F. discussed how many people we work with are passive aggressive. When we looked at what's going on, we figured that 90% of the people we work with fit the profile. Is it because of our boss, or our environment? It sure makes this look like it's happening at our place.

Besides the latest state of aggression, the latest wave of flu is hitting the unit. People are dropping like flies. It sure would be nice if those same people might think about getting a flu shot next year...or staying home when they're contagious, so they don't share it with the rest of us.

Should be fun to see how the rest of the week goes. Stay tuned!

A cool gadget

I saw one of our patients with a PICC line come in with these from PrivateU when he had his surgery.

SwabFlush was just FDA approved. I hope they start appearing at Madison. What a handy gadget!

The end of vacation

Things to do:

1. Make lunch and food for Dahey and Bubba.
2. Get uniforms ready.
3. Get mentally prepared for whatever may come my way. Go in early and read all the e-mails before the beginning of shift.
4. Pray Monday flies by. They tend to be busy.
5. Work on papers, etc., before spring break, so I can enjoy it, even if I'm not going to some warm beach somewhere.

More to come...

Whole lotta shakin'

It's only March and the earthquakes just keep coming. The photos of the quake and tsunami in Japan and warnings in Hawaii are just unreal.

Having lots of nuclear discussions around the house with the expert, which makes life interesting.

The last hurrah

I finally completed my third and final trip to Ye Old Mechanic to get the car repaired. My wallet, happily, still has some cash in it, though not as much as I'd like.

More to come...on to Friday night fish fry fun with the boys (say that fast five times!).

Momma took a day

Yes, I took a day of my own vacation and did everything for me. Got my tires rotated. Went for an annual check up including those smashing tests. Even filed and buffed my nails (ran out of polish, so I decided to wait).

I also did some networking with some very important nurses who happened to be nearby at a networking shindig. Met lots of nice people and they even had really good cookies in between sessions.  Some people were from out of town, so I got to tell them about the good stuff in the neighborhood they were staying in, because we all love tourists in our town, especially this time of year, when it's usually slow.

And to finish Momma's day off, I went to a posh watering hole (PoshBar) with some of my old coworkers from my other life. With all the mergers and acquisitions lately, only one or two people are still working at MegaCompany. We had a blast eating all of those cheap appetizers. The waitress even  forgot to ring up three sodas I drank. I noticed  it on my bill and told her. "Oh, I'm not worried about those."

Consequently, she got a nice tip. I have no idea what PoshBar normally charged for those, but I made sure I covered it on my tab. As I learned in that other life, it's always important to keep your server happy.

Stay tuned...this staycation ain't over yet!

Laundry

Since this is a recurrent theme in my life lately, I really enjoyed this post over at AJN's Off the Charts blog about laundry.

All those tricks I learned before I became a nurse, sure did come in handy!

Stay tuned...

Stirring things up...

Yes, I sure was doing that today. No dust bunny was safe here at the RehabRN house.

Thank goodness for Endust! I'm a second generation Endust evangelist and no, I'm not paid to endorse the product. However, I have been a happy user for years. I really needed it in a couple of places, especially on those ceiling fan blades.

Back to stirring things up with the last of the cars tomorrow, then doing my own regularly scheduled maintenance.

More to come...

Can't remember a thing?

Yes, another installment from RehabRN, who today, is enjoying another installment of how many times can you take your car to get repaired while you're on vacation. (At least, I have time).

Check out this opinion article I read today: Sexy ruses to stop forgetting to remember (courtesy www.nytimes.com)

I don't like cottage cheese. May have to add chocolate pudding instead for Russell Crowe or George Clooney to wallow around in . ;->

Sometimes you wanna go...

Where everybody knows your name. And if you're a kid named Stockton, that would be to Spokane.

Yes, it's March...and Madness is not far behind. Lo and behold, the mania has invaded the wild world of RehabRN. Bubba is falling asleep to the games he can get on the radio.

Oh, they're resting up right now, but look out world! They're getting ready...

Don't be a smuggie

It's raining buckets here and yours truly's trapped inside with WildDog, who's fallen asleep on his favorite wooly rug.

Ah, I love e-mail, but that darned Reply All button, and the people who feel they have to use it to tell everyone what they feel about every.little.thing. (including said e-mail)

Just remember, don't be a smuggie. Don't know what that is? Check the article....and have a great day!

Go to Plan B

Decide you're going to clean out the garage today. Look at weather forecast. Notice large chunk of rain heading your way.

Too late to go hide under the covers! Now it's time to go to Plan B. We'll see what happens, so stay tuned.

In the news, part 2

Amid all the fun and excitement running errands, keeping a little boy out of trouble and working on homework, I checked out some health-related goodies today on the internet. Hope you enjoy!

Disabled?
If you are, please don't get caught doing lots of heavy, manual labor like these folks. (courtesy of our friends at www.bbc.co.uk)

I guess JCAHO is messing with tradition...
Yes, doctor slang is rapidly disappearing according to this article.(also from our friends at the BBC)

Hungry?
If you need a snack and are getting tired of all these folks telling you what to eat, check out the latest hearty muffin recipes. (courtesy www.nytimes.com)

In the news...

I found this article intriguing, and I'm sure a few other nurses out there might, too.
Gotta go? You may make the best decisions with a full bladder (from www.yahoo.com)

So does that mean most of my coworkers, when we're on a busy shift, should have tip-top decision skills? If only it were that easy...

Another fave (I love it when they count...)
Five secrets women shouldn't keep from their doctors (also www.yahoo.com)

And finally, because I just woke up from a nap and I can agree...
One in three adults sleep less than 7 hours a night 

Stay tuned...now I'm awake, you never know what's gonna happen! Enjoy your day wherever you are.

In the bus station

I read this article today about psychiatrists with a heavy heart. Pushing people through an office every 15 minutes just to give them pills and ship them out is not going to solve their problems.

How many people will have to kill themselves or be hospitalized for long periods for insurance companies to figure this out?

Just sayin'...

Say it!

Can I get an amen from someone out there, please!


Ah, yes, I'm so happy to report that RehabRN will be escaping the confines of the Hotel for the carefree days of waking up sans alarm clock. Sure, I'll be staycationing this time, but I plan on having a good old time, cleaning, meeting, greeting and hanging out with Bubba, who'll be starting his spring break.

My day was startling to start. What happens when you decide to be the nice nurse to one of the biggest pain-in-the-butt patients on the unit and take away his breakfast tray first thing? He sabotages you by positioning his old glass of iced tea just so, that it goes down the front of you as you move to take the tray away. Nice.

Happily, the day was better. The boss let me order a book. He gets it free anyway, so it's nice he's thinking of me. Traveling partner had a good time messing with him, since as brilliant as he is, he's just figured out that we're friends, which is highly entertaining. "Why yes, Boss, I do talk to her every day I'm here." she said as a shocker when he asked if she knew where I was. We just laughed at the irony of that.

My other patient, Mr. D., was simple to take care of today. Get him evaluated, get him ready and get him up. No fuss, no muss. 

His next door neighbors still miss me. I took care of these two characters, who should be called Click and Clack  for a week and now, they're raving fans. They rave to other staff about how much they like me, which of course, irritates the hell out of them. One nurse assistant actually said, "Well, education and being nice isn't everything." when Clack told her he thought I was very educated and knowledgeable.

In terms of what's going on with patients, we had a lot of things going. One guy came in for a specialty surgery evaluation, among his other issues. Another patient had lots of trouble with his/her hot room and his/her MS. The heating and cooling is so messed up with the unseasonable temperatures, that we had to call the maintenance folks to fix things, so said patient could rest and be comfortable. I've become used to it, I guess. So far, I have yet to work on a rehab unit where the heating and cooling works as it should.

Dahey even had time to come visit me at work when I needed him to do a special errand. It was very nice. As a result, my day finished smoothly and I left work on time.

Can't wait to just enjoy the weekend and relax.  Stay tuned!

Check out the latest CoS

Kim's got a double edition over at emergiblog, so go check it out.

Revelations

It's always fun to find out you've forgotten to pay a bill, then wonder why something doesn't work, which happened to me this week.  Luckily, everything was quickly resolved.

Some people you work with can be supportive at one moment, then totally against you the next, and back again by the time you walk out the door to say goodbye. I found this out when a philosophical discussion went awry today. The older nurses still look down on anyone with more advanced degrees than they have, no matter how good the person may be.

One e-mail can make you think of a lot. I found out one of my last Saintarama patients died recently. D. was a Marine who dropped out on a maneuver one day. They thought a shell hit him but he was hit by disease which left him paralyzed. D. told me I'd make a fine nurse at Madison and he'd probably see me every so often. I saw D. frequently on the unit. D. was a leader in a major organization in our region that assists people with disabilities. I didn't know it until later, but D. was also a guy who protested and even got thrown (or threw himself, depending on the protest) out of his wheelchair.


D. gave me confidence to be the nurse I am today. "You are a great nurse," D. told me in my very first year. "Go out and get them!"

And so I go again, amid slings, arrows and every manner of object they can hurl, real or imagined. As Momma used to say, "every knock's a boost".

More later...

Boring start? Not!

Oh, it's always fun when your day starts slow and gets really, really fast. I get ready to start the day getting patients up and around. It's easy with the first patient, set up, go then come back.

When I got to the next patient, and all set up, the boss tells me they just got an appointment for the patient to leave the unit for a test. Nice. Back to putting the patient on a stretcher, calling transport and away we go.

Next, I move another patient out to our lounge to watch TV as the housekeepers clean and wax the floors.

After that comes lunch, visitors and the end of the day. If I would have blinked, I would have missed it.

Stay tuned!

Knotted stomachs

Just happen to be the condition of the week among the staff. People are calling in due to variations of this theme: GI distress due to not drinking enough fluids and eating enough fiber, morning sickness, and good old bad gall bladders. A little extra stress with the transition of our nurse manager to his/her new job is not helping matters much, either.

So glad I get some vacation really soon. I plan on vegetating in place and enjoying the spring weather which is coming our way.

Stay tuned...