February 2nd - 4th, off to Yosemite National Park

Now it was my turn to vacation with Colin and Jackie as we packed up the trailer and headed towards Yosemite National Park for 3days http://www.yosemitepark.com/ . Yosemite is a mountainous park region that is very beautiful, lots of places to hike, waterfalls, good views, and big trees. And that is pretty much what we did. Wednesday was our only full day at Yosemite and we did pretty good. I think we hiked about 18 - 20 km mostly straight up - we ad sore muscles that we were not even aware could be sore but it was all worth it as the waterfalls and views and nature were stunning. It was to bad that a lot of there attractions were closed for the season - even some of the trails but as you may have noticed in the pictures the trail closed sign did not stop us. Turns out being total rebels and ignoring the signs pays off - because we had the best views of some waterfalls we otherwise would not have been able to really see up close. Unfortunately we did have to stop eventually because the mist from the waterfalls was freezing on the trail steps and we deemed it best to turn around before someone got hurt and we had to get help to come to the closed trails to get us!

As the day came to a close we started the final 7km (about 3.5km each way) of our hike at 5pm with the sun setting on us (we are not so bright). We were desperate to see the sequoia grove - a forest of really old and giant sequoia trees. some of the trees are 2,500 to 3,000 years old, measure up to 35 ft (11 m) in diameter, and tower to heights of 250 to 300 ft (76 m to 91 m) above the ground. Single sequoia limbs may be larger than record-size trees of other species. There seem to be no limits on the trees' growth. Sequoias typically do not die of old age: they usually die by toppling. Unfortunately we only made it to the trail head and it was dark - best not to venture another 2miles into the forest at night. So we snapped a few pics of a pretty big tree at the trail head and headed back the 3.5km to the truck in the dark.

We left Yosemite sore but really satisfied with what we had seen with still more to see we have another excuse to go back!!!

January 30 - February 1st. Andrea works Colin and Jackie Vacation

After our Thursday of biking many many km I was off to work for the weekend and left Colin and Jackie up to there own devices . . . and they seemed to have loads of fun. They golfed a new course each day, tried out some wineries, and hit the beach, each day they picked me up from work with big smiles and even bigger stories. As jealous as I was that I was working and not involved in the fun I was very excited to hear of there adventures and listen to all there stories. They were also very good about having lovely suppers and new wine to try each evening (I love being served)! Work is going well - getting myself into more of a routine which really helps.

Thursday Janurary 29th Biking the Golden Gate Bridge!

well Jackie arrived today, after gathering her at the airport we were off to our first tourist adventure with our new guest. Spot of choice - Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman's wharf in San Fran. AS we were deciphering "what to do" we happened upon a road side stand that said - bike the bridge! Sounds like fun right?!?!?!! In all actuality it was very fun. . . . just a little misrepresented by the sales guy. He showed us the map and told us 1.5hrs max . . . . easily doable. 4hrs and 30km later we were finished with very sore bottoms and legs. Guess what, San Fransisco is as hilly as it looks and even more hilly when biking it for 4hrs straight. By the way that 30km is just one way, part of the tour includes a ferrie ride back to the starting point (maybe that should have been a hint for us). Anyway we had lots of fun and it was a great way to see San Fransisco and the Golden Gate bridge (up close and personal).

Snowboarding in California!!!

A lake we found on the mountain near the ski hill - Pinecrest lake.

That's right everyone, today we went snowboarding. Leave it up to some Canadians to find snow in California. We actually found quite a nice small hill - Dodge Ridge http://www.dodgeridge.com/site/. It reminded us a lot of Mount Washington (our favorite) although half the size. It was sooo warm also - we were peeling off the gear as the day wore on. Anyway we had lots of fun and are now tired and sore and ready for bed. I am off to work in the a.m. (wish me luck) and we are anxiously expecting our first Canadian visitor on Thursday. One of my close friends (Jackie G) from nursing school will be here with us from the 29th - 5th and we are expecting great weather, and excellent adventures while she is here. Will keep you updated!!! Hope everyone is well at home and safely travelling on there own adventures!!

A Rambling of Thoughts!

Hey everybody. Well I finished my first day on the ward by myself with only 1.5hrs of overtime that I don't get paid for - YAY!! Here are my ramblings

Best thing I ever purchased = my backberry with my nursing programs

Second best purchase = my nursing tool belt - as they don't have med carts or supply carts so I caryy a bit of everything in it.

Paperwork here far exceeds Canada and FAR FAR exceeds patient care here. I assume d/t law suits, thats what I spent the extra 1.5hrs doing yesterday.

Be VERY VERY thankful for the kindness of our patients!

Be VERY VERY VERY thankful for our equipment, amount of staff (believe or not), and our organization at work in Kindersley!!!

Nurses are not allowed to eat or even have water at the nurses station - they threw out my LuLuLemon water bottle yesterday

Apparently using blue ink is a terrible offence.

The poor LPN's are treated terrible - they can only help you with vitals and personal care. Not dressings, not blood glucose, not admissions, and certainly not any meds - not even Tylenol.

What I miss most right now - the social aspect of work at home.

What I miss second right now is good chips - They have horrible chips here. I may even loose weight d/t this.

Travel nursing is its own culture here.

I just bought a potted palm tree for my deck - its lovely.

That's about all for now! Colin and I are doing well, Colin spends is days studying for his class and tending to trailer business/repairs and says he is enjoying his time off!! We are headed out for dinner and drinks tonight with a group of traveling nurses so we are both looking forward to that.

Crazy!

Hello everyone, guess what. . . I have a job, and they even know my name!!!!!! I started on Tuesday with some more "so called" orientation - paperwork and videos. On Wednesday we were off the the hospital and spent the first four hours doing paperwork, getting name tags and passwords etc then spent 4hrs on one med/surg floor, and the last4hrs on another medsurg floor and . . . . . that's it (holy shit I mumble)!!
Today we did the U.S. version on T.L.R and I start tomorrow!!! I am not even worried because it is soooooo overwhelming I don't even know what to worry about - lol! They have some really funny things here like giving medications. NO BODY mixes or retrieves there own meds they have a big computer machine that dispenses your patients drugs for you, all you do is simply take them the patient. Everything is premixed and unit dose etc. Everything is locked up - including any supplies, so I have about 2million codes swirling around my head.
When you give meds here you have to were a big bright yellow vest (i am not kidding its a traffic directing vest) that says "CAUTION I AM ADMINISTERING MEDICATIONS - DO NOT DISTURB". No one - not even Dr's are allowed to interrupt you when you are wearing that vest or they can be formally written up. They started this program a few years ago and withing 6 months they had a 40% decrease in med errors. its a good idea but oh my I am still laughing at how silly it looks. Also every four hours the R.N.s have to go on the computer and fill out a form that calculates the "nurse fatigue ratio" if you are over 1.2% fatigued from your patient care they schedule more staff - I LOVE IT its hilarious!!!!!! Everytime someone seriously mentions the "nurse fatigue ratio" I nearly die trying to hold in my laughter! What I really want to know is if someone takes into account doing the nurse fatigue form every four hours into the nurses fatigue!!! The ratio is never ever more than 1-5 which I think will be nice. The hospital is set up really weird but I am sure I will get used to it.
Anyway that's all I have to blog about right now - I will blog about how my first day goes - wish me luck!!!!!!!

Getting ready!

A picture of the seals from Santa Cruz (forgot to include with last post)

The last few days have been quiet, golfing, bike rides, walks, suntanning, reading, hot tubbing etc. Laying low before I start at work FINALLY - I have some sort of orientation in the a.m. The last orientation was just paperwork and they did not know who I was, lets hope this one goes better! I apparently have to be in uniform but the orientation is not at the hospital I work at its at a learning lab in another Kaiser hospital??? I think I am passed being worried because I have been waiting so long to start . . . oh well. I am now more concerned about the immense reality check that is going to hit me very very hard this week. I will be at work looking for a Chelada and nap at about 2pm (chelada is my new favorite beer for those who have just tuned in). Colin has already mentioned he may stay at a hotel the first few shifts . . . my poor husband knows what I get like when I am tired I guess, but I don't think his life is to hard at the moment so I won't feel to bad (wink wink)!

I met a few other nurses from our campsite today, one couple is about our age. we are planning to meet up with more a little later to get some hints about the new job. Apparently one nurse is from Saskatchewan so I am sure we will speak to him soon. Looks like all the nurses are coming out of the wood works here so we are glad about that.

We got new neighbours yesterday. A couple our age with an absolutely mammoth fifth wheel arrived. They are from San Fransisco where he still works. About a year ago they found themselves not making it financially - just accumulating more dept. So they sold everything bought the nicest fifth wheel they could find and are living in it until they pay off there dept (the think about 4 years to go ). They don't even have a truck, they hire a guy to pull them where they need to go. She does work camping, so basically works for the campsite and then gets rent free!!! They are really neat and we think are quite smart actually, considering the economy.

So that's about all that is interesting with us right now - will let you know if my so called orientation tomorrow is nurse related!!!