Pacific Coast Rest-Stop

[JesusPuppy]

Now now Bubbles, you can't call Allison that, Shortstuff is my personal nicky namey thingy for her because she is so tall. If you ever get the chance to meet her in person you will see what I mean.

[Rebecky]

Cool, I have gmail! Maybe we can try it out Beckykins....right now I'm cooking a batch of sugo (spaghetti sauce) and so am in and out of checking mes computer. Then, off to the store for a few thingys. When I get back later this afternoon, I'll see if ewes around. Although I don't have skype etc...until I get a new computer....it would be fun to see each other while we chatted.

Ok! Well I don't think I have your gmail account but i'll send you mine in a private message.

[Allison]

I'd be up for chat. I have gmail already, and would be willing to download anything everyone else agrees to use.

[deejay]

I have Skype on my netbook, but no internet at home. Got an email saying that Messenger (Hotmail) is going over to Skype, so we'll have to wait and see. Saw a personal wi-fi thingy at Staples recently, wonder if I can get one of those and get online? Have to do more homework on that.

[Shann]

Well, I for one find your blabbering...refreshing! It so helps to really get to know one another. And, you've seen a few others of us and I won't mention any names like me or Shannikins, who when we get on a roll....well, we write a book.

Sure seems like mentioning names to me! Tah! Chatty? Me? Tah!

As for the chat thing, man I had to have a conference call with the publishing company that I'm editing for and that freaked me out so I don't know if I could handle something like Skype. Do we see each other on this chatty thing or just talk or just type? My anxiety has been pretty high lately. Before the conference call, Amy was trying to comfort me and said I'd be fine but I told her if it kills me then I'm going to find some way to come back and haunt her. When I was done I just sent her the text : Boo! She didn't fall for it though.

I think one of the reasons why the anxiety is back is because of all the terrible things that have happened recently. I'm not sure if you all heard about the guy who set his house on fire on Christmas Eve (with his sister inside) Then when the first responders showed up he started shooting. Killing two, and injuring others. Altogether 7 houses burned to the ground. He left a note saying he wanted to die doing what he loved most--killing people. Well that happened in a suburb outside of Rochester. My sister lives there and new some of the people who were affected by it. It is such an idyllic community (much like Newtown with affluent people living there) I guess I'm naive enough to think evil doesn't touch spots like this. Both my brother and sister once lived on the same street that the fires occurred and my sister was within walking distance of the firehouse. It's scary.

Leah, no comment about my idea of going back to be a midwife or PA? That way you wouldn't be stuck doing just paperwork but would still have awesome patient experience. Though if you are getting it to teach student nurses then it makes sense. I used to love to teach new nurses who had never worked OB before. I precepted about 6 or 7 people at least. Patient teaching was always one of my favorite things to do too.

Okay going to go before I get accused of being too chatty.

[Shann]

Oh I have gmail too but no idea how to use it. The computer hates me and is trying to seek revenge by conspiring with other electronic doo-dads

[Sparrow]

The best of all the Skype and chat type things is the Google+ hangout, in my experience. The online Bible study Jay and Andy and I are in tried a bunch of different places and now have been really pleased with G+ hangout. It's what Andy and I use a lot, too. It allows every person to choose what format they want to use. You can do full video chat, or just voice with no video showing, or just text IM chat. Everyone can see and hear everything, but then can communicate however they are comfortable.

So Shann, you could come and just text if you were shy, and whoever wanted to could use full video or whatever. It is way better video quality than the FaceBook video and even better than Skype, usually. It's not perfect and can have issues, but I use it almost every day.

I'm tired and not feeling chatty (shocking, I know!) so will come back later, but I enjoyed reading everyone's updates.

[sadiem]

Hello everyone! I'm new here, but I'm from Southern California. I appreciate your comments about Google+ hangout, Sparrow. I'm always looking for better ways to keep in contact with the people I know.

[violin4jesus]

Haha, sadiem, I just wrote on your "hello" post for you to pop in over here, and you did already! Welcome to our chatty group. We're just a little kooky sometimes, but don't let that scare you off. My hubby and I make regular visits to OC because he's attending Concordia and we like the beaches better there than the South Bay.

Argh. I got put on standby AGAIN because we have two travelers and even though it's their turn, they're not allowed to be put on standby more than once a pay period. So I got put on standby twice - in one week. Good thing I do have plenty of PTO because I wouldn't be able to afford being cut that often. I plan to send another email to my boss and request that travelers not be scheduled on the same day due to this happening to me twice - where it was not my turn but I had to take standby because travelers could not be cut. At least I've had all night to chill and Google for a chiropractor who works with my insurance.

I also did a lot of looking at the Master's programs and I think the one in Colorado is the most flexible and affordable. Georgetown is the the most prestigious and comprehensive program, but it costs a minimum of $15K a year, versus Aspen being barely $2K which is what my employer covers. The least expensive one - Western Governors - doesn't issue credits, but only "pass" or "fail" - and it requires you to do 8-9 units every six months, which makes it cost $3K-6K per year. At Aspen, I can take one 3-credit class at a time over 10 weeks, and limit to two per year to keep it to my employer's benefit. The more I look, the more I'm convinced it's the best program. I don't really want to rush through the program, especially when I'm working full time.

Shann, I did answer about the nurse midwife thing...I wouldn't do it in the US. Just in Europe or a third world country or something. I love my job, and in the US in most hospitals I'm essentially providing that role without the responsibility of handling the birth. I caught more babies in the smaller hospitals, though. Since we have in-house doctors, if the main doc doesn't make it they are there to catch. It's been close, though. My Christmas delivery would have been my catch if he hadn't walked in 30 seconds before the baby came out!

LOL, Pup...I actually had classmates who hated me because I slept in class and still passed them. The only class I didn't pass and had to repeat was one where I actually did stay awake and really had no clue as to why I didn't pass it - they used NCLEX questions on the tests and they generally have 4 right answers but one is the MOST right. If I become a teacher I will prepare my students to pass rather than try to fail as many as possible. It shouldn't be hard to get an A or B if the teacher is teaching well. I learned by the end of my junior year that I should crochet to keep my hands busy so I wouldn't drift off. I sat in the back so as not to disturb anyone and they still looked at me weird, but I asked my teachers if they'd rather I be sleeping and they said of course not so they let me do it. But I still think many of them weren't very good teachers. The best one was our pharmacology teacher who reviewed the material comprehensively and gave us great handouts - it's mostly a memorization kind of class but she made it easy. It wasn't hard to study for the tests since she'd made it understandable.

Well, I should think about getting ready for bed because it's pretty much only an hour left or less for them to call me in, so it's not likely to happen. I baked a pumpkin pie I'd had in the freezer, so we'll have dessert the next few days. Actually because it's so healthy (vegan) it kind of substitutes for a small meal, especially when I'm off work and headed to bed. I plan to put spaghetti sauce ingredients in the crock pot this morning so we can have spaghetti squash tonight for dinner. Church is at 8:30, 10, and 5, so we'll probably go to the 5pm service. Depending on when I get up, we can eat dinner either before or after. I don't work again until Tuesday, unless they beg me for extra shifts. 'Course that will require patients going into labor. Which really didn't happen tonight. So I guess I'll be doing more cooking and cleaning. Ryan helps a lot but now that his school has started, things get backed up faster.

Have a great Lord's day! Blessings to all.

[Shann]

Sorry I missed that midwife post Leah. I had gone back and looked when I didn't see the answer. That would be my dream job. I would only do hospital deliveries but would enjoy working in the office and then being on call to do delivery. Of course like you said it is different in small hospitals. I wish I could get back into nursing. I really loved doing it. I also worked in a gyn clinic at a small hospital and I enjoyed that too. My last nursing job was breastfeeding consultant with WIC. Unfortunately I wasn't healthy enough for the full-time job plus they wanted me to do intakes instead of my job title. Since it was a county job, they took the money allocated for a breastfeeding consultant job and had me doing the other job only allowing one day a month or so to do the actual breastfeeding job.

Welcome SadieM do you have a preference on what to call you? Many people have weird nicknames too making it confusing to figure out who is who. But I'm delighted that you popped in. I'm an oddball since I live in Western New York in an area I lovingly call the middle of nowhere. I tend to fit in even though I'm 3,000 miles away because I am also a tad wacky.

[violin4jesus]

Grrr....woke up after only 4.5 hours of sleep and can't get back into it. Oh well; I guess I'll be running a more "normal" schedule because of it. The spaghetti sauce smells nummy. We'll probably eat after church.

My home team (Seahawks) almost came back to win in the last quarter, but the defense let Atlanta through in the last 25 seconds to get a field goal. So ends our playoff season. I have a lot of friends posting their rage/disappointment on Facebook right now.

Yeah, Shann, I think I would enjoy the lactation consultant job too. I need to get my certification in lactation, though. I may look into that over the next few years. I don't want to overload myself, which is why I'd like to only take two classes per year for the Master's.

Well, I should start cleaning while it's still light out. It's harder for me to be motivated to clean in the dark, especially if Ryan is trying to sleep.

[Rebecky]

My home team (Seahawks) almost came back to win in the last quarter, but the defense let Atlanta through in the last 25 seconds to get a field goal. So ends our playoff season. I have a lot of friends posting their rage/disappointment on Facebook right now.

my friend and i had a little heated discussion on facebook about the Seahawks coach calling timeout or not calling timeout.

She thinks he did and then turned it around saying he didn't when he saw the field goal missed.

I think he didn't call it cause when they showed the replay I could read his lips and he said something like "I'm not calling a timeout" and walked away.

Either way, they played a good game today.

My team, Baltimore Ravens, is still in it. Everyone thought we'd lose yesterday but that's what they get for doubting us. lol

[sadiem]

You can call me Sadie

[JesusPuppy]

Hi Sadie. And welcome to our corner of the world. Don't worry to much about these chatty folks, they are MOSTLY harmless.

I have the G-mail account, as it is my at home "Online Desk Top" but have never used the chat thingy there. How does it work. I guess I should try it at home instead of at work... they might get made if I have to download programs to use it.

[Rebecky]

Puppy, you shouldn't have to download anything if you have gmail. Just make sure chat is enabled. I also went into the "Labs" in gmail and searched for chat and used the one that makes the chat go on the right side of the screen in gmail.