Of laptops and men

If this entry doesn't take the cake for what my blog embodies, then nothing else will. The following story is entirely true.

For many years, I have desired a laptop. One that I could tote around with me to school, to coffee shops, to...anywhere. I've always wanted one, but never had the finances to splurge on one. Besides, I've had access to a desktop computer, and essentially though I really wanted a laptop, I didn't need a laptop.

However, as I progressed in school, the want actually turned into a need. On my 22nd birthday, a friend from work gave me her husband's old lap top. Unfortunately, it was the first laptop ever invented. It was old, ancient, rickety, prone to crashing, working slow and sometimes when I'd plug in the little card to connect to the Internet, it failed. This created a few embarrassing situations, and soon enough, the ancient lap top was rendered useless for school use.

Enter.....Mr. Client from my job at the veterinary clinic. Mr. Client is a retired dentist, and as is natural, was curious about my schooling, as I was slowly progressing into the medical world. One fateful day that got the ball rolling was a discussion on computers, and which ones were the best deal. We both decided that Macbooks were the way to go, and on his way he went.

Weeks later, Mr. Client comes back to the clinic with the proclamation that he has bought himself a Macbook. I ooed and awwed and congratulated him, and then, he tells me that he'd like to buy one for me.

I declined.

He then buys me a $1000 gift card from Apple so that I too may enjoy having a Macbook of my very own. Mind you, I have had zero, zilch, zip interaction with this man outside of work. So why then, give me this rather expensive gift? Because he once was a poor college student and he knows what it's like to be in my shoes. (.........)

Months passed by, and I simply could never be that selfish enough to just go and buy myself a laptop no matter how much I wanted it. It just never felt right. Friends and family encouraged me to just use it, or sell it. One suggested that I sell it and go to Hawaii with them. Try as I might though, I never had a good feeling about it, so I just left it in its envelope.

One evening, I get a call at home (how he got my number is beyond me) but he kindly requested the gift card back if I was not going to use it. Feeling as if a burden was lifted, I promptly mailed it back to his vacation home where he was wintering.

I was free and clear.

This past Tuesday, I officially decided that I was going to just buy a super cheap lap top to use for school this semester when I begin science pre-requisites as part of the Nursing program I one day intend on enrolling in. (For those of you who didn't know this....surprise!)

That afternoon, Mr. Client saunters into the clinic wearing dark aviator glasses. It's been months since I've seen him, and the first thing that he asks upon seeing me is if I'd settle for something other than a Macbook. I tell him that yes, actually, I'm planning on buying a Johnny-Cheap-o laptop.

He then tells me, (all while wearing those sun glasses)

"I may have something for you"

That being said, he tells me all about this laptop he has that is about a year and a half old of which he has no  further use for.  He did mention that it was first up for grabs to his brother-in-law, and I tell him that obviously family should always come first. (I immediately begin to imagine what piece of junk he's trying to pawn off to me)

He responds:

"You're practically family"

. . .

Today, he comes into the clinic, and says to the receptionists:

"Where's my little girl?"

Sounds coy, but guess what.... HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW MY NAME!!

The receptionists giving him a hard time ask him why they're not referring to them, and he simply tells them that they're his "mature girls" ......haha!!

Well, the receptionists bring me back this gorgeous barely used lap top, in amazing shape. In fact, I'm writing this little story with it right now.

So maybe this is a lesson.....you can always settle for less, but in the end, waiting is oh so much better.

Happy girl
:)

Kittens & Cats

My training "in the back" at work has been completed, and as a result the staff now trusts me to work by myself as a Tech, assisting the Doctors with....everything. Oftentimes, animal medicine is complicated (one reason being that they cannot speak) and it often leads to long laborious hours.

Today was my first Saturday rotation meaning: one Doctor, one Tech, and one receptionist. Saturday's are often unpredictable with strange cases coming in frequently, especially during the summer.

Our day went great, without a hitch. All my blood work I ran went without a hitch, vaccinations pulled up were all used, standard examinations went well, and all animals behaved themselves.

My doctor had just commented to me that when I'm up in reception it's pure madness, but now that I'm working as a Tech, things seemed to be relatively calm.

Famous last words.

A cat was brought in, having had three kittens 24 hours ago. However, she had begun contracting again. An x-ray showed that she did indeed have one more kitten inside. An ultrasound revealed that the kitten was not viable (alive) but that it had to be taken out, especially if just in case the kitten actually was alive.

The Doctor had never performed an emergency c-section surgery before as it is very uncommon, and I don't know a thing about monitoring anesthesia, very little about intubation, and even less about sterile requirements for surgery. We tried contacting the other Doctor's from the practice, but none answered. Therefore, we embarked on the surgery--my Doctor having no experience in this surgery and me not knowing much about....well, anything.

The surgery went extremely well. The Doctor removed the kitten from the mother, we peeled back all the surrounding goop it was encased in. I tried to recall everything I had learned from my EMT training about reviving a dead baby, but alas, the kitten was stillborn. I even listened to him with a tiny pediatric stethoscope, but no heartbeat was ausculated :(

We closed her up, and the surgery was over. She recovered rather quickly, and woke up, frantically pawing at us to let her out of her cage so that she could go back attending to her three mewing kittens. (They were very upset to be without their mother)

All ended well. But now I'm on call all weekend. Eek.

Immaturity

Below is a Facebook status about yours truly: (No doubt about it, even if the offending party tries to claim otherwise)


"Don't you hate it when there's something that you really want and you really want it for a long time and you're totally falling for it every time you see it and talk to it and then you learn more about it and you realize that you don't want it at all?"

First of all, don't ever refer to me as "it". Even if you want to be coy, and all secretive like. It's pretty much obvious what you're doing.

Second, don't be petty and put up Facebook status's about people who have hurt you or whatever you want to call it. That's for wee children and those whose maturity levels have not yet reached adult hood.

Sheesh. Awkward!


o_O

Work

Conversation at work: (Where else?!)

Strange man: "What do you know?"
Me: "Not much these days"
Strange man: "You married yet?"
Me:  "No"
Strange man: "What are you waiting for?"
Me: "I don't know. One day....."
Strange man: "Your prince will come? You never know who you’ll meet at a veterinarians office"

...

Plans

While the folk proverb "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans" has always annoyed me to some level, (because it makes God too simplistic) I suppose that it is in some respects true.


Where I live, is a small town. You've got the whole small town environment, the small town cliques, the small town everybody-is-in-everybody's business place. You either fit in here....or you don't.

Fortunately for me, I've gotten along well with the town. Much as I've longed to get the heck out of here, those plans are not in the immediate future, especially now. But I digress.

For those of you who read my lovely EMT Internship blog  http://emt-internship.blogspot.com/
you've known that it is my heart's desire to work in an Emergency Department, and to work in one pronto. As in, right after I finished EMT school, I thought for sure an excellent job would come pouring out from the heavens.

Didn't happen.

I applied for a job a few months ago in the Emergency Department up here. Nothing. I called HR wondering what happened. I was told it was canceled. Canceled! Who the heck cancels a job?

My dreams flushed away, I thought for sure that I'd be stuck never getting a job in the health profession.

Until a few weeks ago, I discovered a per diem position at the hospital up here. I promptly applied, even left work in the middle of the day (Shh! Don't tell anyone!) to drop off the application.

A call for an interview came a few days later.

I really hate job interviews, especially with questions such as "if your best friend were to tell me why you should work here, what would they say about you?" (........) or "In a few sentences, tell me everything about yourself so that I can say to myself: Wow! I really know her!" (.........)

And so a few weeks went by. Nothing. I had been told that if I had gotten the position, I'd hear from them within a few days. Once more, I felt as if my dreams were flushed away, and I resigned myself to a life of not being in the profession I want. (Drama Queen!!)

But then, today, oh today, I got the call. And hence, I have been offered a very well paying per diem position contingent on if I pass a background check (piece o' cake!) and a two to three hour physical exam (what the world are they going to do to me?!)

Some call it luck, coincidence, or good timing. I call it a gift from God.

Too Much Information

How lucky am I to have two moments to write about today! (and just when I thought life was getting boring...)

Story One

Conversation at work:

Co-worker One: "Man, I just lost all my energy today. I have to sit"
Me: "If I sit, then I'll for sure never get up" (I've just spent the entire day on my feet)
Co-worker One: "Don't your feet hurt?"
Me: "No, it's really my lower back that hurts. It happens when I spend a lot of time standing up"

Co-worker One and I continue to have a conversation about what it's like to spend all day standing, never getting a chance to sit down, and how yes, your back will inevitably ache.

Meanwhile, Co-worker Two has been listening to our entire conversation. Entirely impossible to miss the conversation since she's sitting only two feet away. Her response to all this?

First, she looks around, to make sure no one is looking. Then she cups her hands so that she is able to amplify whatever important thing that she is about to say. And then, oh then, she loudly whispers:

"It's called your period"

No. No it is not. It's called BACK PAIN from standing up ALL day.
_____________________

Story Two

I attended a graduation of a friend tonight. Afterwards, while everyone is joyfully chatting away, I am approached by an old acquaintance, the younger brother of my friend who just graduated.

We make small talk. He asks me how I've been, I respond with the typical jargon used for people you have not seen or spoken to in years. I ask how he's been. He says:

"A lot better than I was a month ago!"

Naturally, one is going to inquire further. So, imagine my surprise when he says (really matter of factly, too)

"I had to have my right testicle removed"

 ....a terrible injury of some sort, apparantly.

Errr...