HILARITY

Just had to share...

http://whatshouldwecallnursing.tumblr.com/post/22146376449/during-codes

That is quite possibly the funniest thing I have seen in a LONG time. I was legit cry-laughing on my couch for an hour.

Enjoy :)

Happy October, Friends! Pumpkiny things coming soon!

city of brotherly love, pt. 2: the search

Ah, the job search.  It's such a party, isn't it?  (That wasn't sarcastic at all. Riiiiiight.)

It was not a party. To clarify. Unless your idea of a party is something that involves stress, computer problems, and the month of April.

You must be a tax accountant. Welcome to a place where you are guaranteed to feel uncomfortable.

{snickers}

I apologize. We'll talk about spreadsheets later and make you feel warm fuzzies, mmkay?

For now, back to the job talk.  To talking shop. About how I'm going to CHOP.

Bam.

Poet.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Aaaaaand, starting over. I just can't help myself sometimes. Seriously, though, here's what I actually did. It was a pain in the patootie labor of love!

Spending hours upon hours updating my resume, only to have my computer refuse to save a PDF. Boo. Emailing my dad back and forth only forty or one hundred times to address this problem. Phew. Dad and Adobe Business something-or-other to the rescue. Ok...now I have to find a job. So I spend many different hours on many different days poring over job options.  Researching different hospitals.  Talking to coworkers about options. Word of mouth, world wide web, carrier pigeon.  I swear, I think I did it all. 

Then, one particularly boring day in class last Spring (oops), I realized my laptop was in my school bag.  Being the...multitasker...that I am, I pulled that baby out and proceeded to do an excellent job of pretend-notetaking. Basically, I applied for about ten jobs in in hour.  All over the country, all different types of NP jobs (but they were all acute care jobs at children's hospitals).

And then...

...{crickets}...

Literally.

Nothing.  For a few weeks, I was sweating a little. (Why, no, that's not my makeup giving me that...glow.) Until I started getting phone calls! Turns out, my job application spree actually worked. I told myself I would stop applying for jobs, interview for the ones in which I was currently interested, and then I could always go back later and apply for more if needed.

There were a few standout places, which then narrowed down to 3-4 potential options. Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Philadelphia.

I interviewed in Dallas, San Diego, and Philadelphia. I did some phone interviewing with Houston, but they don't currently (or didn't at the time) have positions available for the type of job I'm interested in.

Now, all of those hospitals are great.  All have great cardiac programs, teaching hospitals, high surgical volumes, good patient outcomes. So, what's a girl to do?

There were several a few late night phone calls to my sister and friends. Some praying. Some research. But, I got a really good feeling about CHOP the second I walked in the place. Something about it just clicked. I remember talking on the phone with my sister the night after my first day of interviewing and saying, "It would be so cool to work here, but..."

Lots of "buts."

But...I am fresh out of school and have no NP experience.

But...it's, hello, in Pennsylvania.

But...I don't want to leave Austin.

But...there's all these schedule conflicts with my current job and school requirements.

...

And then they kept calling me. I would call them back, and they were so nice.  All of the people I met there were so nice. You can tell everyone really takes pride in the hospital, and you can tell all of the people who work there like what they are doing.  Is it perfect? No. It will be a lot of long hours, hard work, weird scheduling. Lots of sacrifices of my "free time."

But, it will also be amazingly good experience. Working with innovative people, innovative technology. It is the #1 children's hospital in the country. Gulp.

I'm so excited to work there. Like, full on, nerd-out excited. I am also quite excited to buy some new clothes. Can't go walking in a place like that, looking like a scrub.

 I also want to vomit. I think someone forgot to tell them that I am a twenty-six year old duckling. Shhh...

Anyhoodle, that's how it happened! Crazy to think about sometimes. My sister and I are going to Philly in a few weeks! We'll be doing some fun things, some job things, and some apartment things. Can't wait!

city of brotherly love pt. 1

Well, here it is...the long-awaited explanation of how I decided to move to Philadelphia (which will happen in the Spring). When I say long-awaited...I mean, by me, of course.  I'm pretty sure I'm talking to myself :)  Honestly, though, in a few--months? years?--I'm sure I'm going to look back on the whole move-across-the-country thing and wonder how.did.i.do.that?  So I figured I should write it down. Because it's sort of a big deal. You know, moving to a place where I know no one. Also: where it is freezing.  Also: where they don't sell Rotel at the grocery store. (I know. Omg.) Also: where they don't say "y'all."

Y'all.

Holy moly.

Now, let's clarify something. Well, two somethings.

Number one: It's not that I don't know how to be away from home.  Hello, Summer 2007 in Spain. I actually think I won't be seeing much less of my Houston family. We're on a sporadic visit schedule anyway, punctuated by a whole lot of phone calls.  (Trust--AT&T wasn't looking at us when they decided mobile-to-mobile minutes would be free. Suckers!)  At any rate, I see my parents every few months, and it works.  All this to say: being away from "home" (Houston) is something I've done for ~8ish years. I can keep up with them, no prob :) Lots of phone calls and the occasional care package <cough cough MOM>

Buuuuuut, then there's my sister. Also known as my sometimes boarder.  I say "sometimes" because I'm her sometimes boarder, too.  Basically, we have joint custody of each other. (What?) Every other weekend and holidays, yo.  That's what's up. And then there's my friends. The ones who live here, and the ones who are a mini-roadtrip away. We are also on a sporadic visit schedule, but it largely involves one having the ability to drive somewhere (relatively close) for a weekend.

Being away from Austin will be hard. I would be lying if I said I could keep that schedule up.

Yikes.

Now for number two...

Number two: Texas is like a piece of my soul. Now, maybe I'm wrong, but you just don't seem to hear people talk like that about South Dakota. Nothing against South Dakota, I'm sure it's lovely and very...Dakotish. But, it's no Texas.  Trust me when I say, you had to have been raised here.  Seriously. Warm sunshine, open hill country road, Randy Rogers on the radio...heaven. Truly, one of the best things in life.  If you've never experienced it, then...fail.  Big fail, player. Get on it. You'll be glad you did. :)

Ok, with the somethings in mind, let's think about this: why would I willingly choose to move a few bajillion miles away from people and a city and a state I love?

Enter: The j-o-b.

Oh, hey, j-o-b! It's about time you showed up!

Now, those of you who know me (i.e...all of you, ha) know how I am about my job.  More specifically, about what I do.  It's purty important to me.

I mean, lots of people go to work everyday, and then they go home, and that's that.  They like their jobs just fine, but those jobs don't really define them. Their jobs give them good careers and enable them to have good lives. Other things are more important. Like being a good spouse, or parent, or volunteer.

Ain't nuttin' wrong with that, honey. That's some good stuff.

But, that's not me.  Because, you see, I get serious personal fulfillment out of my job. If I were to define myself in a few words, some of them would definitely include "ICU nurse." It's part of who I am.  Daily, I am reminded God called me to this job, called me to this career. From my first job as a sixteen-year-old nurse aide in an adult cardiac unit, I knew God wanted me to be a nurse practitioner. It's hard to explain how I knew.  I just knew.

So, when it was time for me to make some decisions about life after grad school, I knew I wanted a job in which I would feel fulfilled. In which I would feel satisfied. In which I would feel like what I was doing mattered. I also desperately wanted the right job.  Not a perfect job.  But a job that's perfect for me.

After much searching, resume editing, phone calling, and interviewing (and praying)...I think I've found it.

Here's how I did it (how God did it, really):

Stay tuned for part 2: the job search.

(And Happy Tuesday. I ended my Tuesday with some super delish crockpot tacos. Mmm tacos. More on that later).