A New Year!

It's 2013!  Which means a new year, and new goals, which include posting here, on this blog, much more frequent.  I've also made a new blog page, The Rad Experiment which mainly focuses on my journey of faith and walk with Christ.  This blog will be dedicated to food and nursing, as the blog title suggests.

Summer in the Cafe

I'm sitting here in the free air condition of the local Starbucks listening to Jack Johnson and others over a venti iced soy latte.  It's nice having a day off from work to enjoy a beverage made by the local barista.  I've made it a goal of mine to get out of my apartment and meet new people.  Both times so far, I have gotten the opportunity to talk to other customers at Starbucks.  I've also decided I should start reading more.  I finally finished Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin, something that took me way too long, as I got sidetracked by The Hunger Games series, which were recommended by my coworkers.  I breezed through those at an unnatural rate for me.  As my job is composed of 90 percent female, I hear banter about the next big series to read: Fifty Shades of Grey, which I will not be reading.  They fantasize about which actor would play the protagonist, suggesting different actors such as Chris Hemsworth, effectively ruining my fascination with the books.  I prefer to remember him as the powerful Thor.

But I digress.  I have started a new book.  Onward, by Starbucks ceo Howard Schultz.  The book discusses how with the rapid expansion of stores, Starbucks lost its focus about customer experience, which it refers to as "The Starbucks Experience," and how quality declined. It references to simultaneous brief closures of all stores nationwide a few years ago, to stress the quality of pouring espresso and steaming milk, as well as  the quality customer experience.  I'll be thinking about the passion that the barista puts in to making each drink as I sip my soy latte.

Reading and enjoying a cool drink in an air conditioned store is probably going to be a regular pastime on my summer days off.  I'll probably be reading, as well as blogging a lot more.  So stay tuned.

Pollen Attacks

The weather here in WV has gone from cold, to warm, to hot in a matter of a couple of weeks and along with the heat, spring has brought the pollen, which has wreaked havoc on my sinuses.  Green waterfalls of snot have begun to roll down, out of my nostrils, giving new meaning to the number 11, which I catch in tissues, and give a frequent good blow of my nose to provide temporary relief to the continuous buildup of congestion.  The constant reaction of my immune system sending histamines around my body manifesting themselves as explosive sneezes and a runny nose.  Allergy medicines have refused to provide my nose any relief from this attack.   WV is supposedly known to be a bad place in which to reside if one suffers from heightened seasonal allergies, like myself.  Hopefully I can build up a high enough level of antihistamines in my body through allergy medicines that relief will begin soon.  Otherwise I won't be enjoying the beautiful weather outdoors, but inside air conditioned locales across the town of Beckley: the hospital, Walmart, and Starbucks.

Night and Day

Wow! Three posts in three days?  Is this a new record?  Anyways, in my previous post about nursing I briefed alluded to the crazy schedule any RN on a acute care unit deals with.  I work days, nights, weekends, holidays.  There was always the knowledge and expectation of working a schedule in that lodged itself in the back of my mind, but I never focused or thought about it in depth until I began.  I'm realizing that it is difficult for me to do the things that I want.

One of the challenges of dealing with a constantly dynamic schedule is being able to consistently attend and therefore serve God at church.  Being a nursing student, I was almost always inundated with studying, classes, and clinicals, but I got most nights and weekends off.  This allowed me to attend church, fellowship nights and music practice on a fairly regular basis.  I miss that.  Over the past six months, I've come to the realization of how many sacrifices I've had to make to pursue this profession.  I've given up the comforts of home, the closeness of family and friends, and a consistent schedule.  I don't expect to sleep every night, only in short hours whenever I can find.

This irregularity of schedule very quickly became clear once I started working and I found a church.  I have found that being able to serve in the capacity which I did back home, in California, has become impossible, which has been been frustrating, even causing some internal turmoil.

As a new nurse and a young person in the profession, I am often asked, "What next?"  People can see that this is just he beginning of a long-term career with a variety of possible opportunities.  During my time here, working a constantly shifting schedule, I have realized that eventually I don't want to be working odd hours.  The extra pay that comes with working weekends and nights is not worth the sacrifice in time and quality of life, which is not measured in how much money I have, but in the way I spend my time and energy.  It has allowed me to contemplate different career possibilites that I would not have considered when I first started.  Such possibilites as working in a clinic or being a charge nurse.  The future is an exciting adventure not yet explored.