Travel Blog

Leaving for Japan tomorrow. It's going to be weird going there without my dad. Nobody to translate for me. Nobody to shelter me. Awesome. It's going to be one hell of an experience. And….this is going to be my first overseas trip with Jian. This will definitely be an eye-opening experience, an experience of a lifetime.

So far, we've got 95% of all things packed away. We got clothes, maps, travel books, etc. Plus, we've even got a compass. I know, I know…it's not like we're going hiking in the mountains. We just want to be prepared, so we know how to get around without having to point and ask stupid questions like stereotypical tourists.

Well, until tomorrow. Out.

Getting ready to take off…first time leaving Ella I am keeping my fingers crossed that this flight is better then my last one to Baltimore. The last flight was so rough I actually thought I was going to need to use an air sickness bag. I will keep you posted :)

I am in such a dither today regarding the job.  I would have thought for SURE today I would have gotten a request to interview, or a nay.  Nada.  At noon, I emailed my Manager to ask what was going on….perhaps the hiring mgr is out of town etc.  It hasn't even been one week, but pretty soon it will be, still being that it is a holiday week, I need to cut her some slack. But I just have to know. 

I definitely have other options.  One of the difficult things is that with most of the other options, i can not see myself continuing to do them for very long, so that seems unfair to do all the training, and then leave. 

It would be nice if there was some way I could get certification in Infection Control, and then apply for the job.  But it's a catch-22.  To qualify to take the exam to be certified in Infection Control, they want 2 years of work in Infection Control.  To get hired in Infection Control, it would seem that they would want the certification.  The job I have applied for does not actually require the certification, as the hospital is big enough to support several Infection Control Nurses (like about 7). 

My other clear option is to go back to travel nursing. I forgot about it as an option, but then I got an email from my old company today offerring several jobs in Oregon, which is a place I'd like to go back to for a while.  {erhaps it was a sign.

       Essentially, I pick up myself and the dog, get sent somewhere for 13 weeks…and work my behind off for about double the pay of my regular job. They pay for my apartment and living expenses.  At the end, I can go home, and pick up another assignment.  I did this when I first came back from Africa.  At small hospitals it was alright, at the one level one trauma center I went to it was a disaster.  I came back from traveling because I felt sort of tired of moving from place to place all the time, but things have changed slightly.

I now Own a home, so I do have an official residence I can come back to every thirteen weeks. One of my biggest problems was trying to pack everything up into my small car, now I really would only have to pack my clothes, the puppy and GO…much much easier. (Yes, you can take your pets with you…)  I can pretty much choose to stay at the smaller regional hospitals which tend to be less dangerous and exciting. If it's a nice place, I can usually extend the contract.    

So the Pros:  I can choose places and get to see more of the US, I get paid quite a bit, If I hate a place it's a short term committment, I don't have to get embroiled in the politics, I can take a long vacation at the end of a contract if I feel like it.  I'm more in control of my schedule….to an extent (If the contrat says all weekends, it is indeed all weekends.)

Cons: No job advancement, No ability to change specialties (as they hire travelers to come and work from day one…),

lots of night shift. th Benefits offerred by the travel company are always way more confusing, and hard to use (thinking mostly of insurance here, it's offerred but its confusing).  If I get hurt like I got hurt this year withthe broken fingers, I have no sick time to fall back on or anything like that, It would be especially difficult if hurt during a contract, because one can not miss work during a contract if one wants the completion bonus. 

Looking at this financially, it makes more sense to travel than ever.  But some part of me feels quite loyal to my current hospital, and I feel like the IC job has more long term do-ability

you know something is wrong when you have to tell your body to breathe. sometimes i'll catch myself not breathing.. usually when i start getting dizzy. uff.. and i'm suppose to be looking for a new job, but who has time when i'm working a zillion hours a week? =)

i have a few pictures from last weekend that i need to load.. we went to yuma with the family. omg.. azaiah is such a big boy. the talks and talks and talks… dada, mama, tito, deetee, baba… uff, i love that boy. he's so curious, he has to look, touch and drool on everything.

we went atv'ing on saturday (for sabina's 25th birthday, damn she's old–but still my baby sister). it was sooo freaking hot… but fun. i only did it for like an hour.. it sucks because i kept on stalling, i don't know how to drive a stick shift and so it was confusing to me about shifting.. down shifting.. netural… damnit, why couldn't they have a automatic one? any way, sabina, justin and bryan took off on the dunes for an hour.. they came back drenched—they found the colorado river and jumped in to cool off. heh.

monday justin and i went to the san diego zoo. holy crap… i've never walked so much in my life. my calves are still very tight and score. i love the zoo! pandas were soo cute and i wanted to hug the silver back gorilla.. i want to go again!

any way, it was nice to get away for a little bit. a little break before the next wave of crap falls on my lap.

i'm flying out on sunday to go to indianapolis for business.. they wanted me to go for 2 and a half weeks, but i told them that's not going to happen. i miss justin's birthday every year because of business trips… crap.. i have no idea what to buy him for his birthday. OH.. so my birthday is coming up too.. and i suggested an 80's themed birthday bash. justin's such a poor sport.. oh well. i thought it was a good idea.. i wanted to go buy leggins, keds and aqua net. what a party pooper.

back to the grind. i'll post pictures later.

As I mentioned before, Manu Chao blew us all away. But what do you expect, when he's got Steve-O (from Jackass) and Robert De Niro in his band?

I found two provocative pieces of recent commentary regarding petroleum:

"How to Win the Energy War" is an op-ed that appeared in the New York Times on May 23.

And, I'm not familiar with the website, but I found this column about the relative cost of gasoline at different points in the 20th century at www.humanevents.com.

Please let us know if you've read anything provocative on the subject.

What kind of camera(s) do you own?

We have a little Olympus D-565 Zoom digital camera that we bought for about $250 with several Target giftcards we got as wedding gifts back in summer of 2004.  So by technological standards, at nearly 3 years old, it's pretty obsolete.  But it still takes decent pictures and until we have the spare cash to afford another one (and to tell you the truth, we have a whole list of other things that we want to buy when we have the spare cash, and most of them rank ahead of this), it will remain our only camera.  This little baby has traveled with me to Boston and back several times, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Midwest, Tennessee, Atlanta, Savannah, and several major cities around Florida.  It has taken 63246874417 pictures of our cats.  And very rarely has it ever disappointed me.  It's a good, solid camera.

(31 may) yesterday afternoon i visited the castle of good hope, the oldest building in south africa and its military seat.  the castle is pentagonal and used to sit on the seashore (the dungeon floor was made of wet sand), until a large amount of land was 'reclaimed' and became the downtown area.  i had lunch (something interesting called 'waterbluitjie soup,' which as far as i can tell means soup made from water lilies - tasted a little like asparagus) and looked over my map to get my bearings, then wandered around a bit on my own before taking an official tour.  some of the highlights included the several-hundred-year-old graffiti on the cell doors, which have since been reversed on their hinges so you can see the carvings (made using nails pulled from the prisoners' boots); the reconstructed dolphin pool; and the museum collections of colonial furniture and black-and-white portaits of san people taken in the early 1900's.  oh, and the brass plaque outside - see below.