First Rotation: Check!

So Thursday was my last day in my first rotation. On the one hand I find that very exciting because it means I've accomplished something. But then I look at how many more rotations I have, how many more weeks I'll be spending in legal slavery it sort of steals away the joy. But that's okay, I'm still getting somewhere.

I had my theme meal on Thursday, it was a hit. If you look at the gorgeous bar graph I made summarizing the surveys (which you can't actually see because I'm not actually posting it, sad, I know) it shows that a majority of people ranked it as excellent, so win for me. And the decorations were a big hit. It was a good note to end on.

Next up is my outpatient rotation at the same hospital, it is mostly doing diabetes education. I'm nervous to be teaching classes, which is what I will be doing Tuesday and Wednesday. But I already have the materials for what I'll be teaching and intend to spend time practicing this weekend.

The new roommate started sleeping here and the jury is still out on whether or not I'm going to find him acceptable. I think thus far I've been pretty spoiled as far as roommates go. I've lived with friends or with people that it was easy to make friends with. And the one I had here already has been so perfect. We have opposite schedules it seems so we don't see each other all that much unless I find some creepy crawly in the kitchen and start screaming, then he comes running with broom in hand. This new one, however, is less about keeping to himself and more about being loud, putting books in the bathroom, and using my coffee maker to make crappy, weak coffee. It hasn't even been a week so I'm allowing more time for adjustment, then we'll see how it goes.

I think that's all for now. I'll leave a quote, I think I like signing off with a quote. This one has a bit of a story. I was feeling very lacking in the motivation department one day this week and so when I made my To Do List that morning I wrote quotes all over it to give myself some inspiration. Well Bill saw it half way through the day and in typical Bill fashion he stole the paper and wrote this one dawn for me, he assured me it was not to be taken personally it was just something he liked to remember, "Foolish consistencies are the hobgoblin of a simple mind."

I Have a Problem.

Really I have several problems, but my biggest one right now seems to be a lack of motivation. I have a ton of work to do that I am not interested in at all and I know if I just start it I can get it done in a fairly decent amount of time. BUT, I can't make myself start and people are starting to catch on. Poor Bill (the non-preceptor) has been ridiculously helpful. I think half of it is out of boredom and the other half may very well be that he thinks I am completely incapable of performing the tasks assigned to me. He's finally starting to realize how little I have accomplished. And by little, I mean seriously little but at the same time all the tasks are tedious and nearly pointless. I think he's trying to motivate me but I am so self- conscious that I can't work when I feel like he's paying too much attention to what I'm doing. Like today, I was entering in recipes for a cost evaluation and he sat down and was reading off ingredients for me and checking the inventory when I needed more specifics on the ingredient in question. I believe it was a result of, as I said earlier, his boredom and probably a little of that southern hospitality but it drove me nuts. I feel like it was something I could have done by myself and so I ended up telling him so and then I felt bad so I chatted with him and then lost motivation. It is turning in to a vicious cycle. But tonight I am going to work hard so I can have things done by tomorrow. Hopefully my preceptor will be impressed, although at this point I really am more motivated by being able to show Bill that I'm capable of getting things done.

Aside from that today was not super interesting. I did inventory in the morning with Bill and froze my butt off, those freezers are COLD, for good reason. I gave my in service which was kind of a bomb but it just means there is room for improvement. The students their for field work I think were pretty bored, as was expected, i didn't really see them. Tomorrow I'm observing another education that I will be responsible for next week when I'm in out patient and then I'm finishing my recipe stuff (if it isn't finished tonight).

Recap of the weekend: It was fairly uneventful. I stayed on for most of it since I am broke at the moment. I did watch the Saints game with my girls and I can say I about had a heart attack at the end. Clearly, I got wrapped up in the excitement and I was right there with everyone who was holding their breath for a victory. It was really exciting. And that is pretty much it.

Here's my new favorite quote until next time, "What had happened was. . ."

Week One: Check

This was a short week that ended in one ridiculously long day. But before I get in to that a quick recap of yesterday is in order.

I showed at 8:30, almost on the dot. There were a couple reminders left by Bill that it was almost Friday (personally I think he was more excited about it than I was) they made me laugh a little. I wrote out my in-service, again, in a more detailed fashion and then waited for my actual preceptor to arrive so I could get my theme meal menu approved. And then I continued to wait and wait and wait. Finally, at around 11 Bill suggested I text the preceptor find out where he was. He responded that he had a flat tire and would be in shortly. Apparently 'shortly' to him mean showing up at 12:30 when everyone is going on lunch. Now this wouldn't bother me so much if it weren't for the fact that I couldn't do anything else until he had approved my menu. Now I know what you're thinking (or at least this is what I would be thinking if I were you), "Why didn't you get it to him the day before if it was so important?" Well I'll tell you, because he wasn't there the day before! I've seen my preceptor maybe a total of four hours since I started and any thing I've actually needed help with I have to go to my non-preceptor (Bill)which makes me feel bad because it really isn't his job. I'm fairly good at being an independent worker but there are things that require my preceptor to check so I would really like it if he were available when he is supposed to be. But i can't change things and I'm not taking it personally so oh well.

What will be interesting is next week when 2 undergrads from the program at my school come in to do field experience. One is supposed to follow my preceptor (good luck) and the other is supposed to follow the non-preceptor (who isn't looking forward to it from what I can tell). Both the preceptor and non-preceptor informed me separately, and I think without the knowledge that the other one did the same thing, that I may be getting a buddy next week who can help me out with stuff. I barely do anything to begin with and I don't remember signing on to baby-sit. I'm trying to be optimistic and hoping that it will turn out to be a good thing.

On to today. I guess I can some it up in a few words, paperwork and waiting (that was only 2, I'm awesome). Thanks to a wonderful new policy at one of the hospitals we had to go in and fill out paperwork that we've already done, that part took like 2 hours. Then we had to go get yet another drug screen done, which took about an hour and the guy collecting samples was really uncomfortably awkward. We took a break for lunch after that at Darrell's, it's like a bar/sandwich place, it was pretty tasty. After lunch we had to go back to get yet another ppd skin test done (for the record this is my third one since the beginning of January). And of course none of these places (which are all supposed to be part of the same hospital) were inconveniently located in the most random spots. At least the girls were all there, for the most part, so it wasn't completely unbearable.

This weekend I've got to finish the stupid cycle and the extensions because I just want it done. Then I have to go cheer the Saints to victory. I am not in any way, shape, or form a football fan but I've had to learn to tolerate it for my time in Louisiana. I really care about this game though because my theme meal is related to the Super Bowl and the menu sounds more fun if it has Saints related names in it so for the sake of the menu I'm rooting for them.

Until next post, be happy.

I'm learning

So today I went in at 8:30 and worked on the blasted cycle menu for about half an hour. People were surprised I showed up again, apparently they don't quite understand the whole hours thing I guess and the fact that I have to be there no matter what. Anyways, I got to observe Lauren today, the outpatient dietitian. In a couple weeks I will be doing a rotation with her and I'll actually be teaching the class. She only had one person show up today so she spent two hours teaching him, and me of course. I was happy that I remembered most everything she was talking about and feel pretty comfortable saying that with some practice I'll be able to teach it with some confidence.

After I observed I went back to the office to read through some articles and fill out some paper work. After lunch I helped Bill tag the shipment that came in today. Some of it got wet because it got left out on the back porch for a little while and it started to rain. It was a little comical because as soon as the rain hit (during lunch) Bill had to run out and get it all inside so it didn't get completely soaked. About 4 people came in after that to let us all know the store room was a mess, Bill shoved everything in there without making it nice. We got it all cleaned up and then I got sent home to finalize my theme meal menu.

As of right now it looks like the meal will be spicy chicken strips, yam wedges, celery stick, herb dinner rolls, cheesy broccoli, and marble brownies. That's only if Dan doesn't change things when I show him tomorrow. Not to worry, I have two alternatives for every menu item, that's called preparation.

Funny things I heard today include mayonnaise being pronounced as "mannez," Bill told me I was too reserved and he apparently thinks showing up early is bad. Our program director told us to be on site 15 minutes before we were supposed to start our rotation but today Bill told me, "Show up at 8:30 tomorrow, not fifteen minutes before 8:30, just 8:30." That's what I get for trying to do what I'm told I guess. Oh ya, one person today said vitamin D milk, "Tastes like paint," compared to the skim milk they've been drinking recently. Honestly, I don't want to know why they know what paint tastes like and I'm not eager to find out if what they said was true :) Until tomorrow happens that's it for me.

Day one of a million. . .

Where to begin? I guess at the beginning when I woke up. . . at 4, 5, and 6. That's right, every hour on the hour because my nerves seeped in to my sleep pattern. My alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. which means it was really 6:20 because I set it fast. IT was rough dragging myself out of bed and going through the morning routine, which now involves breakfast in one form or another thanks to my decision to make a New Year's resolution. Anyways, I'll skip ahead. . .

The rotation isn't going to be bad. I have to write a lot of menus which I really don't like doing but that's life I suppose, doing things you don't really like doing. The people are nice, I felt a little awkward around them mostly because I had to check the sarcasm. I don't want to come off as too abrasive, especially on the first day, so I held back. But they seem like they wouldn't mind so tomorrow maybe I might settle back into being myself a little more. That will help make it better, that and not having to stare at the computer for hours. Oh, and I won't have to hear about the drama in the kitchen so much, hopefully.

I will be observing the outpatient dietitian tomorrow. She's really nice, I know her from outside of my rotations and she's cool so hopefully I'll learn a lot and enjoy my break form the menus that I can seem myself complaining about a lot this week.

In other news, I'm getting a new roommate. I met him and his girlfriend today, we said like two words to each other and they both seem nice. As far as I know just the dude is moving in, but I could be wrong. We also had a dinner for Adele's birthday, that was a lot of fun. A bunch of girl's sitting around, eating, and talking about doing exactly what our program director told us not to do :) We really do what we're told but in some instances she just isn't realistic, like with the gossiping. Everyone does it, especially, it seems, dietitians, so of course we all have to share what we hear with each other.

I'm going to end this one with a quote that is posted in the nutrition services office where I've been hanging out, I think it will help convey the type of people I'm spending my week with: "If you can't be kind at least have the decency to be vague."

In the Beginning. . .

I'm putting this out there as my disclaimer: I am not used to blogging or journaling so if my thoughts seemed scattered and come out at random I am sorry. Just be thankful you aren't actually inside my head, it is like a million times worse :)

The main purpose for this is to hep me keep my sanity during my internship. I just need to be able to get my thoughts out there about everything considering I'm already a little freaked out about my first day, which is TOMORROW!

I'm starting off in a food service rotation that is supposed to be pretty laid back. I still haven't decided if I want to wear my scrubs or go the business casual route with this one, the choice is mine. We went to the facility last week and all the people seem really nice I just wish I knew exactly what they are going to expect me to do outside my list of assignments.

Luckily, if tomorrow goes bad it is Adele's b-day (she's one of my Louisiana girls, I'll get around to introducing them all at a later date) so I can go cry to the other intern girls and take my mind off it.

I shall let you know how tomorrow goes when tomorrow has happened. Wish me luck!