The Process

... for the Washington Department of Health to produce a wonderful piece of paper known as a Pharmacy Technician license. In the mean time, I am biding my time anxiously patiently. I'm pretty sure everyone knows just how ADHD calm I can be while waiting. Thanks to the Washington State Department of Health, along with the licensing needs of pharmacies all around Puget Sound, I am UNABLE to work in the community I have so graciously paid $14,000 to enter.

A few weeks ago, I called the department of health with questions. I did get some answers. Some of it made sense. I learned...

the DOH receives applications with payments every day
there are 1000's of these applications pouring in from all aspects of health care every day
upon receiving an application package, the DOH separates the payment from the application.
the application is then filed away in line with all the other applications waiting for processing
I was told there was a two to four week wait for application processing
applications are currently waiting a period of five weeks

After all that waiting, THEN the processing begins with

data entry
a dark past background check
I hope there is a second dark past background check thanks to all the time we spend waiting for these pieces of paper
the waiting pointlessly processing check
the reality legality check
the final data entry
the printing of the paper
the mailing of the paper

I guess I don't think like normal people. i tend to have a very hard time accepting lame excuses when it comes to just about anything. You can give me a lame excuse. That part is fine. How I tend to respect anything about you or anything you do after the lame excuse is given is for you to deal with. I pretty much wrote you off as annoying and lazy.

Honestly, why it takes the DOH that long to do anything is plainly BEYOND me. I have spent the past several weeks trying to figure out how that state agency can even live with itself knowing there are thousands of people all over the state being denied the ability to have a decent job in health care; all because of the DOH lag time. I'm not sure if that office is pro-customer service, or pro-cash waster. Seriously, if the load is so heavy for the DOH that it just can't handle it, HIRE MORE PEOLPE. After all, I need a job. Obviously that office has a need for staff. I see a win-win situation there.

I may see my license come to me sometime in January. So far, I have been denied several interviews because I don't carry the proper license. That just isn't cool with me at all. Of course, by the time I get my first Technician license, it will be time to send off for the renewal.

Well, I may SOMEDAY be able to get a decent job in a pharmacy, and maybe even be able to re-enter college for the Pharm, D. program at the UW.  I guess I can always dream on.

My Extership Rocked. (and Now I Wait for My License)

I have never had, in my entire life, a better 160 hours than I did in my time at Peninsula Community Health Services. In 160 hours of free working time, I discovered:

just how much I really love being in the pharmacy
my first real experience in pharmacy work
PDX is a software program of its very own uniqueness
PDX is quite maneuverable once you figure it out
the desire to beat PDX sometimes comes quite often
different pharmacists function with different work habits, but still get everything done
brand new sharpie markers do not leave the desired dark X on bottles
older, blunter sharpies leave a beautiful, dark, bold X on the bottle
some patients can really try a person's patience
keeping your patience with patients who are trying your patience causes said patients to leave a pharmacy counter with a very open jaw
how blessed I am to have worked with former pharmacy tech instructors
how blessed I am  to have worked with the pharmacists that I did
160 hours of full-time volunteer work comes as fast as it goes

To the Pharmacy of Peninsula Community Health Services:

Thank You for the best 160 hours I have ever spent working on a volunteer basis. I have now worked with the greatest people I could ever have been with. Thank you for the support and encouragement.

It's Over, (And Now I Need a Job)

So the last post I wrote was at the start of my last 20 hours in class. Well, I have to admit that 20 hours was over only a month ago. In those last 20 hours, I took something like 10 tests, including the glorious lab final, intended to give a presentation on Congenital Indifference to Pain, and put in my fair share of time studying for the PTCB.

Much to my reassurance, I did not throw IV syringes as if they were darts in the hood. I was looking forward to the dual mix syringe work in the final. The assignment: pull 3ml practi-powder solution into the syringe. Then add 7ml sterile water into said syringe without backwashing the yellow solution into the bottle of sterile water. All while simulating working in a vertical flow hood.

Prevention of shadowing in a vertical hood isn't as easy as it sounds. Sure, everything is held so the airflow of the hood hits the top of the syringe, and vial, and everything else in the hood. Holding all that stuff so the air actually can hit the top of the syringe, vial, and everything else isn't so easy. For the most part, proper vertical technique looks something like what my dear friend, and model for this photo, Shevy, is doing here.

Of course, the ONLY Power Point I out together during the entire 9 months, not related to any of the assignments in the CORE module, was finished, but never shown. To make that situation even more annoying, the flash drive with the project on it disappeared. For Your Information, presenting Congenital Indifference to Pain with nothing more than the internet as a research option and NO cash available to purchase medical journals is nothing close to easy. Some of my best information, pictures included, was in the form of TV articles I found on YouTube. Basically, after I spent the many hours pouring through google searches, videos, and maveuring through Power Point 2007, all I had to turn in was the outline.

I managed to pull through the last three of the generics tests with decent scores. Thank you to my good friend, Shevy (yes, the model of vertical flow) I somehow managed to cram master 20 generic drugs relating to diabetes, put in some PTCB practice tests, and manage to pull off a test on human hormones.


Somehow, I still managed all A's in the final module.  WOW.

20 Hours

This is a magical number for me today. As I currently stand, there are 20 hours left in school. Twenty hours begins with the Lab final, in which I will not throw syringes as if they are darts. Those twenty hours end with a comprehensive test in generic drugs for diabetes.

I would say that I will not know what to do with my time, but that has no reality what so ever. After taking the usual day off, I will begin a new venture in my journey to Certified Pharmacy Technician. I am required 160 hours of extenrship, aka free labor, to a pharmacy.

Am I excited, if I were to think not, I would have to rename myself Pinocchio.

Will Someone Please Move Their Jeep?

WASHJAM is a big camporee, a scaled down version of National Jamboree for Boy Scouts put on by Chief Seattle and Pacific Harbors Councils. Troops from all over WA, OR, ID, MT, UT attended the first one five years ago. The first WASHJAM was expecting about 1500 youth and adults but by registration close there were only about 1000 registered but by Saturday, there were over 2000 in attendance.

This WASHJAM was attended by the above 5 states as well as a troop from Canada. The word put out was to expect about 3000-4000 youth and adults. On Saturday night at the Grandstand, it was announced there were over 5000 of us and at one point the figure of 5500 was given. As you can see, this is not a small event.

Bigfoot, EagleMom, and That Weird Woman attended WASHJAM. They were invited by an Asst. Scoutmaster to have dinner with them as there would be a lot of food. The 3 had planned to have hot dogs from the back of the van in the parking lot. That Weird Woman asked how many total were in the troop and since they had 10 it seemed a good idea to offer the hot dogs as a bonus to the meal. They had taken 16 hot dogs for the 3 of them.

As everyone was just hanging out until the chili and hot dogs were done, the boys from the troop got some TP from one of the Asst. Scoutmasters and covered a Jeep as much as they could. This Jeep was parked in their camping area but did not belong to any of them. No vehicles were allowed in the camp area, gear trailers were. A Ft. Lewis Security man came around trying to locate the owner. He was asking the troops next to the Jeep if it was theirs. They said no but thought the man had gone over into another camp area when he got out. The Security man told the Scoutmasters he did not care what happened to the Jeep as long as it was not scratched, dented, damaged in any way but if the boys wanted to TP it, cover it in plastic wrap etc, he saw no harm in the prank as it was just "protecting" the Jeep from bird droppings, dust, etc. Boys being boys heard this and you know what they did! They got TP from an Asst. Scoutmaster and covered it. Someone took a picture of them doing it and turned it into the Sub-camp director.

Dinner is over and the boys are playing with another troop in an open field. The Sub-camp director came over and had words with two of the Scoutmasters from the next troop over. It was getting a little loud. The Scoutmaster from the troop we were with went over and calmed it down a little. Another Scoutmaster from the troop on the other side was called over. He backed up what our Scoutmaster was saying about the OK to "protect" the Jeep. Our Scoutmaster went and removed the TP before That Weird Woman could get a picture of it for the newsletter. The Sub-camp director said it was teaching the boys to be disrespectful of others. As far as any of the Scoutmasters, and Asst. Scoutmasters were concerened in the 3 troops involved, it was a harmless prank. The Jeep was not damaged in any manner and it may have taught a lesson the man who parked it illegally in the first place. You follow the rules and DON'T MESS WITH SCOUTS.

In the Name of Coffee...

Our compounding lab work got stuffed in a drawer at the end of our lunch break today. In the name of needing coffee, or anything in my stomach, I ditched my friend today. I would say I ditched her during lab, but this was almost 30 minutes after lab and we still weren't finished.

Thank you to the morning Pharmacy Tech class, Jill and I made a pretty green pain relieving capsule. Measuring out the sprinkles, fine. Measuring out the acetaminophen; run the calculations and crush tablets to smithereens. Measure out 18 grams of baking soda, and you get an hour long fight with a delicate piece of crap we call the scale. Or, according to our lead program chair, a balance. Either way, the thing is a countlessly broken piece of DELICATE EQUIPMENT.

Since the majority of our 90 minute lab session was spent on measuring out baking soda, the punching of #2 size capsules went well into our lunch break. Our entire lunch break.

And good-ole-I-haven't-eaten-since-nine-this-morning was working with the ever so dilligent I-always-study-Jill, I left her for something in my stomach.

In the name of coffee, our lab work was set in a drawer with our names on it, to be finished tomorrow.

Educating Kids About the Intenet-Priceless

I came home from school thinking this would be a very good day to walk with Beadgirl up to the bakery outlet close to our house. I didn't expect to never make it there thanks to some loser moron imbusil player on Runescape who was ACTUALLY TRYING TO STEAL MY DAUGHTER'S ID!

Beadgirl said she would come with me after she decided what to do with her Runescape account. She got a message informing her that her account was reported for scamming other people. Not just once, but to the tune of 24 times. Beadgirl is not, and has never been, the kind of person to pull crap anywhere like that. The person "handling" the "case" told Beadgirl she would need to submit her user name, password and email. For some reason, the account would need to be "played" by the "moderator" so that they could see what was said. If the reports were false, Beadgirl would be rewarded in points, or game money, or whatever it was. But, we would not be able to see information about the incidents.

Hello! The Runescape policy openly states that NO employee will ever ask for that information.

I told Beadgirl to ask if an IP address check can be run during the replay. That will tell us where the log-in to her account came from. She was told by the person on the other end that IP searches could not be done. We wouldn't be allowed to see the information. Not only were we not able to ask for an IP search, we weren't allowed to get time/date stamp information.

This Mamma Bear came onto the chat. In the end, I drove this "undercover moderator" on the other end of the line nuts. This person decided to tell me Beadgirl's account would be blocked. Whatever. The Runescape information openly gives information on moderators. There are no undercover moderators. Jagex employees will never ask for sensitive information, and they do watch for foul play.

My message to Runescape predators:

Don't mess with my kids. You will REGRET IT!

To parents:

There are loosers everywhere, especially the internet. Education is our ultimate Power Tool.

Patches? Who Said Anything About Patches?

I can't figure out why a Boy Scout uniform would need patches. Especially when the uniform has to be worn for seven days at summer camp. Oh please. The shirt doesn't need patches. How can the shirt need patches. It's not the last minute yet.

The conversation I needed to have yesterday:

"Mom," from the vocal cords of Bigfoot, "I YOU need to put patches on my shirt so I can take it to camp."

Everything comes out of Bigfoot's mouth as YOU instead of I. HE needs to do nothing. YOU, meaning I-the mom, need to do everything. I will eventually break him of this habit. Just like I will learn to type without stupid mistakes or the backspace button.

"Which numbers does it need?" I'm thinking it is the shirt that has repeatedly gone home with another Boy Scout, is full of Steam-A-Seam spots, and has come home twice with missing numbers. This is not the shirt Bigfoot has in his mind.

"All of them."

"What?"

"Yeah mom, ALL OF THEM."

"Where is your shirt with the patches?"

"I don't know. I need patches on the blank shirt so I can go to camp."

If I had this conversation yesterday, new patches could have been purchased and the larger shirt would have been properly assembled.

The troop leaves for camp tomorrow. Through today's course of events, lessons have been learned. I learned the Scout Shop is closed on Saturdays in July and August. Patches are not available in a single thrift store in this condemn blessed county. Shirts are no longer available in the thrift stores. Boy Scouts is not dead, just not showing up in thrift stores. Red numbers aren't showing up in stores either. That Weird Woman was told at one thrift store that scout patches are actually being thrown out when shirts do come in. Not cool. Bigfoot has his first lesson in sewing today. He has learned how to use a seam ripper, needle, thread and threader.

He may take all night, but the shirt will get done. The Mom-Fairy may show up and finish it tonight.

Did This Really Happen to Me?

Now that I have six five weeks left of school, I am wondering just what happened this week. I went from a great start to total a total chaos of mess.

Monday was a great day for me. The pin-stripe black suit went on. My resume was printed, on pink resume paper of all things. I normally don't even fathom the idea of printing a resume on anything other than a shade of white and heavy-weight paper. This time, I needed to tap the "extensive" supply of paper at school. My choices of color extended to green, gold, gray, and pink. Right off the bat, green and gold are out of the picture for me. I could have handled the gray if it wasn't a dark gray. Pink ended up being my option since it was the only paper I cold find that would actually make the ink look good on the paper. For some reason, that pink paper ended up being a good thing. Peninsula Community Health Services is working on my background check for externship right now. I don't think I even had a ten minute interview with the lead technician at the clinic and she told me to head over to the administrative offices for paper work! I got my externship!

Tuesday, I learned it is darn near impossible to pull from an ampule, chemo style. My first round in the chaos of Tuesday's lab involved the flinging of an ampule with it conveniently breaking open for me. not only did I not get it the first time, I screwed it up the second time. How anyone pulls anything from a 2ml ampule in a vertical flow hood successfully, I may never know. It reminds me of the Tootsie Pop owl. I never did finish my chemo lab on Tuesday.

I learned on Wednesday that it takes 2 hours to fill 6 retail style prescriptions. New patient information; fine. I can handle that. New Dr. Information? Why am I having to create 6 new doctors in the system? Oh, and to whoever wrote the Robitussin prescription: We don't have it in tablet or capsule form on the school shelves. We only carry it in OTC strength and in syrup form. It takes 100mg to administer a minimum level dose. There is no efficacy in 10 to 20mg of guaifenesin every 4 hours. Let alone, 30 tablets will not do the job. Did you not read the PDR when you wrote the form, or did you just make it up? I had to deal with this crap on Wednesday. Thank you.

I was about to blog about all of this Thursday, that is until I got home from school. That Weird Woman was sick. I had dinner to make, and a conference call to sit in on at the same time. By the time I was done with everything, I was feeling awful, right along with the rest of the family.

I don't like running route when I am feeling sick. I wake up late, drive slow, and make mistakes. Not being able to get back to sleep afterwards due to a caffeine high doesn't make the situation any better. This would be the particular case when I have a demo gig for the day. So today, I fell asleep after route, and woke up late for demo.

Since I hadn't read my sales info, I decided it would be a good idea to stop at Cash & Carry today for gloves. Boy, was that a life-saver. I never needed them, but would not have picked up a food-service grade plastic tray if I had not gone in for gloves. I never did need the gloves, but did need the tray. Actually, I was supposed to have a cooler, but never got that in the mail like I was supposed to. Just like the store I was supposed to work was supposed to receive a memo about today's demo. Sure. Whatever. the store did not know I was coming. The produce manager didn't really want to help me out. There was no product in the store, and he was very adamant that he doesn't carry it what so ever. My confirmation letter sent me to his store, but the forms were printed for another store. My scheduler couldn't figure out what was going on. The other store had no product in stock for me and wouldn't have any for tomorrow either.

So I found my car making its way back across lovely Bremerton to the parking building where I park for school. Since I found my Friday afternoon free of working, I could at least make use of the time for open lab. I, along with two other classmates did make a very nice ointment of sugar, peppermint and clove. Measuring out 15 grams of petroleum jelly is not really my idea of a good time, but the practice was useful.

So, if this was the week I went through, can someone please wake me up now?

Bigfoot's Week

50 miles in the Olympic National Forest
6 Days of HOT weather
Swimming in the lakes and rivers
Wild animals
Drinking glacier water
Thunder and Lightning
1 Forest fire started by the lightning
1 Hail Storm
A wet sleeping bag from having to use the bag's sack as a bear bag.
Pizza somewhere near Hoquiam
Tired feet

I Finally Got It Finished Today!

Today was one definitely of those hectic homeschooler days. I woke up late for route, causing me to meet my rider late. Ok, so I made up for that with a route completion time of 1:45. Nice. I haven't done that to date yet.

Ok, so I came home, decided I needed a nap, woke up late for what I could afford. I still had this dear TB paper to write. Even at 8am, I still couldn't push out even a paragraph. I guess that wasn't too big of a deal since I had to get myself and the car off to a rear brake job. Got the car to the shop, after turning around for the checkbook and my purse. On the way over, I was reminding myself to ask for a fuel filter along with the brakes. I was in perfect hectic homeschooling form and forgot.

Well, that gave me something like four hours to finish the paper that I still only had half a page done. Of course, once I got to school, I couldn't use the computers in the Pharmacy Lab right away. I ended up having to use the resource room. That's just fine until I have to plug my ear plugs into a tower below the desk. I'm not too fond of playing Twister to listen internet radio while working on a paper.

At least I finally got my paper finished today. All fourteen pages jetted out of the school printer one hour before the cut off. Nice.

I walked out of the module today with straight A's! YES! Six weeks left!

I love it when I have a hyper-under-control day. I get so much stuff done, even if things seem a little crazy and hectic.

Writer's Block, and Not on the Blog

Ok, so I have a paper on Tuberculosis due, only TOMORROW. I'm supposed to write two to three pages on the topic. So far, I have? Less than one page. Why? I have no clue. Normally, I can pump out somewhere around nine or ten pages in just a few hours. Tonight, I couldn't even get a paragraph out, let alone, make it sound good.

Instead, I'm wasting my time wondering why the HELL Michael Jackson was given propofol? And, what was his doctor SMOKING to think of giving his that stuff? This is a drug only to be used as an anesthetic for surgical procedures. It stops you from breathing. It can cause myocardial ischemia. Why the hell is MJ taking this stuff like it is a household injection? This doctor makes me sick.

Now that we have physicians giving out drugs for reasons other than what they should be used for, I have other stuff to do. Like update my Facebook page, read email, play games. Anything but write a term paper.

Thirty-three Excuses for Cake (and some very good drinks)

There are thirty-three reasons I been eating cake since Saturday:

July 25, 1976-2009.

That Weird Woman made me cake for my birthday. Unfortunately, everyone in this zoo was too busy to eat it until yesterday. Birthday cake is no fun when you cut it by yourself. Monday was the first day I could cut it and share it in one five-minute period.

Saturday, I was too busy to eat cake. Bigfoot needed supplies for the 50-miler hike he is currently on. I needed clothing for Saturday night. Beadgirl needed new clothes, as if she isn't growing. I really needed to take the kids to Famous Dave's for barbecue. I had too much to do during the day to eat cake.

That isn't to day that my birthday didn't turn out bad. My good friend from TeleTech, Brandi, took me out on our first clubbing experience in Seattle. Since I haven't had a drink in over a year, I've lost touch with the various forms of alcoholic combinations. So, I made it simple on myself. I asked the bartender to make me something fun on my birthday. I got this:

2 lime slices
ice
vermouth
grenadine

times five, along with some drunk guy who wanted to take me home. Not to forget the "Greek" guy who decided Brandi's boyfriend is a loser.

I don't think so. I happen to like her boyfriend. He is very good for her, and he drove us to and from the ferry in Bremerton.

I decided it was time for Cinderella's carriage to turn into a pumpkin.

And it might as well have for that matter. We learned that the Washington State Ferry terminal at Coleman Dock locks up at 2am. Brandi and I were told by the state patrol officer that we could stay outside and that there are cameras around the terminal.

For some reason, four hours outside the ferry terminal just doesn't thrill either me or Brandi. Knowing our luck, we would have been picked up by the Seattle Police for hooking Alaskan Way. I have to admit, we would have made very bad hookers if we had stayed all night at the terminal. Thankfully, her mom's boyfriend came to pick us up and let us crash in Northgate for several hours. Sleep is a good thing, especially on an air mattress in good company.

Aaaah, The Sweetness of "Voluntelling"

Right along side of the joys of Cub Scout Day Camp, come the joys of volunteering. I love volunteering for Cub Scout Day Camp; especially when my good friend Harry is in charge of putting camp together for 150 boys. When he runs a camp program, volunteering at camp is fun.

Even more fun, is being able to volunteer someone else into a staff position. For most people, I wouldn't even think of volunteering them into positions without their knowledge. However, when the person I am volunteering is That Weird Woman, I have no worries what so ever.

Wednesday, while at camp, I was chatting with a friend of mine. My good friend Harry approached and made a comment about needing staff for the week. Neither one of us was available to staff all day for the last two days of camp. However, we knew That Weird Woman would be. On that Wednesday, she became the Games station staff for Thursday and Friday. She was officially Voluntold.

The joys of Day Camp. I was a good girl to my mom and told her Wednesday night when I got home form school. She had plenty of fore warning for the next day, with time to visit camp and shop for decorations.

Friends and Family really are wonderful.

To Mitchell Distribution: I Will Not Miss You

I closed a door of my life in Port Orchard back at the end of May. I, through timing well unplanned, I left my newspaper route in Port Orchard. According to the distributor, AnneMarie Mitchell, it wasn't my route beginning in October. It was hers. HER route, as I was yelled at the Sunday before I quit. There should be no reason what so ever that I should ever dare think of a group of 300 newspaper subscribers "my customers." I was to work for HER. I was to pay out the expenses associated with "owning" a route territory, but was to give all control of everything that happened to HER.

Even two months later, while HER customers are still calling me about their missed deliveries, I still get steamed up thinking about the *****. She still ******* pisses me off.

Those of us who were carries for the Kitsap Sun before that ***** came around had our phone numbers passed out to OUR subscribers. Back in that day, they were OUR subscribers. We ran our routes the way we needed to get the job done. We were trusted. And when we were down, we were encouraged. we were spoiled rotten in Port Orchard with an awesome district manager. He actually cared about teaching and encouraging people. We were able to work for ourselves first. In that day, carriers were encouraged to take ownership.

So when I feel so uncomfortable with terms that *****, named AnneMarie Mitchell. laid in front of me, I felt compelled to make investigative phone calls. She didn't try to work things out. instead, I was told to pick a quit date or she would pick one for me.

She never did let me say goodbye to my subscribers. I still consider them mine. I hope the ***** has to explain to any new carrier why tips decrease when service decreases.

No Longer A Hectic Homeschooler

I wonder if everyone goes through this:

Right now I just want to scream. I am sick of accepting changes from people. I am sick of sucking up to people whom I'm not really sure even like me. There have been so many things I have wanted to say, but know to keep my mouth shut. Over the past few months, I have closed many different chapters in my life. I've had to pick up the pieces and move on.

And when it rains, it can't just rain in my life. It just has to FLOOD.

I wanted to blog the morning of June 5th. That was one of the many days I cried. I don't even talk about most of the times I cry. Over the past year, I have cried myself to sleep more than I have "passed out" from exhaustion. June 5th was a little different form all of them.

I closed our last report cards at Explorer Academy. We actually spent four years at one school. Even though it wasn't really a school as anybody would normally think of it, I spent four years working with teachers and homeschooling my kids. I had Explorer Academy as a resource for the years I didn't have the cash for our own curriculum.

Giving up homeschooling was not something I wanted to do. I feel forced to by my new situation as a single mom. After five years at home, attempting to domesticate myself, this is the hardest challenge in my life. I spent five years at home with my kids, trying to support my husband. May of last year, he announced to me his intention to divorce.

I felt I was making progress in homeschooling. I was connecting with my kids in a way I had never been able to before. I was teaching and learning with them in a way I wish I had been able to as a kid. Closing report cards this year was a huge step for me. One of the doors in my life was now closed. Maybe someday, when Bogfoot and Beadgorl have kids of their own, they can reopen the door to the joys of homeschooling.

I Think I Killed It

May My Phone Rest in Peace

Today, June 21, 2009, after eighteen months and fourteen days of using only ONE cell phone, I have laid to rest my very sleek, very sexy, very long lived Fire MOTO KRZR. Oficially, as of two in the afternoon today, the Fire KRZR has been de-activated from my Verizon account. The coming of this phone was celebrated, as phone number eleven you can read about it here.

It has dealt with my blondeness. Even while having a bluetooth turned off, it continued to take calls. Funny stories such as this one came from this episode.

This phone lived a life full of activity. Although it never saw a ringtone, mp3 or artwork download, its usage made up for everything it never had. Since its removal from the box, the camera became a lifeline to candid shots of teachers, kids, dogs, Master Masons, Shriners, and other object needing photography when the real camera was not available.

It spent six months of intense use while working with the newspaper, taking in over 50 text messages a day, running the Navigator GPS program, and talking through the bluetooth all at once. The intensity of this activity placed this phone on the car charger for than its fair share for the sake of operating in multiple tasks.

Loyal it was during my job as the Dell chick to Best Buy, a job I love and wish I could have back (thanks to the marketing company that claims to not have any work). It gave continued loyalty during my time with Mitchell Distribution (I will not miss that one) BCM Distribution. It has taken calls from Bigfoot, Beadgirl, that Weird woman, Little-Big Brother, and Bigboy (who no longer calls, but now texts on a regular basis).

It took me only eighteen months and fourteen days to completely kill the battery on my KRZR. I have a personal inability to handle a phone that can't keep a charge. In place of it, is That Weird Woman's not so sleek, far from sexy, yet ruggedized, durable, and functional Motorola V325. The Borrowed is functional. It is capable of holding a charge. And, for the next six months while my contract runs out, IT WORKS.

Count Down

I am not counting down. Three months and 160 hours. I am not counting down to the end of my Pharmacy Technician program. I only have three months and 160 hours of externship to go.

In three months and 160 hours, I will be qualified to work in the Pharmacy. I am in denial of counting down. I'm not counting down. I only have three months and 160 hours left to go.

In three hours and 160 hours, I will not be required to toss another newspaper. My car will no longer be beaten up by the turning and stopping and backing up of newspaper. I will be working in a Pharmacy counting pills into vials.

I'm not counting down at all.

A Sucker for Punishment

I did it. I just couldn't keep my mouth shut at the last parents' meeting for the Boy Scout Troop. Our troop secretary didn't show up, for whatever reason. We needed someone to record minutes from the meeting. Not only did I volunteer to take minutes last month, I suckered volunteered to become the new secretary.

What has happened to me?

Twitter Me Not

Of all things technology related, there are some things I just haven't figured out. I was the Dell chick to Best Buy, a job I loved and miss very much, thank you. I have seen some of the coolest, latest and greatest coming to an American computer near you.

The solid state drive is being perfected as a hard drive. I'm saying within two years (factoring American spending trends and the economy) solid state drives will replace floppy spin drives in our computers. We can put 16GB into a stip of metal the size of my pinky fingernail. Tetrebytes will be coming soon in solid state form.

I actually got to see a Windows At-Home Server. With the exception of pathetic marketing, I validate this one completely. The more America works from home and quits burning oil in our cars, the more we need in-home servers.

I was the Dell chick. I could easily sell you a pc with 8GB memory and a 750 GB hard drive. In the process I will tell you every reason you should spend $1000 on this pc package. In no way did I ever take advantage of you. I just got you to spend more money now than having to replace your machine in two years.

What I don't get is websites that spend American time pointlessly. Twitter would be one of those. Will someone please educate me in the purpose of posting messages on the internet about what you are doing right now? If I wanted to tell my friends what I was doing right now,I would call them. Why Twitter, I still can't figure out. I know the site is free to use, but that still doesn't justify, to me, the time spent telling the world your every move.

So when Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore said they were going to quit Twitter, I had to wonder, Why did they even start? Is America that under occupied that we have to pay attention to what the world is doing at this very moment?

I guess I have too much of a life. I'm a hectic homeschooler. I have two kids to educate (even in these last few weeks of homeschooling), kids to feed, coffee to drink, my own school to attend, coffee to drink, kids to feed, twenty generic drugs to learn every week, coffee to drink, skin care to rep in Costco, kids to feed, coffee to drink, newspapers to deliver, coffee to drink, disc golf to play with my kids. Not to mention laundry to wash, kids to feed, a kitchen to clean, kids to feed, and a perpetually messy house to keep up with.

Am I the only American with no time to Twitter?

Staples, That WAS Easy

The printer issue is finally fixed. Thanks to our good tech guy, Nate, at Staples, That Weird Woman now has the ability to print her pdf files from her computer.

I went back over to her house yesterday an once again uninstalled the darling printer. Today, I installed it once again. The good news coming out of that is that the automatic updates happened this time. YEAH! The updates included a correction in computer to printer communication. YEAH!

That still didn't solve the problem of the unprintable pdf files. Ok, I decided to check out HP tech support online. Wouldn't it be my luck that the precious Internet Explorer decided it needed to shut down as the chat module was loading. Nice. Calling HP didn't get me anywhere what so ever. That Weird Woman is not about to shell out $40 for tech service for something that shouldn't be a problem in the first place.

With the pdf printing mystery still unsolved, I finally decided to take a crack at calling Staples. If they weren't open, I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. Quite frankly, I don't think anyone should have been open today. But, what would I know? They were open, and our very wonderful Nate, the tech department guy helped us out.

I've learned...
when in need of computer brains, just call Staples. That was Easy.

If You Have to Burn Your Socks, Please Don't Burn Down the House

I've learned...

Actually, it's Bigfoot who has learned, but I learned in the process...

The microwave is a very good place to dry out wet footwear such as shoes and socks. Everything takes only a few minutes and comes out nice and toasty warm.

Shoes when placed in the dryer tend to knock the dryer door open, forcing the dryer to shut itself off, leaving shoes still wet. And the dryer gains a ton of dirt when shoes are placed in there. Shoes in the oven causes the rubber in the shoes to melt. The microwave, on the other hand, does not cause rubber to melt and only after a few minutes, leaves shoes nice and toasty warm. Perfect after a few hours, or a day, or a weekend out camping in the rain.

Now, socks may fair better in the dryer than the shoes, but the microwave still takes half the time. Time is of the essence when there is a dog to play with, woods in the back yard, and rain outside. The microwave is not the best option. That is until the socks are cooked for too long. If the socks are cooked too long, they become more than just a little toasty warm.

So, Bigfoot was asked to mow the lawn of a commuter friend of BigBoy last Monday. I'm a busy person, but I can make time for Bigfoot to get the job done on Monday night. The weather was great all day long; until we were on our way to this gentleman's house. Being Western Washington, the one reliable thing we have came pouring down. Rain has yet to stop Bigfoot. The lawn still got mowed. Shoes and socks came back to car soaking wet.

I can't figure out why Bigfoot was the first person in the door when we got home. Shoes and socks came off and socks went into the microwave. As the scent of wet stinky feet begins to fill the kitchen, I let him know his socks were done.

They were definitely done. Bigfoot took them out of the microwave, ran them to the bathroom, and turned on the shower. The house shack was now filled with smoke. I am required to open every possible window, and turn on the ceiling fan. The socks have several large black spots on them as well as areas glowing gold.

The shower was for putting the fire out.

Fixing This Crazy Printer

At one time, I was a sales rep for Dell to Best Buy. If there was ever a job I loved and never wanted to leave, it was my job with Dell. Unfortunately, that got cut short with an early termination to the campaign.

Now, everybody thinks I am the tech queen. I sold Dell, so I must knwo how to fix everything. Especially the HP living at my mom's house. Except now we have moved beyond the computer to the printer. This HP Color Laserjet 1600 printer will not cooperate with the printing of pdf files. I am not thrilled.

I have uninstalld and reinstalled this piece of mess delicate machinery. I have checked the connection cables of this mess delicate machinery. I have, to this point in time, no clue why every other type of file will print except a pdf.

In my endless earch for assistance, and the posting upon several massage boards, I have come across a very useful website aka www.rinkworks.com and plenty of discussion of printers.

I sympathize with these dear tech support people. They begin to remind me of my days at hell TeleTech working for Sprint. Just a few of the stories tell as follows:

Most of the kids in my graduating class did not receive the best computer
training while growing up. So when I was taking the required computer class,
covering basically Microsoft Word and Excel, I had quite the experience.

On our first assignment, we were required to print when we were
finished. This one guy was getting really frusturated.

Him: "I hit
print
but it won't print."
Me: "Well, show me what you did."
He
clicked
File/Print/OK, then stood and looked around the monitor and CPU.

Him:
"See? It is not coming out! Freakin' computers."
Me:
"Umm...maybe you would
have better luck if you looked for it at the
printer."
I directed him to the
printer on the other side of the room.
It turned out he had printed 24 copies of
his assignment.

I have been the technical support for a group of engineers for several years. In the beginning they weren't sure a female could be high tech enough for them. As a result they often spent a lot of time working on a problem before calling me for help. One day I walked by a cubicle and saw two engineers working hard over a printer. About an hour later I walked by and, noticing they were still puzzled by the problem, I asked if I could help. They began to explain all the steps they had taken to try to get the dot matrix printer to work. I still treasure the looks on their faces as I took one finger, pressed the cover latch into place, and it began printing.

Taken from www.rinkworks.com. Please do visit their site so he won't get on my case overcopywright issues.

Thanks,

Choices

Beadgirl has instructed me to write the following:

I should be doing my schoolwork instead of blogging. I have an research paper outline on chlamydia due today, but getting turned in tomorrow. I have 20 genereic drugs, their trade names, classifications, and general usages to complete for a test tomorrow. There is also a research assignment regarding medicating a patient for bronchial asthma, and Chapter 5 of Mosby's Pharmacy Technician workbook and textbook assignments to complete for grading tomorrow.

I should not be blogging right now. I should be doing my schoolwork. All while Beadgirl is watching Jeopardy hoping and praying for a new season and episode of Knight Rider. She has completed season one several times over on the internet. She needs a new Michael Knight fix. She wants a new season of episodes to watch.

Keeping Up (Maybe)

Okay, I know my last post was in February. In some ways, I'm shocked I even had the time then to run a post from That Weird Woman. In the mean time, life is trying to keep up.

I'm keeping up with school. I have a very high GPA that would be a perfect 4.0 if it hadn't been for a computer applications course in Office 2007 that landed me a B, after I ended up helping everybody else out with understanding how to actually use the programs and complete the projects. Other than that one computer course, I'm doing very well at pulling the wrong insulin for TPN bags, shadowing in the hood, and cramming eighty generic drugs, their trade names and classifications into a six week period.

I'm not doing so hot at keeping up with bills. I just got off the phone with GMAC yesterday. I was able to keep the house off the auction block for now. Now I get to spend today sitting in DSHS offices and who knows where else trying to pry help out of the State of Washington to get my bills paid up.

And get brakes put on the car. Since our lovely week of snow in December, I've replaced a ball joint TWICE, two cv axles, tires, some kind of oil relay cap, and door hinges. now I get to find a way to shell almost $200 for brakes, food, gas, cable, lights, water and phone when I only make aroud $250 a week.

So goes the course of trying to keep up with things.

The Sears Saga, Part II

OK, here we go again.

The Sears repair man is to be out on the 29th, bright and early. We had talked and he said 8AM and I liked that idea, get it fixed and get some washing done.

The Sears Service Center calls on the 28th and says a repair man will be here between 8AM and 12 noon. This is a standard call they make. I like that.

So I am doing normal stuff all AM around the house but really do need to go out to get some things at the grocery store. We like to eat as well as wear clean clothes.

It is getting close to noon and no repair man. Now these guys are great, they call when they are about 20 minutes from being here. It gives us a heads up so if we need to go potty etc, we can be done.

It is noon, no call. OK he is running late. They get lunch from noon to 1 and I can understand that so not a problem although I would like to get to the grocery store.

I do a few more things around the house, read some e-mails and delete them or send them on, see a new cobweb that needs to be removed, just every day stuff.

I do love the wood stove my son got me for Christmas but I sure see the cobwebs easier now. It seems they grow over night now when it use to take a week before I would see them.

A friend calls and we are on the phone for a long time but I have call waiting so not a problem and the Sears people also have my cell phone number so if I don't answer one phone, I might the other.

I finally realize it is now 2:30 and no call from Sears. I call the 1-800 number and get the lovely sweet female computer voice. She asked me what I would like to do. I tell her schedule an appointment. To which she replies I have an appointment scheduled for the 29th between 8:00 AM and 12:00 noon. And wouldn't you know it, the computer thanks me for doing business with Sears and hangs up on me! I call again but this time I tell it repair so she asked what needs to be repaired. I tell her washer. I get the lovely organ music again but this time it isn't so bad as the last time, not as static as it was in the past.

At last I speak with an Indian sounding lady. I tell her I want to know when the repair man will be out. She tells me between 8 and noon. I know that but I want to know if he is coming at all today. To this she again tells me between 8 and noon. I tell her it is now almost 2:45 so he is really late and I want to know when he will be here. How much longer will it be? She can't tell me that so I told her I would like to speak with someone who can help me, maybe her supervisor? To my surprise I don't have to listen to organ music to long, maybe less than a minute. By now they most likely have my name on their "Don't Blow Her Off" list.

Ah, the Indianish supervisor who can't tell me any thing. I tell him to call the repair man and find out. He puts me on hold - more organ music - and after a few minutes he tells me the man is on his way and will be at my house within 10-15 minutes. Now I am thinking this is not right, he would call me 20 minutes out. But OK, if he says so.

Well the 10-15 minutes drag on and on. It is now after 3:30 and at last the phone rings. The repair man will be here in about 20 minutes. I clock him and 17 minutes later he pulls in.

Now this is the man who has always come out to fix my washer. He knows the machine. He is an expert with Calypso machines. They break a lot. Sears does not sell them any longer.

He looks at the boxes on the washer, sees there is the 1st pump that was ordered by him has finally come and there is the control panel box. He wants to know why the control panel was ordered so I tell him the last man that was out on the 24th said he could not get it to light up so it too was bad and ordered it.

Now this guy on the 24th was here forever and a day. He was making calls to people, he had no clue as to how to fix my machine. He had never seen a Calypso. He then tells me the control panel is bad, he can't get any thing to work on the touch screen so he has to order a new one. Hence the Good and Bad News, The Bad: your machine isn't working yet but the Good is when done, your machine will be like a new one except for the frame work etc.

The nice Calypso fixer guy takes a look at it and tells me the other guy unplugged some wires from the circuits. Well duh, that would make it not work. The lights were on just fine and have been all this time. The nice Calypso guy hooks it up, plugs it into the wall and BINGO, I have lights and it goes through a very short wash cycle to make sure the switches and pump are working. He is done in less than 30 minutes. Nice guy, I like him, I have his ID number and he said to ask for him the next time it breaks and that could be in a few days to maybe a year from now. But mark my typing, it will break, I know it will!

A word to all the wise out there. If you should ever buy an expensive item and you can get a protection plan on it, do so. This machine was well over $1500. I bought the plan and in the over eight years I have had it, it has been broken every year. I have had switches, pumps, control panels, computers etc. replaced. Each time the repair man comes out I get the bill that I just sign saying he has been here but it tells me how much it would have cost. This last repair would have cost me over $1000 alone. I have a package deal with Sears, all my appliances are from them. For just over $300 I have a protection plan that covers all six of them for five years. They will come out once a year and test each one to make sure they are running like they should. They have cleaned coils etc. To me for the $10+ per appliance per year, it is worth it. It has more than paid for itself on the washer alone.

Introducing my Co-poster: That Weird Woman

Okay, so to call her That Weird Woman is nothing new to some of us. She happens to be the strange person who gave birth to me several years ago. She is almost as busy as I am. Or, I may be almost as busy as she is. I'm not quite sure which way this one goes.

That Weird Woman is a life-long Boy Scouter, hence the weirdness and the business. Every time I turn around, she is doing something with Boy Scouts. She did much more when Little-Big Brother and I were still of minority age. Back in those days, she was a Girl Scout mom, roller-skating mom, and Boy Scout mom. For a few years of that time, she even held a job.

So, since my life has gotten busier with going back to school, homeschooling, and everything else in my already busy life, That Weird Woman has graciously offered to write for the blog. Her style is very different than mine. Please don't get us too confused. We may be related, but we don't write the same. But please do enjoy.

I Finally Found It

She searched for days. Tirelessly looking in the cyberspace known as the intenet, she ran google searches. She even altered the google searches. She even added commas and quotation marks to her google searches.. She opened page after page. She gazed at template after template. She even found several templates she liked. She dowloaded several template pages of code. She copied all of her widget html codes. She copied, she pasted. She trialed the code compatability. She moved ads, she moved widgets. She copied and pasted even more.

Its about time I finally found a template I like that will actually work with Blogger. I figure this will service my blogging needs until I have finished school.

Then maybe I can either buy the design software, or hire an editor/designer.

Why I Don't Buy Appliances From Sears

The following is not my story. I'm not smart enough to make this crap up. Fortunately, neither is my mom, who is the original author of this story. Unfortunately, the following testimony is not uncommon in the world of Sears customer service. I had problems similar to this several years ago, but never got money for having to use a laundromat. Sometimes, I wonder is Sears doesn't outsource their customer service to TeleTech or some other company with low standards for performance.

***************************************

I called Sears, on hold for a year listening to organ music. All Representatives were with other customers. I finally get some gal, sounded like from India. I told her I was not happy, I wanted to talk with a supervisor or a manager. She needed to know why so I told her. I said I wanted compensated for loss of wages, I wanted compensated for having to take my laundry out. I wanted the repair to be done tomorrow on the 17th and the guy needed to be here by 8 AM. She was sweet in her Indian voice and said she couldn't do that. She could set up a day and time and it would be the 29th between 1 and 5 PM. I told her NO, that was not acceptable. I wanted to talk with a supervisor manager.

Holding for another year with organ music. Now I like organ music, if it is not scratchy and distorted. Finally an Indian sounding man came on the line, I could not understand him half the time, he talked so freaking fast. I had to tell him my problem all over again and again because he could not understand me.

"What is it you wish?"

"I want my washer fixed Damn it and I want it fixed tomorrow the 17th by 8AM!"

"I am sorry, we can not do that."

"Why can't you?"

"We can set up a day and time for you but we cannot give you money."

"Let me talk to your supervisor!"

On hold for another year with the same organ music. An American man is on the line now. I tell him my phone many times dies after 20 mins of talking, we don't know why so if it does, HE needs to call ME back. I give him my phone number. I have to go through the entire story of how I called in Dec right after Christmas, could not get a tech out until the 7, he could not fix the washer, ordered the parts and only 2 have come. He may have the pump on another truck.

Nice English speaking man. He said the parts were ordered the 7th, shipped the 8th. I said I got the two starters on the 14th. No pump but it may be on another truck. He checked but can't find the pump any place. There was one shipped the 13th. It would get here on the 23rd. I told him that was unacceptable. Well, now a new one will be shipped on the 19 via air and be here on the 21st and if not here by the 22nd, I have a hot line number to call.

I don't get paid any lost wages that I asked for but do get a check for $50 to help cover the cost of taking my laundry out. I will have to take 3 or 4 loads out and they run $8 per load. Just not a happy camper. I told the American guy that when someone is not happy with service, they tell people. I would have no problems telling all my friends the kind of service Sears was giving me.

By the time I got off the phone with Sears and the reason I ended the call was the call got dropped. It generally does this after 20 mins. so I was happy I got almost a full hr. it was after 6 PM. I still had to fix dinner. I am in no mood to run this out to Silverdale for the tech guy in the morning, I will just get up early and take it there and then I can talk directly with the head man.

Most of the time I am laid back, don't let things get to me but this entire day was a joke. The dishwasher/range guy was to be here at 8, didn't come and didn't come, said he would be here by 10:00 then calls and says it will be 11:30 and it was closer to noon. He can't find out why the d.washer has water coming out of it sometimes. Ran fine for him. I told him it does for me about 95% of the time and then there is a puddle. He told me I load it wrong so I asked how I was to load it. Lame excuse, because he said it was to be done the way I always do it. He is the guy who could not come out on the 7th because his computer was down. Not a valid excuse.

The washer guy was nice, he called here and set up the time and date of the 24th. At one point I had the American Sears guy and the washer guy on phones at the same time. I was relaying messages from one to the other.

So that was how my day went. Hope yours has gone better.

The "New" Temporary Template

I'm in the process of putting What me, BUSY? Never!!! under re-construction. Part of this process is the face-lift underway. I'm searching for a new template for the blog, with possibly some more depth to it besides the blog itself.

This is not my favorite template on the planet, but it will have to do until I find the one I want.
Or break down and actually buy web design software.
Or break down even more and hire a web editor.

I like the idea of the web editor. I'd like it even more if I could afford one.

My Shameless Plug for Bigfoot

I figure it was time I give my dear son Bigfoot a shameless plug over here in What Me, BUSY? Never!. I have to admit, his work on YouTube is good.



This in one of his friends in his Boy Scout troop. How anyone can solve a Rubic's Cube in that kind of time is beyond me. But, then again, I'm one of those people who spend an hour over a 100 piece puzzle.

Have fun!

Paying Tribute to Seattle's Mayor

Actually, I just got this through the email from my mom. I don't normally repost the work of other people, but this was way too true for all the snow we've had here. So, instead of an intelligent thoughtful New Year's posting, which I'm still working on, please enjoy this lovely tribute to the mayor of Seattle. Thankfully, I don't live in Seattle, let alone King county. And as much thanks goes to the monkeys running Seattle and King Count, I plan on never living there.

This says it all!!!

"T'was the week before Christmas, and next to the Sound,
Not a creature was stirring, for all were snowbound.
Greyhound busses quit running, no matter the fare,
And the mail men and garbage said they just couldn't get there!

The children were sliding Queen Anne Hill on their sleds.
While roofs were collapsing on old people's heads.
And mamma in her boots and I in my cap,
Were stuck in the snow and ice and such crap.

When at the Home Depot there arose such a clatter,
I trudged from my car to see what was the matter.
A group of sad souls were waving their cash,
They couldn't buy shovels, they'd sold in a flash.

Tires were spinning and just wouldn't go,
And chains lay broken in the dirty old snow.
Then, what to my surprise did my eyes look over and see?
Eight representatives of SDOT,

With a fat politician so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it was Mayor "Salt Nick".

More rapid than gun bans, his excuses they came,
"To save our environment the roads stay the same!
On Broadway! On Boren! On Yesler and Denny!,
To clear off these roads would cost such a penny!

Sliding down Thomas and onto a wall!
The busses hung over I-5, ready to fall!
Still, he insisted it wasn't his fault,
As the world's greenest mayor he wouldn't use SALT!

That stuff's corrosive, could hurt the fish.
(But the Puget Sound's SALT WATER you ignorant kish!)
So snowy Seattle continued to stew,
But Mayor "Salt Nick" just hadn't a clue.

While I stood there astonished, on nearby TV sets,
I saw the airport was packed, no de-icer for jets.
Since others couldn't get down the roads to the ferry,
The city decided to close Denny and Cherry.

Police cars and fire trucks were highly impaired,

Citizens got no impression that Mayor Salt Nick cared.

A house that caught fire, or a rape in progress,

Was less important than "going green" in Seattle - I guess!

An accident closed the I-90 bridge,
And people couldn't drive down Phinney Ridge.
Shovels, and salt had just flown off the shelf,
And I laughed when I heard him in spite of myself.

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
He tried to convey we had nothing to dread;
He spoke many words, but did little work,
Yet Seattle knew they should never have elected this jerk.

Then thumbing his nose at his citizens' plight,
He turned to the crowd and exclaimed "We've done right!",
And then to his limo refusing to yield,
He left to get solar panels installed on Qwest Field.

But I heard him exclaim, as he skidded past me
"Happy Christmas to all, heck, I give myself a 'B' ".

For those not aware, Mayor Greg Nickels is rated by many as a buffoon.

Gone time-travelling. Will return last week.