New Beginnings

In just a couple of days, I start my new job. I pretty much took the whole month of July off, which was good because there was so much junk that needed to get done. I moved, the house got sold, I went home to AZ for a week, and I went to a family reunion in the Midwest.

The new place still needs a lot of unpacking and organizing, however I have been dawdling. It is kind of strange being up here because right now I don't know a single person in the area. I have spent a lot of time doing mundane things like resetting the router so that I can have a wireless Internet signal downstairs, and reviewing and reorganizing the file cabinet. I try to remind myself that boredom is a good thing.

AG is about to be promoted and relocated to a different part of Afghanistan. After the deployment, he'll be switching out of the infantry into a different area, and so there's a whole bunch of training to be done when he gets back. We are over seven months into the deployment now, and I am really looking forward to his mid-leave break in a couple of months.

Winter Doldrums

I can't wait for tonight's shift to be over and done with. During this four-week block, there are too many residents in the department. This means that as soon as patients get brought back into a room, they get seen immediately. It also means that I haven't been having to stay late to finish dictations. Last night we all walked down to a local pub and nursed a couple of beers. It sounds like a little slice of heaven, right?

The problem is that I am bored. I don't know what to do with myself when I have less than four patients at a time. I just end up pacing from computer to computer, checking and re-checking lab results. I had a stabbing that promised to be somewhat involved last night, but he was completely stable. The acuity was good: I had an acute stroke, and another one with hypovolemic shock, but when those are your only patients it still gets boring.

Starting tomorrow, I have a week off. This time I am not going anywhere, just planning on sleeping, reading, maybe taking a skiing lesson or two, and doing some projects around the house.