Well, I'm back.

As I near graduation I realize I should probably start posting here again to keep up with people. Lots of new things going on recently. I just finished the 4th of 5 semesters in my program. Next term I will be taking Peds/OB, a clinical capstone course, and some kind of nursing licensure course.

A lot has happened since my last post. My brother got married. My mom, sister, and I went down to see Jason and Megan's place in Utah. My mom and I continued the road trip to see my Great Aunt in Colorado. On the way back we stopped off in Utah again. And, at last, on the way back to Portland we stopped off at the Painted Hills taking the long, scenic way back.

Regarding school, out of all that interviewed for an Emergency Department capstone placement, I was one of two that were accepted. I'll be placed at the one I feel will offer me the most opportunity, it just so happens to be the largest Providence hospital in Portland -- St. Vincent's. If you aren't familiar with it, perhaps this will jog your memory as you may have seen them on National TV recently:




If I prove myself in Capstone there is a good chance I will get to start in the ED right out of school. On a side note, I'm thinking of growing my hair out again.

Summer classes are officially over!

That's right...I'm all done until August 31st. The term went well and I met some new, interesting people. My clinical site was at the Housing Authority of Portland - Hollywood East housing complex. Every week me and two other students ran a walk-in health session for the residents and an exercise class. We also did outreach home visits in the complex.

I had a bunch of people bugging me about not updating my blog, so I thought I would spend the day doing that. I'll post pictures from my last few trips and put the dates that are accurate for them.

First week of summer classes

So Summer classes started this week; had my first 8 hours of classes today. I'm taking Nursing for Families. Applied Population Health Nursing, and Evidence-Based Nursing. The next three weeks will be class, class, class. By the third week class will taper down to just Monday and clinicals will start. I'm working for the Portland Housing Authority and will be running an exercise class on Thursdays in the Hollywood district--woo hoo! Fridays will be spent doing informal house call health assessments, also in the Hollywood district. The clientele are low-income, younger adults running the gamut of chronic mental illness and substance abuse--double woo hoo!

So little time...

I was informed that I've been neglecting my blog. This is true. I've had a lot happening lately. My brother is back in town from Ohio for the next week or so. He's going to be graduating from Ohio State University and then moving down to Utah for residency...guess I'll have to plan a Utah road trip soon.

As far as my life goes...I'm back in Oregon City working as a temp for Public Works. It's an OK job and they do a good job of working around my breaks in school. Summer school at UP will be starting in a few days. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. I had a two week break, but have been working for most of it.

I did do one "relaxing" thing during my break, though. Last weekend I headed up to Goldendale with my roommate and we spent the weekend up there lounging. We went on a wilderness hike and took some time taking pictures of the area. Most notable sights were both a dead and live porcupine (first time I've seen that) and a German Sheppard eating a rotting deer on the side of the road.

Tomorrow I'll be working on a song for Kelsey's wedding. She wanted me to play guitar and she chose the song, "When you say nothing at all." by Allison Krauss. So far things appear to be going well with that.

Oh, and I'll post pictures of the Goldendale trip when my roommate gets back from Canada.

The above shot was taken at 3am. The orb in the background is the moon.

Perusing some private property...



Made it to the top of Black Butte, WA


The can said the PAM spray tasted like butter...we wanted to see for sure. It doesn't.

Pier Park - Disc Golf Preview

The weather was nice so I decided to check out Pier Park in North Portland (about 3 miles from where I am staying). The course was pretty decent, but felt like a lot of the same thing. I didn't play much of it, but I played enough to know I need to bring a course map if I'm to have any fun the next time around. Here are a few additional shots I took of the course:

University of Portland Nursing Program -75th Anniversary

Yet another excuse to slack off during finals. The only other thing I have to look forward to is a likely disappointing Game 5 for the Blazers, so here goes:

A few weeks ago the University of Portland rounded up every nursing student in the school. They thought it'd be a great contrast to show a picture of the first graduating class (34 students) with the 75th graduating class. Well, technically only 120 of the people in the picture will be graduating this year, but why try to "ruin" their special day? They want to show the growth of the program and I think they are accomplishing that. Also, the school was awarded, "The Best Nursing School for Men." What does this mean? Well, I'm not real sure. What I do know is that they've increased male enrollment by 75% and that those stats dwarf every other school in the Nation. I applied for a scholarship awarded by the committee that placed University of Portland as #1, so let's cross our fingers on that one.

The picture I mentioned earlier is below. This was the first time the entire nursing school has been photographed in 75 years. I thought about making people try to guess where I was but....meh. Click on the picture to make it larger. Can you see me??

This should help:

Finals Week

Well, it's finally here. I'm studying for finals....I've got one tomorrow, one on Wednesday, and another on Thursday. My pathophysiology one was online and I think I did well on it, A in the class. I've yet to take my Medical-Surgical physiological nursing course, a Mental Health ATI, and a Mental Health final. I should probably quit stalling and start studying!

Irony

DANG'S THAI KITCHEN

Last night I went home and had a Thai dinner (belated birthday) with my Dad, Mom, Sister, and Michael. It was a pretty good place...took awhile for us to be seated even though we had reservations. Overall, I think everyone was pleased with their meals.

When we arrived home I had the opportunity to open some presents! Good stuff, too. I got a nice mummy sleeping bag and a replacement sweatshirt from my parents (my first one was taken from the break room at the Hospital I was working at). Michael and Kelsey gave me a harmonica holder so I can play harmonica and guitar at the same time.

Need I say more?

Before leaving the parent's house, I thought it'd be funny to joke about how I couldn't speed because I'd be the only one on the road and would get a ticket. Well, what a funny joke that was--it happened.

As I was driving down I-205 I contemplated how I wanted to get back to N. Portland. I knew that if I took 224 to 99 it'd be much riskier...there are numerous traffic lights and it goes right through Milwaukie. My other option was to stay on 205 and take 84...that would have been a little more driving out of my way, so I decided to pull off onto 224 and take that route. Everything was going fine until I took the off-ramp from 224 to 99. As I was going down the hill I could tell no cars were around and thought it was kind of nice to see the open road. I neared the bottom of the hill when all of a sudden the light turned yellow. Slightly in shock, I debated whether or not I could stop in time...realizing I couldn't I kept on through and the light transitioned while entering the intersection. I looked to my left while traveling through and noticed a black police car with it's lights off on the side of the road. With little surprise, about 1/4 mile down the road he caught up to me and pulled me over. I was then ticketed $405 and was told I "failed to obey the traffic control device" by going through a red light. I disagree, but it's my word against his.

As I sat there waiting for my ticket, another police car came barreling down the road next to me with his lights on. Apparently someone that passed the other officer and I didn't pull into the other lane so he got nabbed by another Milwaukie officer. +2 for Milwaukie PD!
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ORTHOPEDICS

On a side note, I just finished up my 6 weeks working in the Orthopedic Unit at Providence Portland Medical Center. It was a great experience...in three weeks I'll start my Community Health rotation with the Portland Housing Authority. We'll see how that goes.

These were my comrades on 8 North, Providence Portland:

Blogging--really?

Well, yeah. I suppose I decided I'd give it a try.

Here's a link to a recent video I made when some friends and I went to Wahclella Falls.