Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Laundry As An Avoidance Technique

I have something I am supposed to be doing. I am supposed to be studying. I love to study. I love to learn new things. I like staying up late because I am focused on gaining knowledge. I like stretching my brain and learning something outside the area of Labor and Delivery nursing. But I hate ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support). I have a 4 hour refresher course tomorrow. I have to take this class every two years, and it never gets easier. I don't use it (ever) and the information never seems to stick to my brain.

So instead of learning all about heart problems and the medication, symptoms, and treatments that go with it, I am catching up on all the blogs I have missed lately. I am also doing laundry. I always get so much laundry done when I am avoiding something. I can say, "Look what I did," even though I don't like laundry either.
I am now down to eleven hours till go time. I still know nothing. Of course there is always more laundry......I could go to the gym......or the grocery store......make bread.....

Friday, March 26, 2010

Seven Interesting Thing....

Thanks Niki for the beautiful blogger award. This means I have to write seven interesting things about myself. Now if only I could figure out how to get the award over here....

1. I read Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card two times in a row without putting it down, and I had to work the next day.

2. My scrubs never match....and neither do my socks. Nobody can see socks, so who cares?

3. I have been to six different universities and still don't have a bachelors degree.

4. I swear I was abducted by aliens in the seventh grade...I lost an entire hour.

5. Two houses I lived in as a child had secret chambers.

6. Sometimes I am too tired to go to bed. My husband has to send me like a little child. I will just continue staring at the computer or television as I slump lower and lower in my seat.

7. I have never held a job down longer that 18 months.

Enough about me, now onto the blogs that actually deserve this award....
A New Kind of Medicine
Running on Dirt Roads
Mental Maytag
Emjay

Monday, March 22, 2010

Kindle Heaven

Ok, this post is entirely inspired by KarenG at Coming Down the Mountain and her post on e-publishing. Although I did comment, there is so much more I want to say about my Kindle. I am writing this from the point of view of a reader, not a writer seeking publication.

My favorite thing about it is that I can lie in bed under the covers and read without the book being too awkward. My kindle was broken for a short time and the return to regular books was frustrating. My arms would get cold, my finger tired of propping up the book. It also takes up much less space on my bedside table, one thin item instead of three or four books.

Wireless delivery is amazing. As soon as I remember a book that I want to read, two minutes later I have it. Even as I am writing this post I am ordering books (The Giver). It does take more self control because I don't see the money leaving my wallet like it does in a regular bookstore. I am prepared to be tempted in Borders, but having a bookstore at my fingertips is tricky.

My husband loves my Kindle because there are boxes of books he will never have to move again. They can stay at my parents house forever. He doesn't have to hear how I miss them, or find I have managed to sneak a few more into the solitary bookcase in our cramped apartment. If only Harry Potter was available.

When the Kindle goes into sleep mode a picture of an author appears on the screen, Jules Verne today. As I look at different authors, I am reminded of all the quality books, classics, and childhood favorites that I once read and am encouraged to seek books that stretch my mind.

The screen is very easy on my eyes. Unlike computers that shoot light at you, the kindle uses different technology so it is not at all like reading a monitor. It is more like reading an old paperback with faded pages. The ink is still easy to read but the paper is a little darker. Because I can make the font different sizes, there is no eye strain. I prefer tiny print because it is more like a book, but the large font is nice for when I am jogging. Some books have a text-to-speech option so I can listen to the story. Unfortunately, it isn't a nice soothing voice but a male or female computer voice. I have only used it for the Old Testament.

Using it for textbooks is less useful. Although I can highlight and make notes, it is to0 hard to search easily. The large pages of a textbook allow for easier skim reading. Front to back reading is fine but looking for something if you aren't exactly sure where is very frustrating.

The days of record players and the large artwork that covered the albums are gone. When smaller cassettes appeared people missed the ease of finding the song, having a stack of records drop automatically into place, the artwork. Ipods have changed everything again. The volume of music that can be stored and the quality of the sound outweigh any of the nostalgia over the loss of records. Records have their own feel, smell, sound, and memories, but cannot compare to the current technology. I think that books will eventually go the same way as this technology continues to improve.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Stability is over rated

My entire life I have been looking forward to the time when things settle down. I have been busy about my life jumping from one university to another, one job to another, one apartment to another, always thinking that soon I could settle down in a little house with a little job and a little family. I have been at my current hospital for one full year, and although I really like it I have discovered something about myself I never knew. I do not want stability, I do not want dependability. I want to go back to travel nursing where I am looking for a new job every three months, in a new apartment every six. I didn't see the world as most of my jobs were in the LA area, but the change was something I looked forward to. I am now faced with the thought that I will be here for another 1 1/2 years. No more travel nursing, no more moving. The gypsy part of my blood that I never new existed is crying.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Slacker City

My husband does all the laundry in our home. He collects, sorts, washes and dries it all. He does not, however, put it away. He doesn't think it is important because it just gets worn again, whether it is in a pile on the couch or in the closet where it belongs. He even likes laying on it like a pillow. (So do our cats.) I don't like it in big piles on our only couch but I hate folding clothes so much that I usually just let it sit there.....forever. Yesterday I finally started putting all the clothes away and noticed that there were a lot of dryer sheets. One dryer sheet for every load of laundry that was never put away. How many were there? Fourteen. Fourteen loads of laundry that never got put away. I feel like such a slacker. I always thought I would be such a super housekeeper when I finally grew up, but apparently the chores you hated as a child you still hate as an adult. Who new?