the ups and downs, and portland

Hello again,  I have been drowning with work lately and have had little time for any other activity.  Twelve hour shifts three days a week sounds like a pretty good deal most of the time, but sometimes it spaces out wrong and you end up working six twelves in eight days and you want to fall asleep on the floor without even taking off your nasty scrubs.  Lucky for me I have crossed that off my calender and have four cloudy stormy days spread out before me with no obligations except spin classes with Renae and whipping up a few new recipes.  Now that's how life should be! I am nearing the end of my time at the hospital, and as my sister reminded me, I only have nine more shifts to work for the next two years!  Scary and exciting to think about!  Let's get those financial aid checks in the mail please and set me on the road to piles of debt!  I am hoping to secure a rather competitive scholarship if I can.  The odds are long, as with most things involved in the entire PA school process, but you can't get there if you never try.  The scholarship is from the National Health Service Corps, and awards the recipient with full tuition for two years as well as a monthly living stipend while in school.  In exchange, you are obligated to practice medicine for two years in a medically under served area or population.  This would work out perfectly for me, as I want to work in those areas already!  Clearly this opportunity is the holy grail of financial options, but even if I don't get the scholarship they have a loan repayment option after graduating that is pretty similar and would be extremely beneficial as well.  In fact, my dad knows the benefits all too well as he had his loans repaid while working his first and only position as a PA at Min No Aya Win Human Services with Native Americans in the Fond du Lac tribe.  I have high hopes of following the great examples my dad has shown me in his practices!  In any case, mulling over financial possibilities and looking for apartments are the things I have been squeezing into my day, and probably doesn't make for the most entertaining post.  I was looking for a picture of the dogs to send to a rental management place in Portland (who require a dog interview in person.. or in dog I guess? either way it's weird to me), and I realized I still have pictures from our p-town trip in January to share!  So here you go, you can join me in my all-portland-all-the-time mentality for a few moments:

 JP and I before heading out to the meet and greet the night before the interview.  Props go to Renae for helping me figure out my outfit, Joe for loaning JP a shirt at the last minute and Em for her fancy grown up jacket!

 I kind of look like a bug in this picture, but this is me in my fancy suit right after the interview, pre-mimosa time/ lobster roll eating/ napping celebration!

Shots of the amazingly amazing pulled pork that Emily made us.  Ohhhh my word it was so good.  I even had some the next morning for breakfast before heading to the ice rink!

JP getting in the the cooking action, making some shrimp as a side to the pulled pork.  Yes, we Walshes sure know how to take down (or as Joe would day, "house") a good meal.  With our limited time in the state, we basically made everything we were craving, and jammed them into meals that might not make the most sense.. but were delicious!

And what sort of Walsh gathering would it be without games?  We played some ping-pong at a local dive bar to end the night. Can't wait to move there!

at long last

I've been holding off on writing much about my job search, mostly I think because I didn't want to jinx it, but rest assured that in the almost two months since I've been back in the real world I hav ebeen searching every job site out there. I'm working with a resume that is so childcare and restaurant heavy, that finding a job in the health care field was frustrating and for the most part fruitless. I basically look like a new CNA graduate, especially after having only gotten my Colorado certificate last month, and most of the places I talked to had so many applicants that they simply weren't hiring anyone with less than a year of recent hospital experience. My slightly beefed up resume gives me about eleven months of experience five years ago. That's the beefed up version! Things were looking pretty grim when I found a hospital that was taking applications for open house interviews. I figured that if my resume couldn't really sell me, I would have to sell me, so I applied. Literally twenty minutes later I got a rejection email from them, indicating that I didn't have exactly what they were looking for. I was so frustrated! I was rejected in less time than it took me to put together the entire application! LAME!! I put it out of my mind and then three days before the interviews I got an email from them asking me to come. I assumed it was a fluke, that they had been meaning to email an Elizabeth Welch or Welsh or some other similar sounding name, and I almost didn't even go. I sucked up my pride and put on my one surviving interview outfit and went to the hospital. Things actually went well, and the interviewer seemed to like me a lot, but there were a ton of applicants and there were only two available positions so I chalked it up to good interview experience and tried to put it all out of my mind. Low and behold I received a phone call a few days later asking for a second interview! The second interview took place last Thursday, and was a typically intimidating experience. I hate the anxiety of those kinds of things that make my mind go blank when required to think of a specific event in which I demonstrated leadership or good communication skills or what have you. Why can't my brain and mouth ever work together during interviews? I feel like I get all stuttery and shakey..but in reality it must have gone well, or maybe that's how everyone gets during interviews. Two workers took me out on the floor to show me what they do everyday, and how things work in the facility. Everyone I talked with took care to tell me that this will be the hardest job I ever have, but if I can make it there I can make it anywhere. The interviewer also let me know that if I really want to be a PA, this is the place that I need to be. SO, as I am sure you have now deduced, I GOT THE JOB!! They called last night to offer me the position and I happily accepted. I am officially a working CNA in Long Term Acute Care (LTAC) at Vibra Hospital. The only thing I am a little worried about, aside from my complete lack of experience, is that they want to train me on days and then start me working nights. JP and I will have opposite schedules, and with school sandwiched in their somewhere we will practically never see each other! I know we will figure it all out and adjust to this new chapter in life, even though it may take a lot of time. I can't help but think that this is the start to it all. Working full time, going to school, studying, applying to PA school for now. Once I (hopefully) get accepted into a program and begin PA school, those two years will be hugely challenging and demanding of all my time and energy. Here I go!

the whilrwind that was september

Well, September, you are just about gone! Real life is turning out to be just as chaotic (in a much, much different way) than my life this summer. I suppose that's just how it goes, right? In any case, lots has been happening around here. But first, I will start with the one thing that hasn't been happening lately: my car. No word from anyone, although JP did think he spotted it on his way home from work the other day and stealthily followed it for a few blocks...alas it wasn't my car, just one of the thousands that look exactly like mine minus the good old MN rust and the snarky bumpersticker. I've let it go for the most part, and the insurance company will let it go as well this Thursday if it hasn't been found by then. Finding another vehicle for me should be interesting, and I am sure picture worthy as well, so don't think for a minute that I would leave you all out of the fun when the time comes.

What else...I passed my CNA recertification exam with flying colors!

Well, since it is just a pass/fail thing, I am left only to assume that the colors were flying, but either way I am done with the anxiety that comes with preparing for a practical exam with just youtube and some hastily scratched notecards. PHEW. The elise-goes-to-PA-school planets are finally starting to align and a job at a hospital is hopefully soon to come! Passing this exam of course just means that it is time to study for the next exam(s), which seem to be never ending. Luckily I am doing alright in my classes, and with no job for the moment I can use this time to start studying for the GRE. The fun just never ends when you are a perpetual student!

In other news, although you already know that I survived Hwy 50 in Nevada, otherwise known as The Loneliest Road in America, this summer, I now have Nevada's gift to me on my refrigerator to prove it:

and on my lapel (if I had one):

As part of the tourism schtick for Hwy 50, you can get a passport when you enter the sate and get a stamp for each of the towns along the route.

Since there was nothing else to do while in that state other than bike forever, I got my passport filled up and after moving and unpacking I found it at the bottom of my camelbak and mailed it in for a present from the state of Nevada. Somehow it redeems the state just a little bit, and it reminds me how proud I was of all of us for making it through such a challenging place in one piece.

Lastly, I have gotten in a bunch of family time lately. A few weekends ago I flew to Ohio for my cousin's wedding and had a great time catching up with everyone and getting to see my parents again for a few days! Weddings are my favorite, and growing up in an Irish Catholic family we went to four or five every summer. I got to see my cousins all the time! It's slowed down a lot since then, and the last wedding on that side of the family was over two years ago. Needless to say, it was a beautiful celebration and a much needed mini reunion of sorts to boot! I also got to see some cousins this past weekend in Boulder for Sep's third birthday! Molly and Phil and their little brood were in town from Chicago and we celebrated Sep's birthday with a picnic and a hike that for some included a bear sighting!

Here we are post-hike, but somehow without catching a glimpse of the bear that we apparently hiked right past..

So that's the compacted update for the past few weeks of settling back in. I am ready for fall to be here, and am getting in the mood for baking pumpkin bread and knitting some christmas presents. I'm plotting out my Halloween costume already, and am really excited about it! Oh, it is going to be great. I'll put up some pictures of the preliminary supplies and crafting soon so you can get in on the excitement as well.

pile up, pile down

It's funny how much papers and bills and annoying little important tasks can pile up into an alarmingly large amount of to-do's, isn't it? I confronted the pile head on yesterday, got quite a lot done and am thus proud enough to share the fruits of my labor with you.

1. Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) re-certification
I promised myself that I would take, and hopefully pass, the CNA re-certification exam before taking off in June. As part of applications for PA programs a certain number of patient hours are required to even be considered a competitive applicant. The only hands on experience I can claim is from my past stint as a CNA in Duluth where I cared for a newborn with kidney failure for the first five months of his life. This was quite a while ago and my certification has since lapsed. My plan is to get certified in Colorado so that upon my return home I can snag a job at a local hospital and start chipping away at the required patient care hours. This plan hits a small wall in the form of my not wanting to take an entire round of training prior to the exam and my inability to find any really helpful youtube videos that would help me circumvent the class. BUT, I've been studying from a guide I found on the internet and I took a practice exam last night in which I missed only four questions out of sixty so at least for the written portion I should be alright. Phew, with some confidence gained I finally filled out all of the paper work and will be sending it in today to secure an exam date hopefully at the beginning of May.

2. Thank You Letters!
At the beginning of this process I bought a package of 50 thank you cards and have had to buy a replacement package to keep up with all of the generous donaters! I've finally caught up with my thank you letters this weekend, so if you haven't gotten yours yet they should arrive by the end of the week!

3. Application Part 8
I have officially been cleared by my doctor to participate in Bike & Build this summer! Part 8 of the application is a medical examination, immunizations and health insurance check. Before my trip to Vietnam I was stuck with every imaginable immunization and should be covered on that front for quite a while so no needles this time! Everything else was normal and so I now have a stamp of approval from a medical professional that I will survive this summer unscathed, (well that might be taking it a little too far) but at least intact!

4. Renter's Rebate
I have also officially finished, finished, finished my taxes completely. My last form was the M1PR for my renter's rebate (a glorious tradition that is sadly not practice in CO), and after sleuthing about on the MN revenue website I finally found a pdf of the required form and a pdf of the instructional booklet. Some of you might know of my ongoing battle with FedEx/Kinko's, but I emerged from this round in one piece and with all of the necessary documents in hand and un-krinkled. Going out with my thank you cards, and my CNA application in the mail today is the final piece to my 2009 tax puzzle. PHEW again.

On Thursday JP and I are headed out on vacation again, this time to visit his family and celebrate his grandmother's birthday in Florida and Mississippi. I am so excited to only have a three day week (and only a one day of chemistry week, woo hoo!) and then off to lounge about on a boat and swim in a pool (that counts as cross training right?) and eat tasty food. With my renter's rebate coming soon maybe I can even justify purchasing my new camera in time for this little excursion so that documentation can be properly acquired. Other then that, Happy Monday to you even though it's kind of a Happy Wednesday to me!