And now September is halfway over.
I got the job at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, and I started last Monday. This whole week was various orientations, starting with hospital orientation on Monday. It wasn't bad, kinda boring. I'm in the care coordination department, so the rest of the week (and the rest of next week) is orientation to THAT department. I've never had so much orientation in my life. All in all, I think it's a good thing. I'll be able to actually DO my job starting out, rather than learning it as I go. I've also learned more about general hospital social work, as compared to psych social work.
As far as that goes, everytime I'm introduced, they say, "Colleen will be the new social worker on adult psych." Then whomever I'm being introduced to gives me a look with wide eyes and says, "Oh.... psyyyychhh...." Evidently, those that hate to work psych really hate it. I, however, love it. I've only briefly been on the unit (under 5 minutes or so), but it's pretty swank, compared to the other psych units I've seen. It was also very quiet, which is also a little different than most psych units. The other social worker said everyone was in group, i.e. not out making noise. And groups? I don't have to do them! Whoo hoo! Everyone I've met so far has been really nice. There are two other people in my orientation group: a bachelor's level social worker and a nurse case manager. It's nice to be with some new people, and has made lunch less lonely.
One thing that's getting to me is the sheer size of the hospital, though. I have to be walking at least 2 miles a day. Which is ok, I really don't mind walking, except for I can't wear sneakers. I have to dress in "business casual", which has mostly meant dark slacks and button-down shirts. My Nikes don't really complement that ensemble. Now my challenge is to find some shoes I can really walk in that are comfortable, and don't give me blisters (the two can be independent of one another. I have plenty of shoes that are greatly comfortable until you've walked in them too long, and then the blisters arise. Ouch.) I do think I'll be wearing sneakers to and from my office (quite a hike), and keeping some comfortable yet appropriate shoes in my office. I like my office, although it has no window. Nice furniture. The whole hospital is really sweet, actually. Everything looks newer. There's a Dominos, and the cafeteria serves a wide variety of tasty food with nutritious choices that isn't too badly priced. And I had an Odwalla Strawberry Lemonde Friday, so I was pretty happy. They are expensive, but yummy. I highly recommend them if you can find it. It tastes like summer.
I'm also having some trouble adjusting to my sleep schedule. I don't have to be there at 7:30 yet, but I'm still getting up before 7 to get to Winston-Salem on time. I think by Friday I was starting to get in the hang of it, and hopefully that'll continue to improve as time goes on. My natural body clock seems to want me to sleep from 1 am until about 10:30 am, at least. I am working to reset it. Melatonin has been pretty helpful, in addition to the benadryl I've taken for years (I've always had trouble getting to sleep, and the benadryl also helps with allergies.)
I'm still not really jiving with Greensboro. I like Winston-Salem, where I work. If nothing else, there's a Harris Teeter, which is comparable to Kroger. All the other grocery stores (and Wal Mart Superstores) suck. Food Lion had ONE TYPE of spinach dip. I know, that doesn't matter to most people, but it did to me, esp. considering that one type was not good. And ok, I don't eat sushi, but I liked having a sushi bar and a decent selection of cheeses at my fingertips. And some honest-to-God crusty breads. Really, I don't think this is too much to ask. We've been having trouble finding local restaurants that we like, too. I try to eat outside the metaphorical box at least some of the time, but the local food here has mostly fallen flat (with the exception of Country BBQ. That's some good stuff.) I guess we'll be sticking closer to chains, and I will continue to cook fabulous food to make up for the dearth of other foods.
We have someone's pet rabbit inhabiting our yard at times. It's obvious it's tame, and it's black and white spotted, which doesn't happen with natural bunnies (they tend to be brown or grey.) Originally it had a friend with it. It was so odd. I took Jay to school the Friday before last, and when I came back there were these two rabbits just hanging out in my driveway. One of them (who was white with one dark spot) hopped up to me, let me pet it, and started eating clover between my feet. I haven't seen that one since then, though. The other ones shows up sporadically. If I see him again, we're going to try to trap him, as a tame bunny is not safe in the wild. Well, any bunny isn't safe around Princess. However, we are interested in having a rabbit, if the animals wouldn't hurt it. It's possible, but it'd be a hassle. And our landlord would not like it, I'm sure.
The house is finally sold. It only cost us $2500 at closing (!). That really sucked. Technically, we didn't lose money, but we only expected to have to pay more than a few hundred at closing. Stupid interest on loans.
Ok, this is pretty long, so I shall go and do laundry. WHOO HOOO!
As far as that goes, everytime I'm introduced, they say, "Colleen will be the new social worker on adult psych." Then whomever I'm being introduced to gives me a look with wide eyes and says, "Oh.... psyyyychhh...." Evidently, those that hate to work psych really hate it. I, however, love it. I've only briefly been on the unit (under 5 minutes or so), but it's pretty swank, compared to the other psych units I've seen. It was also very quiet, which is also a little different than most psych units. The other social worker said everyone was in group, i.e. not out making noise. And groups? I don't have to do them! Whoo hoo! Everyone I've met so far has been really nice. There are two other people in my orientation group: a bachelor's level social worker and a nurse case manager. It's nice to be with some new people, and has made lunch less lonely.
One thing that's getting to me is the sheer size of the hospital, though. I have to be walking at least 2 miles a day. Which is ok, I really don't mind walking, except for I can't wear sneakers. I have to dress in "business casual", which has mostly meant dark slacks and button-down shirts. My Nikes don't really complement that ensemble. Now my challenge is to find some shoes I can really walk in that are comfortable, and don't give me blisters (the two can be independent of one another. I have plenty of shoes that are greatly comfortable until you've walked in them too long, and then the blisters arise. Ouch.) I do think I'll be wearing sneakers to and from my office (quite a hike), and keeping some comfortable yet appropriate shoes in my office. I like my office, although it has no window. Nice furniture. The whole hospital is really sweet, actually. Everything looks newer. There's a Dominos, and the cafeteria serves a wide variety of tasty food with nutritious choices that isn't too badly priced. And I had an Odwalla Strawberry Lemonde Friday, so I was pretty happy. They are expensive, but yummy. I highly recommend them if you can find it. It tastes like summer.
I'm also having some trouble adjusting to my sleep schedule. I don't have to be there at 7:30 yet, but I'm still getting up before 7 to get to Winston-Salem on time. I think by Friday I was starting to get in the hang of it, and hopefully that'll continue to improve as time goes on. My natural body clock seems to want me to sleep from 1 am until about 10:30 am, at least. I am working to reset it. Melatonin has been pretty helpful, in addition to the benadryl I've taken for years (I've always had trouble getting to sleep, and the benadryl also helps with allergies.)
I'm still not really jiving with Greensboro. I like Winston-Salem, where I work. If nothing else, there's a Harris Teeter, which is comparable to Kroger. All the other grocery stores (and Wal Mart Superstores) suck. Food Lion had ONE TYPE of spinach dip. I know, that doesn't matter to most people, but it did to me, esp. considering that one type was not good. And ok, I don't eat sushi, but I liked having a sushi bar and a decent selection of cheeses at my fingertips. And some honest-to-God crusty breads. Really, I don't think this is too much to ask. We've been having trouble finding local restaurants that we like, too. I try to eat outside the metaphorical box at least some of the time, but the local food here has mostly fallen flat (with the exception of Country BBQ. That's some good stuff.) I guess we'll be sticking closer to chains, and I will continue to cook fabulous food to make up for the dearth of other foods.
We have someone's pet rabbit inhabiting our yard at times. It's obvious it's tame, and it's black and white spotted, which doesn't happen with natural bunnies (they tend to be brown or grey.) Originally it had a friend with it. It was so odd. I took Jay to school the Friday before last, and when I came back there were these two rabbits just hanging out in my driveway. One of them (who was white with one dark spot) hopped up to me, let me pet it, and started eating clover between my feet. I haven't seen that one since then, though. The other ones shows up sporadically. If I see him again, we're going to try to trap him, as a tame bunny is not safe in the wild. Well, any bunny isn't safe around Princess. However, we are interested in having a rabbit, if the animals wouldn't hurt it. It's possible, but it'd be a hassle. And our landlord would not like it, I'm sure.
The house is finally sold. It only cost us $2500 at closing (!). That really sucked. Technically, we didn't lose money, but we only expected to have to pay more than a few hundred at closing. Stupid interest on loans.
Ok, this is pretty long, so I shall go and do laundry. WHOO HOOO!