Lazy Sunday
Watchin' the 'Stros play the Cubs. I was all D: then :D and now D: again as they didn't take advantage of loaded bases and only 1 out at the top of the 9th. I'm hoping that they can force a 10th and try to stop the Cubs then.
I've also found the wonderful thing that is teriyaki beef jerky. YUM.
I caught some kind of sore throat on Friday, and felt miserable all yesterday. I was only awake for about 4 hours yesterday. I thought I'd take a nap yesterday evening. That "nap" ended up lasting from 5pm until 2:30 the next morning. Yeah.
At least I was able to clean my room during those 4 hours yesterday so I don't have to do it today. Granted, for others, my room isn't "clean." It's still super-cluttered. I just mean that my floor and trashcan are trash-free. One of these days I'll have enough energy to actually de-clutter. One of these days.
Mom's all worried about her job again. Her hospital (psych) is moving to a larger, brand new campus next year. In anticipation of this, they've decided to make all of the nurses and nursing assistants (PNAs) take a fitness test. A 1/5 of a mile in 3 minutes. IN THE TEXAS AUGUST HEAT. They say it's because they want to make sure that the staff can make it to a code call in a timely manner. While it's a good thought in theory, it's absolutely ridiculous. For one, the number of codes called that require a hustle like that are minimal. Like, maybe one every couple of months. Two, 95% of the job is sitting down and walking around your unit only. Three, Mom has stage 4 osteoarthritis in her right knee. It's got absolutely no cartilage and because the bones rub together, her knee is malformed now. If she's forced to run on it, she'll most likely get a stress fracture. She has co-workers that have pacemakers and congestive heart failure, morbid obesity, hip replacements, etc. Her coworkers have figured that about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the staff have medical problems that would preclude them from making this test. And the execs have made it clear that if a nurse/PNA fails the test, their job will be in jeopardy. SO RIDICULOUS. A psychiatric nurse is needed for her BRAIN, not her knees. Mom's won excellence awards every year and always makes "exceeds expectations" on her reviews. Last quarter, she was the ONLY one on her entire unit to receive a perfect review. And her company seems to be willing to lose people like her (she's been working as a psych nurse for most of her career, AND has both a master's in nursing from UT and certification in psych). That's so idiotic. And psych nursing jobs are in short supply here in Houston, so if Mom's let go, it'll be really difficult for her to find something else. This whole scenario is particularly worrying since both Sis and I are currently dependent on Mom's salary. I told Mom to go ahead and start looking at getting a job at the VA. They'll pay better and have better health/retirement benefits, AND they are forced by federal law to make reasonable accommodations for people's physical needs.
Time to relax some more. And finish watching the Astros lose.