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The last entry I wrote begins, “I just finished my second week at Virginia Mason". Well, now I’ve finished my 8th week. That means only 4 more to go! I spent the last three weeks on the rehab unit while my acute care supervisor was on vacation. Now my original supervisor is back, so it’s back to acute care for me. Here’s hoping the next four weeks sail by.
I lined up a job for after graduation- my first job as an occupational therapist! I’ll be working full time at Columbia Lutheran, a skilled nursing facility in Phinney Ridge. I applied to three skilled nursing facilities and was offered a job at two. I chose Columbia Lutheran because of the excellent location and fairly painless commute (15 min walk + 15 min bus ride), the incredibly nice staff members that I met when I interviewed, the facility’s positive reputation, the warm and slightly more modern feel to the patient rooms and care areas, the reasonable paperwork expectations, and just the all-around good vibes I got from the place. I’ll be starting sometime in January, as soon as I can get a temporary license. I won’t get my permanent license till I take (and pass) my boards, which I will take in late January. Anyway, I’m super pumped about the job :)
This weekend John and I went to Portland to visit our friend Erica. We rode the Amtrak train there and back, which was great and totally made up for my previous two experiences with Amtrak (soybean cargo spill=stuck on a bus; turns out “bus” doesn’t mean “business class” when booking online=stuck on a bus). In Portland we hung out with Erica, her boyfriend, housemates, and other friends- I think I met more people in two days than I normally meet in two weeks. We went to the Saturday Market (like a less-junky Fremont Sunday Market), ate at some good diners, drove around stopping at people’s houses, saw someone’s pet tarantula eat a roach and someone’s pet snake eat a mouse, went to a metal concert and saw Erica’s friends’ bands scream their heads off, walked around Portland, and wandered around a wildlife refuge. It was an interesting weekend. The metal concert was especially interesting. When I hear metal on the radio or off an album I pretty much just grit my teeth and try to ignore it, but I was totally digging the concert. How on earth do the singers do that crazy growl? And how can anyone’s fingers/arms move that fast? The whole time I was at the concert I was trying to imagine what individuals from certain cultures- either ancient cultures or modern ones that are very isolated- would think if they were also in attendance. Also, the only lyrics that John and I were able to understand out of the whole three hour show were the chorus to the eponymously titled “Odious Idiom”, sung in the growliest growl ever. Consequently, we’ve been growling “Ohhh-dious…..Iiii-diom” approximately 20 times a day ever since, and so far it is still hilarious. I meant to take a bunch of pictures over the weekend, but I mostly forgot. Here are a few though: picasaweb.google.com/alecekaplan/PortlandWeekend112209#
It’s weird that the holidays are suddenly in full swing. And by “in full swing” I mean that Downtown Seattle is all decked out in Christmas lights (I love how that looks) and we have way too many holiday parties to attend in the next few weeks (including one that involves a party bus!). We probably aren’t doing anything for Thanksgiving though, just hanging out and going to the movies, which is something we never get to do. We’ve been crazy busy lately and are excited to spend the day doing nothing. I have to work the day after Thanksgiving, so that kinda hinders any elaborate plans as well.
I lined up a job for after graduation- my first job as an occupational therapist! I’ll be working full time at Columbia Lutheran, a skilled nursing facility in Phinney Ridge. I applied to three skilled nursing facilities and was offered a job at two. I chose Columbia Lutheran because of the excellent location and fairly painless commute (15 min walk + 15 min bus ride), the incredibly nice staff members that I met when I interviewed, the facility’s positive reputation, the warm and slightly more modern feel to the patient rooms and care areas, the reasonable paperwork expectations, and just the all-around good vibes I got from the place. I’ll be starting sometime in January, as soon as I can get a temporary license. I won’t get my permanent license till I take (and pass) my boards, which I will take in late January. Anyway, I’m super pumped about the job :)
This weekend John and I went to Portland to visit our friend Erica. We rode the Amtrak train there and back, which was great and totally made up for my previous two experiences with Amtrak (soybean cargo spill=stuck on a bus; turns out “bus” doesn’t mean “business class” when booking online=stuck on a bus). In Portland we hung out with Erica, her boyfriend, housemates, and other friends- I think I met more people in two days than I normally meet in two weeks. We went to the Saturday Market (like a less-junky Fremont Sunday Market), ate at some good diners, drove around stopping at people’s houses, saw someone’s pet tarantula eat a roach and someone’s pet snake eat a mouse, went to a metal concert and saw Erica’s friends’ bands scream their heads off, walked around Portland, and wandered around a wildlife refuge. It was an interesting weekend. The metal concert was especially interesting. When I hear metal on the radio or off an album I pretty much just grit my teeth and try to ignore it, but I was totally digging the concert. How on earth do the singers do that crazy growl? And how can anyone’s fingers/arms move that fast? The whole time I was at the concert I was trying to imagine what individuals from certain cultures- either ancient cultures or modern ones that are very isolated- would think if they were also in attendance. Also, the only lyrics that John and I were able to understand out of the whole three hour show were the chorus to the eponymously titled “Odious Idiom”, sung in the growliest growl ever. Consequently, we’ve been growling “Ohhh-dious…..Iiii-diom” approximately 20 times a day ever since, and so far it is still hilarious. I meant to take a bunch of pictures over the weekend, but I mostly forgot. Here are a few though: picasaweb.google.com/alecekaplan/PortlandWeekend112209#
It’s weird that the holidays are suddenly in full swing. And by “in full swing” I mean that Downtown Seattle is all decked out in Christmas lights (I love how that looks) and we have way too many holiday parties to attend in the next few weeks (including one that involves a party bus!). We probably aren’t doing anything for Thanksgiving though, just hanging out and going to the movies, which is something we never get to do. We’ve been crazy busy lately and are excited to spend the day doing nothing. I have to work the day after Thanksgiving, so that kinda hinders any elaborate plans as well.