Alice Brown Elementary (first half of Kindergarten. Actually, I’m not sure if this was the school — give me a break, I was 4, what do I know? Anyway, it was an elementary school in Brookswood, I think this was it. Mom will correct me if I’m wrong.)

Harold Bishop Elementary (we moved halfway through kindergarten. I finished out the year here, in Guildford.)

Cloverdale Elementary (Grades 1-5. School is now a “traditional” school, by which I think they mean they don’t allow art or teh gay. Strangely enough, located in Cloverdale.)

Latimer Road Elementary (Grades 6-7. Also in Cloverdale. We moved around Cloverdale a fair amount.)

Cloverdale Junior High (Grade 8. The last year this school existed, it was then converted into a french immersion school, Martha Currie Elementary… coincidentally, this is where Carol Ann goes.)

Lord Tweedsmuir High (grade 9-12. While this is technically the same school both my parents went to, they went to the old Tweedsmuir. At the same time that CJS got converted to a french immersion, they tore down the old LTS and rebuilt a new one. It looks like a jail and overlooks the race track.)

Kwantlen University College (Richmond Campus. Started a comp sci program, discovered that programming makes me want to rip off your arm. Yes, yours.)

Camosun College (Victoria. Took a single accounting class, but dropped it when I got promoted at work and couldn’t get to class on time anymore.)

Kwantlen (again. This was just an online course.)

Emily Carr (photography course. It was fun. I learned to develop film!)

Langara (3-4 years of Random Classes That Look Interesting. Took a lot of Women’s Studies classes with some psych & sociology thrown in for flavor. Wound up with 30 credits, go me!)

BCIT (Technical Writing. It, too, was pretty awesome.)

Justice Institute (Emergency Medical Responder course.)

I might be forgetting some, but that’s what I got so far.

Anyway, why do I post this? Because as of September 17th, I’m adding one more:

BCIT (Basic Health Sciences, BHSC 0100 – Human Biology)

Why? Because this is the only pre-requisite I need to get into the Licensed Practical Nursing program at VCC. You may recall a few weeks ago, I wrote about how I can no longer proceed in my paramedic dream. Which is thoroughly disappointing, but I’m not calling any of that wasted: It really, really made me understand how much I love health care. Emergency health care specifically, but there are ways to make that work. So, I spoke with the adviser at VCC a few days ago, and here’s what we came up with:

I am one pre-requisite shy of being eligible for the VCC LPN program — that being an equivalent to Biology 12, taken in the last 5 years. Well, not only did I graduate high school considerably more than 5 years ago, but I never took biology anyway. Chemistry, yes. Physics, yes. Computer Science, yes. But Biology? No, I was a stupid kid and played the part prescribed to me as an unpopular, awkward girl desperately trying to fit in: in that, “eww, gross things are gross.” Fuck that noise. Gross things are awesome.

But that’s fine, my lack of biology classes in high school don’t matter. And conveniently, from my EMR class, I have a decent amount of basic human biology understanding now. Still, need the pre-req, so this is it. I have two options: I could, through the Vancouver School Board, take biology 12. My adviser thinks that I could probably get them to waive the biology 11 requirement, as I’ve not only been out of high school for 12 years, but I have post secondary education and some healthcare training already. Unfortunately, from my research, the scheduling doesn’t really work for me. Pity, since that’d be free. But that’s fine, I think the BCIT class will be awesome, especially since it’s got a healthcare focus.

Anyway, so the LPN program has a two year waitlist that is probably only a one year waitlist. The “official” waitlist has to include everybody who’s applied for the program, but since many of the people offered a seat will decline it, they estimate it’s only about a year. This works for me. And in the meantime, I will work on getting the rest of the pre-requisites for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program (may be more familiar if I refer to it as an RN). That is, currently, my end goal. Of course, knowing me, this will probably change, but I need something to work toward even if I modify it later.

So, there we go. I take the BCIT biology class, apply for the LPN program. Then I work on getting the BSN prerequisites and apply there. There’s no waitlist for the BSN program. Whichever accepts me first, I take. If it’s the LPN program, it’s a one year certificate program, and then after 900 hours of work, I’m eligible for the LPN-to-BSN program, which gets me into the third year of the BSN program. If it’s the BSN program, I take 3-4 years, and get my BSN.

Where does the emergency come into this? Well, the BSN has a few electives, and several of them are ER related. Plus there’s post-degree education that I can use to specialize further. At the moment, that’s the way I want to aim my education. If I can’t work in a pre-hospital setting, I’d like to work in a first-contact hospital setting. I think that’d be awesome.

Bonus: A very dear friend of mine has been working on her pre-reqs for the same LPN program for ages, and coincidentally we should both be ready to apply at the same time. It would be AWESOME to have someone I know & love in class with me. Built in study partner!

In any event… I’m extremely excited. No matter how this turns out, I have career goals again, and this makes me very, very happy. I drift a bit when I’m not sure where I’m going, and not 100% happy where I am. I managed to get my personal life sorted out to the point where I’m so happy I could pee a little, now to get my professional life on the same track.

Now, if I could get my finances to where I’m happy with them… I’d be 3/3, but what the hell, let’s dump a few years of student loans on them instead, eh?

I should also mention a huge thank you to my current employer who is extremely understanding of my career aspirations, considering they tend to involve things like “I’ll eventually be quitting… but please continue paying me in the meantime. No, I don’t know exactly when I’ll be quitting. Yes, my estimated length of continued employment keeps changing.” I really, really like my place of employment, and the people I work with are absolutely fantastic. I might not be super crazy about the work I’m doing anymore, but that has NOTHING to do with the people — the people make it absolutely worthwhile.

Dave: Nick and I have a special bond
Dave: I can tell by the way he avoids my extended eye contact whenever I see him
Dave: And how he shuffles slightly away when I sit really close
Donna: that’s how he tells me he likes me, too.

Pity poor Nick who has actually been forced to meet most of these wondrous specimens of hilarity.

Whatever, when measuring my career-penis, I still get to say “I’m a manager”, so I’ll take it. Mostly, it’s just convenient when I talk to an angry customer and they want to talk to the manager. “YOU ALREADY ARE! HAHAHA, SUCK IT.” (Note: I rarely say “suck it” to a customer. Really.)

Anyway, the point of this? So, a call came in. I don’t really do a lot of phone support — it’s all web based stuff, you try giving code examples over the phone. “Angly bracket question mark php echo dollar sign…” yeah, screw that. We make a point of trying to make that pretty clear through our support options, but whatever, people still call in. And because I rock at customer service, I’ll answer any easy questions on the phone, then redirect them to email if necessary.

So today, a customer calls in, I answer it, and it’s a bit of an odd question about image quality of uploaded images. We chat a bit, and I solve his problem fairly quickly because, of course, I am Uber. At the same time, a second call came in, so one of our non-support-but-does-overflow people picks up since I’m already on the other line. A minute later, it becomes clear: Two people from the same office called in at the same time with the same question.

But most importantly, I got the problem solved first. HAH! I win at Competitive Tech Support. It’s gonna be a whole new sport, I swear.

(What? Hey, it’s support, sometimes you have to break up the monotony a little.)

I recently asked my employer if I could buy one of our extra LCD monitors, because I love having dual monitors at work and would like them at home. He offered to let me have one. Well, score. Good price.

We have an extra 22″ widescreen LCD. I, of course, grabbed that one. But, before taking it home, I hooked it up to test it (we have a couple of dead monitors floating around) and … it has a single dead pixel, in the middle but slightly to the left of centre.

I’m trying a few methods to fix it first. I’m going to leave it hooked up overnight running this thing to see if it can be “untwisted”. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try massaging and tapping as other guides have mentioned. But if it can’t be untwisted… can I put up with this? It’s such a pretty monitor, it seems horrible to give it up just for one wee pixel. But one crazy bright green pixel ALL THE FREAKING TIME might make Donna go something something.

Oh well. I’ll try it out at work for a while, and if it doesn’t make me crazy, I’ll take it home… and if I can’t stand Warcraft in CrazyPixel mode, then I can always bring it back to work and swap it out.

Still, a 22″ widescreen monitor would make Warcraft more awesome. I bet I could put up with a lot for that.

So, I’ve been chatting with a few people about it, and my friends? They FAIL at the supportive thing.

dramatic marmot says: nothing says “ideal girlfriend” better than vomiting and crying in the ladies room, so get REALLY drunk

Raven: I would say that a nice shimmer stocking would be good. Or so you feel extra special and sexy you should wear stay ups or garter & stockings!!
its like a little secret smile you can have all night
you could always get Nick to put them on for you … then he knows your secret too all night long… waiting to get you home… or in a dark corner since if you wear garters and no panties he can ravish you in a supply closet

NOT. HELPING.

Although I like the shimmer stockings idea. May have to hit up the Bay after work.

I blame the two of them if I make an ass of myself.

Why? Because there were apparently some leaks in my office building, and they’ve shut off the heat while they work on fixing it. Worse, they’ve left the blowers on… so it’s very busily shunting COLD air into the office.

Better yet, I’m on week two of The Plague, and I’m really not convinced that this is helping. If I hadn’t missed so much work last week, I’d just go home… at home, I have HEAT. Alas, too damn much to do, and not enough time to do it in. Bleah.

So I got to thinking about sick days.

I take a lot of them, unfortunately. I suffer from chronic migraines, and as mentioned previously, if I wake up with a migraine I’m much, much less able to function than if I get one during the day. So, I’d say twice a month at least, I miss at least a half day of work because I woke up with a migraine.

But, that’s not contagious, so not really what I’m talking about. It only factors in because it means I feel bad about taking sick days any other time. I mean, I already miss a ton of work … do I really need to add MORE just because I’m hacking & coughing & sneezing & horrific?

Well… yes. I should, I think. Not just for my own sake, but because infecting my coworkers isn’t overly desirable.

Interesting note: My step-father hasn’t had a sick day in more than thirty years. Not to say he hasn’t been sick, but he hasn’t taken a sick day. I find that intriguing, and can’t decide if I agree with it or not. For one, the dedication is pretty impressive — he’s definitely been sick. Thirty years! He’s worked longer with no sick days than I’ve been alive. I had a sick half-day a week ago. Hard to compare.

But is that necessarily a good thing?

It helps that he’s generally alone when he works — his job includes driving around in a van with flashy lights and radios and other such fun things making sure that transit runs as smoothly as possible. So, for the larger part of his day, he’s not really infecting anybody. Still, hrm.

Oh well. It’s an interesting thought process. When is “too sick” to go to work? And if you’re contagious, does “too sick” have a different line than if you’re not contagious?

Here’s another thought process: I had a coworker who got shingles a few years ago. Shingles isn’t contagious in the slightest… unless you’ve never had chicken pox. Said coworker sends out a message to the office about it, assuming that nobody would make it to our advanced ages (ie, out of childhood) without getting chicken pox.

Well, except me…

So what do you do? Getting chicken pox as an adult is pretty bloody awful, or so I’ve heard. I certainly don’t want to get it. (I should probably get vaccinated for it, but … well, I’m a little lazy. I may also be immune — my mother & grandmother never had it either.) But what do you do? Send the guy with shingles home? Send ME home? (I vote for sending me home, really — free day off with no illness? Score! Unfortunately, I pay for it when I get back and have a ton of work to do… hmm.)

In the long run, well, he worked on the other side of the office from me, and I just avoided him a lot. And, sure enough, no shingles. And probably the right thing to do.

But… I once got mono from a coworker, so I’m maybe a little more gunshy than most. Mono when you’re 21 really, really sucks. Not his fault — he didn’t know he had it until he flew back to Alberta. (Had been sent to our office for meetings.) Still, I was a little bitter about being incapacitated for almost a month for no good reason other than being stuck in meetings in a small room for three days straight. Quite frankly, I see this as evidence that meetings are a bad idea…

Anyway. I ramble. What do YOU think about sick days?

I am wearing a sweater, wrapped in a blanket, and STILL freezing my tuckus off. Dear Office Building People: Fuck you.

This morning, I got into work and found that SEVEN were missing. Seriously? Seven? What the hell? One or two, whatever… but SEVEN?

I asked around the office, and one coworker mentioned that yes, he’d taken one. That’s fine, I know if I’d been there, he would have asked and I would have said sure. Ok, so one down, six to go…

I emailed another coworker because he games here on Thursday nights… and sure enough, some of his friends STOLE my diet coke. Evidently they are douchebags, or so says one of the culprits (who, conveniently, I also play Warcraft with, so I know him pretty well). More accurately, someone saw someone else drinking a diet coke and assumed that they were there for the gamers. Ok, fine, now I know what happened, and hopefully they’ve been told that no, they’re NOT there for the gamers, and to keep their dirty stinking hands off my diet coke. I am CRANKY without my diet coke. I do customer service. Cranky is bad.

Then O’Hagan (the warcraft-playing Douchebag mentioned above) stopped by the office today with a 12 pack for me. Awww! Life is good, and I have lots of diet coke now.

I consider this scandal closed.