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Only 5 more weeks of clinical to go! One more week of hotlab, two weeks doing PET at the BC Cancer Agency, and two relaxed weeks back at the outpatient centre. So close to done.

Still no word of any jobs though. Our class ended up being really unlucky. The union is forcing all the hospitals to switch to a 5 day/week, 37.5 hours/week schedule and it seems like no one is going to hire anyone until all this change happens. Luckily the change is supposed to be finalized by the beginning of September, but unluckily I don’t know if there is going to be as much need for casuals any more. And I would not be surprised at all if things get delayed. :'(((((((((((. Things are a little grim.

I don’t really know what Plan B is at this point. All I know is that I REALLY REALLY want a job so that 1. I can get some work experience under my belt and 2. I can afford to do skeleton this winter.

It hasn’t rained a drop at our house in 4 weeks. Almost all our plants are dead and all the grass in the city is yellow. Fantastic patio weather though! I really enjoy eating our dinner outside on the patio and it’s been great not having to worry about moving the chair cushions and stuff.

Summer is passing by quickly. A lot of it is being spent commuting. :( PS A HUGE thank you to Lesley for lending me her car for my whole hotlab rotation (I start at 6AM and can’t get to work by public transit for that time). She rules and I owe her big time.

We have been squeezing in some fun activities here and there but I’ve been horrible about taking pictures. Worst blogger ever at the moment.

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It is so so nice not having homework. And one benefit of very early morning starts is that I’m usually finished work by about 3PM. To make it even better the weather in Vancouver has been PERFECT for the past week and a bit. Life is good here, at the moment. :D

We saw Monsters University last weekend. Have you seen it? I liked it quite a bit. I laughed a bunch of times. Then the next night I watched Monsters Inc again. Cute.

I can see Canada Place from our balcony so I was planning on watching the Canada Day fireworks from here, but I fell asleep and missed them!! I actually did wake up from some booms and ran out onto the balcony but it must have been the very last ones from the show because I didn’t see or hear anything after that. Bummer.

I went to the gym with my skeleton friends on Thursday and my quads are STILL sore. We did bench press, front squats, power cleans, abs, and core. Chris pushes Matt and I to lift as hard as we can. I am still pretty weak but I am improving. BTW, they still haven’t announced the dates for BC skeleton tryouts yet and I still haven’t decided if I’m going to bother trying out this year or not. It might be kind of fun to do all the tests, but I’m worried that I would still be embarrassingly unqualified. I haven’t even tried any of the sprints or jumps yet. We’ll see, and I’ll keep you posted.

The end of last week was dramatic at work. We got a call near the end of the day on Thursday from a camera manufacturer that said we could no longer use their cameras until they have been checked out, effective immediately. The hospital exclusively uses that brand of camera so we had to cancel everything for the next day that we could and figure out how to get the urgent inpatients their tests in other facilities. I thought I was going to get the day off but instead they sent me back to the outpatient centre (that uses a different brand of camera). Friday was pretty chaotic with all the extra patients from other hospitals so I helped out with that. I’m not sure when things will get back to normal… hopefully by tomorrow but I’m not sure.

That hospital rotation really was exhausting and tough, but I ended up getting a very good review so I’m happy. I’m glad I got that rotation over with as well… the rest of the summer should go pretty smoothly.

Yesterday Clare and I went to see our classmate Gillian get married. We just went to the ceremony so we weren’t there very long. We got to see their first EVER kiss!! Gillian looked so pretty and I loved her dress. Congratulations Gillian and Bryan!

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My dad says all I talk about it food. Oops. It’s true that I think about food a lot, but I do have other stuff to talk about! I declare this post a food-free zone.

I am now in the 5th week (out of 14) of my summer clinical. Most of the summer I am at the outpatient centre in Surrey and it is awesome. The place was only built 2 years ago so everything is new and clean and lovely. The facilities are definitely good there. And to make it even better all the patients are in reasonably good health. They all come there willingly, from home. They don’t require too much extra work.

BUT…. everyone has to do a two week rotation through the hospital as well. It is old and dark and crowded. EVERY patient is an inpatient (admitted to the hospital) and requires LOTS of extra work. They usually can’t walk on their own so we have to transfer them from their stretchers to our camera beds and back. They also can’t get up to use the washroom. Or get something that they need. And to make it even worse lots of them have contagious infections. And terrible veins. AWESOME.

This week and next week I am at the hospital. Monday was bonkers. The last couple days haven’t been TOO crazy but it’s still lots more work than other rotations. My legs are killing me!

I am not looking forward to next week when Scott is gone and I have to cook for myself!! I see a lot of frozen pizzas in my immediate future. (Oops I’m not supposed to talk about food…)

Long weekend coming up though! We’re having a little housewarming party on Saturday and then Scott leaves on the Monday for Australia for Jessie’s wedding. He’ll be gone for two weeks. Hopefully we can get in some good quality patio time over the weekend before he leaves.

At least my next rotation after this hospital one is going to be very easy. Hopefully this crappy non-summery weather finishes by then too!!

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We finally have internet so I can blog again!

We’ve been REALLY busy for the last week and a half, which was a good thing because I don’t think I could survive without internet for so long if I didn’t have so much stuff to do.

Since the end of school we moved out of our old apartment and into our new place. We cleaned the old place. Went to the food convention twice. Went to Lesley’s house. Visited with Lauren. Went out for drinks. Got my hair cut. Water marbled my nails. Started my summer clinical placement.

Just this weekend I prepared and cooked a porchetta and finally unpacked the last of all our boxes. Lesley is coming over in a bit for patio drinks and Ticket To Ride. I still need to study a bit for knowledge testing tomorrow.

Sooo… lots of blog posts to come! Here are some of the pictures that didn’t fit into any of my other posts…

me on the patio the day we got our keys

when we first got everything moved into our new apartment

at church’s chicken for the first time

sunset view from the balcony

patio laptop and whiskeys

look what Scott found while cleaning the fridge at the old house!!! best surprise ever!!


I’m going to take some apartment pictures RIGHT NOW. :)

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I’m so glad tomorrow is Friday.

I’ve still been sneezing all week… stupid trees. Kate thinks I might be allergic to birch because there is a big birch tree right outside our bedroom window and birches have a lot of pollen. I googled birch allergies and all sorts of frightening articles came up about “oral allergy symptom” where people with pollen allergies also develop sensitivities to lots of fruits and vegetables. UGH. I noticed today that my mouth felt more itchy after eating an apple. I will continue my study for the next little while.

Work has been a little bit crazy the past few days. As we get further and further along in my program the more we are expected to do on our own. The other day they had a staff meeting and me and the other student had to keep scanning while they were talking. AHH!! (We could easily go and grab a tech if we needed one, btw). Sometimes I feel like I am doing quite well and sometimes I feel like I suck. I have noooo idea really. I wish I could fast forward until September and just find out if I get hired anywhere or not. GAH.

Ever since I got back from Fiji I have been following a weight lifting plan from a book I got from the library. I lift 3 to 4 times a week and that’s it! I love it. The rush you get from being able to lift a heavier weight than the day before and the physical changes you can see in your body are very addicting. My plan is to stick with this all spring/summer and then by next skeleton season I will be much more capable.

Dad and Kate’s visit to Vancouver was very nice. Very short, but I will take what I can get! We rented a car so we could bring them to and from the airport and we met up with Winnie and ate delicious sushi. That and sleeping and them washing off 2 weeks of Fiji sweat pretty much encompassed their whole visit, haha. They should definitely come back.

This coming weekend should be a good one. We will get to hang out with Janine tomorrow, and go to the Fan Expo and the Canadian Video Game Awards on Saturday. I finally get to have my neck ultrasound (apparently I have an enlarged thyroid), and I don’t have too much homework. WOOHOO!