RSS30 days
29 Aug 2010 No Comments
in Me, me, me
I’m going to (try to) complete this meme, because I hope it will be interesting, and I know it will be challenging. It’s the 30 day meme, see the outline below:
Random Sunday
08 Aug 2010 1 Comment
It was a rainy afternoon spent fruitlessly in search of music not available in “regular” music stores. (Yes, I’m old-school and still buy CDs, and I don’t have an iPod or iPhone, and thus I’m excluded from the wonders that is the iTunes store.)
Apparently I’m not not hip enough to fit in and buy some music; I think they could smell the suburbs on me. Outside the store that the 80′s forgot – unlike most of their staff I lived through that decade – I found myself in a sea of yummy mummies. Not adorned in Coach accessories or Lululemon attire I stood put from the pack in my MEC jacket and non-designer jeans.
Headed over to Voltage, and like every other store in Vancouver that I like, it’s closing. Sadly, I turned to Paul and said “everything I like disappears”. He relied that he wasn’t going anywhere.
I replied that one day he would die. Nice of me, eh? Unless I turned him into an android after death, but then he might turn into a cylon, and again, I’d be alone and he’d be hell-bent on wiping out the human race.
Dreamer
10 Jul 2010 No Comments
in Me, me, me
On the ride into work the other day it dawned on me that I have fulfilled a long-held dream. Sure it happened almost a year ago, but the impact of it is still huge.
Breathe
05 Jul 2010 No Comments
in Cow & Toaster, Life, Motorcycles
I’ve been unusually busy for the past six weeks; this is the first weekend in four weeks that I haven’t had something to do. I spend the work weeks in between feeling slightly dazed and a little shell-shocked, but it was good.
It started with the Advanced Rider School through Pacific Riding School; I wrote about that over at 604 Ninja, so go read it there. The next weekend we did our first Pitt Meadows track day (which I haven’t written about, but will after this). The weekend after that we did the Bikers for Burns ride from Vancouver to Harrison. On Canada Day we watched round five of WMRC at Mission Raceway (I hadn’t been there since 1998 or 1999 and my memories of it are a little sketchy, probably due to the amount of alcohol consumed afterwards.)
In a weird coincidence (or is it reverse-stalking, we never did figure that out, or who exactly is the reverse-stalker…) one of the instructors from PRS/ARS was at the track day and the burns ride, and invited us to visit his pit at Mission. It’s odd when you bump into someone who has the same sense of humour as us; to outsiders I’m sure we looked pretty ridiculous, but it was fun.
Along with all of that I’ve had plenty to deal with at work, a wedding to attend, and a niece due to be born any day.
I lost them somewhere
06 May 2010 No Comments
in Me, me, me, Work
Yesterday my new boss sent me an itinerary of how my first day is going to go. It’s packed. I’m a little worried about 10am-11am, when we’re going to discuss the ideal Practice Manager position, Laurie’s vision and core values.
Vision I have no problem with. I am your go-to visionary person. If anything I see too much of the big picture, and not enough of the details.
But my core values? I joked today that I lost them about four years ago…and then fell silent, because it’s true. I attended a lecture by Shawn McVey in 2008 or 2009 about authenticity (very similar to this article) and I remember thinking “this is what I have lost sight of. This is what I’m missing.” I suspect now that it was a source of a lot of my stress and anxiety about working at this (my current) practice. The practice itself didn’t have firm core values (aside from the obvious) and the target was constantly shifting.
This new job is going to be a culture shock I think.
What I said at work today
06 May 2010 No Comments
in Me, me, me, Work
Or, how you can tell that I have less than two days left:
Last week we did a mast-cell tumor removal on a big Labrador (he weighs over 110lbs). The doctor warned the owner to keep an e-collar on him to prevent licking, but the owner objected and said he wouldn’t tolerate it. So the doctor suggested boxer shorts (it works well, I’ve put them on Bender before). We stressed the importance of not allowing the dog to lick else the sutures wouldn’t hold together and the incision could become infected.
Fast forward to yesterday: the dog came in because his incision was gaping open and looking infected. The owner admitted to our receptionist that the dog had been licking at it “for a few days” but told the doctor (a different one than the one that did the surgery) that he’s only started licking at it a day or two ago. At any rate the dog needed another full anesthetic to have the incision debrided and resutured. When we entered the invoice, it came to nearly the same amount as the original surgery, but the doctor and I decided that we’d discount it for the owners. Since the surgery was done in the last afternoon we elected to keep the dog overnight because he was groggy.
This morning the husband called to ask when he could come and get his dog, and I told him that we had to wait until the doctor came in so she could check the incision one last time. He was not amused, but seemed to understand. Then we had this little exchange:
“I want you to tell Dr. [Awesome Doc] that when my car’s engine needs to be rebuilt for a second time the mechanic doesn’t charge me.”
Before I could even think about what was coming out of my mouth, I heard myself say (very cheerfully) “yes, but you probably didn’t lick your engine until it didn’t work anymore.”
Silence.
“So, you’ll call me when I can come and pick him up, then?”
“Yes we will.”
We discounted his bill from $675 to $200. We didn’t have to, we just thought since they had spent almost that much on the original surgery (and histopathology) that we’d cut them a break. And this is what we get? Jackass.
Oh and for the record: I doubt that a mechanic would rebuild an engine for the second time for free if it wasn’t his fault that it blew up again.
Therapy, retail or otherwise
04 May 2010 No Comments
in Me, me, me
When people say they have a therapist, what do they mean? A counselor, a psychologist, something else?
I think maybe I would benefit from some sort of therapy (shut up, you!) but I have no idea where to start looking for someone or where to even start talking about stuff. I have come to the conclusion that I am Messed Up (and so are you, probably) and would like to know how I can either be less Messed Up or deal with my Messed Up-ness a little better. When I hear someone saying anything about their therapist it almost sounds decadent to me; it’s what people who live in fancy apartments in New York City do. Or women who go to the spa and have their nails done regularly.
I don’t know why I equate mental health with a luxury service, but hey we’ve already established that I look at things a little skewed.
I’ve had a few good months dealing with my anxiety, maybe due in part to the fact that I’m leaving the biggest source of my stress (my job). Naturally, then, my anxiety manifested itself this past weekend in a new and disastrous way.
*sigh*
Anyways, yeah. Sometimes it feels like it would be good to unburden myself on a professional.
604 Ninja
30 Apr 2010 No Comments
My new motorcycle blog: 604ninja.com
I’m still in the process of finishing the setup, but it’s almost there!
Looking forward
28 Apr 2010 No Comments
in Cow & Toaster, Work
Last night I went of a brief stream-of-consciousness rant about why I should be the one who gets the super awesome helmet design (that I really, really want), not Paul. Even though Paul was only teasing me I just lost it and went crazy. I blame it on stress. It’s always the stress.
I’m really looking forward to my new job. I will be the Practice Manager of another veterinary hospital. This hospital is actively trying to grow their business and develop their employees. They have a business coach who is also going to mentor me. Part of the plan is for me to finally start working towards becoming a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager. My new boss (the veterinarian) and I seem to get along very well; we seem to be fairly alike. They’re very excited about having me too…I just hope I can live up to their expectations.
Because this job is in the opposite direction of where I work now (the clinic I work at now is in Ladner, the new one is out in the Fraser Valley) I won’t be able to carpool with Paul anymore (he works in Richmond), so for the most part I’m going to be riding my motorcycle to work every day. The route is longer by distance, but a little shorter time-wise.
I’m getting impatient to start this new chapter.
Winding down, winding up
27 Apr 2010 No Comments
in Work
Counting down the last two weeks working here…right now the only way I’m getting through it is remembering that it’s almost at an end: we’re having an all-time high number of asshattery happening (clients) and staff just not doing what they’re told…both of which make my boss uptight and angry.
This place is a shambles – has always been a shambles – and there’s nothing I can do about it but try to minimize the damage once I’m gone.
I’m working on setting up another blog devoted to motorcycling; it threatened to take over this one and I want to go in a different direction here. Once it’s up and running I’ll post a link, and I’m pretty excited about it. Not sure why I’m excited about it, but I am!
