And then, there's a bearded fetus.

Good morning and happy Tuesday! Nothing much planned today, but since Dad came home yesterday, I guess the time will be filled.

Yesterday was a pretty good day at work. I managed 52 calls, which I was pleased with. They want me to take 40, so I'm doing quite well. I mean, it's not rocket science. Once you have the computer system down, it's not that hard to do. And I know when I get cut loose, I'm going to be slower, because I'll be filling out an appointment tracker in addition to the normal stuff. That will only be for a little while, until they're sure I know what I'm doing. Then, I'll get cut loose entirely.

I have my 60 day check in this morning at 10:30, so we'll see how this goes. I'm pretty sure it'll be fine, honestly. I don't believe they have anything to complain about, so it should be pretty positive. But of course, after 911, there's always a little trepidation. With the meeting, I probably won't make 50 calls today, which is okay. I can live with that. (I'm a little competitive, so I'd like to, but it's okay if I don't.)

As I mentioned at the top, they sent Dad home yesterday. Still not 100% sure what caused his issues, but since he seems to have perked up, they turfed him back to us.

The ambulance arrived about 8:45pm, and they sent my rather large father (255 lbs) with a team of 2 women, weighing collectively about 300lbs. This meant that I was obliged to help out, so as not to have him dropped on the fucking floor. Honestly, we damned near did anyway, but through some concerted effort, we got him from the stretcher to the wheelchair and the wheelchair to the bed. And holy fuck, I am hurting today. My shoulders, arms and back are just a mass of Do Not Want.

Then, finally, he's in bed and we're getting him all set up and I see the horror show they've made of his junk. At home, he uses a urinal, but in the hospital, that's not really feasible, because he can't really hold it for very long. So, they do either a catheter, or a condom catheter. This visit, they did both.

Apparently, they put the condom catheter on in a way that it pulled the skin adjacent to the base, and pulled the skin right off. It's raw and bloody. Then, it also seems to have damaged his junk itself, which is also bloody. The internal catheter also seems to have scraped him up, so his urine is, you guessed it, bloody. I took his gown off and just did a total body cringe. I'm so furious at the hospital. There is no way that he should have been discharged while dripping blood from his dick. I may call the social worker to complain, honestly. If there was a problem when they took the condom catheter off, they should have held him long enough for the bleeding to at least stop. And it should have been noted in paperwork. Then again, since they didn't send any paperwork, I guess that's a moot point. Then again, they also didn't call in the new inhaler they wanted him on, so I shouldn't be surprised.

I'll call his primary care when they open and see if we can get a prescription called in, but goddamn, I shouldn't have to.

Okay, guess I've bitched enough. I'm going to go forth and finish my coffee, and consider putting pants on. Everyone have a wonderful Tuesday!!

It's day 2 of thw weekend boogaloo! Today, I have very little on my adgenda aside from going to get my shorts from the mall, and probably driving my sister up to do laundry. Yesterday, I got most of my errands done. I went and visited dad, who is doing about the same. He's still not quite all there, and his oxygen levels just won't stay where they're supposed to be. They had him on just oxyden when I went in, but it kept droppping every few minutes. He'd get it up to 92 or so and then a few seconds later, it would be down to 80, so they put him back onto the cpap machine, which blows air at you to try to force you to take deep breaths. That seems to work, combined with it being hooked to oxygen. All he's doing is sleeping. I've been haunting the patient portal to watch his results, but as of yet the doctor hasn't called us to give us an update on what they all mean. I think Jess is going to try to get over there by like 10am, since the doctors usually do rounds at 10:30-11.

I hate the way the system is set up. If you can't be there all day every day, you get no information. No one calls, the nurse gives you vague answers that tell you nothing at all, especially when the question really is "How soon are you assholes planning to release him?" It's just infuriating as a caretaker. In my mind, he's definitely not ready to come home. In theirs? Who fucking knows?

I also picked up my glasses, which look cute, but have the bifocal in a slightly different place. I'm not sure I like them. My others came as well, and they fit really well and are comfortable, but they're a no line bifocal, which I'm struggling with. Also the frame is much larger than I thought, so I feel a little self conscious in them. These, to be exact.. The outer frame is much larger than I thought. But they're still cute, and I will probably start weearing them.

And then it was time for Jess and I to go out to lunch with my friend L from 911, which was a lovely time. I got the same thing as last time, which was an enormous prime rib steak with a pile of crab imperial on top. It was so tasty. I ate all that I could, and it didn't look like I'd touched it. My sister got the rest for dinner.

After that, I had a bit of a headache, so I decided to go lay down afterwards, and I did not get up til about 7am this morning. Head feels much better today.

Okay, I need more coffee, so I'm going to sign this off now. I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!

And it's Friday! Woot! One more day until a little breaky break that we call the weekend. That's good, because I've been working my ass off this week. Yesterday I took 47 calls, which is pretty good. It would have been more, but at 5pm, people just stop calling. Everyone assumes that we close at 4:30, so the calls completely die off. Up until then, yesterday was super busy. Every time I put my phone in "ready" I immediately got a call. Most of the people were very nice, so that helped. It doesn't hurt that I use my warmest, kindest customer service voice. I have spent years perfecting it, and it's pretty effective. My trainer likes it, apparently. She said that I sound sincere, like nothing will fulfill my life more then to schedule your mammogram. Which is kind of what I'm trying to convey, so it's good that it's coming through.

Yesterday, they sent out something about the checks being delayed. They were supposed to be here on Friday, but mine did finally come in around 3pm yesterday, so that was nice. It was here in plenty of time for our date night.

For date night, we went to the Local, which was excellent. I had crab soup, then we had short rib french dip bao buns. Then I had the dayboat scallops, and Jess had the short rib. Everything was excellent, but I definitely need another bao. They were super messy, with a horseradish sauce and sautéed onions over slow cooked short ribs with a nice savory au jus dipping sauce. Very tasty and a little spicy from the horseradish. I immediately dripped horseradish on my shirt. Not really a shock.

Today, we have another day full of calls, and game tonight! Game is a wee bit challening after working til 5:30, since I only get an hour and a half to take a deep breath, recover and get ready to talk some more. I'm sure when my schedule switches to 9:30am-6pm, it'll be even more difficult, but I'll manage. I enjoy playing too much not to. Besides, hopefully I won't stay on that schedule for too long. They indicated that I could go earlier pretty quickly.

Dad continues to have issues, and I'm not sure which way he's going to go. He could either perk up and be fine, or he could go downhill. I'm leaning towards a visit to the land of grippy socks, but I don't know. It could go either way. I really hate it when we're in this situation. The constant anxiety is just exhausting, trying to decide if he's bad enough to send to the ER, worrying about every little noise. I hate it.

Tomorrow, I have lunch with a friend from 911, which should be a lot of fun. She's very much a broad, and a lot of fun to hang out with.

I put in our $$ to go to our work bowling event. Johns Hopkins is paying for the prime time lane rental, we're just putting in $20 for food. Jess agreed to go with me, so they'll get to actually meet my new coworkers with me. It's at a swanky bowling alley downtown, and we have a ton of appetizers that they're getting.

Okay, now I shall go forth and get something to eat. And maybe put on some pants. Everyone have an amazing Friday!

It's payday! But not until around 4:30pm, sadly. But that's okay. We'll be able to get something out, so I don't have to blow my entire break at 4 getting food ready to go in the oven. I don't mind doing it, but it'll be nice to not need to scramble. It'll also be nice to have a little break between getting off work and game time. The food will be there, and I can just tear into it. Now the hard part--where do we want food from?

The next few days are going to be busy. We've got game tonight and Friday, and tomorrow, we're going out for dinner. I'm looking forward to all of the above. Game might be a little challenging, because I'm talking a lot during the day. So I'm going to have to use my hour and a half wisely to rest my voice. It'll be fine, just an adjustment.

I think for lunch on Saturday, my friend and I have decided on Michael's Steak and Lobster House on Eastern ave. I kind of want both a steak and crab imperial, and there I can get an enormous steak with crab imperial on top of it. I've had it before, and it was really good. It's this old fashioned place, with dark wood paneling on the walls and waitresses that call you "hon," but the food is really good. It's not cheap, but that's okay.

Yesterday, I took 42 calls. The goal that they want you to get up to when you're fully trained and settled in is 40, so I was very pleased with myself. I've only been on the phone full time for about a week and a half. I'm pretty proud of the accomplishment.

I wish they had been able to move my class sooner, but that is apparently not happening. So, I'm going to spend at least the next week and a half doing this. Not sure what we'll do after I've had the class. The normal process is for me to have another week supervised, but I'm not sure if that'll happen or if they'll cut me loose. I suspect it'll be in between. They'll give me another day or so of being supervised, just to make sure that my newly downloaded system works, and then I'll be on my own. I guess we'll see.

Since I have no EPIC app of my own, I'm taking calls on my phone line, but doing the work via controling my trainer's computer over zoom. This means that she can't touch her computer at all, and thus can't do any work while I'm working. Since I'm fairly self sufficient, she doesn't need to be watching me 100% of the time, so she's bored. She has a wireless microphone, so she's been wandering around her house, doing chores while I'm taking calls. Yesterday she disassembled her daughters' bunk beds and reassembled them in the living room so she can paint in her daughters' room. When she finished that, she played Elden Ring for a while. She's there if I need her, but she's having a productive week.

So far, I've been enjoying the job. Sometimes, I feel like I'm a little too perky, but I haven't had any total assholes yet, so it must be working? Mostly it's older people who aren't comfortable with doing it online, and I have a lot of experience with seniors.

Okay, time for me to sign off and take my morning pills and start the day. Everyone have a good Wednesday!

Happy Eclipse day to everyone in the path of totality. (Which is definitely not us.) I hope y'all get an amazing view. My sister ordered glasses for Jess and I, so I may take a little break this afternoon and go peek out, we'll see. Depends on how busy the queue at work is. I fully expect that people will stop calling while they go watch the eclipse, so maybe I'll have a few seconds to run outside.

Aside from that, I have my long-awaited psych appointment for ADHD today. I'm looking forward to it, and a touch anxious as well. When I did the online doctor, the only thing they were willing to prescribe was Strattera, which did fuckall for me. They cited my anxiety and insomnia as a reason. Oh, and my perfectly controlled high blood pressure. I'm hoping my actual doctor has some other ideas. It would be nice to be able to focus on something for more than two minutes at a time--maybe, and I know this is crazy, but maybe be able to read a book! I feel like my difficulty focusing has gotten worse as I've gotten older. Ah, a quick google tells me that menopause can make ADHD symptoms worse. Huh. That would make some sense. I've been in peri-menopause for about 6 or so years, and that would pretty much correlate with my ability to focus going kersplat. Especially if it started up while I was still at Chesapeake Urology, since towards the end of that job is when my focus became a problem. I mean, that also coordinated with when my fibro/cervical stenosis/migraines were at their peak, too. So y'know, it could kind of be either or both.

Yesterday, we had a much better day with Dad. He was a bit perkier, and actually got up for a few hours, so that was good.

We had an excellent game in the morning, during which my character managed to get one good shot off, and blew up the cube we'd come to destroy, which immediately popped us into another dimension, which in a future game we'll be trying to get out of.

After that, it was just a normal Sunday. Getting the laundry ready and out to the car, running my sister to the laundromat so she doesn't have to deal with parking, the usual.

I did manage to talk myself into DMing another game, but it's just a short module. It's one from the 90's, and will require some updating. There's actually a more modern one that is a reimagining of the legend of Baba Yaga, so I'm going to pick up that one as well and see which I like more. On one hand, the new one is made for the current D&D system. On the other, I DMed the old one with the shitty group, and it was a lot of fun. So, I'll look through and see which one sounds most interesting. The old one had some seriously screwed up shit in it, so that could be entertaining. It probably won't be until June, so I'll have time to convert it if I decide to go with the old one. It seems like most of the creatures translate pretty well, so the majority of the work would be clipping the maps from the PDF and uploading it.

Watched part of the end of Wrestlemania, though I was asleep before the end. My favorite part may have been the opening where the daughter of the former head of the company (who was ousted for sex trafficking and various other horrible things) threw him under the bus and threw behind her husband on a worldwide broadcase, proclaiming it the most "special Wrestlemania because it's the first Wrestlemania of the Paul Levesque Era." It seems like both nights were a resounding success, which is awesome. I want all the wrestling companies to do well, because then on the occasions when I want to watch, it's not embarrassing to watch.

Okay, time for me to get myself together. Everyone have the best Monday!

We have made it to Saturday! It's supposed to be a lovely day here in Maryland, sunny and almost 60. I have to get myself together in a few minutes so I can go get my eye exam at Lens Crafters. I'm hoping they have the retinal camera, which I prefer over having my eyes dilated. That way just lies migraines and being useless for the rest of the day. Aside from that, nothing planned for the day. Just going to kind of take it easy. I saw a tweet about it the other day, and now I kind of want to watch Big Trouble in Little China, so that might be on the list.

Tomorrow, we have a game on in the morning, and nothing else going on, so another semi relaxing day. Of course, as we all know, relaxing isn't my best activity, so we'll see how that goes.

Last night we had a fun game of Frostmaiden. It was a boss battle that had been a long time coming. The wizard who had been a pest throughout the game had ascended to lichdom, and had a city under siege. The party played it smart, but so did the baddies, and it was a hard fought battle. Finally, the paladin banished the Lich's infinitely more scary girlfriend, and they had him on the ropes. He tried to escape, but the party followed, and he went down to a well placed Power Word Kill spell from our bard. It was a good battle, and they still have to deal with the demi-god girlfriend who is going to come back and find that the party perma killed her boyfriend, but I'm sure they can be reasoned with.

This was good, because my day was boring as hell. I had a class, which has no bearing on my actual job, but is the only way I can get the user role to overbook a slot. It involved setting up reports to run, which was interesting, but also nothing I will ever need. Unfortunately, as usual, the trainer had to deal with a lot of people who were not paying attention, and needed to go over the steps 85 times, which was making me crazy. I'll be honest, I tuned out and just went through the book and did more of the exercises. It worked out fine, kept me from going insane, and I got a 100% on the test.

After that, I took calls for an hour, which was much less annoying. It wasn't a bad day, just a little dull.

Okay, I should consider putting on pants for this appointment. Everyone have an excellent Saturday!

Y'know, there's enough bands in the world that I don't usually resort to it for my subject lines, but whenever I get stuck on a new one, it's nice to know that the Foo Fighters and Duran Duran are always there for me.

It's Thursday, and that makes it game night! I'm looking forward to it, as I did some work yesterday and again this morning, so hopefully the game will go well. I think I'm all ready for it. Tomorrow, we have the boss battle of Frostmaiden. I'm pretty well prepped for that one, though. I just have to remember all the features of the villains. The drawback of high level games is that your monsters have extra turns and cool features, and none of them work if I don't remember them.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day on the phones. I don't mind it at all. I feel like I'm helping people again, which is nice. I'm settling into a bit of a rhythm finally, though I still need more practice to fully get there. Good thing is, I'm going to get plenty of it over the next 3 or so weeks. Though, my trainer is talking about cutting me loose a little early, so it might only be 2 weeks.

She has to keep me until I have my own Epic system (it doesn't get downloaded onto your computer until you pass the final class), which will not be until after my class on 4/19. Normally, she'd keep me for the week after, with me working 100% on my own system, and then I'd be sent out on my own. But my trainer was talking about not doing the full week.

It's a little bit of a relief that my trainer has that kind of faith in me, and that she thinks I'm doing so well. After 911, where I did relatively well in class and then was a wet fart on the phones, I was a little worried. But no, I'm doing well. Further proof that 911 was just a shithole of a job.

The goal is 40 calls a day. Yesterday, I did 28, though I also took a little while to do some pre requisites for my class tomorrow, so it wasn't a full day. Today I'm hoping to do more, but we'll see!

Okay, time to figure out what I want for breakfast. I got some corndogs from Aldi, so I'm thinking maybe those. Everyone have an amazing Thursday!

Apparently the stomach bug wasn't quite done with me, or whatever the hell it was. Last night, I was back to being nauseous as hell and having a headache. I'm still a touch queasy this morning, so we'll see how that goes.

Yesterday was meh. Even before I started feeling punky, the shadowing was boring as hell. The guy I was shadowing with was very nice, but he did things very differently that I will, and it made it difficult to stay focused. (Moreso than usual, that is.) Better still, in the afternoon, he was doing scanning, which was doubly boring. Not even patients to listen to.

It was probably for the best, because less than an hour after I went back from lunch, Dad started bitching that his thigh was chafing. Jess pointed out that they couldn't put him back solo, and he whined and then wen't full drama "I guess I'll crawl back, then." Seeing as I wasn't doing anything I let the dude I was shadowing with know that I needed a minute, and we hurriedly put him back to bed. His thighs are chafed, and honestly, I'm not sure what to do about it. We've been using aquaphor liberally, but there's a spot on his thigh that looks like the diaper gave him a paper cut. And he's really chafed. I feel bad for him, but the drama was a bit much.

Today my trainer is back, so we'll be doing the final two radiology modalities, and then we'll see what we're doing the rest of the afternoon.

I'm still not feeling 100%. My stomach is a little queasy and crampy, and my head hurts.

I'm also still in hyper fixation mode, trying to figure out whether we could work it to move out of country when dad passes. From everything I've seen, the answer is probably, if we move to Mexico. We're looking at the somewhat touristy town of San Miguel de Allende. More expensive, but also fairly safe, and a decent expat community. I've spent the last couple of days doing research on various neighborhoods. We probably can't afford the Centro Historico, but the suburbs are possible.

Tomorrow, I will spend my morning doing some prep work for my Thursday and Friday night games this week. Friday is pretty much set. I just need to remember to use all my bad guys' features. Legendary actions! Lair actions! It's meant to be a hard fight, since it's a boss battle. Thursday it a little more intensive prepping.

Okay, time for me to get my ass together. Everyone have an excellent Tuesday!

The mild nausea I had yesterday morning, continued, along with a particularly vicious headache. I went back to bed and took a nap, and while I was laying there, the power went out. This is less than ideal, because of Dad's oxygen requirements. I headed upstairs, and switched the regulator over to a new tank, and set that up. I really need to show Jess and Shelly how to do that in case the power ever goes out when I'm out, or when Jess and I are out.

We only had the one tank, which we figured was good for five hours. Then, we watched the app, and watched the time of restoration keep climbing. The call went in at 8:54am, They assiged a crew at 9:40, and then we waited. And waited. And started getting nervous. Finally at noon, I got dressed, still feeling like ass, and went to the hardware store to rent a generator. As I handed him my credit card, I checked the app, and the crew was en route. By the time we'd loaded the generator into our car and stopped for gas, they had arrived. We left the generator in the trunk, figuring that we could pull it out if needed.

It was not needed. The power came back on around 1pm, and we jubilantly plugged dad's oxygen back in and I went back to bed. We're taking the generator back this morning.

Today, I feel...meh. Not as bad as yesterday, but not awesome, either. I've got a bunch of stuff that I need to do, and it's going to be a challenge to get them all done feeling less than 100%.

Much as I hate to do it, I may push the oil change out by a week, and maybe do it on the 6th. According to my car, I still have 11 days to do it, so that wouldn't be bad. But I really just want to get it done. I will think about it.

It's not that I feel horrible, just seriously blah and my stomach just isn't 100%.

We'll see how I feel after I take the generator back this morning.

Then tomorrow, it's back to work. Tomorrow, I'm just shadowing, since my trainer has an appointment. Then Tuesday, I learn the last two modalities and then I start taking calls.

Okay, I'm going to go get myself together for when the store opens to return the generator we didn't use. Everyone have a wonderful Sunday and a very happy Easter to all who celebrate.

New contender added onto yesterday's list of places to go if the US gets sucky? Portugal, where you can get a temporary resident visa for a year, renew it for five years, and then get a permanent resident card. After a year of that, you can apply for citizenship. I think it boils down primarily to either Mexico or Portugal. We'd be able to afford more in Mexico, but my lord, the heat. Portugal would be more expensive, but the temperature is more comfortable. I mean, we'll see how things go, but I feel better knowing that I have options.

As I was saying to Jess, I feel like even if the US drastically improves, it might be worth it. I've spent my entire life in the same 1/2mile. I started out in this house, we moved to an apartment around the corner, and then we moved back when I was 18 to help take care of my grandmother. I've never lived on my own or anywhere else. The longest I've been away was on the 10 day Disney trip. It might be good for me to go somewhere. And of course, if you get EU citizenship, you can basically work anywhere in the EU.

Yesterday, the systems were down at work, so I spent the first two hours reviewing my notes, and generally fucking around. Eventually it all came back up, and then I shadowed one of my coworkers for a few hours while my trainer's computer was fixed. It was interesting to see how people do things differently, but I was happy to go back to learning in the afternoon.

Today is Friday! This means an hour lunch, but super early at 12, because my trainer has a weekly hour long meeting. We're working on MRIs today, which I've been assured is a bit of a killer. I'm looking forward to it.

Then, it'll be the weekend! Whoo! It's not a horribly busy one. Though some grocery shopping will need to be done at some point, so that'll be fun.

Okay, short one today. I'm going to go forth and consider some pants and maybe some more coffee.