Crisis on Infinite Earths; The Untold Chapters

The date was 1985; the place was DC Comics. DC had the largest comics library ever through the acquisition of several competitors (the Marvel Family, Charlton Comics, etc.) and for convenience's sake had constructed this elaborate series of "parallel Earths" where each set of heroes resided. Even the original versions of Superman, Batman, et al had their own "Earth-2" where they were grown, had children of their own, and had (mostly) retired.

Unfortunately, it was awkward as hell. It took me five minutes just to write the paragraph above on general sweep of the concept. Try explaining how Black Canary was actually originally from Earth-2 but had "emigrated" to Earth-1 while possessed by the spirit of her dead mother.

Just-too-Freaky!

The most-remembered (and most-parodied as well) cover of the CRISIS is #7's "Death of Supergirl".

However, most people don't recall that the CRISIS was industry wide, and many more comics were affected than just DC comics properties. The Comic Buyer's Guide did a series of cartoons by Johnny Lowe in the fall of 1985 that aptly illustrated the fring-effects of the CRISIS. Oft remembered (but rarely collected), these comics are cute, even priceless -- but worth the effort to scan them in for posterity.

So, without further ado . . . . (Click the comics for an enlarged view)





With Ziggy here, I think Lowe has completely captured the spirit of the character.



And The Far Side, as well (man, how I miss The Far Side!)





This Bloom County strip always cracks me up. Note the picture over the boy's bed of Christopher Reeve as Superman (whom I originally mistook for Jim Shooter, whom many blame for the "parallel worlds" concept):



This final comic shows the aforementioned Peanuts, Bloom County, Cathy, & Hagar the Horrible casts assembled together, along with Garfield, Shoe, (possibly) Krazy Kat, and the snake from B.C. in the penultimate scene -- which is itself a riff from a controversy of the day; how editors in newspapers were shrinking the size of comic strips. )Doonesbury was particularly loud on the subject -- even negotiating for his strips to stay the original size -- which is why Doonesbury to this day is 50% bigger than most comic strips in newspapers.)

And I don't know about you -- but that potential hook-up between Cathy and Steve Dallas just has "Rape Charges" written all over it . . . .



These next two appeared during CRISIS in Calvin and Hobbes by comics fan Bill Watterson. While they do not tie into the previous "Cross-Over" exactly, they do reflect nicely the zeitgeist of the times . . . .



Or, this:



And this actual "Far Side" appeared during the cross-over as well; showing an "alternate version" of Marvel Comics Thor:



Finally, these last two show some possible variants of DC's Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th Century. First, how Doctor Who REALLY got his start:



And finally, this one, where apparently one too many Earths got merged . . .



~~JD~~

Animals Begin Pairing Up; Underwater Film at Eleven

Why, Yes, it's been raining quite a bit lately. Why do you ask?

~~JD~~

"M.B.A." = Moronic Bastards Arguing

I wish there was a "Dilbert" for Nursing.

I don't think it's a problem confined specifically to Nursing, although being a Nurse, I see it almost every day in a Nursing context. For years I've thought that it's because Nurses are not given any kind of training in management of employees or business practices. While this is true, I don't think it's exclusive to Nursing, either. This from a recent column on the Website Save WRKO:

By contrast, in talk radio, executives who have never programmed a radio station, much less been behind the mic, are increasingly in charge of hiring and firing talk show hosts. These "suits" come from sales, FM music stations, television news, public radio outlets and even outside of broadcasting altogether.

Even worse, these managers won't even admit to the problem, which is why so many in the media are now bearish on radio broadcasting's future.

One of the commenters ("LOL") puts it even more succinctly:

Yup, the trend for a long time was to move from operations to management. The idea being you knew the core business. Now the trend is just be a manager, a la MBA schools. No specific skills needed; except how lie, cheat and blame others.


One of the places I've been working recently is a prime example. They hired a new CEO last year from a nursing background and put her in charge of this Orthopedic hospital. She has a Master's in nursing, but no administrative or management training. Since her hiring she has fired (or had quit) almost every single management person in the hospital. Most of those who have quit have cited her unreasonable demands and refusal to consider input from the floor nurses.

Power Trip. Head Rush. Megalomania.

The second case from another place I've recently worked is somewhat similar. (In fact, this was pretty much the case when I worked at Porter Memorial in Valparaiso.) This second place is what we call a Skilled Nursing Facility -- essentially a Nursing Home with Hospital Trappings. Created when the Medicare Reform Act began capping the amounts they would pay to hospitals for care of Medicare Patients, these turbocharged Nursing Homes were created to provide the same care for less money.

Unfortunately, this put what were colloquially termed "Nursing-Home Nurses" (i.e., Nurses with Nursing experience limited to Long-Term Care) making Nursing decisions for patients far outside their experience bases and scopes of practice. When they are constantly challenged and even reprimanded for their incompetence, they turn bitter, nasty, grossly unprofessional, and start to become a major reason these facilities lose "good nurses" with the skill sets necessary to work with these challenging patients. The image provided here is from a t-shirt company, which just goes to show how widespread these negative feelings have become in Nursing.

Nor is it a recent phenomenon. When I was a young student the phrase was "Nurses eat their young." There is one of these Skilled nursing Facilities where I've worked is infamous for the terrible treatment this supervisor heaps on them day after day. In fact, the last I heard a majority of the available LVNs and RNs have refused to work with this Supervisor. (I personally have had the wonderful experience of having her call me a "Dumb-Ass Agency Nurse," which she and another staff nurse found uproariously funny and alughed in my face about all night.)

Abusive. Insulting. Cruel.

These are the reasons, in my honest opinion, why we have a nursing shortage today. Between the incompetence of the management and the abusiveness of the supervisors, Nursing in many cases becomes a matter of "Survival of the Fittest," with those developing the thickest skin being able to stay on to slog through another day in Hell.

And they then become as abusive, insulting, cruel, and incompetent as their mentors -- and perpetuate the "Nurse Rachet" archetype.

Is there a solution? God, I hope so. I'll be damned if I know what it is.

~~JD~~

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how much do enjoy watching sports on television?

It depends a LOT on the sport and the specific event. I have fond memories of watching the Chicago Cubs on WGN-TV (8), so that's something I can do anytime they're on and enjoy. Football, I like the playoffs (7) (or the Super Bowl - 6), and I like college ball (8) more than the Pros. Basketball -- I love those San Antonio Spurs anytime (8).

Soup: If you could completely memorize any one work of fiction, which one would you pick?

Fiction? Shakespeare's Hamlet. I memorized the soliloquy in high School. It's so beautiful and deep and depressing. I'm currently actually trying to memorize the books of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John from the Bible. It has more practical application for my life.

Salad: What is your favorite breakfast food?

Certainly not Salad; that's for sure. Does day-old cold pizza with ketchup count? No? Then probably cold Coco Crispies cereal with milk; with Toast and Jelly coming in a close second.

Main Course: Name something fun you can do for less than $10.00.

Buy a beer and watch the tourists go by on the Riverwalk. Ride the mini-locomotive at the San Antonio Zoo. Re-read a book I've already read. Watch a movie matinee. Memorize some Bible passages. Take a walk and watch the sunset. Pray.

Dessert: How long does it usually take you to fall asleep?

The one skill I learned in the Army and still use. If I'm not asleep in ten minutes, that's a LONG time for me. Once my head hits that pillow, I imagine I can feel the gentle roll of the earth beneath me towards the west and that's pretty much it -- out we go.

~~JD~~

Nursing Myths (Part I)

Nursing Myths. You've heard them; when some big-mouthed nurse spouts out something that everyone in the Nursing Station knows is false, but everyone's afraid to say anything about it for fear of losing their job?

It drives me nuts. It's the one thing about Nursing that makes me want to take up that fascinating new career in truck driving. Here's a few I've run across in the last month:

Black Ink is ONLY to be used on official documents.

Uhhmmm -- no, it's not. Here's why: the only official government standard for ink colors is defined by Medicare, which specifies "blue, black, or blue-black ink." Some hospitals have defined this down further to "black or blue-black ink," but Black Ink has never been defined as the ONLY ink acceptable for charting or documentation. Don't believe me? Go look at your own SOPs -- they probably say the exactly same thing.

Insulin must be refrigerated.

I've actually seen nurses go into a Tizzy when their refrigerators had to be cleaned because Insulin must be refrigerated. Check your Product Inserts that come with the medication: Insulin only needs to be refrigerated until opened. After it's open, it's good from between 28 and 30 days without refrigeration. And even if the insulin vial is unopened, it's still good as long as it doesn't get above room temperature until the expiration date on the label.


RNs are better than LVNs. This one is a particular favorite of mine. Case in point: one place I worked recently we had four LVNs, two RNs, and a physician on the floor when my patient started to complain of chest pain. The doctor ordered an EKG while everyone else stood around and looked at each other. Take a wild guess who (a) put o2 on the man, (b) gave him the Nitroglycerin under his tongue, elevated the head of his bed 45 degrees, and hooked him up to telemetry?

That would be me -- the LVN.

When the EKG was done I took it to the Charge nurse, who gave it to the doctor, who promptly said he didn't know what to make of it, and left the floor. The RNs put their heads together and hemmed and hawed about it but didn't see anything too bad about it. Guess who was the one who pointed out to the RNs that the man had (a) and inverted T wave, (b) prolonged QRS, and (c) a depressed ST segment -- all indicative of a current myocardial infarction (or "M.I." -- a Heart Attack) in progress?


That would be me -- the LVN.

So the Charge Nurse called the cardiologist, who promptly gave the order to transfer him to the ICU, give oxygen and Nitroglycerin, and start telemetry -- all of which I'd done a half-hour before. (Did I mention this was my first day at this facility -- everyone else there was either staff or had been there several times previous?)

So two days later when the Supervisor wanted to put me under contract with their facility, who was it that was signed up for long-term work at this facility? That would not be me -- the LVN with 26 years experience, a Bachelor's degree, and cardiac/ICU experience. No no, that would be fresh-out-of school Associate's Degree RN with less than a year's experience who stood around wondering what to do while my patient was having his M.I.

Why did they sign the brand-new RN instead of me? Because the Chief Nursing Officer of this facility is a moribund old-school nurse who "only wants RNs."

Which just goes to show that degrees don't give you brains, despite what the Wizard of Oz might say.

~~JD~~

Busy, Busy, Busy . . .

I'm in the middle of a hot gig this week -- working 13-hour days for a major hospital in downtown San Antonio. It's a unique kind of place -- the hospital occupies a skyscraper built in the 1930's -- so art deco decor is the rule.

Here's the view outside my window -- eighteen stories up on the Ortho ward. (ICU and Surgery are on top on the 23rd floor.)

And I'm making money hand over fist doing it -- but have very little time to post while I'm doing it. (I should be in bed right now!) In the meantime -- here's a picture of the bathroom -- with Italian marble walls and ceramic floors. Absolutely awesome. (You should see the Art Deco sprinklers!)


I'll give you a tour when I get a second.


~~JD~~

Milestones

** As of Last night, I crossed the milestone of my 300th post since I started this blog.

** We just passed visitor 5,266 this morning. (I know, the counter is malfunctioning -- I'm working on it.)

** This is my 109th post of the year so far. Our previous record was 92 in 2005. We're on track to hit 200+ this year. Blame youTube.

I have no idea what's gotten into me. Well, part of my intention when starting this blog was to increase my writing output so I could eventually start writing professionally. Seems to be succeeding.

~~JD~~

Friday's Feast

This si the Thanksgiving feast that my 15 year old son cooked by himself for us in 2005. (He's a scary kid sometimes!)

Appetizer: What is your favorite fruit?

Jim Carrey. Why are you laughing?

Soup: Who is someone you consider as a great role model?

Gee, that list is long and distinguished. Ronald Reagan. Martin Luther King. Mahatma Ghandi. David Robinson. Ordell Gertsmeier (my uncle.) Socrates. The Apostle John. Dale Ciciora, my high school basketball coach. Albert Einstein. Harry Truman. But if I had to choose one, it would be Jesus Bar-Joseph of Nazareth, a turn of the millennia humble carpenter.

Salad: If you were to spend one night anywhere within an hour of your home, where would you choose?

Sorry, that's a trick question. There's no place like home.

Main Course: Name something you do too often.

Again, my life is too full. Eat ice cream; scratch my nose (and people think I'm picking it! -- eeewwwwww!!!); Make a fool of myself; wallow in self-pity; dance like a monkey.

Dessert: Fill in the blank: I really like ___________ because ____________.

I really like Nursing because you just don't get that feeling of being of service to people in other jobs.
I really like Driving because it's a challenge -- it's a lot harder than it looks!.
I really like Traveling because exposure to other cultures and peoples really makes you think.
I really like Scuba Diving because it's the closest thing to Flying outside of an airplane.
I really like Reading because it lets my mind soar.

~~JD~~

Dispatches From Deep Inside the Nursing Shortage

I've just finished writing a statement for my employer about the job I had last night. I think it's illustrative of what the Nursing Profession is facing today, so I thought I'd share:


When I received the call to work at this facility, I estimated to the scheduler that I could be at there by 8pm. (Normal call time is 7pm, but she called about 6:30pm for a “late call.”) With a lot of effort I was able to arrive at 7:10 pm and reported to the Nights Supervisor, who was in report with her Days counterpart. I told her, “I’m here! Where do you want me?” Her reply was to wave and say, “Bye-Bye.”

I realize that I was interrupting her report, but I needed to (a) let her know I was there, and (b) where she wanted me to work. I didn’t need to be greeted with a smart-ass remark, Thank You. This is very typical of this particular Supervisor’s remarks not only to me but to all the staff and temp workers. She tends to be curt, rude, angry, dismissive, and annoyed that we do not know every single procedure that even the regular nurses admit they don’t know either.

This is not limited to Agency Nurses. I have heard several other staff from this facility complain about her belittling tone and negative comments – one comment I heard was “I get so tired of hearing her say everything we do is wrong; everything we do is bad; that we can’t do anything right all the time.” For instance, this supervisor told me to complete an admission on a new patient, then became angry that (a) the Day Shift had not completed the admission in less than two hours, and (b) I had never done an admission at there before. (The paperwork varies greatly from facility to facility; and considering that their payments from the insurance companies depend on getting this stuff right, its something a regular staff member should be doing – not an Agency temp nurse.) Her responses for the rest of the night were curt and had a snappish tone to them.

The next challenge was to find the medications required. The Pharmacy at this facility is notorious for shorting medications available to the medications carts, and the other nurses frequently resort to raiding the other patients carts for medications for their own patients. I was fortunate in that I only needed two bags of IV fluids to complete my medications. However, I had to stand at the door of the Pharmacy almost ten minutes while the pharmacy tech worked in adjacent room, ignoring calls from both myself and a staff nurse. Both the ten minute wait as well as the ignoring staff members were completely unprofessional and unacceptable behavior, as well as very frustrating personally.

That night I had 6 patients – Categories IV (2 patients) and III (4 patients) Acuity. (“Patient Acuity” categorizes patients according to how much work they will require and how ill they are. Category I$ is the most intensive and usually requires one-to-one care; Category III is still difficult but requires a nurse to only have two of these patients, etc.) Because we were short-staffed everyone had six patients, except for the staff nurse from this facility who had five. Even their “loaner” nurse from their sister facility had six patients. (Staff nurses were reassigned to their lower-acuity unit.) The last time I worked at this facilty I had five patients; Categories IV (4 patients) and III (1 patient who we transferred in the middle of the shift to Hospice.) So, we were critically short staffed. (This happens daily in most facility since Congress started cutting Medicare and Medicaid patients, and will only increase as the baby-boomers get older.)

There was more than just “angry tones” to the other staff. An LVN who is regular staff at Compass glared at the other staff members and temps alike, making deep sighing noises and responding to requests with either eye-rolling, grunts, or smart remarks. When I entered the Nursing Station he glared at me, then took his charts into another room to work on them. As he brought them to the other room he slammed them onto the tabletops with loud banging noises several times; so much so that I had to look to see if he was either throwing these charts at someone or had thrown them to the floor. At one point later he and I were working on a patient at the bedside, and he was all smiles, very pleasant, professional, and reassuring. Once we returned to the nursing Station, he immediately resumed his unprofessional and rude behavior.

Towards the end of the night on of my disoriented patients tore off her chest dressing. I had the Supervisor find and open the dressing cart for me, but the only supply I could find that the physician had ordered was Kerlex; no Idosorb or Adaptic dressings were available, either in the dressing cart or the supply room. (In fact, the dressing I originally saw was not according to the physician’s orders, either.)


So my shift at this facility was marked by a high work load, angry responses, smart remarks, deep sights, curt responses, being ignored by staff, insufficient supplies and medications, and what sounded like a violent temper tantrum in the room behind me. Oddly enough, I saw the parent company of this facility (Psychiatric Solutions) recommended on one of the Fox Saturday financial Morning Shows as a “Best Buy” recommendation. Well, I can certainly attest that they’ve found a way to save money – they don’t provide sufficient materials, and they overwork their nurses.

Things I Don't Recall Reading in the Brochure About Becoming A Nurse

Disimpaction (The art form of manually -- i.e., using your own fingers -- to dig poo-poo out of the butt of an impacted patient.)

Whenever any patient REQUESTS Disimpaction!!!

Traumatic Amputation of a limb -- any limb.

Dying Children.

Projectile Vomit.

Explosive Diarrhea.

Angry Family Members.

Know-It-All Family Members.

Overprotective Family Members.

Family Members in Bed having Sex in the Hospital.

Gangrene in any form, on any body part.

Co-Workers Stealing Your Lunch.

Sexual Discrimination.

Office Politics.

Suppositories.

Enemas.

~~JD~~

Friday's Feast

This is me waiting for a Chow packet in Desert Storm -- I'm center in the picture, about 10th from the left with the mustache facing the camera. Handsome rascal!



Appetizer - What was the first job you ever had?

The Very First job I ever had was a lemonade stand on the corner. We just so happened to set it up the day Valparaiso University had Commencement -- we made over a hundred dollars in 1960's money. I was heartbroken when I had to divvy the money up with my cousins and sisters who trucked water and lemonade back and forth -- I thought I was gonna be rich right there!


Soup - (Taken from Bravo’s Inside the Actor’s Studio) - Name a profession you have always wanted to try.

I always wanted to be the Computer Guy that everyone's looking for when their PC breaks down. I may yet do that as a second career after I retire from nursing. There doesn't seem to be much of a market for nude skydivers.



Salad (also from the Actor’s Studio) - Name a profession you would NEVER want to try.

Sludge Pit Reclamation Worker. Office Drone. Professional Crab Fisherman. Exotic Dancer.


Entree - (also from the Actor’s Studio) - What is your favorite sound in the world?

Train Horns. Like George Bailey said, it's one of the greatest sounds in the world, along with Steam Ship whistles and Car horns -- it means we're going somewhere!


Dessert - (and from the Actor’s Studio) - If there is a Heaven, what would you like to hear from God when you arrive?

Well, there *IS* a heaven -- I've been there (long story.) I just don't want Him to be unhappy when I get there -- that's all. Something like, "You don't have to impress Me -- You've done plenty." Let is be said of us that our hearts belonged to Jesus; that we spoke the words of Life; that our lives were made a Blessing for Life.

~~JD~~

Happy Independence Day !

And God Bless them and Protect them while they do it.

And while I generally don't like or recommend rap, this group ("Stuck Mojo") has a truly awesome video that pretty much conveys how I feel about the Religion of Piss. (NOTE: Profanity Alert for those with tender ears.)



~~JD~~

A Nightmare in Nursing: circa 2017

I was talking to some of the Supervisors at some of the places I work (I do temp work as an LVN for an Agency). They are having a great deal of trouble finding Nurses and CNAs (Nurse's Aides) here in San Antonio -- and it's a pretty widespread problem.

One look at the Newspaper told me why:
Any Nurse's Aide ($9.00/hr) can make more money washing dishes at a local hotel ($12.00/hr) --
An assistant manager at McDonald's (22.00/hr) makes more than an LVN ($18.00/hr) --
A McDonald's Manager ($33.00/hr) makes more than an RN ($28.00/hr).

And The Essential Worker Immigration Coalition wants to bring in foreign workers to pay them LESS than that??? Surprise -- IT'S ALREADY HAPPENING! The local teaching hospital has wholesale recruitment programs to bring in student nurses from Nigeria and the Philippines, who work as CNAs until they graduate, then have a 4-year commitment to work as RNs after graduation.

See anything wrong with this picture? No?

Want to hazard a guess at the quality of care you get from Nurses and Aides who can barely speak English -- and really don't care if they answer your call light because they don't have the American work ethic?

And everything I've written here is from personal observation and experience, by the way. I've complained about these Aides playing cards and ignoring call lights in the middle of the night shift, and been told in return "Yeah, but they work cheap, and we need the help badly."

Imagine what this will be like in 10 years when the baby-boomers get to retirement age and start getting sicker. Can you say "Nightmare"?

The Good News (if you can call it that) is that I'll have a job until the day I die and beyond.

~~JD~~

Friday's Feast

This looks like an interesting thing, so I think I'll try it and see how it goes.





Friday's Feast is a weekly meme brought to us by Susie at http://www.fridaysfeast.com. People sign up for her email alerts and every Friday AM we go to her site to get the week’s questions.


Appetizer: How many pieces of jewelry do you wear most days?

Wedding ring -- that's about it. I don't even wear a watch -- I hate that pale mark on the wrist it gives you.


Soup: What is your favorite instrumental song?

"Lazy Susan" by Dan Fogleberg & Tim Weisberg, from the album "Twin Sons of Different Mothers". I saw Dan perform this solo in St. Louis by singing the flute song himself. Classically I'd have to say Beethoven's "Fur Elise" (the saddest song in the world, really -- from a deaf father to the daughter whose voice he cannot hear) or his "Moonlight Sonata" is just massively impressive -- especially when you're out in the backyard watching a full moon in a cloud-scudded sky sail through the clouds to this tune.


Salad: Who has a last name that you like?

Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Rupert Pupkin. Catherine Braithewaite. Pedro Guerrero. Ross Bagdasarian. Anything with an onomatopoeic sound to it. Me, I've got four letters in both my names -- and 9 letters if you throw in the middle initial; not a lot to work with.


Main Course: Name a popular movie you’ve never seen.

Shrek III. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Knocked Up (and I don't PLAN to EVER see it, either.) Almost everything Will Ferrell has ever made. And anything involving the new wave of "Torture Porn" movies like Hostel or 1408 -- that stuff is just sick.


Dessert: Fill in the blank: Nothing makes me ___________ like ____________.

Hmmm . . . so many choices, so little time. Let's see . . .

Nothing makes me shiver like Chicago in the winter.

Nothing makes me giggle like Laurel & Hardy shorts.

Nothing makes me sadder like remembering the family members I've lost.

Nothing makes me smile like the love Jesus has for us.

Nothing makes me wiggle like worms in my underwear. (It's a reference to a Boy Scout Song . . . )

~~JD~~

Now at an Abandoned Amusement Park Near YOU . . . .

Something of a hoary old cliche in Batman comics is the "abandoned amusement park" concept. Every few years the Joker will break out of Arkham Asylum and hide out in an "abandoned amusement park."

















Like "Abandoned Amusement Parks" pepper the landscape offering reluctant refuge to scurrilous psychopaths. (Note to Jonathan Gertsmeier: there's your alliteration fix for the month. Enjoy.)


Eventually, Batman finds the Joker -- I would guess because (a) Abandoned Amusement Parks are pretty rare commodities, and (b) Batman knows where they are -- and head for the nearest one to Arkham Asylum as soon as he hears the Joker has broken out . . . again.

Imagine my surprise to find one less than a quarter mile from my home!






"The Roaring Twenties" was an amusement park (now abandoned) here in San Antonio popular in the late 1930's to 1950's timeframe. Originally built almost 12 miles north of San Antonio proper, it now sits surrounded by the suburbs of north San Antonio. Situated by a dry river (that floods like hell every time it rains), it was difficult to reach during rainy season and appears to have suffered several instances of flood damage. (Fortunately, it doesn't rain that often here.)






As you can see here the grounds are pretty extensive. I'm unable to locate any on-line references to "The Roaring Twenties", but in talking to a couple of residents at a Nursing Home I recently worked at, apparently it was an amusement park of some kind during the day with a Dance Hall building (the only part that still remains) at night.




It's an odd feeling watching History crumble before your eyes.

~~JD~~

WORST - Dog - Haircut - EVER!!!!

We are NEVER going back to that particular PetsMart (281 & Bitters, San Antonio) ever Again! The groomer was behind schedule, he was rude to the customers, and instead of the "bath/#2 grooming/nail clip" requested, we got a "flea dip/#3 grooming/no nail trim" doggie.

Really, I don't think Samantha's ever been so embarrassed by a tail Pom-pom before in my life. (And for those noting that a lot of my pictures of Samantha seem to involve her in . . . "elimination poses", it's because that's the only time she stays still long enough to take a picture.)



Otis is terrified we'll take him to that same groomer, and hides in terror. (He's not a very bright cat, and doesn't realize we can see through windows.)

~~JD~~

More Great Moment (s) in Male Nursing

I used to be a feminist. Really!

When i saw a sophomore at Indiana University in the fall of 1977, I went to a Student Activities fair in the I.U. Fieldhouse, which was full of various student organizations, official and unofficial, vying for the time and donations of new students at IU. The N.O.W. (National Organization of Women -- remember when they were relevant?) booth had a very pretty brunette girl named Kelly (I think) who was both very charming and very good at signing up people left and right. For about $20.00 a year (I paid cash out of my pocket) you became a member of the N.O.W., complete with a monthly magazine and membership card.

Certainly seemed like a worthy cause at the time. I was (at the time, and still am today) in favor of equal pay for equal work, whether it's religious, racial, or gender differences.

So when I find women in Nursing who seem to have problems with a man in "their field," it always gives me pause.

A sudden, sharp, bug-eyed pause. Think a Bugs Bunny reaction shot type pause.

That's the look I usually give a (female) nurse when they say something to me like "You have no place here." (That particular one's been said to me three different times.) When my ex-boss asked me if I was having a sex change operation garnered a similar look.

One of the places I worked recently was very happy to see 6-foot, 200 pound little old me come a-walkin' in the door. The comment "Oh Good -- another strong back" is something I hear frequently, and I heard it that night.

Why? My size? I'm not a damned crane -- I'm a nurse. I asked about that once -- she answered, "well, men are better lifters than women."

Lift your own damned patients, lady. Until they stamp 'Caterpillar" on my butt, I'm a nurse.

The same place was also glad to see me because they had fired one of their Respiratory Techs 10 years ago for siphoning pain medications out of the patient's IV bags. he had retaliated by driving by the facility later that night and spraying the building with gunfire.

Nice guy, really.

He had just been released that month from doing 10 years in prison for the drive-by, and the staff was worried he might come back again. "You'll be good to have around in case of a 'Code White'," they noted.

A "Code White" is code for a Violence Situation. So, what, I'm the bouncer now?

One of the first places I worked in San Antonio (which has since changed management and been sold -- imagine that!) promised me a $2000.00 bonus after the first 90 days. This sounded pretty good to me, since we had no savings to speak of when we moved here. The bankruptcy followed by the move had pretty much cleaned us out.

They were also chronically short-handed and anticipating an inspection from JCAHO and the state of Texas imminently. I took this as my cue to impress, and worked long extra hours to make much-needed overtime and show the boss I wasn't afraid to work hard and get my hands dirty. My supervisor was grateful for the help and my industry, and told me not to worry about the overtime -- she would "square things with the Administrator."

Ninety days later (and the day after the inspectors left) the Administrator told me that I wouldn't be paid the Bonus as promised because I "had racked up too much overtime." When i questioned her on this, her response was, "Well, isn't this just like a man!"

What in the world my gender had to do with their defrauding an employee -- I've never made that connection, really. That's the only place I've ever worked where I didn't give two weeks notice and just walked out. Felt very satisfying, really.

Maybe I'm just getting cranky in my old age, I dunno. The kicker happened to me last weekend at another of the facilities I work at. The supervisor was chastising me for something I didn't do -- which no one had bothered to tell me about; but I digress. The supervisor looked me square in the eye and said, "Dumbass Agency Nurse."

When I didn't react, she asked if I had heard her -- then repeated it for effect.

The nurse I was working with grinned and said, "No -- Dumbass Male agency Nurse!" She and the Supervisor thought this was uproariously funny, and laughed their heads off at the alleged joke.

I'm beginning to see a common thread in all these facilities I work at -- they treat their employees like crap. This explains why they're chronically short of staff.

I may be a Dumbass, but that facility is now short another nurse, aren't they?

~~JD~~

HEY! That's my Niece!

Grandchild carries on Valpo parks legacy

June 20, 2007
By James D. Wolf Jr. Post-Tribune correspondent

VALPARAISO -- Kaitlyn Cook's preparation for her summer job with the Department of Parks and Recreation began early.



Her grandparents were Marilyn and Ordell Gertsmeier, a driving force for the parks from the 1980s on.

"I have memories of going to the park boards' meetings early in the morning," before grandma took her to school, she said.

When Foundation Meadows Park began, "I remember her coming home and talking about 'What should we name it?' " Cook said. And her first-grade handprints are still part of Valplayso.

"It was definitely natural to come back to the parks (department) and work for it and be part of it," said Cook, who is majoring in nursing at Cedarville University in Ohio.

Cook's major follows a family sense of service, like her grandparents, who worked for the Boys & Girls Clubs before the parks.



Former Parks Director John Seibert met Cook's grandparents in 1980 before he became director in 1985. Ordell became a charter member of the park foundation in 1989, and Marilyn took his place when he died.

"Anything that happened between 1990 and 2001, she was in the middle of," Seibert said.

When the community-built Valplayso Park went up, Gertsmeier gathered many of the volunteers and came every day.

She also worked for Fairgrounds Park, Lakewood Links and Creekside Golf course, he said.

The parks recognized the Gertsmeiers' contributions by naming the footbridge in Rogers-Lakewood Park after Ordell in 1996 and adding Marilyn in 2005.

Beyond her drive, Seibert recalls Gertsmeier's graciousness, writing notes of thanks, encouragement or advice.

"Things that lot of people would like to say we do, she did," Seibert said.

Parks Director Steve Doniger recalls Gertsmeier as honest and a good sounding board for ideas.

"If Marilyn said you need to do something for the parks, you did it. She was so passionate and dedicated," Parks Marketing Coordinator Kelly Deal said.



Deal saw that in Cook before she knew who she was.

"From the second I met her, I thought she would be good for the job," Deal said.

Cook, who's finished freshman year, probably won't stay with the parks, especially with ROTC obligations after graduation.

But for summers, she's working by what grandma built.

(You can click on the title of this post for the link to the original Post-Tribune article.)

~~JD~~

Reclaiming the Past in Pictures

It's been ten days since I posted last, but I've been pretty busy.

Ariane & I were going through the storage shed last weekend looking for paperwork she needed for her acceptance appointment to Nursing school (She had the appointment today; we'll know more later.) In the process of digging through every- single- box- in- the- place, we found pictures.



LOTS of pictures. I'm something of a shutterbug and have been since I discovered my mom's first Brownie camera back in the 70's, so I've got a LOT of accumulated photos. I had a pretty nice Nikon camera while I was in the Army, which I still miss -- and have a nifty little digital built into my Palm Pilot right now which is pretty useful, too.



Ariane's concern is that a lot of these older photos are starting to degrade, and wondered aloud how we could preserve them. And, of course, here I was with the scanner she gave me for Christmas two years ago and a very nice laptop with 50 gigs of memory. (I think she baited me into a trap, actually.)






(So my revenge is to post pictures of Ariane in her underpants. Serves her right.) I suggested scanning them into digital versions as a method of sending them to family overseas, but it was clear pretty quickly that we had grossly underestimated the amount of photos we've got squirreled away. I've been on this nonstop for pretty much ten days and I'm just finishing the second Banker's box full of photos tonight.

Two down, 12 to go.



One of the great ideas I had to motivate me to finish the scanning was that we would be able to share these photos with the rest of the family. Originally I envisioned putting the pictures on a couple of CDs and giving them as Christmas gifts. As the size of the project became apparent, I started thinking about Flash drives. however, it's becoming apparent portable hard drives may be the answer -- just for me to store all these photos. As of yesterday afternoon my own 50 gig Hard Drive is now 87% full. (When I started 10 days ago, it was 23% full.)



Anybody know where I can get a deal on portable hard drives?



This picture of my cousin Jon is a perfect example. I doubt I'll be able to find the original negative (even assuming it's undamaged); but the print suffered water damage during the flood at our house in Missouri in 1993. While it's still viewable, I'd never be able to get a usable print for reproduction purposes; and as soon as I scanned this and tried to clean up the photo for a second scan, it disintegrated in my hands. (Still, I'm glad we were able to preserve the picture.)



So, if my posting is a little spotty, I'm not trapped behind the East German border; I'm probably bent over the scanner trying to sort my way through a couple of thousand family photos. I'll post a few of the more interesting ones from time to time. You can save your own copies by right clicking on the photos here and selecting "Save Picture As". (I recommend saving them to either "My Pictures" or your Desktop so you can find them again.)



Enjoy.

~~JD~~

Paradigm Change vs. Releasing Your Inner Grouch

Another change to my paradigm; how I think about myself and my life.

When I found out Julian was (possibly) going to China, I started picking up some temp work from a local Nursing Temp agency. The Nursing market in San Antonio is huge and rapidly expanding, so there is always a need for part-time help. Plus the gross incompetence that traditionally passes for "Management" in Nursing exacerbates this problem, of course. Physicians fighting the Business Managers, demanding royalty treatment from Nursing personnel, whilst Nursing Managers promote Political Correctness with a heapin' helping of pseudo-feminist diatribe politics for good measure.

Just my opinion there, of course.

So when the Temp Agency offered me $3.00 an hour more per hour (which is still $5.00-6.00/hour more than I usually make) -- plus a bonus incentive of an additional $4.00/hour for last-minute calls, I was pretty much hooked. Pulling a couple of extra shifts got me the $700.00 I needed for Julian's trip very quickly.

So when the place i was working for started giving me static about having a second job (as they usually do), it wasn't a hard choice to make. When you can work three days a week and make what you used to make working five days it's really no contest. Plus the versatility of picking and choosing your work schedule makes it ideal for when i start Nursing Practicals for my RN school later this year.

Of course there are certain drawbacks to working for an Agency as well. Sometimes the work is not the "desirable" work of Day Shift, 9 to 5 stuff. It's frequently Evenings or Night Shifts, which is okay by me as long as it pays this well. You may not be able to work 7 days a week if you want -- most places need help on weekends. So you have to "strike while the iron is hot" and pick up what you can when you can -- which is why I just worked 8 days in a row.

I thought to myself yesterday in the office as I was waiting for them to cut my paycheck, "When did I become this flexible? When did I stop being such a damned Grouch? I kind of miss my inner Grouch, really. No excuses to hide behind anymore, are there?

The capper, of course, is that I get the chance to work in many different environments and see lots of different facilities and How-they-do-it-Here. It allows me to practice skills that have atrophied or are almost forgotten from years of atrophy.

Damned if I'm not on the path to becoming Super-Nurse. That's a good thing.

~~JD~~