Mental list of things to buy, that is.
I think I may be needing one of these for my potential PC service. Thank goodness someone has invented something so helpful :)
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Work and the Peace Corps
Applying for the Peace Corps is a trying process. The application itself is long and thorough, you may have to twist the arms of those writing your recommendations to get them done in a timely manner. If you are successful with those things an interview is next, hopefully followed by a nomination. With that nomination comes the medical and dental portion of the process. In between all of this is the waiting. I have been prepared for all of this in reading through dozens and dozens of blogs. No problem.
Something I didn't expect about the process? Being held back at work because I might be leaving in March. I am awesome at my job and from February to mid-May I was acting as Assistant Store Manager of Merchandising. I loved it. I was able to work on re-merchandising my store for floorsets, focus on visuals, improve the moral of the shipment team, and train a new leader on on merchandising. During those months, I interviewed for an actual ASM position in another store and it went great. I was told I wold have had it had another current ASM in town hadn't needed a new store due to them dating an associate at their current one. Great!
This left that ASM's old position open and the ASM position at my store opened up as well once we learned our ASM, who was on loan at another store, was going to be staying where he had been for the past few months. I interviewed again, this time with my store manager and another one, at the same time! I was a nervous wreck. Interviews were being done at my store and I got to see my fellow interviewees and freaked myself into feeling inferior. I didn't get either job despite impressing both store managers. One job went to someone I had trained early on in his Old Navy career and had found himself in a lucky situation which lead to his promotion, the other (the one in MY store) went to someone new in the company who had been hired on by a acting store manager to replace her job as ASM while the actual store manager was working on something for corporate. Longer story shorter: he came back early, and I lost my chance.
And now I find myself being held back at work. I love my job, but I am burned out on a fully customer service focused role. I was told when I didn't get promoted that they wanted to move me to a higher profile store and that I am the next person in town to be in an ASM position. Once I told my SM I was going for it with PC, I was pretty much told no SM would take me and invest time in my development if I was going to be leaving in March. I am so frustrated by this. I could understand if I needed additional training, but I don't as I am pretty sound in all areas of the business ( I would hope so after being with the company for 6.5 years!).
I guess I just didn't expect that applying to PC would hold me back at work. Suffice it to say I will be pissed if I don't get in! I tend to find the upside in things as I am an eternal optimist; however, I will have a hard time finding one if I wind up being held back for nothing.
/don't feel like proof reading, forgive my possible mistypings/poor grammar :)
Something I didn't expect about the process? Being held back at work because I might be leaving in March. I am awesome at my job and from February to mid-May I was acting as Assistant Store Manager of Merchandising. I loved it. I was able to work on re-merchandising my store for floorsets, focus on visuals, improve the moral of the shipment team, and train a new leader on on merchandising. During those months, I interviewed for an actual ASM position in another store and it went great. I was told I wold have had it had another current ASM in town hadn't needed a new store due to them dating an associate at their current one. Great!
This left that ASM's old position open and the ASM position at my store opened up as well once we learned our ASM, who was on loan at another store, was going to be staying where he had been for the past few months. I interviewed again, this time with my store manager and another one, at the same time! I was a nervous wreck. Interviews were being done at my store and I got to see my fellow interviewees and freaked myself into feeling inferior. I didn't get either job despite impressing both store managers. One job went to someone I had trained early on in his Old Navy career and had found himself in a lucky situation which lead to his promotion, the other (the one in MY store) went to someone new in the company who had been hired on by a acting store manager to replace her job as ASM while the actual store manager was working on something for corporate. Longer story shorter: he came back early, and I lost my chance.
And now I find myself being held back at work. I love my job, but I am burned out on a fully customer service focused role. I was told when I didn't get promoted that they wanted to move me to a higher profile store and that I am the next person in town to be in an ASM position. Once I told my SM I was going for it with PC, I was pretty much told no SM would take me and invest time in my development if I was going to be leaving in March. I am so frustrated by this. I could understand if I needed additional training, but I don't as I am pretty sound in all areas of the business ( I would hope so after being with the company for 6.5 years!).
I guess I just didn't expect that applying to PC would hold me back at work. Suffice it to say I will be pissed if I don't get in! I tend to find the upside in things as I am an eternal optimist; however, I will have a hard time finding one if I wind up being held back for nothing.
/don't feel like proof reading, forgive my possible mistypings/poor grammar :)
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
I enjoy photography massively.
To get my mind away from Peace Corps related things, I delved into some photo editing. It had the ability to keep me occupied for HOURS. Here are some of my favorites as of late:
A bit of color-
  |
And some black and white-
One of the things I am most excited about when it comes to the possibility of getting into PC is the amazing opportunities I will have to take pictures. Anytime I go out shooting, I call it a "photo adventure." The girl walking the highway in the first picture is my best friend and fellow photographer (and let me tell you, she was awesome for agreeing to look naked with the help of a sheet I happened to have in my backseat while walking barefoot on the side of the highway for some pics!) I will totally miss her and our photo adventures and I am positive they will not be the same without her.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Oh! How I knew it...
So like I said in my last post, I had a dentist and doctor's appointment today. Working backwards from the day, here is where I am sitting with each:
Dental:
I had to go to an actual dentist since the oral surgeon who did my free exam found cavities. At the time, I was quoted a $304 dollar co-pay to have all of my wisdom teeth removed. The dentist I saw today had to do 4 additional bitewing x-rays since the ones the oral surgeon gave me weren't organized or mounted. They do theirs electronically and needed to have copies. I lucked out that while they did suck and hurt to have done because of the bone growth in my lower mouth, it would have been worse had they been traditional bitewing x-rays.
I have a total of 4 teeth in need of fillings and 2 in need of sealants. The best part of the day is when the dentist offered to do all four of my wisdom teeth for $150 and he also gave me a deal on my fillings and sealants. So all of my dental will cost me $310. Not too bad and much better than the $464 it could have been between the two places. I am having all of the work done in two days. The right side of my mouth on the 14th (along with my cleaning) and the left side on the 16th.
Medical-
I have been referred to a gyno, just as I thought I would be. I am positive for HPV and it is the lowest grade (ASC-US). I am not sure if this was something I had when my last pap (over 5 years ago) came back abnormal, although thinking about it, I am pretty sure it is and my being 17 when I learned it, I didn't think much of it. I guess the good news is that it hasn't gotten worse. In additon to that, my HPV DNA test lists me as positive for "High-Risk HPV DNA". At my gyno appointment on the 6th I will be getting a colposcopy done. Bummer face. I am hoping everything turns out okay and that the results from that don't show anything much more serious.
Thanks to Kylene's post on the subject, I at least know to ask for a 15 month window for screenings if things are low grade. Her post also made me feel better about the possibility of not being MNQ'd, although it is possible I wind up defferred from my nomination if I have to be re-papped in six months.
As for my other lab results, I am pretty normal. My bad cholestrol was a little high, but not medicine worthy and it was surely so due to my fast-food diet that I have recently re-acquired. I need to start cooking again, which means my roommmate needs to start helping to keep the kitchen clean! But alas, I digress... My platlet count was a little high, but she said it will do that with stress, which is most likely the reason. And I freaked out when I say that my Hep B surface antibody test said positive only to learn that my immunization for it was the cause.
Damn the word "positive".
Dental:
I had to go to an actual dentist since the oral surgeon who did my free exam found cavities. At the time, I was quoted a $304 dollar co-pay to have all of my wisdom teeth removed. The dentist I saw today had to do 4 additional bitewing x-rays since the ones the oral surgeon gave me weren't organized or mounted. They do theirs electronically and needed to have copies. I lucked out that while they did suck and hurt to have done because of the bone growth in my lower mouth, it would have been worse had they been traditional bitewing x-rays.
I have a total of 4 teeth in need of fillings and 2 in need of sealants. The best part of the day is when the dentist offered to do all four of my wisdom teeth for $150 and he also gave me a deal on my fillings and sealants. So all of my dental will cost me $310. Not too bad and much better than the $464 it could have been between the two places. I am having all of the work done in two days. The right side of my mouth on the 14th (along with my cleaning) and the left side on the 16th.
Medical-
I have been referred to a gyno, just as I thought I would be. I am positive for HPV and it is the lowest grade (ASC-US). I am not sure if this was something I had when my last pap (over 5 years ago) came back abnormal, although thinking about it, I am pretty sure it is and my being 17 when I learned it, I didn't think much of it. I guess the good news is that it hasn't gotten worse. In additon to that, my HPV DNA test lists me as positive for "High-Risk HPV DNA". At my gyno appointment on the 6th I will be getting a colposcopy done. Bummer face. I am hoping everything turns out okay and that the results from that don't show anything much more serious.
Thanks to Kylene's post on the subject, I at least know to ask for a 15 month window for screenings if things are low grade. Her post also made me feel better about the possibility of not being MNQ'd, although it is possible I wind up defferred from my nomination if I have to be re-papped in six months.
As for my other lab results, I am pretty normal. My bad cholestrol was a little high, but not medicine worthy and it was surely so due to my fast-food diet that I have recently re-acquired. I need to start cooking again, which means my roommmate needs to start helping to keep the kitchen clean! But alas, I digress... My platlet count was a little high, but she said it will do that with stress, which is most likely the reason. And I freaked out when I say that my Hep B surface antibody test said positive only to learn that my immunization for it was the cause.
Damn the word "positive".
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Monday morning should be fun.
And by fun, I mean full of medical and dental excitement.
I have my bumped up doctor's visit at 8 AM on Monday where I am pretty sure they will be referring me to an actual gyno due to sillyness with my lady parts. In addition to that, I guess my bloodwork is back so we are going to discuss that as well. Fingers crossed that at least that portion of the visit will be good news.
A nifty 3 hours later I have another dentist appointment, this time with a non-oral surgeon dentist. I have to get at least 3 cavities filled, so I figured that I may as well do another check-up, a teeth cleaning, and see what it will cost me to get some fillings done. Upside is at least I already have the x-rays. And that is code for "thank goodness I don't have to get bitewing x-rays done again since they fucking kill the bones in the bottom of my mouth."
In other news: to support my Peace Corpshabit application I am in search of a PT job. I am sending out positive brainwaves to make that happen. It would be nice to have the money to pay for my wisdom teeth extraction, fillings, vaccines, and extra medical costs in addition to getting a head start on paying off various credit cards in an attempt to not be perpetually broke. You know you enjoyed that string of prepositional phrases, I know I did.
I have my bumped up doctor's visit at 8 AM on Monday where I am pretty sure they will be referring me to an actual gyno due to sillyness with my lady parts. In addition to that, I guess my bloodwork is back so we are going to discuss that as well. Fingers crossed that at least that portion of the visit will be good news.
A nifty 3 hours later I have another dentist appointment, this time with a non-oral surgeon dentist. I have to get at least 3 cavities filled, so I figured that I may as well do another check-up, a teeth cleaning, and see what it will cost me to get some fillings done. Upside is at least I already have the x-rays. And that is code for "thank goodness I don't have to get bitewing x-rays done again since they fucking kill the bones in the bottom of my mouth."
In other news: to support my Peace Corps
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Calls from the doctor..
...make me feel fucking crazy.
It just doesn't seem like a good thing when your doctor tells you she will see you in 2 weeks and then calls four days after your pelvic exam and having your blood tests done to see you in the upcoming week instead.
So suffice it to say, I have my worried/anxious face on and I am hoping I can try to get in to see her tomorrow so that I don't have a weekend that causes me to feel nuts.
It just doesn't seem like a good thing when your doctor tells you she will see you in 2 weeks and then calls four days after your pelvic exam and having your blood tests done to see you in the upcoming week instead.
So suffice it to say, I have my worried/anxious face on and I am hoping I can try to get in to see her tomorrow so that I don't have a weekend that causes me to feel nuts.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Went and saw Dr. Acula today
Apparently I was supposed to go and get my bloodwork done before my doctor's appointment today, but that was not made clear to me last time. Plus when I had blood taken before, they took it at the office. Lucky for me that my TB test and lady exam were done with by 10, so I had time to get to the lab to have my blood taken before work with time to spare to come home for a bit :)
Tomorrow it looks like I will be heading to the health department. I need a tetanus shot, polio booster, and the last of my Hep A and B shots. For the last two I am hoping I don't have to get the whole series over again.
Fingers crossed that everything will come back fine and dandy and my medical portion will be done and put together at my next appointment in two weeks.
Tomorrow it looks like I will be heading to the health department. I need a tetanus shot, polio booster, and the last of my Hep A and B shots. For the last two I am hoping I don't have to get the whole series over again.
Fingers crossed that everything will come back fine and dandy and my medical portion will be done and put together at my next appointment in two weeks.
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