Monday, September 3, 2012
fresh air
you can tell that dude is totally outdoorsy because of the 2 kayaks strapped to the roof of his subaru.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
going paleo: trying to at least
today i'm trying my hand at paleo baking.
i love banana nut bread. the girlfriend LOVES LOVES LOVES banana nut bread.
so i went to the int4rw3b5 and searched up a recipe for some paleo banana nut bread recipes and found one here: the paleo project
Ingredients:
4 eggs
3 small bananas
3/4 cups of gluten-free coconut flour
1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
3 tbs honey
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Using a hand mixer or food processor, combine eggs, bananas, honey, vanilla and coconut oil.
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Combine wet and dry ingredients. Mix until a thick batter forms.
Pour into a greased bread pan. Cook for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Place broiler on low, broil for 2 minutes with door ajar, watching closely.
Let bread cool. Top with coconut butter, honey and cinnamon.
*For families without nut allergies, I’d recommend adding walnuts.
**For families with egg allergies, a simple egg replacement is 1 egg = 1 tbs flaxseed + 2-3 tbs water.
i substituted blue agave instead of the honey and we didnt have cinnamon but we did have cinnamon sugar.
my boss can't eat nuts (i told her it sounds like a personal problem) so i made it half male / half female.
i've never tried coconut flour or coconut oil, or even tried baking paleo! we'll see how it turns out!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
disparity
the healthcare industry is one ugly monster. and it's got 2 ugly faces. i've seen them both and i wear both ugly masks.
as a nurse on the floor, you've got 8 hours to ensure the safety of everyone, manage/supervise your downline(s), push pills, provide topnotch assessment of current health states, do all the paperwork, go to meetings, etc... and then you're expected to leave the floor to take a break. ALL WITHOUT GOING INTO OVERTIME. i know it's hard sitting in your nice cushiony office talking all this game when you are so removed from the situation. as a nurse you're supposed to care about that person (ha! you'd be lucky to have 10) you're in charge of, but how is that even possible with such constraints? even if you have the boss time management skills, if you don't cut corners on one or two things, you're going to get chewed out for going over time. but if you cut corners on one or two things, you're going to get chewed out for cutting corners. it's like having the choice of getting punched in the face or getting punched in the gut. tada! that's nursing these days.
now as a cog in the administrative aspect of the industry, you pretty much get to do what you want as long as the money is coming in and you look busy. pretty much. currently i work in the front end of it so i'm basically one of the faces of the facility where i do a lot of meeting and greeting, chit chatting, blah blah blah in addition to some paperwork and verification crap i gotta do but it's WAY EASIER mainly as a result of the lessened stress level. essentially i'm not doing the "actual work".
the "actual work" i'm talking about is the documentation, the "care", the assessment, and pill pushing, and all that jazz where your license to work is on the line each and every moment of every shift. i know bringing in patients, staying within budget, staffing considerations, state and federal guidelines, blah blah blah are all important, but perhaps you should really try to understand where healthcare workers actually stand, what they actually do, and perhaps they should be raised up instead of torn down and told to do more with less.
honestly, if i had known that nursing was going to be this heart wrenching, emotionally trying, physically exhausting, sisyphean trail of tears, i probably would have still done it for the experience... but probably would have been done with it years ago.
i just dont understand why there is such a disparity in healthcare. most notable to me is nursing vs everyone else. nursing (including certified nurse aides) is the hardest job out there with the least amount of respect and recognition and the most amount of retribution whereas the MDs and people in administration get all the kudos and the money for smiling and talking a big game. but who does the actual follow up? the nurses.
so here's to all my nurses out there: past, present, and future: without us, the world would all be living in pain, dead, or a pretty much a zombie.
as a nurse on the floor, you've got 8 hours to ensure the safety of everyone, manage/supervise your downline(s), push pills, provide topnotch assessment of current health states, do all the paperwork, go to meetings, etc... and then you're expected to leave the floor to take a break. ALL WITHOUT GOING INTO OVERTIME. i know it's hard sitting in your nice cushiony office talking all this game when you are so removed from the situation. as a nurse you're supposed to care about that person (ha! you'd be lucky to have 10) you're in charge of, but how is that even possible with such constraints? even if you have the boss time management skills, if you don't cut corners on one or two things, you're going to get chewed out for going over time. but if you cut corners on one or two things, you're going to get chewed out for cutting corners. it's like having the choice of getting punched in the face or getting punched in the gut. tada! that's nursing these days.
now as a cog in the administrative aspect of the industry, you pretty much get to do what you want as long as the money is coming in and you look busy. pretty much. currently i work in the front end of it so i'm basically one of the faces of the facility where i do a lot of meeting and greeting, chit chatting, blah blah blah in addition to some paperwork and verification crap i gotta do but it's WAY EASIER mainly as a result of the lessened stress level. essentially i'm not doing the "actual work".
the "actual work" i'm talking about is the documentation, the "care", the assessment, and pill pushing, and all that jazz where your license to work is on the line each and every moment of every shift. i know bringing in patients, staying within budget, staffing considerations, state and federal guidelines, blah blah blah are all important, but perhaps you should really try to understand where healthcare workers actually stand, what they actually do, and perhaps they should be raised up instead of torn down and told to do more with less.
honestly, if i had known that nursing was going to be this heart wrenching, emotionally trying, physically exhausting, sisyphean trail of tears, i probably would have still done it for the experience... but probably would have been done with it years ago.
i just dont understand why there is such a disparity in healthcare. most notable to me is nursing vs everyone else. nursing (including certified nurse aides) is the hardest job out there with the least amount of respect and recognition and the most amount of retribution whereas the MDs and people in administration get all the kudos and the money for smiling and talking a big game. but who does the actual follow up? the nurses.
so here's to all my nurses out there: past, present, and future: without us, the world would all be living in pain, dead, or a pretty much a zombie.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
move, amended.
move
feels like i've been sitting on this couch forever.
for the last few weeks, maybe four or five weeks, my productivity level has seriously waned. i was on a roll with work and school and everything. i was like 'you cant stop me now! i'm the gingerbread man!' or something. i felt awesome. i was producing!
i could blame anything. [insert your own excuses here]
but that's what happens when you feel like you deserve a break. it wasn't even break time and yet i broke. meh.
so now it's time to be all unbroke now. time to get the steppin'. obviously i can do it. i was doing it. IT. the movement. the flow. the it.
recharge and refocus. reforge ahead and keep reaching for that prize. it's going to taste so good.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Round the hood
Now that the weather is gettin nice again, walk/running around the hood. Got some nice spots around here and you don't even have to go far! This spot is just a few steps from my apt.
time to get back on the fitness. Been lazy. Maybe too lazy. Its nice out so there's no excuse to stay in.
Eats
Big red pepper.
Sauted ground turkey, garlic, onion, mushroom, tomato, sauce.
Stuffed with jalapeno cheddar.
Italian seasons, salt and pepper to taste.
Baked.
Bok choy
Sauted with chicken stock, garlic, ginger. Salt and pepper to taste.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
under threat of management
been back in school for a month now. it's going pretty well except that perhaps i could manage my time a little better. i'm not working full time so i have plenty of opportunity to hunker down and bang it out. squandered. but i'm going to fix things. gonna get set and go so i can finish sooner than 2 years. yea.
at work they had a management position open up. they suggested i go for it. eh. management? so grown up. yea. i went for it. during the interview, they told me another management position opened up and they thought perhaps i should go for that one instead. it's a bit touchy cuz i would be the manager on the unit i work. so then my coworkers would be my subordinates. and my subordinates would be... the same. anyway, the current unit manager was pushing me to go for it. the big bosses wanted me to go for it. my coworkers all wanted me to go for it. so i was like ok. i'll go for it.
but i didnt get it. kind of a relief. cuz i'm pretty sure i didn't want it. sure i'm in school to get my mba, but it would be weird managing coworkers i would consider to be friends, kinda? so i'll just keep doing what i'm doing and get my school on so i can put off being a grown up for just a little longer.
at work they had a management position open up. they suggested i go for it. eh. management? so grown up. yea. i went for it. during the interview, they told me another management position opened up and they thought perhaps i should go for that one instead. it's a bit touchy cuz i would be the manager on the unit i work. so then my coworkers would be my subordinates. and my subordinates would be... the same. anyway, the current unit manager was pushing me to go for it. the big bosses wanted me to go for it. my coworkers all wanted me to go for it. so i was like ok. i'll go for it.
but i didnt get it. kind of a relief. cuz i'm pretty sure i didn't want it. sure i'm in school to get my mba, but it would be weird managing coworkers i would consider to be friends, kinda? so i'll just keep doing what i'm doing and get my school on so i can put off being a grown up for just a little longer.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
watching porn!!
i'm totally addicted to the facebook games: bejeweled blitz, cityville, hidden chronicles. i once spent an entire day playing bejeweled blitz.
i'm currently the high score on bejeweled blitz with 900K or something. whatever.
sometimes the girlfriend is like "what are you doing?"
i lie to her. instead of telling her i'm playing bejeweled blitz, i tell her i'm watching porn.
she doesnt believe me.
i'm currently the high score on bejeweled blitz with 900K or something. whatever.
sometimes the girlfriend is like "what are you doing?"
i lie to her. instead of telling her i'm playing bejeweled blitz, i tell her i'm watching porn.
she doesnt believe me.
toys r us kid
in school again, but this time for an mba in healthcare mgmt. made a work schedule change so i can focus on getting my learn on.
got a call from the hr director about a mgmt position for which she thinks i would be 'fabulous'. i think so too. interview is tomorrow at noon.
might be a good move considering the educational avenue i'm riding. then again, it would definitely take up a lot of time... time i could be hunkering down on the school tip.
good luck to me.
got a call from the hr director about a mgmt position for which she thinks i would be 'fabulous'. i think so too. interview is tomorrow at noon.
might be a good move considering the educational avenue i'm riding. then again, it would definitely take up a lot of time... time i could be hunkering down on the school tip.
good luck to me.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
eat right and dont do drugs
How Using Antibiotics In Animal Feed Creates Superbugs
whenever i get sick i just rub some dirt on it and walk it off. it seems that these days whenever someone gets sick, they go to the doc and demand antibiotics. antibiotics usually only work against bacterial infections. so when you go the doc and demand antibiotics, please be sure to listen to the doc and find out if it's a viral or bacterial infection because (duh!) antibiotics dont work against viral infections. also, if a doctor prescribes antibiotics, make sure you follow the entire regimen until the meds are gone even if you feel better. just because you feel better doesnt mean that you are healthy again. if you quit the meds, those bacteria still living will develop resistance and eat your brain.
i hate the term organic because, where i come from, organic means that it has a carbon component. think organic life form. but seriously consider the food you put in your body. if youre just eating anything, odds are the meat you are consuming had been treated with antibiotics and hormones. why? because for farmers who only care about bottom line, feeding livestock and chicken slop with antibiotics and hormones produce a higher yield than feeding their animals what nature intended. when you go the market and buy that steak with lots of marbling? that means the animal it came from is fat and unhealthy.
when my littlest sister graduated the 8th grade, i looked around and saw all these 7th & 8th grade girls with huge boobs and looking like perhaps they are more mature than they are. thats what years of consuming meat laced with hormones does. sure that's great for the boys in their classes (and unsuspecting, potentially sex offending older boys) but not so great for humanity as a whole. who knows what will happen down the road.
read the article.
giving antibiotics to meat will produce more and more nasty superbugs. these superbugs will just get nastier and nastier until they up and grow legs and pretty much eat you from the inside out.
be afraid. be very afraid.
whenever i get sick i just rub some dirt on it and walk it off. it seems that these days whenever someone gets sick, they go to the doc and demand antibiotics. antibiotics usually only work against bacterial infections. so when you go the doc and demand antibiotics, please be sure to listen to the doc and find out if it's a viral or bacterial infection because (duh!) antibiotics dont work against viral infections. also, if a doctor prescribes antibiotics, make sure you follow the entire regimen until the meds are gone even if you feel better. just because you feel better doesnt mean that you are healthy again. if you quit the meds, those bacteria still living will develop resistance and eat your brain.
i hate the term organic because, where i come from, organic means that it has a carbon component. think organic life form. but seriously consider the food you put in your body. if youre just eating anything, odds are the meat you are consuming had been treated with antibiotics and hormones. why? because for farmers who only care about bottom line, feeding livestock and chicken slop with antibiotics and hormones produce a higher yield than feeding their animals what nature intended. when you go the market and buy that steak with lots of marbling? that means the animal it came from is fat and unhealthy.
when my littlest sister graduated the 8th grade, i looked around and saw all these 7th & 8th grade girls with huge boobs and looking like perhaps they are more mature than they are. thats what years of consuming meat laced with hormones does. sure that's great for the boys in their classes (and unsuspecting, potentially sex offending older boys) but not so great for humanity as a whole. who knows what will happen down the road.
read the article.
giving antibiotics to meat will produce more and more nasty superbugs. these superbugs will just get nastier and nastier until they up and grow legs and pretty much eat you from the inside out.
be afraid. be very afraid.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Just another day
if you need one day a year to do something special with/for/to your special someone, then there might be something wrong here. the point is: you dont need just one day a year to celebrate the joy you have being with someone awesome. celebrate it everyday. cherish it everyday.
Nursing on tv
Watching an old episode of house. the nurse (also the wife of the patient) and the doctors are in the room talking to the patient. While the patient sings terribly, the patients r face starts dropping and speech becomes garbled. She says "what's happening?". Are the writers of house saying that nurses can't tell when someone is stroking right in front them?
Later the husband starts having a heart attack (I know!) And no nurses coming running when all the alarms start going off. Stop playing words with friends and pay attention to the loud beeping sounds. Oh yea, I forgot there was a nurses strike.
There was a show called mercy where an army nurse returns to civilian life. Its in jersey. She drinks a lot when she goes out. She's a good nurse. Where did that show go?
Friday, February 10, 2012
fix your diet
Customer from grocery store finds hand grenade hidden among potatoes
so i've spoken before about a diet change, or rather a lifestyle change based on evolutionary theory called the paleo diet, also known as eating like a caveman. actually, prehistoric man didn't live in caves but we'll save that for another time. so the premise of this diet is that our modern human bodies spend thousands of years eating a certain way, eating certain things. and now... well, now we just eat a bunch of crap. i'll admit that i'll eat plenty of crap when no one's watching. just today i took my lunch break at work and went to burger king! got myself an italian chicken sammich COMBO meal! so not only did i eat a deep fried chicken patty with some kind of cheese product, tomato sauce product, bread, i had some fries and a hi-C flashing fruit punch. so gross.
ok. so the paleo diet. here's what you can eat: lean meats and fish, fruits, veggies. most nuts. as much as you want. here's what you can't eat: starchy tubers (potatoes), rice, bread, pastas,DAIRY! all the good stuff. i'm a sinner! so sue me!
it wasnt until about 10000 years ago (advent of agriculture) that wheat was introduced to the diet. incidentally, thats also when laziness started! people didnt have to go out and chase after their food anymore. cuz now theyve got pens with slow walking food and fields of domesticated plants. but before that, people ate non hormonally induced, physically fit animals. all that marbling you see in the steak shows you how unfit the animal was before it was slaughtered. there were plenty of fruits and veggies to go along with it too.
so these prehistoric people were healthy. they got all the protein they needed from the meat, and all the vitamins and minerals from the fruits and veggies. but what about calcium? the thing is: because of the dietary conditions, the body's acid/base balance changes allowing it to retain extant calcium. so even though you eat a lot of cheese, it causes your acid/base balance to lean toward acid causing you to lose more calcium through you urine. makes sense right?
regarding pastas and bread, it seems there are more and more people these days with gluten intolerance. by removing bread and pastas, from the diet, you can stop worrying about that reaction! tada! also, i recently read an article about this MD who conducted an experiment with psychiatric patients on a closed unit. he had full control over their environment including their diets. for four weeks, all gluten products were removed from the diets and the doc saw improvements in behavior. once the gluten was reintroduced, behavior returned.
dont take my word for it. give it a try.
i saw improvements in my energy levels. i was also working out like a madman everyday. but then i got lazy and my cravings for rice and bread and pizza and ice cream got the best of me.
so now i'm going to get back on track and get super sexy... errr healthy again.
so i've spoken before about a diet change, or rather a lifestyle change based on evolutionary theory called the paleo diet, also known as eating like a caveman. actually, prehistoric man didn't live in caves but we'll save that for another time. so the premise of this diet is that our modern human bodies spend thousands of years eating a certain way, eating certain things. and now... well, now we just eat a bunch of crap. i'll admit that i'll eat plenty of crap when no one's watching. just today i took my lunch break at work and went to burger king! got myself an italian chicken sammich COMBO meal! so not only did i eat a deep fried chicken patty with some kind of cheese product, tomato sauce product, bread, i had some fries and a hi-C flashing fruit punch. so gross.
ok. so the paleo diet. here's what you can eat: lean meats and fish, fruits, veggies. most nuts. as much as you want. here's what you can't eat: starchy tubers (potatoes), rice, bread, pastas,DAIRY! all the good stuff. i'm a sinner! so sue me!
it wasnt until about 10000 years ago (advent of agriculture) that wheat was introduced to the diet. incidentally, thats also when laziness started! people didnt have to go out and chase after their food anymore. cuz now theyve got pens with slow walking food and fields of domesticated plants. but before that, people ate non hormonally induced, physically fit animals. all that marbling you see in the steak shows you how unfit the animal was before it was slaughtered. there were plenty of fruits and veggies to go along with it too.
so these prehistoric people were healthy. they got all the protein they needed from the meat, and all the vitamins and minerals from the fruits and veggies. but what about calcium? the thing is: because of the dietary conditions, the body's acid/base balance changes allowing it to retain extant calcium. so even though you eat a lot of cheese, it causes your acid/base balance to lean toward acid causing you to lose more calcium through you urine. makes sense right?
regarding pastas and bread, it seems there are more and more people these days with gluten intolerance. by removing bread and pastas, from the diet, you can stop worrying about that reaction! tada! also, i recently read an article about this MD who conducted an experiment with psychiatric patients on a closed unit. he had full control over their environment including their diets. for four weeks, all gluten products were removed from the diets and the doc saw improvements in behavior. once the gluten was reintroduced, behavior returned.
dont take my word for it. give it a try.
i saw improvements in my energy levels. i was also working out like a madman everyday. but then i got lazy and my cravings for rice and bread and pizza and ice cream got the best of me.
so now i'm going to get back on track and get super sexy... errr healthy again.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
the right thing
do it: the right thing. in business. and in life. even when no one is looking.
if someone is going to get hurt by your decisions, perhaps you should rethink your decision. even if that someone is you.
do the most good.
recycle.
use green products.
volunteer.
exercise.
be honest.
smile more.
hold a door open.
let the old or pregnant lady sit.
pick up a piece of trash and toss it in the garbage can or recycling bin.
uphold your integrity.
if someone is going to get hurt by your decisions, perhaps you should rethink your decision. even if that someone is you.
do the most good.
recycle.
use green products.
volunteer.
exercise.
be honest.
smile more.
hold a door open.
let the old or pregnant lady sit.
pick up a piece of trash and toss it in the garbage can or recycling bin.
uphold your integrity.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
welcome to the jungle... err 2012
(slightly delayed - way to start the new year!)
Goodbye 2011: So fare thee well my good friend. Rock on into the night as I welcome the new year filled with the promise of action, adventure, love, and more action. The future is out there! So say yes! There's nothing holding me back! Take action. Find adventure. Make love. Take some more action! Stay safe and be dangerous... Dangerously awesome!
2011 has seen a lot of action and decisions for action in the form of adventure as well as change. Took a short trip to the CO which finalized my decision to make a change. Following unsatisfactory work conditions in the jerz, lateral movement (across country) was initiated. Put it my notice and 2 weeks later I packed my clothes, snowboard, mountain bike in my car and just started driving. stopped to see my cousin and her half breed/hapa baby in OH. stopped in kansas city to eat a ton of bbq. then i arrived.in.the.CO.
relaxed a few weeks before the job search started. got a job a day after i started looking. it was basically the same job i had before i left! i hoped it would be different, but it wasn't. nursing does not benefit from corporate involvement. as with any corp., they will say anything to get you to do what they want, but they won't do it. id rather them spray it than say it without any follow up. so many promises, so little follow through. long story short, i changed my "full time" status to prn so i could pursue an MBA specializing in healthcare management! i have matriculated at Western Governors University, a not for profit, accredited, online university. if youre interested in advancing your career, your life, i suggest you check it out. i'm a week into my first course (human resources) and am loving the format of the information, the wealth of resources at my disposal, and the support from my mentors. when i "grow up" i expect to be able to run a clinic, a hospital department, or whatever i want to do at that point. theres plenty of time to figure it out.
got myself an awesome girlfriend. shes a huge nerd and super funny. we have a great time together and its totally serious. i big L her. so unlike me, but it happened and its awesome.
i got back into fitness and am working on upgrading my diet to decrease the number of cheats i have per week. right now i pretty much cheat all the time! haha
serious about upgrading my lifestyle by working smarter, not harder... to quote uncle scrooge. maximizing my happiness, decreasing my debt, and optimizing my life. saying yes more and finding more adventure.
set some goals and stick to 'em.
find your happy and stay there.
Goodbye 2011: So fare thee well my good friend. Rock on into the night as I welcome the new year filled with the promise of action, adventure, love, and more action. The future is out there! So say yes! There's nothing holding me back! Take action. Find adventure. Make love. Take some more action! Stay safe and be dangerous... Dangerously awesome!
2011 has seen a lot of action and decisions for action in the form of adventure as well as change. Took a short trip to the CO which finalized my decision to make a change. Following unsatisfactory work conditions in the jerz, lateral movement (across country) was initiated. Put it my notice and 2 weeks later I packed my clothes, snowboard, mountain bike in my car and just started driving. stopped to see my cousin and her half breed/hapa baby in OH. stopped in kansas city to eat a ton of bbq. then i arrived.in.the.CO.
relaxed a few weeks before the job search started. got a job a day after i started looking. it was basically the same job i had before i left! i hoped it would be different, but it wasn't. nursing does not benefit from corporate involvement. as with any corp., they will say anything to get you to do what they want, but they won't do it. id rather them spray it than say it without any follow up. so many promises, so little follow through. long story short, i changed my "full time" status to prn so i could pursue an MBA specializing in healthcare management! i have matriculated at Western Governors University, a not for profit, accredited, online university. if youre interested in advancing your career, your life, i suggest you check it out. i'm a week into my first course (human resources) and am loving the format of the information, the wealth of resources at my disposal, and the support from my mentors. when i "grow up" i expect to be able to run a clinic, a hospital department, or whatever i want to do at that point. theres plenty of time to figure it out.
got myself an awesome girlfriend. shes a huge nerd and super funny. we have a great time together and its totally serious. i big L her. so unlike me, but it happened and its awesome.
i got back into fitness and am working on upgrading my diet to decrease the number of cheats i have per week. right now i pretty much cheat all the time! haha
serious about upgrading my lifestyle by working smarter, not harder... to quote uncle scrooge. maximizing my happiness, decreasing my debt, and optimizing my life. saying yes more and finding more adventure.
set some goals and stick to 'em.
find your happy and stay there.
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