Bag blogger, bad!

I've been playing hooky!
Because we got digital cable and school is out.

I know, right? Finally decided to get with the 21st century.

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Registered today for my next two rotations, peds and psyc.
Didn't get the peds spot I wanted but wound up in good hospitals, so the world won't end. One of the rotations for labor/delivery starts at 630am.
NOT. A. MORNING. PERSON. Eeek. This won't be fun. I will have to hide my Starbucks cup somewhere around the unit and intermittenly go sneak snips to STAY ALIVE.

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Readers can assume my "---" means mini updates with no real coherent rhyme or reason. But things that need to be said. As you were..

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My favorite Starbucks promoted a newbie to the bar and she made my drink PERFECTLY. Big smiles!! I said it tasted awesome, best in weeks!! She said, "When I was training I asked AwesomeManager who even order this drink and he said one of my favorite customers, so learn to make it right!" I'm a favorite customer! And I always tip, smile and if I need to make a comment, I try to be tactful... unless its that prick at the other location.

Speaking of the other location, the one closer to work... the little fuck the other day started in with me again with the milk questions.
Dude, it's a freaking americano. Not a latte. That means no milk.
He INSISTS on asking me everything and follows with "are you sure?!"
Is an iced americano really that bizarre??

So anyway.. this is what happened the last, and probably last ever, time I go there.

EasilyAmused: I'm curious do people order an americano then ask for milk?

StooopidBarista: Well like ya... they like are cheap asses (YES HE SAID IT) and dont want to pay for the milk so they ask for it at the end of the drink making..

EasilyAmused: Hmm.. well I know I've never done that. I just don't really like milk.

StooopidBarista: People like sometimes too order a quad espresso (translation: 4
shots served up neat) and then go add water in the bathroom. Cheap asses.

EasilyAmused: You know, that's their perogative. I get you are annoyed by it, but at least they are buying your espresso. I'm offended you call those customers cheap asses. They are still a customer. And last I checked, you are in business to make drinks and they are ordering drinks.

StooopidBarista: Well I mean they are like STEALING our water.

EasilyAmused: So the other night when I was studying and ordered a drink, then asked for a glass (not bottle) of water, did you turn around and accuse me of stealing?

StooopidBarista: **awkward stare**

Moral of story: Customer service should never be skimped on! Always treat and love your customers with respect.

Winter break!

Today we took the mid-curricular HESI exam.

The "recommended score" is an 850, and a 900+ is considered best.

I scored an 888!

I'll take my 15 minutes of fame, thank you! Anyone who scores <850>

Even though I didn't get higher than a 900, it still felt amazingly good to earn above the recommended score. This test is supposedly an indicator of our NCLEX-RN success, and with my 888, there is a good chance I will successfully complete the boards - at least up until the material we have learned so far.

And now, I sit here and feel like a bit of a lost soul because I don't have anything to study for.

That's sad. Nerd Alert.

I do need to relax and take a few days off the academics, but I think I will portion part of winter break to study for next semester. I really need to aim for higher than a C.

Here is a big F*CK you to the 7 point scale.

It's good that I feel ansty without having anything to study for, I like to learn. But I also need to learn to chill out!

The UNDERLYING meaning...

When I was roughly 7 or 8 years old, I was outside at recess playing with classmates.

I remember it was cold outside and the school allowed the girls to wear sweatpants under our skirts while outside.

I kneeled down on the ground and damn near screamed loud enough for frozen microbes on the moon to hear me.

A teacher came running over and asked me what was wrong. I remember being scared to death to roll my sweatpants up so they could examine my knee, I didn't want to know what could be so painful.

Out of nowhere (didn't have them that morning) I had 4 or 5 huge "in grown hair" looking lesions on my knee. Extremely tender, painful, red, inflamed, and terrifying to a young school girl. The teacher thought something bit me, maybe allergic reaction.

Escorted me to the office to have my parents called.

This was the beginning of a lupus diagnosis.

I don't really recall the doctor visits that transpired, but ultimately my pediatrician, bewildered by the odd symptoms, referred us to an awesome derm & allergist.

I recall him toying around different diagnosis, but mostly rubbed it off as contact dermatitis.

I was constantly embarrassed. One mother wouldn't let her daughter come over anymore because she said we were "dirty" and that I had bugs under my skin. Humiliating.

I was alienated from girl scouts, sports. I felt deprived of femininity as a young girl because I was too afraid to wear a skirt because of lesions and residual lesions.

That was until a lovely new symptom presented itself..

Fast forward to 11 to 12 years of age. Since the lesions first presented, they continued on and off. But never as severe as when they first presented. (as a child, I noted my symptoms were always worse in cold weather and healed in the sunny warm weather.)

My grannie took my to a fast food restaurant and on the way back home I was balancing a cold cup between my legs. I had on shorts from school this time.

When we got home and I walked up to my mom she freaked out.

She immediately dropped to the ground to inspect my legs. In between my thighs were HUGE welps from the cold drink.

You would have thought I laid a hornets nest between my legs and said have at bees!

Back to the derm we go. Again we leave with contact dermatitis, instructions to carry benadryl gel & pills as needed. FUN. Benadryl knocks me out. Was not fun as a kid.

A couple months down the road ANOTHER symptoms dawned.

This the scariest yet.

Again, I was at school. Again, this was in winter. Again, during recess.

I had on gloves, the whole winter outfit, running around playing.

Till this day I remember something didn't feel right. My hands felt so cold and numb. As kid, I had no idea what was going on. It wasn't until we went back to the classroom and I took my gloves off that I screamed and almost passed out. I literally thought I was dying.

My hands were paper white from the finger tips to the beginning of my palms. Both hands.

You can only imagine the humiliation I received from my freaked out classmates.

My teacher had never seen it before.

My instinctual reaction was to find something hot. I bolted out the classroom and began warming my hands in water, and slowly and painfully I regained circulation.

This time, the derm explained ANA titers and all that fun stuff... and I was diagnosed with

"underlying lupus" with secondary Raynaud's phenomenon.

He didn't deem it full blown, it was like the lupus came and went, each time with a new bag of surprises in store.

Now, as a young adult I am still plagued with symptoms that come and go.

The Raynaud's phenomenon has never gone away, I've learned to live with it. It's like a part of me. I'm used to it.. It has gotten worse, a few years ago it progressed to me toes and sometimes my nose and ears.

That doesn't stop me.

Last summer I still went on the snowy Tahoe slopes.

The thing about RP, is once I flare up, if I "cure" it with hot water, I'm not susceptible for another flare for 6-8 hours. Weird.

Till this day I don't get those weird lesions anymore but I do get hives like its the latest fashion statement.

I get hives at random. No particular reason. The amount, frequency and duration of the hives is the same with different soaps, travel, clothing, animal dander/hair, UV radiation.. you name it, the hives are unaffected.

So, Benadryl spray it is. Just a little dab and they go away.

I always have a runny nose, this my doctors have always attributed to the lupus. The runny nose is annoying and at times, embarrassing, but what can you do.

Benadryl pills impair my daily life, Claritin don't do shit, Allegra don't do shit, Clarinex don't do shit, Zyrtec don't do shit. Just good ole Puffs + lotion.

Joint pain. Rheumatoid arthritis is always an eery thought lurking in the back of my mind. Especially with the bilateral stiffness.

The pain is usually relieved with a hot bath and some advil.

Its mainly my knees that bother me. I try new shoes, avoid crossing my legs, different sleeping positions to relieve pressure/aid alignment. No relief. This is probably the most annoying symptom aside from the hives and RP.

Now something new... I have a mouth ulcer.

:(

I am stressed, but not beyond normal and I've also been managing my stress better with some biofeedback mechanisms.

After doing some research, I'm just going to blame the lupus for this one.

What a life.

Whenever I see the quote "be nice, you never know what battle someone is fighting"

I think of myself first, and wish people knew the pain I am in, and secondly I feel sympathy for that person because I can only fathom worse misery and embarrassment than what I've felt.

Anyone who reads this can react one of two ways.

1. You will label me a hypochondriac. Your choice.

I have real pain, real suffering. I hardly tell a soul I have lupus because in the past, people reacted like I told them I had AIDS and was about to belch blood all over their face.

The public is not well educated on lupus and are afraid of it.

Lupus comes in all shapes and sizes. I do however have supporting lab work that at least, puts some sense into my symptoms.

2. You will take this as knowledge and "pay it forward"

Whether it is someone you meet or already know with lupus or RP, or some stranger you see and decide not to judge them for you know not what battle they are fighting.

Albeit all that I just spilled, I am a very healthy young woman.

I'm roughly 5'1"

Around 110-115, been a while since I weighed.

I'll toot my own horn and say I think I'm pretty good looking.

I don't "look" sick. I don't have a physical amputation, hair falling out from chemo or a cast.

I have slight symptoms that easily go undetected, or I've become used to "hiding"

I hate people seeing the Raynaud's.

There is always an *underlying* meaning.

Mine is a borderline silent ailment that causes me great personal pain, but one the same token, I value so much out of fear for how quickly this "silent ailment" can turn on me for the worse.

Easily Annoyed

We all have our pet peeves, some rather extreme, some understandable.

I have one in-particular that really makes my "13th" cranial nerve pulsate.

The bathroom fan.

I HATE it. Not scared of it, just fucking hate it. So annoying. It really does nothing to cool/heat/reduce steam.

Our 1 bathroom is in the middle hallway and I can hear the fan from the bedroom and the living room. I get so freaking pissy if DB leaves the bathroom and leaves the fan on.

Okay, I don't use it. I get that other people like him use it, but if you're not in there: TURN THE FUCKING THING OFF!!! Likewise for lights, are you leaving them on for random household critters?!

The dishes don't need the fucking lights on.

So anyway, the bathroom fan just really irks the shit out of me, mostly when left on when bathroom is unoccupied.

I'm not a complete nutjob. I just had the sound of white noise, which the fan resembles.

So anyway.... study time. I feel better now.

Turkey day, southern style.

Menu:

Hors d'oeuvres: Phyllo pastry shells stuffed with shrimp dressing

Side items: shrimp stuffed mirliton/chayote, ground sirloin dressing, cornbread dressing, phyllo pastry stuffed oyster dressing, sweet potatoes & marshmallows

Bird: "Turkey." stuffed with apples and even more stuffing/dressing

Wine: Robert Mondavi, on sale!

Gumbo. You know this!

So that's a southern style Turkey day!

WhiningPuppyItis and Laundry.

The whining was cute at first, sort of, now it's getting very tiresome.

She did very well last night, albeit I kept her up till almost 4am while I was studying.

I have a bad habit of not kenneling her when I am home. I know, it's not cruel but she sits there and stares, and whines. I have her in the kennel now, she only whined for about 5 minutes initially.

I put her twisty toy in there, a toy I could definitely not leave in there when I am not home, and that keeps her a little more occupied.

The paranoia about the whining is because if I can sit across the room from the wall I share with my neighbor, and hear his entire conversation on the phone, I know he hears her at night. I just don't need neighbor wars and bitching. I barely know the guy, he's cool and we get along but I have no idea how quirky he could be. Hell, I don't even know if he knows we have a dog. Maybe he sleeps like a dead log.

Laundry.

When I was younger and a spoiled brat, my mom did my laundry for me, folded it and left it in stacks in the laundry room. The "agreement" was she would do it as long as I didn't "rummage" through it, same for my dad. She liked the neat appearance and claimed to have rather do laundry herself and not allow anyone else the opportunity to f*ck up clothing.

I've kept that mentality with dear boyfriend. I have no problem doing his laundry. It's easy enough because I hang all of his work stuff right there in laundry room and the rest is quick folding. I'd rather keep up with the laundry to maintain a clean house, and dirty laundry isn't fun.

I have a tick thought. I am quirky. I get just pissed when he rummages through it, or worse, when I find folded clean clothing on the floor or in a hamper it doesn't belong in, a dirty one or the sock hamper. F*ck pairing socks, them bitches go straight to one hamper.

So maybe I am turning into my mother, but I don't think I am being unreasonable to ask for him to just freaking leave it the way he left it! I know his time management needs improvement, he always waits till the last second to get ready for work, thus he rushes and thus he occasionally makes a mess, I come home and find it and get very pissy.

Tick/quirk re: laundry part 2: I cannot focus in a dirty house. I could be sitting here, on the sofa in the living room and lose concentration over dirty dishes in the sink. I just need order to focus. So, if I come home and have work to do, or studying, I need to cyclone through the house to get it clean before I can mentally chill. TICK!

SO, it would be very cool if he would just keep up with what I do around the house.

I sense this is a battle I will just have to lose. Teaching myself time management is hard enough, I can't be responsible for teaching a grown man. Maybe he will learn by example? I hope.

Am I a "nervene" about this laundry business?

Creature of Habit

I always go to the Starbucks in my neighborhood. I've already explained I adore the manager, they take care of me. :)

Well due to some plumbing issues, they are out of commission.

So I'm a transplant at a nearby Starbucks and not happy about it.

I'm going to be a bitchy person and gripe that its FREEZING in here (Hello, Raynaud's Phenomenon!) They don't have hot running water in the bathroom (WTF Starbucks?!) and the baristas got their asses handed to them by the manager, in front of a line of customers.

About who is on bar, register and drive through. Not cool.

And the ultimate... the little bastard on the bar made my drink like so.. (well he started to)

Cup, ice, white mocha...

ME: no! Please don't make it like that! The ice clumps up the white mocha!

(followed by sheepish smile)

Bastard gave me an attitude!!!

Thankfully, the chick on the register said she gets the same drink and told him

"She deserves to have her drink made the way she wants!"

What the FUCK! I don't understand where in Starbucks training you bastards learned to make a drink ass backwards! Having worked for the cult, I know the training. I KNOW they never ever let you do that. You're just lazy and wanted to pollute my drink with ice! Probably because you worked at some lame-ass mom & pop coffee joint that wanted you to fill it with ice to lower the amount of product.

Asshat.

- End Rant -

Okay, I feel better. Now I can finish studying.

Baby pictures!

Well, not my baby pictures and there is no embryo incubating, puppy baby pictures!

She is our baby, so as any parent would do, we want to show her off!

Little ham thinks she rules the roost and took up my side of the bed!

I had no hand in positing her, she lays like that on her own.

Closeup!

Back of dear boyfriend's head.

This was the morning after one of our first nights with her.

I wake up at ~3am & ~6am to take her out to potty.

Kennel training = my version of hell.

Anyway, I laid back in bed with her and when I woke up a few hours later

this is how I found her, too cute not to photograph!

The first night I had Zoe, she fit in my purse! Granted, its a huge purse.

We went to 24/7 store to get food.

(I know, crappy food, we got the good stuff the next day)

I had only had her for about 2 hours when I took this!

Crappy crackberry camera, but it will do!

I have another task to complete to evade studying.. my eyebrows are looking a little shapeless.

Ardvarks eat ants... did you know that?

Random, non angry post, but none the less funny.

I imagine my mother is where I get my book smarts from, and lack of common sense.

"Ardvarks eat ants" has become a family inside joke that I'd like to share with you.

A couple years ago my parents wanted to take me out to dinner for doing well in college, earned a 4.0 for a couple semesters in a row. What a little pre-med gunner I was, so cute.

I wanted to go to a local italian place, casual, bad ass traditional sicilian food.

At the time, a very big local musical festival was taking place and not too far from the restaurant.

So while trying to find parking... this conversation transpired:

Me: wow parking is a major bitch tonight.

Dad: yea, we might have to pick another restaurant.

Mom: I think :insert big rock star: is playing at :local music fest:

Dad: Okay... thats great, ardvarks eat ants.

Me: **silence**

Mom: **silence**

Mom: I don't get it? Are you making fun of me for something?

Dad: Ardvarks eat ants.

Mom: WTF asshole I don't get it!

Dad: You made a statement so irrelevant to eating dinner & parking that I threw it back at you. And that was so obvious, everyone knows :big music star: is playing tonight.

Mom: exactly you moron! (I taught her asshat, that is now her choice profanity) that's why I made that remark when you said parking is terrible! I was trying to say that since :big music star: is damn near in walking distance, parking here IS going to be a bitch!

Me: well, why the hell didn't you just say that!!

Dad: yea! You sounded completely irrelevant.

Moral of the story, now whenever one of us says something stupid or have a "hello caption obvious moment we insert "ardvarks eat ants."

Speaking of Captain Obvious, my group has nicknamed a classmate that.

In our nursing fundamentals classes, this asshat made it well known that he was in the navy.

Well, quite apparently he wasn't a navy nurse b/c he is in fact now, in nursing school.

Later in the semester we learned that Capt. O was actually a deckhand of some sort and occasionally did CNA like activities. Or something to that affect. Something that totally devalued any "nursing" theory he wanted to preach about.

One of the first nursing skill we learned was proper application of surgical glove donning. Big task. (Ya, I know the importance of surgical technique but come on, this isn't brain surgery).

Yours truly had the pleasure of sitting in front of Capt. O for this experience. The asshat was the type that would anticipate what the teacher was about to say you know like..

Teacher: violets are red,

Asshat: ROSES ARE BLUE!

SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET THE PROFESSOR TALK YOU DIMWIT!!

Sooooo... my clinical mate & I were opening our glove kit and practicing

(mind you our seats where the old university style theatre seats that enable you to feel your neighbors heartbeat you're so close together).

Capt. O: *addressing entire class* about sterile technique tips he learned in the NAVY

Me: *to clinical mate* pretty hard huh?? (alert: sarcasm!)

Clinical mate: YEP!

Capt. O "omg ya'll in the NAVY we had to do this and this and yeah like surgical technique is sooo hard and important, I mean your sterile technique like ... "

(insert arvarks eat ants moment)

DUDE, OVER YOUR HEAD. I *INTENTIONALLY* (I know I'm an asshole) INSULTED YOU!

Poor bastard. I haven't seen him yet in level 2, don't think he made it.

Writer's note: I support our troops of all kinds, nothing against the Navy! My great grandfather served in the Navy and a cousin is an fallen Marine, Iraq.

Booksmart moments and PUPPY

Booksmart moment!

The other day at the hospital I had to hang a bag of antibiotics... it's a prepackaged 100ml sterile saline with a glass bottle attached.

You have to snap the connection (like you would a glow stick necklace to activate the contents) to get the water access going. After you snap you squeeze the water into the bottle, mix it up then use negative pressure to bring it back to the bag side.

Simple enough. I've hung plenty of these before.

But every time my instructor is near me, I goof up!

She walked me through the pyxis (they have to..) we get it out, and after I snap the connection she said "squeeze"

Now my hand was on the glass bottle. I squeezed that glass bottle.

Yes. I did.

She laughed so hard.

I have my moments. Damn right I can explain the pharmacology of the drug, what to monitor for and the patient teaching!

Anyway...

Good news! Boyfriend surprised me with a 7 week old chihuahua!

She is a long haired apple head. Zoe.

We've had her since Wednesday night and she has been a hand full and nothing short of a new born.

Kennel training is my version of hell.

The past few nights have been sleepless. She whines, and whines, and whines.

She whines!!!

Most of the time she whines when she needs a potty break. Which is 1/2 hour to 1 hour on the hour.

Update:

We've now had dogchild for one week. She brings so much joy and love!

Potty training has dwindled down to her holding it most of the night (the 5-7 hours I actually sleep).

Inner Tech Genius VS Book Smarts

Dear Apple,

I really understand times are hard and your "Genius" wanted to rape my wallet, but I fended for myself. And succeeded.

My father oddly had an extra hard drive, the exact same model I wanted to replace my MacShit's factory installed drive.

The MacBook came with a Fujistu, 160GB 5200rpm.

Basically, not the best of brands, decent size but could always be bigger (ha) and there are faster speeds available.

I wanted a Western Digital Black Scorpion 320GB 7200 rpm.

He had one.

In a nutshell, WD is more reliable, way more shock absorbent (laptops are meant to be portal and thus increase risk of potential falling). Faster speed, way more space to store stuff and overall, a more reliable piece of equipment.

I learned this through some simple research.

Thankfully, ifixit.com has great tutorials and taking the laptop apart and going through all the twists and turns of formatting/reinstalling OS X was easier than I ever thought.

Took about 2 hours, 1.5 hours of it was software doing its thing while I watched TV.

I decided against cloning the drive contents. I saved pertinent files to USB and loaded the new WD with a clean slate of OS X. I'll have to get an external enclosure for the old hard drive to finish getting my data off it. No big deal, just a USB plug!

My MacBook is working so awesome. The hard drive is reading clear, no known issues, diagnostics coming up clear, running faster. I'm not even bothered by the humming/increased vibration of the 7200rpm like some people on the internet claimed to be. I definitely sense it but it's totally liveable and not a big deal.

The optical drive.. that is yet to be conquered. I need to find one. I'm still trying to figure out if there is a better brand I can get thats more reliable. TBD.

To boot from the OS X CD, I just used an external optical drive, again USB is amazing!

I did follow ifixit.com instructions to remove the optical drive. Talk about a shitload of tiny ass screws! I got the drive out, got the CD out safely, reinstalled the drive, booted the computer back up... no more computer anxiously trying to read a CD with a malfunctioning drive.

The "Genius" told me the CD could not be removed. When he went back into Genius Land (back of store, behind closed doors) he probably just fiddled with his phone/ipod becausec taking that damn thing apart is not a 5 minute task, like it supposedly took him. It took me 20 minutes and I have tiny hands with manual dexterity. I'm convinced he didn't even try.

So when Apple sent me an evaluation, I stated what I was able to do, what I was told couldn't be done and I was able to safely, easily accomplish, and that I did it for 1/1000th of the quoted costs!

So my easily amused, book smart only, common sense lacking self managed to replace my own hard drive, reinstall a fresh copy of OS X, not loose any of my files and upgraded the hardware.

Accomplishment, I think so!

So Inner Tech Genius... meet your evil twin, Book Smarts.

Here is the funny story I promised.

A few months ago boyfriend and I were watching a movie on Cox's free movie thing.

Now, I am typically book smart only. And I also can't follow a plot for shit. I have the attention span of a gold fish on speed, sometimes, and so I easily loose track of the plot.

So, thankfully, most TV shows/movies on digital I can hit the info button and figure out where the plot is kind of going.

Or annoy the shit out of everyone in the room "wait! what happened?!" "I don't get it!"

So........

I pressed the info button.

Screen returns to select a movie.

BF: Why did you touch the remote?

BookSmarts: I've never seen this movie before, I wanted to know what it was about so I could follow it easier...

BF: If you would WATCH the movie, you would KNOW what it is ABOUT.

BF *angrily restarts movie*

He let me catch up on some of the beginning parts.

We finally get back to the point where I decided to hit the info button.

WAAAAAAAAIT FOR IT...

15-20 minutes go by.

I'm lost again.

What do I do?

INFO BUTTON!

Screen goes back to select a movie!

BF: I told you NOT to touch the damn remote! Now we have to start all over again!

BookSmarts: Sorry! I get lost and don't understand the movie!

BF: *hides remote* *restarts movie* *fast forwards*

BookSmarts: *cowards down and fiddles with Blackberry*

So I can replace a hard drive, reinstall software, not lose any files, understand how to dissemble/reassemble MacBook to replace optical drive....BUT I cannot work a remote control and follow a movie for the life of me.

Friday competing with Monday for worst day of the week.

Sleeping through an alarm is never a good start for any day.

Luckily, I was just getting up early for non-essential errands. Just irked that I have to put them off even more now.

Going to lecture was the biggest waste. Gynecology issues. Coming from a female, got that department covered. And yet again.. lecturer read the powerpoint. WAAASTE.

The real nitty gritty of the day was my Macbook.

I made an appointment with the Apple store to meet with a "Genius."

I've had a CD stuck in there for months, not really a big deal, but I occasionally want to use the CDs that come with textbooks and boyfriend has been territorial over his appliances since I've been with mine. We have a very large divided issue on using each other's computers/cellphones. Not for privacy issues, just I'm typically electronically challenged and I hate the way he leaves my laptop lying around on the sofa. I'm anal retentive.

Anyway...

The son of a bitch is out of warranty. The "Genius" diagnosed my optical drive as malfunctioning and in need of replacement.

Well, it can wait.

Since I'm already here with my laptop... can you run a diagnostics?

He gives me a saddened face.

He discovered my hard drive was "near failure."

My assessment skills clicked in..

Define near failure.

What caused this?

What could have prevented this?

How much time until I get some BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH?

Are you sure?

How can you tell?

He tells me this........."Well, it's kind of like getting a cold and going to the doctor.. they can treat you for it but can't tell you where you caught the cold."

Are you fucking kidding me? Apple products are supposed to be the holy grail of computers/phones and this is the kind of fucking bullshit you hand me when it craps out on me?!

The price tag on these fixes/labor was getting close to $500. Halfway to just replacing the whole fucking laptop and getting a new warranty.

I'm going to investigate do-it-yourself options... which probably isn't a logical decision considering how I am hated far and wide by electronic devices, but what the hell.

Speaking of being hated by electronic devices, I have a good post soon on EasilyAmused VS The Remote. Trust me, it's a good one.

Since I am Book Smart Only...

So I have a follower.

Follower, do you have a blog? I'm trying to learn more about you!

I also started this blog on my personal email address. My Twitter is using my "non personal" email address... anyone know how I can move the blog over to that gmail account?

Gmail to Gmail?

On the subject of personal vs non personal.. I'm indecisive to blog anonymously or not.

To be or not to be...

Again today, I was forced to endure the pain of an inefficient Barista.

I ordered a grande white mocha americano.

I pay, walk over to the bar area and observe a drink being made...

There is a grande cup with white mocha at the bottom, ICE INSIDE THE CUP ALREADY, and espresso pouring out the machine.

My inner thoughts... I hope that isn't my drink.

Reality... it is my drink.

She serves it up without a smile. I don't smile either.

The line in the cafe has now grown lengthy, so I decided to wait for it to die down and ask it to be remade. I honestly did try to swirl it, use the straw to mix it, vigorously shake it but you see... ICE MAKES SYRUP HARD AND IMPOSSIBLE TO MIX!!!!

SuperBarista is on the register and glances over at me, I cast a rather dismal look.

He asks "everything okay?" (his facial expression implies he already knows the answer)

Me.. I just nodded my head no with a cowarded smile. I truly hate having to complain, but come the fuck on! It's an expensive coffee drink. Starbucks is one of my broke ass nursing student luxuries.

DumbAssBarista occupies herself somewhere else and avoids me. SuperBarista walks over and asks for the drink, holds it up and shakes his head in his own disappointment.

He says he has no problems remaking it.

Normally they quickly chuck the subpar drink into the trash but he put this on aside, I can only imagine for teaching purposes.

He remakes it quicker than DumbAssBarista, and perfectly.

On the way out I stop at the cafe stand to get a cold sleeve for the cup and noticed business cards with SuperBarista's name on them.. he is now the store manager!

I walk over with a card in hand, "I didn't know this!'

"Yep.. recently promoted.. please let me know when drinks aren't to your satisfaction. You come in every day with a pleasant smile, always tip us and I appreciate that."

Well I hate to complain but I mean Starbuck's isnt exactly cheap but I love it.

"DUDE, we are in business to make DRINKS, if we can't even do that right, we won't be in business! It drives me insane when the staff can't do a simple drink correctly."

Well said. Thanks for remaking my drink! I have a test Monday and need the energy!

Now I have a picture to show what drives me nuts. At least he corrected it and perfectly articulated they are indeed in the beverage making business, and if they can't do that right, they won't be in business!

Nursing Students: Community Health Rotation

This block's "Community Health" rotation consisted of us going to an elementary school to educate kids on hygiene, nutrition, hand washing, exercise, and answering questions they have.

Imagine that. Just take a moment to picture this.

8am, tired ass nursing students sitting in circles with elementary aged kids who ate straight bacon & sugar for breakfast, and trying to educate them.

HAAAA.

We had 8 groups of kids to circle through.

The first 1-2, I was friendly with.

The 3-4, I started to discipline "sit up please" "come back to the circle" "LISTEN"

5-6, I started to get angry. "Anyone in your family talk about having "diabetes" or "heart problems" *points to chest*

Every, single kid YES.

Well, do you want to have those problems? Doesn't look fun does it?

NO

Okay then DON'T EAT FRIED CHICKEN AND BACON EVERY DAY!!!

My inner thoughts "MAYBE TEACH YOUR PARENTS WHAT A DAMN VEGETABLE IS!!"

Kids WHAAATT BUT I LOVES MA FRIEND CHEEKEN AND DEM BACONS

Holy fuck. No wonder these obesity is an epidemic.

My clinical mate brought a box of plastic toys in the shapes of foods, veggies, fruits, bad things: fries, burgers, chicken leg, etc. We had them separate good/bad, tell us why its good/bad.

Half of them thought hotdogs were as healthy as a bowl of green peas and half of them couldn't tell me what cauliflower was, they couldn't identify an APPLE.

This day was about as useful as a button on a dishrag.

We talked and talked, but I sincerely doubt jackshit sunk in.

One of my clinical mates has a very low tolerance for bullshit & stupidity, as evidenced by his parenting of his daughter, and he snapped.

After we did a round of 4 groups, 1 class combined, the PE instructor let them play ball for a few minutes before going back to their homeroom.

He blew his whistle to signal play time was over and said 20 seconds to get everything back in place and sit in line.

1 minute elapses and the kids are scrambling to return balls/jump ropes and get back to the other side of the gym.

1 straggly, very noncompliant, very pissy kid was taking his sweet old time and literally bitching the teacher out!

He essentially told the kid he won't get anywhere in life if he keeps misbehaving and acting out.

Harsh? No. Those kids needed a serious can of whoop ass, as my grandpa would have said.

Nearly all of the kids would talk back to us and the teachers, they were just straight up brats.

Now I'm not that young, I'm quite young, and I remember being in grammar school.

That shit would have NEVER flown. Granted, I did go to private schools, but times ARE inarguably different.

I have respect for teachers, that's a lot of bullshit to put up with.

Inefficiencies...

If I had to pick my biggest pet peeve.. It would have to be inefficient people.

Lets me clear on the definition of inefficient:
not producing desired results, wasteful, inadequate, unsatisfactory.

My Starbucks beverage of choice is either an iced white mocha latte or an americano. Difference, milk or water.

Having worked at various coffeehouses and a stint at Starbucks, I am well educated in the proper beverage making protocol.

When making mocha, white mocha, caramel.. you pump the syrup into the cup and then the HOT espresso. Now, a prudent, EFFICIENT barista would know that this is the perfect, appropriate, EFFICIENT, time to swirl the espresso and the syrup to ensure proper blending of the ingredients.

Now... unfortunately, there are more inefficient baristas than there are efficient baristas. And they don't recognizie this prudent, efficient, perfect time to provide their patron with the perfect choice beverage. Pure laziness? Uneducated? Poor training? Doesn't give a shit?

I become an uber asshat and make them remake the drink.
1) Starbucks has a nice sign infront the bar stand where you get your drink that says "if your beverage isn't perfect, let us know and we will make it until it is perfect"
2) When I trained at Starbucks, they made it well known and clear that we are to follow that practice.
3) I'm paying at a minimum, $3 for my drink. You better fucking make it right.
4) I always tip. And that means you better FUCKING make it right.

Last week.. new barista.
Serves me up a drink with 0.5" white mocha at the bottom. Seriously.
Do you think I enjoy having a huge gulp of white mocha?
I ordered a white mocha latte, not a latte with white mocha at the bottom only.
Take the 10 seconds to swirl the espresso with the syrup and deliver me a premier Starbucks beverage. Uphold the brand! Deliver superior customer service! I am a paying, tipping, smiling, coffee ADDICT! You don't mess with a crackmans, crack. Don't mess with my caffeine.

EasilyAmused: Can you please remake this? Now that you've iced the drink the white mocha won't blend..
Barista: I DID BLEND IT
EasilyAmused: *holds up cup to light to show full goop of white mocha*
Barista: *snatches cup*
SUPERBarista: You have to make sure the espresso melts the syrup before you ice it and add milk.
Barista: *glares at SuperBarista*
EasilyAmused: Thank you SUPERBarista.

Call me a bitch. I don't care. People need to learn to do their jobs. Working at Starbucks isn't a glamorous job but its simple. Just make drinks correctly and asshats like me won't take advantage of company policy and have you remake my $3+ tipped beverage!

Now, onto Subway.
Subway is by school and by work, I am forced to eat it more often than not because of convenience and the local discount.
I get a plain and simple 6" wheat, turkey, lettuce and mayo. Hardly ever change my order.

WHY DO THEY PUT ONE LONG ------------------ LINE OF MAYO!?

Don't you think I'd like mayo on my entire sandwhich not just huge bites of it in the middle!?
Quiznos at least got smart and made a thing with three lines, to cover the entire sandwich!

One time I opened my sandwich and the turkey was smushed to one side, lettuce in the middle by itself, and then goopy mayo all on the other end.
Can I eat my sandwhich with everything in one bite and not have to take 3 separate bites to get the full dressed effect...?

Again, working at subway isn't glamorous and probably gets paid less than Starbucks, but come the fuck on. Your job is to make sandwiches!!!
MAKE THE SANDWICH RIGHT!

I can be quite a bitch.

Note: inefficient people do NOT easily amuse me. They easily piss me off.

All good things must come to an End

Let's get personal.

The saying "all good things must come to an end" couldn't be any more true than for a solid retail item.

Case in point #1: Victoria's Secret underwear. Stop changing your product! If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!! They were fine!! They now decided to put these little rivets of lace or whatever on the inseam/leg part and it's so FUCKING annoying. Seriously.

Please, VS, revoke this change immediately.

Case in point #2: Good flipflops. No, not your old navy/walmart rubbery ones. Good solid, decent looking, good for wearing with a sundress - flipflops.

Steve Madden in 2007 had the BEST leather flipflop. Super comfortable. White, Black or Brown. Staple colors. The "Cayman"

I love this shoe. When they went on clearance, I bought FOUR pairs! Two brown, two black.

Well, they lasted me some time and my last black pair finally bit the dust (thong part came apart after accidentally stepping in a puddle of water). And I have one brown pair that's in good shape.

I've tried so very hard to replace this shoe style and can't find them online anymore :(

Case in point #3: Good casual black zipup. Any chick needs a black dress and a black zipup. Black zipups look cute with shorts, jeans, workout pants. It's just a staple item. I go nuts when mine starts to unravel somewhere. RETAILERS: WHY IS THERE ARE A SHORTAGE OF CASUAL SIMPLE BLACK ZIPUPS?! Now when I find one I really like, I stock up for the next season.

Always will eventually need to replace any clothing item, these days nothing is made to last and washing/drying destroys clothing. I can't hang up anything wet, I don't like how it turns out to feel like wearing cardboard. No cardboard attire for me, thank you.

Anyway..

I had to go to the hospital tonight to pick up my patient assignment and experienced 3 cases of White Coat Phenomenon.

Walking into the hospital...

Guard: Good evening doctor

Me: Uh.. I'm a nursing student..

(HELLO LOOK AT THE EMBLEM ON MY COAT & NAME TAG!)

Guard: *gives puzzled look*

Me: They make us wear a coat to be professional when not in clinical duty...

Guard: Have a nice evening.

Walking through hall to elevator..

Random visitor: Excuse me doctor! How do I get to StreetWomanCantFind exit?

Me: (racking brain to remember way around hospital) I'm pretty sure you take this hallway, make a right and it's right there..

Random visitor: Thanks! Have a great night!

(Sure..)

Finally on the unit and I'm staring at the whiteboard figuring out what patients are still on the unit...

Nurse behind me: Can I help you doctor?

Me: Oh! I'm a nursing student, here for my assignment.. my patient was d/c so I need to pick up a new assignment..

Nurse: (examines white coat, examines nametag, examines emblem on white coat, finally looks up at my face) uhh... okay.. let's see if we can help you find a new assignment.

Ok so I get that they don't want us to show up in scrubs on days we aren't actively involved in clinical work, but the White Coat Phenomenon is way to out of hand!

People instantly assume white coat = physician. I typically think the same thing but is it fair to assume attire equals who you are??

I don't want to embarrass a kind guard wishing me a good evening, but I also don't want to tote around with people thinking I am a doctor.

Whenever I correct someone, I have to go through explaining my school makes us do this... so on so forth....

When I left, the guard still gave me a puzzled look.

And then a visitor and I had that awkward tango about who gets to walk through the door first and the woman almost cowarded down because of the White Coat.

I let her go first of course but she did give a puzzled look as to why a girl who looks no older than the age of 15 (damn you young genes...) is sporting a White Coat.

Interesting night.

Well.. these books won't study themselves, unfortunately.

Mid semester blues...

Exam 3 grade was officially posted today and confirmed my grade of 85.

A C, but well above "passing" and only 2 glorious points away from a B. I could have had +5 points if it weren't for my stupidity in miscalculating the ANC question and 4 points for 2 really stupid mistakes regarding glycemic levels and prednisone.. ****double facepalm****

But alas... I'm good to go and passing.

My next exam is 11/1.. and at least the materially is managing to attract my attention, not maintain it yet, but just interesting enough that I went to class. Wait.. I didn't go today.

BUT! I have my textbook with me.

Now that I have my manager-numbers-jardon for the meeting tonight done with, I can update this here blog and then onto the textbook.. What a Friday, huh?

And in other exciting news.. Starbucks FINALLY has free WIFI!

N E R D A L E R T

Yea.. I'm one of *those* asshats with my laptop, schoolbag, purse, gigantic starbucks (paying customer, starbucks-card-carrying-gimme-my-free-drink), crackberry and lets not forget the ipod touch. Don't judge me.

But since my stint working at this beloved Starbucks in my neighborhood, I'm still cool with the staff that is still around, and thus the newbies are forced to deal with me too, but I tip well. I feel their pain. And am jealous of their benefits package.

I am a coffee addict. And after all that bitching and pursuit of making my own iced coffee, after a 1 month never-ending-supply of it, I got reaaaally tired of it. I'm back on my iced white mocha latte/occasionally americano binge.

The hospital I'm rotating at now has one of those "pseudo-Starbucks" you know.. "WE PROUDLY BREW STARBUCKS COFFEE!"

And, it's actually not bad. Most of those pseudo-Starbucks are on the crappy end, but this one does the trick. I'm up to 3 coffee beverages a day (and the intermittent diet coke) can you feel my PVCs though the internet?

I blog about coffee way to much. And I suspect, that as a gradute-hopefully-working-RN my coffee habits won't subside, but intensify. Indeed they will intensify if I go back for the BS in biology. Who knows.. T-14 months to decide.

How to NOT Study

Today I have evaded studying in every form that a student can.

A little person blab..

I've been on a tirade to get a puppy. I've had animals my entire life and since DB and I have been living together, the extent of another life form we've had is a herb plant that I failed to grow.

Perhaps keeping it out of direct sunlight wasn't the best way to ensure it's survival.

I digress.

Work and school is very overwhelming and always enough to fill the schedule but I do have a void I want to fill. Companionship between work and school. A little puppy to cuddle with, take walks with, play with... I just want a dog!

Why else do people want a dog?

I've always been an avid animal rights individual, for the longest time I've tried hard to give my spare time to the various animal rescue agencies in the area. One in particular I adore.

I had a bad day a few weeks ago and to liven my spirits I went to volunteer for a few hours, which turned into about five hours. I just love it. It is a truly uplifting experience to turn a sad scared puppy into a tail-wagging playful little nugget.

The lead volunteer tossed an application my way and one of the questions is "why do you want to have a pet?"

I stumbled to answer. You would think with all said and done I could come up with something but I felt it wasn't good enough. I gave her a confused glance and she just smiled back and said "companionship.. why else?" She was so right.

DB and I have complete opposite schedules and a lot the time when I'm home alone, I mentally entertain going somewhere else to study or taking a break to go shopping because I just hate being alone.

So, I've been in pursuit of looking online at pictures form local agencies and lo and behold last night I found the most adorable puppy. I texted DB about it and he went on his rant and rave about it, he's no enthused with the idea.

Make a long story short, the agency was supposed to be at a local pet shot every Sunday with their adoptables. This morning DB woke me up and said we better get going if you want to go up there and look at the puppies.

HE woke ME up to get me going to see the puppies I've been on a mission to see, albeit his stubbornness and not even wanting to get a puppy.. he still agreed and remembered I want to go!

That is an act of kindness and a reason I love him. :)

But of course... they brought the puppies YESTERDAY because of the NFL game today.

OF COURSE.

So, we remain puppy-less. Still remain unsure if DB would allow the getting of a puppy, but at decision, couldn't see the little puppy today.

And back to the evading of the studying...

Since we couldn't go puppy looking, I went to get breakfast. I brought my textbook, NCLEX review book and loose leaf paper - intentions of getting work done, right?

Nope.

I then decided I should go back home and get on the computer to complete a case study, so I come home.

Then I decide it's too hot in the house.. so I change, fool around with the thermostat, turn the fans on...

Then I decide its too quiet (again, I hate solitude and being alone) so I fool around hoping to find a stay pair of headphones. No luck..

I actually then decide to sit on the sofa and crack a book.. I glance up and notice we have an ipod docking station. WTF. Since when? OOOOOOH I remember... that's the surround sound system I threw a fit about when DB bought it when we supposedly "didn't have any spare money." So I never cared to investigate the system.

I can barely operate a remote (true story for another post) but I figured out how to operate this thing & Pandora all at the same time. And alas, the silence is broken.

Until DB came back home and was not pleased with my choice of music, Norah Jones. However thankfully Pandora had recommended a piano-type non-vocal song "like" Norah Jones that he mysteriously was okay with listening to while we study.

I'm not complaining! That's two wins for me today!

Having a blog is yet another way to evade studying, and of course the intermittent facebooking, Post Secrets, the news (yep...), my blog roll, random checking of emails, and internet shopping.

Internet shopping is a worse addiction for me than facebook is to a 16 year old highschooler.

And 99.9% of the time I am just window-internet shopping. Sometimes I'll even put stuff in my cart with intentions to buy and just decide not. It's a lot less guilty to just back out on an "internet cart" than leave a store employee with another task. I know they get paid to do it, but still why complicate things.

Overstock had a "birthday" sale for themselves, didn't find anything all to interesting but still managed to cart two things.

I can't bring myself to buy anything unless I'm 110% convinced I want it.

There are quite a few things left on my agenda to furnish/decorate the house, and until I find that right piece in mind AND at the appropriate price, I won't buy it. No substitutions.

(here is where the movie War of the Roses comes to mind.)

If one of my life worries is finding that perfect piece of furniture, then life must be pretty damn good.

And aside from school driving me nuts... I'd have to agree, it is pretty damn good. :)

True Story

classmate: did you go to school yesterday?

me: yeps

classmate: anything important?

me: besides her confusing everyone, no.

classmate: good.

me: did I miss anything worthwhile thursday?

classmate: no, I played on my computer the entire time.

That's a summary of how the semester is going now.

The material on exam 3 could not possibly fail to maintain my attention any worse.

It's terrible material, just boring and bland. Part of it is oncology concepts and I just can't seem to get interested in the subject - no offense to cancer! It's just not my forte.

In other news..

Having a never ending supply of my beloved iced coffee has done two things..

1. I felt like I had a cold this week and when I was resting my heart felt a little strange. Being the nervenne that I am, I listened with my steth and self-diagnosed PVCs. Looks like I need to lay off the caffeine and probably even more so when taking the real-deal sudafed.

2. basic supply and demand. now that my supply is never ending, the coffee cravings have ceased greatly over the past few days and I don't even flinch when I drive past a coffee house. That is all changing with another exam creeping up.

So there, that is all.

My baby has finally arrived!

I've been in nesting mode since this day last week. Last Monday I purchased a cold brew iced coffee toddy on Ebay. Free shipping and some extra filters, saved a few bucks from the regular retailer's website. Score!

I usually ship items to my work address because for some reason, I've rationalized that commercial UPS/Fedex deliverers are cooler. I don't know.

I'm also partial to my delivery guys because I've known them for 6 years and the thought of some new delivery guy handling my packages (no pun intended) just doesn't mentally appeal to me.

Weird quirk, I guess.

So my favorite Fedex guy came in with a package and I almost thought to myself.. I don't remember ordering anything small? I didn't think we had any back shipments... SHIT! That's my iced coffee maker!!!!

And indeed it was! In all it's readiness to provide me with a surplus of iced coffee to feed my caffeine demands. Joy!

So the nesting mode part..

I've been looking for big containers to store the iced coffee in the refrigerator. I don't want to leave it in the decanter, those are expensive to replace.

And, I have to add water to the concentrate as to avoid a caffeine induced/stomach ulcer outbreak - the decanter does not provide this volume so we'll have to store it in another container. The problem with containers is that plastic containers absorb flavor, disturb flavor and emit cancer causing crap. (I went there) (Nevermind the fact that I am a Splenda user)

For the time being I'll store it in the decanter and just add some water and milk as we go.

Also considered where on the counter I want to store the toddy while the coffee grinds bathe in the water for the steeping process.. a bit neurotic, isn't it? Serious business here, we are talking about my life line to juggling work, school and maintaining an AAOx3 state of being.

And the waiting period. 7 days is a long wait for a package.

I completed my nesting mode tonight by making a last minute trip to my favorite coffee house for beans. Now you know, I could have done this step in advance but I so tactically knew I wanted my beans to be fresh for ultimate flavor!

Now.. the iced coffee is steeping away for 12 hours, then it drips.. and it drips.. and then we can enjoy a 2 week supply of delicious iced coffee.

And yes I did just do an entire blog post on my iced coffee maker. Coffee is that big of a part of my life.

Textbooks

This med-surg textbook costs us $200 and it has the nerve to remind me to encourage patients to eat when they are not nauseated. Thank you, thank you so much for that novel nugget of advice. So glad I spend hours upon hours preparing for class and tests and took out oodles of student loans to be reminded, that patients should eat. Thanks.

Besides the fact that the material on exam 3 does not maintain my interest, the textbook has to go and be so lame.

Anyway, I have another gripe. I went to a coffeeshop to study this evening, for one I was in need of change in scenary and two, I really did need coffee. I focus well in any environment and having people around me doesn't distract me from studying, except when people around me actually try to engage in a conversation with me.

I sit down with a huge med-surg textbook that glares it's title "MEDICAL-SURGICAL NURSING"

Person at table next to me visually examines the textbook as I proceed to sit down, yet they STILL go on to ask me "What ya studying?"

Nursing.

"Oh, sounds hard. That's a really big book"

Yeah, I have lots to study.

....And I added in a glare to suggest that I also don't need to be bothered with nonsense chit chat.

Person smiles and resumes their activity on their laptop.

And the world keeps spinning.

I get in the groove, got a flow to reading and highlighting some key points..

Person next to me starts laughing and mumbles something to them self about it being so funny..

I'm hoping this person keeps whatever is funny private, I suspect not.

"So, what's your name?"

Here is where I snap..

I'm sorry, I really do have a lot to study and can't afford to chat.

Didn't even offer to offer my name, just snapped.

Really dude. I came in here with a huge textbook that you visually studied, continued toremind me how big my book is and yet you still think I want to chat with you? What if I had sat in the other corner, would you have walked up and asked my name still? Do you do this regularly? Do chat with people at the gas pump and in the grocery line too? How about in the bathroom stalls? Probably all of the above.

I'm all for some chit chat but people sometimes just ask for it at the wrong times.

Worst part is, I knew the guy. He used to practice his chat chat at the other coffee house down the street. Two years ago or so he learned my name and apparently forgot it.

Even less of a reason for me to remind him!

Only time will tell

This semester is already a finished deal in my book. I'm looking forward and noting that I have spring semester - peds & mental health, summer break, fall semester - finishing up adult health, and then boards. In a little over a year I will be a graduate nurse eligible to sit for boards.

That's it? Does the buck stop there?

It's unnerving to think school is over with. I've been in school since I was 3 years old.

A friend I made three years ago when I was finishing up my nursing prerequisites, is now a practicing ob/gyn resident. She loves it. She still has five years of residency and then any fellowships.

I don't know if school is over for me after this program. I'm ruling out a BSN, it just seems a little limiting. I feel finishing a bachelors at UNO would broaden the career playing field a little bit more than a BSN. And I'm also really trying to do some soul searching to decide if medical school is in my future.

I don't know if nursing is the right career fit, the diagnostic appeal of medicine really attracts me. Sometime in the next year I need to go over to the medical school and talk to a counselor.

Only time will tell.

How about a blog?

I've tried before to maintain a blog but failed for two reasons. One, I am guilty of not finding time to make material and two, I get writer's block. Both of which I can work on.

Why blog? An avenue to vent, to keep record of experiences, to share experiences with someone interested in nursing school, and to keep people in my life aware of what is going on.

Nursing school, being a professional education, makes it incredibly hard to keep up with friends and family. We get a lot of "haven't heard from you" "are you alive?"

It could be helpful to maintain a blog so they can hear from me in detail and know that I haven't kicked the bucket or neglected them.

Now of course, HIPAA must be maintained if and when I share experiences. I claim to be a nursing student but for all you know I could be a peruvian coffee bean grower and my medical expertise ends at the care and development of my coffee beans.

What's going on these days? On this glorious Friday afternoon I plan to study at Starbucks (have to keep an eye on their coffee beans) and who knows what later.

My exam 2 of the second semester is Monday, so anxiety is peaking.

Next week I hope to post recollections on experiences past.