Orientation

Today at orientation, during a lull, I had time to reflect on orientations past. A few stood out in my mind.

One involved a getting to know you period from none other than the hospital administrator himself. He went around the room and asked random new hires where, in their fine establishment, would we be working. As luck would have it, he asked me. So, I told him...the Operating Room. He paused a moment, looked me in the eye, then replied "I'm so sorry." As it turns out, he was completely right. It was a miserable place to work.

Another interesting one came to mind. A speaker...some head of something or another, apparently important enough to have a huge title and speak at orientation...felt the need to share with us why we will find no gum in any gift shop or cafeteria. As it turned out, the hospital administrator had his huge portrait prominently displayed front and center as you entered the lobby to the hospital. One day as he walked by, and apparently inspected his portrait closely, he discovered a piece of ABC gum (already been chewed) stuck on said portrait. He decreed that gum would no longer be sold in his hospital. Does tyrant come to mind?

Most recently, as in yesterday, this happened. I've had a long standing joke (and I use the term joke loosely) about not following the herd and drinking the grape koolaide offered. This particular speaker said she finally got her friend to drink the grape koolaide and join the cult. 'Nuff said.

Today I made my own waves. Without going into details, I'm just going to say that I caused half of those present to get teary eyed, including the speaker, the Senior Vice President & Chief Nursing Officer. I apparently have a hidden talent...or curse. Depends on how you look at it.

The bad part about orientation is that is doesn't offer many photo ops. So, completely unrelated, I'm going to pick an old favorite from another time in Florida.

Occasionally one seafood isn't enough!

I owe, I owe, so off to work I go!

Reality is creeping in. I've started back to work. Who saw that coming? I have been attending the dreaded hospital orientation.

I swear, I could go hospital to hospital and just do their orientations for them. They are all the same. Every last stinking one. "We are different from all the rest." Ummmmm...no...you are not. It is the same thing over and over again. Can't someone get original? It it asking too much? The one thing here that was remotely different was a video of a stand up comic (think HBO special on a budget) talking about hospitals and rating pain. And I missed the first part of it because I went to the bathroom. At the end of that, they quickly fell back into the standard 'Service Recovery'. If you don't know what that is, then you don't work in a hospital, and I will save you from wanting to stab your eyes with a sharp utensil by not going into detail.

On the up side. The hospital is really pretty. Here are some pictures I took.

View from the 8th floor cafeteria

Front entrance

Looking up

All the pretty trees in a row

Fountain...I give it a 6

Summer Solstice...Day at the Dentist

OK, from the title, you can tell my mood might be down. With the dentist and other things, I feel like the world is out to get me. So I'm not going to write much and bring the world down with me. Instead I'll just post the pictures of the day.

Not from today, but 2 days ago...a view from the restaurant window

Dock a few blocks from the dentist office

Another view from the dock...

Well, we finally moved on from the dentist. Only to return another day. sigh. Drew decided that the beach would cheer me up. I enjoyed the day, but even the beach couldn't bring me out of the funk.

Boardwalk to the beach

Flowers by the boardwalk

Beach bucket lineup

Of course, the ocean...


She came out of nowhere

I saw 3 new turtle nests from last visit to the beach

And that was the day. Some days are oddly good with an undertone of bleh. I felt the bleh part today.

Happy Father's Day!!

In celebration of Father's Day, we went to the beach. Mickler's Landing. (who am I kidding...we take any excuse to go to the beach). The day was perfect beach weather. We got an early start and staked out our beach property. Our beach property always turns out to be close to the boardwalk. We figure why carry all the paraphernalia a mile down the beach. It is still the same ocean. And, we get the added bonus of being in direct contact with all the comings and goings to the beach. Makes for great people watching. So, we set up our beach chairs and umbrellas.

There was a breeze off the ocean and the waves were giving surfers great rides. One of the things I love is the smell of the salty sea air. That is worth a trip to the beach right there. I am a beach comber by nature. It is what I do. I may splash in the water, dragging my toes to cool them off. Occasionally I've been known to dive in (without holding my nose!) for a shell spotted off shore. But, right now I have lots of beach combing to get out of my system. So, off I went. This is the view I had!

Blue...blue...blue

Contrasts of colors

The shells are plentiful in areas, mostly small that I've seen so far. But, I did come across a couple of keepers.

Shells, shells & more shells

A saw a fisherman pull in this shark.

Hammerhead (right) Fisherman (left)

I loved their beach hats and the hands on the hips!

Serious discussion

The beach became extremely colorful as the day went on...from umbrellas to sailboats.

Colorful umbrellas popped up like mushrooms

A rainbow in the ocean

We rested under our little umbrellas. Read, laughed, talked about everything and nothing, ate our delicious chicken salad sandwich, chips and fruit. Drank water until Beach Bucky went dry. Then we decided we were ready to go home. And home we went...tired and happy.

Oldest town in United States

St. Augustine, Florida. That is where we live. And it is the oldest town in the US! I'm pretty excited about that.

We took a trip into St. Augustine. Mostly business. Had to get the brakes checked on the VW, so we made use of the time it was in the shop and did a little sightseeing.

We, of course, went to the light house. I have an unusual love for lighthouses. Something about how they are steadfast and showing the way. Love them. This one is no exception. It is a sight to see against the blue Florida sky.

Magnificent

It was a typical Florida afternoon...translate as hot and sultry. There was not a breeze. The oaks were silent guards to the lighthouse entrance. They are breath taking. The branches seem to have no direction...growing up, down, sideways. As hot as it was, under the oaks it was surprisingly cool. Tranquil.

Canopy of branches

The tour ended on a sweet note. Sitting on the benches under the awning, we had an award winning key lime pie from Captain Jack's! The chef is from Key West and entered his pie in a key lime pie competition . It won best in the state. I certainly agree! I tried to talk the waitress into getting me the recipe, but no luck.

Tangy, sweet, cool...