So besides school, I hosted a state-wide conference on graduate medical education financing. I am surprised that so few people understand the concepts when they are working in the field. It really is important as hospitals all over are struggling to have a profit margin. The easy way is to cut medical education even though the revenue isn’t declining. Oh well, the conference was a success and I received many accolades for the work.

Last week I hit a slump. I was homesick and missed my husband, kids, and dogs. I ended up driving home and spending some time becoming grounded again. I hadn’t been home since Christmas and i know that it was too long. I had a great time. I found out that the grand-baby is going to be a BOY! Is that a surprise or what? We are excited that everything looks good and we expect a healthy baby. Eric came home for a few days too and we were able to spend quality time together. Poor Lucky though, got a bath from Eric in salad dressing! My mistake as I didn’t screw the cap on tight and Eric picked it up and started to shake the bottle! Ooopppsss!

I’m in Cleveland tonight and tomorrow. Then i am headed to Florida for a week. I’m flying out of columbus and Marlin is flying out of Flint. We will meet in Ft. Meyers! At least I hope we will meet up.

In the month of January and February I had 21 nights in a hotel.  I am racking up those points on my rewards account!  Most of the trips allowed me to attend medical education meetings in the hospitals.  I found it really interesting.  Just want those of you working in the area – they are all about the same.  The other days on the road were to participate in internal reviews or to give help to hospitals starting medical education programs. 

Now I have to tell you that the other big thing is school.  I am telling you I loved the last year of teaching where I had homework on line and it was graded automatically for me!  I was getting very use to this type of support.  Now being the student stinks!  I thought when I started it would be a piece of cake.  I had three books to read and the final exam.  Each piece book requires a review and that is a pain!  I now have two weeks left and two books to read, two reviews to write, two final exams (essays written in APA style), and two participation memos.  I am not sure where the time went and I am in this mess. 

I have found the classes to be interesting, especially the Community Education that really looks at place based  education.  The focus is to provide instruction in a context of where the student will learn.  Like is common sense right?  Not so, I am finding out that most educators are very structured and this really tries them more so than organizing their classrooms in a U shape.  Of course I love to ask thee challenging questions – such as asking why do you think the vocational education courses have less attendance issues?  Why can’t you teach to the required curriculum in these settings?   They haven’t voted me off the island yet!

The main thing I have been working on lately is organizing a finance conference for medical education.   I have four speakers coming in from across the county and the attendees now are from Ohio, Michigan, West Virgina,and Kentucky.  Sounds like it would be a snap but for those of you have helped me with organizing an event before know that the devil is in the detail.  You want to make sure that no one has an idea  of all the behinds scenes work that goes into this.  Turp convinced me we could do the booklet ourselves and comb bind them.  Okay my friends from FAME don’t bust a gut at that one.  You can imagine what this entails as it is more than a full years worth of clerkships!!!  Yesterday, yes Saturday we went into work and started the booklets.  I have to tell you they look great as by doing them ourselves we were able to do handouts in color so you can see graphs and details.  We will be hot snot!! Do you know they make electric binding machines?  The thought of one of those yesterdays for punching the holes was really appealing.  I would have bought one but good old Turp wouldn’t let me spend the money!  She doesn’t realize yet that my efforots in saving money goes to buying those things that make our lives better.

Turp took pity on me as I worked so hard yesterday and even in Pickerington which is 70 miles from Athens.  She asked me over to her house after I went to get my nails done (I do have priorities and need to look good for our conference on Friday!!).  She raises Bichon’s and I got to play with a 8 week old puppy  and the little boy who is about six months old.  Oh my goodness it was heaven.  I’m sorry Sally but I had to have a puppy fix and TC is a little too far away. 

I didn’t get home until 11:00PM and then it was up on Sunday by 7:00am.  I have a load of laundry done and now will start to read my books. 

I will try harder to keep  you posted on my doings.  I couldn’t do this without all of you.  Your words of encouragement, e-mails, and phone calls are wonderful so don’t stop.

Turp (yes, you deserve your own blog!) works for me and we are considered the Graduate Medical Education Office.  She is in another town that is about 60 miles away but somehow the distance hasn’t taken the wind out of our sails.  It is probably good we don’t share the same office as it would be like double trouble all the time.  Turp is a practical joker and has a great sense of humor.  She is hardworking and gosh, she does her job!!!  

Turp is in an office with about six other people who work for the university in various capacities.  The offices are open and close to one another so you really get to know your neighbor.  Turp likes to keep a light atmosphere in the office and she is always trying to do things to aid in the harmony.  One of Turp’s better ideas was to have a  “biggest loser” contest.  Each of the people would weight in each week and pay $3.  At the end of the time period they designated the jackpot would go to the “biggest loser”. 

Sounded to everyone like a great idea.  What they didn’t count on was Turp’s ability to add a twist!  Turp brought in a convection oven.  I believe it was under the guise to warm up lunches.  Then Turp’s wicked sense of humor erupted.  She began to bring in cookie dough and she would bake cookies in the afternoon!!!  Warm cookies were distributed to all those people sinking money in the pot for the biggest loser!  Not many could resist the temptation of warm cookies and so they ate them.  Turp not wanting anyone to go hungry would rotate goodies like cinamon rolls and candy with the hot cookies. 

I believe the contest should be renamed to “not the biggest gainer”.  I have gotten several calls and e-mails about her miss-behavior but as I told you earlier, I just want people to do there jobs and she does her job.  I have no problem with her.  She brings me cookies, shines my shoes, and tells me I am the best boss she has ever had.  Now do you think I am nuts enough to say something about this woman??? 

So now her name has gone from Turp to a more respectable Debbie Crocker!  And the cookies are great.  I’ve met my match!

I really haven’t had any luck connecting with previous students. What I have been able to do is to connect with residents that I worked with in the past. I have so enjoyed finding them and hearing what they are doing today. The other great piece are the pictures. One resident had triplets. He graduated when they were really small I only saw the newborn pictures. Now the kids are walking and he had pictures of them on his site. One resident was married in a traditional Indian ceremony. She uploaded the picture book and they were so very interesting. The groom rode to the ceremony on a white horse! It was just like you would read in a fairy tale.

Of course there are those that are the favorites for one reason or another. It is so good to learn about where their careers have taken them and what is going on in their family life.

I’m just so taken with how this program can make connections that you really thought were lost. I encourage you all to sign up and see how much this enriches your life. All it takes is a click to www.facebook.com. See you there!

It is fun as I have been able to see what the boy’s friends are doing as well as my friend’s kids. Don’t worry Caitie I won’t squeal on you! Just kidding. It takes some time to get use to using facebook. Ask Marlin who swore at it the first time he went to use it. Well as long as you don’t mind hitting a few keys and hoping things will work the way you want them to, you’ll be fine.

Kyle has uploaded some pictures from Japan. It is neat to be able to share them. My nieces, Rachel and Lindsey give me a chuckle. They are always doing something on the site.

Gail Best who I knew as a medical student is on the site. She show cases her two dogs and she has an agility clip of one of her dogs. It is pretty neat.

The other person that I was able to connect with was a woman I went to elementary school with from California. I mean way past! On the side, there was a connection to classmates.com. I searched on my elementary school and I saw the name and thought wow, it couldn’t be. I sent her a note and low and behold she responded. Charlotte and I were friends in fifth, sixth, and seventh grade. I moved to Michigan at the end of 7th grade after my Dad died. We kept in touch through high school and I would visit her when we went back to Santa Cruz. I lost touch with her after my mother died.

We started to correspond and it was amazing how similar our lives have been. She has two boys, 29 and 25. She has been married 31 years. Charlotte is working at USCS as assistant provost. She has been with the university about 20 years. She said she would have recognized me but she hasn’t changed one bit.

You just never know what life has in store for you. This time I didn’t strike out but hit the ball out of the park.

Digging out in Sandusky

I had two nights at home to rest up from last week on the road before I head out again today.  I really needed those nights in my own bed!  What a week.  Let me tell you about my adventures.

I need a yard stick so you can see how much snow there was!

I left Athens on Monday before they were hit by a winter storm.  I know most of you thought I was nuts heading north but that is where my travels took me.  Tuesday I was in Westlake Ohio and nothing exciting other than work was going on.  Tuesday night I spent the night in Sandusky and I was going to attend a meeting at the local hosptial at 7:00am.  I woke Wednesday morning to close to a foot of snow on my car.  I couldn’t see the road nor many cars moving along.  I called to let the hospital know  that I was running late and would miss the early meeting.  I waited till light and then I braced myself for going out side to dig out my car.I made it to the hospital a couple of hours late but at least there was light and I could make out where I thought the road should be.

I was suppose to head back to Cleveland Wednesday afternoon and then to Freemont which is west of Sandusky early evening.  With the roads in the shape they were and they declared a snow emergency, I called and cancelled Cleveland.  I got a call from Fremont and they moved up the meeting as patients were cancelling appointments.  They were the smart ones.  I headed out to Fremont allowing for about double the normal time to get there.  Well it may not have been the smartest thing I ever did as i had to take a two lane state road through farm land.  The road had been plowed but the wind was whipping the snow through the fields creating drifts on the road.  There was one section where the road dipped down and I was looking up at an 18 foot drift!!!  I wanted to take a picture but was afraid to stop!

I stayed in Freemont Wedneday night and I was hesitant to head back to Athens on Thursday morning.  The storm that brought all the snow to the north, left several inches of ice to the south.  Roads and schools were closed south of the I-70 line.  The worst part is that the Athens area had been with out power since Tuesday.  I took my time driving back, at times having no choice due the the ice covered roads. 

I had to return my car to the motor pool and stopped by my car to unload and warm it up.  I knew it would be covered in ice but i wasn’t prepared for how much.  Thank goodness for the trustee snow scrapper I brought with me.  I had to chip away the ice to get the door open.  It took about 15 minutes just to get the door open.  Once I had it started I turned the heat up and worked on the back door as the trunk was out of the question.  I threw my suitcase and travel bags in the back seat and dropped off the borrowed car.  I worked on my car for another 20 minutes thankful the heat had helped lift the ice off.  Finally I got in and was ready to go.  I had another surprise coming. 

The wonderful University had plowed and they had left a ridge of ice behind my car.  I couldn’t get up and over the ice ridge.  Since there was a car parked in front of me and on the sides, I had no room to work with.  I got out of the car and grabbed my snow scrapper.  I kicked at the ice with my foot and hit it with the scrapper.  All I needed was two tracks.  Finally I got back in my car and hit the gas!  I was out and on my way home. 

I knew I was in trouble when I hit one of the smaller towns on the way to Glouster and the gas station was closed.  It was the one stop shopping center as they sold gas, fast food, groceries and was the hub for the town action.  It never closed and it only could mean one thing.  There was still no power.  I finally got home, no small feat as I had to go up the alleyway which had two tracks I needed to get in or no way would I make it up the road. 

Look at the ice on the branches!

I opened the door and was so looking forward to my own bed.  No warm air hit me.  There wasn’t any ticking of the clock, no noise from the humidifier, not.hing but silence and COLD.  I mean serious cold.  Glouster still was without power.  I thought I could stay the night but the chill soon got to me through my coat and gloves.  Calling the hotels in Athens assured me that everyone else had the same idea as they were all full.  I called my friend Olivia and ask her to take pity on me which she did.  After changing out my suitcase with clean clothes and cleaning up the mess in the freezer (most of the food melted) I went to Olivia’s for the night. 

Ryan tried to teach me about Pokemon!

Thanks Matt for letting me stay!

Friday I was glad to go into my warm office.  I called my house hoping to hear the answering machine and with luck, I heard it pick up Friday afternoon.  I headed home.  It took me a while to clean up the freezer and refrigerator.  I turned the water back on and soon it was home again. 

Wow the sun on the ice covered trees looks like glitter!

Saturday I went to the grocery store to restock and did laundry.  Another night in my own bed and then I started to repack for the week ahead.  It looks like three nights in a hotel this week.  I love those reward points I am racking up!  Ohhh  ….  there is another storm headed this way and should hit on Tuesday!!!  I need a shovel.

I had school Friday night and all day Saturday.  I have been having to read a book and write a review each week.  So far it has been interesting but it is difficult being in with educators who have a  real feeling tendency as I get comments like, “you can’t run  this like a business” and “you don’t understand the importance of children”.  It is tough to see outside the box you are in.  The best part of Saturday was when the professor told us he wanted us to debate the closing Guantanamo Bay.  It was weird as we all looked at each other to try to figure out how this related to education!    Oh well, the day passed and I am one third of the way through this quarter.

I headed back up to the northern part of the state  today.  Wanted to get out of Athens as  they are under a winter storm warning and they are expecting freezing rain.  I won’t head back until Thursday so I hope it is done by then!

This poor child is going to be welcomed into a world where they are the first grandchild on both sides of the family.  All the sisters and brothers are looking forward to this also as none of them are married or have thought about being parents.  They are too much like kids themselves, even Kyle at 30.  Can’t you see the waiting room of the hospital as we pack in for our first glimpse of this new bundle of joy?  I’m sure between the two families we will take every available space.  The baby will never cry, have to walk, or talk.  Oh dear this may not be good as that poor baby will be spoiled to death.  What am I thinking, I just give it back and go home!  I’m really liking this. 

I have started to look at toys and clothes.  The cloths are so small that everything is cute.  Eric is going to ante up a Detroit tigers and Uof M outfit, while the Sokol girl’s Em and Ali will be going for the green and white look of MSU.  The Grannies will go to the leather and lace!  I’ll let you guess who will be picking the leather and who the lace!  Father Nate (Mia’s brother who is the priest) will be blessing the baby and family.  I am so glad he has this connection with God so he can make sure that they get all the blessings and prayers they need.  Ben, Mia’s youngest brother who is 17 is saying what is the big deal, it’s just a baby!  Poor Liz, Mia’s sister, is trying to plan a wedding on the baby’s due date of August 1st.  We have contingency plans for the wedding in place, as Eric is training to be a doctor and Ali is an EMT and will  be going to med school in the fall.  They will have the baby delivery kit in the cars! 

It is exciting and yet I see the worry in Mia and Kevin’s face.  Oh how I remember those days.  Gosh, there is no book for parenting regardless what anyone tells you.  Each person is so unique that what works for one doesn’t work with the other.  They had planned to wait longer before starting a family so the shock of parenthood is hitting harder.  All I can say is that so many people have done it and there are no good plans.  Best just to jump in and enjoy the ride.  They don’t realize how fortunate they are to have both families who can help them.  They have two sets of grandparents who have raised some pretty terrific kids.  So as Kev likes to say, “Gitt’er Done!”

I met my group who I would be going through the program with.  There were about ten who were admitted in the fall and another six – eight of us added in winter term.  The mix of the group was middle twenties to older than me (well maybe but I wasn’t going to argue with him!).  Most of the people were tended to be only about an hour away but some traveled 3 or more hours for the course.  The majority were involved with K- 12, but there were a few odd one like myself. 

I was surprised that many of my experiences and my self-learning, put me on good footing with the others in the class.  I was able to participate in discussions and draw many parallels based on medical education.  The course was organized around sharing and discussing ideas based on three different principles.  I love this type of learning.  There are no bounds other than your imagination and what you allow to get in the way!!  If my other class is similar, I am in!!!  I should have done this long ago.  I enjoy listening and taking in others thoughts then add a twist and it is magic, you have something to explore.  I thank goodness for that B.S. degree!!!  It has served me well. 

So now the first class is done, I am reading two more books and writing two more summaries!!!  Oh, I have a project thrown in there too.  What am I thinking, this is work!  Good thing Marlin left today.  I wouldn’t be good company this week.   This is a test of endurance, for those who endure, they will succeed.  I am stubborn.  Ask my uncle bob, the cheese, Marlin, okay ….   I am really stubborn.

First week of work passed by quickly as I made a trip to Dayton middle of the week.  I went to a graduate medical education meeting and was pleased to know that they are all about the same.  Unfortunately, I came down with an intestinal virus during the trip and the rest of the week.  That presented some challenges to say the least. 

Saturday I went to my first class of my doctorate program.  Even though the focus is educatiton and many of the other students are in K-12, I was right there in knowledge and ideas.  It was fascinating to realize that I could hold my own with these people.  I am now preparing for my next class.

Marlin is leaving tomorrow for home.  He will be taking our three dogs and Benny with him.  I will miss the fury friends.  When they are all here with me, Marlin realizes we can’t sit together as all the dogs have to be on the couch by me.  I have tried the recliner but since it is small, there isn’t enough room. 

The sun is hiding today but thankfully it isn’t freezing cold.  I keep hearing that being south of I-70 results in less snow and warmer temperatures.  I am becoming a believer. 

So all my northern friends, you are welcome to come and see me, even for a short weekend.  I still haven’t made it to the Eason Mall in Columbus which I have heard is great.  So come on down!