a stroll around Cheney Lake

 cute kids out on the ice that day...they just have zero fear.  thankfully, they also had helmets.

 survived 3 nights of work.  pediatrics, ER and then Peds icu.  the most tiring was ER.  thankfully, in the end i went home a wee bit early that night...i think maybe 4:30 am.  first they sent me to the adult icu to take patients, but they didn't end up needing me so home i went.  grabbed an ice bag at work and when i had a chance i would just ice my knee and elevate for a few minutes.  lots of knots, hips/low back and of course upper back.  Massage on Monday again so hoping that will again knock away at my knot garden.

 had PT this afternoon.  burn baby burn.  working those thighs!  good for me.  i think the girl thought i was cheating on the counts.  i just can't keep track how many reps i've done when people are talking to me and all that.  oh well.

 opened a twitter account today.  i know, i have avoided it but...it's for the walrus.  figured i should get a twitter account for myself so i can get familiar with how the thing works and then in a bit i can create a twitter account for WARIS.  my user name for myself is Walrus_Rock if you are a twitter person.  best chance for the walrus seems to be to get on as many media sites as i can.

 the director for Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge contacted myself and other directors for non-profit groups that exist to protect the various sanctuaries, refuges and special use areas that have been under attack.  smartly she was requesting our approval to send a united note from us all to the new governor and director of fish and game.

 there is also a legislative caucus tomorrow that i found out about today with public comments.  not sure i'm ready to comment just yet, but will try and prepare a short statement just in case i get brave and full of bravado tomorrow.  a few of us will show up a ways into it as it goes on for hours and none of us can be there the whole time...figure it's a good opportunity to get a feel for the senators and representatives that are at the meeting and learn.  spoke with that director that contacted me and she seemed to caution about these things and being careful how you word things and to not let them suck you into saying something on the record that could bite you. also that we need to be careful as non-profits to not be "political".

 she was very nice and i appreciated that she even took the time to commend me on how quickly i have been able to put this non-profit group together.  she knows how much work i have put into this and she was impressed.  nice to get positive feedback.  so often i feel like i have done so little but it is true, when you look back, that you have done more than you think.  not sure i have had the impact yet that i want to have but it all starts somewhere.

 it's so easy to look at people who are successful in roles and assume they just started out like that.  in truth everyone gets anxious about new situations and everyone has a learning curve.  nobody starts a new role knowing exactly how to do it.  there is a bit of that fake it til you make it thing going on in all aspects of life.  fear can hold you back...if you let it.  you have to be willing to look like an idiot or fail in order to move ahead.

 these poor ducks were chilling in the only open water on Cheney.  they actually looked pretty miserable.  it was near 10 that day or lower.  can't remember.  it's warmed up a bit now.

 marking whether members of legislature and alaskan senate are D or R in prep for tomorrow. may help us get an idea of who may be willing to work with us.

 mostly this week i worked and slept.  poor Blossom.  today i did get the dogs out for a nice stretch before my PT.  tomorrow i will try and get them out after this meeting.

 spoke with one of my F&G contacts this week as well.  they have already had 40-50 people apply for permits for Round Island this year.  still not sure if it will get the funding back but they won't collect the permit fees until they know for sure.  he said they had also checked with Paul Markoff who does the taxi out and he seems open to taking people out so we just need to hope for the funding to get the staff back out there.

 also heard that DVL was unceremoniously dumped....2 days after we had a new governor he was called as he was driving to work and told not to bother coming in...he no longer had a job.  he made a few enemies in his position.  still hoping we can reverse the crap he pulled while there.

 my poor walrus...i feel badly that i didn't start this several years ago...if i had they wouldn't have gotten defunded. it was just an easy place to drop or so DVL thought.  WARIS to the rescue!!!!

 want to update our pamphlets and be ready in case they do allow campers to Round Island. perhaps i could get a box together for EW so the crew can take our information out there and visitors can join up with WARIS.  people who have been there seem to be some of our biggest supporters.

 peds icu got a bit crazy this morning.  all sorts of craziness going down.  sounds like they will be busy for a bit...the respiratory stuff is coming down on the babies of Alaska.  tis the season.  lots of  sick babies and stressed out parents.

 fyi when your baby has been intubated and ventilated for a few weeks they will go through narcotic withdrawal.  spent quite a bit of my shift last night dealing with a mama in tears.

 also bed bugs are gross.  one was brought in a specimen cup to a Dr i was sitting by in the ER.  his scribe decided to keep it as some sort of pet...gross.  i put sealant tape around the cup...didn't want that bugger to get loose.

 thought this turned out nice....such a pretty sky.

 Blossom wanted to run this day.  i had just gone to my Dental appointment and so Cheney seemed like a good place to stop and walk.  wanted to nap a bit before work started that night.

 i had been having pre-work panic dreams and feelings this week.  obviously anxious about my return to work.

 one dream i was taking some document to work when they inform me that i was supposed to be working and was needed in the ER.  this was Monday morning.  i had all these appointments that day and in the dream i was anxiously trying to get a second to contact all these appointments to tell them i couldn't come in.  work was crazy busy and i kept getting distracted from the calls...not to mention they had somehow changed me to day shift and had also changed the room numbering system.

 Monday night i woke myself up at 1 am and had a panic moment thinking it was 1 am Tuesday and i was totally late for work.  took me a second to figure out it that i wasn't going  back to work until that night.  not sure if other people have jobs that cause them to have work related dreams.  i remember having a stress dream the night before we went live with computer charting.  the keyboard for the computer in that dream was smaller than a cell phone and in order to get into the program to chart you had to work your way through these computer games...on this tiny keyboard.

 Blossom  making friends with some mini ice skaters...so cute.  super nice families...these little girls are cousins.

 i have some training to get to.  the adult icu got all new fancy beds again and we are getting a new zoll machine..should know how to use them...of course we got a new epidural machine and i haven't had that training...i also haven't had the don and doff class....i really suck! i'm sure this will bite me in my next eval.  oops!

 just a couple from todays walk in North Bivouac.

 better crash early...another busy day.  should take a few and write some sort of script to say at this meeting in the event the opportunity arises and i get brave.

thankful for... A.  the other groups out there who are helping defend Round Island B.  surviving the week of work intact C. freedom of speech...my heart goes out to the people of France tonight.