done

I have survived orientation.  Praise the LORD!!  Now on to the real stuff!

Here's a pic of our beautiful kitties to make you smile!

Orientation... 66% completed

Orientation for the VA is pretty extensive.  It's made up of  three days of the common HR policies drilled into the heads of 26 victims.  Today was a little more exciting than yesterday.  I was able to have lunch with my direct supervisor.  She seems like a very intelligent woman with a lot of direction to offer me.  I will mostly be working with one of her counterparts, Donald.  I met this gentleman for the first time today.  He's a very young guy who looks like he was a surfer in his past life. I am a little leery if I will have much in common with him - but, thats a very quick judgement, I only spoke to him for a grand total of two minutes today.

I am already starting to feel some of the pressure of having to balance my internship and school.  I found out yesterday that I to complete a new employee physical next Tuesday.  Of course, I should be working during the time of my physical.  Hopefully, my supervisor at GHC will be understanding of this.  I don't expect that she won't be, but I had to take 3 days this week for orientation.  

One of the frustrating aspects of the VA is the crazy lack of parking.  VA employees have to park near the DMV and take the bus to the VA and back to the DMV at the end of the day.   Today was the first time I had to deal with this drama.

The bus ride home today was very interesting.  As I was walking to the bus stop there was a sudden down pour that lasted about 15 minutes.  The bus came shortly after I arrive to the stop and the rain continued.  Ten minutes later the bus had made it about half down University Ave to find that it was flooded.  The bus driver proceeded through the new pond in the middle of the road.  As we hit about half way point, water started rushing into the bus via the two doors.  I was sitting towards the front of the bus facing the door.  I'm sure if anyone had taken a picture of me at the moment I realized the water was coming in, it would have been a look of complete horror.  Though it ended up not being that big of a deal, it was quite a sight.

Needless to say, getting back into my car at 4:40pm was a relief.

Field Orientation

Today I got up knowing I was in for a long boring day.  I started by leaving at 7:30am, while my husband continued to sleep.  Orientation didn't start until 8:30, but I figured I'd get there early since there is always a chance of craziness in downtown Madison.  Thankfully, I went with my gut! I faced some serious construction with my planned route and also, of course, a running marathon was also going on.  So the place I had planned to park was completely inaccessible and I had to quickly figure out a plan b.

  The second parking ramp I found was filled to the brim.  Just before I was about to give up, a woman decided to back up quickly in the middle of one of the aisles.  She almost hit me.  I blasted on my horn and she continued to back up.  Finally she saw me and stopped. She parked and road past her.  A couple of minutes later, I found a spot right across from the woman who almost hit me.  She had two kids with her and I heard her say to them, "That's the woman who honked her horn at us."   It took everything out of me not to make a comment to her.  At this point its 8:21 and I didn't have time to tell this woman what my thoughts were.

I quickly hustled to the building to find that the end of marathon was right across the street from the building where orientation was being held.  As I realized it, I blurted out, "Ya gotta be kidding me!"

Thankfully all the chaos was held in the morning. The rest of the day was full of mind numbing basic social worky stuff.  Topics such as cultural competence, safety in the workplace, and interviewing clients.   Not the most exciting topics for an advance level masters social worker.  

Some great parts of the day including meeting one my professors that I will be working with this semester.  She's a very petite woman with a southeran background and continues to have a pretty noticable accent.  Some of my classmates from last year shared their opinions of her.  She's know to be a tough grader and very critical of papers.  Its hard to believe such a small, friendly woman could be feared.   I think I'll enjoy her class this semester.

Starting a Blog for kicks and giggles

So I've decided to start a blog.  I have a very intense semester starting for my last year in Grad School and decided that I will most likely need a way to handle the interesting year.  Besides relying on my extremely understanding husband, I think this may be a useful way of unwinding after a long day.

These two semesters are going to be intense, to say the least.  I will continue to work full time at Group Health Cooperative (GHC).  In addition to this, I will be taking two classes and interning 18 hours a week at the Veterans Hospital (VA) in Madison.

Schedule:  Sundays- Intern from 1-9pm   Mondays - Work from 8-4:45/ Class from 5-7pm     Tuesdays - Work from 8-2:45/ Class from 3:30 - 5:30   Wednesday - Work from 8-1:30/ Intern from 2-9pm  Thursdays - Work from 8-5:00/ Intern from 5:30-9pm   Fridays - Work from 8-5pm   Saturdays - Do Homework

Tomorrow, the semester begins.  I have an orientation through the school of social work.  A lot of silliness to discuss what to expect at our internships for about 8 hours.   Aug 30- Sept 1st, I have another orientation for the VA.

So the next few weeks will be pretty boring but at least I'll be getting a taste of what to expect in the near future.

Hopefully I won't be crazy by the time it's all over.