Whirlwind

What a whirlwind week this has been.  

On Monday, my manager sent me a semi-cryptic email in the mid morning, asking me to please meet with her after lunch.  I sent back an OK, then spent the next couple of hours with uh-oh thoughts whirling through my head.  Once back from my hasty noon meal, we headed downstairs to one of the doctors' offices, my heart pounding.  Once seated, she apologized for the cryptic email and proceeded to say very nice things about my work, professional demeanor, and experience, and offer me a different job, this one much closer to home.  A bit stunned, I took roughly five seconds to agree to the new position, as a Scribe.  She then asked if I could start immediately, as in Wednesday, after a training session on Tuesday with all the other Scribes.  I agreed to that as well.

This is how my daughter Elaine pictured a Scribe :).  Fortunately, robes are not required, but for the first time in my medical career, wearing scrubs is.  And they are black, a color I seldom wear.  So, on Tuesday, my last bus ride and walk through Santa Barbara streets to work was a bit melancholy.

 A couple of pics of houses and vistas I'll miss seeing.

And my bus friends I'll miss too: Jessica, Silvia, Donald, Jan, Pamela, Guillermo. It was a bit hard, of course, saying goodbye to my workmates for past 15 months--Margaret, Trish, Amber, and Lori, the two Rachels, and Mari, the one on maternity leave.  But I haven't left the company, only the workplace, so will see them again.

Tuesday's training session was a bit of a repeat for me, since I already did many of the "new" tasks in my workday in transcription/compliance.  I looked forward to my first day with a 20 minute commute and the transition from transcribing, which seemed a good lateral move.  Since I spent many years in a former office performing intake histories primarily for Workers' Comp patients, that part of the job is familiar.  What is different is working with multiple patients, doctors, and multiple rooms.  My ankles were on fire after standing all day shadowing another Scribe, but yesterday went much better, when I was sitting more while taking the histories and moving from room to room.  Still learning the job--but liking it a lot.

This is my new view on the ride home, strawberry fields, clouds and mountains.  I love being able to wake up later and get home sooner, as well as having the energy gained from moving around rather than sitting all day.  I had previously planned to take today off, so am enjoying a lovely four day weekend, while my new office mates deal with the busiest day of the week with the main ortho surgeon.  I'm not sorry I'm missing that on my first week--and I also get to skip it next week too when he is in another location.  I'll feel better having a couple of weeks under my belt before facing the senior doc!

The other big news of the week occurred on Tuesday, as I was walking from the office in Santa Barbara with my bag of new scrubs under one arm, and my bag with all my desk drawer items under the other, while I listened to a voicemail from my other manager, Dana, from the hospital.  It seems the hospital HR department informed Dana that since I haven't actually had any per diem hours transcribing for the physiology department for a year, I am being let go.  It was amusing to me that these two job changes happened in the same week!  So today I will be returning the computer and transcription pedal to Dana, who is also having a job change.  She is stepping down from management and returning to nursing for the last part of her career.  What a whirlwind week, eh?

A Finish, and a New Start

First, the Picnic quilt top did get finished on Monday night and is crossed off the Getting it Done list, hooray!

 A few California poppies--our state flower--add a pop of orange to the scene.

I used mostly medium scale prints, medium tones, and one background fabric.  No idea yet what I'm using for the back but the binding will be a red print I've already picked out. 

And now for the New Start:  After being mostly unemployed for the past six months, I got a full time job which starts tomorrow!  It is doing my favorite thing, medical transcription, and is of the orthopedic type--in which I have 15 years experience.  The fact that I will be an EMC (early morning commuter) is a new wrinkle in my night owl world, but I will adapt and overcome.  Very excited to get going on this new chapter of my working career.  Thanks for all the crossed fingers and well wishes!

Tuesday's Orts--on Friday

Orts--bits of thoughts and events that land here semi-regularly...more on the job hunt.

• This week has been full, but not with crafty stuff.  I applied online for a full-time transcription job and there has been a bunch of back and forth between the hiring company and me.
• My eye was twitching every day from stress, after filling out paperwork, sending in my resume, taking tests online, contacting references, etc.  Then yesterday I was doing nervous cleaning.  I never do that!
• Finally I got the call yesterday that the initial review was done by the employer and an interview was scheduled for this morning.  My first phone call was to my hairstylist daughter to have my skunk stripe eradicated.
• Then I went shopping for a top to go with a skirt I bought after last month's job interview.  Of course I went home and tried on my outfit and modeled for my husband. Thumbs up!
• What swear word do you say when you put your thumb through your pantyhose while pulling them up?
• Traffic Rant: So the job interview was in Santa Barbara, 35 miles from here, meaning I had to leave an hour early.  Much of the freeway drive is only two lanes wide and traffic was crawling.  A lady in a BMW first forced her way into my lane, then zoomed off the freeway at the next exit.  She re-entered the freeway again about a mile later.  RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.  I was consoled by the thought that she didn't gain a thing.
• The interview went well and within half an hour I got a call that the hiring process was escalated to the background check, new hire paperwork, and taking more online tests--these were for personality and behavioral results.  There was a lot of focus on my opinions about stealing from an employer, or using/selling illegal drugs at work.  For the record, I am thoroughly against both and have done neither.
• If all the checking goes well--and it should, fingers crossed--I could start a new job by the middle of next week.  Yay!  This would be my view for a lot of the commute: 

 

 Well, maybe not this close--but the Pacific Ocean is still viewable about 50% of the drive.

On the other side are the coastal hills, almost as nice to look at.  Much better than last month's job interview which was through 50+ miles of multi-lane freeway and densely populated areas :)

I quit

Today I quit one of my three jobs.  Well, I sort of quit, since I passed the job on to DD Erica and will have to work now and again for her depending on her school/her job #1's schedule...so I guess my tally is about 2.25 jobs!  It will be such a relief to be able to actually stay at work once I leave my house for Job #2 and hopefully the 80 projects I am behind in completing at Dr. P's will get a better chance of getting finished.

Today the new receptionist started work and because I was sick and didn't work on Wednesday last week when I would have been getting together an orientation packet, I was scrambling and stumbling to get the information to her in a somewhat cohesive manner---Ha ha ha hee hee---hooo!  Luckily she is a low key girl and not easily ruffled by chaos, having worked in an Urgent Care for the past year or so.  Sigh.  I am a good teacher but wish I had been better prepared.  Oh well!