School's Out and time for Graduation

My midlife career change is pretty well complete! Today, I graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing degree and it sure feels great to have that over and done with. The 4 years have passed very quickly, although at times not quick enough! I am looking forward to the many opportunities that a career in nursing may offer, and although I enjoy the bedside nurse role I doubt I will be doing that in 5 years from now.

I did not go to my graduation at the University of Windsor back in 1987 so I have nothing to compare today's experience with. To be honest, I found the whole ceremony a little dull and I was not that excited, actually I was not excited a bit. I was glad that the kids were there, but other than that and seeing my classmates, I could have skipped the whole graduation hoopla.

First Day as a Graduate Nurse

Today I began my journey as a nurse...nobody that knew me 15 years ago would ever have predicted this career choice. But, my 4 years of schooling are over and it is time to put my knowledge to work. I still have to write the RN exam in June; until then I am considered a graduate nurse and earn a couple bucks less an hour.

I had expected to see some classmates today but I guess I am the only one who did not preceptor at this hospital so I was surrounded by strangers on this first day of orientation. I chose to work at a hospital an hour away from my home primarily because of the language factor, and the nurses there are a bit more relaxed. With the price of gas hovering around $1.17 a litre I may have made an expensive mistake!

Where have I been???

Well, I have been rather busy over the last few months and I have not had the energy to write a few lines, but here goes with a quick recap: Rose Dinner, Disney World, Cruise, Preceptorship, GNC. There, that about sums up the last few months. The other two blogs listed on the side have more details about some of those activities.

Now that my preceptorship is completed and I am almost ready to start a new career I will try and be a bit more diligent with my blogging.

GNC's Mega Man is Killing Me

Ahhh, after a great day yesterday of selling multi's and breaking the 10% mark I thought for sure today I would be able to get to the 12% mark and keep everyone happy (and, more importatnly, off my back). But, plenty of regular customers today and not a single one needed a multi. I tried, I asked, I suggested, hell, I begged! In the end, I called Roland in for the evening shift and hopefully he will be able to turn the day around for me. Actually, it has been a great week, I made my sales goal yesterday so today was all bonus. Strange how sales do not count - just the indicators. Oh well, such is the life of a retailer.

My resolutions are still around and still being met. I have yet to drink any regular cola or chips. I am still hitting the weights and jogging around 25k a week. My weight loss has leveled off and my bodyfat is around 12.5%. I am going to have to hit the cardio hard and ignore the carbs next week in a last ditch effort to return to my pre-university bodyfat of 10%. I may need to use my Ab King Pro a little more often.

Damn that George Bush; very mild here again. I think the high today was 6 degrees celcius. WOW. We received a few cm's of snow last night but I did not bother to shovel this morning - just let it melt.

Time to go do the dishes, plus I have plenty of school work to do this evening. Hard to believe but I only have 3 more weeks of classes, yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Till later,

Michael Taylor - Back on the Hospital Floor

Yesterday I started my first of 4 twelve-hour shifts on a cardiac step-down unit. This mini clinical rotation is part of my pre preceptorship experience. Man, was I rusty! I have not been on a hospital floor since the end of October and did it ever show. It did not help that we were one RN short and I my RN and I had 11 patients; I was very little help as well. I could barely remember my drugs and lab values had long escaped me. Oh well, it was a wake-up call. I now realize that I have to get my ass in gear and hit the books before mt preceptorship starts on March 14 or 15th.

I did manage to spend an hour or so going over some classes of drugs which I had forgotten about. I wrote a list of all the meds which the patients on the floor were taking so hopefully I will be able to look them all up and at least become familiar with them. I need to know my meds, and the sooner the better.

The recruiter called today from a hospital but Jacob only passed on the message after 5pm so there was no answer when I called. Oh well, I guess I will have to wait until Monday to find out how I did at my interview. (although I heard that I was "a breathe of fresh air")...I guess they never had anybody so relaxed in an interview before. I wonder if I should have mentioned that bed baths were my greatest clinical weakness!!!

Till next time,

No excuse for no entries!

No real excuse for my few days without an entry - not much to talk about I guess! Claire is the first person to find out that I have a blog, but will she be able to find it? I wonder if I should put my name in the title or something - Michael Taylor - 18 & Trapped in a 40 year old body... Maybe that would be a good idea. Actually, I noticed that at least one person has read one of my entries; I can not say that I am too disappointed that I did not have plenty of readers. First, my blog is not that interesting yet, and I am doing this for moi and not for the attention. So there. I probably should send an e-mail to Paul though; I am surprised he does not have a blog yet.

Till next time,

TAG - Game of 4

I've been tagged!
I didn't know what that was until about 3 seconds ago. So here goes - my fun with fours:

Four Jobs You've Had

1. Disc-jock at CFAN
2. Moncton Times Paperboy
3. Jr. Broadcast Buyer at Cossette Communications Marketing
4. Assistant Manager - K Mart

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over

1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
2. Grease
3. Fiddler on the Roof
4. 9 1/2 weeks

Four Places You've Lived

1. Off King and Jamieson, Toronto
2. Windsor, Ontario
3. Miramichi, New Brunswick
4. Burlington, Ontario

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch

1. 24
2. House
3. Trailer Park Boys
4. Sin Cities

Four of Your Favorite Books

1. Angels & Demons - and the DaVinci Code, both by Dan Brown
2. The Stand by Stephen King
3. The Dog who Wouldn't Be by Farley Mowatt
4. Who has seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell

Four Places You've Been on Vacation

1. Venezuela
2. Chicago
3. San Franscico
4. Vancouver

Four Websites You Visit Daily

1. Hollywood Tuna
2. Toronto Star
3. Several blogs
4. U2.com

Four of Your Favorite Foods

1. Scallops and bacon
2. mushrooms
3. Crab
4. pork chops

Four Places You'd Rather be Right Now

1. A nuice warm beach with a drink in one hand and and a book in the other
2. at the movies - I am a little behind
3. backpacking through Europe
4. bed

7 Day Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Triumph from Miami, FL on 3/4/2006

Only 45 days until our first family vacation outside of Canada! Actually, no, when Erica was only a few months old we went to Vermont/New Hampshire so I guess this will be our first family trip outside of Canada/New England States. I probably am the only one who is very excited! When we start packing than the kids will probably start getting pumped, or when we decide for sure if we are going to spend a few days at Disney World, then the excitement will build. I probably should start setting an area aside for us to pre-pack, which may make the trip seem a little more real.

I think I wil start another blog only about the cruise and just have the two blogs linked together. I think this blog will slowly start to change to more of a family blog and I will start another for my ramblings and stories. However, I am not sure if I can change the title of the blog so I may have to just start another blog called The Taylor's or something like that.

Hey, just because I work full-time, have three kids, am in my final year of my Bachelor of Nursing, jog 5x a week and work-out 4x, doesn't mean I will not have time to keep three or four blogs up-to-date!!!!

Till next time,
Michael

Season Premier of 24 and Resolution Update

In between mopping up water, I managed to relax long enough to watch the two hour premier of 24 and I really enjoyed. Poor old Jack was lucky enough to have 18 months off before he was pulled back into an international crisis. I was a little surprised that they killed off two characters in the season opener though. I can hardly wait for the next two hours tonight.

Resolution update - well, I am still blogging, I have to eat chips, buy a bar from the Dollar Store or drink a Coke. I am working out 4 times a week and doing pretty well on my running. My weight is down to 155.5 from 160 on January 1st. So, things are looking good.

Till next time,
Michael

George Bush has flooded my basement!!!

I realize the picture doesn't really show how much water is on the floor, and I am aware that we are not talking New Orleans type floods, but 1)it is January and I should be shoveling snow, not mopping water 2)did I mention that the high should be -10c not 12 and rain!!! We have had one storm whcih dumped 68cm of tghe white stuff but it has been unseasonable warm and wet. The area in which I live is famous for its snowmobile trails; nobody is making any money this year. Damn you George Bush and your Global warming!

What a freaking mess. The water covered the entire (finished)basement this time, not just my workout room. We obviousily need more shelving and to throw out more stuff. I guess I really do not to keep 6 years of Maxim magazines now do I???? (Although I have the very first issue - I worked in the industry then. Nope, time to start lugging and chucking. It is still raining fairly hard out so there is no sense in trying to mop as it is coming in as fast as I can get it out.

Till next time,
Michael

"I have a clue"

I picked Erica up at school and as we were walking to the van, she informed me "I have a clue." Oh, ok, I thought,just what are you your referring to? "You said that I don't have a clue, but I do". I am now totally confused so I asked for mroe information.

Who said this? "You said that Jacob was excited about the cruise, Rachel was excited about missing school, and that I didn't have a clue." Ok, I remember saying this to everyone who asked how the kids reacted to the announcement of our Mrach break cruise, but I never said this in front of the kids. But, the quote was almost verbatim, so who told her?

Erica named some girl who is her class but the name meant nothing to me. I didn't recall talking to any grade two students lately, and I don't really socialize with any of the parents, so who told her this? I asked Erica is she knew the girls last name and the did. Small world, but the little girl who told Erica has a brother on Jacob's hockey team, and I mentioned the cruise in the dresssing room on Sunday, so it must have been his mother who told her daughter who got the quote right and told Erica. Small freaking world!It took a fair amount of ass kissing and explaining to put things right with Erica. Now if anyone asks about the crusie and the kids, the new explanation is that Jacob and Erica are both excited abbout the cruise!

Lesson learned!

Till next time,
Michael

A day in the life of a father, manager, student

The holidays are over and today was the first day back at school. I mistakenly set my clock radio to "alarm" rather than radio so that scared the heck out of me at 6:30 am. I needed to stay in bed till 6:55am before my nerves calmed down!

Ate breakfast, made the kids lunches, woke the girls up, and had a shower all by 7:30. All three managed to make the bus and I believe that they all washed their faces and brushed their teeth, although I can never be sure with Erica.

At 7:55 I was in our garage trying to find the winter tires. Hmm, I think I need to clean out the garage. Found the tires, threw them in the trunk, jumped in the Echo, but could the driver side door would not shut properly. Frigged around with that for 10 minutes and made it to the garage by 8:15.

While I waited for the winter tires to be put on, I worked on paperwork for the store. I am way behind!

The tires were rotated and I left at 8:55. I drove home, ate a bowl of cereal, left at 9:20 and picked up Donna, then went to the store.

Brad called around 10:30 and mentioned that the time for our class had changed form 1:30 to 2:30. BONUS!

Left the store at 12:30 and met Brad at the arena. I was supposed to run 10k with Jeff but we mixed up our signals and he is only going to run after class. I had an easy 5k jog with Brad.

Afterwards, went downstairs and checked out the times for the girls practise tonight. Called Nicole as I will not be able to make it home for 5:30.

My first class of 2006 was interesting. We only have 8 weeks of classes and then we start preceptorship after March break. No test, only a presentation and a paper so I should be able to bang out a good grade in this class.

Made it back to the store at 4:30pm and was informed that Roland was sick and would not be able to work tonight. Oh well, I had plenty to do anyway. Worked till 9 and by some miracle I did not run to the Dollar Store for a Coke and a couple of chocolate bars.

Home at 9:20pm. The kids were in bed but still awake. Kisses all around and then I rushed downstairs to see if the season premier of 24 was on. It wasn't, msut be next week. I should have went upstairs and did the supper dishes but I watched CSI instead.Oh, talked to my sister who is having an operation on her foot tomorrow.

At 11pm, I hit th

Hockey Dad and Mom

Now that the Christmas season is over it is time to be a rink rat again. Jacob had a game at 9:30 this morning and I needed to be at work for 10am. No big deal except that Jacob forgot an elbow pad so I had to drive home like a maniac to retrieve the missing piece of equipment. I remember back to my hockey days and I would not have said anything to my mom, I would have played without. In fact, I played without a cup once! Luckily, my boys survived that incident.

I made it back to the rink for 9:40 am and Jacob was still in the dressing room. I thought he would have at least gone to the bench and watch but he chose to stay where it was warm. I dropped off the elbow pad and made it to the store with 2 minutes to spare. I then called home and reminded the girls that they had a game at 11:10 am at another rink. Nicole would be their chauffeur for this event. We are usually at the rink four days a week. Jacob is on the ice Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The girls lace up their skates on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

I had planned on competing in a 5k tomorrow but Jacob has a game at 10:30 am in a community an hour away and the girls also have a game at 10:30 am 20 minutes away in the opposite direction. My 5k is scheduled for 11:00 am and this in an hour away in a third direction. It appears that I will not be competing tomorrow.

All three of my kids play hockey although I can not say that they are in love with the game. We do not crowd around the TV and watch Hockey Night In Canada every Saturday night like I used to do back in the 1970's. I'm not sure any of them have ever watched a complete game. This, of course, shows on the ice as none of them have a true understanding of the game. But, they do get 4 hours of exercise every week and what the hell would I do with the $800 it cost to register them?

Jacob did score a goal and he had an assist. I missed both as I went to work for 10 am and came back to the rink when there was 14 minutes left. Jacob's team came from behind and scored three goals in 7 minutes to force a 9-9 tie. I forgot to ask how Rachel and Erica did.


Till next time,
Michael

Men's Health Personal Trainer

Well, so far so gooad as I have managed to stick to my exercise goals for three days. I have subscribed to Men's Health Personal Trainer and for a few bucks a month I have an exercise plan all laid out for me. To be honest, it kills me to hit the "delete workout" button so I make an extra effort to haul my ass into my home gym. I ran 5k yesterday in the snow; time sucked but at least I made the effort.

The exercise I hate the most is crunches! To solve this dilemma, Santa brought me an "Ab King". I should know better, and yes I do realize that you require body fat below 10% for ab definition, but if this thing helps me crank out a few crunches a week then it will have been worth the money.

I am doing well on the eating front. I was never a huge eater; just staying away from the chips and pop (or soda for my American friends) will probably be plenty. After training I drink a homemade sangria (red wine is good, as are all the fruits) mixed with whey isolate protein. Lots of carbs and protein to fuel my thirst muscles!

I will askNicole measure me tonight so I can check my progress every few weeks. 60 days until cruise time!!!!!

Till later,

Michael

One day early on my 2006 resolutions

I thought I would not take any chances with my 2006 resolutions and try and bang one off before 2006 even arrived. Now, as long as this posts, I will have successfully completed my first resolution for 2006! Hopefully I will be as successful with some of my other resolutions;

• No more Coca-Cola! Good old sugared water and caffeine has had its grips on me for years. Now that I am 40 I do not need the extra calories so good-bye old friend. I will not be replacing you with any of the diet substitutes as they are very, very unhealthy. (Well, accordign to the popular press.)
• Complete a 10k and a half-marathon. The dates are April 30th for my first 10k and July 2'nd for a half-marathon. I am counting on my good buddy Jeff to also commit to these dates, and shame me into actually doing a little training.
• Drop 5 pounds and get body fat to 10%. We are taking the kids on a cruise of the western Caribbean in March so I need to get in shape so I can look good in a speedo, ha ha!!! (The funny thing is that when I was 18 (in 1983) I actually owned a speedo.)
• In October, join the National Novel Writing Month challenge and write down some of these stories swimming around in my head. Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem! is my inspiration for this resolution. I will have my Bachelor of Nursing degree safely tucked away by then so I should have time to write 30,000 words a day! Unless of course, I decide to stay at GNC part-time then, well, we will see.
• Eat more fish, less chips and moderate amounts of chocolate.
• Maybe learn some Francais which will enable me to work closer to home.
• Spend more time with Jacob, Rachel and Erica! They are growing up fast and I don't want to miss a thing.
• Finally, the most important resolution, be a better husband to my darling wife Nicole. Maybe 2006 will be our year.

So that is all I plan on accomplishing in 2006. As usual, I will continue to work full-time and go to school full-time and keep on driving the kids to all of their activities.

Till next time,

Michael