Where the Heck Have You Been?

I'm baaaack!!

Sorry for the LONG absence, but I've had a lot going on the past several months. The short story is I work for a new IT company now, I've finished my Chem2 class and my daughter has graduated from high school. A few life events that took a little out of me. The long story...

My colleagues and I from the IT department of the hospital found out in February we were going to be outsourced to a healthcare IT company. We were seriously shocked and couldn't believe it. We were called to a mandatory meeting at 0800 and we weren't told what the meeting was about. The next thing I see when I enter is the hospital CEO and COO and a bunch of suits sitting to the side. I'm thinking, "...OK - we're all getting fired...". And, I was right (to a certain extent).

The announcement couldn't have come at a worse time for me. I was going live with our PACs system and already stressed. Then, there was the chemistry class - I was falling behind because of my duties as the PM for the implementation.

Anyway, the day we now have dubbed "Black Tuesday" affected all of us. We were expected to continue our duties until we found out whether or not the new company would pick us up or not. The stress and anxiety was palpable. The plans I previously laid out to move towards attending medical school seemed to fade in the distance. I now had to rethink those plans in order to make sure my daughter's college plans wouldn't be jeopardized, etc.

We finally found out at the end of March if the company would keep us or not. Eight of us were "let go" and three left voluntarily (not willing to hang around to see what would become of us). Those were sad times for our department.

My performance in my chemistry class wasn't near as stellar as before. I was worried about my job, which I wasn't ready to give up at the time - because I needed the $$$ - and I spent alot of time updating my resume and trolling the 'net for jobs. I even considered relocating - which I really didn't feel like doing at this point in the game.

As a result, I came out of the class with a C+. What a bummer. It wasn't the material, it was inability to keep up with it. Missing class, lab - really started causing problems. I had to miss class because of work, fatigue from work... My professor was simply great and understanding, though. She's a great teacher and her enthusiasm and encouragement during this time went a long way with me.

Fast forward to the present...

I still have a job and got a raise on top of it. They believe in supporting employee's efforts towards education and training, so they will pay for classes I take. That's a good thing, because I've been paying for my classes up until this point. We (our new department) are going to be quite busy over the next year with new IT initiatives for the hospital I used to work for which will prevent me from taking another class for a while. I've just come to the realization, I can't do both, work and class, right now (due to the demands from the job).

My youngest daughter has graduated from high school! I am so proud of her! She received a few scholarships and other recognition. She's a good girl and I love her dearly! I appreciate her working so hard to accomplish something so great! She's on her way to college now. I can hardly believe it. It seems just like yesterday she was laying on my chest, sleeping soundly. They don't stay little for long...

That's all for now. I have to get ready to work as a therapist today! Talk to you all later!