Recall

The time has come to start thinking about getting enough signatures to recall the Govenor!

Too much experience

Today I called about a position that I found on Craig's list. The job was for a R.N. in a doctor's office, I called the number and after a short interview the woman at the staffing company felt I was not qualified to even send her my resume. Seems that no matter how much experience you have if you do not have a year's recent experience and she meant current experience then you are not qualified! Now, I calmly explained to this person that as a nurse I had over twenty five years of experience and some of that was indeed working for a doctor. Moreover, I was more than qualified to work in a doctor's office….no matter what doctor it is. I don't want to seem arrogant but, I have worked in every aspect of nursing and done just about everything and I do mean everything. I have done procedures as an advanced practice R.N. that includes everything except delivering a baby!

No sale, forget it, nada, can't do it, Sorry not interested, thank you for your time and goodbye! So, what do I make of this! I thought experience was gold. My feeling is that the real story is what you have done for me lately like in the last week!

Frozen flags

Looking out my window I have a very good view of my flag which is flown everyday. Today it is covered in ice and folded over on itself a large ice sickle hangs from the blue star field. This sets my mind to wondering about the irony of my flags predicament. Wisconsin and to some extent Ohio are in the same shape as my flag….folded on itself and frozen.

Young people are doing it again!

Many of us were alive when young people filled the streets all over the United States back in the late sixties. Then those folks were protesting the Vietnam War and the government prosecution of that war. Protests eventually brought an end to that war and eventually indirectly caused a president to resign.

Today over forty years later young people in Tunis and now in Egypt fill the streets wanting something better wanting their future to be in their hands and a change at the top. Those of us who were alive back then in the late sixties I for one find it amazing that we will witness the people in action and causing change in our lifetime. Possibly, a wholesale change in the Middle East possibly that this will just be the tip of the iceberg. Could this be the tidal wave of change to democracy that would forever make how we look at our world?

Justice is blind and maybe dumb

There are over one million people incarcerated in the United States and it's guesstamated that around ten percent of that one million is innocent. Math was never my strong suit but, I can figure out that a lot of folks are sitting in jail and shouldn't be there. Locally, today we seem to have the same problem that is two people who by most accounts are probably not guilty of the crimes of which they are accused. When I say probably that means there is some doubt and in this case there is a lot of doubt. Moreover, to my mind you would think that the whole bunch i.e.: the judge, the prosecutor, the defense, defendant's and those who did the accusing get together and figure this thing out without the letter of the law. From my point the letter of the law is the problem.

Laws were made to protect all of us and punish the guilty and the original laws the ones way back at the beginning were written with a certain spirit. Ideally, with some room to say wait a minute are we doing the right thing? Lately, it seems we are more interested in the absolute application of the law and no wiggle room and let's go for the conviction no matter what! I can't help seeing Al Pacino screaming "you're all out of order", this whole system is out of order". Well, of course that was just a movie…..or was it!

Annual Thank you

Every year I like to thank a patient who I took care of as a student nurse way back in 1982. This patient was on a regular floor and at this time as student nurses we were not as busy as the regular staff and we could spend time with our charges. My patient at the time was bed ridden and had several tubes and intravenous lines and nearing the end of his life. I sat near him and he managed to impart what I believe to be the most important advice I have ever received. "Son don't wait till you are in this shape if you have something you want to do then you better do it while you can cause once you're here it's too late and you will regret it I guarantee it."

Well, that hit me like a ton of bricks and to say it was a huge moment in my life is an understatement. I have set goals for myself and achieved them for the most part. Now, you can probably think of a dozen reasons why you can't do this and I will agree with you that this philosophy of life is not without problems. You will have to have a very understanding spouse to achieve this degree of hedonistic activity and many folks are just as happy doing what they do every day and will go to the grave none the worse. However, if you have dreams at some point you are going to realize you get one shot at this life and it does not last long. So, if you get a chance to see or do something special then you better do it!

Early Ohio

Every year I take a day and wonder through the Lorain county Metro parks and enjoy the unspoiled landscape. Quiet and still in the woods is the best way for me to be able to relax completely, the air is crisp and clean. Finding a place to sit and just think of what it must have been like here 300 years ago before all the urban sprawl. From what I understand in early Ohio they say that a squirrel would jump from tree to tree and never touch the ground from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.

Look out your window and imagine no grass, no road, no power lines, and no sidewalks just endless trees as far as you could see. Shortly after that quiet time in the woods I was traveling east on route two and noticed that in Avon they are timbering the area just north of the highway. Soon, there will be more big box stores or home developments. Guess the wildlife and the quiet will just have to find somewhere else to live.