Mastermind Behind the Mahem

Sunday Evening Post

2010-08-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

I am trying to think of some good ideas for something to do.
It's Sunday night and I am rather bored.
I have considered going to the basement to watch a movie.
That still might happen. Depends really, on if I get bored of jabbering on the blog.
The problem I have with blogging is this...
I would like my blog to be profound and entertaining, but I found out after I started this blog that I rarely have anything profound to say that I am willing to share with the public... Yet.
Somethings have to wait until I rule out running for public office.
I was reading some of my previous blog posts and realized that I sound like a whiner and that my discontent is not entertaining.
It was a very sad moment for me.
This paragraph is a perfect example of what I am talking about so I will move on...

So even though I am still complicated, mysterious, and discontent I will strive to not whine nor bore with tedium of work, and religious ponderings.

Upon considering how to make this blog and ergo... the world... a better place I realized that a blog should have a purpose. Not necessarily a cause, but some kind of structure that provides an outlet for specific material.
Steph's blog is about the family.
But really its about her and the kids. Even then updates are few and far between. What kind of things could I blog about...
Things I like.
Things I want to do.
Mid life crisis material... I like to plan one every 5 years or so.

I tried to plan a midlife crisis for this summer... It didn't really work out but there is always next year... I am considering Buying a motorcycle... I shopped. I looked around at types and styles. I have always been a sport bike kind of guy but I don't want a bullet bike. I considered a "naked" sport bike... Mostly because I like to get "naked" and there would be multiple opportunities for humor with that option. I looked at the BWM motorcycles... they all seemed cumbersome. In the end I found that I was very interested in a street cruiser. And if a cruiser its going to be Harley Davidson is high in the running. The thing about buying a Harley is that you are not merely purchasing a motorcycle, you are adopting a culture. The Harley folks have done a great job with their marketing. But its true. I spent several hours at different Harely Davidson shops this spring. I've wittnesed it first hand. From organized local rides to extended road trips, or a carnival for the family at the shop... its all available. One thing to consider is that there are all types of people that ride Harley's and they all want to have a good time. Which means different things for different people. My ideas of fun are some what more conservative then some of the others I have seen. I still want one. A bike. We will see what next year brings.

New movies I have seen this summer... Avatar, Iron Man 2, Clash of the Titans, Knight and Day, Eclipse, and most recently Inception.

Avatar... Liked it. Visually stunning. Same story as Pocahontas? But we bought it on bluRay anyway.

Iron Man 2... Liked it. Was good. Not as good as the first but it didn't completely suck.

Clash of the Titans... Sucked. The first version was better. Sometimes remakes are not awesome.

Knight and Day... Tom Cruise movie... I think they are all the same. Just OK.

Eclipse... Best of the 3 so far. Getting tired of the entire "twilight" pop culture phenomenon. But will see the rest through to the end...
I love my twilight fan.

Inception... A dream within a dream within a dream. It was good. Cool concepts. Some of the plot/subplots were weak, but that is easily overlooked next to the complexity of the story.

Enough for tonight

Perhaps I can blog again next week.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-29T19:12:00.000-08:00

Just had a Merry Christmas... Just thought you would like to know...
Sorry no Pictures yet.
We will see in the new year...

Time for a new blog post...

2009-09-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

Ok so it has been about a month... Lots of stuff to think about.

Mazda's... talk about I hate you/I love you. For those that don't know both Stephanie and I drive Mazda Vehicles... Steph drives the MPV know as the Silver Bullet... or as it has more recently been named in the car pool... the Silver Short Bus... It is a 2003 model which I guess is getting older but really folks should the plastic be rotting out of the door locks? It also recently required repairs for an engine hose that failed. The last concern is for the engine oil leak that I can't seem to stop. What is the deal. The van is the van. A grocery getter. I am really not too worried about it. But I don't want it to fail. And I certainly can't afford a new car payment.

So I said Mazda's... Plural. The 3. The little car. The car that has been kept immaculate. The kids are not allowed to even have food in the car. A 2004 Mazda 3 with lower than average miles 57000. It's Never missed an oil change. In August the engine light comes on. The machine begins running rough. phuc. So I take it to the dealer there is a part.../ Valve that needs to be replaced. The Repair will be about $500. The service agent is kind enough to tell me that he thinks the clutch is getting soft and will need to be replaced in the next year or so... So we take her home... The next week the battery is completely dead... won't even take a charge. So we jump it and run over to Sears... Batteries are too damn expensive it was another $114 for the cheap option... no extended warranty. The very next day the clutch completely fails. As I was researching options for repair of the clutch I learned that Mazda put shit clutches in their cars. It is not unusual for them to fail at 17000, 33000, 60000 miles. I should be happy to have gotten as far as I did. So... $1500 and two weeks later the car is back and seems as good as new. For now.

In the past two months I have had to spend almost $3000 in Auto Repairs. Not great for a guy that just took a $18000 a year salary cut... How many hours am I going to work overtime to make that up...

Whatever.

More to think about but I have to go set up the basement for Braden's Homecoming dinner

which might mean more to blog about... That is if I am not at work when the deal goes down. I happen to be on-call this weekend.

My back hurts

2009-08-09T10:57:00.001-07:00

I hate it.
My back and butt cheek hurt.
The end.

More Hawaii Pictures

2009-06-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

18 Months 2 Weeks and 3 days...

2009-06-15T13:25:00.001-07:00

The count down begins... That's how long until we get to go back to Kauai. We had a great trip. I am suffering from post vacation depression. To be more specific, or should I say more "Pacific" Post Kauai Reality Disorder. I had to mow the lawn this morning. It was cold. Real life sucks.

We spent 7 days total on Kauai. We left last Sunday morning early and spent the day traveling. We had one layover in LA. Everyone there is stoked about the NBA finals. Lakers in the finals? Who would have guessed that. Braden and I were both more interested in the new BMW z4 add than the life size Kobe Bryant on the kiosk.

We ate at McDonald's twice on this trip. Once in the airport, and once on Kauai for the locals breakfast. More about that later. I have filled my McDonald's quota until next time we go on vacation.

We stayed at the Cliffs condominiums in Princeville, Kauai. Very nice place. Our unit had an ocean view. The pool area was awesome, the tennis courts were great. Brooklynn learned to play shuffle board. The condo was 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, my bedroom had an ocean view, we could hear the waves as we went to sleep. No air conditioning, but I didn't complain the temperature was consistently between 75-85 degrees day/night. Perfect.

Look for the sunrise picture and the pic of Brooklynn imitating the rooster. This was our first morning on Island. Of course at 5:30am we were wide awake... that is about 9:30am SLC time. Needless to say we had some very early mornings, and were just getting used to island time when we had to come home. I slept until 10:45 this am. Think 6:45am on Kauai. I suppose I will eventually adjust.

Day 1: we went to the island orientation at the club house. Basically a sales pitch for different activities, and the condo lady will help you schedule the activities that sound fun. I had a free massage from the lady that was selling in room massage therapy. It was nice. I would have left a tip but... I didn't know she was going to be there so I wasn't carrying any cash...

So we drove into Hanalei and rented some snorkel equipment. We spent about 5 hours in the sun at Tunnels beach snorkeling... look for the pictures with the kids snorkeling, and the Monk Seal. The seal was cool they are endangered. There are only about 1200 left which is not very many we were able to see two in the wild while on island. So it was hot on the beach. The snorkeling was good. It was highly recommended at this beach. But I was more impressed with snorkeling along Napali Coast (boat tour) and also my favorite beach which is still Hide Away Beach. So at the beach there are some pictures that you will want to match up to this section... Of course the Monk Seal... I named him Larry.

There are pictures of Kara on the catwalk in her bathing suit carrying the beach umbrella that blew out of the sand and nearly hit her. As she grabbed it she did the model walk with pivot and all... imagine "I'm too sexy" playing in the back ground. Look for pictures of Braden and Brooklynn running up the beach from the water.

They were running because the sand was so hot it would fry your tootisies if the toes were in contact with the sand for more than 2 seconds. I thought the kids looked like members of the cast of "Baywatch" as they were running and kept waiting for Steph to start running so I could make a comparison between Steph and some other "Baywatch babe" I am thinking a younger Pam Anderson before she got all sick looking. With that I should add that there will be many pictures of Steph in her bathing suit, bikini, cover-up, fully dressed, etc... Because whether she likes it or not she is still my favorite subject. The Island is good for her.

So after getting completely sun stroked the first morning on the beach we decided it would be cool to hike the Napali Coast. The Kalalaua trail is hikable without permit for the first 2 miles and goes to a place called hanakape beach where they don't recommend you get into the water. Tides kill people there. Chris says that the beach used to be where the nudists would go... I didn't see any last time I was there but figured it was worth a shot... so we hiked. Either I was exhausted, dehydrated, feet were burned on the sole or my back was injured, or all of the above because this was much more difficult than I remembered last year. I limped through just the same. I was the last to make it off the trail. I am so old. But I suppose I still looked cool in my Chili Peppers t-shirt. Oh wait most chili peppers fans are old now too... when the hell did that happen! Anyway, stroked and limp we drove the blue Subaru back into Hanalei. We were going to cook dinner at the condo but decided we were all too tired to cook so we went into the Hanalei Gourmet Cafe for dinner. The waitress was a grouch but the food was excellent. I would say overpriced but all of the restaurants were. I had shutome fish and chips... yum. I highly recommend them, also try the da kine nachos.

Day one done... Oh yeah except we had a special visitor on Kauai. Oooga Chucka Oooga Chucka.... the divine Hawaiian trickster God Kapua visited Steph and the kids each night and left them a tiki totem and a token gift to ensure they had extra fun while on his island. He left things like Hawaii Cards, Frisbee, pack towels, hand sanitizer, treats, misting fans, pj's, lotions, etc... Look for pics of tokens and treats... it was fun for me to help this trickster, and to play with my family.

Day 2: is the Boat tour of Napali coast. I have mixed feelings about the day. Some of the things I felt were awe and wonder, but the overwhelming feeling was nausea. I have spent alot of time on boats in my life, I have never been motion sick. Until now. I still managed to get lots of pictures, the dolphins were awesome and chased the boat, they played and did all kinds of acrobatics right off our bow. It was really cool. The snorkeling was awesome. I have to take some credit for the great snorkeling because I puked over the edge of the boat as everyone was getting in the water and all of the fish swarmed the vomitus. Luckily besides drawing the fish in, they also cleaned it up. Most of my family didn't even realize I had been sick. Steph was the only one who was near enough to witness the event. Not one of my best moments to be sure. I did manage to get some awesome pictures of the dolphins.

Everyone else ate on the boat. I mostly just tried not to blow chunks again. We made it back to land. I felt better. We went to Hanalei and exchanged Braden's snorkel which had a broken purge valve. We went into town and bought shave ice. I had a turkey panini at Java Kai. It was excellent, not bad priced either. We went back to the condo, and I napped for 3 hours. It was awesome. I got a little bit of grief from my love for sleeping for too long but I think it was the best nap I have ever had.

We stayed at the condo and BBQ'd this night. Probably one of the best meals we had, least expensive too. If it wasn't so much work to cook each night while on vacation we could save a bunch. We ate in every morning, lunches were mostly provided during activities, we ate at a variety of places for dinners... Tuesday night we played skip bo and decorated the condo for Brooklynn's Birthday. It was very funny to watch Steph and Chris do the decorating. Now I know where Steph gets it from...

June 10th, day 3, Happy Birthday Brooklynn! We woke up and made pancakes at the condo for Brooklynn, they were perfect!

Brooklynn opened presents, and we played some Tennis before getting ready to head out for the Zip Line adventure.

This was fun but way overpriced. In all we spent about $500 for a family of 4 and the best part was the rope swing, and water fall at the end which is free and open to the public... Doh! See the pictures. Steph gets the best marks for her entry. Other members of our group voted she was give an 8.5 and was the most graceful on the swing. Great job Steph!

I think this post is too big it won't let me include any more pictures... So here is the story and I will try to set up a slide show for the rest.

We met back in Lihue for dinner, the Kalapaki Beach Hut. So this is a hamburger stand near the beach with seating on top of the building that overlooks the ocean. The food was good. The fries were excellent. We spent about $50 for 3 Hamburgers, an order of fish and a side salad. Save up if you are going to eat out! The atmosphere was fun, we followed up dinner with shopping in the nearby tourist trap. We then went back to the condo for Cake and Ice Cream for Brooklynn's Birthday.

Thursday was a very fun day! We woke up, and went down to Hide away Beach and did some snorkeling. We only spent about 1 hour there because we had to hurray back for our back country tubing adventure. The tubing is done on property that was once a sugar plantation. Our tour guides name was Brooklyn. She was very excited to have another Brooklynn on the tour because she hadn't before met another Brooklynn. Ok so we rode tubes in a ditch for about 4 miles. It was fun though the irrigation ditches were very clean and there were 5 tunnels of varying length. About 80% of the ride was inside the tunnels. Steph got some cool shorts that say Back Country across her back country. I took a picture. After we were cleaned up we went back to Hanalei for dinner. We went to the "Dolphin" my idea. The food was great. I had the teriyaki Ahi, fresh delicious, Braden even said it was awesome. I should have took some percocet before we went because the bill was painful. The four of us spent 170$ on one dinner. Ouch. And some people wonder why I work 2 jobs.

Friday, we wanted to go to a good surf or boogie board beach so we went south shore. Kalapaki Beach is basically the beach in front of the Kauai Marriott. They are to be commended on how nice the beach is kept. Fun in the sun, all day. A wedding at the Kauai Hilton that night, followed by a seafood buffet. Braden ate crab legs... My little boy, growing up, trying new things with out being pressured. It was cool.

Saturday was sleep in day, play tennis day, Bubba Burger day, and shopping day. We finished off all of that action by touring the lighthouse and bird sanctuary before heading back to the condo and packing up.

Travel Home started Saturday night about 2100 and finshed up Sunday about 1200. We unpacked and slept. Back to reality.

I plan to plow through e-mail tomorrow, and get back into the OR on Wednesday

Maholo and aloha!

Opioids are wonderful things

2009-06-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hey a new post! Just what you were waiting for!

So my back is jacked again. New herniation at L4-5 the MRI looks much worse than last time. However the symptoms are not yet as severe. I am hoping to manage it medically and fore go surgery for the time being. I am praying that my vacation time will allow the disk to heal before I have to go back to work.

I have been pleasantly surprised at the biochemistry in my body. My reaction to some of the medications that I have been taking has been quite enjoyable. The pain was initially pretty moderate. Being a RN and knowing that I still will be working while medicated... I used ultram to manage my pain symptoms. Ultram is a synthetic opioid, as most drug seekers in the ER will tell you... it is not enough, there is not any relief. Well for me - Not being a drug seeker nor being tolerant to opioid medications, Ultram did help to manage the symptoms without causing a fuzzy head. One nice result was that it improved my mood. Not that I am a moody bastard on a regular basis. But I was happy to find that even with the moderate pain I was having I could still enjoy life. Another psycological effect is that I became friendlier and somewhat dis-inhibited. Not that I started hitting on the women that I work with... But mostly that talked more than I usually do.

So, when the Dr recommended something stronger while I was traveling I was a little bit hesitant at first. Well there was no reason for concern. I have had lortab in the past and thought that percocet would have about the same effect. I was pleased to find that for me percocet did not make me lay there and drool. To the contrary, it helped even more with the pain, and I am happier than I was with the ultram! Cool. Well, don't I sound like a junkie ready to come out of the junkie closet, don't worry too much. I am in the acute phase of the injury and promise it is really the meds talking.

Lets talk about Hawaii- We leave soon. It will be so much fun and I am ready for a vacation.
RELAX

I have to say something here. So its a family trip. Kind of. I keep hoping that we will get to the airport and surprise! Jer and Leisa and Kids are there. I know it is a long shot. Probably won't happen. But last night Steph and I, were talking about packing. Steph was on a blog, Tink and Taz -- Imagine that. And maybe it was the drugs... but I had an epiphany... It just won't be the same without the Smiths. Where will Jeremy be when I want to say something crass about some lady on the Beach? Jeff just doesn't appreciate the humor the same way Jer does. So to my Leisa, Jer, and Kids... you will be missed and I really wish you were coming with us.

It has to be the drugs.

Until next time

2009-04-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

OK it has been a month-- Who is bored with the Whinny Ass Blog? I am, I will try to be somewhat more entertaining and less of a complainer.

P90X regrouping for round 2 Which is really just round 1 after a warm up period followed by a extended sabbatical.

ER's are for Drug Seekers.

I haven't mooned anyone since High school... careful where you are looking

Blah Blah Blah

I can't stay on the computer for too long. It is time to go to bed. I recently told Steph she was somewhat inconsiderate for staying up late on the CPU so I don't want to be a hippo. I should go.

I can rationalize that it has been a month since the last post.

How can I use this blog to make money?

I will offer frank opinions of your looks for a 5$ fee. Please submit a picture and I will tell you what I think. Payments can be made to my Pay Pal account as soon as I set it up.

Next time

J --- Out

Fatigue

2009-03-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

2 jobs + work 7 days a week+p90X= Fatigue

Not sure exactly what caused me to hit the wall.

I need to regroup and start over from about 2 weeks ago.

Excuses, excuses, excuses
I am sick
I am tired
I am weak
I am still a soft lump of...

Not giving up.

New computer is giving me some grief.

My camera was too advanced for the old computer
1 year later the software that came with the camera is outdated for the new computer
I blame Bill Gates
Window's Vista it's pretty, but it kind of sucks.

See you next month.

Bad Karma

2009-03-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

How does one align one's Chi any way?

P90x Week 5- Going well. The work outs are fine. I took 28 day pictures. They suck they look like day one pictures. It has to be the diet. Considering adding the lean component to P90x. It would require an additional hour of cardio every day. Not sure I have the time. I will have to consider what kind of results I want.

Did not get the Primary Job

Decided that I will always have a hard time being the manager. I am too honest and transparent. You can't be that way in the job I am in. For all of the talk about Mutual Respect, Accountability, Trust , and Excellence Intermountain Healthcare is first and foremost a business. I trust that they will preform that way regardless of the people involved. This includes employees, Dr's and Patients.

I hate paying taxes

I need another vacation. How many days until Mexico?

2009-02-17T20:18:00.000-08:00

Just got back from St George. The St George Parade of Homes always makes me feel like I didn't apply myself in life.

P90x week 3 has started still going strong.

We bought a new computer if I had time to blog the way I wanted to there might be some pictures up.

Oh well maybe next time

Still waiting to hear about the new OR manager Job.

p90X

2009-01-23T17:13:00.000-08:00

Hey all my p90x arrived last night. I read the fitness guide and I should be ready to start soon. I have to acquire some additional equipment before I can begin. I am hoping to start the program on Ground Hog Day 2009. I have also talked with Stephanie about doing the program with me. To complete the program is a big committment. You really have to be dedicated.

On other changes that might be happening in the near future. I have a job interview next week. It may turn out that I am going back to Primary Children's Medical Center. It would be a total trip.

Historically, I started working at "Prime Time" back in 1991. I was a Junior in High School. I wanted to work in healthcare when I grew up. I started working in the kitchen. It was a great job for a high school kid. The hours were 1600-2000, 2-3 days a week. It paid better than fast food. The job was preparing the dinner meal trays for the kids in the hospital, then clean up and close the kitchen. Back then there was no parking terrace there. Moran eye center wasn't in the South parking lot. I learned the Intermountain Healthcare values early in my career there. Shortly after high school I got married. I worked in the Kitchen in the mornings. But it only took a few months before I decided I should look for job experience outside of the kitchen.

I started working in the Xray department as a file clerk while I was going to college. I had to take a pay cut from the kitchen to take the job. I decided that the decrease would be made up in future opportunities. I worked full time as a file clerk and was taking college classes at night. Back then the xrays were still hard copy films. the files were huge and in large quantities very heavy. I had a unique talent for finding lost films, I enjoyed my co-workers and the Radiologists that I worked with. It is a fun group of people who like to work in the dark.

The shortly after starting to work in Xray I was considering applying for Xray tech school. I was attending SLCC. When I went to fill out the application for the program there were 2 boxes to check one for x-ray, the other was for Surgical Technology. I was not entirely sure what Surgical Technology was at the time but hey, double the chance of getting accepted somewhere... right?

The short story is I was accepted the following semester to start the Surgical Tech program. Upon graduation I went to work in the OR at Prime Time. Scrubbing in surgery is awesome. It is a very cool job. It is too bad it doesn't pay more. I had been an ORT for about 9 months. I was on the neurosurgery team, I was scrubbed into a brain tumor case. We had been scrubbed in for hours. I saw the RN. She was sitting there reading a novel. I had a thought. "I am here, scrubbed in, doing all of this work while she sits there with her book... getting paid twice as much as me." That is when I decided to look into nursing as a career. I had never planned on becoming a nurse. when I looked into it. It seemed like a good idea. I met with a school counselor in May. I started Nursing School the following August. No wait list. Pre-requisites were the same as ORT school.

I have been an RN for 11 years now. I worked at PCMC for a total of 12 years, I worked mostly in the OR but also worked for a year in PICU. I was considering going to CRNA school. I still might some day. After applying to CRNA school in Michigan and being turned down, I wanted to try something new. Intermountain Healthcare had just broken ground in constructing IMC which was being built about 3 miles from my house. So I applied at LDS Hospital OR thinking I would establish myself in the OR there, then move out to the new hospital. I had worked in nursing leadership positions at PCMC, and shortly after moving to LDS became one of the department charge nurses. A year later I became the OR educator and the UCR regional OR Educator where I oversaw the education of all of the UCR OR staff. I was integral in the training of staff and training for the transition to the new hospital IMC. When the time came to move out to the new hospital. I made a career decision. My options were to stay in my education position and office at the new hospital working regionally, or to consider two management positions, LDS and Altaview. I chose to stay at LDS as manager.

At the time there were many factors that I considered as part of the decision. While it was surely not my dream job, it would certainly be a valuable experience for future opportunities. I was still hoping to move out to IMC. I knew and hoped that the opportunity would come to move back to PCMC at some point.

Which brings me to the current decision. I have worked for intermountain for 18 years now. I am 34 years old. As vested as I am it would have to be a seriously incredible offer for me to consider leaving Intermountain. IMC will not have a management position open in the foreseeable future. Primary's is open now. I would still consider leaving management for a clinical OR job if the position was right. I don't love management, and the corporate environment/economy make management ridiculously unpleasant right now.

I am hoping that the change of venue and a return to where I feel at home and can make a difference will re-energize my spirit.

Well that is enough reminiscing for one night.
until next post

Jason

To be or not to be

2009-01-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

Hey this is my first post. This blog is certainly a work in progress. I figured I could start this to track some of my goals in 2009. One of the first things that I am working on is a fitness goal. Basically the goal is to look good naked. How that translates into statistics... I have an idea but, I have still yet to determine exact numbers. Don't worry I don't plan to post any (naked) pictures (yet). If I change the settings for this blog to adult content, you'll know why.

So I gave up caffine and carbonation. I gave up sugar. I reduced the amount of carbs, and increased lean proteins, I have been to the gym everyday this year (except today). I went to the car show instead. Thus far I have lost 5 lbs, and then gained 2. This sucks. This isn't even outside of the range of normal body weight fluctuation.

I watched an infomercial on p90x while sitting at the triage nurse desk in the Emergency room. Yes I was supposed to be working. But the freaks were all at home hung over still. Anyway, I think I could really benefit from training at that intensity. I will likely start the program soon. I have a few more preparations to make before starting. As I outline and begin the P90X program I can update this blog as to my success, and challenges.

Other goals for this year have to do with Financial Responsibility and debt reduction, Learning to speak spanish, Taking salsa dancing lessons before we go on our cruise to Mexico, finding a better job, and replacing some of the sucky light fixtures in my house.

I also would love to discuss some of the issues that I have been thinking about for a while. Or any random thought that pops into my mind. I may have to change the settings to adult content at that point. You will have to keep reading to find out....

Thanks for listening, I hope you are entertained.