Unit Designation: J.A.R.I.N.

This so rocks....

http://www.brunching.com/cgi/cyborger.cgi?acronym=Jarin

J.A.R.I.N.: Journeying Android Responsible for Infiltration and Nullification

Daily Update

So, in keeping with my new habit of writing regular updates on my situation, here's a brief overview of my day:

This morning got my grandmother up and ready for doctor's appointment. Wrestled with getting her into the car from her wheelchair. Wrestled getting the wheelchair into the trunk. Drove to the doctor's office. Wrestled getting the wheelchair out of the trunk. Wrestled getting her from the car into the wheelchair. Went inside... were informed that the appointment was at 2pm. Dad tried to blame the mistake on me, since "I had told him" 11:30. I rather sharply pointed out that he made the damned appointment and I got my information from him, and had only repeated back to him what he had told me and had me put into iCal.

So we drove to the medical supply store in Vineland. Asked if the tray table for my grandmother's wheelchair had arrived yet... it hadn't. My father picked up some adult bibs for my grandmother since she's been making a royal mess of her clothes during meals. Then we went to the mail... I slept in the car, waiting with my grandmother, while he ran in and grabbed something to eat and killed some time. Then we went back to the doctor's office.

Her pulse was taken, and they listened to her breathing with a stethoscope. Those were the only diagnostics done. We initiated a discussion about the Duragesic patch, since we were concerned by how out of it she gets every time we replace the patch, and the doctor explained that it was what he called "comfort care"... he couldn't tell if she needed it or not, and he believed that withholding it if she did need it was worse than giving it to her if she did not. Which seems like it makes sense until you stop to think about the fact that this is a morphine-based drug. (A description which I note had not been used for it until now... I keep noticing that they seem to avoid using terms that lay persons would be familiar with to describe both her condition and her treatment, despite the fact that using those terms would make the situation much clearer for us when making decisions about her care.) In any event, the doctor said that we can remove the patch for now and see how she does.... she apparently does not need to have it stepped down, because it is already the lowest dosage available. I hope that's correct, and that she doesn't go into withdrawal... I know that it's been hitting her pretty powerfully every time we change the patch.

Then we get home... the physical therapist has called, he'll be coming tomorrow because of the appointment mixup today causing us to miss him. But there's another message too... it's the medical supply place in Vineland: our tray table is in. Apparently it arrived today after we had already checked in there. My father has a doctor's appointment in vineland tomorrow morning anyway, though, so we won't have to go out of our way to get it. And hopefully these will be the last major doctor's appointments for a while... my grandmother isn't going back for another checkup for three to six months, and I presume that my father's next checkup will be in a similar timeframe.

I'm making good use of my time during all of this, though... I might not be able to actively go out to stores and put in applications while tied up with doctors and physical therapists and such, but I've been re-reading "Job-hunting for Dummies" and finding some things that I had either missed or forgotten that should help me. Somehow I seem to have lost sight of the proper mindset for a job-hunt. Job-hunting is all about marketing.... you are your product, and you are trying to convince a potential employer to take the plunge and buy you/invest in you. I know a fair bit about marketing, but for some reason hadn't really made the connection between marketing and job-hunting before. I think I'm going to have to take the time to work up a new resume, keeping basic marketing principles in mind. I also might want to work a bit on "packaging"... I love having long hair, and I think I look better that way, but I need to face the fact that a lot of potential employers see it as unprofessional, and even if a potential employer does not see it that way it may be easier to manage on a daily basis if it were shorter. These are basic practicalities that I have allowed my own biases concerning personal appearance to overshadow. Looking it as a matter of packaging has made the issue both clearer and less important to me... packaging can always be changed, and no alterations to it need be permanent. But it can have a strong influence on whether or not someone buys your product. Right now, with so little word of mouth advertising available to me (aka "professional references") and the lack of a proven track record in the marketplace (aka "work history") packaging becomes a very important aspect of selling my value as an employee. One that I have greatly underestimated previously.