The Star Thrower Story by Joel Barker
There's a story I would like to share with you. It was inspired by the writing of Loren Eiseley. Eiseley was a very special person because he combined the best of two cultures. He was a scientist and a poet. And from those two perspectives he wrote insightfully and beautifully about the world and our role in it.
Once upon a time, there was a wise man, much like Eiseley himself, who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer, he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?" The young man paused, looked up and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I guess I should have asked, Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves. "It made a difference for that one!"

This story has appeared in various places on the net, and in books that I have read, such as the current one. Spiritual Caregiving: Healthcare as a Ministry. This is one of the books that I picked up at the conference I attended last Friday. The keynote speaker was Harold Koenig who is a medical doctor talking about the need to include spiritual health as a part of the healthcare/hospital experience. He encourages medical personnel to consider a return to their roots... (hospitals were founded by religious groups, mostly Christian) and reintroduce the concept of spiritual care into their caregiving and also their personal lives.

Blustery Day and the results of Nature

It is interesting what things remind you of. Today, I am reminded of Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.

Today has been very windy and rainy. Umbrellas broken and people almost blown over... and when I got home, well.. there was a tree blocking the road and sidewalk. It had fallen onto the road and covered a truck and a car. A few hours later the road crews came to clear it. The area was sectioned off with the yellow "Caution" tape but people drove through it and onto the curb anyways. The branches were thicker than my wrists and people still drove through it. I was in the middle of the road/tree, taking pictures when a car came right at me. I waved him to stop and he finally did about 2 feet from me. Then he gave this "what the..." look while he was on his cellphone.. and then DROVE over the tree branches and curb and went on his speeding way... people in BC are crazy.

Game time!!

When I was younger, my family had a tradition on the weekends. We would haul out a game on either Friday or Saturday night. There would be popcorn or something, and we would spend an evening playing Clue, or Parcheesi, Sorry and a host of others. I remember these times with a smile. As this is a tradition that I intend to continue.

My latest acquistions, as of last night, are Cranium and Trivial Pursuit of the 80's version.

Some games are timeless. I look forward to a group of friends getting together for game night.

The important thing to note about playing a game.. is to play for fun. True, it feels great to win. But I think the important point is to play. I can't remember what the score was for the last game of Dutch Blitz but I do know that I had fun. And I could play all day and not care about winning or losing a game as long as it is fun. There is just something about games that brings out the child (hopefully not childishness) in people.

Medicine's soul is suffering, activists say

This story was published in the November 13th, edition of the Vancouver Sun. I went to this conference on Friday.

Medicine's soul is suffering, activists say
Modern health care is technologically rich but spiritually poor, conference is told

In its drive for scientific purity, modern medicine has forgotten its roots and become a wasteland in which humanity does not thrive, says a keynote speaker for an international conference on spirituality and health care. In a sense, he says, health care has lost its soul.
Stephen Graham Wright, a nurse, minister and professor who has devoted much of his career to restoring spirituality to health care in England, was in Vancouver for a weekend conference sponsored by University of B.C. Interprofessional Continuing Education and attended by 300 people from around the world.
Referring to the Arthurian legend in which a king rapes one of seven virgins guarding seven wells and then hoards the water for himself -- an act that gradually turns the countryside into a wasteland -- Wright says the modern health-care system has similarly wasted away, starved for the human touch.
Back when health care was provided by the churches, it was based on the idea of compassionate care for others, he says. There was little technology and the workers devoted much of their time to providing comfort to the patients.
But as medicine aligned itself with science, it developed many cures and treatments for patients. That was good. But the focus of health-care professionals changed to treating diseases rather than people.
"The assumption is that people can be cared for, satisfied and nurtured purely through the scientific realm," Wright says.
But it creates a profound disconnect among health-care workers in which patients are seen as "the appendix in bed three" or "the liver in bed nine," he says in an interview. He adds that it hasn't been good for the workers either, who suffer increasingly from burnout.
Wright argues that the loss of the soul is the single biggest omission of modern health care, increasing dropout rates among both patients and staff and pushing costs to the limit.
"There is a growing sense around the western world that something is missing in modern health care," he says. "It is technologically rich but spiritually poor. People don't just get better by having the machines working efficiently or the right drugs put in. There is more to it than that.
"The question is how can you restore this sense of connection so that health-care workers can really be there for people."
That is where Christina Puchalski comes in. As director of the Institute of Spirituality and Health at George Washington University, she works with the Association of American Medical Colleges to develop learning objectives and ethical guidelines for including spirituality in medical school training.
"It's not religion," she emphasizes, noting that the medical colleges would never accept proselytizing. "Spirituality is expressed in how someone finds meaning and purpose in life.
"It might be religion, but it might be family, nature, arts, humanities. Bike riding could be your source of transcendence. It's whatever puts you in touch with what awes and inspires you."
Puchalski became aware through studies and her own patients that spiritual beliefs or attitudes can have an impact on how people cope with things.

"If you are pessimistic about something or believe your illness is a curse, you are not likely to do as well as if you can find some hope and meaning," she says.
She started teaching a course at George Washington University in 1992 on spirituality and eventually founded the institute. At that point, not counting the religious medical schools, only two other medical schools included any curricula on spirituality. Now 102 of the 141 medical schools in the U.S. include spirituality in the training and 70 per cent of the schools make it compulsory.
Puchalski says she is very pleased with the trend because she wants medicine to return to its earlier focus on providing compassionate service to others.
"We take an oath to put our patients' needs above our own, but the health-care system makes that hard to do. We are trying to bring back that service."
After conducting a survey of Canadian medical schools and learning that spirituality is not taught here, Puchalski is working with the Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada to develop similar programs.
She recommends that physicians conduct a spiritual history just as they do a medical history, lifestyle history and emotional history, when they meet a patient.
For example, she will ask patients if they consider themselves spiritual or religious. If they say no, she will ask what gives their lives meaning. Then she will determine how important those beliefs are in times of stress and if they have specific beliefs that might influence their health-care decisions -- beliefs such as those of a Jehovah Witness, who might refuse blood transfusions.
"If you are truly interested in a person and who they are as a human being, that will signal to them that you care," she says.
She says spirituality programs in medical schools also help set ethical limits on the risks of over-stepping personal boundaries.
"We teach that proselytizing is unethical. Don't do it," she says. "We say the physician has an obligation to respect the patient and must understand that there is often a power differential. In that case, it is beyond unethical, it's abusive because the patient may coerced."
But she says if a patient wants to talk about God, the doctor should listen even if the doctor doesn't agree with the beliefs. "You would talk about it just as you would talk about sports," Puchalski says. She doesn't have any interest in sports herself, but she will still discuss them if the patient wants.
"By understanding people's spiritual beliefs, we can make better diagnoses and treatment plans." kgram@png.canwest.com
- This story can be heard online after 10:30 a.m. today at www.vancouversun.com/readaloud.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Case of the Vanishing Remote ...

So Sweetie and I cleaned up the house the other day. We gave a grand tour to a guest and after they left, sat down to watch a show. We have 4 remotes and the one that is for the VCR is gone!! We have hunted through the whole room. Sweetie said that he used it to turn on the TV and then picked up a different one for the DVD player. Well, we hunted. In the couch, under the couch, behind the couch, in boxes, near the computer, in the bathroom, in the kitchen ... it ... is GONE!!
And the annoying thing is that I need it to tape my shows... and without it, I can't get a tape into or out of the VCR!! UGH! Wierd!! We both agree it is wierd. It has been 2 days now sans remote.. wierd. I'm wondering where it walked off to and where we will laugh at finding it.

Being sick is not fun!! My sweetie has been sick for the past few days and felt well enough to go to work today. I have not been as bad as he, (nausea and vomitting) but have been queasy for the week. Today, I said enough is enough. I kept waking up last night. So I decided to bite the bullet and just not go to work today. I am supposed to go to a conference tomorrow, just for the day though. I hope to be able to make it. It looks really good. I can't remember what I registered for though..

Some times ministry happens when you aren't looking...

Some days you encounter people who touch your heart as they reach out for help... and you wonder what happened to them? How did their "soap opera/drama" play out? Today, I had one such answer. It is ironic because I had mentioned to my colleague yesterday about the people that show up in our office requesting help and you honestly don't know what to think. Well today, R showed up in my office again to thank me for my assistance in the previous incident. He told me how well things are progressing and that he is safe, happy and healthy. The situation he had come for help with was resolving nicely and unexpectedly.


After R, I went to my floor and saw a lady who attends my church. This is where the ministry happened. But not mine, hers. Here is a woman who has immense pain and yet is a strong witness for God. She spoke about how she uses her gift of "talking" in our congregation. She ministers to people who come to our church by greeting strangers and welcoming them. She told about how she has been approached by others to help them learn of the God that she loves when there are "plenty of other qualified teachers, why do they pick me"?

I sat there with tears in my eyes and I did not hide it. Not something that we want the Chaplain to do when they visit. "What is troubling you my child?" "Oh you have given me a gift, don't you know? You have reminded me that there are people who use the little they have at every chance they can. This is not something I get to hear from patients in immense pain as your condition dispenses." She continued to tell me stories of her life and how she got through her illnesses in the past, all due to her faith in God. This was a far cry from the story I heard in the next room. Another Christian lady who has been stricken with a rare and debilitating disorder. She told me she does not feel she has anything left to contribute. Oh! If only I could get these two women together... Very different perspectives on a similar circumstance.

Some times ministry happens when you aren't looking for it.. Sometimes we minister, other times we are ministered to.

How does your area rank?

It seems that Healthcare is a major issue here in Canada. Of course, it is in my work as well. Here is a current report as from CBC.ca.

Hospital waits shortest in Ont., longest in N.B.: report
Tue Oct 24, 1:50 PM

Canada-wide waiting times for surgical and other therapeutic treatments increased slightly in 2006, a new survey suggests. The right-wing think tank the Fraser Institute released its 16th annual rating of wait times for 12 specialties on Tuesday.
The average total waiting time for Canadian patients between referral from a general practitioner and treatment averaged 17.8 weeks this year, up slightly from 17.7 weeks in 2005. Seven provinces saw increases while wait times decreased in Alberta, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Ontario's average wait was 14.9 weeks, compared to 16.3 weeks for second-place Alberta and a high of 31.9 weeks for last-place New Brunswick.
Too many cases that should be handled by family doctors are being passed on to specialists who are being overwhelmed, said New Brunswick's former health minister, Dennis Furlong. Specialists also need better tools and more time in operating room to do their jobs, said Furlong, who runs a family practice in northern N.B.
But Furlong disagreed with the underlying thrust of the Fraser report, saying with all its problems, Canada's publicly-funded system is still one of the top three or four health-care systems in the world.
The next-longest waits were found in Saskatchewan at 28.5 weeks and Prince Edward Island at 25.8 weeks.

Two stages of waiting

Co-author Nadeem Esmail says it's the second-longest average wait time the institute has measured, and Canadians shouldn't expect to see any dramatic improvements as a result of the latest federal-provincial agreements.

The waiting time between seeing a specialist and treatment - the second stage of waiting- fell to 9.0 weeks from 9.4 weeks in 2005. Increases in waiting times in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island were offset by decreases in the five other provinces.
Patients waited longest between a GP referral and:

- Orthopedic surgery (40.3 weeks).
- Plastic surgery (35.4 weeks).
- Neurosurgery (31.7 weeks).
The shortest total waits between referral by a general practitioner and treatment occurred in:
- Medical oncology (4.9 weeks).
- Radiation oncology (5.0 weeks).
- Elective cardiovascular surgery (8.0 weeks).
The wait for neurosurgery increased significantly (by 12.9 weeks) over 2005 levels while wait times for otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat procedures) increased by 2.9 weeks, internal medicine by 0.6 weeks, and orthopedic surgery by 0.3 weeks. Wait times improved for patients seeking treatment in:

- Urology (decreased 1.2 weeks).
- Plastic surgery (decreased 0.8 weeks).
- Radiation oncology (decreased 0.7 weeks).
- Medical oncology (decreased 0.6 weeks).
- Gynecology (decreased 0.5 weeks).
- General surgery (decreased 0.3 weeks).
- Elective cardiovascular surgery (decreased 0.3 weeks).
- Ophthalmology (decreased 0.2 weeks).
The median wait for an MRI across Canada was 10.3 weeks. Patients in Ontario and Nova Scotia experienced the shortest wait for an MRI (8.0 weeks), while Newfoundland and Labrador residents waited longest (28.0 weeks).

What a day!! I can't remember when I've had a worse day!!
It started with me driving to work because I had a meeting near our house at the end of the day. When I got there, I discovered that I had forgotten my ID and my keys. So I had to use the spare key to get into the office. Then I realized that I had left my cell phone at home. How or when I realized that I had forgotten the phone was when my colleague and I went to get my car when I parked in my other co-worker's spot... and we got there... and there was no car. So I'm looking oh.. now where did I park? It was an apartment building space that the co-worker leases. Oh, maybe it is behind that one... no.. it's... not... here.. Ok, I calmly said. The car is not here. My car is gone. You've got to be kidding me. They towed my car. My colleague was like "what? where's the car?" "the car is gone." I said. "they towed it." When talking to someone else, they said how do you know they towed it, why didn't you think it was stolen? I told them we have a club and an immobilizer... unless someone hotwires the immobilizer, it is going nowhere. So I call my other co-worker to tell her that I will be late. Please tell the others at the meeting. We will just wait for our boss, whose car was in the next lot and ask him for the ride.

"Well, you are now an official Vancouverite. You've had your car towed!!" Ugh. whatever.

So I go to the meeting which is on the other end of town... the furtherest from my work. Normally, they tow cars to a spot close to work, near the Burrard Bridge. But this was not Busters. This was "In-Tow" who took my car to a lot in East Van. So my supervisor drives me to the lot, because she was towed at one of our other meetings, so she remembers it well. It took a bit to find, as it is out of the way... and I haven't even gotten out of her car and a woman is looking at me from a ticket window and says are you here for the red neon? Did you bring cash? our machines are down. No I didn't have cash!! Luckily, my "driver" had not yet left. We go to a gas station where I find an ABM and go back. Then I drove home... tired, exhausted.. went in the house and put my head against the door. "this has ... got to be... one of the worse days of my life" only to turn around to my husband handing me roses... "Okay, not the worse day, but a good way to end a bad day!!" Well it is only Monday, hopefully I've gotten the worst of it out of the way....

Music as prayer...

I had a key chain that I have since lost.. that said "Music speaks where words fail". Sometimes this is the mood or notes, and other times it is like poetry... saying that which one cannot often put into words. This is now my third year in my church choir. It has been a blessing to me in more ways than I can count. I often find myself singing practiced songs throughout the week. This is the song from this morning... it is one that I know by heart. It helped me through rough times last year and continues to do in different ways...

Do Not I Love Thee O My Lord?
Do not I love thee, O my Lord?
Behold my heart and see,
And turn each cursed idol out that dares to rival you.
Do not I love thee from my soul? Then let me nothing love.
Dead be my heart to every joy, when Jesus cannot move.

Within the darkness of this heart,
other gods would vie for my affections,
but thou art exalted, thou art exalted far above all gods.
Let nothing keep me from thy love.

Thou knowst I love thee, dearest Lord.
But, O, I long to soar far from the sphere of mortals joys,

And learn to love thee more.

CAPPE AGM

Yesterday was the AGM (Annual General Meeting) for CAPPE BC. There were more people at this meeting than at our April (Spring) meeting, which is good. It is important to meet for colleageality's sake and for support which is not often gained in our place of employ. I'm just glad it's overwith. I was so nervous about overlooking something necessary ... anyways, with my having to leave the room to look after things in the kitchen, caterer, etc. I didn't really get to hear all of the key speaker who went a "little" overtime...

It was tiring. Hopefully now I can focus on some other things, like work and my hubby. More later.

Faithful One

How long O Lord?

Have you forgotten me?

How long must I lie in bed

feel uncomfortable

Wonder why?

Why do you seem so far away?

How long must I grope in the shadows?

Light a lamp to guide me

Shine on me

Give me hope ...

I trust in you

Faithful One

You set my heart singing

Singing of your salvation

Celebrating your unfailing love

This was written by Nicholas Wilson, based on Psalm 13. This is a bookmark that was given out at his funeral. Nicholas was the chaplain for Children and Women's Hospital in Vancouver BC. I don't know for how long. He was from England and made the journey back, and that is where he died. He had liver cancer and had been waiting for a transplant. He didn't get one and ailed while visiting family for the last time.

This poem speaks of the despair and isolation that so many people feel in their lives. Sometimes we are suffering from a physical ailment, while other sufferings involve the mind, psyche or the soul. I think that despite the ailment, the poem, like the Psalms, speaks to all aspects of the human journey of life. It is hard to rely on God and not blame Him for our sufferings and pain. I have a lady in own of my wards is also in pain. She has been depressed for the past week, but today she said she woke up with a positive attitude. Despite the constant pain in her body, she still relies on God for her strength. It is probably a number of reasons that she "feels" better, but I would like to think it is because she remembered her faith in her Faithful One. Just like Nicholas.

Finally...

Guess what came in the mail yesterday? The marriage certificate. It was mailed direct to us, versus the postal redirect so not sure what happened there. Now I can finally get the legals in order!!

(Patience is a virtue but I wish things would hurry!!)

And STILL.. nothing

You know what... I still don't have my marriage certificate. It has been 8 weeks and NO marriage certificate. So I got fed up and called the Vital stats in town to ask if I wasn't supposed to have one for free. Oh yes, it was mailed 2 weeks later. Well where is it? Hmm?
So they are sending a new one to the proper address. Finally!! I will be able to get stuff done. Luckily, work has changed my name and gotten me business cards without the certificate, but most other places, like the bank, credit card companies, etc, need to see a copy of it in order to change my name. I figure if I'm doing that then we would wait to add sweetie as POA or joint account holder. Too much red tape some times. Now we have to get a will, and change the bank accounts, credit cards, passports, etc. This should be fun (sarcasm) and yes, I do want to get rid of the old name. Although the new one is longer to spell and I forget a lot and sign my old name from time to time.

Definition of grace

I have been very shocked at what is going on in the world lately.. shootings, wars, idiocy from various sources. I have been interested in the Amish shooting incident. My heart goes out to them. It is still seemingly senseless that this event even occurred, but when I read a recent article (posted below in case the link disappears) I truly believe that this community understands the meaning of grace.

Amidst mourning, Amish turn to forgiveness
'The hurt is very great, but they don't balance the hurt with hate'

Thursday, October 05, 2006

NICKEL MINES, Pa. - In just about any other community, a deadly school shooting would have brought demands from civic leaders for tighter gun laws and better security and the victims' loved ones would have lashed out at the gunman's family or threatened to sue.
But that's not the Amish way.
As they struggle with the slayings of five of their children in a one-room schoolhouse, the Amish in the Lancaster County village Nickel Mines are turning the other cheek, urging forgiveness of the killer and quietly accepting what comes their way as God's will.
"They know their children are going to heaven. They know their children are innocent...and they know that they will join them in death," said Gertrude Huntington, a Michigan researcher and expert on children in Amish society.
"The hurt is very great," Huntington said. "But they don't balance the hurt with hate."
In the aftermath of Monday's violence, the Amish are looking inward, relying on themselves and their faith, just as they have for centuries. They hold themselves apart from the modern world and have as little to do with civil authorities as possible.
Amish mourners have been going from home to home for two days to attend viewings for the five victims, all little girls laid out in white dresses made by their families. Such viewings occur almost immediately after the bodies arrive at the parents' homes.
Typically, they are so crowded, "if you start crying, you've got to figure out whose shoulder to cry on," said Rita Rhoads, a Mennonite midwife who delivered two of the five girls slain in the attack.
At some Amish viewings, upwards of 1,000 to 1,500 people might visit a family's home to pay respects, said Jack Meyer, 60, a buggy operator in Bird in Hand, Pa. Such visits are important, given the lack of e-mail and phone communication, Meyer said.
The Amish have also been reaching out to the family of the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts, 32, who committed suicide during the attack. Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman, said an Amish neighbour comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them.
"I hope they stay around here and they'll have a lot of friends and a lot of support," Daniel Esh, a 57-year-old Amish artist and woodworker whose three grandnephews were inside the school during the attack, said of the Roberts family.
Huntington, the authority on the Amish, predicted they will be very supportive of the killer and his wife, "because judgment is in God's hands: 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.' "
Roberts stormed the school and shot 10 girls before turning the gun on himself. Investigators said Roberts may have been planning to sexually assault the Amish girls.
He revealed to his family in notes he left behind and in a phone call from inside the West Nickel Mines Amish School that he was tormented by memories of molesting two young relatives 20 years ago.
But police said Wednesday there was no evidence of any such sexual abuse. Investigators spoke with the two women Roberts named, who would have been four or five at the time and neither recalls being sexually assaulted by Roberts.
"They were absolutely sure they had no contact with Roberts," state police Trooper Linette Quinn said.
A deputy county coroner described a gruesome scene at the school Wednesday, with blood on every desk, every window broken and the body of a girl slumped beneath the chalkboard, below a sign that read: Visitors Brighten People's Days. Roberts's body was face-down next to the teacher's desk.
"It was horrible. I don't know how else to explain it," said Amanda Shelley, a deputy coroner in Lancaster County.
Funerals for four of the victims -- Naomi Rose Ebersole, seven; Marian Fisher, 13; Mary Liz Miller, eight and her sister Lena Miller, seven -- are scheduled for Thursday at three homes. The funeral for the fifth girl, Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, is Friday.
About 300 to 500 people are expected at each funeral, said Philip Furman, an undertaker. The church-led services typically last about two hours before mourners travel in horse-drawn buggies to a cemetery for a short graveside service.
Five other girls remained in hospital -- three in critical condition and two in serious condition. They ranged in age from six to 13.
Enos Miller, the grandfather of the two Miller sisters, was with both of the girls when they died. He was out walking near the schoolhouse before dawn Wednesday -- he said he couldn't sleep -- when he was asked by a reporter for WGAL-TV whether he had forgiven the gunman.
"In my heart, yes," he said, explaining it was "through God's help."

© The Edmonton Journal 2006

And the world goes crazy....

What is going on with the world? The latest thing to hit the news is the shooting of girls in an Amish school by a "32 year old man with a 20 year old grudge". Oh my goodness!! http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/10/03/angry-shooter.html

There are all sorts of theories about this event. Copycat theory based on recent shootings, didn't have anything again Amish (supposedly), and I'm not sure what this 20 year old grudge is... the innocents are the ones that suffer. And the world weeps with them.

Odd week ... hope the next one is better

Well work has been a little wierd lately. Stressful at times due to "reconfiguring" of some staff positions, makes you wonder what/who is next.

So today, I did an inservice for 10 nursing students about what pastoral care is. I mentioned things like the morgue, spiritual assessment, misconceptions that people have about our work. Just last week, a patient asked me if I sent to see him beecause he is dying. Oh no. I had to tell him. I'm part of the team. You've been here a while and I haven't been able to meet you. That seemed to calm him down. But then he wanted to know what I was... what tradition. What box did he put me in? Was I there to preach at him, I suppose is what he wondered....

This weekend was hubby's bday. We had 15 people come to the house. It was good to have all the people come. Of course there were some that didn't make it, but that is to be expected considering the large number. I didn't cry over the ones that didn't come. More cake for us.

On Friday past, I went to a patient's wake. It wasn't a funeral and it wasn't really a memorial either. It was at the family's home. The man was in his 40's and had been in hospital on and off for a number of months/years. Even spending one or two of his bdays there. It was like a big party. Just what he would have wanted. He was always waiting for the next party/family gathering. It was good to go. The family really seemed to appreciate that I came. There were a few other staff from the hospital and residence where he lived as well. But it was a hard week overall and some stress. So far this week is going better.

Wheels of Life

... and they didn't tell me!!

On Friday, I was trying to log on to the network at work.. and couldn't. Oddly enough, I could do so at noon but not at 2 pm. The IT person was telling me that I had been typing in my password wrong and so it locked me out... or that I had "forgotten" my password. I don't think so.. a person doesn't forget something like that .. well not me. Well, the reason was explained this morning when I came to work. There was a note on my desk.. FYI from the departmental secretary. Email sent from IT telling me that they changed my user name to my married name so I may have some problems accessing email if I didn't know... NO!! I didn't know. HOW am I supposed to know my user name is changed when they send it to the "new" one? and don't tell me? The thing is that I was told I have to have my marriage certificate to change all this stuff so they had sent back my form requesting this and then do it ANYways... argh!!
So that ... was cool. My new name is official. Then I went to send an email. Someone asked for a file.. so I go to attach it and ... no files!! They transferred my email and FORGOT about my files that were on a separate drive. So interestingly enough, someone from IT showed up about 30 minutes after I report the problem and fixed it within an hour of my request. I guess the "oops, I did something" reports aren't too much of a priority but the "um, where's my files? that YOU lost" speaks louder on the priority list. Wierd how life works eh?