SIXTEEN WEEKS….

Let’s just say that I have the absolute worst luck imaginable. I think that I am running a close first to Lynn and Dawn

Let first start from the beginning. In an attempt to turn over my “bad luck” – (which I think is a really a curse (FOR REAL YO!!) I won’t get into the spiritual side of me on here – But I honestly do believe that. Anyway;   we must first start from the beginning. A very good friend of mine – had purchased this “charm” a while back.  It was and is actually very beautiful – it has an Earth Face and a Star face in which you can have the jeweler place stones, your choice in different areas, front and back. I chose the birthstones my Mom, Dad, my two daughters, my fiancé and myself. It is and really DOES Increase your vitality, mental clarity and improve your health and well being.

So, WAY BACK IN OCTOBER after carefully considering placement of my stones, I placed my order ….and I waited the 4 weeks they said I would have my item.

After about the fifth week, I called the company (it is now November) they said that I will have my item by next week ….

And so I waited.

Thanksgiving week – I received an email stating that I can track my order and it eventually did arrive.  The week after Turkey Day. I was so excited !!!  When I received my necklace – opened it up ……….all the stones were in the WRONG place and one was missing from the back.

I called them up, and I must say they were very nice and apologetic on the phone; explaining to me that – there was a change in personnel and they had to regroup etc and to mail the product back to them – and they would fix it.

And so I waited.

Four more weeks go by …..We are now in December – I still haven’t recd my product. So I called again. They said that they had shipped the item to me and that for some reason they received it back. All I could do was laugh – I was like – “Remember we spoke on the phone and I told you that the stones were in the wrong places and that you said that I should ship it back and that you would fix it “ she says

Ahhh Yes, I remember now ….LOL I’m like WTF????????

I secretly said to myself …Please give me whatever your smokin’ I would especially need that on my carb deplete days LOL

Okay so now we are in January 2008 – still have not received my item – called again – and was informed that all the corrections were made and I should be receiving it shortly. At the end of January – I recd yet another email – that I should be expecting it by the end of the week.  Oh Yeah!

And I did.

I was actually on the phone with the woman, she had called me, I walked over to the mail box saw the box,  when I opened up the package and LOW AND BEHOLD;  THERE IT WAS -  

The front of the charm had all the stone just like I ordered and the back …………WAS MISSING THE STONE ….AGAIN LOL. Here we go again!

They were so nice to me that they over nighted a “loaner” until I get received the one that I actually ordered!!!

I guess she knew that my luck REALLY DOES SUCK!
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So much for cosmically connecting with the universe! LOL.

I again ship the item back..And wait and wait and wait.

It’s now February. This week as a matter of fact; – and I received my necklace once
Again. I have to tell you that I was fearful of opening it; I figured what else could go
Wrong…maybe it would be a tarantula from Brazil.  

I carefully opened it up… and there it was PERFECTO!!

Exactly as I ordered it. THANK GOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, today was actually the first day that I wore it. The reason that I actually got it was for its beauty and personal meaning to me, and the representation of the most important people in my life, their birthstones, that I can carry with me always– I am a very spiritual person and have a very “atypical” way of thinking of things.

I am thinking to myself Ah!!! Today is gonna be my lucky day!!!!

NOT

I was in the gym – and the wipes that they have there ran out. So, I decided to change them- I placed the key in to open it, the Lysol Bleach cleaner fell down, hit the garbage can, and the liquid bleach concoction – splashed in BOTH my eyes!! I’m like WTF-  I ran to the bathroom, ( there is only one in the gym) and of course, the guy that decides to take a “navy shower” every morning and” unload” , blow up and  stink up the  bathroom as usual,  for an hour is in there, I’m like; WHY ME LOL.  Needless to say – I located another sink and rinsed my eyes out.

So much for my LUCKY CHARM.

The vision in my left eye is still, somewhat blurry – but at least I can see out of it, so its gonna be alright LOL.

I was talking to my friend; Nic
and told him of my ordeal and he said:

“What??? How the heck did you manage to do that? LOL Seriously, I hope your eye is okay. I’m gonna send you some good karma, so the rest of your day will get a little better (I hope)”

Karma???

I responded back with
I have bad F $%^*^ Karma, that’s for sure — I may have a curse on me - for real YO! I guess it can only get worse like ——–getting attacked by a GIANT PIZZA with lots of cheese LOL ( I can thank Dawn for the pizza thing – I cant stop thinking about it now LOL Thanks Dawn : )  

And Nic says:

“LMAO - look on the bright side … you’re making me laugh too hard! I just spit my gum out on the keyboard when I read your message. It’s Thursday kitty Kat - not Monday! I think your biological clock got screwed up!

And screwed up it is – oh well …….still waiting for that Giant sized pizza to maul my A#@ LOL

Oh and lets not forget that my heat decided to  not work again on Sunday- $800.00  and my roof started leaking again yesterday, after the snow storm, that was after the $ 500.00 repair last month. Geez ..I am so glad that I got my lucky charm LOL

And how was your day ????????

so in case anyone wants to email my Boy Friend- and ask why he is not on my page and why I am not on his- since everyone wants to now my business- and b4 u go typing away it was hacked -phished whatever

“C. F is my acronym for – and I can’t spell it on here –

LOL  C.F.  Stands for Cluster F$!@# , emphasis on the CLUSTER part LOL. Last Sunday, as I wrote in my blog, I had an allergic reaction to those SANI-CLOTHS that they use at the hospital, mainly upper respiratory, wheezing, coughing yada yada..”

Well today I returned to work……sort of. I reported to my post at 7am sharp and was assigned to “triage” which was the recommendation of Occ. Med on my last visit there on August  24, 2007.  It was, I’m assuming the best place; at the time,  that they could put me until we can get the “allergic reaction” situation under control- and to figure out the culprit and what’s causing this to happen. It sounded like a great idea and I was really excited about returning to work- after being home for a week, gets pretty “old” and I like to be busy especially at something that I love doing.

They are now doing some serious construction in the ER, ripping out tiles, etc ( more noxious fumes) I was there about one hour and the same thing that happened on Sunday August 19^th , happened all over again, chest tightness, coughing yada yada yada – I felt like complete and total crap!! I managed to stay until 10:15 am and had to report to Occ. Med AGAIN! To be seen by there physician – as this is a workman’s comp issue. Needless to say I was annoyed, annoyed by the fact the I get up at 430am get ready to go to work, drive the 30-40 commute; and for what – to start coughing – uncontrollably and wheeze – all because of those  WIPES that are being used. They bother me that much.

They were as usual very good – I explained to them that I will not  pre-medicate myself in order to go to work – its ridiculous – that I should have to use an inhaler and take prednisone just for that. I am really upset about all of this because I have recently left another department (which I was at for 1.5 years, to return to the “love of my life; Emergency Medicine”)

I am sad – the plan is “re-assignment” until I find a new place in the hospital – which is understandable for my safety etc. etc. – I will find out more tomorrow – have to go for a CXR and PFT’s this coming Tuesday. My PFT’s yesterday went very well. YEAH!

Anyone have any job opening for a “nurse, being potentially put out to pasture” LOL

Also wondering – do you think this may me a “legal issue” I have no idea to be honest- I just want to go back to work !!! Or have them remove those wipes, that are making me sick.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated

AND TO AGGRAVATE ME EVEN FURTHUR, I COULDN’T DO MY KILLER LEG WORK OUT TODAY AS PLANNED. My back hurts from coughing so much …

Tomorrow is another day ………………………

I’m just really curious? You know the part that says when you are uploading pics of yourself and its has a box that you have to check "I understand that my profile picture must be a picture of me."  So why is there still a picture of a "real doll" on here for so long - and why hasn’t anyone addressed this -Tell me if you think the same …. I have seen that others have said the same - but haven’t posted about it ( to the best of my knowledge anyway) I posted a profile pix of wonder woman - who’s my all time favorite super hero and it was immediately taken down - which is understandable- just curious .. thats all is it or is it not a "doll" ??

I really wasn’t sure if I was hearing correctly or not as I was watching MSNBC news this afternoon. So of course my curiosity prompted me to do a search for this article that was published yesterday, in the Washington Times. I cut and pasted the entire article and added the link at the end.  Talk about a dramatic step and a violation of civil rights…. Oh and I especially dislike how this is in the BUSINESS SECTION of the Washington Times- Our rights I guess are just business to them. Whats next?? If we look to muscular and ripped -  then what? are we going to have to submit to drug testing at our workplace based on what we look like??  The list in my mind can go on and on…………….

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From The Business Section of the Washington Times
Firms dock pay of obese, smokers
August 13, 2007
By Gregory Lopes

Companies seeking to cut rising health care costs are starting to dock the pay of overweight and unhealthy workers.

Clarian Health, an Indiana hospital chain, will require workers who smoke to pay $5 out of each paycheck starting in 2009. For workers deemed obese, as much as $30 will be taken out each paycheck until they meet certain weight, cholesterol and blood pressure standards.

Clarian employees will also be required to take part in a health risk appraisal that will inform the company which employees smoke.

Such appraisals are becoming a popular tool for businesses to determine the health of their work force. The type of health benefit program Clarian is setting up could become a model for businesses in coming years, analysts say.

“We anticipate that more employers will require employees to complete a health risk appraisal and participate in screenings,” said Tracy Watts, a health benefits consultant for Mercer Human Resource Consulting. “We also are seeing more interest in rewards for healthy behaviors such as participating in health management-related programs and for healthy behaviors such as not using tobacco products.”

A survey of nearly 3,000 employers last year by Mercer found that 53 percent required a health risk assessment of its workers. That number is up from 35 percent in 2004.

And 62 percent of the 135 top executives who responded to a PriceWaterhouseCooper’s survey this year said their companies should require employees who show unhealthy behaviors to pay a greater share of their health care costs.

Weyco, a Lansing, Mich., benefits administrator, recently adopted a policy to completely eliminate tobacco use from its work force. In 2003, the company introduced a policy of not hiring tobacco users and began offering smoking-cessation programs to employees, who were given a year to quit.

“While other employers’ health plan costs have spiraled, Weyco’s have stayed the same,” said Gary Climes, vice president and general manager of Weyco.

While charging workers who smoke more for their health care is becoming a widespread practice, more employers are adopting a punitive approach to employees who take health risks such as letting obesity and high cholesterol go unchecked.

Critics view the latest changes as an encroachment on civil rights.

Last month, the federal government implemented new rules to ensure these stringent wellness programs comply with the nondiscrimination provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Health care continues to be the No. 1 cost concern for U.S. companies, said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Coalition on Health, a D.C.-based health care consulting firm for large businesses. That concern rises to new levels each year as the cost of providing health insurance for employees’ increases at twice the rate of inflation, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health policy organization in California.

While many employers have been using financial incentives to encourage participation in wellness programs, Clarian Health decided to use a more strong-handed approach and charge workers more for their health insurance if they opt not to join a wellness program.

Clarian took the dramatic step of docking workers’ paychecks after several years of offering a voluntary wellness initiative. But Clarian’s annual health benefit costs increased 12.9 percent in 2006 and nearly 16 percent this year.

“We believe that by using this premium charge approach, where it shows up in employees’ paycheck every two weeks, it will keep costs in front of the person and we think it will be more effective at creating behavior change,” said Steven Wantz, vice president of human resources at Clarian.

Critics of the cost-cutting strategy accuse businesses of turning their companies into little police states through their health care coverage.

“There are several problems with the current approach,” said Jeremy Gruber, legal director for the National Workrights Institute in Princeton, N.J. “The progression of targeting certain groups — first smokers, now overweight people — will allow employers an unlimited amount of information about a person which has nothing to do with how somebody does their job.

“It’s clearly discriminatory, as employers ask workers to work longer hours with longer commutes than ever before, to penalize someone because they don’t have time to be healthy. It’s a huge irony that may run into legal trouble under the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Mr. Gruber said.

Employers are not the only ones touting the upside of a healthy lifestyle. UnitedHealthcare, a national health insurer, introduced an insurance plan last year that cuts nearly $4,000 from the annual $5,000 deductible for a family if a worker isn’t obese and doesn’t smoke.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070813/BUSINESS/108130052/1001

this week WE ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT IT ROFL LMAO …Including myself ; ) Ahhh The power of advertisement. Off with their thongs!! I say — Just kidding– but honestly I did see the photo the MsF was talking about — that individual is a Nurse - and so am I- I am surprised that she would post that photo there — cuz’ my job would "have my A$$" < no pun intended> if they saw that on here- not a good representation of nurses…..but hey dont we always get a bad rap.