Katiebell’s blog

Photo Contest

2009-11-08T16:05:36Z

There is a photo contest at my Job (for the entire 7 hospital system). I'd like to enter, but I am not sure I have anything really great. My choices are:

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The Gator. People like the color I was able to capture, and the reflection and the way the water looks....

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The Frog which is a nice color study...and surprising...but doesnt everyone have this photo in one form or another...

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Dragon fly, but his wings happen to be well used....a fact of life....

I need to decide the deadline is November 10. I have a ton of photos. They need to be non imflammatory type pictures as it is the religious hospital....but I mostly do wildlife, sooooo...

Which ones are good...

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this is actually a Sun Rise....I like the dark and orangey contast.

With Digital Photography, I think the average photographer has become very skilled, given that any of us can fire off 40 shots, without the fear of wasting 40 things of film....so I think competition is fierce..not only does it have to be

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perfectly in focus, and not have a lot of distractors. the composition of the image should also be good, which is sometimes hard for me, like the stick in the background of the Frog, its hard to crop out and there was no way I could move it....

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Plus its hard to tell what judges are going to like, dislike.....

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Sooooo..... what do you all think????

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Stress....

2009-11-07T14:32:06Z

Everything seems to be just rather "off" lately.

It looks like I am going to transfer to the Celebration Campus of Florida Hospital...

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Where maybe I can become super nurse....Ha.

Its a different shift, 9a-7p 4 days a week. I emailed the director yesterday, he responded within an hour and offerred me two different shifts. the 10 hour one is very bizarre, but, after thinking about it, I realized this type of shift would actually help me with my running goals etc. As I'd be able to do a workout every single day if I wanted to...

I'm really nervous about any kind of job change. If I hate it, it's unlikely that I would just be able to transfer back. I think though it might be a place where I could advance a little in my career. but there are all those doubts, about if it is going to be a horrific move, if people will like me, if I will remain friends with the friends I made at the other hospital...

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if I will make new friends....If I can advance a little in the job, or not, if I would be able to move to a 7-7 shift after some time if the 9-7 was not good.....etc etc etc....

On top of that:

Running lately has been terrible. My legs are hurting, the more time I take off, the faster the legs heal, but my base also gets destroyed each time I take a day off....

This is probably what has precipitated my completely foul mood.

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Unfortunately it really crept up on me. So now I am in a bit of a pit of despair. I am having a lot of trouble running, and thus I have no interest in any type of gym work. Thus making it even more difficult when my leg starts to feel better...because my base is decimated. I feel so anxious about this its hard to describe. I have that Marathon coming up and I simply don't want to run it, but having friends coming in makes it very very difficult. Even today I am missing a super fun race sponsered by my hospital because my leg is in too much pain and I can't really run.

My main interest right now is sleeping and doing mindless activities like playing Bejewled Blitz on facebook. While both are excellent activities, they really aren't the end all be all. And the fact is that I know that if one continues to allow themselves to wallow, then most likely nothing is going to change, so it becomes a forcing to get out and do stuff that I used to like to do. Truth is I probably still like to do them, but it's just the apathy and frustration that is getting in the way.

I'm going to try to super schedule everything for the next week, forcing myself to get out to the gym, the pool, continue to set up the aquarium, meal planning, etc. And hopefully that will help me a lot....

Ugh.

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And can someone explain why these animals are living in my neighbourhood????

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Changes coming....

2009-11-05T02:13:35Z

While I have been enjoying my job, for the most part, I've been exhausted by the commute and some of the problems that are inherent in the medical field...

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We seem to be awash not only in new nurses, but relatively new nurses, who are far more dangerous than the brand new ones. They are the ones who know enough to do on their own, but not enough to recognize the more subtle signs of problems and act on them. Some days get really tiring, because I feel like I'm constantly answering questions, helping the newbies, handling my own load and keeping an eye out for problems that they might miss. In addition, I've done a great deal more damage control than I would like. With the long drive, and these annoyances, I have been thinking about a new job. My Manager is also annoying me a lot...as the staff seems to be having a great deal of behavioral issues that no one is really dealing with....The biggest issue I have is with a weekend charge nurse who is not very competent but continues to remain in charge...

Unfortunately, the grass is not greener anywhere else. But with brown grass, I know that at least driving shorter to the brown grass it will be better...

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I have 2 opportunities for jobs.

One is at the Celebrations Disney Campus of Florida Hospital. This is a sure shot. They have offerred me the day shift, and the manager offerred it without me asking. It's just a transfer so I wouldn't even have to mess about with moving my 403B, changing insurance, etc. It's a bit of a smaller Emergency Department, with a very different clientele. So my pay would stay the same etc.

Downside is that this campus has a bad reputation. 2 nurses have transferred from there. One was very unhappy, the other, seems to have just wanted to not drive so far.

Second Opportunity is 2 miles from my house. Not affiliated with Florida Hospital. I have a vague interview tomorro.

Very small Emergency department, most stuff gets flown out. I get a huge gym discount if I work there, and it's so close that doing little bits and pieces of overtime would be no issue. I don't know about pay or insurance. there is a chance that both could be better....

Decreasing my commute time would help a lot too with more daily exercise.

I really like where I work, but I am so so sick of getting up at 4 am, and trying to play the political game. who knows what's going to happen though.

It's really hard for me to decide what to do.....I really want to stay in the same place, just so I don't have to figure out how to negotiate everything new....but I also see that this could be the best thing ever.....

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Oakland Park. I found the Alligator!

2009-10-31T00:38:28Z

I have not been running this week because I seem to have strained my right calf severely. It doesn't hurt much to walk on it, but when I put the full impact of running on it, it was really terrible.

So, in lieu of the running, I took Teulu the wonder dog out for a 6 mile walk. (He needs to lose about 10 pounds, so it was part of his diet and excersise program as well...)

Oakland park is not really a park. It's a very small lake (about 1/2 mile around) with a gravel path, a picnic bench and some swings at one area. It is situated on the West Orange Trail about 2.5 or so miles in.

As with most Bodies of water in Florida, This sign is posted.

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This is the only place with a 1-800-gator program...but they really are a problem at times. I have been to this park so many times, I was convinced there were no gators, but I was wrong.

The lake is home to a lot of wild life. It's one place where I can ensure constant sighting of the little blue heron, egrets, and a variety of other lizards etc....

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I personally like to photograph the frogs. Frog photography is pretty tough with an overly excited dog. this particular frog obliged even with the dog pacing wildly. Eventually though I did not supervise the dog carefully enough and he decided to jump into the pond to cool off....

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Keeping in mind the sign I had just seen I was a bit frantic to get him out. He did climb on out within minutes (he was still on a leash) now wet and covered in the green weeds. THis is the only photo I got of him. Not a pretty sight, but it does reflect his enthusiasm.

Sort of. His tail is not as fluffy as normal as it soaked in pond scum.

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We kept moving around the pond after Teulu's unexpected descent into the deeps.

Fall in Florida is a bit different. We don't get a lot of "Fall color" like up north. and right now its about 83 degrees F at 8 pm. But we do have subtle seasonal changes, like the seed pod below. Seeing a whole vine of these is like looking at fairy lanterns. I know its probably some sort of noxious weed, but its very fall like, and cheerful....

and while we dont have fall colors we do have some spooky Halloweeny sights:

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Moving around the pond, we photographed, and then startled a Great Blue Heron.

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Which moved and then pretty much posed and posed for me until I actually got sick of photographing it.

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But I did get some pictures of the bird.

At that point, I was being attacked by many mosquitos. So I decided we should move away from the water. Suddenly I hear a scratching noise on the ground, and a very large sploosh. Definitely not a frog. It was the Alligator I had been searching for for months! I was definitely too close to such a creature. From what I gather about Alligators, they are not exactly bright, as UF states they are mostly just prey driven predators.

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This is the wide angle of the pond.

As we went back up on the gravel, away from the gator sploosh, I then spotted another Gator resting on a log. It does look like I am right beside him, but I have a long zoom.

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This is the other view of an alligator which is more often encountered.

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It's often hard to tell if it's a log or a gator, but this particular log moved about 10 minutes after I took the photo, so I am sure it was a gator....

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Anyway, theres my latest photography. I hope people enjoy.

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Ponce Inlet Florida Take Three....

2009-10-25T17:13:14Z

On Friday, I went to Ponce Inlet, for a little day trip. It's about 1.5 hours from home. I must have misread the information on the Internet because I had this crazy notion that it was a dogs allowed beach. Well, I was unfortunately wrong about that. but we still had a nice trip and I have photos to share.

Ponce De Leon inlet is a small town about 12 miles south of Daytona. Daytona of course is famous for Bike Week and also for allowing cars on the beach. (No dogs, but yes on the cars...)

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Along the beach you can indeed see people, mostly with SUV's parked and then planted a few feet from their cars. I guess in the US, where we do have a love affair with our cars its not surprising!

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The population of Ponce inlet is maybe 3000 people. From my visit I have concluded that at least half of them are older men with Leathery tans who enjoy wearing Hawaiian Shirts...

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They ride pedal bikes around town and seem to be some of the happiest people around. I couldn't help it, I kept hearing Margaritaville the entire day in my head....

This inlet, formerly known as Mosquito Inlet, is one of the most treacherous ones in the Southeast.

Apparently since the 1500's ships have been wrecking on the sand bars.

The inlet was apparently explored by Ponce De Leon, who may have recognized the inherent problems with the inlet and sailed further north to settle St Augustine

which apparently has easier access to the sea.

The Mosquito inlet was claimed at times by France and Spain but except for the planting of some orange groves apparently the area was not a priority.

In 1821, Florida became American territory, plantations were drevived from earlier days and the inlet became again important in shipping...it also remained dangerous. A lighthouse was constructed there in 1834. Oddly, while the lighthouse had a great deal of current technology for the time installed, oil for the lights never arrived and so it was never lit. Continuing in the vein of bad luck, a hurricane arrived in 1835, and damaged the structure so badly that it now leaned. In December of 1835 the Seminole tribe attacked the listing lighthouse, burning the stairs, smashing the glass and absconding with the light reflectors.

It was said that the leader,Coácoochee, was later seen wearing the reflectors as a headress in the Battle of Dunlawton, a few weeks later. I searched and searched on the net and could not find an image of this, which must have been quite a fantastic sight.

Due to the Seminole War going on , no one came to repair the lighthouse and in 1836 it simply fell into the sea.

Fast forward fifty years later, the Seminoles now eradicated by war and disease, Ponce Inlet is now becomeing important in timber supply for ship building. the Inlet, however, remained a challenge. And thus, Congress once again approved money for the construction of another lighthouse.

It became very obvious how strong the need was when one examines this statement from the Halifax Gazette

"out of the eight or ten schooners employed in the lighthouse work five have been wrecked..." on the bar or in the river."

This lighthouse still stands in Ponce Inlet and is one of the most completely restored lighthouses in the country. At 176 feet high it is also one of the tallest. Due to this, I am surprised it isn't more well known.

The entrance of the Museum sports this quote... which I suppose is appropriate for the times.....

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It has over 200 steps and visitors can actually climb up the lighthouse and walk about the decking for an excellent view of the coastline.

Now would be the moment for me to insert my photo of the magnificent view of the coastline, yes? Well, when I attempted to leave the poor puppy, he protested rather loudly, leaving me to abandon any hope of climbing the lighthouse.

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Nevertheless, despite not being able to go to the Beach, the Lighthouse or the Marine life center due to the dog, I actually found a lovely nature trail that appeared to be a dogs allowed kind of place.

At the end of it, there was an observing platform about 4 flights of steps up, so it was very pleasant to get up there and have a great view of the lighthouse from above the trees, and some of the coastal birds...

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At the time I was taking the photos, I thought this was a hawk, but now that I look at the beak, sadly I think this is a turkey vulture. Aw well, it was having fun bobbing and weaving about in the breeze....

No trip to the coast would be complete without Pelicans..

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Another view of the lighthouse, from the platform. It does appear to be leaning, but I think it was me who was doing the leaning!

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ANyway, I really think this is a great place to visit. It's tiny, lots of free parking, the beach is pretty nice (I am not a fan of the cars however...) the Marine life center has some cool things to see, as well as the lighthouse museum. Great for a stop-over, not a destination....Just don't bring the dog, he'll be disappointed!!!

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yikes

2009-10-25T15:46:14Z

I have been trying for an hour to post up photos from my trip to Ponce Inlet....each time I upload them and try to rearrange them, some wierd glitch deletes my post.......arrrrugh

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This week in Running (Again)

2009-10-11T22:45:45Z

Well, this week was somewhat improved. I'm really still sore and achy and feeling sort of distracted.

This is the part of training that I dislike intensely. I have lost a bit of my base, it is coming back, but while it is coming back running is very much a chore.

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It's hard to get going, and hard to continue. There doesn't seem to be any benefit to doing it at all I seem so far from the goal that I just feel like quitting entirely.

In fact, I have to keep reciting things in my head regarding the benefits of running.

Mostly I focus on:

Its great for my heart

It is good for my waistline

I already am committed to a race.

And then I sort of get grumpy.

But it's a phase that I go through each time I stop running for sickness or things like stressful home sales!

I have to run through it, literally.

This week I managed to do 3 runs and one session on the ellipitical trainer.

If you count the ellipitical I did 16.5 miles, which is much better than the 6 I did last week.

If you dont count the ellipitical its 14 miles. Still good. 2 4 milers and a very difficult Six miler.

It HOT here in Florida. Now, I know a lot of you are saying...

Geee, DUH. its Florida. Yup, it's Florida. But we are having record Heat. Heat indices at 110. So, I hope thats part of why some of the runs have been a little difficult.

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Apparently at the end of this week we will be dropping back to the 80's which is great....

So, this is the week in Runnning. This week I have an odd schedule as I switched with someone. I'm hoping to increase up to 18-20 miles, but we'll see, That six miler just about did me in.

Until then I am trying to be

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I think I can.... I think I can... I think I can....

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QotD: Gone Too Far

2009-10-11T22:23:18Z

What is the scariest incident with drugs or alcohol you’ve witnessed or personally experienced? How did it change you?
Sponsored by MTV's "Gone Too Far." Tune into the series premiere this Monday at 10 p.m. EST.

Ok so being an Emergency nurse, I probably shouldn't answer this.
How's about one DAY, not night, using Naxloxone on a Mother, Grandmother and Kid all from the same family, all overdosed on Herion which they had been doing together.
I was pretty jaded by the time this came around. I could tell story after story of people who have really ruined their lives via Drugs/Alcohol.
But it looks like MTV is going to make some money doing it instead, and call it "entertainment"

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A Florida Fall Season

2009-10-05T23:25:17Z

looks pretty different from the rest of the country. We usually don't get too much of the crisp cool weather with leaves crunching under foot..

Instead our Fall looks like this:

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Spanish Moss and some sort of yellow bloomy things.....

ah well, at least I dont have to wear anything but shorts and tank tops!

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Last week in Running.

2009-10-05T19:40:49Z

Last week, was really really not that great for running. I was still really really tired from being sick and it was hard for me to get interested into the running....I was starting to get really worried but today was better, so I think things are getting back to normal...

I did learn last week though that there is a relatively flatter area for running just a few miles from my house, so I have now been using that while I try to continue to recover my base...

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The West Orange trail is a rails to trails type project that is pretty nice. Because it was originally a railway, it is of course, moderately flattish, it tends to go up and down, but very gradually...as compared to most of Clermont, where hills are rather steep and frequent.

I think as my base improves, I will go ahead and use this trail for long runs, and keep on the hills for the shorter ones...

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the trail is a little odd, as it parallels one of the biggest roads in Florida....so while it sort of looks very natural and peaceful...the traffic noise is rather distracting. It doesn;t seem to bother the wildlife however, I've seen White tailed deer, the endangered Gopher tortoise, loads of butterflies and dragonflies and some very irritating biting flies who trail me as I run....

So last week, was pretty horrible, but this week does seem to be looking up. I still can;t believe how long it took me to get over my illness. Wash your hands folks!

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