Useless Information Day

• Sitcom characters rarely say good-bye when they hang up the phone.
• Of the six med who made up The Three Stooges over the years, only three of them were real brothers.
• The first televised murder case aired December 5 through 9, 1955.
• The Brady Bunch kids went to elementary school at Dixie Canyon Elementary.
• The characters of Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life
• Every episode of Seinfeld contains a Superman reference somewhere.
• Wilma Flinstone’s maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble’s was Betty Jean McBricker.
• The Simpsons is the longest-running animated series on TV.

Eric Church Concert

There were Cowboys here as well!

Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo!

Fun things to do in Wyoming…

So the last couple of weeks I have been working and trying to do Wyoming things--- here is a little preview:

There was plenty of Cowboys here!

Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo

Wyoming Medical Center

I have wanted to talk about my hospital and share but wanted to pass the NCLEX before first because of my superstitions.

I’m at the Wyoming Medical Center; it is the largest hospital in the state of Wyoming with the only hospital that has a flight team. I’m on the 4^th Floor with is the Medical Floor. It’s the area that I do want to stay and work in for awhile anyway. I guess historically my floor is the pilot floor for the whole hospital so we get the latest and greatest up grades and test everything out before everyone else. I don’t know if this is a good thing or bad thing. There is actually an expansion and renovation of the Emergency Department to help meet the demands of the surrounding area.

Here is some info from the website: “Wyoming Medical Center is a 207 bed not-for-profit (501c3) acute care hospital in the center of Wyoming. The campus covers approximately four city blocks with 719,000 square feet of space. Our central location in Wyoming is convenient and easy-to-access for the thousands of patients we are entrusted to care for each year. With its 150 physicians on staff, Wyoming Medical Center offers 50 specialties with two Centers of Excellence: The Heart Center of Wyoming and Wyoming Neuroscience and Spine Institute. Both centers have received national rankings and recognition for quality measures, outstanding care and service.

With the only air ambulance program in the state, Wyoming Medical Center’s Life Flight travels to all corners of Wyoming for patient transport. The program operates both a helicopter, which is based at the hospital, and a fixed-wing aircraft at the local airport. The service is not only available at a moment’s notice for emergency care for the severely injured or critically ill, it also coordinates with other facilities in transporting patients throughout the United States and Canada.”

If you want to check out more here is the website: http://www.wmcnet.org/

"Great Nurse"

So last Thursday I took the NCLEX to get license after a long and painful time trying to study and feeling prepared for the test. Pretty much the week before the test, I said screw it, worked and watched movies, with the occasional test. From listening to everyone who had taken the test so far, I though the test would be horrible and every question for some reason wouldn’t even be related to what I have studied over the last year. I had also felt really stressed and under pressure to pass this examine since I did move 300 miles to a new state with a job that required me to pass the exam. I had a number of dreams about being homeless and sleeping in my car with my cat and her litter box wondering how I’m going to pay off my very expensive nursing education, plus my previous degree. But it is such a relief to see the “PASS” result. I still have been a little nervous about the result not showing up on the Wyoming State Board website yet while my co-workers found out the next day. Plus my forwarding mail is all screwed up, and my address with the state is still my old address. So that means I will be getting my paper license even later then expected.

The Look on my face before the test!

Over the last couple of months I have been pretty superstitious about calling myself a nurse, I didn’t want to jinx not passing the test. I’d go into a patient room and say, “I will be caring for you today,” and dancing around the word Nurse. My name tag has a tag that says “GN” and a lot of patients ask me what it stands for and the running joke it means: “good nurse” “great nurse.” But now it does feel great to actually call myself a registered “real” nurse.
I actually the day after I found out I passed, I had a patient who was stable all day went Septic and Respiratory Distress with in 20 minutes right in front of my eyes. With the instruction of the Attending doctor and my preceptor I was actually able to help my patient breath better, become more responsive and decrease his heart rate from 170 down to 100. I was very concerned about my patient and myself going in to Respiratory Distress as well, but I was able to keep my cool. And with the help of IV push Metoprolol (which I didn’t think I was able to push—still in the student mentality), but within seconds the heart rate decreased and he was able to breath better. I couldn’t believe my actions actually brought my patient back to the point he asked me if you could eat something because he was feeling 110% better. I’m so happy that I am in such a rewarding career. I know that it wont always be great and there will be stressful days but if I am about to help one person feel better and have a better quality of life for one day then all those stressful days are worth it! And I know I will stick up to the expectations of a GN or great nurse. :)

Sinus Tachycardia

This is how I feel about taking the NCLEX tomorrow!
....i Like the music is a little calming....

Useless Information Day

More useless information:

4000 people are injured by teapots each year.

Toothpick is the object most often chocked on by Americans. Every year, more than 8,800 people injure themselves in some way with a toothpick.

On average, one hundred people chock on ballpoint pen every year.

Forty thousand Americans are injured by toilets every year.

1990, there were about Fifteen thousand vacuum cleaner—related accidents in the United States.

Next time think twice about using a toothpick or sitting on the Royal Thorn.

Fun Facts of Wyoming

So I thought it would be a good idea to learn more about Casper and Wyoming so I did a little research, so if you are interested read ahead.

History of Casper:

Casper was one of the trails for Oregon Trail travelers. They had to cross the North Platte River in order to follow the Sweetwater River for the next portion of their trek.

The fort was named after Caspar Collin a Lieutenant who helped protect them from the surrounding area Indians. The settlers called it Fort Caspar since there was already a Fort Collins in northern Colorado.

The city of Casper was established in 1888, eleven years after Fort Caspar was abandoned. Some obscure person misspelled Caspar as Casper, the reason for the different spelling.

State Facts:

Wyoming's official flag was adopted in 1917. The flag has a deep blue field surrounded by white and red borders. A white bison dominates the flag; it has the state seal in the center.

State Mammal: Buffalo

State Bird: Western Meadowlark

State Flower: Indian paintbrush

State Tree: Plains Cottonwood

State Nickname: Equality State

State Motto: "Equal Rights"

Area: 97,818 square miles [Wyoming is the 10th biggest state in the USA]

Interesting Facts:

· Wyoming was the first state to have a county public library.

· The popular Columbia Pictures film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was filmed on location at Devil's Tower.

· In, 1872, Yellowstone was designated as the first National Park in the nation. Not only is Yellowstone National Park the first in the nation, but also the first in the world.· Yellowstone National Park has more geysers than any other geyser field in the world.

The Jackalope, thought by many to be a mystical creature, is actually said to exist in Wyoming. One of the rarest animals in the world, it is a cross between a now extinct pygmy-deer and a species of killer-rabbit.

· The largest coal mine in the USA is Black Thunder located near Wright.

· The first Dude Ranch in Wyoming was the Eaton Ranch, near Wolf. The Eaton's also came up with the term "dude".

· The horse on the Wyoming license plate has a name, "Old Steamboat." It is named after a bronco that could not be ridden in the early 1900’s.

· Devils Tower was designated as the first National Monument in 1906.

· Wyoming has the lowest population of all 50 United States.

· The state name came from the Delaware Indian word, meaning "mountains and valleys alternating.

· When the Wyoming Territory was organized in 1869, Wyoming women became the first in the nation to obtain the right to vote.

Hope you learned something about Wyoming today :)

Vampires!

The other night I went as saw The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. And I must say that it was pretty great. I felt this movie was much better in the first 2 and

it makes me excited to see the 4^th movie, which is my favorite book. I do think it is hilarious that I’m 26 yrs old and love the high school, making out, vampire-werewolf, and sometimes-cheesy books and movies. I guess I should stand up and be proud. But I’m the same way about the Harry Potter series. So anyway, if you haven’t seen it, go see it! I loved how there are comments in the movie about the real-life chatter of Jacob and his gorgeous body and the rivalry between “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob.” For me

I really can’t decide which team I swing for. Edward is an English guy, and that accent makes him hot all alone and the Jacob does have the body.

I don’t have cable currently so I have been watching ABC.com and there is a new show called The Gates which I know isn’t going to last very long on the network but it seems they have all mystical creatures from vampires, werewolves and succubus (which I had to look up). Now True Blood sounds interesting and Lisa let me borrow the book series that the show is based on so

hopefully soon I can start reading those. I do have to say personally I cannot decide if this vampire stuff is being overplayed or interesting. In the meantime I will still probably continue to watch. I also want to read about the vampire classics like "An Interview with A Vampire" and "Dracula" ...So maybe I do like this stuff after all :).

Now a really important question: Are you “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob”?