Plague Diary: The Update
Aug. 18th, 2024 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydyI just looked, and my goodness, I have had serious life events since the last time I posted. I do not have time to do them justice!
When I got back from Cleveland, I took my old job at Minnesota Sleep Institute back. It was the same, only worse. I had never really liked one of the managers there, and he became my full-time manager. Their policies around COVID were extremely inconsistent, and they blamed the techs for not implementing inconsistent, contradictory policies. There was the usual issues with there being a shortage of consumable supplies, and the durable equipment not working and not being able to get replacements. On top of that, their idea of how to resolve a personnel issue where one tech insulted and threatened another tech was to just not schedule them on the same shift, and so I got to drive to Coon Rapids once a week, which I hated.
So, I had been looking at job listings with some curiosity, and there was this listing for 100% travel in Minnesota. One of the day staff in Coon Rapids had previously worked there and said that the doctor was good people, and that in general they treated their people fairly. I applied, and got the job in June of .... 2023? 2022? Time has no meaning, my friends, none at all.
So the gig is this: I have two Pelican cases with all the equipment needed to set up a sleep study, including camera, CPAP machine, amplifier, infrared light, microphone, etc. I have two laptops, a lot of ethernet cable, two wire bags with my wires, and two duffles, one with CPAP masks and one with consumable supplies. I drive to a location (Ortonville, MN, Benson, MN, Madison, MN, Waukon, IA, Richland Center, WI, or some other damn place) in the company car (a Subaru Crosstrek), check into an hotel, unload my personal gear, drive to the rural hospital which has rooms set aside, set up my gear, work a full shift, and go back to the hotel, sleep. I work three nights (or occasionally 4), then pack up all that gear, go back to the hotel, take a nap, load out, and go home. I usually work Tues. Wed. and Thurs, get home Fri. I am responsible for my own supplies, so I have to order things as I need them. Which means, if I run out, it's my fault. This almost never happens.
This is a job that gives me a great deal of freedom. I control my wires and supplies, I work alone, my hours are kinda sorta flexible. My scheduler and my lead tech are incredibly supportive and responsive. If I want to work a long week one week and a short week another week, they are super happy to let me do that. I can choose which days of the week I want to work. It is also a job that takes up most of my executive function. I was a little suprised to find that it doesn't overmatch me, but it does sometimes leave me tapped out.
It's a lot of driving. More than 1,000 miles a month. So far, I've had two accidents. One was a deer strike (and absolutely not my fault) the second was a very slow-moving slide off the road into a snow bank in Wisconsin, from which I had to be extracted by tow truck. Turns out, Sterns Count in Wisconsin feels that ploughing highways is optional.
This works as well as it does in part because David is retired, and can do cat petting and litter box scraping while I'm gone.
I am sure I'll have more to say on this, but that's probably the biggest development.
When I got back from Cleveland, I took my old job at Minnesota Sleep Institute back. It was the same, only worse. I had never really liked one of the managers there, and he became my full-time manager. Their policies around COVID were extremely inconsistent, and they blamed the techs for not implementing inconsistent, contradictory policies. There was the usual issues with there being a shortage of consumable supplies, and the durable equipment not working and not being able to get replacements. On top of that, their idea of how to resolve a personnel issue where one tech insulted and threatened another tech was to just not schedule them on the same shift, and so I got to drive to Coon Rapids once a week, which I hated.
So, I had been looking at job listings with some curiosity, and there was this listing for 100% travel in Minnesota. One of the day staff in Coon Rapids had previously worked there and said that the doctor was good people, and that in general they treated their people fairly. I applied, and got the job in June of .... 2023? 2022? Time has no meaning, my friends, none at all.
So the gig is this: I have two Pelican cases with all the equipment needed to set up a sleep study, including camera, CPAP machine, amplifier, infrared light, microphone, etc. I have two laptops, a lot of ethernet cable, two wire bags with my wires, and two duffles, one with CPAP masks and one with consumable supplies. I drive to a location (Ortonville, MN, Benson, MN, Madison, MN, Waukon, IA, Richland Center, WI, or some other damn place) in the company car (a Subaru Crosstrek), check into an hotel, unload my personal gear, drive to the rural hospital which has rooms set aside, set up my gear, work a full shift, and go back to the hotel, sleep. I work three nights (or occasionally 4), then pack up all that gear, go back to the hotel, take a nap, load out, and go home. I usually work Tues. Wed. and Thurs, get home Fri. I am responsible for my own supplies, so I have to order things as I need them. Which means, if I run out, it's my fault. This almost never happens.
This is a job that gives me a great deal of freedom. I control my wires and supplies, I work alone, my hours are kinda sorta flexible. My scheduler and my lead tech are incredibly supportive and responsive. If I want to work a long week one week and a short week another week, they are super happy to let me do that. I can choose which days of the week I want to work. It is also a job that takes up most of my executive function. I was a little suprised to find that it doesn't overmatch me, but it does sometimes leave me tapped out.
It's a lot of driving. More than 1,000 miles a month. So far, I've had two accidents. One was a deer strike (and absolutely not my fault) the second was a very slow-moving slide off the road into a snow bank in Wisconsin, from which I had to be extracted by tow truck. Turns out, Sterns Count in Wisconsin feels that ploughing highways is optional.
This works as well as it does in part because David is retired, and can do cat petting and litter box scraping while I'm gone.
I am sure I'll have more to say on this, but that's probably the biggest development.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-18 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-18 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-19 02:30 am (UTC)It sounds like, while it still has some downsides (like basically every job ever) there are many ways in which it matches your needs much better than previous arrangements. I'm very glad, and hope that you find ways to make the driving and executive function parts easier for you while preserving the independence and freedom that make it good.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-19 03:45 pm (UTC)We both drove Subarus, my wife is in a '19 Outback (elk strike in '19 took out her previous Outback) and I'm in a '15 Crosstrek. I trust you're in good snow tires?
After we got married and I moved up here, I was in an AWD Toyota Matrix with snow tires. And I got stuck - in one or two winters - in every place that it took my wife like a decade to get stuck in! It's been quite some time since I've had that happen to me.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-19 04:03 pm (UTC)Last winter, I think, I was driving home from Ortonville. Ortonville is very near South Dakota, and about three and a half hours from home on a good day. There had been, however, a blizzard. The driving was really bad. There was about two inches of ice underneath the snow. Every time I touched the brakes, the car tried to go sideways. At 20 mph, it felt like I was going much too fast.
My lead tech, who is a lovely woman and who is always worried about people driving in bad weather because her husband is a sheriff who has to clean up after people's poor decisions, called me. She'd been looking at 511.mn, which is a website that shows road conditions in the state. She asked me where I was. (Hands free phone, you understand) I said, "I'm on Highway 7, just past Cosmos." She said, "511 has just changed that road to 'no travel advised'." I said, "Well, I agree with them!" I ended up staying overnight in Hutchinson, which was about half-way to home, and it took me almost six hours to get there. Fun times! (Not.)
Actually, the worst roads are in Wisconsin. When they send me to Richland Center in the winter, I dread the drive. But, well, other than totally a car on the deer, things have been fine.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-19 10:02 pm (UTC)Definitely get snow tires! While Subarus are awesome traction control and AWD, you still need snow tires. I have a particular brand of Michelin that my wife really likes, and she's from Ohio and went to school at Penn State. I'll get you the information later, We keep our cars shod in them year round, they're also good all-weather.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-26 04:00 pm (UTC)However, for some cars (my Hondas at least), there are year-round tires that are rated as good in snow as dedicated snow tires.
My car friends told me to look at reviews and pricing at https://www.tirerack.com , and I haven't had a problem since.
(Also, hi, nice to see you here again.)
no subject
Date: 2024-08-26 08:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-19 05:55 pm (UTC)so now you're a independent sleep fairy? that sounds like a challenge!
your arm back and up to snuff?
train a cat for traveling?
no subject
Date: 2024-08-21 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-21 01:41 am (UTC)