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Plague Diary: The Update
Aug. 18th, 2024 03:02 pmI 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.
