Transitions

From March 15 to April 30th, I wil be doing my Transitions or final clinical experience at OHSU.

[jomicruz]

sleeping on the table while the mommas work on the computers

[jomicruz]

I finally made it to voodoo doughnuts... where I had the best doughnut ever.  I got their maple bacon bar and a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and coco puffs doughnut.  I had some on Saturday night and paired the rest with Stumptown coffee on Sunday morning.

In the picture with the people I'm the one in the middle in the photo... the other two folks are my colleagues at JHUSON who are also doing their transitions practicum at OHSU.  It was very nice to get together.

We went to Rogue Brewery where we had the maple bacon beer in honor the famous voodoo doughnut.  The beer was very smokey, and I'm glad I shared it.  It cost me $13 for that experience, it isn't a repeat, unless you like smokey beers.

One of the highlights of the night was learning that Epic: the charting system used at OHSU is very marketable.  The program is actually very cool, it uses things called dotphrases which are shortcuts that start with a "." but fill in words that you would otherwise have to type in yourself.  I learned dotphrases for care plans, evaluation notes and handoffs in my training last week. 

I've had to focus on school work even though the weather is gorgeous now... But I will continue to post about my adventures, or lack there of.

[jomicruz]

A flight of beer at Bridgeport Brewery, one of Portland's first craft breweries. They were all very good: the IPA on the upper right was my favorite. I recommend to check out their website and drink their beer. The food was delicious, too. The menu had some Korean inspirations which made me nostalgic. Yesterday was the first sunny day after what seemed like a week of consistent rain with a touch of snow at the end. I worked on Thursday for the first time at the hospital and it was great: busy and saw lots of cool things, learned a lot and integrated what I've learned in school. The 12 almost 13 hour shift knocked me out when I got home and sleeping for 10 hours was part of the recovery plan. After doing some school work and chores, the trip to the brewery for dinner was a welcome treat. The alehouse was on SE Hawthorne Street: which has tons of shops and eateries. This was my second time hanging across the river and I liked it.

[jomicruz]

Three things I have to share

I've been told that these things are extremely Portland.  Before I forget, before my blogging tapers off (hope not), and to keep these stories as unadulturated as possible let me share them now.

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Sunday, March 17th: I'm on the Trimet from turning in the rental car at the airport.  In comes in a middle aged man; he looks very dirty and gruff he sits down across from me.  He pulls out a flip phone and calls a friend. 

"I'm on the Max and I'm coming over."... "Hey, you got some beer?"... "you only have one beer? I gotta bring beer too?"

A minute or two later, the guy seated 2 seats away from me to my left pulls out a $5 and hands it to the guy across from me and says "Here, go get yourself a beer"

Man across from me says "Are you serious?"

Man next to me says "Yeah, get yourself a beer, if you're smart you can get yourself a six pack"

Man across, taking the five says "Now I can."

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I'm not making it up. Seriously.

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Today, (March 19th):I'm seated at the very back of a crowded bus in the middle seats and notice that a woman in front of me to my left drops a $5 bill.  Before I could get the woman's  attention (she's got her back to me), the woman to my right reaches over me to get the $5 from the floor and urgently deliver it to the woman.  Message: This woman was almost rude to me to be kind or a good samaritan to someone else!

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 Also today:

I'm on the phone, walking to my bus stop, and a young woman shows me a bus ticket.  I say no thanks and continue my conversation.  But then, a little voice in my head asks, is that my bus ticket?  (I thought the woman was trying to sell me the ticket.)  So I search my pockets, purse and wallet, and notice that I don't have my ticket!

I go to the woman and ask her: was that my ticket that I dropped?  And she said yeah, that she was asking me if I needed the ticket and I said no.  I then found out that she trashed my ticket!  (Not sure why she trashed my ticket considering that it was valid for another 5 days) 

So the ticket is in the trash, the public trash that is housed in a little metal house that has a lock on it.  Luckily the lock is not locked.  I'm thinking and say outloud that I need that ticket.  In my mind, I'm already prepping for the grossness that lies ahead: moving trash around to find my ticket.  However, I was not prepared for the following: she procedes to take the trash bin out of its metal housing, and moves the trash around to get my ticket out of the trash.  I'm not lying. 

There you have it: three true stories about three very kind Portland city citizens.

[jomicruz]

This was the screen I was looking at for a better part of the day today. Learned how to chart a whole bunch of stuff including admission assessment, peripheral lines, significant events among other things. The jury is still out but I liked it more when I first saw it than when I was done. It could be that I had to look at it for 7.5 hours today. But the instructor was nice and he showed me a most delicious cafe on campus during lunch ... I just don't think I could retrace my steps there, it was close to the training area: just interlinking buildings got me all confused. I had pork normandy w potatoes and carrots, doesn't sound fancy? (I thought it did!). And, the chalk board also listed the farm that the pork was acquired from. It had sprinkle of parsley and some apples on top. It was most yummy, sad day for Babe.

[jomicruz]

Todays theme was: public transportation.  The new, the good, and the bad.

It starts with: the ticket.  I purchased it at the grocery store (Fred Meyer which was super nice) for 21USD.  It will be good for seven days, and I took the picture before I scratched off the other 6 days the ticket is good for: don't be sneaky: the card says that you must use it seven days that are consecutive. You can't go scratching the most convenient seven days.  My ticket is for zones 1 and 2 (there are 3 zones).  If I needed to go to the third (farther) zone, I'd need to pay an upgrade fee: I was told it would be around $.50.

And, I think that the second picture is the MAX, which is the light rail.  I got on and off the MAX and the buses today quite a bit.  (I thought it was the streetcar, but can't remember that well now, even though I used the MAX a bit).  The transportation system seems/feels well integrated and if not entirely intuitive, there is plenty of help to help you navigate (pun intended).  People that work with Trimet (Trimet=MTA in NYC) and even an app for the buses, which was already super helpful.  Its called PDX Bus.

The bad: it's cold here, and it rains.. I think it rains everyday, but it's cold, so it's like Puerto Rico, but not.  I had to wait quite a bit for the connecting bus tonight because it is a Sunday night.  But I'm glad I had some caffeine free tea bags an a heater to warm up to. 

[jomicruz]

Today was super busy!

I went to CorePowerYoga on NW23rd St and redeemed my Groupon, and began my journey back to being a stronger more fit person!  Yeay!  Then I was so hungry, I ordered manicotti stuffed with beef pork ricotta and spinach, topped with alfredo and marinara sauce, and ordered garlic bread.  (It was not that great, so the picture did not make it in).

Then, drumroll, I went to the famed forest park!  Woohoo!

I was of course, walking the wrong way, then asked someone and was directed to the nice entrance that is depicted with the first picture. The actual entrance is to the left, I took the picture from stairs going down to the entrance.

When I got the entrance, I was so excited, I decided to take a hike.  And hike I did... FOR FIVE MILES, ALL UPHILL.  Ok, I lied, and you are too smart:  it can't be all uphill.  Half of it was.  Steep, too! And it was a little slippery, and a lot dangerous, but don't worry, I only slipped once and I was in a very very safe area.  It was so safe it would have been funny to fall there (even I would have laughed).  It was at Pittock Mansion: the turnaround/summit point for this particular hike and I slipped on some grass because it was muddy.  I made sure to take and include the picture as proof and for pride's sake.

So, I made my way down the windy and steep trail, passing many Oregonians, (or Portlanders) and with little feet that felt dogged, I decided that my blue sweatshirt that I permanently borrowed from Monique was not enough, and I went to REI (outdoor sporting good store).

And, by the way, if you ever see Porlandia: my host says that the show is not far from the truth, at all.  I could only see the first episode.  Also, for all those wondering, my host is really nice!

[jomicruz]

I finally got here.  After a long flight.  With packed bags (although I must say I was very proud that I didn't have to pay because my checked bag was more than 50lbs).  And a flight I slept through.  It was rumored that we had a towel service on the flight.  (I was asleep and was only able to get the first beverage of the flight and can't confirm the towel or the second beverage service although I did smell coffee).  

No, I did not get coffee, I got apple juice, as I remember Saa saying that the airplane air dries you out, so I didn't want to add to the dehydration that I started in Brooklyn.

Today: I did so many things!  I got on the bus, the light rail, went back to the airport for a rental car and ran errands.  Basic stuff: tolietries and food stuff.  I came back, met my host, washed some clothes and then figured out what I could do to take advantage of the vehicle and treat myself.  The choice was easy: Stumptown coffee.

It was delicious and I got recommendations for other delicious spots.

BTW: the coffee is not cheap, but the biscotti: $1!  And, I have to say that it gave Mama Rockko's home made stuff some serious competition.

[jomicruz]

I'm getting so excited.  I just learned about Forest Park, and although I'm not sure how to get there, I want to do the All Trails Challenge!  Ok, I would like to do it without the need or pressure to fundraise, so I may just try to do it, unofficially.

I was nervous but now I'm excited and nervous about going to Portland.  My friend tells me that I should watch Portlandia, and I'm thinking about doing it.  If I can get this photo post to work, you'll see my comments and a photo of the park.

[jomicruz]

An aerial shot of OHSU.  My accomodations would be off the photo to the foreground on right side.  OHSU is in the NW section or area of Portland, I'll be staying in the SW area. 

The photo is taken from an article about layoffs and hiring freeze in 2008.  (Wanted to give credit.)