Battery ParK

Rockefeller Center

If you want to get a good view of NYC and see the layout of the land The Rockefeller Center is the place to go. I went there last week and took a few pics. I seem to be the person every one asks to take their picture with their camera. We usually have a little discussion about the picture and do retakes until the desired picture is composed. I like it. To the right-"The Rock," Picture 1-can't remember which bridge in the background. Picture 2-overview of Central Park in Manhattan and to the left of the the picture the Hudson River. Picture 3-The Empire State Building : Official Internet Site over looking Down Town Manhattan.

Cathedral and the Subway.

Once again the manager who is covering for my manager at Bronx-Lebanon followed through to her word of giving me a schedule. Of course she doesn't return my calls until Monday afternoon and when she does, its only a weeks worth. So here i am once again worthless to any one who wants to know what I am up to and if a m available such and such a day. So Monday I am still in the unknown of what to do. Do I stay home to sleep? Do I go out and only to be called in? BA!

I decided to make the most of the day and headed out to do some more walking around the great NYC. Lucille said she was going to Manhattan so she dropped me off at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.

One thing about New York City is there is no problem getting around. You do not need a car here. The subway and bus systems for the most part are very efficient.

Another thing I realized...a lot of movies take place in NYC. I was watching The Brave One - Official Movie Site with Jodie Foster. Takes place right in NYC with places I recognize. I watch these movies with a new appreciation.

(More pictures later of the sky line NY from the "Top of the Rock")

Pier 17

Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge

East River

Update

So I haven't blogged for a while so here is a little update on the last week or so. I had round 2 of the Poison Ivy, went back to the doctor to get more medication. It worked and I am definitely in the healing stages of just dry patches of it now.
Racing on Wednesday nights has been fun. We even did a Sunday race this past weekend. More of a fun one. I enjoy the people that i have been meeting. Carly for one... a true adventurer. She canoed down the Mississippi River recently for a couple of months. She travels all over during the summer months (she is a science teacher) and is very interesting. She has a friend Annie who I have meet now too who sails. She is looking into getting a boat.
Work has been going good. The people are great to work with. But management continues to not do well. No wonder no one stays there. This past week I worked Thursday and Friday and they told me to call on Monday for when I work next. OK fine. Monday comes...nobody know anything about it and I continue to be irritated because I cannot plan anything past a day.
I have 3 weeks to go with my contract. A few places look good to go to but nothing in stone yet.
I will have some more pictures soon. Stayed tuned!

Touring around....

Today was a day spent sleeping in. After dragging out of bed I went off to Queens to pick my new pair of glasses. I took along my little tourist book to see what was to do. Once I got used to sensation that I was about 10ft tall when looking at the ground I decided to take the 7 train to Grand Central Terminal - NYCtourist.com to see it all and go to the interesting stores there. Then I took the 6 to go to Battery Park (http://www.thebattery.org/index.php). This is the very south part of Manhattan where you take the ferry rides to Ellis Island and the green statue lady. I have been here before but don't remember a thing about it. I was really wishing I had my camera because there were so many things that would have made good photos. I think I will have to visit there again. I then set out walking in search of some thrift stores that my guide book told me about. This gave me an excuse to venture to places other than where the popular places are. In the end the thrift stores were really not thrift stores and I ended up going to the popular places. I wound up at the World Trade Center (http://www.tributewtc.org/index.php) and spent a little time there. There is a little museum with videos and pictures and stuff. I shed a few tears for those lost and for those who survived. A couple weeks ago I talked with Lucile about the experience of 9/11. She was a teacher at the time. She remembers that there was just a period of waiting, to find out whose parents and other family members were alive and whose were not.
I then went on the visit the Financial District Building. Lots of stores and places to eat and the Hudson River to gaze on.
Lucile invited me to go to listen to her friend play in a band so I met up with her and her daughter Laura for a bite to eat at Katz's Delicatessen Inc and headed off to the band. It was rock'n'roll and at a really dark bar type place. Not really my type of place...I was a little uncomfortable. It was something different and met a few people. I am safe at home now from noise, loud shouting for conversation, slurred speech, repeated phrases, loss of thought processes and now thoroughly enjoying the gentle rocking in my boat listening to the calm waters. I think I am ready for bed. g'night.

Geocaching....Poison Ivy

Hello, every one. Its been awhile since a posting. Things have fallen into a routine with not too much new going on. But wait...I have been doing some geocaching. Sort of a scavenger hunt type thing by using Lat. and Long. coordinates from your handheld GPS. (For those who want to know more about geocaching visit http://www.geocaching.com/) I took Miriam to find one. I think she is hooked on the idea of it. This particular one was a tough...long walk down wooded trail, lots of mosquitoes, we looked for 30 mins, didn't find it. To top it off I got poison ivy. It brought back memories about when I played "The Purse Game" with my two neighbors when we were about 13 years old. The game was we lay a nice looking purse in the street, tie a fish line to it and hide in the bushes until someone stops to look in it. The punch is once someone stops we quick pull it from their hand before they grab it and run away. The anticipation of a car coming and slowing a little was all part of the excitment. Of course nobody ever stopped except for once. A guy stopped we pulled the line as he was reaching for it. We freaked out after he started yelling at us what rotten kids we were. He sped off and we ran through the weeds and dropped to our knees in uncontrollable laughter literally rolling in poison ivy. Needless to say, all three of us for weeks went through the stages of the rash.
Any way, this past weekend I went with Miriam and Al and her sister and husband to Norwalk, Connecticut. Very nice place to visit with a little town to walk through with a bunch of restaurants. The trip back was a very good sail. I was a little doped up on benadryl and really slept most of the time. I thoroughly enjoyed being a passenger and napping on the deck. When we got back the poison ivy was getting bad. Miriam took me to the med center. I got a prescription for some prednisone and cortisone cream. The redness and swelling is down and I am doing much better now. I haven't had to immerse my body in cold water for 2 days now to stop that panicking itch that comes over me. Thank goodness for the air conditioner I bought a few weeks ago for the hot days. It really has saved me a lot of grief.

Work has been going pretty good. I have worked in 4 different areas now. ICU, CCU, PCU (pulmonary) and EDIP (ED holding area). The worse part of this particular hospital is their scheduling and staffing is a nightmare. Not to mention they have a lot of call-ins, people show up when they aren't supposed to be there, and other never show when they are supposed to be there. Also the scheduling people for example will know that they are short 3 nurses here or there and do nothing about it until they see who has actually shown up for work. And then about 1-2 hours of getting your assessments and meds done, they tell you you have to go to that unit where those 3 nurses are missing. Ok so I am the traveler and I expect that stuff to happen but please take care of it at the beginning of the shift instead of waiting.
Aside from those few complaints, I enjoy being a nurse bottom line and I enjoy spending time with my patients, intubated or talking (english or what ever other language these people speak). If all else is wrong at least I can help some one get better or help them be more comfortable.
Haven't taken too many pictures lately. I'll post them when there are some.

Until later.....