What I do at work

Yesterday at work I got someone a piece of paper and checked out a shutter release to someone else. Other that that, I listened to music, looked at blogs, read, worked on my website, facebooked, and watched this. (If you didn't click on that last link, go back and watch it cause it's worth it.)

Yes, my job is very demanding.

This is me at the USU game a few weeks ago with some friends. In case you didn't know, we killed the other team!

Ink

Meet Ink

She is our mentally handicapped bipolar cat who thinks she is a dog.

If you come visit our house, you won't see her. This is because she is afraid of people and will hide for days, even weeks at a time if someone is visiting us.

Once she warms up to you though, there is no getting rid of her. She will follow you around the house and constantly be under foot, rubbing against your legs.

She is the most skittish cat you will ever meet. At the slightest noise, she will suddenly dart out of the room to hide. Sometimes we don't even know what spooked her!

She likes to snuggle and lick you, then suddenly decide to bite and attack you. Sometimes she will chase her tail. She comes when you call, begs for food, and will eat any food. Tonight I also found out that she is well trained and very obedient.

I came home from work (at the photo lab, which I thoroughly enjoy) and I was hungry, so I decided to make myself some instant oatmeal. As I waited the 30sec. for it to heat up, Ink found me and went to work rubbing away at my legs. I almost tripped on her as I carried my oatmeal into the living room to curl up on the couch in my fleece blanket. (I have been freezing all week!)

There is nothing Ink loves better than to lay on your stomach, burry her face in fleece, and drool to her hearts content. She eagerly jumped on top of me and began to situate herself.

I don't know if you noticed in the above picture, but Ink is a big cat and she has a lot of fur that is always shedding. I didn't particularly want her fur on my blanket and I had to keep moving my bowl higher and higher to keep her tail from getting into my food. Before Ink had a chance to get situated, I decided that now, when I was trying to eat, was not the time to snuggle. I explained this to her and asked her to please get down, which she obliged to. The fleece, however was too tempting, and after eying it for a while she made a second attempt. I, again, told her no and she got down. I could see her looking longingly at the fleece and I was sure she would make another attempt, but she decided to compromise instead.

She put her front paws on the couch, found a little corner of the blanket, and promptly buried her face in it.

She stayed this way until I finished my oatmeal.

Then I let her lick the bowl.

She is one unique cat.

New Semester!

Two days into the Semester and I have already -

1. Dropped a class, which means I now only have 6 credits instead of 9 credits.

2. Found out I've had a job lined up all summer, they just forgot to contact me about it! The first thing I'm doing when I get in there is making everyone answer their emails. I've already informed them that their communication is horrible. I will be a joy to have around  :)

3. Made another blog! (It's on my photography blog list under alliekayphoto if you want to follow it for this semester, but no obligation. I already have a whole class to look at it) This blogging thing is getting out of control, but this time I used wordpress instead and it is complicated! I'll figure it out eventually. Hopefully before the semester ends......

4. Gone to Devotional! I don't get to do this often because I'm always working. I love Devotional!

5. Procrastinated way too much. I still haven't even moved into my room all the way yet!

All things considered, I'd say it's been a pretty productive semester thus far!

(This list is dedicated to Katelyn Ericson)

This is what I will miss

I know I just posted, but last time was about little kids, and this one is about college students. So it's different.

I love when we have college aged patients! They are the best, and I always have the best conversations/relationships with them. Because I have very much been living the "college life" for the past four years (and I am the only one in the office with this "college life"), I feel like I can relate to them and I love the connection that it instantly brings. You would be surprised. I especially love freshman! I love their enthusiasm for being in college and out on their own for the first time and all the crazy experiences it brings.

One particular freshman girl asked if I would add her on facebook. I don't usually add people (and especially my patients), but because she had specifically asked me and I was so flattered that she thought her orthodontics assistant was cool enough to be facebook friends, I broke my rule and added her.

Today, during my lunch break, she popped up on chat and asked if I would be working on Tuesday for her next appointment. I informed her that, unfortunately, today was my last day. She was so sad! She reminisced about me being her first assistant for her new patient consultation and told me the office would never be the same without me. When I told her that I was graduating and wasn't planning on coming back she was even more sad and said that she better see me on campus this semester! I told her I would definitely look for her.

This is what I will miss!

It sounds weird, but you really do have the opportunity to influence peoples lives. It sounds odd, but for some patients, their monthly appointments are the only stability they have in their lives. Some kids come from really sad situations. Some kids make their own really sad situations with the stupid decisions they make. We get to know these people and we care about them. We have laughed with them and cried with them. (ok, this is sounding really cheesy, but I'm telling you, it's so true!)

I think it is incredible that an orthodontics office could have such an impact! We have even had some patients who come in when they aren't even scheduled just to talk. Some come in even after they get their braces off to give us updates on their lives three years later, or to show off their new baby. In a small way, we become a part of their lives.

That is what I will miss.

..................................................

Ok, I'm done with that! Kandace informed me that my picture was not very lively on the last post, so I'm trying to make up for it here.

 The other thing I will miss is.... (in no particular order)

Office jokes

I don't know if I will miss this, but every year the whole office would dress up for Halloween and then go around to all the other dentist offices and give them baskets full of un-nutritious goodness (This year Dr Summers was the Man in the Yellow Hat, the receptionist was Curious George, and the assistants were, of course, bananas!)

March Madness! We are required to fill out a bracket every year and it gets very competitive. This was the first round, so I don't look too bad, but if you saw the final outcome, it would be a whole different story. I usually feel pretty good about myself if I can beat Kelsi (she's in moms Kindergarten class this year)

Going out to eat for peoples birthdays

The cleaning guys! (ok, they've been gone for a while now, but I still miss them so much!) We would always leave notes for each other and he was the best at pranks and especially trash talking!

The food! This is my first time trying pumpkin pie and it is so good! If you go in the back of any dentist/orthodontist, you would be amazed at the amount of junk food there is, especially during the holidays. I snack all the time when I'm at work, and just about all of it is chocolate. I will definitely miss that! (We are very hypocritical people, us dentists)

Pranks!

Rigby! (This is Analisa and me driving to Rigby in style!) Let me tell you, there are some messed up people in Rigby. I am convinced that there has to be something in the water. But, you gotta love 'em! Plus, it was always nice to catch up on my People (People magazine) when no one would show up to their appointments until the last hour before we closed.

Making our own entertainment when things got slow (like making voodoo wax people)

And most of all I will miss Tenille and Analisa! They are the best people to work with ever! We're already planning our next girls night  :)

One more day of work!

Yesterday, at work, a lady came in for a new patient consultation and she brought her two year old son. He was good, but very active. He had no interest in sitting and playing with anything, but he preferred to push anything that would move - the box the blocks went in, several different roller chairs, and the bead maze made it's way around the entire office before we could get him back to the main area. While him mom was talking to Dr. Summers, this little guy became my new job (I usually end up being the babysitter in these kinds of situations, mostly because I have a lack of responsibility and would much rather play with small children than actually do my job and work with patients.)

At one point I was kneeling on the ground, unsuccessfully trying to interest him in playing with a block that you could put your hand in. He stared at me with a little smile on his face, then he ran back into the consult room with his mom. I gave up on the block idea and looked up to talk to Brandie (receptionist) and Tenille (another assistant). Suddenly, out of nowhere, he came running and jumped on top of my back! I was so surprised that I almost lost my balance! Brandie and Tenille laughed as I tried to shake him off through my own laughter, but this kid was going nowhere! He was so pleased with himself! He had his mouth wide open in the biggest smile and he thought he was the funniest thing in the world. I decided I would at least take advantage of his attachment to me and carried him piggy-back to the waiting room where I was finally able interest him in pushing blocks back and forth with me. His mom felt bad for the "free babysitting" but it was the best part of my day!

Anyway, that was a pointless story, but I really have nothing to say these days, sorry. The point is that I love my job (especially when it involves working with kids) and I love the people I work with and (I know I've said this way too many times before, but this time is for reals) tomorrow is my last day of work!

Kind of bittersweet.

This is a picture that I took that has no point to it, other than I thought this was a boring post and this is my attempt to liven it up a bit.

I think I failed.