The Answer to Last Week's Unknown

One of the good things about Ken's internships is that it isn't really Ken's responsibility to secure an internship.  NAU makes phone calls and sends e-mails to make the arrangements.  After finding out that Ken's internship in Portland wasn't going to happen, one of the assistants in the PT dept. started working to find Ken a new one.  She told him that there were lots of spots available in Phoenix, but that there also might be one at OHSU (Oregon Health & Sciences University) - it's a teaching hospital in downtown Portland, with a large variety of medical venues, including a Physical Therapy clinic.

Ken talked to someone at the clinic on Wednesday night, had a phone interview with them on Thursday, and found out on Friday that they were willing to take him for his first internship.    Brenda stated in her comment on the last post "This might be one of those situations that resolve themselves beautifully just in the nick of time." - and she was right.  OHSU is half the distance from Ken's Dad's house compared to the first clinic.  It's the type of clinic that sees more "interesting" cases, and he'll hopefully be exposed to better learning experiences.

The only down side to this internship is that Ken leaves a week later than he was going to.  This means that at the end of this rotation, Ken will finish on Friday in Portland, and have to be in Phoenix on Monday.   However, it sounds like they're pretty flexible, so maybe if he asks nicely, he'll get his last Friday off, so that he has at least 1 day at home to do laundry, kiss his wife, and re-pack for Phoenix.

Something to Blog About

The other day I was thinking, "I haven't posted anything for 2 weeks, but I don't have anything to blog about.".  Then yesterday, Ken was telling me about a phone conversation he had, and I thought - "good, now I have something to blog about."

In March, Ken got his 4 assignments for his PT internships:  Portland, Phoenix, Logan, and Flagstaff.  They were just what we wanted - even though it meant he'd have to be away from home for 8 weeks at a time - and we considered ourselves pretty lucky, because not everyone got exactly what they wanted.

Yesterday Ken made a phone call to his clinical instructor for his first rotation in Portland.  Just calling to touch base, find out what kind of stuff he should familiarize himself with, etc.   However, he found out that the Physical Therapist that was going to work with him, had to leave the country suddenly due to a family emergency.  (I thought maybe it was a green card issue (the guy is from Ireland), but it turns out the man's father was seriously ill.)  And today, Ken talked to the director of that clinic and found out that the director is too busy and too short-staffed to work with Ken.  He has sent e-mails and a phone call to the person in charge of arranging internships, but so far hasn't had any luck finding a spot for Ken.

So what does this mean for Ken?  It means that in 3 weeks Ken starts an internship . . . . somewhere.  He may be able to get another one in Portland, or not.  Maybe he'll end up in Phoenix, or southern OR, or California, or ????  And the worst part of the unknowing is - what do we do about housing with that short of notice if he ends up somewhere that we don't have family or friends?  Or maybe the worst part is that I already have my airplane ticket to come and visit Ken in Portland in Sept.  But I'm not going if he's not there, which means I lose money changing my airplane ticket to a different destination - bummer!

What MUST you have when camping?

Ken and I went camping for July 4th - and had a good time.  One of the things that we like to do is people watch.  We make up stories about the people camping around us - kind of like nosey neighbors, without looking too nosey.  As we noticed the people around us, we also started noticing the things that people bring with them when they camp.   Everyone obviously has things that they "need" when they go camping, and that's okay - we're not here to judge - just to comment.  We saw a lot of these around the camp - super convenient, but I gotta wonder how these people got it in and out of their mini-van.

One of our other neighbors had two of these (a generator, in case you can't tell from the picture).  And it made us wonder what kind of entertainment they were enjoying in their camper . . . big screen TV, video games . . . or maybe just electricity to make cooking easier.  I have no idea, since I've never camped with a generator, or a camper for that matter.  But I do know that the noise of the generator running all day and evening wasn't exactly peaceful.

Ken and I are fairly simple folk when camping.  We have our tent.

And I have to have one of these - doesn't have to be flushing (although that is preferrable) - and it helps to have the campsite near the outhouse.  

I almost always have to use one in the middle of the night, and I don't like treking too far.  Funny story here:  Ken has a head lamp that works perfectly for using the outhouse in the middle of the night (ya know - hands free, don't have to set the flashlight down).  Well, one night I'm in the outhouse, and suddenly something flies up around my head and keeps banging against my head.  I'm swatting at it, but it's not going away.  Then I realize - it's a moth - and is attracted to the light ON my head.  So, I quickly turn off the light, finish my business and hurry out the door - problem solved.

And last but not least - earplugs.  

Ken used his the first night, and slept soundly through the night.  Me, on the other hand, forgot I had mine, and listened to some neighbors laughing and telling stories until after midnight (apparently they forgot the common campground courtesy of quiet time after 10pm).  I REALLY wanted to remind them of this rule, but then realized I'd be breaking the "quiet" rule by yelling at them.  The next night I used my earplugs and also slept relatively soundly - even though the same neighbors were laughing it up until midnight again.

When we weren't at our campsite, we were on the lake (thanks to the Hyatts for letting us borrow their raft).  The weather was perfect, but the fish weren't biting.  Oh well, better luck next time.