Change of Shift, that long running carnival of Nursing Stories is up at Nursing Student Chronicles.
Laney has compiled a great list of posts. This while going to school full time, getting a spring break vacation and working as a nursing assistant. Can you say multi-tasking?????
Go take a look!
PS-I sent my submission to the wrong host-can you say stupid!
Well, I get to host next time-so maybe I won’t screw that up…….Maybe.
We have had a great spring weekend so far here in the south. But, because I love you guys-I did read and link to a few great articles for you! Whether you are coming in from the sun,surf, or snow (for you guys still with the white stuff, sorry!)
These are all Yakezie Challenge folks! Good Reads all!
Personal Finance Journey writes this post about the cost of a new baby-not upfront costs but maintenance.
At Single Mom Rich Mom, this post on buying tweezers, makes a great point about comparison shopping-doing the same on an appliance may save you thousands, not just a few bucks-good habit to get into.
Stay at Home Mom, CFO, writes about the hazards of living paycheck to paycheck, when the paycheck is late-good reason to keep your checking balance with a good cushion.
Punch Debt in the Face-(how is that for a snarky Blog title) posted about the importance of delayed gratification in personal finance and life-go read it. (love the art!!!)
Eliminate the Muda, writes this post about the “Ben Franklin” technique sales people use to help you decide about buying something-and how to protect yourself against it.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
“Linchpin” by Seth Godin
What does Seth Godin have to do with being a nurse-trying to raise and provide for a family in this most difficult of times?
Well the subtitle of Linchpin, Are You Indispensable? should help you to understand why this book is timely, and important.
We need to first define Linchpin, it is an old word, not much in use. Linchpin, literally is the pin used to hold a wheel on an axle-without the pin the wheels fall off the wagon. It has come to mean ” a person or thing that is critical to an organization.”
Now Godin spends a lot of time in the book discussing the new economy. How factories and factory workers are disappearing (don’t I know that with unemployment at 14% in our county.)
The new economy is being filled with service industries, small entrepreneriul businesses, that are required to respond to rapid changes, with world-wide competition and the internet, and technology driving much of the changes.
Now some would argue that healthcare is different. That if you are sick and in the hospital, you still need a nurse at the bedside to start the IV, give pain meds, take vital signs.
That is all true, but with what are we taking vital signs? A computer. Where are we recording those vital signs? On a computer. What are we using to take out that gall-bladder, kidney, or uterus-in many places now- with a computer hooked up to a robot, known as DaVinci….
Now we get to the next phase of medicines -using nano-technology to make new drugs, and injecting normal genes into the body to take over where defective genes once lived. I see in the future, that hospitals will be used only for outpatient surgery, as medicines improve there will be fewer cases of pneumonia, heart failure, MI, and stroke.
The other issue that should be forefront of our blackberry, is the huge financial upheaval going on in health-care. What has been taking up 80% of the news this past 14 months–the debate on health-care spending. Hospitals are going broke with the current system, and all the changes proposed do not seem to promise more money showing up in the coffers where you and I work.
“OK, Dr Dean, you have made your point-but what the hell does that have to do with “Linchpin?”
To survive and prosper in the future of health-care-you need to make sure you become a “Linchpin”!!!!
We all know the Linchpins where we work. Those are the few who are always smiling, willing to go the extra mile. The ones who make the patient feel better just by their attitude, and caring. Even though they work in the same area that others grip about- that have too many patients/nurse, deal with Docs with bad attitudes, and managers who don’t have a clue….
They still manage to rise above it and go home with the feeling that they have helped a fellow human being that day. They are the ones coming up with new ideas to make patients more satisfied. New ideas to improve patient safety. New ways to cut costs, improve care, do more with less!
They are true “ARTISTS” in every sense of the word.
The last half of the book discusses the resistance we all feel. The resistance to become a Linchpin. We want to go about our business with no emotion, just get through the day, collect our paycheck and go home. But doing so, day in day out, leads to burn-out.
We can’t require our job to make us happy.
We have to make us happy! Godin describes that part of our being, the Lizard Brain, the part that wants to not rock the boat, fit into the round peg, do what we have to do to get by , and not ONE thing more.
He goes into great detail with suggestions to fight off the lizard brain-to keep it at bay, and how to recognize it when it rears its little green head with the flickering red tongue…..
This is the type book that you should buy for yourself. I love the library, I love people to save money by borrowing books, from friends or the library-for entertainment. Rather than spending hundreds, for detective novels, (my favorite), or for a stack of romance novels that you won’t remember the next day-mindless entertainment-which I am all for. We all need a little downtime. But let’s borrow those books, not buy!
But this is the type of book, like your PDR, or software like Epocrates, your favorite textbook -that you keep, make notes in, and re-read as you mature in your job and your life.
And yes, I have attached a link to Amazon to allow you to buy the book with a few clicks-yes I may earn a dollar or two that way-and yes that money will help a nurse with her education. (The Burke family Nurse Scholarship-click this link for more info.)
Straight Razor by House of Sims
Razors-I go between electric and the multi-bladed types, but mostly shave in the shower with a three bladed model-well used….. I will admit I have a fairly easy face to shave. I gave up my mustache when the grey went past 50% and never could grow a great beard.
I have always hated paying the price of the new multi-bladed razors-even at Sams Club, they seem outrageous. So when I saw this article in the WSJ about store brand razor blades it caught my eye. I haven’t seen them-the author tried them out and felt they were well worth the ~half price-compared to the full priced brand named three blade system.
Now although I am past 50-by just a little-no comments Lisa-I know I have male and female nurse ( and non-nurse) readers. I also know that some of the razors for women are priced higher than its male counterpart-just because it’s pink…..
But I will try to find one of these store brand models (CVS is what is mentioned in the article above) and give it the ole shave test- and see what I think. Although my Mayor, (regular readers know I am on the city council in my fair town)-owns a local pharmacy, and if he sees me, slinking into my local CVS, my goose may be cooked…
Now Gillette sent the author of the article above one of their new 5 bladed razors to try out-maybe they will send a poor blogger one too, although the 4 plus bucks for each refill seems a might steep for this guy……Or maybe CVS will send me a few of their new store brand products-at least that will keep me from getting in trouble with the Mayor!
Investing, Warren Buffett style, is frequently attempted, but rarely executed to perfections.
First, a disclosure. I have held stock in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (stock symbol BRKA) company for years. One of the few smart financial moves I ever made. You can find a pdf file of many years of his annual company reports here. They are always interesting reads.
Annual Meeting by Ethan Bloch
An article in MSM Money, recently dissected out statements in Mr Buffetts recent annual report. He publishes the annual report this time of year, to go over last year’s company results.
The article linked above, emphasizes statements in the annual report, that will be particularly helpful to new investors in the stock market.
I will list them here with commentary for my readers…..
Now some argue that Buffett is aging, and investing in his company would be a mistake. Well my feeling is, the Buffett -Way will continue for sometime, even if he is no longer leading. He is smart and humble enough to have a line of succession in place if he were to be unable to continue. So you couldn’t go wrong, with investing in his company.
Provided you are out of debt, have an emergency fund in place and are ready to begin building wealth.
Questions: Any questions here?
The iPhone, has take the smart phone world by storm. I wanted to find free apps for the iPhone that would be of use for my readers. So I used trusty google, and here are the lists that showed up on the front page for your perusal.
Here is a list of links to i-phone app lists for nurses:
Now, as I have mentioned before, in my Blackberry app review
, buying any smart phone needs to be in your planned spending. And you need to account for the possible increase in your monthly cell plan, if you haven’t paid for broadband/internet service on your previous phone.
I use Epocrates daily on my Blackberry, and like Weather Bug, both of which are available for the iPhone.
Let me know if you have a favorite app that is not on any of the list-or just tell us your most used.
