Best. Feeling. Ever.

  I know that there are a lot of negatives about the military that I  have so kindly pointed out but I must admit that one of the best feelings in the entire world is finally seeing your loved one after an extended time away.  The excited drive to the tiny Fairbanks airport, the pacing waiting for Pete to come down the escalator (of course his flight was delayed 20 minutes so it lead to more pacing...) and then finally getting a glimpse of his ACU's and boots, then his ear to ear grin and his way too short of a haircut.  He is here.  And my heart feels happy.  Knowing that he is home and most importantly safe, feels so incredible.  I have the next month to be attached to his hip and I intend to do just that except for the 36 hours/week of work that I have to do :).   Here is to happy reunions and having my puzzle be complete for another month.

No spiders in Alaska?

  One of the things that Pete told me to get me excited about moving to the great north is that there are no cockroaches, poisonous spiders, or snakes in Alaska due to the extreme temperatures.  After talking to some of the ER docs I found out this is true and that there are very few arachnids to be found, and the few that are in Alaska are found in the south.  Leave it to me to find a medium sized brown spider on the wall in the guest bedroom today while hanging pictures.  Seriously?!  There is about 2.5ft of snow outside and temperatures are supposed to reach -30 tonight.  How did my home get to be so lucky to shelter such a rarity in Alaska?  I knew that I had to worry about bears, moose, caribou, and porcupine but I thought that I would have peace of mind knowing that there aren't any snakes or spiders.  Luckily, Pete will be home tomorrow night so I will have another set of eyes to look out for these terrifying creatures.

Okay, this might be a little dramatic but in my opinion all spiders look equally terrifying.

I heard from Pete!!

   As the title explains, after 2 extremely long weeks I finally got a phone call from Pete from  NTC.  Considering it  was only supposed to be one week without any communication and everyday since then I have been attached to my phone, exactly two weeks later I finally got the call from a phone he had to sneak from the back of an ambulance.  Typical Pete, the first five minutes he only wanted to know how I was doing and how Gatsby and everyone was doing.  He sounded extremely tired and after I finished telling him all of the updates that occurred over the last two weeks he finally told me about some of the things that he has experienced over the past two weeks.  He has been literally on call 24/7 and has gotten very little sleep but was excited about the things he was learning and the "different" type of medicine he was learning and the challenges he was facing.  Even though it was such a quick conversation it made my heart so incredibly happy to finally talk to my best friend.  I am so lucky that I am married to a man that is so wonderful, loving, and strong.  I am truly giddy after just hearing his voice and I am reminded that no matter how much I try to hang pictures and organize to make my house a home, it really is just Pete that truly makes this house a home.  Here is to a good night of sleep knowing how lucky I am to be so blessed to have such a loving husband. 

holy snowday!

  Sunday evening through Monday we got over two feet of snow and the smart lady that I am, I parked Pete's truck directly behind our one car garage so therefore I had to shovel it out in order to get to work on Monday.  Mornings like this I especially miss Pete where normally that is a task that can be assigned to the man of the house.  Unfortunately, Gatsby is now the man of the house and he was not able to provide much assistance with this task:

 But he had an awesome time playing in the snow prior to my 13 hour departure for work.

I admit this doesn't look that impressive, but I promise I definitely got a good cardiovascular workout in prior to work.  I'm not sure if this is because I am slightly out of shape or because of all the snow.  Working in the ER on a day where the roads were horrible and not plowed led to an extremely busy Monday.  Luckily I was able to make it to work with plenty of time to spare, and come how to a semi shoveled driveway.  I definitely learned my lesson that if snow is expected, don't park a car directly behind the garage where the 'safe' care is parked.  Rookie lesson number 98.  Fairbanks: I will learn the tricks to make this a successful adventure soon enough.

Yikes!

   Tonight there is a winter weather advisory for Fairbanks so I decided to curl up and watch a movie: Waiting For Superman.  What a terrifying film!  I knew our education system was in shambles but I had no idea how terrible it truly is.  It makes me feel extremely grateful that I made it through the public school system alive.  I have never been a fan of unions of any type but it seems completely asinine that we are not able to get rid of ineffective teachers.  How is it possible that people can continue in a job that they are not producing any type of results?  What other non-unionized profession allows this?   This movie just makes me feel extremely blessed to have been brought up by a family that encouraged education, and where I wasn't put in a school system that was a 'dropout factory'.  How do we get good, motivated teachers if there is not any reward for doing a good job?  Oy.  Remind me that if I ever get bored with nursing that teaching will be my next profession.  I wish I was bright enough to fix this huge problem. Instead, I will hope that by the time I have school age children I will have a good plan on how to get them through the public school system alive so I don't have to make Pete quit his job and become a home school teacher.  Kidding. Kind of.

Canine Good Citizen

   Even though I think Gatsby is perfect in every way, I saw an ad in the paper for a 'Canine Good Citizen' (CGC) course offered nearby.  One quick email and the next thing you know Gatsby and I are signed up for an 8-week course.  I thought this would be a good way to socialize Gatsby since he is becoming quite the mommas boy in Pete's absence.  Every Saturday from 1:00-1:50 this is what Gatsby and I will be doing: working on making Gatsby a Canine Good Citizen.  Now that I am officially 3 weeks into the class and I only have 5 weeks until he gets tested to become officially certified I am realizing that this is not a walk in the park.  This 'social' hour is going to be a lot of work but I am excited about working with my little man so hopefully he won't be the only 'student' in the class that doesn't get certified!  Today they went over what the test will be.

1) Friendly stranger/supervised isolation:  You have to hand your dog over to a stranger, walk away and outside of the building for 3 minutes and the dog is not allowed to whine or act distraught.

2) Walk your dog on a loose leash, stopping and turning when they tell you to do so  and making sure the dog stays on your left hand side (this is probably the hardest thing for Gatsby-he is a maniac on a leash but is making improvements every week!)

3) Walk up to a stranger and their dog, shake hands with the stranger and your dog must stay seated and not jump or growl.

4) Walk through a crowd, the dog must weave through strangers and can't be shy, resentful, overly excited, etc.

5) Have your dog sit, I will turn and walk 30 feet with my back to Gatsby and he has to stay, then I have to walk back to him, turn back around and walk that same 30ft and when the instructor tells me to I can call Gatsby and he has to run to me.

There are a few other things on the test but the items listed above are the things that we are working on the most.  I am very hopeful that in 5 weeks I will be the proud owner of a canine good citizen.  Here are a few pictures from class today:



Treat?




Proud Mom



Gatsby's friends/competition

Yukon Quest

For the past week and a half the local news has been swamped with information about the Yukon Quest, the 1000 mile international dog mushing race that alternates it's start and finish lines each year between Whitehorse, Yukon and Fairbanks, Alaska.  This year the racers started in Whitehorse and  finished in Fairbanks and the first place musher finished last night at about 11:30pm.  I had every intention of braving the elements and cheering on the finisher but it was -38 last night and extremely cold so  Gatsby and I stayed snuggled up tight and watched the live tracker on the website.  This years race has been extremely dramatic with one of the teams falling into a river and another racer had to help them out (don't worry, all of the dogs and mushers were okay!) and this year there was only one dog that passed away during the race.  There is a vet that is at each of the rest stops along the way to help make sure that the dogs are doing okay but understandably so, going 1000 miles in extreme temperatures there are dogs that won't make it.  I decided that since I will be in the Bahamas for the start of the  Iditarod on March 5, 2011 I should brave the elements and cheer on the last musher as she crosses the line.

-Me EXTREMELY cold in -30 degree weather, not appropriately dressed at all.

Here they come!!

This is what a Musher wears to go 1000 miles on a dog sled

At the finish line they fed the dogs frozen fish to eat as treats

One of the vets

I think this dog knows that I will spoil it rotten and it wants to come home with me :)

 
All in all everyone seemed in good spirits, the dogs looked extremely thin and ready for a good night of sleep but it is incredible seeing these animals cross the finish line doing the job that they have been trained to do.  While I don't think mushing is in my future, I definitely enjoyed being one of the few people who braved the cold to cheer on the final racer.

Hail to the Chief!

   After working the past three days I have definitely learned a lot, seen a lot of things, and seen a lot of things that I could probably do without.  However, one of the best things that I have learned is that I love the Native Alaskans.  I know Pete has only been away for 2.5 weeks and I have already fallen in love, but it is true.   They are fascinating, stoic, wonderful people and I am genuinely excited about working so closely with the Natives.   There was an elderly gentleman that came in Saturday with an infection requiring IV antibiotics.  I went in checked him out to see how things were going and started talking with him and his wife and was amazed at what interesting lives they live!  He was telling me about how they hunt and how they traveled 200 miles to get here to get medical care and that he didn't want to come however one of the other elders insisted on it.   He is part of the Inupiaq tribe. Lucky for me (not so much for him....) he needed to come in every 8 hours for IV antibiotics and I got to have him as my patient multiple times on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and I was thrilled.   I told him that I am new to the area and would love to learn about their customs and anything he was willing to teach me I would be thrilled to know so he went home during one of his eight hour breaks and hand wrote 3 pages of information for me so that I can understand his culture.  He worked so hard on this and genuinely wanted to teach me so I thought I would pass it on to the blogging world.   First, unlike the 'lower 48 native Americans' the Native Alaskans like the 'white people'.   In Alaska the white man has given them respect, space, and assistance so there is not a disdain for the whites however he made it very clear that most Native Americans despise 'the Whites'.   Good to know that if I go to Arizona  not all Natives are so sweet and loving. He wrote down a lot of good information so that hopefully I can provide culturally sensitive care when they come to the ED.  Some of the pointers he told me is that they show respect through silence and that through observance they get to know others so don't take it personally if I feel like a Native is not being interactive or talkative with me.  I need to allow time for them to ask me questions and don't fill pauses in conversation with my own thoughts, because that is a sign of disrespect.  I also should have little or no eye contact so that the Native can maintain their sense of dignity.  This gentleman even went so far as to tell me about how they feel about death and suicide in their culture. Death is seen as part of the circle of life rather than an ending, so if an elder has a disease they often will commit suicide because they feel that they have done enough good things and has lived a good life and will be remembered.  If you are remembered, you do not die so they actually celebrate death.  Fascinating, isn't it?!  After all of this he even insisted on bringing me some moose meat stew-not the best meal I've ever had but I can see how it would provide a lot of nutritional value.    I could go on and on about this wonderful husband and wife however I will spare you that, I just know that I truly respect these people and am amazed at how strong and tough they are.  Talking with him for the past three days was so much more educational than the 30 minute power point they gave in orientation!  I even went so far to do some research about going to their village to provide medical care at one of the remote clinics on my days off.  Thank you to my new friend for all that you taught me, I promise that I will talk slowly, quietly, and look at my feet anytime I go into a Native Alaskans room even though nothing about me is slow and definitely not quiet, I will do it for you. 

Three in a row!

        On Wednesday I had my first true day taking care of patients in the ER and I must admit that I now have a new respect for the ER nurses at INOVA and for any orders that weren't done, or wound that was not taken care of, etc., etc.  I can now be slightly more sympathetic.  Notice I said slightly.  Since I knew I had 6 weeks of orientation with a preceptor I thought that they would ease me into this whole ER thing...Nope, my preceptor said "go take care of the patients and I will follow you around and help as needed".  Okay-I learn a lot better by doing things rather than listening or watching so lets just see how this will go on my first day.
 I haven't felt so dumb in a really long time!  Little things that you don't think about I suddenly have to ask questions about.  Where do I chart this?  Where are your consent forms?  Where is your transport kit? Where do I get an analscope (yes, that's right.  I said analscope and everyone will be happy to know that it is found in the 'pelvic cart' 3rd drawer down...).  Just when I thought I was getting the hang of things with my patients, I would see another one getting wheeled back to another room.  It really is a matter of multitasking which is extremely hard to do when you don't know where to find anything that might actually make my job easier.  The good news is that I started more IV's in one day than I think I've had to start in the past year, and I saw a lot of new, different things that I had to go home and do some research about.  It has been awhile since I've had to do that.  I'm pretty sure I am the youngest person working there by at least 10 years which is awesome because there is a lot of experience around me, but awful because as a general rule, older nurses don't put up with a lot of shenanigans from the younger nurses so hopefully things will go well with the three day stretch I have ahead of me.  Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  God help me.  I will admit that driving home I got a little frustrated with the Army (again) that I will go through this exact experience every three years, every time I start getting the hang of things I will have to move and be at the bottom of the totem poll.  Luckily I have a much more positive attitude right now so I won't carry on with that rant (realistically, I will probably just wait until I am about to burst and let it all out in a blog. Stay tuned.) , instead I will just speak of the benefits of branching out and learning something new.  I am pretty excited about this challenge and hope that in no time I will be able to take care of whatever Fairbanks brings me (in the ER).

Oh Alaska...

     I know everyone was really concerned about my driving status so I am happy to report that I officially passed the Alaska driving test today.  I now have my Alaskan drivers license and I must admit, that it makes this entire move a little more official (as if living here for the past two months wasn't enough).  I would say that passing my test was by far the highlight of my day-yes, it was that kind of a day.  I picked up my 3 month old computer that died on me from the shop which is very exciting however I now have to download all of the things I actually use again i.e. skype, itunes, internet explorer, etc. and it has been a frustrating experience.  It is one of those days where I feel like I am not finishing anything, just coming close and putting it aside until I have things that I need to finish the task.  I thought that once Pete left my house would be perfectly clean all the time since he isn't here to clutter everything up but surprisingly, the house is almost the same as when he left and that is discouraging (don't get a big head Pete!).  There is just so much to do and now that I am working and have to finish stuff for work and orientation I just don't have the time that I thought I would to organize the office, hang pictures, and put the finishing touch on things.  I work tomorrow but I have designated Friday as the day that I will start making this house a home.   For now, I will enjoy my glass of wine, try and get our wireless printer connected to my computer, and watch toddlers and tiaras and think that my life could always be worse :). 

Happy Monday!

Today was a busy little Monday for me:

1)  I started my tanning membership as my final preparation for the Brendall Wenmark wedding in the Bahamas in less than a month.  I know what you are thinking-tanning is so bad for me!  I will turn into a prune!  I will definitely die of skin cancer in the next year!  All of these things might be true but I must admit that it was heaven.  The employee laughed at me when I told him I need to ease into this and start with 5 minutes, but 5 minutes was enough for me to find another happy place in Fairbanks.  Hopefully this level of commitment to prepare for the wedding will make it so I don't turn into a pealing lobster after setting foot on a beach.

2) I took my EKG test at work which they went out of their way to let me know that 90% of new hires fail it and that I will have 3 chances to pass it...yours truly got a 100%.  I guess I did learn a thing or two after working in the CCU for almost 5 years.

3) I have my first day in the ER tomorrow!!!!!!!  I went to the scrub machine to get my first pair of royal blue scrubs so that I won't be the nerdy girl that shows up for the first day and has to change.  I got some good intel. that most of the nurses come to work in scrubs and bring clothes to change into at the end of the day so they can return the scrubs/get new scrubs for the next shift. 

4) I decided that after being in Alaska for 60 days that I should probably make the move official and get my Alaskan drivers license.  I walked in without a care in the world...and then, they said I can go over to station 12 to take my written test.  This shouldn't be a big deal, I consider myself a good driver and I see the type of people driving next to me on a daily basis so this shouldn't be bad.  WRONG.  I can now say that I have officially failed my first driving test.

I had no idea that you need to turn on your turn signal 100ft before the turn (I picked 150ft, I'd like to think that should still be a correct answer because lets be serious, I would rather be safe than sorry!), or that the fine for have an underage child in your car who isn't wearing a seatbelt is $50.00 (I picked $100.00).  I feel like the fine should be higher than $50.00, maybe this will motivate me to try and change Alaskan laws.  Probably not, but it makes me thankful for the welcoming state that Virginia is that it doesn't require it's drivers to pass another driving test.  I felt like such a moron when I had to go to the front desk and tell them that I failed, I got the "aww I'm so sorry!".  Luckily I can retake the test on Wednesday and they gave me study manual so if I don't get a 100% on this thing I am going to be really annoyed.

Happy Monday to all!

Wild Caribou Chase

   I'm not sure where the wild hair came from but the past 24 hours I have been feeling confined and just want to get out.  Conveniently, I now live in the state that has more open space than any other state and if getting outside is what I want there really is no excuse except my own laziness.  Last night I looked at the aurora borealis forecast and was shocked that it was moderate (ever time I randomly check it is at a 1 or 2, which is considered low...) so at 10pm I packed an emergency bag and Gatsby and decided to take a drive north.  I drove for an hour, saw 9 moose-which scare the crap out of me at night, if you hit one of those things your car will be totaled so I drove a prudent 35-40mph most of the way, and saw the most beautiful display of the northern lights I have seen since I have been here.  It really is an eerie thing seeing the sky light up in radiant green streaks of light.  Unfortunately, my little casio camera is not high tech enough to document such things but hopefully I will get into the trip that Katie Clark talked me into putting my name on the wait list for to go for 2 weeks to the arctic and learn how to photograph the northern lights and polar bears.  Gatsby and I got home at about midnight and I swear he was looking at me like I have officially lost it.
     This morning I decided to continue this adventurous spirit and drive north to try and find the porcupine caribou herd (approx. 1000 caribou).  A nurse in my orientation went last weekend and told me that I would love it and they wouldn't be hard to find, just drive on I-2 for an hour and you will get views of them.  It sounded reasonable, and it didn't seem odd that I would be driving an hour to try and find caribou that were in a certain location...a week ago.  I did the drive and it was absolutely beautiful- clear skies, bright sun, beautiful mountains and views, but definitely not a herd of 1000+ caribou.  I did see 10-15 caribou down the slope but when I had my hopes up to see thousands, it just didn't seem quite as impressive.  I made it 10 miles from the Dalton Highway then decided that I would turn around because it had been over an hour since I had cell phone reception and Gatsby was getting a little tired of the bumpy roads.  Even though I did not see the massive amount of caribou that I had set out to see it felt awesome to just get in the car and see how remote Fairbanks truly is!  I was also able to find places that I want to explore in future expeditions- Murphy's Dome, and Wickersham dome both look like they will be awesome places to hike once the snow melts.  If nothing else, today made me realize that there are a ton of things that Gatsby and I can do to keep ourselves entertained...I just need to get out there and try it.

* if anyone has any recommendations on a good beginners camera that will allow me to document the landscape and beautiful views better than my tiny digital camera, it would be greatly appreciated!*

I can't take it!!

     Last night I decided that I would finally take care of all of the carpet that I have rolled up in the garage from when we ripped it up to put the laminate down by putting an add on craigslist for Free carpet-approximately 1300 sq/ft of barely used beige carpet.  Sounds like a practical way to give it someone who will actually use it, right?  Wrong.  What did I do!  Since last night at about 10pm I have been receiving emails from people telling me their sob stories about why they need the carpet.  It has been posted for 9 hours and I have received 50 emails-who would have thought that many people in Fairbanks, Alaska checked out craigslist on a Friday night!  I received an email from a lady who said she has three kids, moved into a garage of a friends house that doesn't have carpet and one of her kids is learning how to walk and can't get off the couch because the floor is too cold.  How can I not give it to her and maybe even let her move into one of the empty rooms in my house!  I received another email from a lady that said her and her husband have been living in an empty house that they built and couldn't afford to finish it since "the oil money went dry" (I'm not sure how long this has been, it seems like the oil money in Alaska has been drying up for awhile now...) and her grandkids are coming to move in because their parents recently lost their job.  I have about 20 other stories similar to this and it breaks my heart-how am I supposed to choose!  I decided that I would go with the fairest way and just reply to the person who wrote me the first email-even if they don't have an emotional story for why they need the carpet but it makes me wish that I had free carpet for all.  Who would have thought that trying to free up some room in my garage would make me this depressed!
       On top of that, this morning I have the pleasure of watching Bree and Chuck (my neighbors)  almost 3 year old son Daenen because Chuck is leaving for his 12+ month deployment this morning.  He thought it would be too hard to have to say goodbye to him at the 'going away' hanger on base.  How do you explain to an almost 3 year old that their dad is going to be gone for the next year, all Daenen knows is that Dad is going to work and doesn't understand why people are so sad.  I asked if he said goodbye to his Dad and all he said was "Dog and Cat" because he is obsessed with my cats and dog.   As if that isn't enough, Bree is about 8 weeks pregnant and will be due in September and will now have to raise 'D' alone and be pregnant for the next year!  Both her dad and brother are deployed right now as well.  This whole military life thing is not for the weak of heart, and how it tears apart families for a year at a time is horrible, but both the needs of the Army and needs of the country come first.

This blog is dedicated to the Folks-Chuck be safe, you will be missed, Bree: you are the strongest military wife I know, and to all the people of Fairbanks who need carpet: I'm sorry that I don't have enough to go around.

**I promise that my blogs will get less depressing from now on, I realize that I won't have much of an audience if people contemplate slitting their wrists every time they read my blog!**

Begining of the dress rehearsal

   Pete left last night for his conference in Salt Lake City, and then will leave directly from there to head to NTC (National Training Camp or Center...not sure which...) at Ft. Irwin, California for the month.  AKA: Death Valley/Fake Afghanistan.  One would think that the hardest part of this would be saying goodbye for a month however I was mistaken.  The Army gave Pete so much gear to bring with him that it took over my house.  It didn't help that Pete is like a tornado and throws things everywhere:

I felt like a parent with their child when they get a new toy and had to look and actually touch each new thing because he was so excited about his sweet swag. 

And then...

...Dress Up started

 

   I love Pete's enthusiasm about pretty much anything and everything but the thought that a medic kit brought as much excitement as a new surfboard was a little odd.  So I smiled, and played with his new 'toys' while thinking the entire time how horrible all of this is.  I know this is his job, and that this is the gig I signed up for but I still think it stinks.  Pete was scrambling trying to fit all of his gear in two duffel bags, two backpacks, and his snowboard bag (for the conference in Salt Lake City) up until the time we had to leave for the airport.  I'm glad we had this time to do a  dress rehearsal for when he really leaves in April because I am going to make sure he has everything packed at least 3 nights before he actually leaves so that he can actually relax, not be stressed,  and we can enjoy the last nights together.  Now the he is gone I am going to clean up the tornado that remains in the house and be thankful that we get to have the month of March to be together and go to the Bahamas for my dear friend Kendall Enmark's wedding (there is your shout out goober). 

She works hard for the money.

  I have officially completed the second day of hospital orientation and despite my initial negative attitude about the job/orientation I must admit that it is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I know, I have finally said something positive about Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, but it's true. I am quite smitten at the moment.  We all know the negatives about the place (please read blog post: I need a job) however I am learning that working at a smaller hospital instead of the mother ship that INOVA is, has it's perks.  The benefits are pretty awesome-the fact that I can get health insurance for free-extremely basic health insurance-but it is still insurance, is awesome.  Even though I am fully covered by tricare and the military insurance I was starting to develop intense anxiety about having to go in for my yearly exams with one of Pete's co-workers or someone that I hang out with so I am happy that I can get an outside practitioner and not even pay anything for it besides a $30.00 for preventative exams.  Nerdy I know, but it is a small weight off of my shoulders.  They also provide their staff with meal cards where you pay $10.00 for the card and you can get $30.00 worth of food in their tiny cafeteria (I am a chronic bring my lunch to work kind of a girl, but I am still able to appreciate this one).  They offer discounted movie tickets for $6.75 so you don't have to pay the ridiculous $10.50 that they normally charge-again, I am a chronic redbox/netflix girl because I am so cheap but maybe just maybe I will consider a change in my ways.  They even have a scrub machine so I don't have to spend money buying the hideous royal blue scrubs that will become my uniform, and I can leave them there so I don't have to bring any gross germs to my house and take the time to wash them!  They give out free massage gift cards when people do good things e.g. do their job, and since they are a sponsor to most of the local events they give out free tickets to local events and will reimburse registration fees for any local races that I might sign up for such as the summer solstice festival/midnight sun race.  They match 4% on my 401k (INOVA matched only 3%...) and finally: they enjoy being a non-profit hospital and truly working for the community.  The amount of money they spend to meet the needs of the community-like buying a shuttle bus to go to downtown and pick up the 'chronic inebriates' (there is that phrase again!!) and bring them to a safe place to recover I think is pretty awesome.  Again, nothing that INOVA would ever consider doing because it would not generate any type of profit.  Since it is such a small hospital there isn't nearly the politics that I am used to.  They truly have the attitude that if something doesn't make sense, why do it.  I know this seems really logical but you would be surprised at the number of things that I would see INOVA do just because it was en vogue/the latest trend. 

Wow that was a mouthful-I guess it is safe to say that I officially drank the Kool-aid they offered on the first day and I am genuinely really excited about working for a hospital that truly appreciates it's employees-ALL employees from the environmental services employees(janitor was what they were called at INOVA - [okay, that part is made up, but they did get beaten mercilessly if they didn't show up to work neatly groomed]) all the way up to the physicians. 

Here's to jumping in feet first.