Waves That Leave Me Out of Reach

I'm having a really hard time keeping up with the pictures.  I have missed several days, and I just haven't had time or energy to upload and edit and post.  Too much on my plate at the moment, and a lot of it has to do with work.  I love where I work, I really do, but they ask a lot of us.  For example, we are having "education groups" do presentations during our Staff Meetings.  These groups consist of people from all different areas of the unit--some nurses, some peds techs, some NPs, etc., etc.  It's cool doing a collaboration with them, and it's nice to see the presentations, but it's a lot of work.  I did it in February, and while we are only required to do one group per year, I signed up for two because I feel like I need to work extra hard to justify my pay.  I am an O.R. Tech II, which title I earned at IMC, but there just aren't the variety of cases and opportunities for advancement at Riverton.  So, rather than having a "pay freeze" or demotion (is that a word?) back to a Tech I, I am busting my butt trying to make them see that I am worth what they pay me.  It's not like I'm making bank or anything, but I have been with Intermountain Healthcare for nine years . . . I'd hope I'm making a little more than a new grad.

So anyway, with the education groups, our Unit Educator sent out an e-mail last month (just after I had finished with my February group), to tell us to get organized for May.  Of course, half of the members of the group were on their second go-round, and thus could "opt-out" of participating in the group, and most of them did.  I waited for a week or two, seriously considering opting-out, and when no one took charge, I realized I would have to.  I have been trying to put this group together, but one nurse in the group has not responded to any e-mails (and I have sent quite a few), one nurse only works at Riverton like once per month, and I just don't know if we'll ever be able to meet together.  I volunteered to do the Powerpoint, so I have to do that, but they don't trust us with internet access at work, so I can either complain about it to my boss (who might give me one-day access . . . sure, I can get it all done in a couple of hours.  No problem.) or I can do it at home, which I'm not too excited about either.  I don't get enough sleep as it is, and the only time I can do stuff like that is after the boy goes to bed.

Another thing I'm doing to justify my pay is to be a part of the Unit Council.  It's actually pretty fun--we plan the parties and talk about issues involving the various parts of the unit, etc.  Plus, the group is hilarious--we laugh a LOT during our meetings.  At the last meeting, I volunteered to make Thank You cards for our Doctors, since it was National Doctors' Day on March 30th.  I arranged for most everyone to be there to take a picture, then I made the cards at home using GIMP.  That took me a few hours, since I made them for all of the surgeons, dentists, and anesthesiologists who come to Riverton regularly (there were about 70).  That took me several hours (at home).  I tried to print them the next day, when I realized that I had reversed the picture, so the writing on the signs was backwards.  I should have let it go, but I felt the need to fix it.  So I spent another few hours at home fixing the pictures.  THEN, I had to print them, but the toner ran out, and we had to wait until they ordered and delivered more, then I had to get everyone to sign them . . . it has been a project.  Oh, I also purchased envelopes for said cards and printed the names on them at home.  And that's just one project for the Unit Council.  I usually have some kind of project or job every month, and yes, I volunteered to do it, so I don't feel like I can ask for reimbursement.  And the other thing is, my boss is so concerned about budget that she is always trying to send us home early, or making us take the day off, or sending us to work at other hospitals (floating), and yet she expects us to do all of this on top of our usual daily work, and to never go into overtime.  It's frustrating.