This week, I am thankful:
that I’m down to 46 days in the semester
It felt momentous to get down to less than 50 this week.
for citation machines
This semester, I’ve had to do a fair amount of APA formatting and I am so so so grateful for the online tools that assist me in making my reference pages.
This type of work is obnoxiously tedious to me so the less time I have to spend on it, the better.
Also: in the big picture, all of the detailed rules about how to reference various types of sources….those are irrelevant for actual nursing practice.
Thankfully, the head of this semester has zero problems with us using technology to assist us with our reference pages. She’d rather have us use our brain space for things that actually do matter in nursing practice!
for mosses
There’s a trail that’s near my gym and my goodness, it has the best mosses. My walks there take extra long because I am always stopping to touch them.
Mosses have such a satisfying texture. 🙂
for baby leaves
Spring is coming! The world is starting to turn green!
that I don’t have clinical this weekend
For one week during the semester, we do a day of something called Clinical Reasoning at the college during the week. And whoever has clinical reasoning doesn’t have to go to clinical that week.
Mine was this week, which is extremely fortuitous timing for me. Why?
I have an exam early Monday morning, and this means I can spend my weekend studying (on my own and in groups) to prep for the exam. SWEET.
that my heat has been breaking instead of my air conditioning
My boiler is on the fritz AGAIN. So when I woke up this morning, it was 60 degrees in my bedroom.
But honestly, I felt fine overnight because of my comforter. And even when I got up, I wasn’t very upset about it because being cold doesn’t bother me nearly as much as being hot.
L.L. Bean down comforter: very warm
Another grateful: my landlords have acknowledged that the boiler is indeed on its last legs (it is nearly as old as me!), so they are working on figuring out some replacement options.
If this gets replaced, I will probably have “consistent heat” on my thankful list every week next winter. Ha.
that we are nearly to a time of year when heat is unnecessary
It is 33 degrees as I type, but still, spring is near and so this is a pretty good time to have a bad heating system.
that I love my patient care tech job
At a work shift this week, someone said, “I can tell you really like your job here.”
And I said, “Oh, you are so right!” 🙂
I love taking care of my patients…it makes me so happy when I can do something so small (like bringing a heated blanket) and it makes a patient feel so happy.
And I also love my co-workers. I know sometimes nurses and doctors treat techs as less-than, but I am so lucky that on my floor, I have always felt like I am part of the team.
that my student scrubs days are numbered
Only five more weekends of clinical, plus a few random lab/sim days to go! And then I will cheerfully donate my scrubs to the school’s scrub closet.
Once I graduate, no more rectangle shirt for me!!
Kristina
Friday 28th of March 2025
Congratulations, Kristen! Isn't it wonderful to have graduation in sight!
My thankfuls this week: -church benefit for Haitian immigrants went well. We raised $1900! -DH hired a capable man to clean up our yard. He did a great job and it looks 100% better. We have learned the hard way not to overlook maple leaves. -our formerly feral cat let me hold her for a few minutes and even purred. Lovely. -I taped together the pieces of a digital sewing pattern and got the lines straight. Not as easy as it sounds! -My piano teacher is off this week, honoring the local school calendar, so I didn't have a lesson. A good thing since I haven't practiced.
Caroline Rose
Friday 28th of March 2025
There's nothing like the green of new leaves!
Kristen
Friday 28th of March 2025
A sight for sore eyes!
Bonnie
Friday 28th of March 2025
Be glad you have formatting done for you and don't have to do it on a manual Royal typewriter like I did in college (yes, I'm OLD).
Kristen
Friday 28th of March 2025
Oh my goodness yes! That must have been so, so tedious and time-consuming.
AW
Friday 28th of March 2025
I’m thankful … 1) For my kids’ school. It’s so close by and such a good school with awesome teachers and staff. 2) For my artistic skills that God has blessed me with. I’m finally catching up on and completing my half finished art projects. 3) For the genetic testing results that show I’m not likely to have certain cancers or heart issues. I know I still need to work on my health regardless. 4) For the dates and time together I get with my husband while he’s off work and the kids are at school. 5) For the Libby app since it’s made it so much more easier for me to listen to audio books while doing choirs. Makes washing dishes and doing laundry go by more enjoyably and quicker.
Kim S.
Friday 28th of March 2025
I'm thankful that you don't have to suffer through applying APA -- you have an instructor who understands that most of you won't be needing it in your day to day and there are citation managers, etc. that can help.
As I read through your being thankful for this, however, I am thinking, and I'm speaking while I wear my hat as a teacher of academic writing, that APA might become useful if you decide to go on in your nursing studies and perhaps formally publish content for the nursing community, etc. APA and other documentation styles help writer's give credit to the published conversation that has happened before them upon which they are building. And you in turn will appreciate being given credit when others cite your contribution. Also, if you are reading anything in the nursing field/medicine and someone cites a source that is interesting to you, good/standard application by the writer of the documentation style, like APA, will allow you to know how to access it and read it in its entirety. All of this helps move conversations in medicine forward more easily. And in times of crisis, like during COVID, being able to find and take in information fast so that it can be modified/applied becomes especially important.
I guess my point is there MAY be value for you and your peers in your futures. For me, this thinking about value helps me put up with the tediousness of documenting in a more cheerful way.
Kristen
Friday 28th of March 2025
Oh, I definitely think that citing sources is important. I just think that details like how many space you put after a period and what you italicize on a reference page is not terribly useful information to store in my brain!
I guess maybe I should have specified: I do not rely on technology to figure out where in-text citations go. I'm using the citation machines to help me make my gianormous reference page that goes at the end.