2014 in Review

     Every year my mother-in-law writes a reflection letter for her family to send out to family and friends for a quick notifier of what went on through this past year.  While she always types this up, prints it out, and mails it to everyone for Christmas, I thought I'd take advantage of this poorly up-kept blog of mine to write my summery of good'ol 2014.

    At the beginning of this year Hannah and I were still living in Oak Park IL with Hannah still in school and in February I was starting my new internship with the Illinois Eye Bank.  I would end up having this internship working in the lab doing paperwork and cell counts become a job as a recovery technician trained to procure corneas from those deceased who were generous to donate.  It turned out to be a great job and one that I am certain has given me good practice for my aspiring career in dentistry.

     In May we were blessed with a second nephew McDonald named Calvin!  We have been super blessed towards the end of this year to be able to hang out with both of our little nephews frequently and I have really cherished the time we have spent with them and their mom & dad.  Watching those two grow and learn is absolutely incredible and constantly makes me reflect on what kind of children I might bring into this world someday...... but not for awhile yet so don't get your hopes up too high!

     Hannah and I spent our summer in the Chicagoland area as best we could.  July became a little difficult as Hannah was put in a elective rotation in the Minneapolis while I had to stay in Chicago to work.  That became a long month!  But we persevered through it!

     In the middle of August as we were beginning to gear up for Hannah's graduation in the very end of August and our move back to MN immediately following, I was presented with the shocking opportunity to join Paul Warneke on a delivery trip of the yacht he is employed to work on from the Galapagos Islands through the Panama Canal!  And luckily the timing was literally perfect so that I could go on the trip and still make it back in time for Hannah's graduation.  I had initially planned on writing a whole blog post devoted to this trip.... and of course I never got around to it!  But to summarize very generally, I never left the Galapagos.  Right as we were beginning to leave the engine of the ship broke down.  We spent the rest of that week trying to fix the engine to no avail.  By the time the captain decided the most reasonable course of action would be to hoist sail and just cruse to Panama without an engine, it was too late for me to join them.  So I stayed back a night and flew back in time for Hannah's graduation from PA school!
     And so Hannah graduated at the end of September.  Her mom, dad, and sister were able to come down for the ceremony along with my parents.  What a huge accomplishment to have made it through all those trying times, long hours, difficult faculty, and strenuous rotations!  But she did it!  Man, writing about this again make me so proud all over again.  Anyway, we spent that weekend following enjoying family and the last things we could in Chicago, but then off we went and moved right away that following Monday back to MN!.......... and to Hannah's parents house.......

     We knew we needed to get back to MN as soon as we could, but unfortunately that meant we moved back without any jobs lined up and with no jobs lined up we had no apartment lined up.  It took us much longer than we expected to find jobs and as a result we are still at Hannah's parents home but will be moving over these next few days.  Her parents have been incredible over the last few months with allowing us to live with them and change up their daily lives!  We cannot thank them enough for their generosity and patience.
     But how has been living with your parents-in-law you may ask?  Well let me tell ya, it hasn't always been easy.  But that's not really even so much because of them but because of other things.  They don't have any internet at their house, so essentially since September I have been living without internet which has been extremely difficult!  Another basic frustration has simply been the fact that I am living at their house which means its not my living space.  Not being able to put things where I want them or to have all of my things out has been hard, but nothing impossible.  Again, we have been extremely fortunate and we owe them big time!

     In October Hannah, my father, and I were given another great opportunity granted by Paul W.  Paul had to come back to the US for a course he was taking and by doing so the yacht was going to need a care taker in Panama City.  Since I had just been on the boat he suggested that I should come down and watch over it until the captain arrived and then I help him take it through the Panama Canal again. Since I had not started working yet and I knew I wouldn't have to for the remainder of Oct I said I would do it but that I wanted Hannah and my dad to come with!  My dad and I ended up going down a week earlier than Hannah who stayed back to finish paperwork for her license and to attend a wedding.  Once again things did not go as planned!  The captain ended up delaying his trip to Panama so we were unable to go through the canal.... it would seem I will never be destined to make it.  But to be fair, even if the captain had made it in time the engine was never able to be fixed while we were there anyway.  Over all it was a once in a life time trip even if we never set sail!  We were able to sit on the deck of a beautiful yacht everyday and read!  I was also planning on writing a whole blog about this trip as well..... but going back to the excuse of not having internet over the last few months its been hard to find the time!  I'll post pictures eventually.  Just know it was a great trip and I'm so thankful both my dad and Hannah were able to come along.

     What else..... as of late I have been working for Multicare Associates at 3 of their clinics as a Medical Transcriptionist for an Endocrinologist.  It's been an interesting job so far, going in with the doctor to do his charting and patient plan in live time.  It's honestly not the most luxurious job in the world, but I can already tell I'm learning a lot!  All the pharmacology I review daily is starting to sink in.  Hopefully this will me out heading into dental school....... if I ever get in.  I'm still in the running at the U of M (my #1 choice) and will hopefully hear good news at the end of January/ beginning of February.  If you don't see me write anything about getting in then just know I'll be spending 2015 crying incessantly.
     Hannah will be finally starting the job she has had for a few months now in the next few weeks, and I am so excited for that to finally happen!  If you have not already heard, she has been hired full time in the Entira Family Clinic system as a family practice PA!  It was SUCH a struggle to find a job and now has been SUCH a struggle for her to actually start, but that time is swiftly approaching.  Needless to say we are both excited for that day to arrive.
     Other news to top off the year with; Hannah and I are now the proud new leasers of a fine piece of GM industries, the 2014 Chevy Cruse.  So far we have been pleased with it and I certain hope we continue to be for a long time!  We are also in the process, beginning TODAY, of moving into our new apartment!!!  FINALLY!!!  We are going to have our own place again!  Obviously we are thrilled, even if we do have to move all our crap in sub-optimal temperatures.  We will post pictures of our new place soon, once it doesn't look like a tornado just decimated it.

     Over all, 2014 went by in a blur as most years normally feel once it comes to the end.  I'm sure I missed a ton of stuff that took place over the year..... but oh well I'm sure you have read enough!  Thanks for reading!

I'm headed for the Panama Canal!

   First of all, happy #sharkweek!
 
   Wow...... well I am just blown away right now!  Last night I finished purchasing flights for quite an adventure!  This is clearly a story that I have to share with you all.

     +Hannah and I decided to go to Winona fairly spur of the moment this past weekend.  With +Josh leaving for medical school, we decided it would be a good time to visit back home, and him specifically, before we move back to MN.  We did a bunch of fun stuff, but one of the highlights was the Big Brothers Big Sisters "Taste of Winona" event Saturday night that my whole family attended.

     I had been looking forward to this event all day!  But right as I was about to walk in with my family, I got a phone call from a strange number.  Since it was such a weird number, I decided not to answer it, mainly because I was just about to walk into the event.  But immediately after dismissing the call, my phone began to ring again from the same number.  I figured I had better answer since they were calling again right away.......  And thank goodness I did!!!

    It was +Paul warneke calling me with the offer for an adventure of a lifetime!  He had explained to me that, quite randomly and suddenly, the boat he works on was in need of a helping hand for their swiftly approaching voyage!  They will be setting sail from the Galapagos Islands to take the boat back to a harbor in Panama, sailing through the Canal.  And he wanted me to come and help!  He explained how he knew it was out of the blue, but they were willing to "sweeten the deal" if I could make it.  These are crazy times right now for Hannah and me, but at the same time, this was an offer just plainly too good to pass up on.  So, in the end, I'm packing my bags for a sailing trip!

     So what does this all look like?  They are disembarking on Monday (the 18th), so I have to get down there before then!  Unfortunately, this means I have to leave my recently acquired position with the Eye Bank earlier than I had wanted (aka this Friday already), but it's something that I just have to do!  And also a huge bonus to this particular trip is that I will be back in time for Hannah's graduation, her parents getting into Chicago, and to help get all our stuff packed before we move.  So it's almost perfect timing!  I will, although, be missing a wedding this weekend that I was very much looking forward to attending......... but I feel as though this trip will make up for it.

     I cannot believe I have been given this opportunity!  It almost feels like a miracle in a way.  In my opinion, I feel as though I have responsibly passed up several other chances to visit Paul.  With saving up for our wedding, traveling to visit Hannah while at school, not having a job for all of last summer, and for other various reasons, I have seen many other trips on this boat "drift" away from me.  So this trip almost feels like its a reward, and I feel tremendously blessed.  Thanks Jesus, you trickster you!

     SO!  This Saturday I will be flying out of Chicago to San Salvador, then from San Salvador to Guayaquil Ecuador, and then taking a smaller flight from mainland Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands where I will meet up with Paul!  To be honest, I'm not entirely sure the exact day I will be returning yet or the rout I will be traveling home, because we have to lock through the Panama Canal and Paul was a little unsure of how long exactly that would take....... but he was sure I'd make it home by the 25th at least.  So I'll get it figured out!

     Again, I feel so blessed for this chance.  I really need to give a HUGE shout of thanks to my incredible wife for being so accepting of me going on this trip and basically telling me I had to go on it.  It's in no way easy for her to have me going away for a week right now, especially since she has to stay here an finish school.  But I have been SO amazed by her loving support and her sincere encouragement.  I really do feel terrible for being asked to go on this trip without her, but unfortunately there is just no way around it right now.  I just wanted to publicly praise her understanding of it all, or at least her incredible performance in deceiving me!

     I am so excited and yet so nervous at the same time for this trip.  Traveling all that way by myself is kinda nerve-racking!  Especially traveling through these countries where I don't speak the language!  And yet, with true adventure there are always risks, and I'm confident that all will workout in my favor.  As long as I don't leave any of the airports and just sit and wait for my flights I should make it there with few troubles....... I hope.

     Well stay tuned everyone!  I will absolutely be writing again in a little over a week with all the details of my crazy adventure!

Some new adventures

     Hello once again everyone!  I know its been awhile, but there hasn't been much to report from the Chicago Degalliers lately.  Although I do want to give a quick shout out to +Alli and Matt Wagner for coming to visit us!!!  But what I mainly wanted to share were the events of last Wednesday (the 30th).

     I was at work and around 9am I got a very exciting e-mail saying that I have been selected for a dental school interview!  I was and still am so excited about this news and feel so blessed to have been selected so early in the interview process, for at least one school.  I'm obviously hoping for, and expecting, more interviews to come, but it is an incredible feeling to have even one chance to get into dental school.
     Dental schools are usually proceed with a rolling admission process, so for me to have an early scheduled interview is a huge bonus!  I hope I can make it count!

     So back to Wednesday, I was obviously riding the high of knowing I had an interview most of the day.  That was until I received a very disheartening e-mail from my manager at work.  I was notified that I will no longer be keeping my intern position at the eye bank.  In fact, I was notified that my last day would be Thursday..... the 31st!  Big heads up on their part.  I had heard mixed reports from my managers as to what my role would become beginning August.  I was in a tricky position for them at the eye bank.  I was obviously brought into the eye bank as a lab intern, doing random tasks and assignments to help out with daily flow of the place.  But more recently, I have been trained to do donor recoveries, to procure corneas out in the field.  This, I believe, put me in a unique place of being an intern in the lab and yet holding an actual employee position with the recovery team.
     When the option of getting my recovery training was first presented to me, I had come under the impression I was doing the eye bank a favor.  I had been led on to believe I would be continuing my intern duties in the office while also be given the flexibility to help pick up cases when the recovery team needed me.  Well, it turns out this isn't the case even if it had been when they first described it to me!  Evidentially my two managers made a decision to just have me be part of the recovery team only.  And I was pretty much notified of this with only a single day notification before I was "done" with the office.  So just to clarify, I have not been fired or punished, I've just been shifted into a new position.

     So what now?  Now I am a "full time" field tech.  I skeptically say full time because I have no set hours to work.  I am basically 100% of the time on call, without pay, and have to pick up cases when I am called in order to actually work.  While this is not exactly ideal, I think I'm alright with the whole outcome.  I honestly do enjoy the recovery work!  It's extremely interesting and exciting, and I'm very thankful they have given me the opportunity to do it.  Procuring corneas is way more fascinating than sitting at the office doing paperwork all day.  It'll certainly be tricky not having a "guaranteed" income for this month, but honestly, with +Hannah and I getting ready to move back to MN at the end of the month, I'm not going to be working with the Illinois eye bank at all soon anyway.  So we'll make it work.

     I'd also like to mention that while it was extremely unfortunate that they only gave me a one days notice about me ending my time in the office, I'm really not that mad about it anymore.  Wednesday night I was upset, but my Thursday morning I had realized this isn't going to be the end of the world.  The communication with me over the regards of my role has been sloppy, but I forgive them.  Like I said, I was a tricky employee for them I believe with the mixed jobs.

     I should also quickly mention that I've already been out on two cases all on my own over this weekend, so hopefully I'll continued to get calls!

     I have to admit, I'm going to miss working in downtown Chicago a bit.  I have always had such mixed feelings of enjoyment and hate for riding the green line everyday to and from downtown and walking all the way along Clinton Street.  But despite those mixed feelings, its hard to know I won't be doing it anymore.  I won't be seeing all the people I've come to recognize on the train or from my walk to work (who I make up various life stories and scenarios for), won't have to deal with walking through the hustle and bustle of Union Station people anymore or gazing up at Willis Tower while I work.  I had some fun with it while it lasted, and I'm glad I can say I did that in my life (work in downtown Chicago that is), but it's time is up!  But maybe I got out of doing that just in time, with two shootings happening within two blocks of work my last week there........... yeah I won't miss it that much!

     Aside from all of that and back to Wednesday night, I went to play tennis with my neighbor to try and get my mind off of work and school stuff, and another tragedy befell on me.  My wedding ring broke!  It had been coming and I obviously knew a wooden/antler ring would break eventually when I bought it, but it was still sad.  I'm also unsure if it is even salvageable, so I'm currently looking into replacements.  I'd definitely like another wooden ring though!

The two bands you see in this picture were very recently one whole ring!
Now they are separated wood and antler.

     Well, as for the rest of this month, Hannah will be finishing up her last rotation and then be graduating from PA school!!!!

     While we are obviously looking forward to moving back to MN, we have a lot of things we want to do in Chicago still before leaving.  It'll be an exciting month!

Thanks for reading and I'll be sure to post again soon!

Half written postings thrown into one!

Well I have started to write 4 different postings and never got around to finishing a single one…… so instead I’m going to combine them all here because some of them are so old now it just seems inappropriate to post them on their own.

     At the beginning of May I took a trip to the Boundary Waters in northern MN with my brothers, father, my uncle +Mark and a friend of my dad’s from WSU.  What an amazing trip!  It was so refreshing to fly out of Chicago and then within a matter of hours from landing I was in the middle of wilderness.  Although it was still chilly up there and some of the lakes still frozen it was a great time to go to the BW because there were no bugs!  Although we were only up there for a few days, it was adversely strange to fly back into Chicago after leaving such vast emptiness.  It’s funny how we often conceptualize camping as rugged, unclean, or maybe even barbaric.  But after coming back to Chicago, I started wondering if the modern populated city life was any different.

Anyway, the trip was SO much fun and I am already planning on going back next year.  There were many stories and highlights from the whole trip but I’ll share my potential favorite three.  One of them was taking a nap in my dad’s new Hennessy Hammock!  This thing is a hanging tent and one of the cooler things I’ve seen in a long time.  If you’re into camping, listen to me, never buy a tent again!  Those things suck!  The hammock on the other hand is #1!  I'll add a picture below.
Also, here is a video about it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqg4x443RmM&feature=kp
    Another highlight deals with fishing.  I’m not much of a fisherman, but to be honest, I was really hoping to turn that around on this trip.  So I bought a fishing license and did a good deal of fishing.  But if I wanted to catch a fish, +Thomas was like 300% more determined to!  He spent most of his time fishing.  Now +Josh on the other hand didn’t even buy a fishing license, the only one of us not to.  And one night he decided that he better at least cast a line from shore just to say he did while camping.  And after one mediocre cast he decided to do one more……….. and caught a darn fish……… Thomas’ and my expressions were palpably angered.  Classic!
   The last highlight was just plain silly.  One night we had asparagus for dinner and after we ate we were cleaning up and decided to throw the butts of the asparagus into the lake for the fishies.  But what it ended up turning into was a left-handed throwing contest between all the Dégalliers!  I thought is was super fun….. plus I won.

Here is an example of my dad's hammock tent!

     Another blog posting I began but regrettably never finished was celebrating +Hannah and my first year of marriage!!!!  YEEEAH!  We did it!  Only like 5 more to go before she leaves me for someone way less awesome. 

Our anniversary was on the 25^th of May and it was super fun!  We really had more of an anniversary weekend which was great!  We did so much!  We went out to luscious dinner provided from a wedding gift that we had stored away to use on such a night, we spent a day at the beach, we went shopping (“we” as in I was at least there), went on a water taxi ride, etc.  It was a really great weekend and I had so much fun just hanging out with Hannah.

To everyone who has asked or is wondering how the first year of marriage was here is an easy word for me to sum it up: HARD.  Now in case you take that the wrong way, it has also been SO incredible!  I love being married to Hannah and we have grown a ton together since tying the knot, but that honestly doesn’t make the whole thing one big walk in the park!  I know there have been a lot of external relational reasons to express strain on our marriage, such as times without a job, living in foreign territory, school, etc., but we have had things between us that have been strenuous as well.

I think the thing that has been the most difficult to adjust to is the constant decision making together.  What are WE going to have for dinner, what are WE going to do this weekend, how are WE going to spend money, what TV show are WE going to watch?  While dating these things obviously came about so we had practice in a way.  But now that we live together and we share everything, it seems at times like I hardly ever make decisions for just myself anymore.  It’s an interesting change of pace.  Lord knows, I can’t even imagine what it’s like having a kid!  Which is why I am formally deciding to never have any.  Not really…… maybe…..

But back to the point.  This last year in marriage has been fantastic.  It’ll be exciting to see what we’re able to do over this next year.  LUM YA HANNAH! 

     Oh!  Another sharing point is that while Hannah is currently gone from Chicago, leaving me to whither alone in grief and despair, she got her second rotation switched back to Chicago!  So I only have to be alone for one month instead of two!

But as for right now, I’m living in Chi-town all by my lonesome!  It’s really strange to be honest.  After I dropped Hannah off at her friend’s house to get a ride back to MN I went grocery shopping for myself.  It was really weird.  I didn’t have Hannah there to tell me I didn’t need something, or at least, I didn’t have her there to make me think for myself that I shouldn’t buy something to avoid her judgment!  And over the last few days it has been so odd to come home from work and just spend the night alone.  I never lived by myself before so this month is quite the new experience for me.  It hasn’t fully hit me yet that I won’t be seeing Hannah much at all this whole month.  It’s still too soon for me.  But give it this weekend when I don’t have work and I’m just hanging out the whole day alone, I’m sure the distance will take full effect.   

      Alright, well I believe that is enough for me to write right now!  Hopefully I'll have more to share soon, but until then, thanks for reading!

Newset Update from Chicago

     Hello again everyone!
     And once again I am writing well past due my expected time for blogging.  Maybe someday I'll get my act together and post on a more frequent basis.  But given my track record, the odds aren't looking so good.  But I'm here now so lets get started!  I'm sure the suspense has been killing you over the past few weeks.

     Where to begin?!  Lets start with my work.  Over the past few weeks I can happily report that I have been enjoying work.  I have finally begun my training for cornea procurements and vitreous humor draws.  So its been exciting times!
     I believe I have shadowed/assisted with 6 or 7 cornea procurements and watched 3 vitreous draws before I was actually able to do 2 myself!  Now, while to most of you this sounds unfathomably grotesque, I can understand your 'view' (because puns), but to the coterie of us out there who find this sort of aberrant kind of work fascinating, its been a truly 'eye opening' experience (because more puns)!  But I even have to admit that the Cook County Medical Examiner's morgue was pretty horrifying the first time I walked in.  Believe it or not, its much larger than Winona Health's morgue...... like 330 times as big.
     If you don't know any kind of eye anatomy, please allow me to briefly attempt to describe what I've been doing.  The eye, in a crude sense, is like an onion, consisting of several layers.  Without going into different cell layers, the outer most layers are the cornea and the conjunctiva.  I'm sure most of you know of the conjunctiva because I'm sure somewhere along the way you've gotten poo stuck in there and contracted "pink eye"!  Below the conjunctiva is the sclera, which is all the white you can see when looking in the mirror.  The cornea is the clear middle part of your eye that you are looking at in the mirror when looking at your pupil or iris.  It's like a clear dome that hovers over the pupil and iris and helps direct light to them.  The cornea is the part of the eye that can be transplanted to another person.  So we have to cut away the lining portion of the conjunctiva around the cornea, and then cut out the cornea itself with a peripheral lining of sclera to help avoid contact with the cornea directly, and also for some stability.  Its really incredible!
     As for a vitreous humour draw, the vitreous humour is a gelatinous substance that fills the whole middle of your eye.  It basically serves as the air you would pump into a basketball.  But the importance of the vitreous humour is no 'laughing matter' (ok, I hate me too)!  Its very important for postmortem analysis and toxicology.  So I get to suck it out!  Doesn't that sound awesome?!?!  I've only been able to do it twice on my own so far and I found it so be much more difficult than I initially thought it would be, but I'm really excited to do more of them.
     I also had the luxury today to help with a whole eye extraction!  We were dispatched to collect corneas but found that one of the eyes had an infiltrate.  So we called in and headquarters told us to take the eye for research purposes.  It was really cool running through all the anatomy while watching.  I was able to see things today I never got a chance to while taking anatomy!
     I'm really hoping that I'll be getting a lot more training on this kind of stuff very soon because I love it.  And I've pretty much caught this place up on paperwork so its nice to get out of the office!

 
     Hannah has just finished her Family Medicine rotation, which I believe she was somewhat thankful to wash her hands of, and has just begun her Emergency Room rotation at Mount Sinai Medical Center.  So now I can't wait to come home everyday and here about all the exciting stabbings and gun shot wounds she'll be healing!  I mean, don't get me wrong!  Stabbings and gun shot wounds are a terrible thing...... but they do happen.... especially in Chicago..... so I may as well get to enjoy hearing about them!  Mostly because I'm a terrible human being.
     Other interesting news regarding this final stretch of Hannah's PA schooling happens to stem from her last two rotations before graduation.  I'm not sure if anyone so far has caught onto this overwhelming theme in Hannah and my life, but once again and without fail, there has been a wrench thrown in our cogwheels!  Hannah's last two rotations are electives.  She had to make a list of particular rotations that her school allowed her to sign up for, and then she had to be matched into two of those programs.  Now her second overall choice rotation was located up in the twin cities, and her and I both agreed it would be a good rotation and that I could stand living here for 4 weeks without her.  And she got the rotation!  Which is super awesome!  But what is not quite as awesome is that she got placed for her second rotation ALSO in the twin cities!  Of course!  So now what are we going to do you might ask?  Well, we are unsure as of yet!  Classic, we know!  We have a couple of options.
 We could just accept the fact we are going to be separated for 2 months and just put up with it, that's a definite option.  I have also started applying to jobs in the cities, so another option might end up being we're moving out of Chicago a few months earlier than initially expected.  Darn....  So if anyone knows of any jobs that would be pertinent for me in the cities.....
Our other option is that Hannah gets her second rotation replaced and is back here with me for the month leading up to graduation.  This option relies heavily on her school, so we have to wait and see if they can help us out or not.


     I just had the awesome privilege to fly up to the cities this past weekend to see my incredible friend +Dave Schneider off to Denmark!  It was such a great time seeing so many great friends!  I already miss everyone.  Unfortunately Hannah couldn't join me on the trip back because she had her end of rotation exam.  I just want to quickly thank again +Ali Schnell and +Luke O'Neil for letting me invade your homes and take up precious amounts of your time!


     I'm also excited for a trip I'm getting ready for in two weeks up to the boundary waters with +Josh Dégallier, +Thomas Degallier, +Mark Degallier, my dad and Dr. Hiddinga!  I just hope the ice is totally gone by the time we get there..... or else canoeing could be exceedingly difficult.  I'm really looking forward to this trip for some good family time and to get to spend an extended weekend in the wilderness!  I truly do miss being able to walk out my back door and be able to go hiking for hours.  I know this might surprise you, but Chicago doesn't allow me that privilege.  I'll have to write another post saying how the trip goes in a few weeks!


     Well I believe thats most of everything to report currently......  I guess if I'm missing anything then its my own fault and I just have to accept it.  But I will certainly be posting again relatively soon after our trip up north!  Until next time, I bid you adieu!

Job & Chicago Updates

     So I just realized I've been slacking once again in my posting/notifying you all about how the new job is going.  I know I've told many of you about the eye bank briefly, so even if I've talked to you about it a little hopefully this will give you a better idea.

     Essentially you could take the picture I painted in my last posting about what I'd be doing at the eye bank and just burn it.  I haven't been doing anything that I thought I'd be doing!  Pretty much since day one I've been, what I like to consider, and glorified secretarial detective!  So I've been doing paperwork......... A LOT of paperwork!  How exactly is the best way to articulate what I do?  I'm sorry if this all comes off leaving you with no clue, but it's sort of hard to describe accurately.

     Well here it goes!  Picture every donor has a case file.  This case file has it's own unique number.  There are all kinds of different things that need to be approved and tested and investigated in each donor chart.  And everything that not only has to be done with the donated tissues, but also their whole medical history has to be documented in these charts.  So far, thats where I've stepped in for the eye bank.  There is an overwhelming amount of paperwork that has yet to find a home in it's corresponding chart.  So I take paperwork and put it in charts.  I also take charts that are needing final approval and make sure all the paperwork that is supposed to be there, is in fact, in the chart.  This requires me to look up information detailing each chart on Midwest eye bank's national online database.  I check shipping data for flags, where the tissues went, did we get paperwork from those locations, did the tissues get approved, etc.  I've also been given assignments where I've had to go through already filed charts to recheck if the required paperwork is all there.

     So again, I've done a lot of paperwork!  I'm currently working on an assignment that is the most fun....... I've literally been given 96 pages worth of case numbers, or, all the cases that we have at the eye bank, and I'm going through the file cabinets and verifying that they are all actually there.  This is very time consuming and tedious work.

     Again, I'm sorry if I've done a terrible job of attempting to describe what I've been up to, but there isn't a whole lot to tell!  But I must say, even though I haven't been up to what I thought I would be so far, I can't say I'm entirely unhappy.  Yes is all the paperwork terribly mundane?  Sure it is.  But I really feel like I'm helping the eye bank out a lot!  There is a lot of paperwork that I've done because there is no one else who has had the time to do all of this!  And as boring and lame as it sounds to be doing, it is actually super important that it gets done.  So does the work kinda suck?  Yeah, sure it does!  But it is vital that it IS done, so I'm surprisingly happy to do it for them.  Plus, and I really don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm shockingly good at it.  I'm efficient and organized.  I've been able to take all the charts and paperwork and organize it all very well so that everyone knows what-is-what and where it all is.  People have been coming directly to me to ask questions about their charting and what to do with it.  So again, as lame as the work sounds, I must also sound lame because I'm kinda enjoying it.

     I must also say, I won't be doing this the whole time I'm at the eye bank.  I have already been doing a little bit of cell counting, reorganizing stored corneas and scleras, and I'm eventually going to be training on how to go out and do eye procurements!  I'm very excited about that last one!  I'll have to let you know more about that when I actually start getting around to that though, because as of right now, I only know that they want to train me in on that job.

Wow, I've actually written a solid amount about doing paperwork.  You must all be falling asleep reading this!  How about some other updates?!  Hannah and I went downtown for St. Patrick's Day weekend to see the river all green and weird looking.  We saw brother +Josh Ditthardt and finally met his wonderful new bride-to-be Laura!  Congrats again you two!
We were able to drive +Paul warneke back to Winona not long ago and were able to stay in town for the weekend.  That was amazing.  Always so refeshing to get out of Chicago and get back home!  Oh, also while we were home we got to go shoot guns!  So I'll add a picture of Hannah shooting just for fun!
After church today we drove over to one of the conservatories here in Chicago...... there were a bunch of plants in it.
Hmmm..... what are some other updates?  I, regrettably, just shaved off my best beard ever.  SO I guess thats news.
OH!  +Hannah only has 5 months left of PA school!!! BOOM!!!!!!
Yeah...... we're not too exciting.  Sorry!

Here is another stack of files from some random day

Here are some of the filing cabinets at work I dig through

Here is a view from the break room (aka my office)

This was my beard..... I already miss it

We visited one of the conservatories in Chicago

Finally...... a job..... deuxième partie!

     Well friends, I have been waiting for some time to write this next post.  And man, I am so happy to finally share!

     It is with surprising regret to announce that my time at the Red Hen will be coming to a close at the end of this week.  I have come to enjoy this job SO much more than I ever thought I would, and I can honestly now say that I'm going to miss working at the Red Hen, at least a little.  Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to be moving on to a new position at a new job, but I'm really going to miss the people I work with and who have really become my friends.  The free coffee, pastries, and bread are also going to be sorely missed....... because I have really taken advantage of those benefits!  But I'm going to miss my Red Hen friends so much more.  I believe I can walk away from my time at the Red Hen with a lot of valuable experience and new learned life lessons.  This barista job was given to me in a time that I could not have needed it more, and for that I will be forever grateful!

     And now after that little tid-bit, I'm sure many of you are in ardent anticipation to hear where I will be moving onto!  Starting on the 24th of this month, I will be starting my new role of being a laboratory technician at the Illinois Eye Bank!

     God has certainly been testing me with the road leading up to this position, and it is certainly a story worth telling.  Especially for my personal blog.......

     As many of you know, and I'm sure the rest of you have speculated, receiving this barista position at the Red Hen was nothing short of a God send, but I wasn't satisfied with stoping there for a job.  So I haven't stopped the endless process of seeking out and applying to other jobs around the Chicagoland area.  And so a couple of months ago this position at the eye bank popped up while searching.  While home in Winona over Christmas I had the elation of finding out I was being offered an interview!  Finally, after the innumerable fruitless applications I have completed, someone was actually willing to give me a chance!  And so I had a one-on-one interview with the manager of laboratory services at the eye bank and was invited back a week later to have a second interview that was set up to be a group interview with a few of the other laboratory technicians.  After both of the interviews were all done I felt I had done a great job and was extremely hopeful of receiving the position.

     But to my dismay, I was not chosen.....

   I was, to say the least, devastated!  I was really starting to like the Red Hen, but the thrill of the chase for this new exciting job really got my hopes up and really made me realize how ready I was to be moving on to the sort of job I was hoping to get when I first moved down to Chicago.  So to hear that I wasn't selected really hit me hard.

     I really tried to trick myself into feeling that it was alright that I wasn't selected.  I at least attempted to put on a happy face up front, but deep down, it really sucked to not be selected!

     Roughly two weeks after I had heard I didn't get the job at the eye bank I was listening to a podcast and walking to work when I realized I was not even listening to the podcast but instead just fuming over my misfortunes yet again.  And I just remember somewhere in that walk I said a quick little prayer that was something along the lines of 'ok fine God!  Clearly if you wanted me to be done at the Red Hen I would have gotten this other job, so evidently I'm not done here yet.  So I guess I'll be fine with it too for the time being.  But I really wish I knew what the heck you have in store for me!'  And man does God work in mysterious ways......

     During my break at work that same day I happened to pick up my phone and saw that I had a missed call...... from the manager at the eye bank......
     Clearly I was baffled to see that they would be calling me so recently after they told me I wasn't hired.  I remember that night Hannah came to pick me up after work and we gave one of my coworkers a ride home, and as soon as we dropper her off I told Hannah about this mysterious phone call.  I remember the look on Hannah's face and her saying that she had a feeling that I wasn't done with them yet!  So when we got home I gave them a call and was greeted by the manager who I had interviewed with.

     She told me that first of all she was very sorry for not hiring me.  As you can imagine, this took me quite by surprise because how does one who has been bitterly brooding for two weeks respond to this apology?!  "Ummm..... well yeah you should be!", or "well thanks for the call but I don't forgive you", or "I was hoping for an apology", or "....... well yeah you should be!"  But anyway, I honestly can't remember how I responded, but I can only assume from what followed that I responded respectively.
     She then continued that I interviewed extremely well and that everyone liked me but that they were in the end unable to hire me because I had aspirations of getting accepted into dental school which would already start this fall and they didn't want to hire someone in this position for such a short amount of time when they knew other applicants were willing to stay longer.  But she did have a new proposal for me.  One of their current lab techs is leaving on maternity leave and since everyone wanted to hire me before anyway, they were willing to create a paid internship for me to fill in while their other employee was absent!

     I was speechless!  I didn't know what to say!........... but I managed to squeak out "yes"!  And so here I am!  I have yet to have the exact hard details of what I'll be doing, but I do know it will be along the lines of the job I had applied for.  Some of those tasks included calling optometrists and other physicians to review donor patient charts, reviewing donor medical history, analyzing eye tissue cell counts, dissecting the corneas and other harvestable eye tissues, packaging and sending out tissues, and I just found out recently that I will at times be assisting in eye extractions!  I am extremely excited to begin and will absolutely be sharing my experiences!

     I feel exceeding blessed for this opportunity!  It is going to feel incredible to be back in an occupation working in the realms of medicine again.  This internship is going to offer me invaluable experience in not only reviewing patient history's but also reviewing anatomy, medical terminology, pathology, microbiology, etc.  This job is also going to help support Hannah and me finically a little bit more for the time being.  I also feel blessed that this job is in fact an internship because if not I would not have the chance to be assisting with eye extractions.  I also feel that my hours are going to be much more flexible this way.  And to be truthful, being in an internship works out the absolute best for the eye bank and for me looking down the road.  All in all, this seems at the moment to be a win-win scenario, and has clearly shown itself to be a case in which God knows better than I do and will make it work.

     Well if you've actually made it this far, thank you for reading and I will be sure to post again after I begin at the eye bank!

     Cheers!

Brewing the beer

      Holy cow...... well evidentially I haven't written a blog posting since the end of September!  It honestly doesn't seem like it's been that long.  Like I assumed at the start of this blog, I live a humdrum life and apparently can't find enough to write about more frequently than 4 months apart at a time....
Such disappointment....
     Well, this is something I certainly aim to improve upon in the future!  So sorry if I out of the blue throw out a barrage of postings.

     Anyway, I decided I really wanted to start brewing my own alcohols, beginning with beer!  Thanks to the generosity and love from my parents, my Christmas present was a beginners brewing kit!
     Oh the joy and jubilee this brought me!  It may have not been a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass and sundial in the stock, but the sheer bliss of that brewing kit brought me comparable excitation to Ralphie's that crisp Christmas morn' (For reference, please see "A Christmas Story" and make yourself happy).

     I must say first of all, I first wanted to begin brewing on my own after seeing a 5 gallon pickle bucket at work being thrown out.  I looked at it and instantly thought what a perfect acquisition to begin my very own fermenting felicities!  I could simply collect these barrels before they get thrown out and be able to brew to my pleasure's delight!  The possibilities appeared endless at the flicker of my imagination's content.  Little to my knowledge, it so happens that removing any sort of lingering pickle smell is a major pain in the ol' keister!  I am only now, after several months, feeling that it is usable for brewing..... and I've only gotten one of these barrels to that point.......
     Many of you may be rightly wondering, why not just ditch the dumb thing and buy a proper barrel?  Well the answer to that is simple!  I'm stubborn!  And lacking any funds to do so!  So free is better!  Here is a picture of the stupid thing!

      So as we move on, I think you can grasp a clearer picture as to my elation of receiving a proper brewing kit.

     It was packed with it all!  The fermenter, the sanitizer, the hopped malt extract, the bottles and caps, and tissues to wipe away any amateur's tears of joy!  I was ready to start.  For the first time since leaving Minnesota, I couldn't wait to get back to our apartment!

     This particular kit came with a Classic American Light malt extract to make the beer.  So in other words, a pretty wimpy beer (ABV a laughable 3.7%) but probably a good one to start with.  And at least its patriotic!  If you really care to take a look here she be: http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/product_id/1008/nm/Classic_American_Light_Standard_Refill1 

     Here are pictures I took for documentation of my first beer brewing experience.

This is the fermentor 

This is me preparing the HME before starting the wort

   

    Everything went extremely well except for the carbonation process.  I believe I put the beer in the refrigerator just a couple days before I was supposed to.  They gave me a general time frame in the instructions for when it would be acceptable to do so, which I waited for, but I should have been wiser and noticed that the bottles weren't quite pressurized enough.  And I should have been wiser by only putting one bottle in the fridge instead of 5!

     That being said, I did leave out 3 bottles and I discovered that those lucky few survived my accidental murder of carbonation.  So I am at least able to properly enjoy a small portion of my batch.  

     Well needless to say, I cannot wait to begin my next batch (once that pickle smell is vanquished)!  This next time around I'll be able to produce more (5 gallons instead of 2) and I'll be able to bottle and cap the beer for real.  The whole plastic bottle and screw of cap just seemed like I was cheating!

     Again, hopefully I'll be posting again here very soon.  In fact I'm sure of it, so sorry.....

     Also, if you are interested, be on the look out for +Josh Dégallier's upcoming video blog!  I'm sure it'll be a bunch of junk, but I'm looking forward to it anyway! 

I sure wish all my beer turned out this well!