A Day in the Life; 3 Things I See at Work

We recently lost 2 of our clients.  I'd like to think our flag is flying at half-mast in honor of them rather than a well-known local man in politics who happened to kick-it within the same period of time.  I'm not heartless... just really hoped it was lowered for them first.  I didn't make note of it being half-mast until after Ted Stevens also passed as well.

Moose and their bums; they like to eat our trees. 

My friend Luke; here's here, he's there, he's everywhere.  If you look closely, near the bottom right corner of this photo is another photo of him (from maybe a year ago?) featured on my bulletin board making yet another fun face over the cubicle wall... before he shaved his head.

The Only Voices I Hear

With the utmost respect, I would like to share a few statements that touched me a few days ago during a meeting I was in with one of my clients and a clinician from my office.


These are direct quotes.

“I would like to write an autobiography of my life to tell people I’m not schizophrenic.” –Client

“I don’t hear voices… I listen to my CD player, that’s the only voices I hear.” –Client

“Do you ever see anything other people don’t see?” –Clinician

“Only what I draw on paper.” –Client

“I don’t want to go back there.” –As said by the client in a calm, reflective manner after sharing a little about his 3 or so years in jail.

Read Me. I contain the words Teddy Bear, Cajole, Luddite and Nosh in one single post.

I have been busy, tired (as illustrated), and quiet lately. On here, that is. Ask anyone at work and they will tell you I've been rather vocal, at appropriate times, of course.

Here is a quick (or not so quick) update:

In mid-October Mango and I moved into a condo with my friend Laurie who works on the North Slope half-time, loves Mango, and is dating one of my best guy-friends around so life on the home-front is pretty sweet.

Y'all know about the belly dance performance in November 'cause I wrote about that in the last post. Over Thanksgiving I house-sat for a family in town with a big hairy dog named Bandit. For some reason I have not been able to say "no" when they ask me regardless of my schedule or sanity breaking point. I'm a softy and yes, Bandit and I are again spending Christmas and New Years together. This time, he's going to get a chance to meet Mango. He's an obnoxious very friendly dog, and she's a curious cat who plays fetch. Sounds like a match made in Heaven to me.

This is the last week of finals for UAA, though I was done last week, and I found out that I got an A in Psychology and a B in Human Services. Next semester I will not be enrolled at UAA as I will be focusing on my certificate program through New York Institute of Photography. I need to finish that before I do anything else.

I donated money to the AWAIC (Abused Women And Infants in Crisis) shelter through a United Way fundraiser at work last month and was entered into a drawing to win a round-trip ticket anywhere Alaska Airlines flies. Let me tell you how often I win things: I won a large teddy bear from a drawing at Walmart that I don't remember entering when I was 17. I won an electric toothbrush at the health fair at work in October (and gave it to Laurie because I had just bought myself a Sonicare system). And then a few weeks ago I hear this over the intercom at work:

"And the winner of the drawing for the round-trip ticket is... Joanna Dickerson!"

First I was in shock, then I casually made fun of our receptionist for mispronouncing Dickson.

Everyone has been inquiring as to what I'm going to do with the ticket. Well people, I think I have made up my mind. I need to speak with our HR department first, but if I can, I will be flying to New York City and back with the free ticket. While in New York City I will visit an old roommate and her husband and son, see at least one Broadway show with a friend from Maryland who said he will come see me from Boston where he is now living, perhaps see my cousin Andy if I can cajole him into a visit from Upstate, and then hop a plane for Ukraine.

Yes, you read that correctly, I'm going back to Ukraine. It has been 8 years since I visited the first time and it's high time I go back. Misha and Nataliya are in Kiev so I plan on being there most of the time. I do hope to hop a train and go to Marganets and visit the school I was at, Misha's mom, the unofficial school for kids with disabilities, and my old host family too.

This trip will knock out a at least two items from my running list of things to do before I die (published on the bottom of my blog). How fantastic is that? Even better, the traveling and things I will be around (especially in Ukraine) will work to my advantage in regards to the NYIP program.

Trips, list of things to do... oh yes, and in March I will be traveling to Nome with a friend to see the end of the Iditarod, another thing on my list of things to do before I die.

Also, tomorrow (or perhaps it's today 'cause it's past Midnight) after work I am joining my friend, co-worker, and fellow belly-dancing sister in celebrating Hanukkah (or Chanukah). Yes, I am skipping my church Christmas party to learn about the traditions of people whose beliefs are quite similar to my own LDS ones. And no, she is not Jewish. The best description I have for my friend and those who worship like her is... Messianic Believer. They heavily study the Torah and adhere to the old ways and at the same time utilize the whole Bible and believe in Christ as their Savior. A few Fridays ago she came and spoke at a regular Friday luncheon we hold at the LDS Institute of Religion. It was fantastic, she was great, and the Spirit was strong in that room and for the rest of the day. Friday evenings (as able) for me are spent with my friend and her husband enjoying Hebraic dancing before settling down for Torah study followed by Nosh (to eat a snack). See, Mormons aren't the only ones with food at their gatherings.

On the flip-side of all this glee:

1. Two months back my old cell phone sat in rush-hour traffic for about 40 minutes being run-over and survived, then crapped out a couple weeks ago.

2. I've had 1 (ONE) official date in the last year and a half.

3. I accidentally dropped my new phone on the floor at work sending the back, the base, and the battery in separate directions. Right after that moment my boss walked into the cubicle and I looked at him with an "Oh-boy-I-hope-he-doesn't-see-the-disaster-I-just-created" look on my face while attempting to stifle laughter. He knows my faces well and called me on it so I pointed to the floor. In a questioning manner, he called me a luddite. Look it up.

Wait, one more thing!!! (Where's my OFF button?)

Speaking of work, this month right about now marks my one-year since changing positions at work from Job Coach to Service Plan Writer. In February 2010 I will have been working for Assets, Inc. for 2 years. Where has the time gone? And for everyone's bit of useless Joanna Trivia, before now the longest I stayed in one employment situation was 11 months. Yes, that was my official record. That's not bad compared to my nomadic moving habits. I haven't lived anywhere longer than 8 months after leaving home in early June 2003 (except the 10 months I lived at home again upon my return to Alaska in '07).

Ok people, that's it today.

A Longer Rope

My six month review at work is right around the corner and I just finished a written self-assessment. I feel the need to share a piece of it with the world. Sometimes I am so honest I crack myself up.

The fifth question on the assessment was "What do you need to do your job more effectively?" and was finding it difficult to answer.

And then it came to me:

I need more patience. There are select clients that make the trip to the end of the proverbial rope a lot quicker than others. Maybe I just need a longer rope.

My supervisor's supervisor has a BA in English and a good sense of humor. Of all the people that may read my self-assessment, I think he will appreciate it the most.

I'll let you know how it went over when I meet with everyone for the review. Or maybe I won't let you know. Don't hold your breath.

Shred Room Printer

I sent this informative yet light and slightly crass email to my team at work today, inspired by an incident someone enlisted #5 to solve and upon saving the day I found the problem was #2 – it will make sense once you read the email. I think it may have been one of the first emails my team has gotten from me that lets my true personality shine through. Ah, it feels good to be free. Pity I can’t be so liberal with skill development and service note documentation I do for work. That would be… hilarious to say the least.

---

From: Joanna Dickson
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 2:31 PM
To: Onyx Email
Subject: Shred Room Printer

Rumor has it that we may be getting a new printer in the shred room… but until then, here are 5 questions to ask yourself before you fantasize about chucking it out the door:

1. Is the printer setting correct? Go to [File] and click on [Print] then change the name of the printer to the Hp Laser Jet something-or-other. It should NOT be on Microsoft Office Document Image Writer… that will get you nowhere except to a window that asks you to save something somewhere… and who knows what that will do.
2. Is the printer plugged in? Yes, it gets unplugged once in a blue-moon.
3. Is the printer ON? The power button is NOT on the front, it’s on the back near the power plug. The green button on the front is no button, just a mere indicator light to tell you if it’s on or not. Unfortunately it’s rather dim sometimes and misleading.
4. Am I giving it a moment to clear the printing cache? With every failed attempt to print something another document is added to the printing cache, a backlog of crap waiting to be printed. You can double-click on the teeny-tiny printer icon in the bottom right corner of the screen and it will show you the often enormous list of stubbornness in action. You can even right click on each print job and select [restart] if you are in doubt about whether or not the computer will ever get the job done. Just remember it won’t print YOUR stuff till all the other stuff is cleared out of that cache, so don’t be greedy.
5. Is Joanna at the office? If I’m here and you are ready to wrestle with that dang ol’ printer, give me a ring (on the phone of course… though I’m not too picky, I like sparkly stuff too). :o)

Enjoy your many adventures with the aforementioned beast of a printer!!!

Joanna E. Dickson

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being." -Goethe

Can You Fix Her?

Meet Caileena. Caileena was missing an arm yesterday. Caileena belongs to a little boy in the after-school program that I've mentioned before. He went to one of my client's co-workers and asked, "Can you fix her?" A cute moment amidst a really long day.

I love laundry carts.

Though I had grand adventures when I spent time at East Coast laundromats (see my archived post about homeless people - type "pockets" into the blog search an you'll find it), I don't miss the crappy television, funny wet smell, or the humming of the neon OPEN sign.

Lucky me, two of my clients work at a laundromat and I have the pleasure of reliving the past. Unlike Baltimore, company is scarce here besides the animated banter of the laundry carts.

I love laundry carts.

Seriously though, with most of my time here only dedicated to visual monitoring, I find myself wanting for someone to come in and bug me sometimes. Is that strange or what?

Squeaky squeaky squeaky.

My clients who work shredding documents are well acquainted with WD-40 since it keeps the -squeaky- shredders -squeaky- from -squeaky- ...you get the idea.

Trivia of the day: Did you know WD-40 stands for Water Displacement 40th Attempt? Pretty cool, eh?

Manna from Heaven

I think EVERYONE at my work, clients and staff alike, live on these things. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever. They are like manna from Heaven. Wouldn't that be a funny visual? Nature Valley bars raining from the sky...

Lazy days...

Look what I got to play on at work today!

Double Feature

"I Farted Over THERE"

This kid (kid A) in the after-school program one of my clients works at was sitting next to another kid (kid B) enjoying snack.

Kid C wanted to come over and sit with kid B, but kid B said no, accusing kid A of passing gas.

Kid A insisted he did not pass gas.

Kid B insisted that he did pass gas because he could smell it.

And this is where kid A brighly shouted, "That's because I farted over THERE!!!"

Tact.... where can we get a tact upgrade for our youth? Anyone? Anyone?

"Can You Tip Me Over?"

One of my clients is a little uneasy on his feet.

He works where he is frequently around boxes.

Boxes, unsteady gait... you do the math - Some things are eventually inevitable.

He turned around to do something and lost his footing, sitting himself inside an open box.

With his feet and hands and head above the box, this grown man looked at me with his one good eye and innocently said, "Can you tip me over so I can get out?"

I nearly died laughing.

3 for 1 Special

Are you a believer?

I am waitressing very very part-time now, as my regular work week is keeping me quite busy.

Last Saturday I worked at the restaurant and I was taking an order for a large party. During the entire time I was writing, I noticed a woman staring at my server book, wherein I keep a picture of Christ ministering unto the children.

When I brought her a drink refill, she mentioned that she saw the picture earlier and asked in a whisper, "Are you a believer"?

The question delivery and word application was a little... different than I'm used to. After tooling it around in my mind for a second, I whispered back, "Why yes, I am".

I B L8

On Sunday I was helping a friend out by accompanying her beautiful singing in a special musical number she performed for her ward's (congregation) sacrament meeting at church. This was at 3pm and located in South Anchorage. At 5pm I was needing to be back to my side of town so I could teach in my ward's Relief Society (a women's Sunday school class).

One hour to get from point A to point B is a grand amount of time, but for some reason I felt like I left my friend's ward a little later than I should have. Part-way to my destination, I had this feeling that I was going to be late. I was worried and amidst my minor panic, a truck pulled into the lane in front of me.

Of all the things the truck's personalized I-like-to-distract-other-drivers license plate could say, it offered me no comfort with "I B L8".

Fiber anyone?

One of my clients works for an after-school program. Therefore a few afternoons a week, three hours at a time, I'm with this client at the school. Around children. Enough said.

Today a kid came into the program with a l-o-o-o-n-g piece of paper with protruding pieces of paper at one end, and a pointed piece at the other. He had made a paper scorpion.

He was playing with it, and trying to "sting" my arm and make me squirm. I played along, even though it's not REALLY my job to interact with the kids. I mean, come on, what do you think I am? Nice? Never.

Seeing kids using their imaginations in this time of video games and crap like that is rather rare these days. This little scorpion thing was rather charming until...

The kid totally ATE it. Yeah, he ATE it. Want me to say it again? He ATE it!!! Yes! All three flippin' feet of paper that it was!

As much as I am not a fan of video games, at least if a kid takes of chunk out of a controller or something, electricity will do it's thing and teach 'em a lesson.

The paper, well... that won't bite back until later.

Kapput. Done. Gone.

Spring break around the nation has arrived for school-aged children, college students.... and WATCH OUT, I've been thinking.

Children and young adults of America are soft with their expectancies of seasonal breaks.

One day folks, you will NOT have 2 weeks of "veg" time around the holidays in December..... you will NOT get a week off from life to combat cabin-fever in March... you may not get Labor Day off, or Presidents Day off, or -Gasp!- the day before Thanksgiving off from whatever you may be doing. Oh, and the whole summer break deal, don't get used to it.

Yes, loathe graduation from whatever mucky-muck university you attend, for therein encompasses the day all your needed no-questions-asked vacation time ends.

Kapput. Done. Gone.

I've known multiple people who take leave from work for spring break that doesn't exist anymore, or Christmas break that doesn't exist anymore.... even at the expense of their employment.

It makes no sense.

Our educational system made them soft. So soft they figured they DESERVED that select time off from work and didn't stop and consider the consequences of their demands. What are they going to do when they have a family? "Hey sweetie, it's that time of year again, spring break is back and I'm outa here. See you and the kids in a week. Oh, and by the way, I lost my job. They just didn't get the memo that the world revolves around ME."

If life doesn't give us breaks for seasonal relaxation and recuperation, then why the heck are we preparing the children of today, and the leaders of tomorrow, with the luxury and false idea that it does???

Five good things

I am so glad to back in the social work field working hard and serving others. As inspired by some clients I work with, here are some things I want to share with cyberspace today:

1. Every person has something to offer the world.
2. No matter what one has done, does, or will do... they posses great value.
3. Anyone can teach another something new.
4. A sincere smile is heart-warming and bridges even the widest divisions.
5. Life is wonderful! Really, it's unquestionably beautiful.

Another challenge....

My survey on whether or not I could successfully finish the vegetarian/vegan 30-day challenge brought about 66 votes for "Absolutely!!!", 2 votes for "Maybe.", and 2 votes for "Heck NO!!!".

Bragging rights go to those who voted for "Absolutely!!!". Yay for you! I know there was only a couple who voted, with someone sitting and voting 62-ish times. But hey, a vote is a vote. Thanks for the good thoughts.

My next 30-day challenge is........

~*~*~*~*DRUMROLL*~*~*~*~

Spending the next 30 days with a good attitude about my body.

More info to come soon.

I must now retire to my bed for tomorrow is the first day at my new job with an organization in town (Assets) that works with adults with mental disabilities. I'm so excited! The position I've wanted since I arrived back in Alaska opened up recently and I snagged it! I'll be working as an employment specialist (job coach) around the city at different job-sites each day.

A Tribute

Here's a tribute to our soldiers and workers who are out and about around the world doing their thing, protecting some, losing some, and missing their friends and families.

My friend's father is in Afghanistan. She was married on October 26th, 2007. Though her brothers were able to make it home from abroad for the wedding, her father wasn't there to walk her down the aisle.

Thanks to modern technology, he was there to meet and talk to her husband, and gave a fatherly speech through a fuzzy wireless Internet connection as part of the ceremony.

Perfectly timed, at the end of his shared fatherly wisdom, the connection pooped out. God has a way of making things work out- Sometimes just... long... enough.

I must also add an extra shout out to Ray and Andre who recently came to TGIFriday's where I work. They dined at one of my tables and it was a true pleasure to wait on them. These two nice young men had returned home from Iraq that very morning and simply wanted a normal and tasty meal... no booze, no profanity, no fighting. Ray was quiet and polite, not much of a talker. Andre was polite and joked around some while sharing some of his experiences. These two young men really lightened my load that day.

Thank you... and thank you to all who are currently serving our country, will be serving, have alread served, and everyone else who may be touched by this.

Singin' Praises

Sometimes the state of being tired is an excellent one to be in.

This morning being tired meant I had a great time last night ice skating with a friend at a local (indoor) rink... losing a one-on-one snowball fight in a parking lot, warming up with hot-cocoa at Village Inn, and enjoying conversation so much that 2:30am arrived before I got back home.

[Insert "Holy wow!", "Oh my!", "Yippee!", and every other exuberant, exciting exclamation of joy in-between here].

Last night was a happy pill and it successfully got me through the he- err, heck-of-a-day I had today.

Current mood: Singin' praises to good company.

Breakfast Post

This is an I'm-multi-tasking-eating-breakfast-and-posting-in-my-blog-at-the-same-time morning.

That one I promised about the trip with my dad to get my car? Don't worry, it's coming... eventually.

Just a quick update on life:

I AM KEEPING VERY BUSY.

(Thank goodness.)

The dating scene is gone - don't cry about it. I just had the feeling, intuition, whatever you want to call it, that I shouldn't be dating the young man I was. About a week ago I called it off. I'm sure billions of women around the world, if they knew, would come and kick my tail-end over it. He's a really nice and caring guy, and so many women out there never encounter such kindness in a relationship. We just weren't meant to be, and that's that. 12/20/2007 Note: Any hint of kindness abruptly ended one week after the breakup. He went off his rocker. Scared the crap out of me for weeks... and when I say 'scared' I mean it. I just don't get it. This is the time in our lives where dating and breaking up is normal, and part of the process to find that one special someone. It hurts sometimes, but it is to be taken in stride and not used as an excuse to harass and stalk people.

People are already starting to dabble in my personal dating (or non-dating) life. Some get thrills from setting people up. Word to the masses:

I'm not one to be on the prowl in regards to dating.

I'm not even really looking - just living.

Doggone it, I barely even have time to eat breakfast, let alone date. Speaking of which, I have to run to work NOW.

Have a great day.

Tomorrow

Well, I have this great blog of the trip dad and I went on to Soldotna recently to pick up my car and... I can't finish it yet. It's a "pictures included" blog entry and blogger.com is experiencing issues with uploading photos at the moment. Argh.

I just wanted to write a little today. I'm waiting for my laundry to finish so I can go to bed and face tomorrow's fun (ha ha) schedule, even though I have the day off from work:

5:15am - Roll out of bed, shower, get dressed, and eat breakfast in no particular order.
6:40am - Brush teeth.
6:45am - Freeze butt off while scraping ice off car windows then leave the house.
7:30am - Check in and do paperwork at Alaska Regional Hospital's front desk.
7:45am - Check in somewhere else and do more paperwork. Wait.
8:00am - MRI scan done on leg where a hematoma (or so we think it is) still resides from being hit by a drunk driver two years ago.
9:00am to 12:50pm - Hunt down, find, and purchase a decent external flash for my camera, a bundle of 800 ISO film, face paints, maybe get a haircut, eat lunch, save the world, clean up, change clothes, yadda yadda yadda.
12:55pm - Brush teeth.
1:00pm - Pray the roads are dry and I'm not clear across town right now.
1:30pm - Meet up with my friend and her fiance to discuss last minute details for their wedding photography and hopefully catch a few cute moments while I'm at it.
4:00pm - Be Ms. Photographer for the wedding and try not to cry.
6:00pm - Change into my costume in preparation for the young single adult Halloween dance out in Eagle River.
6:55pm - Brush teeth.
7:00pm - Hopefully be ready to leave for that dance and maybe arrive early to help set up.
8:00pm - Dance begins. Have fun.
12:00am - Dance ends. Drive home safely.
12:30am - Brush teeth.
12:35am - Crawl into bed and be comatose for the next 7 hours.

Y'know, I used to color-code my daily schedule down to the minute. It lasted maybe a year, then I drove myself crazy. I was thinking about picking up that habit again... and I just remembered why I don't. S-T-R-E-S-S. Such detailed scheduling is good for some, not for all. I travel with the "all" folks on this one.

Speaking of traveling, I had 3 people at a table today visiting from Utah for a few weeks on a job-related trip. They told me they didn't like Alaska. I told them I didn't like Utah.

They left a great tip when they left.

One more point towards the fact that honesty is the best policy. If I had lied and told them how much I loved Utah and that I wanted to go back so bad, they probably would have been able to read the lies in my face. I refuse to lie to people in hopes of getting bigger tips. It's a ludicrous habit and will bite my coworkers in the butt one day.

Ah, the sound of the dryer stopping.... full of warm sheets ready to put on my bed.

Goodnight, I'm outa here!

Home Again.

It has been quite a while since I have written. I'd apologize, but I'm not really that sorry. It's MY blog, and MY writing schedule... I will write when I feel like it, I won't when I don't. Done deal.

After living between Utah and Maryland since June 2003, I have finally returned home to Alaska.

My new motto: I don't belong anywhere South of Canada.

I returned home on August 29th. My parents couldn't cancel their travel plans after I called off the wedding so they came out and visited for the heck of it instead. I enjoyed having them in my domain, meeting my friends and "adopted" family, and watching them squirm on the Washington D.C. Beltway... only my most favorite road to travel.

My father returned to Alaska earlier than my mom, which gave us some time to travel North and visit her family in Upstate New York. I drove us up there, and I drove us back from there... and we managed not to kill each other. We even spent a fair amount of time laughing our tails off, admiring handsome men from the Middle East (New Jersey is full of 'em), and talking trash about toll roads. It was beautiful.

I wasn't sorry when I left Utah in 2004, not one bit. However, I am sad to have left the life I had in Maryland. I grew close to some of the most amazing people ever, whom I love so dearly. I learned a lot, drove a lot, laughed a lot, cried a lot, worked a lot, loved a lot, hurt a lot, changed a lot... Maryland is a very little state but, as you can see, it has a LOT of potential.

Alaska has a lot to offer too. First and foremost, it's home. I know my upcoming experiences back home will also be filled with a lot of learning, driving, laughing, crying, working, loving, hurting, and changing... because that's what life is all about. Well, maybe not the driving, but if you've ever lived in the Maryland/D.C. area you understand how lengthy drives become an indisputable part of life. I learned that I do my best thinking while I'm in the car... therefore, it's a hefty part of my life.

That's it for today. I pray this finds many people doing well.

Joanna