eric135

20 down, 20 to go...

Twenty employee evaluations done. It only took me eight hours, and the other twenty should not take as long now that I have the software down.

Our hospital uses a program where you click on a 4-point rating system via drop-down menu, and via some weighted calculations, and deducting fractions of points if you've been bad (too many mental health days, slapping customers around too much, the usual) you get a final figure.

That figure determines if you (>3.50) get a 4% raise, (2.75-3.49) 3% raise, (2.00-2.74) 2% raise with an "Action Plan" (Hail Mary's, self-flagulation, no masturbation for a month, that sort of thing) or <1.99 (I think they kill ya).

The real fun will be when I start going over them with the employees (or maybe my boss will do that, in which case I might take that week off).

I survived the last time I did this. Mostly because of my tedious record-keeping. If you've got to whip yourself or give up self-stimulation, I've got something written in your file explaining why.

I've done half, and I don't have any action plans to start, so things are looking pretty good.

A load of bull

I finally got around to doing my taxes overnight, and they are now in the hands of the US Postal Service. And I won't have to prostitute myself to pay off my taxes (all should breathe a deep sigh of relief, as I shall do now.... B.. R.. E.. A.. T.. H.. E.. )  Actually, my income was up quite a bit this year (because I am surely working myself to death or mental collapse) and yet my federal tax is pretty much the same as last year, and I am getting about four times the amount back from the state of Arizona. Pretty sweet. And I didn't have to do anything illegal (like claim our kitties as children) to get it.

Check out atariboy, who got served with a notice from Redstation (ISP) for a blog entry they want retracted/deleted/obliterated. I found him on Digg, and I've been salivating over his two-monitor setup for the past several weeks. Anyway, I am pretty sure I will someday find some nasty notice from Pr e ss  G  a n e y  because of all the shit I've written here about their patient satisfaction survey (Insert Soapbox Text Here: It isn't patient satisfaction that you have to worry about, it's nursing recruitment, nursing education, and nursing RETENTION that will decide how your last 30 days of life will go... I'll bet ya, I'll just bet ya...)  I just have to wonder about who is running their PR department, and why they are still working for Redstation after all of these inbound links about them.

I am in the thick of our annual performance evaluations. I have about 40 to complete. It's my least favorite part of the year, seconded only by sorting out the holiday schedule. I'd rather put down 40 nasogastric tubes, or 40 foleys (on folks with prostates the size of lemons). I just am totally dreading it, although I have never had anyone freak out over my evals. The point is this: everyone brings something positive to the table, my job is to find it, even if I have to mention half a dozen bad things they bring to the table.

So did anyone else catch that HNN story about that little boy that's a bull fighter? They were playing clips of him messing around with a little bull (not sure if it was a young bull, or if it was some smaller breed). When I watch adult bull fighters, I always shamelessly root for the bull. I just love it when those guys get gored, and then sent flying over the barriers. And when they have the running of the bulls, I am on my feet, yelling "Go Bulls, Gore Them Sons of Bitches!!" at the top of my lungs. But it was a tough call trying to figure out if I was rooting for the little bull, or the little boy. Then they got to the part where the kid was stabbing the bull with those sticks, and I found myself once again on my feet, hoping that bull would gore that little kid's parents. The fact that HNN was playing it up as a "cute factor" just sickens me.

OK, back to work tonight... looking for 40 NG's or 40 foleys...

Eagles and Airplanes

A cool Live Eagle Netcam site. I am pretty sure it's real, but I have checked it throughout the day and the eagle is never NOT there. I checked it this morning and thought the eagle was dead -- but it was just sleeping with its head on the ground (I sort of thought all birds sleep with its head tucked under the wing). But it was alive. Oddly captivating (or maybe he just reminds me of Buckbeak from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).

A trailer for a movie about Flight 93, bravely re-taken after being hijacked on 9/11. The trailer has been yanked from theaters in NY, even though the producers of the film cleared the movie with the families of the passengers and crew.

Brokeback Mountain -- not at all like City Slickers...

I finally sat down and watched Brokeback Mountain last night. I had meant to watch it with all of the hoopla over the film, and then with Ang Lee winning the Best Director category. For some reason (admittedly idiotic) I had that movie, City Slickers, on my mind.

It totally wasn't anything like City Slickers. Obviously.

I liked it (my room mate was surprised because I generally don't like anything that isn't SciFi, Action Adventure or Suspense). But really, I already knew one of them would get bashed to death. Typical gay tragic hero (I'm not trying to trivialize what really happens, but really, why couldn't they just have started that damn ranch and lived happily ever after?)

We've also been watching The X-Files Season Two. I missed a couple of years of that show. I think I had just quit as a high school teacher and was busy starving to death as a real estate agent.

We also watched a documentary on the Lesbo channel (oh okay the Lego channel) about the Aids Ride. Again, I surprised my room mate because it was one reality show that I really liked. I think I met one of the comedians that worked the talent show years ago when I volunteered as a counselor/advocate with a local gay/lesbian youth organization. If I had better knees, I'd like to bike some of the AIDS ride, the documentary was that good. No way I could do it now (although there are other parts to play other than riding the bike -- although my skills setting up tents are not great, or even good).

I sent myself home last night. No one wanted to take a night on call so I took it myself. I just couldn't get psyched up to work anyway, so I sort of took advantage of the fact that we were so well staffed for the first time in weeks. I am sure I will hear about it later. I went home and worked on evaluations (well, after watching Brokeback Mountain, that is.)

Wow, on CNBC it is snowing in NY, and it is raining really hard here in Phoenix.