Yes, it’s been a while.
I’ve decided to put a hold on my Masters in Nursing for now. I really did enjoy the classes, but there is a real possibility (maybe even probability) that we will be relocating to Milwaukee, Wisconsin within the next 6-8 months and I don’t want to have to pay a lot of tuition back to my present employer when I leave. So I stopped taking classes back in January.
Since then, I’ve taken up camping. I used to backpack into the woods many years ago, when hiking 2-3 miles into the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia was do-able. We’d carry 30-pound backs on our backs, and I’d sleep in a tent, no air mattress, no pad. I remember walking into the woods with a shovel, dig a hole for me to poop in. Back then, we’d drink out of the stream (I don’t think they had even invented water filtration units like they have now).
None of that is do-able at this point. After 30 years, neither of my knees are up to it. I carry my own little portable toilet because I’m too risk-averse to pee or poop in the public vault toilets, much less hang from a tree like an orangutan from one arm while pooping into a hole. I have a portable toilet that actually flushes.
I also use a propane heater, which I turn on as soon as the temperature drops below 65 degrees.
And I no longer hike deep into the woods. I go to regular camp grounds and pay $20 a night.
But I just love lighting a good campfire. I sort-of enjoy cooking on an open flame, but what I really like is to light the fire just as the sun sets, and staring at the flames until I run out of wood.
Another interest I've been spending a lot of time on is video production. As part of my Masters in Nursing with an emphasis on nursing education, I have been working on ways to utilize YouTube videos, VLogs Blogs and Podcasts as a way to educate nurses. Over the past year, I've been honing my skills in programs like Corel VideoStudio, Audacity, SoundCloud and other programs or services that I may eventually use should I ever decide I could not physically handle bedside nursing. At that point, I'd try to work my way into a Clinical Educator role, and/or teaching nursing courses online.
I've produced dozens of nursing videos, from how to perform CAPD (Continuous Abdominal Peritoneal Dialysis) exchanges, to how to manage timecards in Laborworkx (our facility's time, attendance and payroll program). But I've been itching to use my skills in a more public way. Thus the following, my first YouTube production. Yeah it's a bit goofy, but it incorporates most of my current VLogging skills - putting the clips together, setting up subtitles, recording a voice-over and adding a soundtrack. Enjoy: