Where I've Been...

So, it's been a whirlwind of a few weeks, and even though I'm still blog-stalking all those I follow, I've not actually had any time to blog for myself. So, here's where I've been...

Two weeks ago I went to Atlanta for a wound care continuing education course. It was an INSANE amount of information in a very short amount of time. And, let me tell ya, nothing makes me want to lose my lunch like the sight of diabetic foor ulcers on a 20x20 screen after lunch (and breakfast for that matter). All I can say is that my office's telemedicine wound care specialist (who I'm supposed to consult when I have a question on a difficult wound) will be hearing from me OFTEN. Two highlights from this trip...

I got to eat dinner and play a little Wii with my friend Laurie who recently got engaged, and whom I hadn't seen in ages! Turns out that even though I was once called "Wii-letic," that title no longer applies. I got schooled in tennis, golf, and bowling. It was sad. But, she was nice enough to sit a huge bowl of candy in front of me so I at least got a sugar high!

There was an Aflac convention at our hotel, and their big meeting room was the one beside ours. They were extremely loud, so we were all speculating as to what was happening in there. All I could really make out was the song "Money, Money, Money, Money" playing over and over. (Way to play up that stereotype of the money hungry insurance guy.) The lady teaching my course would randomly stop her lecture (when she could tell she was losing us) and yell "Where's the duck? We want to see the duck!" It was hysterical!

Fast forward to last week...Amedisys flew me to Orlando for New Employee Orientation. Fun! I was seriously wishing that I had taken some PTO and stayed longer because our hotel was amazing! Too bad I never even got to take advantage of the 80 degree weather, giant swimming pool and waterfalls. Every time I go on an Amedisys trip, I wish that I had brought Josh with me because the accomodations are so nice. (and, did I mention free?) A few blog worthy notes from our trip...

When we were at the airport in Chattanooga, there were two planes at the same gate. So, we actually had to walk down onto the tarmac and out onto our respective planes (yes, they were puddle jumpers and only had about 20 seats each). You would assume that they would have someone directing traffic because one plane was going to Atlanta and another to Cincinnati. Not so much. So, we guessed and boarded the plane on the right. Fortunately we guessed correctly. We knew this because a ticket agent boarded the plane before it pushed back from the gate and called roll. Seriously. We had to raise our hand when our name was called. Just like 1st grade. I turned to the lady beside me (whom I assumed to be a frequent flyer...the ticket agents knew her name before they looked at her tickets as did the security guys...I figured she knows the ropes), and asked her if they always did this when planes fly out of Chattanooga. She told me no, and seemed to be as confused as I was. Nobody ever figured out what the confusion was, but in hindsight the roll call was pretty amusing.

Kristina, another girl from Amedisys who I was travelling with, had only flown 3 other times in her life before this trip. So, she was extremely freaked out about changing planes in Atlanta and the whole flying experience in general. I flew BY MYSELF for the first time when I was 13 (and changed planes in some random airport BY MYSELF), so I was not so concerned. The trip from Chattanooga from Atlanta was about 55 minutes gate to gate (this will be relevant later in this post). I thought it was strange that it takes longer from Chattanooga to Atlanta than Knoxville to Atlanta because Chatty is about 100 miles closer. Go figure.

Anyhoo...we made it safely to Orlando and had a whirlwind of 2 days. We even got to meet Bill Borne who is our CEO and president of the company. Pretty cool if you ask me! And, the food was awesome. (Good food always makes me a happy girl.) So, Tuesday night our flight left Orlando at 7:30, so we hightailed it to the airport around 5 when our conference was over. Security was ATROCIOUS! We really didn't have to wait that long, but I have NEVER in my life been through such an unorganized event. You would think they would put up some lane dividers in the interest of national security, but once you get past the TSA guys checking off your tickets, everyone blobs into the same mass of chaos and randomly filter through until you can actually tell where the lines start again and wait to be x-rayed and frisked. I'm not much of a fan of close quarters with people I don't know, and that was definitely close quarters. Chaos! Denver airport is much larger, and the lines for security were much longer. But it was NEVER chaos. I digress...

Kristina had a minor freak out when our plan was delayed out of Orlando until I reminded her that even if we miss our connector in Atlanta, we can drive home in 2 hours. Nevertheless, we made it to Atlanta in plenty of time. And what did we find next to the gate our flight home was to leave from? If you said Cinnabon, you are correct. My fav! We looked for a Cinnabon in the Atlanta airport on the way down to no avail. For the record, they are in terminals A and D. :) Once my belly was full of Cinnabon and 2 glasses of milk, I was ready for the ride home.

Apparently the pilot was too. He radioed to the cabin something like this...

"Ladies and gentlemen we are 4th in line for takeoff here in Atlanta. There will be no food/drink service tonight, and I will not be turning off the fasten seatbelt sign. Our total flight will be 15-20 minutes in the air. Thank you for flying Delta."

Kristina looked at me with GIANT eyes and said, "but it took us almost an hour to get down here!" To which I replied, "Well, it's gonna take us 20 minutes to get home."

He wasn't lying. I set my watch chronos after he made that statement. We touched down in Chattanooga almost 21 minutes later. I think Kristina was still a little freaked out, but we were both thrilled to be home (at 11:30 pm) because we had patients to see the next day. I spent the rest of the week playing catch up for my patients, but it was worth it!

This weekend was spent at the National Cornbread Festival, and working around the house. My garden is finally planted (with tomatoes, onions, green peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers, zucchini and watermelon...yum!), and we got all the wallpaper primed. The guest bathroom is finally painted and mirror hung back up (so our guests actually have a bathroom to use now!). The house is in such a state of chaos that I've decided no one else is allowed to come over until the remodeling is finished. I'm shooting for late June, but that might be a little ambitious. I just want it all to be over!

Okay, that's my life in a nutshell since I've been absent from posting. Sorry it was so terribly long! I'll try to do better with my updates in the next few weeks. Enjoy this gorgeous weather!