Monday Morning Chrissy

 

 

 

Secondhand Sunday

Sundays are my Secondhand day. I'm basically too lazy to think of anything new to say so I re-post a "vintage" entry.

If you aren't in the mood for repeats, please feel free to change the channel.



"Under the knife"

Original Post Date, June 1, 2011




Yesterday, I took Miss Millie for the surgical evaluation of her torn ACL. We made the 45 minute trip to the specialist and when we got there, Millie was sure to let everyone in the waiting room and inner offices know that there was a Beagle in the house.

AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once we got in the exam room, she sniffed around trying to determine what the heck we were doing there. And then, of course, she had to let everyone know where said Beagle from the lobby was.



AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dr. Surgeon came in and rolled his stool close to me while he asked me about Millie. I explained to him that I had rescued her from the Portage County dog pound and that I realized a few days later, that I had inherited a dog with a football injury.

He leaned in, “My goodness..” and placed his hand on my knee.

Now, normally I would have shot him my “WTF?’ look but hey, ACL surgeries are pretty expensive so I allowed it just in case we needed a discount or payment plan which they clearly didn’t offer as noted on the signs in the waiting room.

“Why don’t you walk her down the hall so I can take a look?” he said.

Oh geez, I thought to myself, are you going to take a look at Millie or me?

“Maybe you would like to take her?” I offered.

“No, then I won’t be able to watch her walk”.

Oh geez. I slooowly walked down the long hallway so that my booty wouldn’t bounce on the way down and the girls wouldn’t bounce on the way back.

The guy touched ME more through the evaluation than he touched Millie but GUESS WHAT??

Since I've been giving her an over the counter joint supplement, she's improved so much that the vet doesn't think she'll need surgery at all! We just need to cut back on our treats so she can lose a few pounds.

AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

C Cleveland

In 1866, Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams founded Sherwin-Williams, the largest producer of paint and coatings in the US. Their headquarters have remained in downtown Cleveland since 1930 and they have a strong commitment to the city and the people of Cleveland.

When LeBron James made his now infamous decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to play for the Miami Heat, the last thing Clevelanders wanted was to drive downtown and see his image splattered across the side of a building, a memory of happier times.

Sherwin-Williams stepped in and created a 10 story high, black and white banner of the Cleveland skyline with the words.

Our home since 1866. Our pride forever.

 Take THAT, traitor LeBron.

 

 

 

This Spring, Sherwin-Williams created a new banner that they felt was more reflective of the vitality of Cleveland. According to CEO, Chris Connor, "We wanted to demonstrate a feeling of pride and commitment to the city of Cleveland while taking a more colorful approach, especially since our company is a global leader in color. We want to salute the world class companies, natural resources, sports teams, healthcare and cultural institutions that make Cleveland a truly special place for our citizen and visitors alike."

 

 

Bravo, Mr. Connor!

 

Sherwin-Williams commissioned local artist, George Vlosich III, to design the banner. Mr. Vlosich is internationally know for his artwork created on an Etch-a-Sketch. Yes, I said Etch-a-Sketch! I'm lucky if I can draw a straight line.

 

Here are some cool facts about the Sherwin-Williams banner:

 

• The banner is mixed media – a combination of illustration, paint, ink and digital.
• Due to the detailed nature of the piece, the illustration took over 150 hours to create.
• One of the largest Vinyl Mesh wall banners in the U.S.
• The banner consists of 14 printed panels, each 16’ wide before finishing.
• There is a total of 23,320 square feet of printed vinyl mesh material, which is over ½ acre (43,560 square feet) and about half the size of a regulation football field end zone to end zone (football field is 48,000 square feet).
• 7 gallons of ink were used to print the banner.
• Print time was 56 hours.
• 259 grommets are sewn into the banner
• The banner weighs approximately 1800 lbs.
• There are 2,074 feet of welding to join the 14 sections together.
• 322 ratchet straps hold the banner to the building.
• Over 1300 feet of cable attach to the side of the building to support the banner.
• 5830 average size adults could stand on the banner, shoulder to shoulder, assuming each person is approximately 4 square feet across.

Be sure to check it out the next time you're in town!

 

 

Buh Bye

Since I gave my notice at work, I'm come to realize that there are two kinds of people in my department. The ones who really like me and the ones who really hate me.

I've shared a lot of personal information here. I've talked about my weight, my sex life, my family, death and my deepest feelings. The one thing I've never talked about is work. It just seemed somehow off limits. I didn't want to talk about people who wouldn't have any recourse and frankly, I didn't want to get fired.

I'm done playing nice in the sandbox. I work for one of the largest healthcare institutions in the state. Hint, it's not the Cleveland Clinic. Comparisons have abounded for years between "us" and "them". They ran a factory style assembly line, bringing patients in and pumping them out without barely knowing their name and we were "the hospital with a heart".

As most organizations do, we've had a few major reorganizations in recent years and the current senior leadership seems to have a hard on for keeping up with the Jones'.  The Jones' being the Cleveland Clinic.

Oh, the Clinic is building a hospital in Twinsburg? We better do that, too. The Clinic is building a new outpatient facility in Lake County? Better find some ground for us to build on! The decisions that they are making at all levels don't seem to make much sense. For example, a local businessman donated $30 million dollars to us. A wildly generous gift, for sure, but as all large donations go, a wing or building is named after the donor. In this case, a hospital was built and named after the donor. But the total cost of the hospital was $298 million dollars. Hmmm....where do you suppose that comes from?

We've been forced to cut support staff positions while overpaid physicians are hanging out at the coffee shop on an administrative morning when they should be in the office working. Their egos barely fit through the door and when they do, it's usually just to blame you for something or other that isn't to their liking.

I'm a big advocate of policies and procedures. Oh, this is how it's supposed to be done? Well, then let's do it that way. My position reports to the operations manager so she's sort of like the principal and I'm the assistant principal. Remember how much you hated the assistant principal? Why? Because the assistant principal is "bad cop" telling everyone how things should be done.

My breaking point was in a clinical practice meeting with all 17 docs when one of them asked me for access to a scheduling program that only a handful of people are allowed to access. I tried explaining that to him but he kept interrupting me to tell me how he should be able to have access because he wanted to. In chimed my ops manager, "Don't worry. You can have access to whatever you want."

WTF??

Way to undermine my authority. And she's thrown me under the proverbial bus for a whole bunch of stuff that existed long before I ever started working there. All under the guise of being my "friend". God, women are such bitches.

So, I'm just done.

And I don't think anyone even gives a shit. Except for the aforementioned group that really likes me. But they're outnumbered by the haters. The chairman that I've worked with for 6 years hasn't even acknowledged that I'm leaving. Really??

I can take solace in knowing it's not just me. Two physicians have left and another has given notice because they're tired of the toxic environment that exists in the department. To quote one when I gave my notice. "You go girl! Good for you!"

The system is going to do a study in employee retention because so many people quit within their first year. Duh. You don't need a study. Just ask people.

Will they talk about me and blame me for everything when I leave? I'm quite certain they will. But I'm leaving knowing who I am and what a great job I did and at the end of the day, that's really all that matters.

Never underestimate the power of one person

I’m sure none of you are strangers to the story of the women who have been held captive for the last 10 years in Cleveland. We native Clevelanders have heard all about the young girls, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, who went missing in the midst of their regular daily lives. Gina was walking home from school and Amanda was walking home from work when they suddenly disappeared without a trace. We saw the agony on their families faces, pleading for help in finding their daughters and we watched the annual vigils of family and friends on the local news as the crowds behind them became smaller and smaller.

 

They slowly became “those girls who went missing” and they left our thoughts until once again, the vigils were held and we silently hoped that the families could accept that the girls just weren’t going to be coming home. But the families never gave up faith that both would be found alive and Amanda’s mother died believing that someday….someday her daughter would be home.

 

And thanks to the heroic efforts of a modest man named Charles Ramsey, both girls and a third named Michelle Knight are finally going home. Lots of chatter abounds about what a colorful character Charles Ramsey is and how simple he is but no one can dispute the amazing deed that this simple man accomplished. He stepped in when most wouldn’t get involved and for this, I applaud him. He's been offered reward money and has humbly turned it down, saying that it should go to the girls.

 

Some people are upset by the song parody that has been created but it was made in light of the fact that this tragic story has an amazingly bright outcome and it helps to bring some levity to the tragic events.

 

God bless Charles Ramsey. I'm a proud Clevelander today.

 

 

Monday Morning Chrissy

I gave my two week notice at work on Friday.

It feels like a cross between jumping off a cliff and flying.