A crazy Monday

September 16, 2008 | Tagged guinea pig | Leave a Comment

So much to blog about – this was one CRAZY Monday. Two specialty classes at the academy – one was LE Spanish: Traffic Stops and Field Sobriety. Fortunately my instructors are awesome and very low maintenance. The other an amazing week-long class for detectives, prosecutors and cps workers on interviewing kids who have been sexually abused. VERY heavy stuff. I wanted it all to go off without a hitch so I was up at 0-dark-hundred to be at work by 7. When I got downstairs, John commented that Jen’s pet guinea pig was unlikely to last the day. I checked and the poor thing was a mess – convulsing or barely moving. I figured it had minutes to live – talked to it for a while – and left for work.

Flash forward – the classes were going well and I had to be out by 1:45 for a 2:30 meeting a VCU. This was my interview with two faculty members from the Adult Learning program prior to admittance to the doctoral program. Too much to go into here but the bottom line is that I moved into the next step. They gave me two articles to read and I come back in two weeks to do a writing sample. Oh, and I need a prerequisite stat course. Pretty funny really when Dr. C said, “I see you’ve had statistics before but since it’s been more than 20 years . . ” (I may be paraphrasing but she did have a point.) I supposed I may have to learn to use a graphing calculator. Fortunately, Jas is willing to lend me his and would probably teach me how to use it if I ask nicely. I start stat class tomorrow afternoon.

Class went well. I enjoyed the exercise where one person had a problem (me), another was the consultant and the third an observer. The purpose was to embrace our ignorance. I asked for help getting Jason to take applying for college seriously. My classmates are much younger and neither has a teenager but actually both had some good insights. We concluded that it’s easier to genuinely embrace ignorance when you really are ignorant about a topic. I think, however, the the key is to recognize that even if you are an expert, you will NEVER know more about a client’s situation that they do. I was thinking about an experience I had with Jen was an infant. Our family doctor (Steve Redman, may he rest in peace) who was also our next door neighbor, told me to always remember that I know my child better than ANYONE else. As a doctor, he could certainly have played the expert card but never did. He ALWAYS started the interactions by asking me what was going on — what a GREAT example of Schein’s process consulting. I have since always chosen medical advisers based on that model.

So during breaks I’m calling and texting home to see what’s happening with the guinea pig and also Jen’s roomie. Turns out, the gp was still with us although hanging on by a thread. I text Jas to make a vet appointment to have her put to sleep (it seemed kindest). John texts back – They have appointment for 7:30 but Jas won’t go – I text that I want him to go – I call Jas — he’s annoyed — I talk him into going — John texts back that the vet won’t commit to putting the guinea pig to sleep without an exam. Class is out — I meet them at the vet’s. The vet agrees that he wouldn’t have expected her to last the day and that she had little time left. That plus the fact that she’s over 100 years old in gp years so he agreed to the euthanasia. It actually went pretty well and we’ll bury her when Jen is home in a couple of weeks. Jen still doesn’t know. I’ve been calling her roommate all day and we’re trying to set up a time when she won’t be alone. So I get a call from her at about 9:30 and she is venting about all KINDS of things (VERY PMSy and even she realizes it). So she’s complaining about her roomie and I’m trying to tell her so back off when the roomie calls. She (roomie) tells me that Jen’s not is a good mood and is afraid she’ll bite her head off. I assure her that won’t happen) I call Jen back . . . . and finally tell her about the guinea pig (which she takes remarkably well) tells her to be nice the the roomie who has been WONDERFUL throughout the gp saga <sigh> AND the she talks me into spending $40 on ink for her printer. How’d she do that?? (I made the tuition payment earlier that day – I guess the $40 felt like a bargain.

What a CRAZY Monday!