My Inspiration.

So, I stated in the beginning of this blog that I basically set out to inspire. What exactly, I don't know. However, I never really informed you of what inspires me. Well, there are many things actually that inspire to be so many things. Picking one thing is difficult, and doing it all proves to be quite the challenge. I feel I am such a rounded person. I'm not going to go through every little detail of everything I long to do and be, that would be a very, very long post. So I will just start with my latest road. And by now most everyone knows that is nursing.

I've always had this longing to help others, and in many ways. Wether it be financially, physically, mentally, the homeless, the needy, the completely lost and helpless. And I feel like nursing is something that will help me fulfill the need to help and give. Here lately I've come along with a little medical situation of my own, nothing serious that I know of just yet, but I will spare you all the full details, it's a sore on my toe that won't seem to go away.

I went to a local nurse practitioner that is fairly new to the neighborhood, and I've been there twice in the last six weeks. My condition is still the same, and I feel like all she has done is throw medicine at me a pushed me out the door. I was referred to a vascular center to have my circulation checked, BUT this was all done without doing a culture of the area in the first place. I feel like I've been blindly given medicine and referrals. My favorite NP finally came back to work in the mean time and I visited her today and you know what the first thing is that she did? A culture. She sat and listened, and looked, and helped me rule out possibilities to help ease my worries of what this growing ulcer on my toe could be. But, the fact I was given antibiotics for it already could interfere with the culture, but hopefully that was long enough ago it will come back with something. So, not only did the first NP show professional negligence by not culturing it the first, she could have possibly made it difficult for a future culture. Ok, I'm gonna stop there, because that was a partial vent. I'm not going to name anyone, I'm not here to put anyone down and slander their name or practice.

I am here to say that the second NP is MY inspiration to be the best nurse, (and maybe even NP), that I can be. Patients will look up to and trust me to take all the steps I need to assure their proper care. The medical world needs more NP's like her. And you all should know it is YOUR right to be sure you are receiving the proper care you feel that you need, it's your body and your money that pays these medical professionals to take care of it. Don't ever feel like you don't have a place to speak up when you think something is not right.

That is all I have. I know its been a while, I hope this summer I can frequent my blog a little more often!!

"I Saw it on the Internet"

Wow... I didn't realize that when you wait so long to post a new blog entry, it would be more difficult to settle on a single topic! My Christmas break came and went in a flash and I'm back to books for another semester. I have found some mysterious small gap in time that is giving me a chance to sit down and write a quick blog for you.

With so many social networking sites around, it is so easy to make use of the information you see for valuable resources. It is also just as easy to be deceived by the information you see. I see it happening more and more, and I have just about exhausted my attempts to turn the deceived to the truth, it's not that difficult after all. All it takes is a random picture and a clever caption.

I used to be one of those easily fooled, and a former co-worker of mine would quickly correct me and turn me in the right direction. It got to a point of embarrassment that I finally learned my lesson to check my resources. Now I just sit back and laugh when I see the same fake picture and caption come around, thinking to myself "Haha! I know better!"

Here are a few of the types of Internet myths I see circulating on a regular basis.

The Celebrity Rant 

These are about the first deceptions I started seeing when I joined Facebook YEARS and YEARS ago. The two, most popular I see are from Ben Stein and George Carlin. These usually come in the form of a letter, and pertain to religion or America, hence the Ben Stein letter titled, "Confessions for the Holidays" and George Carlin's titled, "Bad American". All it takes is a little research on snopes.com to find the entire truth behind both of these. But yet, it will still never fail I will still see these circulate at least once a year, and there will always been that one person to cheer them on.

The 'try it' Photo

Made popular by Pinterest. Geez... I just want to yell at the folks repinning these, "Use your common sense!" All it takes is a little true research. With everyone trying to learn Photoshop, it's so much easier to fool the everyday person. From galaxies in a bottle and food experiments, to exotic homes and DIY decorating. I will admit, I myself have been deceived by a few pins, but all it took was a few more clicks to see how another unsuspecting pinner tried the said experiment... photo... project and failed. Not because they did it wrong, but it was fake in the first place. One mistake I believe most pinners make is not checking their links before repinning. A lot of those fake pins lead to spam, and who wants to follow someone that just posts spam? Here is a good list of Pinterest myths, some of these I have seen circulating longer than Pinterest.

The Un-American President

Oh my word... come election time I literally want to make my presence on Facebook non-existent. Everyone dumbs down or something... I don't know. I do know that I find myself shaking my head a lot and telling myself "Just move on, nothing you can say will change what they think." Most of this started when President Obama ran for president. Maybe it's because when Bush ran for president, social media wasn't as popular and easily accessible as it is now. But when Obama ran for his first term... wow. Ignorance is all I can say. There were so many deceiving pictures circulating with President Obama putting his left hand on his heart, not wearing his flag pin and so forth. My favorite was probably the wrong handed salute. SO many people fell for that one, all it took was a closer look, rather than a glance, to see that photo was mirrored and the wedding bands on Michelle and Barack were very, badly Photoshopped in to make it look like their left hands. There are so many more president myths. Once again, I beg of everyone, PLEASE do your research before you push 'share', 'comment', 'repin', 'retweet'. It's not difficult. Just because so-n-so over there re-whatevered it, doesn't make it true. It makes in an urban legend.

Overall, it boils down to, if it looks too good, sounds too clever, and seems so outrageous, it probably is. Keep yourself from seeming ignorant and take a few extra seconds to research before you repost or leave your own rant in the comment. It is really not that difficult.

Until next time... 'Uhh... Bonjour'