At the Vet!

Since I'm postponing my return to school, I've resumed working and am getting more experience and exposure to the different sorts of conditions and situations and people that I'd meet in a veterinary setting. +ADW says that I always have the most interesting stories when I call him from the car on my way home. I pointed out that I wanted to "take opportunities to learn at work" so I thought I'd start a series, "At the Vet" about the experience I come across on a regular basis that seem like common sense to my colleagues and I as well as the new and interesting things I learn online while exploring something from work.

In the past, I've worked at a local clinic that I currently take Bucky and Stanley to. I have been going there for nearly two decades and the clientele demographics is less diversified than what I see now. At the time, I was in high school and working as an evening animal care attendant but now I'm no longer in the back doing the grunt work and am on the front-lines assisting the doctors and patients. From what I've experienced, most people have limited experience and exposure to this field but so many of us have pets or companion animals in some capacity.

Bucky says, get engaged in your pet's health care! Understand what's happening.

When I decided I wanted to be a vet, I was only a kid and didn't know what that all meant. It was glamourized in my mind that the doctor gets to interact with cute cuddly animals and do awesome fun work like basic vaccines and pet them and help them get better if they're sick. My perspectives have changed considerably as I have gotten older and these opportunities have further clarified what it means to be a medical professional (not just for animals!) and help those who need help. I honestly have never been more convinced that I just want to help educate the human guardians so that they may give the best care for their companions. Because the reality is vets have to be educators, surgeons, nutritionists, business people, translators, scientists, grief counsellors, advocates for those unable to speak and doctors to multiple species--all through a human guardian who may or may not understand what's happening!

I don't claim to be any expert in the area of animal care or veterinary medicine but I do know that I am always looking to do what's best for my animal friends and will explore the trends, science and other details out there. It is my hope that this series will give me the chance to learn more about the various aspects of the veterinary profession as well as providing pet guardians out there who want to do right, information to help them critically choose the best thing for their companions.


Disclaimer: all stories and details of this series will be composed based on personal experience and does NOT replace the advice or knowledge of a licensed veterinarian or registered vet tech. These posts are meant to open minds (mine especially) and get pet owners to get engaged and thinking about their pet's care, in order to better understand what is being prescribed and why. I highly recommend all pet owners to get involved in their pet's care and ask their veterinarians questions when they don't understand something being discussed with them about their pets.

To Boldly Go...

The last few months saw a couple of big changes in my life that have really challenged my personal sense of security. The biggest one was when I decided to quit my corporate-y job in June. I used to really enjoy what I was doing, who I was working with/for and what sorts of change I was making. But somewhere, that stopped and I started resenting my job and who it was making me become and I forgot why I was doing the things I was and where I was going. I couldn't see myself continue on the path I was on yet feared to make the most drastic change. I thought things might just get better if I stuck it out long enough but that isn't always the case and I needed to know when to cut my losses.

I have become the painter

The decision to leave my job was not taken lightly because I was really concerned about what my family would think and react. I have spent my life living in my younger brother's overachieving shadow and always trying to catch up with what everyone else wanted me to do (often unsuccessfully) so I often have not been too sure of myself. To my surprise, everyone was really supportive and this gave me the chance to explore what sorts of things actually bring a smile to my face and get me excited to get up for work in the dark and cold winters. I concluded a few things ranging from my penchant for efficient processes, desire to continue learning and love of animals and nature.

Make it so!

I have since landed myself in a small animal veterinary practice doing many things ranging from animal care/handling, to client consultation and clinic maintenance. I wasn't sure how things would go since I haven't done any of this work for many years and the business component was something I learned mostly by experience running a community dragon boat club and from my tenure in the corporate world; but none of it was due to schooling or formal training. It could have been an absolute failure but it's been the some of the most fulfilling experiences to date and I am actually excited about going and dealing with the less shining moments and individuals.

As +ADW points out to me, a career is a journey of phases that aim to get you closer to your goal. The goal might not be a specific position (or it could be), and the journey might have some dark and unappealing sections but one just need to keep that goal in mind and take each day as another step forward. The job is just the first step in my phase to moving forward and I am really excited about the upcoming phases that will bring me back to my academic life and seeing where things will take me in the next few years!

Lesson 94 & 95: More Inside Leg

It's been a tough few weeks with work where it's affected my sleep and then the sleep has in turn affected my ability to concentrate at work and the cycle goes on. I was pretty tired for Thursday's lesson and it might have been the first time I actually thought that I didn't really feel like going *gasp!*. But, as usual, once I get there and I see Ariel and start brushing her, whatever was bothering me melts away and I'm just at the stable to learn.

I started flat work at the trot with circles, and straightness. Not just straight on the long side of the rail, but straightness during turns and circles. I was trying so much, trying to remember to sit up with my open chest towards the sky and my shoulders down my back but giving with my hands as much as possible. It sounds like a total oxymoron! Going straight was not working out as well as I wanted.. Circles had Ariel falling in and I wasn't keeping her to the edges of the circle. It was "more inside leg!!". The last exercise I was working on was a simple X jump... and I was having problems keeping Ariel straight, into the jump! We'd turn okay but then she'd veer off to the right and I'd try to over correct her with the left rein and then we'd jump crooked. I am telling you, jumping straight has suddenly become a challenge. It was a tough last bit and I think both Sheri, Ariel and I finished the lesson a little crabby.

Sunday's lesson was just a continued extension of what I had been working on with lots of turns and straightness. This applied to both the canter and the trot. My body control at the canter is much better than it was before and I don't feel as insecure. But, I also recognize that your body has to be "on" or you'll fall right off. We worked on lots of circles and even the figure 8's at the posting trot. Sheri reminds me that I need more inside leg to keep Ariel from falling in, taking a short-cut or shrinking the circle/turn.

We finished up the Sunday lesson with a simple X jump which we were taking on turns... be it away or towards the barn. The turns were either gradual or sharper where you needed to know where you were going well in advance and had to get your eye on the prize, commit to it and keep watching it as you rode towards it. There was no going back, once you were heading towards that jump! I'm told that although my turns and my route in isn't as clean as it could be, I'm doing better to get through the jump and able to sit up once we land. This is a huge improvement from falling all over the place or being left behind. I finish with the last exercise with a canter into the single jump. And talk about incredibly satisfying when we flew over it cleanly and without a hitch!

Posting Diagonal Jar Tally = 5 x $2.00 = $10.00
To date = $185.00

Lesson #62: Ride Each Stride

I don't know if it's just the stress of work and everything else that's going on but I woke up in a cold sweat on Sunday morning at 4AM thinking I had missed my lesson. As if I need one more pain in the bum, eh? I've been a little MIA, I'm sorry. It's been completely stupid at work though. But, enough about work! This is my little space for things that I enjoy doing and those which make me happy. Lately, work isn't one of them so it's going straight out the window in this post!

This is my second lesson at Gosling Stables and I'm really having a good time. Though, this was not one of my better rides. I don't know what was wrong with me but it was just a lot of discombobulation. It took some time to get my trot going at a good pace and the canter... it was as if I regressed several lessons!

I focused on the diagonals today so I wouldn't get caught for it as many times as I've been, since starting this endeavour! Sheri said our trot was in pretty good shape and that we would work on some canter. It's as if my brain went straight on holiday and I was asking for the canter with only my outside leg. And of course, all I got was a lot of speedy trot. When it clicked that I needed to engage the inside leg too, we finally took off and I was bouncing all over the place in on the saddle. Ariel was also speeding up and falling in at the corners. We were both a complete mess. Sheri told me to open my outside rein in the corners to help her rebalance herself and to remind her to slow down a bit with mild rein squeezes. Both worked but my butt slapping the saddle did not get better and Sheri was reminding me to loosen my hips and to allow my pelvis to loosely swing in the seat. For some reason, I was sitting very rigidly today.

Then I recalled that I should loosen my lower back and engage my lower abs and ta-da! Swinging in the seat again. Phew. I thought I lost it for some time. Much more control once I started paying attention again. Sheri reminds me that I need to ride each stride and have to be in control of what I'm asking and what Ariel is doing. The highlight, was when we got on the incorrect lead because I asked for the canter on a straight away and as I was bumping around and speeding about, Ariel did a flying lead change on her own! I thought I was going to fall off when she did that! The momentary mid-air suspension and change in lead was not something I was anticipating to feel. What a neat feeling. I think it was that moment with the reminder when I got out of my fog and something just clicked.

We finished our lesson with ground pole work (which I think Perry--ADW's mount for the lesson--was scoffing at). "Count the stride pace!" says Sheri. "Be sure it's consistent and you're not speeding up or slowing down and you go over the poles at exactly the same pace". I chuckled a bit in my head as I started to count to myself the strides... it's like my piano lessons! The one thing I suck mega at is keeping tempo. I'm constantly speeding up and slowing down and it doesn't even matter that I have the metronome going...

So defintely stuff to work on throughout the week and for the next lesson: practice keeping tempo and doing some stretches to loosen my hips up and remembering that each stride counts. It's kind of like what my piano teacher says about keeping tempo... "don't ever stop counting. You need to be counting all the time."

Posting Diagonal Jar Tally: 1 x $2.00 = $2.00
To date: $25.00

Lesson #52: More Bending

This was the worst traffic experience to date. So much so that we didn't arrive until 8pm--which is when our lesson starts and so we had to request the horses to be tacked-up upon arrival. I don't prefer that because of the fact that if I'm riding a horse I'm not familiar with, I prefer to get to know them better during the grooming and tacking up. Like today... I'm assigned to ride Lakota. He's a relatively new horse and hasn't been in any other classes prior.

I have been looking forward to this ride all week because I was sick the week before and wasn't able to make it out and with work... well, this was a welcome change! Today we work on 3-loop serpentines which takes the lot of us 2 tries to understand what is being asked of us. When we finally understood it, we were asked to focus on the bend of the horse so that they were turning ever so slightly on the bends and the straight aways were to be straight. Tougher than it sounds, trust me. While we did some cantering, the feature of the lesson was perhaps the turning refinement. The serpentines and 20m circles were our features as they are tricky to do well because you're asked to create bend, maintain a consistent pace and also to keep straight when you're supposed to and bend when you're supposed to, too.

We are reminded not to pull too much when asking for a bend or you just end up turning their heads in the direction you want without their bodies actually moving in that direction too. It's all very technical but I'm not at the point where I can explain that so I'm not going to try :P

Otherwise, not so much a big post lesson but one which certainly challenged us with understanding our bends.

Wearing My Flood Pants

It's been an interesting two days. We had a black swan event with the crazy downpour on Monday evening and my area still doesn't have power. The food in the fridge is likely on the verge of being a bio-hazard and I complete this post through my blackberry.

To keep things upbeat, positive and somehow fitting to the theme of being under water (though Torontonians generally had a walk in the park compared with their Calgarian counterparts): I present my first on-screen debut as an audience member of the Marilyn Denis Show: http://www.marilyn.ca/Video and search for the July 8th episode (doing this on my Blackberry has serious limitations)

Have fun and stay dry!

Which Simpsons Character Are You?

At my workplace, there are employee affinity networks--similar to the clubs you had in high school. These groups have a common theme that unite them and members get together to throw events, work on career development or just provide informational workshops. While each network is open to all employees, they typically target specific groups. I took advantage of a network's recent career development workshop about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

The MBTI testing is essentially a questionnaire, used to determine basic personality types based on psychological studies done by psychologist Carl Jung; further extrapolated by a mother-daughter team: Myers-Briggs. The full assessment can take a full day to complete, if you're having it done by an accredited consultant but we got the condensed version.

There are 4 quadrants which are reviewed by participants:
1. energy
2. attention
3. decision making
4. lifestyle

Each quadrant has 2 choices which you tick and bop the descriptions closest to what you'd likely respond. From there, you will end up with 4 different letters--one from each quadrant.

My outcome is revealed as an Introvert-iNtuiting-Thinking-Judger. This doesn't mean a lot for most people who might think, "judger???" Well, to put things into context, someone has managed to MBTI various Simpsons characters. Guess who's the identified INTJ?

 

The Simpsons Myers-Briggs Test from Lina Trullinger

If you're interested to take a super condensed version of the MBTI to determine your Simpsons' character, check out this link. Remember to go with your first instinct.

A Reminder

I spend a good deal of time seeing the negative, I'm told. I'm not sure if it's intentional or if it's something that I've worked into my psyche over time. Despite this, I feel that I'm a realist and not necessarily heartless or cold. I recall a character from Xena who told her that "The entire world is driven by a will - blind and ruthless. In order to transcend the limitations of that world, you need to stop willing, stop desiring, stop hating." What does this mean, to me?

I've come to understand the first part and I can see and even accept it much more easily now. It isn't that I don't care, but that I don't need to try to control something that is outside of my realm to control. While one might be able to change one's thoughts and perspectives, there is a great deal that we're helpless to enact actual control over. Death, sickness, taxes... These are things that are just a part of the world we live in.

I was thinking about a coworker who was recently diagnosed with a serious condition and thinking about his situation and how it affected me. I recognize that his family is going through hell and back with this whole thing but, I noticed a sort of indifference in myself. I felt neither sad nor happy about it. I didn't even feel numb; I felt nothing.

My boss is someone whom I feel is passionate and expressive; perhaps the opposite of what/who I am. When I dropped by today, to ask about the care package that was being put together, I made a passing comment about the gift that was communally put together and how I didn't understand how it would help, given the rather dire prognosis. A smile crossed her face and she said to me [paraphrased] "it's not about him using this 'toy'. It's about how this item will bring the family together and give them a beacon of happiness to look forward to, during the time of hardship." At that moment, I felt ashamed and foolish about my previous thoughts. I realized that it doesn't matter the outcome--good or bad, but that the happy time he has with his family is what matters because nobody is playing the fool; they're just trying to live their lives and appreciate each other and what is provided them.

Growing up is Still Awkward

I haven't been on here in a while and I'm way behind on my photo blog for 2012. It's time, everything is starting to coincide with everything else and I'm going to be running on a daily schedule very soon.

This week is going to be particularly rough. I usually get home to do some exercise and at this point, I don't think I'll be getting any all week. I've got a work related 2-day conference which I'm responsible to organize and coordinate. Then I have my french classes and my regular things. Good thing the Walking Dead finished yesterday. I just have to catch up on Vampire Diaries, Glee, Supernatural... and when the Game of Thrones start? oh god.

Today was a particularly rough day because I found out on Friday that the original reservations I have booked for this Thursday evening are... no good! I spent my spare time this evening working on trying to get a venue lined up on a small budget. Or so I thought!

When my other manager walked by and asked me what I was doing, I told him that I was under the impression that the budget was a LOT smaller than I thought we could do (and I wasn't frivolous to begin with, btw!) and when he looks at me,

he says, "think about what you'd expect on a date".

*crickets* I uh haven't been on a formal "date" for at least 4 years.

*more crickets* You... well, just think about what a normal date would constitute.

*mega crickets*

Maybe I'm a cheap date but I don't expect that a pricey date to equal a great time. I would like to think I place more emphasis on substance than cost. Apparently this isn't the way "adults" think. It seems that the cost is a big factor in how a date should run?? How sad! I'd rather have a relaxed fun time being entertained than having to entertain!

It's days like this that I think I still a kid or maybe that I'm just not where all these "big wigs" are at. And frankly? I don't think I care... I just don't like being caught off guard since the crickets can be really awkward...