A geeky kind of Nurse...

It’s the fourth month of the year but I  have not updated my tumblr-based-blog since the devastation of Typhoon Sendong/Washi last December of last year. So, it is indeed my first blog for the year 2012. It’s just something crossed my mind. Nothing much really that special why I have to wrote a blog.

Except one incident yesterday afternoon (4-22-12). While waiting for the travel agency to open on their Sunday business hours, I was with my 16 years old 1st cousin in one of the pizza diner. While chit chatting in our table, a pregnant mother with 4 year old son to my guess, sits beside our table. I actually noticed that they don’t have any order. After 30 minutes, I realized that her child was eating 2 slices of pizzas already. Another few minutes, the preggy initiated a talk with me. She was almost in tears while telling me why some people can’t choose whom they could robbed. She told us that her family was robbed. Her husband’s pocket where their 8 thousand pesos money placed was being cut using scissors. All the cards where there and some other important documents. The pick-pocketer left nothing to them but fears, confusions and disappointments. While her husband seeking help to the police station with their other 2 year old kid, she was instructed to stay in the pizza food chain and wait until they’re back. She also said they have to walk from the police station or terminal going to the mall. I’m clueless big time. How far it is? Far enough. She added, they try to asked 350 pesos for food and taxi fare to the police men but even more unlucky coz they refused to help them coz according to them they don’t have enough money too, they’re not complete, their boss was not on duty. They’re… useless (to my mind).

She can’t help but talk to people who will sit beside them. As to my senses and intuition, she’s telling the truth. After our talk my cousin told me that her son was actually asking for food to him, he’s kicking his feet over and over. But before I knew that part, I asked her if she ate already. To my guess she’s 6-7 months pregnant. She said she can handle the starvation but her child didn’t eat since morning and it’s almost 2 pm at that time. A lady in her left side give her kid 2 slices of pizza. Then I gave my glass of drink to him. At the same time I asked my cousin to order 1 full meal for her but enough to share to his son too. Then she was in tears again. I told her not to worry much but yet she has to eat coz she’s pregnant. 

After few minutes of talking I decided to gave her little amount of money for their dinner. It was not really a big amount. Coz I for one is saving. But I never hesitated to share or doubted her story. That at least it could help in some little ways. This time she’s crying even more. Then I tapped her back and told her to relax and pray. Then I excused my self coz I have a booking schedule in an airline.

At that time I knew and believed she’s a victim. She’s decent and her kid was really hungry and handsome. How I even wish I gave her enough amount, like fare going back to their home town in Davao. They just dropped by at Cagayan De Oro from a visit in Pagadian City to have breakfast. But unfortunately, of all people to be victimized, her husband was unlucky enough. I told her that usually, travelers from that placed/terminal prefers taxi commuting rather than PUJ on transferring to the next terminal coz they’re the most ideal place for robbers and a people who would take advantage of strangers. Good thing the bus company refunded their tickets and they could go home. Without money.

Every time I remember them, I wish and pray that this time, her entire family is now okay. That the most important thing was they were not hurt and it’s just money. Life matters most. But her 2 kids were traumatized and even understood during that very moment, they don’t have any money…for food.

“I don’t complain. I asked with substance. It’s not being a jerk or acting like smart but it’s my kind of learning process.”

That’s been my principle in terms of asking things. I had the weirdest inquiry regarding my connection issues. Eventually I am not disconnected. In fact I can even stream to 450 kbps bit rate streaming site. As well can stream a site with silverlight plugin and able to download a file all at once. Not even bandwidth capped.

But I got one terrible problem! I can’t browse my latest favorite site. www.twitter.com! Yes I’m a tweeter lately. So far it’s the best invention in the world of internet. I love information. I always wanted to be the earliest person to know but late person to use.

Weird? I know right!

I tried a lot of usual trouble shootings. Reset-reboot-restart-reset. Cleared history, deleted cookies, Deep System Scan to fix the so-called svchost.exe issue, and even updated my antivirus signatures. Nothing. I let 24 hours passed. Still the same problem. One error message interests me. It says “site is taking too long to respond or your internet is having connection issues..blah blah call your tech!”. In my mind, “Banned?! Ddos?! What was my last tweet hmm., am I important enough to be banned by twitter? Marves dream on!”.

After nearly 26 hours, I decided to call up my ISP-Globe to asked something. Something weird. Why I’m having these issues. I gave my initial information specifically my location. When I mentioned about IP. The tech asked me how would I know about my actual IP. I told her about irc daemon. It’s the best and easiest avenue to show/view your actual IP other than Cloud Flare enabled sites. I told her it’s risky in some point coz you’ll be attacked via DDOS or simply botnets attack. She added if I used proxy in browsing. I said no to browsing but yes to IRC coz I’m prone to be ddos. (Yay I am explaining! To a tech.). Come on who would like to reboot over and over? So better bounce your IP. Safest way in irc world. Apparently she did not get my last words :P.

I asked her if someone has the same issue with mine. Can’t browse Twitter! She said none but me. Then she suggested to send them the screen shots cause she would love to find it out too. Well I actually apologize for a weird problem. But I believed it’s substantial.

At the same time I told the TSR what their tech on field did to my subscription profile that causes my ad hoc network not to work properly. (Since I don’t have router, in order to have WiFi for my iPhone, I have to setup the laptop as router via ad hoc network). That he modified and let me share to other profile. I had to agree that moment coz I was bandwidth capped. Meaning I reached the maximum limit usage (like we have no choice. Business matter first. Quantity vs. quality. Take it or leave it.) Tech tech thing! But I do get it and tried to understand to my best knowledge. Technically that was not my main problem. I just want my Twitter timeline to feed me information! I’ll be outdated! Of course that was partly a dumb joke.

So here are some scree shots I did.

Using Google Chrome:

Ping reply from Twitter server:

Using Opera browser:

Hyperlink from my blog site (Tumblr)

Using Safari browser:

Using Firefox browser:

Using Internet Explorer:

All browsers are updated to their latest versions.

As of this moment, I am patiently waiting for the feedback of my Internet Service Provider, as the TSR told me to keep my line open and expect a call from them.

And I’m excited to  know and learn.

Addendum:

I was extremely curious why I encounter this kind of technicality. So I shifted to Linux environment to satisfy my neurons. Here’s the snapshots.

All is well definitely except for Twitter! Seriously.

Last time I login in Twitter using this OS, it was like this;

All plugins were  not fully installed. I just checked-in. Knoppix-Linux is always my backup OS. Whenever my HD crashed. Linux to the rescue! 

Exactly one year ago 37, 679 out of 91,008 examinees passed a Nurses board exam. August 27, 2010 was one of the anticipated date of all RN dreamers who took the July 2010 NLE or board exam for Nurses in the Philippines. But no specific time given. While idling in chatterbox of NLE results blogs, I actually noticed how the banner result changes from “soon here” to “NEW: NLE Results is out!”. A sudden heart pounding, sudden onset of tachycardia, tachypnia, tremors, and shortness of breath. Of course, cause I took the July 3-4, 2010 Nurses License Exam for the first time. I immediately posted the result indicating the numbers of passers in my facebook wall. No names yet. But I knew in few minutes they’ll be up. So I decided to close the FB window in order not spoil the excitement and try to browse the links of letter D instead, since my last name starts with it. I can feel my own heartbeat for real. Real fast. Intense, and there the link is up. I scroll down so slowly. While scrolling down I passed through the name of my classmate…he passed. The more tense I was. I decided to stop for a while and browse letter C and look for my close friend. She did passed too! Another nerve-rocking for me. I went back to letter D link window and continue to scroll down. While doing so, my msn keep on notifying me. Unusual bunch of notifications. So I scroll down faster as I can. When I finally saw my full name. I was stunned and clueless. Under my breathe I said. “Finally I’m RN!”. I screamed with my cousins and they were jumping too (I’m on my towel by the way to take a bath). I copied the order number with my full name on it and posted it in my FB wall, well, naturally. Starting to thanks special people who had been with me through out my review. Then congratulations keep coming in my wall and phone. Then I decided to email my folks in Las Vegas. Which they got late cause they’re in a road trip to Marysville, WA for my first cousin’s wedding.

Nursing was my second course. I had hospital phobia way back. So that’s my irony. Indeed we can get over with phobia or fears if we let ourselves to. I’m very much proud of myself. It was my own battle guided by HIM. I may not be a perfect person but I tried my best to be a kind person to all. Being a Nurse is a calling. And I believed it is mine. I’m just getting started.

…one down, 2 more to go.

Being in medical field particularly in Nursing is overwhelming. In my country-Philippines, currently have quarter a million RNs. While other countries have under staffing issues. But of those numbers, most likely will not reached 100K+ whose into Information Technology. Not just in my country but in any part of the world. A lot of Nurses may asked, do they  need to go in school again to obtain such degree or certification. In my case, I choose first to have a degree in Computer Science. I may say it’s my first love and choice. Of today’s up-to-date Social Media trend. Going to school is not really that needed. Google all the way helps in anyway. 

How do I define Nursing Informatics then? That even text editors marks the “informatics” with red line. Funny isn’t it? Or maybe these text editors or correction tool have not yet updated. Noticed what I’m saying? This is the edge if you obtain a degree in IT. You able to understand the language of computers, its nature that not all the time Google can explain at your expense.

I started having interest in computers when I was 14 years old. Year 1992 to be exact. Back then, the famous were CLI or Command Line Interface system. Meaning not everyone has the chance to use the Windows 3.11—the first GUI or Graphic User Interface environment. During those years, we had to memorized the so-called commands. DOS or Disk Operating System commands. If you have least interest, you wont bother until you are required of your Computer teacher. Famous applications were Lotus 123, Word Star for office applications. Turbo Pascal, C, Fortran, Clipper for programmers. Now we have MS office, the one being called as 4GL or 4th Generation Language and of course the latest 5th Generation Language.

But I did. I’m so into it. So here comes the Nursing career. During nursing days, I majority received compliments. Others challenged me, most of them appreciates me. I’m not boastful at all, but I know sometimes my expertise says it does. I don’t eventually mean it. I’m just passionate.

Back with the question or thoughts; how I do define Nursing Informatics? I can perfectly define computer as an electronic device capable of performing mathematical and logical operations. Nursing:——lots of definition. But my fave is that Nursing is an art. Health:—-lots of definition but my fave. Health is being disease free, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and most of all physically. Alright how I really define it? Should I combine all those specific definitions? Nasty.

Understanding Nursing Informatics needs extreme background in computers if possible. This is to save time and effort. Time: you won’t bother to hire technicians when your PC is completely not responding. Technician-cost much. Effort: You wont bother other people to help you out how to use application softwares or even signing up to social media or uploading your pics and videos. Nurses are into research a lot, we could browsed underground sites without knowing we’re activating malware unless you’re OC when it comes to internet security. Still needs skill to do so on selecting the best and efficient antivirus and firewall. Most of all you know how to reformat when things go wrong. Independent knowledge indeed!

We can’t learn anything overnight. It took me years to understand the nature of Information Technology. Plus the huge passion for it is the biggest factor.

Nursing Informatics is widely used and needed today. It promotes both healthcare provider and patient’s convenience. I may not have yet the chance to work in highly-sophisticated clinical environment. But I believed, these hospitals implementing NI has the best healthcare on their own in accordance to Nursing Code of Ethics. End of the shift, as Registered Nurse all you care is patient’s comfort and well being that not any super computer can do so.

Day by day we always want to do a lot of things. In my mind. I do. Like a lot. But the one that top on it is to master every Nursing Interventions for my patients. It’s been a year since I was blessed to have a license as a Nurse. I once dream to be a nurse when I was in grade 6th. Eventually I just overheard it from my classmates when we had oral recitation on what you wanna be when you grow up. And I was not ready for my answers. “I want to be a Nurse” this line was so common in little beauty pageants. In TV or in schools. I remember saying “I want to be a Nurse to help the poor”. Child instinct of a soon to be teenager.

Now, it seems I’m living on my ambition when I grow up. Yes, I’m a RN now but prior to this I finished BS Computer Science. Everybody knows me, knows it. As of now I’m not on clinical environment. I’m dying to be on it. But time does not permits me yet. Coz I’m doing my best to level up. As my introductory says, I wanna do a lot of things. But as of now to study for my NCLEX. But I sometimes came up to the point of losing the appetite or the urge. A moment of one or two. I just stare on my books or open my iphone NCLEX app finishing nothing. Not because I am lazy about it but simply because I have fear. Fear for the fear itself.

And today I just feel like blogging! Not a typical Saturday for me but typical Saturday to laid back…again.