Whirlwind life!

This last week has been the craziest week so far for me in school. Everyone always tells you that you will have no time for anything while in school. I finally believe them! During this last week I had a birthday, my wife's birthday and my daughter had one. My daughter had a spend the night birthday party(that was fun!), and a daddy daughter dance the next day. While all this was going on we had 3 tests as well as a couple quizzes thrown in for good measure. I learned how to study while in a house with screaming girls and still manage to do well on my tests. This program feels like it's beating you down physically, but I can definitely tell I am learning a lot!

                           Some of the girls from the party (I honestly don't know where the others are)

                                            And here's one from the Daddy/Daughter dance

Stress Relief

    Going through this crazy, stressful program you need something to kind of take the load off. The people I worked with who were CRNA's recommended that I exercise to take some of the stress out of the program. I ran before school so I thought this would be a good outlet for me. I definitely would recommend finding an outlet for your stress relief! Even if physical fitness isn't an outlet for you, we definitely need something for our mental well-being.

     So, a couple of my classmates and I are going to run a half-marathon in April. We will be participating in the Music City Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee. The profits go to St. Jude, so it is for a good cause. It's also a good way for us to get out there and enjoy the outdoors. So we have been training for it and this is how I have felt lately with all of the bad weather:

Technology!

     Since this is supposed to be a blog about technology I thought I would share something that I found last semester. It's an app that is called flashcardlet. It will sync to all of your apple devices so you can study anywhere you go. This is what the app looks like:

   You just create flashcards from whatever class you're in. The cards have a front and a back. All you have to do is tap the card and it flips over and reveals the answer. Example:

This is really handy if you are on the go very often. You can study if you are in a waiting room or anywhere for that matter. One of the best parts of this app is that you can share cards that you make with your classmates. All they need to do is have the app. It is a very efficient way to study. It really helps when you have friends that can come up with better questions than you!

Second Semester Fun!!

    It's the second semester of nurse anesthesia school, and never thought I would be here in a million years. If you are reading this, you more than likely know what a CRNA is. Just in case you don't, I'll tell you the short version. It's someone who has an advanced nursing degree that puts people to sleep for surgery and other procedures. Sounds simple, right? You are wrong, my friend!

    I'm creating this blog for a class called Technological Transformations. In this class, we are going to be focusing on the correlation of technology and nursing. I definitely think this class will help in my practice, when or if ;), I become a CRNA. We are going to design e-portfolios as well as many other things that will help us become more advanced in our future career. So hang in there with me and we will get through this!

   In case you want to know a little about me, I'll tell you. My name is Josh. I have a wife, Tiffany and a 5 year old, soon to be 6 year old daughter, named Lizzie. I am from a small town in Michigan but moved down south to go to school and escape the cold (and a snow storm is supposed to hit here tomorrow…perfect!). I met my wife at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tennessee. I then moved to Alabama and went to nursing school.  I took the long way through nursing. I was an LPN, then ADN RN. I got my BSN from Jacksonville State University. I have 7 years total of nursing experience. While my grades weren't stellar, I didn't let that stop me from pursuing my dream. I firmly believe anything is possible if you are willing to work hard and have patience. 

My Family 

            The Queen Bee and myself

                       The Princess