(somewhat) successful!

Nothing much new to report other than the SOPHAS application deadline is tomorrow (the centralized application system for public health schools), and my apps are complete and submitted! I was a little nervous for awhile because one of my profs, while assuring that she'd write me a good recommendation, was drawing out her submittal to the last minute and driving me crazy. It was all I could do not to continually pester her, but I held back for the most part (except for a couple emails I had to let fly--I couldn't help it!) and she did submit on time. I'm in the home stretch now, and just need to finish tying up some loose ends on a couple others, and I'll be all set, at least in terms of applying....obviously there will still be the whole acceptance/financial aid/enrollment aspect to figure out! But at least stage 1 will have come to an end.

This week it will be incredibly difficult to focus and allocate enough time to wrapping up this process, as I am helping out with the general orientation of all the new employees for the Phoenix hospital. The real goal of the week, other than distributing all the policies & procedures, HR benefits, and all the other paperworky-stuff, is to enculturate all the new employees. I'm really curious to see how this process unfolds, and to see how a group of strangers evolves from just that- a diverse group of individuals with little in common- to a unified organization of teams who must rely on each other to complete (in some cases) life-saving actions. All the hospitals have a little different flavor, and since we're openng up with 30% transfers, I'm also curious to see what the unique culture of this organization will be. Tougher around the edges but secret softies, like Philly? Slow-moving but incredibly warm and kind, like Tulsa? In the next month I'll get to witness firsthand how concepts and philosophies we've been tossing around for months in a tiny office down the road morph into a tangible culture and daily processes.

That is, of course, if any of these folks survive to see opening day....I've spent the last 5 hours baking loads of sugar cookies for my Team-building workshop, during which we'll be decorating holiday cookies in addition to all the normal, obscure-question-laced icebreaker games. Little do these poor souls know that within 48 hours of their employment, they'll be forced to suffer the disasterous results of my baking, something even my own mother won't willingly do without copious amounts of vino. Good thing I've got several dozen of the store-made variety as my secret backup. Ironically, the employees will probably bond as a team over their disgust over the burnt, sugary lumps I'm calling "snowment" and "Christmas trees." The good news is, if these new employees can survive my baking, they can certainly handle any conflict or situation that might be thrown their way....which is my intent, right?