I Dare You to Drink the Vinegar

I am impressed that the President of my Alma Mater, the University of Calgary, is Dr. Elizabeth Cannon ( http://www.ucalgary.ca/president/about ). She is the former Dean of the Schulich School of Engineering and an inspiration to many current/former women engineering students at the school.   Love, Michelle D. 

The Great Marijuana Debate: An Argument For the Legalization of Marijuana From a Psychopharmacological Perspective Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Canada; it is the third most used psychotropic drug after alcohol and tobacco (Fischer, Rehm, & Hall, 2009; Health Canada, 2005). In 1999 Health Canada began the process of creating a controversial federally regulated medicinal cannabis program (Lucas, 2008). Today the debate over the issue of legalizing cannabis continues. In the medical research community there have been multiple studies demonstrating the current medical benefit of cannabis in addition to the great potential for the development of new drugs (Ashton, 2008; Frazetto, 2003). Politically, there is evidence that the criminalization of marijuana is ineffective in decreasing rates of use despite the exorbitant amount of government spending (Fischer, Rehm & Hall, 2009; Simons-Morton, Pickett, Boyce, ter Bogt, & Vollebergh, 2009; Wodak, 2008). In...

Formulating and Presenting My Personal Philosophy of Nursing When contemplating a philosophical viewpoint within a particular discipline it is essential to understand its relationship to current issues in the field (DeKeyser & Medoff-Cooper, 2009; Schlotfeldt, 2006). Articulation of a personal nursing philosophy involves contemplation of one’s beliefs, principles and values which direct practice (p. 65, Uys & Smit, 1994 as cited in DeKeyser & Medoff-Cooper, 2009). My personal nursing philosophy began with attempting to answer the questions, “what does nursing mean to me” and “what is guiding my practice”? My philosophy is based on personal reflections, values and beliefs and is connected to the current body of nursing literature; it incorporates my understanding of the traditional nursing metaparadigm that includes person, environment, nursing and health (Monti & Tingen, 2006) and the concept of social justice proposed by Schim, Benkert, Bell, Walker and D...

My latest job interview on Wednesday was quite possibly the worst job interview experience that I have ever had. I felt exhausted, was running and late and did not have time to eat or drink anything before going in. I did not realize that I would be facing a panel of 4 people. The panel interview is quite possibly the most intimidating type of interview; nothing is scarier than 4 people that you do or don't know asking you questions that you can see they are scoring you on. The types of questions that were being asked were completely reasonable. However, I had not engaged in any preparation which I now see was a huge mistake.  I have long been on a kick of just winging it and letting the cards fall where they may, with limited success. Brainstorming possible questions that would be asked and how I would respond to them would have been very advantageous. As I write this now I also realize that presenting myself as having prepared responses would have been a good characteristic to pr...

I received a call from Vancouver Coastal Health recruitment yesterday requesting I come in for an interview for the Tertiary Mental health unit staff nurse position I applied for a couple weeks ago. With this interview comes a great sense of relief at the possibility that I will only have to go back to work at Detox for four weeks when I return from my maternity leave in January. It's amazing how work actually effects me even when I'm not at work. I'm greatly enjoying this time off from Detox. I was not really thinking about work at all until a coworker who is temporarily filling in my line facebook messaged me to ask when I'm retuning to work (I guess she was under the impression that I was taking the entire year of leave and thus that she would have a temporary full-time line for an entire year). This was a reminder of the deep anxiety that I constantly feel at work. This in turn triggered some anxiety about actually returning to work in a place that I find detrimenta...

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My labour was quick and intense. My water broke at 05.15 and my contractions began at 11.45. When my contractions began they progressed fast and furious. We did not leave for the hospital until 14.15. Baby Deia Rose was delivered at 15.15. It was the most intense pain that I have ever felt in my life. There was never a point where I tought, I cannot do this; all I could think was I have to keep pushing to get her our. Sweet little Deia Rose is 20 days old today. She is quite possibly the cutest baby in the whole world. I am starting to get accustomed to being home alone with her during the week while Kelly is at work. This will continue for 6 more weeks until we go to Calgary, followed by 2 more weeks of no work in Calgary, then two weeks of no work back in Vancouver, then back to work and Kelly will begin his 8 months at home with Deia Rose. Having a child is kind of amazing. I am starting to feel more confident in my ability to care for our baby. I am also starting to feel like despi...

I'm sitting in my office. There are no windows. I have a small gray fan sitting on a wooden chair set to low blowing on the back of my head. It's hot in here even though it stopped being hot outside. The baby is due is exactly 2 weeks. Today I'm leaving work early to go to my baby shower at Detox. I'm hoping there is cake there along with other sugary treats. My feet and ankles are swollen and I can feel the puffiness in my cheeks and eyes today. I'm drinking water like crazy but I'm still retaining a ton of it. This sitting forward to get the baby to turn in the right position is straining my back. I will have to try and remember to do core strength exercises starting in October to prepare for carrying the next baby. I feel surprisingly calm today. I'm ready to get this baby out of my uterus and welcome her into the world. I hope I deliver before my mommy and brother arrive next Saturday or it's going to be a full house during the two weeks that they ar...

Kelly has been out of town since Wednesday morning. It's 8pm on Saturday right now. Today's activity has mostly consisted of sitting. My main activities of the day have been reading, watching television, surfing the net, jumping on my Urban Rebounder, talking to the baby to encourage her to wait until Kelly is home to come out and stressing out about being sued by the girl that lived downstairs from us in 2009 whose apartment was flooded when I accidentally plugged the toilet and it overflowed. Days 1-3 without Kelly were okay as I was working.   I never really anticipated the financial hit I would take by switching to a weekday day job from my regular weekend shifts at Detox. In charge pay and shift differential make quite a difference at the end of a two week period. I was lucky enough to be called in for an overtime shift at UBC on 1W Friday. That day went by incredibly fast. I felt overwhelmed the whole time I was there even though I really only had one patient all day. I ...

I could not sleep last night. It was too hot and Kelly has trouble sleeping with the windows open and the two buzzing fans blasting air at me. I woke up at 5:00 and thought I was going to vomit as soon as I stood up. I poured my Cheerios and milk and could only take a bite before I started to feel an incredible throbbing pain behind my eyes and in the back of my head. So I phoned in sick to work today. I feel like this baby is huge. My head has been pounding so I haven't opened the blinds yet today, although I can tell it's beautiful sunny day from the sun steaming through between each slot of blind. I've been experiencing a constant feeling of light nausea, tightness and heartburn-like pain all day. My daily activities have basically consisted of lying on the couch and going to the bathroom to empty my bladder that I'm sure the baby is sitting on and squeezing. I haven't really had anything to eat today; I managed to eat a pancake, my breakfast Cheerios and some ch...

I do not understand why some of those who I know that are atheist are very insensitive to the fact that not everyone agrees with their view and similarly that their view is just as legitimate as those who are religious. I tend to shut down in these types of conversations as they tend to deteriorate quite quickly into a type of science versus religious type argument focusing largely on distaste toward both Christianity and Islam. Why am I not entitled to my beliefs? And honestly, why should I be respectful of your belief that there are no deities when you cannot be respectful of the fact that I have a belief in a particular deity? Further, when I disclose this fact why should this make me some sort of expert on theology? I don't have answers to these questions. I just know that it annoys the shit out of me when this becomes a regular topic of conversation when I socialize with certain groups of people and the pattern of the conversation is predictably offensive every time. Peace, Mi...

I supposed the point of Blog is twofold: A project of self-indulgence in which we imagine that the world is interested in any of the things that we do in our lives  An opportunity to share. When you read about my experiences and they are like your own then maybe you feel a little less weird, a little less scared, a little less alone.  This is just a thought, but I would probably have more readers if I posted more pictures of myself in sexy poses. It's as if this is some sort of foreshadowing for the next decade.  I sometimes wonder what types of message women/girls who post naked photos of themselves on such websites as facebook/myspace/makeoutclub/bmezine want to convey to the public. At the centre of this is the eternal question: is this empowerment or is this exploitation ? Do they post these photos as a display of liberation and empowerment, or is it because they want people to write them emails about how good-looking they are? Are they trying to fit in? When I look ...

An old friend was here on vacation for a couple weeks. At one point in both our lives we were really good friends but I don't think we've hung out in at least a few years now. It was nice hanging out with my old friend. It was kind of sad too though. As we talked he revealed that the way he lives his life is kind of an attempt to recapture when we were undergraduate university students, devoid of all responsibility except maybe sometimes making it to class and trying to get decent grades despite binge drinking 4 nights a week. He told about his fear of growing up and becoming an adult with adult responsibilities which I pointed out that, unfortunately he already has. My judgmental perspective was that he was just living in denial of it.   It's not a fine line between this new prolonged adolescence the masses of middle class kids who went to university because their parent's wanted them to, have jobs that maybe they like or maybe they stay in their safe office job becaus...