Proof... we may grow old but we don't really die!

This is the hands down best response to any of the Twilight Men... EVER! YES... EVER!

So I am currently working as an Occupational Therapist at a skilled nursing facility in the LA area. I was finishing up my last session for the day and I had promised to show a patient a picture of me at my graduation from my Masters in Communications Management from USC in the second APOC class. So, I took in my "fancy gadget" (aka iPod touch) to show her my pictures.

So I calmly take out my fancy gadget and I pressed the button...

OK so here is where the Twilight disclaimer comes in... I am a fan. Yes, I am older than these guys and I don't care. (so there - deal with it)

Eh chem, a very hot picture of Kellan Lutz (aka Emmet Cullen - Edward's bigger/younger brother - don't understand then read the books {duh}) which can easily be found at IMDb.com was set up as my screen saver picture for my iPod touch (ok, so you could sue me - but... seriously if you are reading this then so are a whole bunch of other folks and you are getting some serious publicity - geese). When the screen lit up, she saw the picture and said, "OH OH..." Thinking that I had some how offended my 83 year old patient and rather embarrassed that I had such a risque picture, I instinctively pulled back my gadget blushing fiercely.

She reached out for it and, as the screen had - thankfully - once again gone dark, she started tapping on the screen very quickly and with such intensity I was concerned that she might actually damage the screen. She started saying, "make it do it again... do it again... again."

At this point I was (still blushing mind you) smirking and pushing the button again showing her how the iPod worked.

Once again the Very HOT (and mostly naked) Kellan sprang forth on my iPod touch. It's really funny how you see thing differently when you have an 83 year old person sitting next to you. She once again exclaimed "OH, Oh, MYYYYY."

And, then, there it was, the phrase that can only be said sheepishly by an 83 year old lady in a skilled nursing facility, "I think I need my diaper changed."

At which point I completely lost it and burst into laughter. Funny part is... she is completely with it and was laughing right along with me.

So there you have it Proof... we get older... We AGE... But damn it... we all must have a bit of vampire in us cause at some level... we just don't die!

Wow, I have been gone a while huh?

So, I am working on my e-portfolios proposal for the USC Occupational Therapy doctorate program. I am also navigating personalities and issues related to my capstone project in the APOC program also at USC.

So one of my instructors commented that we should be sure to maintain an occupational balance between work, rest and play. It was all I could do to not laugh so hard I fell off my chair. I know that occupational balance leads to better health both physically and mentally. But, I am so bad at following my own advice.

I understand the importance of occupational balance. It comes from a ton of research that identifies how when a person participates in rest and play occupations in addition to their work ones, they are better able to function in all these areas. And doesn't that just make sense anyway? I mean really, isn't it obvious that if we don't take some time out for rest and play we burn out, get cranky, eat poorly, gain weight, have or obtain physical injuries to things like backs and necks and in my case arms and hands. But despite all this evidence and the annoying logic of it all, I am still unable to remember to find a way to balance my occupations.

I wonder why that is...

I guess I am gonna have to do some research and figure that one out. I will let you know what I find.

Well, gotta go, because despite my little rant... this is play (insert head shake here) and we can't have too much of that... it might just lead to some actual balance.

The OT Extravaganza

On Saturday, I was a presenter at the USC Occupational Therapy first annual OT Extravaganza. {Honest that is what they called it…} I was talked into this by my roommate who was on the hosting committee. She assured me that all I had to do was show up and talk about my project.
What project, you might ask? Well allow me to jump up on my soapbox and give you the flare of what I presented.
It was for my Occupational Therapy Doctoral (OTD) project. I presented it to my instructors, fellow classmates and friends and family members that attended the event, so they can get the idea of what I am doing. I explained that for my OTD project I would create an online community for occupational therapy and occupational science. This community would serve the needs of the occupational therapy and science profession.
Since I was there anyway, and I really do want input from my intended audience, I took the opportunity to survey members of this community for input regarding the look and feel as well as the content that they would like to have in their community.
They had many questions and I was really quite pleased with myself for knowing many of the answers. Most of the questions I fielded related to explaining how this was different from the large number of list-serves that are available through the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) web site. I addressed this by explaining that there were many differences between the two. I explained to the best of my knowledge and gave some examples of how an online community can offer so much more than a list-serve.
They also wanted to know what an avatar is since I had listed it on my questionnaire. I just wanted to get a sense of where the current OT community was at regarding the look and feel of a setting that would utilize avatars. Repeatedly they asked what an avatar was. I found this surprising since I thought it was fairly common knowledge what an avatar is. Even some of my friends that are often on their computers, were asking me about avatars.
It was an interesting and significant piece of information about the members of the OT community. It is not important if the online community utilizes an avatar, but it is important to keep in mind the readiness and willingness to learn a new way of interacting. When I design my site, it is of the utmost importance that it is not intimidating to my OT cohorts who are not accustomed to using the internet in this capacity.
In the end, though it took all day Saturday and I had to prepare the presentation for most of Friday, it was worth the time because it gave me a significant insight plus several dozen completed surveys that I can utilize in the creation of this online community.