The ABC's of Trip Planning, Pt 1- K is for Keeping Things Kooky- Drinks V-Z; pg. 197 + New Link

[franandaj]

I'm going to send you best wishes for a happy holiday season and good math juju. What do they say? Third times a charm? Take your time and take it calmly and hopefully everything goes right.

On an another note, when I was at MK Skipper's Canteen was having a soft opening. If I hadn't just finished a huge buffet breakfast it would have been cool to try it (although Fran thinks the menu looks weird, figures). I did get to peek inside and I took some pictures of the main dining area. The theming is definitely cool and I hope to try the place if Fran can find something she will eat there.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Hey All,

So, I didn't share earlier that I failed my first attempt at my Math Exam. Each term we have to pass at 100% a math exam involving calculating doses, IV flow rates, dose adjustments, tons of conversions, etc... I made a VERY silly, utterly ridiculous mistake last Friday, so in an hour have to re-attempt. We only get 3 tries, so I am over-the-top full of anxiety heading in. It starts in about an hour. Please pray my anxiety will get control over itself, I can think clearly, and make ZERO mistakes.

You got this. Very silly, utterly ridiculous mistakes are easily correctable. You'll crush this exam and be ready to celebrate the holidays.

 

[Steppesister]

I'm going to send you best wishes for a happy holiday season and good math juju. What do they say? Third times a charm? Take your time and take it calmly and hopefully everything goes right.

On an another note, when I was at MK Skipper's Canteen was having a soft opening. If I hadn't just finished a huge buffet breakfast it would have been cool to try it (although Fran thinks the menu looks weird, figures). I did get to peek inside and I took some pictures of the main dining area. The theming is definitely cool and I hope to try the place if Fran can find something she will eat there.

I have no choice but to have faith this is going to work out!

I want to see your pictures!!!!!! Can you sneak peek them here?

Surely there's SOMETHING that looks remotely appetizing...

You got this. Very silly, utterly ridiculous mistakes are easily correctable. You'll crush this exam and be ready to celebrate the holidays.

They aren't correctable AFTER you push "Submit". XP I think *maybe*, and that is a HUGE maybe, I will be allowed to sit in a private office to take this exam and be able to have a paper copy of it, so I can highlight, and work directly off of it. We always get as much scratch paper as needed, but to work off of an original paper copy would be good. I can't take it probably until after the Holidays, so will instead spend them working 4 gazillion problems out of books I picked up today from the Lab. Yay me.

 

[KathyM2]

Ugh I'm so sorry about the math test...but I have faith in you that no matter when and how you do it again, you'll get there. That sucks that you have to wait a while though...because I know it gives you more time to worry. But also more time to prepare so it's both good and bad. Hang in there!

 

[maroo]

So...I think I am a little late.........



Can I join the party?!?!

 

[maroo]

I have not read all of this yet!! First... I will pass you some Math pixie dust and prayers! Math, smath! The good news is in the real world you can get someone to check your math! lol (Happened today in one of my meetings, lol)

So...I have a Disney bug! We had a great Make a Wish trip for Abby Grace (I need to change my pictures in my signature!) but I didn't get to watch Wishes, ride Buzz, or do too, too much that I really wanted to do...so I am thinking I need to crash this party and go to Disney for a weekend in October of 2016! Not sure whether to do the first weekend and do a couple of days on my own and then meet up for a day or so? Or what? But I think I will start another year of Disney in October and go a few days and crash this party!! And then maybe a weekend in December and do some Christmas stuff? Who knows... lol Once I get an AP...look out world!

Whatcha think? I think it is time for a bit of a reunion of sorts! I wanna laugh till I cry again with you, my friend!!

 

[afwdwfan]

Sorry the second time didn't go so well either. I'm sure you'll get it next time!

It just stinks that you get to sit around thinking about it over the holidays before you can take it again.

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh, Liesa, take a deep breath. Try to not get too nervous about the math exam. You know that you can do it! If you want to train for it, I would suggest to do some reading into methods of battling exam anxiety and try some of that. You are so busy and under so much pressure, trying to get some rest and refocus your mind, will certainly help you through the next test!! We all believe in you, so you should believe in yourself!

 

[irene_dsc]

(((hugs))) Was hoping for better news, but we all believe in you.

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[Steppesister]

R is for Re-Allocations Done RIGHT

​

After a disappointing week and feeling more "behind" about Christmas prep for the 10 guests coming to camp at my place on Monday-Wednesday than ever before, I am now sick. For reals sick. I thought maybe the couple of gin and tonics I had at a cookie decorating ladies' night were too much, but I started throwing up at about 1:00 AM and continued a lot of today. Now I just feel like dog meat. Achy, feverish, tired, all that good stuff... The family get-together may be 1,000 times more scaled back than all other previous years. At this point, I really don't even care. At least the tamales are made, right? And I think everyone has at least 1 something under the tree.

Anyway, departing from the WhineyPants DebbieDowner stuff, here is a bit of better news that I thought would be fun to share. My apologies to the Friends on FB who've already seen this...

It involves a bit of Fuzzy Disney Math. If you've been around the DIS for any amount of time, you know that that is the official process (I'd call it simple, but usually, it's anything but.) of re-allocating/shuffling of finances in order to accommodate an extra night, a resort upgrade, that extra experience you've been wanting to do for a while, etc... Generally speaking, one way or another, the money is usually found. Somewhere. And usually someone along the line says it can't be done, or will try to mess with your savvy planning but, "Don't you let them!"

This is how it's done:

(One of my all-time favorite movies.)

Now onto more lessons, my young Padawans, on how a Disney Trip is financed...

A couple of days ago I got a letter in the mail from the new Pharma Company that will be supplying Zach's growth hormone this year. Normally, in the past, with the former drug supplier, we were responsible for a $100 co-pay every time we received a shipment, about every 6 weeks. Yeah, we could really feel those. But somone, somewhere, randomly (?) decided that we qualified for financial aid and that the company would be picking up our co-pays and any deductibles we'd have this entire year up to $250 a month to cover his growth hormone. We never applied, filled out any paperwork or requested this assistance. In the past, many years ago we applied for and got some help but that was through a foundation that raised support through philanthropists. This is quite different for some form of aid to come directly through a Pharma Co. And extremely welcome at that!!! You can say all you want about the "evil" drug companies- my experience has been quite the opposite, and working with medications that save lives every day makes me a believer in it. Yes, there are many things to fix in the system, but not all is bad.

What does this all come down to?? We are receiving a shipment of medication that lasts about 6 weeks, so that's about 7-8 shipments we'll get between now and our trip... you see where this is leading, don't you? Wouldn't any reasonable person trying to have a trip paid for entirely ahead of time want to put that money in the Super Secret Disney Account instead?? Was that a collective "Duh!" I just heard?? So here's the stealthy plan: Every time a shipment arrives at the door, I go down to the bank and get the money that we would have spent (and were fully expecting to until 2 days ago) transferred safely into the "right" account. Let me put this in perspective. $700 dollars is:

1) About a 1/3 of all we'd spend on food for the entire trip, or

2) Almost 2 entire plane tickets, or

3) 2 nights at AKL, or

4) A helluva lot of Dole Whip Floats

Another utterly minor development, but rather exciting to me anyway, is that I successfully linked our tickets to our Magic Bands. Now our tickets are fully UNRefundable by UCT, which makes it even more important that we actually go. But my question for you all is this:

Do you know if we can put a designated amount of money onto certain Bands to be spent along the way? In other words, the kids will each have at least 3 Disney gift cards of $25 each that I'd love to have applied to their bands, so if they are apart from me and get hungry or see something they really want to come home with, they can have it on their Band rather than having a card that they can lose track of. I know my own credit card can be linked, but I'm not sure I want that level of freedom given to them. Is this something that we do when we get there?

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[afwdwfan]

Sorry you're not feeling well... I was there earlier this week and I feel your pain.

Congrats on the co-pay news! That's definitely a nice surprise.

As for putting a set $ amount on each Magic Band... unless something has changed, I don't believe you can do that. You could send them to the desk with their respective gift cards to pay off their balance, but they could still charge above and beyond that amount to your credit card.

 

[KathyM2]

Ugh...sickies not good. Hope it doesn't last long. I love your Disney math though ) Way to go!! If only real math made that much sense, right? That would be awesome if you could assign a dollar amount to a MB for the kids etc. I'm curious to see if anyone knows the answer to this.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

That's awesome news about the co-pay getting covered! So many things you could do with that!

Sorry about the illness. I also have come down with a bug. Sick around Christmas is no good.

 

[glennbo123]

Caught up. Sorry about your math test whoopsies and your tummy troubles. But sounds like you might get a good opportunity for your clinical work.

I saw that Kungaloosh will be offered at the Skipper's Canteen -- I'm sure you're excited about that!

I agree with Andy, don't think you can put a gift card amount on a MagicBand; you can just allow/disallow it to be used for charging to the room. But my understanding is (although I didn't do this) that you can easily review the charges and see which of your party members were the offender, I mean purchaser of each item, appearing on your room charges. And you don't have to wait until the end of the stay to review these.

 

[Steppesister]

Ugh I'm so sorry about the math test...but I have faith in you that no matter when and how you do it again, you'll get there. That sucks that you have to wait a while though...because I know it gives you more time to worry. But also more time to prepare so it's both good and bad. Hang in there!

Definitely the slow road to securing the next term. I do know I can pass it, and am almost sure to, just need to re-gain my confidence, and faith that God put me here not to fail. Looks like I"ll most likely be taking it Jan 4th or 5th. Meantime, I'm enjoying my family, holiday preparations, etc... going to try my hand at some holiday photography to relax and get my creative on.

So...I think I am a little late.........



Can I join the party?!?!

Of course! you can join the party! It's never too late, and you're always welcome . Always.

I have not read all of this yet!! First... I will pass you some Math pixie dust and prayers! Math, smath! The good news is in the real world you can get someone to check your math! lol (Happened today in one of my meetings, lol)

So...I have a Disney bug! We had a great Make a Wish trip for Abby Grace (I need to change my pictures in my signature!) but I didn't get to watch Wishes, ride Buzz, or do too, too much that I really wanted to do...so I am thinking I need to crash this party and go to Disney for a weekend in October of 2016! Not sure whether to do the first weekend and do a couple of days on my own and then meet up for a day or so? Or what? But I think I will start another year of Disney in October and go a few days and crash this party!! And then maybe a weekend in December and do some Christmas stuff? Who knows... lol Once I get an AP...look out world!

Whatcha think? I think it is time for a bit of a reunion of sorts! I wanna laugh till I cry again with you, my friend!!

And that's just it. An RN would never do the calculations we are expected to do without a second check and beyond that 99% of the time, we'd never do them in the first place. They are calculations that pharmacy would be doing. End of story. Yes, we should know HOW to do them, but we'd never do them alone. I will pass, but it sure adds a TON of stress to my pre-term mindset.

I may be getting an AP too. We'll see on that.... But NO! You can't crash this party, because you're already an invited and welcome guest!! LOL!!! We have lots of stuff planned for group stuff, and you should join in for some or all... Yeehaw Bob is on the docket and you could have a Midori repeat. And I wanna re-do on TSMM. You kicked my butt, and I need to redeem myself!

OF course, there's always pink puke too....

Sorry the second time didn't go so well either. I'm sure you'll get it next time!

It just stinks that you get to sit around thinking about it over the holidays before you can take it again.

I'm sure it'll all work out the way it's supposed to, Andy. I don't like the pressure, but I will end up fine. I hear they do everything they can to make sure no one fails out from this, so we'll see. Looks like Jan 4th or 5th is the tell-tale day....

Oh, Liesa, take a deep breath. Try to not get too nervous about the math exam. You know that you can do it! If you want to train for it, I would suggest to do some reading into methods of battling exam anxiety and try some of that. You are so busy and under so much pressure, trying to get some rest and refocus your mind, will certainly help you through the next test!! We all believe in you, so you should believe in yourself! : Grouphug:

At this point, it IS anxiety. Not that I don't know how or can't do the math. It kills me that in ANY of the chances there is just as much likelihood of making any number of silly mistakes. But yes, the break is certainly welcome and it's nice to be getting some things done that I 've really needed to since school started.

(((hugs))) Was hoping for better news, but we all believe in you.

I will certainly let everyone know the outcome in a couple of weeks. Let's all count on better news!

I have faith in you too! Do you get the information of what you got wrong so that you can retrace your steps?

Yes, I know exactly my mistake as soon as I scrolled through and compared my worksheet to the problem. I need to make sure to again triple check my work, use my stupid calculator, slow down, and all that jazz.

 

[Steppesister]

Oooooh, I hope you are feeling better soon. Great news about the bonus non-copayment budget news!

I"m feeling a bit better today. Enough that I was able to get out and hopefully do some of my last shopping I needed to. The onslaught begins on Monday... 17 of us gathered for a week of Holiday stuff.

Sorry you're not feeling well... I was there earlier this week and I feel your pain.

Congrats on the co-pay news! That's definitely a nice surprise.

As for putting a set $ amount on each Magic Band... unless something has changed, I don't believe you can do that. You could send them to the desk with their respective gift cards to pay off their balance, but they could still charge above and beyond that amount to your credit card.

It just sucks to not feel 100% when there's so much to be done!

I have plans. Nice big, fat, plans for that money.

Yeah, that's the general consensus. Too bad, that'd be a really cool way to help parents out who don't want their kids to have full charging privies, but want them to be able to make wise use of what money they do have. Ah well....

Ugh...sickies not good. Hope it doesn't last long. I love your Disney math though ) Way to go!! If only real math made that much sense, right? That would be awesome if you could assign a dollar amount to a MB for the kids etc. I'm curious to see if anyone knows the answer to this.

Little by little I've felt better today, but yesterday was a total bust. A whole day of prep lost. Looks like the answer is no. Such a shame that a specific amount can't be assigned. Seems pretty darn basic to me, but hey, what do I know. LOL!

That's awesome news about the co-pay getting covered! So many things you could do with that!

Sorry about the illness. I also have come down with a bug. Sick around Christmas is no good.

d

Christmas (especially if you have a long looked-forward-to break is the WORST time to be sick. Hopefully by Monday, I'll be A-OK, and ready to hostess like a boss!

Caught up. Sorry about your math test whoopsies and your tummy troubles. But sounds like you might get a good opportunity for your clinical work.

I sure hope so! I have so much to still learn and IMCU would be a perfect place to do it.

I saw that Kungaloosh will be offered at the Skipper's Canteen -- I'm sure you're excited about that!

I had heard a rumbling about this. I'm anxious to see if this truly pans out. If so, yes, it's something I could be very excited about!

I agree with Andy, don't think you can put a gift card amount on a MagicBand; you can just allow/disallow it to be used for charging to the room. But my understanding is (although I didn't do this) that you can easily review the charges and see which of your party members were the offender, I mean purchaser of each item, appearing on your room charges. And you don't have to wait until the end of the stay to review these.

Well, Poop. I think instead, I'll have them wear a lanyard with it tucked inside if need be. Time to teach them about responsible spending and this is a perfect opportunity.

 

[Steppesister]

Ok, I gotta say it, I'm pretty hacked about the banning of costumes at the Halloween Party. I've been looking forward to wearing my new Nurse-y uniform for a while now, and while I understand the need (somewhat), I don't think anyone can hide bad stuff under some scrubs. I'm in the "this is pretty much over the top" camp. And yeah, I have no problem with the rule (that's always been in effect) of no costumes for adults on any other given night, but for an event specifically designed to play up Halloween... ummm a night of wearing costumes, it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Isn't that what the metal detectors are FOR?

Rant over. I hope they soften come next October.

 

[pkondz]

After a disappointing week and feeling more "behind" about Christmas

What's this about your behind?

prep for the 10 guests coming to camp at my place on Monday-Wednesday

Tell em' it's pot-luck!

I am now sick.

Oh, no! How are you feeling now? Considering you posted that a few days ago.

For reals sick.

I for reals believed you!

I started throwing up at about 1:00 AM and continued a lot of today. Now I just feel like dog meat. Achy, feverish, tired, all that good stuff...

Lovely. Sounds like food poisoning?

This is how it's done:

Never seen that before.
What movie is it?

But somone, somewhere, randomly (?) decided that we qualified for financial aid and that the company would be picking up our co-pays and any deductibles we'd have this entire year up to $250 a month to cover his growth hormone.

Sweet! A miracle!

You can say all you want about the "evil" drug companies- my experience has been quite the opposite, and working with medications that save lives every day makes me a believer in it. Yes, there are many things to fix in the system, but not all is bad.

Good to know. I've not heard a lot of good about US medical system.

Was that a collective "Duh!" I just heard??

Yes. Yes it was.

1) About a 1/3 of all we'd spend on food for the entire trip, or

2) Almost 2 entire plane tickets, or

3) 2 nights at AKL, or

4) A helluva lot of Dole Whip Floats

I vote #4!
Actually I really do (sort of.) Here's why:
1. You'd be paying for that food whether you got that windfall or not.
2. See above.
3. Oh, just stop trying to keep changing your resorts!
4. It's a windfall. Have some fun with it. Do something that you otherwise wouldn't do.
And if that's "Okay everyone! We have some extra spending money! Let's all get Dole Whip Floats!" then do that.

Do you know if we can put a designated amount of money onto certain Bands to be spent along the way?

I don't know for sure, but I think Andy (et al) is right.
Either access to the credit card or not.

Surely someone is carrying a fanny pack or something? Have them (or you) carry the giftcards and dole them out as needed.

Ok, I gotta say it, I'm pretty hacked about the banning of costumes at the Halloween Party.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?
When did this happen?!? That's.... that's.... criminal!