The Observer

NP's are fantastic. My local GI department uses a bunch of them. They have I think 3 GI doctors, and each of them has 2 NP's. When you have an appointment, or an issue, you deal with your NP instead of the doctor, and then the NP consults with the doctor (and the Doctor will see you in person as needed). It allows the hospital to do way more with fewer doctors, because the NP's can deal with most issues themselves (prescriptions, and some of the treatment options, ordering tests, all that good stuff). The only problem is that Nurse Practitioners are super rare here. We have way more doctors than NP's, so there aren't close to enough of them for all departments to do this. One thing we did cotton onto at least as far as the ER goes is staffing the triage department with Paramedics instead of Nurses. They're better at assessing people with unknown issues. I'm thinking of becoming a Nurse Practitioner myself even though I'm technically in Pre-Med. So it'll be a strange transition for me.

An idea pitched was to add more Nurse Practitioners to the ER room since they're cheaper to hire than doctors and most injuries only require a Nurse Practitioner to look at them anyway. Should cut wait times by quite a bit.

Yeah, not having a vehicle in some areas can be quite debilitating. I know in my area, the bus service is regular, but for places I need to go for internships/co-ops in the future, I can't really get there. For example: my region has hospitals in various areas (at least before they start shutting them down). If, let's say, I'm doing a co-op at one hospital that's out of town, it's completely inaccessible to public transit before 9AM, which they expect me to be there for 7AM. Not to mention groceries, being forced to ask other people for rides everywhere (since I'm an independent person, it's my biggest pet peeve; asking other people for help), etc. So I can understand that pain fully. However, the alternative is how expensive insurance is and gas, etc. So it's no win really.

It's surreal to realize how far we've gone in such a relatively short period of time.

Clearly that's not healthy. ... Stressed out?

I can agree with this. It's mostly the issue of maturity. Obviously age =/= maturity since I've dated girls who have been ridiculously immature (you know the whole public attention seeking bullshit). It's clear to me now I don't want that kind of relationship. I want someone who is mature and not someone who is still stuck in the high school mentality.

e: double post

Lucky you. I went outside today once and wondered about frostbite. (Jokingly, but still) It's not that cold yet is it? Definitely not that cold yet, but our weather just suddenly when from 20 ish degree days to barely getting out of the single digits. Yeah I don't get it either. My apartment is either really cold or really hot. There's no in between. Don't have this? You'd quickly notice videos are crap quality and remember you aren't on wifi :P Or if you're on an iPhone just disable data for the Youtube app.

Lucky you. I went outside today once and wondered about frostbite. (Jokingly, but still) It's not that cold yet is it?

Ah shit I forgot how to react. Hello troll.

Jesus. I still can't drink Sambuca. I [bleep]ing hate black licorice. I remember we decided to drink a whole shitload of it when we were already drunk and my friend panicked because his tongue turned black.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0_ybvWb9xo

How does it hurt low income families or first nations when they can get photo id for free? Once again: It is completely reasonable to expect people to be able to prove they are who they say they are when carrying out an important civic duty. No one complains about having to provide ID to buy alcohol, but ask people to do it to vote, and shit hits the fan? Ridiculous. Alcohol isn't really a necessity nor a right. I think I'm speaking mostly from anecdotal evidence on the low income part. When my mother had her purse stolen a few years back, it took over a year for her to get her ID back. First of all, she had to pay to get her birth certificate back in order to get her health card back. Then, she had to use all that to get her Photo Card back (thankfully this was instituted because she doesn't have a driver's licence). The same thing happened to my father (except it took him 2 years because he didn't have the money to pay for a birth certificate, so was stuck without a health card for that long). In terms of First Nations, there is actually a greater level of difficulty in obtaining photo ID such as a health card. In the past, voter ID cards (mailed out) and Indian Status card were acceptable forms of ID. Not to mention the lack of information being given about it. Let's say you live in a remote part of Canada, you would assume to vote as per normal before being turned away for not having sufficient identification (again, First Nations). There's also more issues surrounding this election such as Elections Canada not being allowed to encourage people to vote on election day, etc. (No ads for when to vote like there used to be.)

Using the excuse of voter fraud is a joke; it's a non issue. Especially when the federal party had several instances of election related offences (robo calls, etc). They're instituting voter ID requirements here too, which hurts First Nations (Indian Status cards aren't acceptable) and low-income families.

My instructor already told me the routes that they're going to pick. He will take me there, but only a few times. The idea is that if you learn how to drive a specific route, that's all you're going to learn. The only traps there involve the poorly designed intersection where the hardest thing you'll do is turning left in it (with a heavy blindspot/tricky right of way situation).

take a driving course, you can get them as cheap as $300 I'm actually currently enrolled in one, but they suggest that you get training outside of the school because the Ministry of Transportation actually recommends that you get 80 hours before your driving test.

@Randox, I've posted here quite a bit recently, although my activity has been rather sporadic. And yeah @Dash et al, I get what you mean. It was just a thought I had earlier today now that school's starting again. I suppose it's just that time of year where everyone feels overwhelmed. Anyone have experience learning how to drive without parent's help? My parents haven't driven since the 80s and I haven't really seen them except for casual visits other than 12th grade. I'm aiming to get my full licence so it gives me a lot of freedom in the future.

I suppose you can say a mixture.

I can confirm this as someone who works at Tim Hortons with bills hovering regularly around the $4 mark. It's something I have to explain regularly to customers. In other news, does anyone else feel like they've fallen behind their peers their own age sometimes?

Cab prices are ridiculously expensive here, so I rarely tip unless it rounds to a better number. I tip whenever I can in restaurants though.

Just wait until winter. Mid- to late-Autumn, really. Right around the end of October is when it usually starts getting ridiculous, at least in the London area. Eh, it's mostly the winter months here. Then again I live like a couple hours from London so...

Just wait until winter.