New chapter in my life - I got that job!

I have borrowed the title for this post from an entry in the blog of my fellow grandfather to Isabelle, Wes Loewen. For the last several years, I've been training to enter a new career - as a medical transcriptionist (that is, one who takes physician-dictated recordings and turns them into written reports that then become part of the permanent record of the patient). Since finishing the training late in 2010, I had applied for numerous positions, but was universally turned down due to lack of experience. Then, a few weeks ago, I learned that a friend from church heads the Pathology department at the University of Michigan, so I asked if he could speak up for me. He had a meeting with their Human Resources person, and last Friday I got an email out of the blue saying that they'd like to hire me for a temporary position for a month or so, and wondering if I could come in on July 5 to check it out. So I spent the entire workday yesterday at University Hospital, doing sample reports, and by the end of the afternoon the supervisor came down to my cubicle to say that she'd received great reports on my speed and quality from neighboring workers, and she wanted to offer me the position, and extend it "at least through the summer - and, we hope, beyond, if the new fiscal year permits it." So, at long last, an 18-year drought in my full-time work history comes to an end - and I praise God for bringing this about, both directly and through the help of his children.

Firecracker 5K

I was happy to start off this holiday (the 104th anniversary of Dad's birth) by running the Firecracker 5K in downtown Ann Arbor. Conditions were splendid - 70 degrees, so it was warm but not hot, and with broken overcast. It was a course that did a one-mile loop from the starting line and then back to it, at which point Michelle saw me and got a picture; then there was a larger second loop that included a very special passage. In the latter part of it, we crossed the Diag, the hallowed central portion of the University of Michigan campus, replete with a metal block M sunk into the ground. As I crossed beside it (careful not to step ON it) I looked at my watch and quickly calculated that perhaps I could finish in under 33 minutes, which would have easily broken an 11-minute pace ... pretty good for me under recent conditions. But, alas! when I crossed the finish line my watch showed 34:08 (a pace of 11:00 even). Still, though, I'm glad to have done it, and improved somewhat on the 5K I ran in Lansing back on May 14 (34:34), and greatly over the 5K I ran at St. Olaf on June 4 (in a miserable 36:56).

New Chapter

For several years now I have been preparing to enter a new career as a medical transcriptionist - one who takes physician-dictated recordings and turns them into written reports that become part of the patient's permanent record. Since finishing the training late in 2010, I have applied to numerous positions, but have been uniformly turned down because they want someone with experience. However, recently a friend from church who is head of Pathology at the University of Michigan made some inquiries for me, and this past week I received an offer for a temporary position working for them. It may not be permanent yet, but it's an excellent first step, and way to gain that needed experience!