In part 4, I start at the beginning of summer until just before I head back to work with my department.
When I got to go back to work, I was at my employer's training center. I had to do a little training myself, to get caught up on their processes and expectations, but soon I was busy with whatever they threw at me. I can't tell you how nice it was working with that group of people. All consummate professionals, they made me feel welcome and important as soon as I was there. Despite being quite busy most days, it wasn't stressful, there wasn't conflict, and it was a nice mental recovery. I didn't feel the need to analyze every interaction with nagging questions; 'Did I say too much?', 'Will this person try to use that against me?', 'What was that all about?'.
One of my responsibilities was going to be watching people take tests, making sure they didn't cheat, helping them find courses, and getting them moved in the right direction for classroom training. This allowed the woman I was working for, who was absolutely swamped, to actually get some of her work done. I was also helping her check her tests and answers and study material against the 'base' model sent out by a regulator, so even when there weren't many people (if any) that needed computer tests, I kept busy. On the off chance that there was nothing else I could do (typically because a program wasn't 'licensed' to me, or I didn't have the credentials), I took e-learning classes, which didn't cost me anything.
I took a few on leadership and emotional intelligence, acknowledging that controlling my emotions isn't always easy. One, in particular, was both good and bad: It was about removing stress from work, which I'd had quite a bit of right before tearing my ACL. For the class, you'd make a list of what you expect to get out of work, other than a paycheck, what motivates you, and what your goals are. Then, you compare it with what your workplace's stated objectives/goals are. It'll suffice to say that, for me, the lists didn't match up, and it was fairly easy to recall instances in reality where my employer's stated objective seemed like a facade. It didn't really excite me to be heading back to my department soon.
One of the highlights of this time period, was that I was also taking college courses again, having started right after I tore my ACL. I took a Computer Management Information Systems class, which sounds fancy, but was really just an indepth class about Microsoft Office. I learned a TON taking the class, and that would pay off later in the summer, both in my summer class and at the training center. It was a class that made learning fun, which is pretty rare, especially for online classes. During the summer, I took Accounting 1, which was a refresher from a class I'd taken 11 years prior in high school, but was also much more in depth. It was very fast paced, but with a class like that, I enjoy the work. I had considered taking a second class, but I'm glad I didn't. Getting through a single accounting class in 8 weeks was enough hurry.
I tried to maintain my sanity throughout the summer by continuing a tradition of attending about one Royals game per month. I can be fully content watching the games on TV, but I really think going to the stadium, in that atmosphere, is really fun. I guess you could say that it helps when they're not always losing. I'm scared of heights, so I don't enjoy sitting in the real high seats, very often. Kauffman Stadium sits into the earth, so the first level of seats is below the level of the parking lot. Those are fine with me, even if they're more expensive. A buddy of mine and I share the cost, most games, where one of us will buy the tickets, and the other pays for gas; it works out pretty evenly. The $80-100 per trip could have been used more wisely, but life needs to be fun, at times, as well. I try to buy tickets to the 'give-away' games (bobble heads, generally, sometimes t-shirts), and we got the Alex Gordon Bobblehead this past season.
On a side note, their 2015 bobble heads look SWEEEEET. They've got various memorable events from the playoffs captured in bobblehead form, and I'm probably going to be showing up as soon as the gates open to the parking lot, those games.
Early on, I could tell that something was amiss in physical therapy when I'd do flatten my leg out, and then be told to see how much I could bend my knee. It was so early in recovery, I didn't say anything in particular, I'd just mention in passing the discomfort. I figured it would work itself out, which it hasn't, yet. It still hurts to straighten my knee, more so with weight on it. When I see how much I can bend my knee, there's a sharp pang from my hamstring (I'm assuming).
Because of my leg hurting, and spending money on Royals games, and medical bills, I didn't hardly do a thing all summer on the house. It was enough just to get the lawn mowed, much less kill all the weeds and make it look very good. I would usually do half one day, and finish the next, with a bunch of ice therapy in between. I should have been taking antiinflammatories as well, but since I generally consider them, 'pain relief', I didn't. I also wasn't stretching near as much as I needed to be.
It was a time of rest, and yet I wasn't taking things seriously enough, yet. I still wasn't preparing and making good use of the time away from work. The amount of paperwork you get for a major surgery like that is nuts. From provider bills to insurance forms, it gets a little overwhelming. It's easy to get some paperwork lost in the shuffle (for me). I need a better system of keeping track of important paperwork, that's one thing I've learned.
