Thursday already?

Or is it ... finally? 

It has been an extremely busy, yet long, week.  Or perhaps it is because I am getting tired.  I did take off "early" yesterday.  I left at 5:50 and I was pushing to get out then.  We went out to dinner with friends and I met up with them at 6:30.  Made it too; almost to the minute.  It was fun getting 'out' and visiting with others rather than coming home, eating dinner, sitting down for an hour and going to bed.  Broke up the routine some.  It was fun. And I ate way too much.  Went to Sizzler and although I had just the salad bar..... need I say any more?

Got back on the computer when I got home last night because I had some things to finish for work.  Got a couple of them completed, but by the second time I got kicked out of the system I said 'enough' and quit.  It is what it is.  Took some time to relax then went to bed.

Wouldn't you know it, though, I woke up at 3AM and began thinking about work.  I don't normally do that, but last night for the first time in a long time, I left work in my folder.  Just didn't want to deal with bringing up all the screens a third time so I quit.  Yep, the work is still there this morning.  It didn't go away.

I might have been able to get everything completed if I hadn't been thrown a couple 'fast balls' in the last hour of work.  We had two denials that had to go out - but the wording wasn't quite right.  I kept waiting for one of the bosses to get back in the office so I could run it by them.  I finally went to the chief medical officer and he made some suggestions.  I contacted another medical director to get his feedback.  And then I ended up doing it myself.  I'm hoping we don't get 'dinged' on it by corporate.  I did my best; that is all I can do.  That isn't my job or any part of it; and I'm talking about the wording for how things should read.  All I do is call the member and tell them we denied what they wanted (I hate that part) and why we denied it.  And fax it to the provider.  With my director off yesterday I had more of it to do.  Oh well.

Today is a new day and I'm hoping it will go better.  At least I don't have to rush out the door tonight to meet up with anyone.  I'm hoping that soon I will be able to have more reasonable hours so that I can get home before 8PM.  I don't mind staying until 6PM for I miss the traffic then.

Found out the other night we are having a family gathering on Saturday - carne asado.  Love it.  I'm getting up early to meet my girlfriend for an early morning walk at 6:30AM.  Will do the walk, eat breakfast, chat for awhile, then head home before heading to our daughter's house.  Some day maybe I can have some gatherings at our house.  It's big enough; we just don't have enough things for the grandchildren to do, other than the wii.  Some of the grandchildren have outgrown it.  I haven't played with it in months.  I enjoy the exercise program on it; it's just finding time to do it.  I really do need to focus on excerise and start getting some again.  These late hours have prevented any hope of exercise.

Our trainer just came by and passes out these words for us to put at our desk.  "I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion."

It would be nice if the trainer even believed it.  There are only 4 of us here in the office who work over to ensure the work gets completed.  There are only 4 of us who labor extensively in getting the work completed correctly and timely.  The rest are out of here by 5PM.  And a couple of them while they are here, are doing homework, watching videos, well, lets just not go there today.  Sore spot, especially when I'm working hard.

Looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  We are supposed to be off work July 4 and July 5, but I have a feeling I will be working July 5 and will be checking the computer over the weekend.  And I don't mind for that keeps my work load down.  My problem is, if the nurses don't work it, then I don't have any work.  It's a catch 22 for me; my work comes from the nurses and since they are salaried (and somewhat lazy at times), they only do what they have to do.  They don't want to put in the extra effort unless it is mandatory for them to do so.  They may have to work at least one day that weekend so that we can keep up on things.  We are running too close on time frames for them to not work for 4 days.  At least it won't be 'my fault' if they are out of compliance.  I can't work them if I don't have them in my folder.  Which makes me dependent upon others for my work.

With that being said, I suppose I ought to start turning my focus onto work and complete those few tasks I left in my folder last night.  I told our VP that it wasn't fair for the nurses to 'dump' on me at 4PM and expect me to get everything out before I leave.  That is why I've been staying until 7-8PM every night.  I shouldn't have to stay beyond an hour finishing up the few that should come in.  Some don't work until the last minute so they can share how much they had done.  yeah, right.

Are you making weekend plans?  It is to be really, really hot this weekend.  Like the hotest all year.  Like 118 degrees I think.  I think I will even get in the pool and wear my new swimsuit.  The water is probably like bath water by now.  I'm such a wimp, I like the water to be at least 85 degrees before I get in.  I'm sure it is now.

Hope that you have a good, productive day! 

Blessings!