Abrams Falls trip 8-7-07

Well on Tuesday I had planned on going to Abrams Falls and hiking up the trail and back. I had to go to class for a few minutes while people were giving their presentations. I then went to my mom's house to get her camera because I wanted to take pictures of my venture.
For those that don't know, Abrams Falls Trail is 2.5 miles that runs along Abrams Creek in the smokey mountains. The end of the trail is a few hundred feet lower (elevation-wise) than the beginning. I hiked this trail last when I was 9-10 years old and it was so easy that I thought I would hike it fairly easy and get home fairly quickly.
Here are some pics of my hike. (I was doing this trail because I'm out of shape and figured that I'd start on an "easy" hike)
First I had to drive to cades cove and get on the 11 mile loop. Apparently the trail is on about mile 9 of that trail.

I thought this would be fairly quick because after all it was a tuesday afternoon.



My first warning:








There are four bridges like this on the trail. It's a good way to figure out how close you are to the end.


This was what the majority of the trail was like. (maybe a little worse)


I thought this was an old beehive or something. there were a lot of bees flying around and I forgot to bring my Epi-pen.




had to snap a quick shot of myself to show you how tired I was already. I wasn't even to the falls yet.

does it ever end?

FINALLY!!!!

I stopped taking pictures after I got to the falls so I waited until I got back to the beginning of the trail. I could've passed out. Thank God I had 4 bottles of water. I really need to get into shape.

The three U's

well if you're not in the mood to read about someone complain, you're wasting your time. This blog will list why the three U's in the subject describe me.



Underachiever:



As some of you know, I have been taking intermediate spanish I & II this summer. I got a B+ in the first one. The second one is going to be close to a C. You see, for some unknown reason, at Pellessippi State, they take attendance daily. If you miss so many classes, you are penalized for it gradewise. I believe this is dumb because since we're paying for it we should be able to go whenever we want. the University of Tennessee does not have that policy. I had a class last semester where I only showed up to 5 classes and I still passed.



Well, in the second spanish class I'm taking, I can only miss 3 days and it is a letter grade off for any extra days missed. There are 3 tests involving about a week of material for each. The first test, I showed up every day and made an 84. The second test, I missed one day and made a 91. The third and final test I missed two days and made a 94. Somehow she is telling me that I've missed 4 days. I learned a long time ago that the professor is always right no matter how much proof there is in your favor so there is no sense arguing about it. The highest I can make is a B and I'm pretty sure that I have a high B right now. but that will soon be reduced to a C due to my neglect of showing up to this class. I am apparently an underachiever.



Underpaid:



I have been working my current job for approximately 1.5 years. It is one of those jobs where you can run your butt off one night, and not have anything to do the next. It can be extremely stressful and physically draining. I didn't get hired making a lot of money, but it was more than Taco Bell could pay me. I have had reviews and at every one of them I have been told that I'm the "best transporter we've had in at least ten years." If that is so, why am I still working for the same amount I did when I started?



Everyone got a "cost of living" 3% raise last year but I did not. I'm actually thinking about telling them I have another job offer and need to get a good raise or I'm gone. I will be going up to HR this week to find out about it. I'm almost certain I'll get the run-around there. That is my story about being underpaid.



Underappreciated:



Tonight when I came in, I was told that the women's pavillion (WP) would probably call me for a CT scan on a patient. I got a page from them at 11:30 pm and went to call them. Here is a reenactment of the conversation.



Nurse: second floor.

me: Hi, did someone page the transporter?

Nurse: yeah are one of y'all coming down to take this patient to surgery?

me: I didn't know you had a patient to go to surgery, but I'll come and pick her up.

Nurse: Well I don't care WHO comes to pick her up as long as they do it right now.

me: ok well I'M on my way.



Perhaps she didn't know that there is only one transporter for the whole hospital after 11:00 pm. So I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. I went to ER to grab a stretcher and the only one they had open was dirty so I had to clean it really quick and head down to WP. Once I got there I heard the same voice from the phone say "he's here." and then under her breath she said "doesn't seem to be in a hurry either." Had it not been for the poor woman in pain that needed to go to surgery, I would've pulled her to the side and told her that she needed to get her attitude in check and that she had only paged the transporter once so she needs not cop and attitude with me because I responded to her page as soon as I got it. So I bit my tounge and got the lady to surgery. I'm hoping I get to take her back to her room and that lady says something snide to me. Many relatives of mine are nurses and many friends of mine are nurses and I have nothing but respect for the profession. But when anyone gets lippy like she did, they deserve to be told what's what. Very unproffesional.