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Welcome to my blog. Thanks for coming! One day I hope my little piece of internet real estate will be home to lots of family photos, pictures of my scrapbook and card art, with some random thoughts and memories posted on a somewhat regular basis. Mostly my world is very predictable, but occasionally some excitement will find me, so visit often. Who knows what useful (or useless) information you may find here.

cathyb

Monday, April 12, 2010

It's All About The Upgrade

In our world of technology, by the time we get something loaded, up and running, it's already outdated, and someone is frantically working on the upgrade.  The word "upgrade" often strikes fear into even the most techno-savvy people, and it is often with much dread that new programs are implemented.  Sometimes upgrading is optional, sometimes it's not.  I could upgrade my Photoshop program.  But there's no reason to do it, because I haven't even learned how to use the version I already have.  I could upgrade my computers to Windows 7.  I'll probably do that at some point because I have never been happy with the Vista version, which I was forced to accept (upgrade NOT optional) when purchasing my new desktop, and the laptop that I bought a few years ago.  Now I suppose if I went and bought a new one, Windows 7 would be my only choice.  Unless you can talk the Dell folks into installing an older OS, or go to a company who builds computers for the private sector.  Around the time XP first came out, I bought a computer from Randy Williams in Winder at the Radio Shack.  He talked me into letting him build me a computer instead of buying one off the shelf.  (I must say it was a wise choice.  That computer lasted many years, and supported the many large software programs for my line of work.  It was a good one!)  At the time, I was accustomed to using Windows Professional 2000, and the switch to XP was just more than I could take.  I took the computer back to Mr. Williams and asked him to please, please put my W2000 back on there and throw that XP stuff out the door.  Of course XP was improved upon, and I grew accustomed to using that too.  Now the horrors of Vista have been forced upon me, and about the time I got used to that, W7 is available.  I haven't heard much about it, but I reckon folks like it okay.  I'm all about free enterprise and I think Bill Gates deserves every penny he has ever made (after all he revolutionized our world!), but my opinion of him sank a little bit when he came out with a totally new OS (Vista) that wouldn't run the old programs.  I have a lot of money tied up in transcription software that is no good on Vista.  I'm not sure if it would work on W7 or not.

Well, here I go... rambling again... I'm like a little blue-haired lady puttering around in a car on a Sunday afternoon.  Must be my senility kicking in.

The hospital is undergoing a huge upgrade tonight at 11:00, and everyone is busy preparing for a rather extended down time (well, extended in terms of hospital-time).  We've been bustin our rear ends trying to get the dictation to a manageable number, and keeping it caught up, as we'll be using downtime procedures after 11:00.  The upgrade promises to be a good one, with a more user-friendly format of our main system.  We've poked around a little bit in the test mode, and it looks pretty good.

If you watch many medical shows on tv, you've probably seen the scene in the OR when they unclamp the vessel in the heart and wait for the heart to begin beating.  Nobody moves or breathes, and all eyes are on the heart monitor.  Sometimes it starts right up, sometimes it just sits there for a few seconds before the beep-beep-beep of the monitor lets you know the surgery was a success.  Granted, a human life isn't hanging in the balance, but I'll betcha there will be a lot of IS folks standing around holding their breaths when that vessel is unclamped, I mean when that button is pressed to bring our system back online.  Their hearts will be pounding, only to return to normal when one by one, each facet of the system is confirmed as working.  They will all breathe a collective sigh of relief, I'm sure, when the All Clear signal is sent and everyone can reboot and get their computers up and going again.  I'm thankful that I'll be asleep warm in my bed when all this goes down.  At least I hope that by the time my shift starts tomorrow we've got the word that All's Clear.  Technology.  It's a wonderful thing.  Even if we have to upgrade it.

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