I refuse to become MIA

I know I haven't written in a while, which I'm sincerely sorry about. We are changing our charting to all electronic at work, which has meant having to go to training sessions, watch online tutorials, and learn about the new computer system. That? Has not saved a lot of time for blogging. Not that I've had too much going on to blog about, which is probably the better reason that I haven't written in a while.

I'm also in charge of a new program at work. Since we are a health care provider, we feel that it is our duty to try and maintain a healthy image for our patients. We were told by the powers that be that we feel this way. I think most of us do, but don't necessarily do anything about it. So we all had our blood drawn to check for risk factors (high cholesterol, insulin, etc.), and were given pedometers to encourage us to be more active. Then I was told, "Why don't you create a walking challenge for us here at the office?" Why me, you may ask yourselves. Go ahead, I'll wait while you ask yourself...

Because I'm already in charge of an obesity program aimed at teaching kids healthy lifestyle choices. So I'm apparently the clear choice. So we're doing a Walk Across the United States challenge. Teams of four will combine their daily number of steps and try to make it to each of 10 cities. There will be small prizes for reaching the different cities, and a larger prize for being the first team to make it all the way across the country. There are also Game Changer cards (I know it's a stupid name, but it was the best I could do on short notice) that can effect the outcome, adding or subtracting steps for that day. We're also marking our progress on a map of the US.

So I spend all this time creating the game (which, btw, I don't even get to participate in) and what do I get? Complaints and whining. "When are we gonna find out our teams?" "I want you to draw for teams now." "We can't have all the doctors on the same team!" "Why did you redraw? I liked my old team better." "I don't want to be on a team with that person!" "Can we make trades, like in a draft?" "That's not fair!"

Seriously? And let me point out that I'm one of the youngest people in the office, so it isn't like these are a bunch of kids. The biggest complainers were all in their 40's or 50's. I've since added a penalty for complaining, whining, or bad attitudes.

I went to Office Max today to buy supplies for the game, specifically a cork board to put the map on as well as some push pins and a notebook to keep track of steps. And it was there that I made a sad realization. I haven't gone shopping in so long that random things at Office Max were looking like fun things to buy, just for the hell of it. Flowery folder, retractable colored pencils, post-its. Nothing that I have any need for at the moment. I'm clearly gonna have to go shopping for something fun ASAP.

Oh, and I've decided that since I couldn't participate on a team, I'm going to be walking across the US by myself. It may take me 3000 years to do it (I exaggerate), but I'll do it.