#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

I've been really into trying new foods and new places because well, its fun and especially since it seems, my appetite gets "bored." Problem is I already don't know what I want to eat and I usually have no idea where to get something that I would probably like. David has been helping me by picking up local newspapers and magazines that review and spotlight places in our area. These articles are a great way for me to try to choose new places as when I get stressed or frustrated by mind goes blank and I can't think of anything. So now when I'm starting to have difficulty choosing something I open up the newest "food guide" and take my pick.

Last week we tried B&B Junction--it's this great burger and beer joint. They have all kinds of different burgers and sandwiches. All their alcohol is craft beer and wine. AND homemade delicious desserts. We fell in love! (we have been there twice in like a week!) The food is great, beer amazing, desserts delicious, and atmosphere is FULL of good vibes. A really great place to eat, hang out, and have a good time. Even David was impressed--which is a big deal. I think we initially went sometime around my birthday and again this past Friday. The bison is so good and all their food comes from local or USA raised/grown produce. They offer a great selection of craft beer and wine.

My birthday was nice and quiet. It isn't always good so I was quite pleased this year with the outcome. We went to the beach on Friday the 5th. It was a perfect beach day. We stayed for several hours. Just laying out, watching the waves, eating sandwiches. What a great day!! We plan to go again soon. I would love to go every weekend. Every time Summer comes around I turn into this huge beach bum and all I want to do is go to the beach. David and I dream of spending summers living on the beach.

Last weekend we went to the Lake Eola Farmers market to pick up produce and look around. I was sad because my salsa guy wasn't there--best salsa you can buy. David makes a pretty damn good salsa when the urge arises. Instead we discovered a small beef jerky company. We purchased a small bag to share after sampling a few flavors. There was a lot of pretty jewelry but there wasn't a lot of money for spending. Next time! Afterwards we went to Metro espresso--legitimately the best pizza in Orlando. I would save "ever" but that would be incorrect as I haven't tried pizza everywhere. We had slices, garlic knots, and beer. Then we were off to another market to purchase more food for David's culinary masterpiece.

So this post was all about food, but that's fine. I realized that you have to make your own happiness and if that is being excited about going to the dog park, farmers market, for a slice of pizza, running errands with my boyfriend, or trying new places (or whatever you like to do)--that is GREAT, because you can't expect anyone to make you happy except yourself. So find happiness somewhere in life.

Plus, food is awesome. In moderation. ;)

Oh hey! I want to try a new thing like live tweeting on slow days or semi crazy days at work (like when I'm waiting for results or radiographs to develop, there are random times I'm standing still for a moment) so you could get a glimpse into my job as the day goes...would that interest anyone?

Let me know!

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

I can't believe I forgot to include in my last post about my 6 year anniversary with my boyfriend!! Good thing he doesn't read this site or my blog or (www.craftafarian.com) I would get in trouble ;)

I was reading over my last post to inspire this one and I realize I didn't tell you how we celebrated! 

Since it was our 6th year anniversary we did 6 things to celebrate together!

1. We acquired Disney park hopper passes--we have not yet used these. We are waiting for a good day so spend ALLLL day there. Like 9a to 11pm--something crazy. David's mom's friend works there and was able to get them for us. Awesome!

2. We went out to our "favorite cheap" restaurant--they aren't very cheap but its the nicest yet moderately priced place we like to go to. We did it up with appetizer, drinks, dinner, and desert to go. 

3. Star Trek!! :) First we watched Star Trek 1 at home. I had never seen it before so I was really excited. Especially because right after we went and saw the new Star Trek. So good. Spock is hot. Yes. 

4. We went out to an early dinner later in the week at this new place called Iza Tapas Bar. It was quite good. The sangria was excellent! I had this mozzarella/tomato/basil/olive marmalade toast thing that was amazing. The lamb burgers were decent. 

5. We purchase 6 powerball tickets just for fun. We did not win anything. 

6. Finally we went to Anna Maria island with David's family for a few days just to hang out and relax on the beach. Even though it was with family, to us it was a beach trip and another excuse to celebrate. It was beautiful down there. The ocean, the beach, the sand, just everything. 

After we ended up doing about 4 things I realized that we were close to 6 and so we had added the last two. It was really fun and cute to do one fun thing for every year we have been together. 

My birthday is at the end of this week (July 6th--saturday) and we are planning to go to the beach again friday. 

We also still have the disney tickets but they don't expire for a long time and we like to go all day like I mentioned before so it's just a matter of us both having a day off and not being exhausted and being scheduled the following day. Always about timing. With the cost of gas, parking, food, and drinks its just not worth it to waste our tickets. 

Life is definitely on an upswing!! I did excellent in my veterinary tech courses and am signed up for 3 more. They are much more in depth and I'm so freaking excited for them. I can't wait to take the national exam and become certified and go on with my career. :)

David got a promotion to Service Director of the club. So a little raise, better benefits, and more consistent hours! With his new salary we are now planning a trip back to Miami. We want to stay in a nice hotel (maybe the same as last time--it was amazing!), get massages, use the spa, stay out at the beach, eat good food, and fun basketball game. David wants to go to the opening game for Miami Heat. And we will likely go to their cage free zoo again. So. Much. Fun. 

See ya next time!

@thecraftafarian

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

Thank you Twitter!

So most of you probably know from my last few posts that we have been without cable/internet due to financial reasons. Anyway we finally got back on track and called last night to pay and have the service reconnected. The first guy David talks to I can tell immediately that the dude had no idea what he was talking about. (The company had recently sent us a letter asking for the equipment back but David called to tell them we were planning to reconnect so the rep advised us to keep our cable box/modem-router.) First the guy kept asking what address we were inquiring about for service, our old address still has an account but its 'closed' so apparently it confuses people--I don’t understand why he couldn’t just assume we were calling about the address we have equipment at...whatever. Then once we finally get the rep to understand what address we were at he tells us since the letter for equipment return was sent out we were required to bring it back to a local office and then schedule a new installation. I can see David getting irritated so I told him to either hang up or ask for a manager. He hung up.

I called back. (Another problem is you can get stuck in the automated system, I just keep hitting 0 until it transfers me to a human being.) I tell the woman our situation: we want to pay off our balance and have service restored. She reviewed the account, "No problem!" I told her what the other rep said and asked that they be informed of the actual protocol--she tried to look him up via the call trail but since he was a 3rd party rep all she could acquire was an ID number. No worries, I said. Turned to David, no wonder he gave us the wrong info. David thinks he always gets this kind of employee on the phone.

Our new rep processes our payment and tells me service will be back tomorrow since they just have to turn the outside box on. I hang up, very satisfied. Apparently this morning David called to ask what time we should expect service and he is told we were misinformed about today and we are scheduled in 6 days--still only the outside box needs to be turned on but due to the holiday they are super busy apparently. David calls again and is able to get it moved up one day. I tried live chat online but the rep, while very nice and informative, he couldn’t help me.  

So I turned to twitter and sent a tweet to @brighthousecare. The rep Nick was very understanding to our dilemma (I'm going back to school now for veterinary technician online) as he too is an online student. After reviewing our account Nick immediately called the dispatch manager and was able to move it up to Monday--only two days away. Yes! Just in time for David's (and mine!) fantasy football draft. Satisfied, I retire my attitude for another time.

David texts me shortly after because a Brighthouse service agent came to try to pick up the equipment (he couldn’t turn our service on though)...what the hell guys?? Check your records!!!

As many times as we called we couldn’t get anyone to budge, but good ol' twitter came through. Or at least Nick, the customer service rep with a heart, went the extra mile and made a few calls for us.
#stillacustomerfornow

<3 Lindsay

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian

This week on my way home from work my front driver’s side tire got a flat while on the interstate during rush hour.  It was weird because at first I didn’t realize then suddenly my tire was flat. Usually you can feel something is wrong before it goes totally flat. I immediately called my boyfriend to let him know and then my dad (he helps me with car troubles). We determined that I needed to call AAA since my spare tire was no good either. (Thankfully we have AAA membership courtesy of my boyfriend's dad.) Since I was stuck on the side of I-4 (which they don't consider a safe place apparently) my call was out on priority. Just a word of advice if you are ever in this situation: make sure hazards are on, remain IN the car, and keep seatbelt on! You never know, it’s possible to get hit.

As I was waiting for the tow truck I called the closest tire kingdom which ended up being closed but it forwards the call to a service center which helps direct calls and answer questions. The guy I spoke to was very helpful and patched me through to a shop that was open until 8pm. I absolutely had to get this fixed immediately as I had to be back at work at 730am. At this time it was about 7pm. It still took about 30 minutes for the tow truck to arrive.

Once the driver put safety cones out, he came up to my window and offered me an ice cold bottle of water! I was totally surprised! I have terrible luck it seems with cars so I’ve been towed many times and no one has EVER offered me a drink! It was great as my car’s AC is broken and I was really hot. He does his inspection, takes photos of the car with his tablet (to document condition of the car), and we were off in a few minutes. Thanks to that driver I avoided another potential blow out--he noticed my other front tire was in bad shape and recommended I have that one replaced also.

We finally make it to Tire Kingdom near my house (only one open in the area til 8). It was 7:55pm, the driver and I had conspired for him to get the car off his truck really quick so they "have" to take me. Being the smarty pants that I am, I had the tire kingdom employee pull my previous records and have the tires ready in advance--I was just hoping they would be willing to help me out just minutes before they were scheduled to go home.

And they were! It took 15-20 minutes for them to change my tires out. While I sat in the lobby I caught the tail end of the "republican war against women" and just shook my head...what is wrong with those guys??

Anyway, thank you SO much AAA driver--you rock!! And tire kingdom guys--you saved my ass, awesome dudes!!

Good to know there are a few nice people out there, without having to look very hard. :)

Internet is still out, poo! Hard to believe how difficult it is to find free wifi in Orlando, FL. 3G and trips to Starbucks will suffice.

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Lindsay on Twitter!