One of the devices that Fisher & Paykel manufacturers is the CPAP device for Obstructive Sleep Apnea. My job has been to make reports about devices that aren't working properly. This past week, I finally got a chance to see the devices in use.
Thursday night I went to Auckland Hospital to visit the Sleep Lab. It was a good experience to see how people get tested for Sleep Apnea, and to see the changes in their breathing when they are put on CPAP...
This was the first time that I had driven by myself in New Zealand. I've driven several times, but never had to drive AND navigate. I got lost trying to find the hospital, not a big surprise, and ended up driving all around Auckland. We were supposed to be at the hospital between 7 and 7:30. I made it to the parking lot around 7:15, thinking "I'm late- Janet (my co-worker who was also visiting the Sleep Lab that night) has been here since 7 and everyone is going to be irritated." Turns out, Janet was just getting out of her car when I pulled in... She had gotten lost too. So it isn't just me- the hospital is hard to find!!
So I watched several people get hooked up for the sleep study. They use so many different sensors! It is kind of a creepy job- watching people sleep and periodically listening to people snore, but people seem to feel a lot better once they get therapy for their sleep disorders. We watched people sleep and learned how they diagnose Sleep Apnea and set CPAP pressures. The first patient got titrated by about 11:30 at night, so we were excused to go home. Janet and I walk to the parking lot and get into our cars. We went to floor 1, 2, 3... Couldn't find the cars. Didn't make sense because we only drove up one story before parking! We check the 4th floor, no car. Can't be on the 5th floor- that's the last button in the elevator, and we weren't on the roof. Turns out ground floor is actually the 4th floor and we DID park on floor 5 and the roof doesn't have an elevator button. Time to go home and sleep before work the next day!
WRONG!
Just as I'm pulling out, I see Janet walk up to my window... Dead battery. Janet and I start asking people for jumper cables, but there weren't that many people out and the people that were out didn't have jumper cables (or they were leaving the hospital late at night and "didn't have" jumper cables).
We find a guy who is parked nearby and ask him for cables. He doesn't have any... In fact, he is currently breaking into his car because his keys are locked inside. (Shady story, but later a security guard was helping him, so it must have been legit.)
We decided to go back into the hospital and ask security. He called the security cars, but they didn't have jumper cables. He recommended going outside and asking the police. So we go back outside and, lucky us, a tow truck is driving by! We ask the tow truck driver for jumper cables. He tells us that the police officers are waiting for him, but if we follow him across the parking lot, we can borrow his cables to jump start the car. He drives off and we follow him. Turns out a car drove off of the road, through the guard rail and down to the bottom story of the parking structure, about 4 stories down. The fence that divides the road and the parking structure is bent up and knocked over and there is a red car sitting on its roof. The cops and tow truck driver were pretty much just standing around talking. No one told us to go away, so we stood around and looked at the fence and the car too. We realized the tow truck driver wasn't going to help us, so we started walking back to the car. Of course, it started to rain about this time.
Finally, we find a guy in scrubs leaving the hospital. He says he has jumper cables, but we quickly find out he really doesn't want to help us. As we walk to the parking lot, he asks every person that we see if they have jumper cables. He is asking what side of the car the battery is on because he has short jumper cables and they might not reach. No one else has cables, so he ends up helping us. The cables reach and the car starts. We figure he'll be upset if he knows we have a second car, even though we didn't have any jumper cables, so we tell him we'll let the car run a minute to warm up. All of a sudden, he decides to be helpful and says we should just go and he'll follow us out to make sure that the car runs okay. So I get in the car with Janet and we drive around the parking lot to show him that the car works, and then we turn around and Janet brings me back to my car.
I made it home without getting lost and made it in to work by 8 am the next morning.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Day 54
Last weekend Jon and I visited Cornwall Park and climbed One Tree Hill.
We had high tea at Cornwall Park. There were a lot of little old Kiwi ladies having tea. It was a lot of fun and I got to eat mini sandwiches (smoked salmon, cucumber, ham, and egg salad).
One Tree Hill was a lot of fun. There were some cows and A LOT of sheep.
As the name suggests, there used to be a tree on One Tree Hill, but the tree got attacked and now One Tree Hill is (N)one Tree Hill. There is a big monument on the top of the hill.
I should have known to bring my raincoat because right when we reached the top of One Tree Hill, it started to rain. It was really windy, so the rain was really painful!!
We had high tea at Cornwall Park. There were a lot of little old Kiwi ladies having tea. It was a lot of fun and I got to eat mini sandwiches (smoked salmon, cucumber, ham, and egg salad).
One Tree Hill was a lot of fun. There were some cows and A LOT of sheep.
As the name suggests, there used to be a tree on One Tree Hill, but the tree got attacked and now One Tree Hill is (N)one Tree Hill. There is a big monument on the top of the hill.
I should have known to bring my raincoat because right when we reached the top of One Tree Hill, it started to rain. It was really windy, so the rain was really painful!!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
New Word: Hokey Pokey
Kiwi English: Airy toffee candy, most commonly found in ice cream
American English: A dance
American English: A dance
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Day 37
My weekends are getting much more exciting now that I don't have as many errands to run!!
Yesterday was the 4th of July. Not such a big deal in New Zealand, but we made a good time of it anyway! As I said before, my co-workers kept asking about 4th of July because they thought that they could convince me to bring in pumpkin pie. I wanted to bring something in to share with them, but I didn't feel like going out to buy baking stuff, so I didn't. Plus, I wasn't around after lunch on Friday, the time when we normally share snacks and things, because I was at the hospital.
Fisher & Paykel has a good relationship with some of the hospitals around, so on Friday, I got to go visit one of the hospitals (Auckland General, I think). We went and brought the staff lunch and then we got a tour of the PICU. I didn't get to see very much of the hospital, but it was a good experience, and I think I'll get to go back sometime... Maybe to a different hospital or a different department, maybe the NICU.
After work on Friday I went to Girls' Night. There is another American at work named Laura and she invited me out so that I could meet some work people since I am new. We went to a Tapas bar in downtown Auckland and ate a bunch of food. Good times.
Paul hosted a 4th of July party at his house yesterday. I made 5-layer dip, but it was really difficult to find the proper ingredients at the grocery store! Refried beans ended up being over $4 per can!! Also, there were no avocados, so I ended up with frozen guacamole of some sort, and no jalepenos or serranos, so I got some red chillis. Tortilla chips are also kind of hard to find. There are a lot of funny flavored, circular, miniature tortilla chips. They're not bad, but they're definitely not taqueria worthy! I also bought a bag of tater tots... But we never ate them. =(
4th of July was a lot of fun. Paul, Jon, Jonti, Laura, Tim (a chemist from work), Sue (Tim's wife), and I hung out and ate a lot of food. Jonti was the only Kiwi there... Kind of funny to be in a room of Americans! Laura is a pyrotechnician, so we thought about getting fireworks, but we didn't have anywhere to launch them, but food was festive enough. Paul made really good chilli and macaroni and cheese. He also made homemade guac (I don't know why he could get avocados but I couldn't!). Laura made artichoke and tomato bruschetta... It didn't go with the All-American party food theme, but it was tasty! She also made homemade brownies. YUM! Sue made homemade chocolate chip cookies. It was fun and I ate way too much!
Jonti and me snacking.
Paul, Jon, and Laura dishing out the brownies.
The look on Paul's face is PRICELESS.
Today Paul, Jon and I went hiking at Waitakere. We did a short walk to the trail and then we did an 8 km loop. The Waitakere area looks like Jurassic Park! The trails are pretty well maintained. A local winery paid a lot of money to take care of the trail that we went on, Montana Trail. On our way down, we went on the wrong trail. We should have known because there was a tractor in the way. We went around the tractor and walked through some really thick clay-mud and then stopped when the trail ended at a scooper. I think they were actually building a new trail. Thankfully that segment wasn't very long, so it wasn't difficult to get back where we needed to be. The trail that we were on was being worked on, so there were some blocks and piles of gravel and stuff in the way. It was quite an adventure! It also started to rain briefly, but we were pretty well protected by the plants, so I didn't even need to take out my raincoat! The trail was a little bit muddy / slippery, but it was a great adventure! Oh- and it was in the area where they filmed some of Xena, Warrior Princess and Hercules.
The beginning of the hike.
A statue.
Tarzan.
A lake.
Walking down a muddy hill.
Scooper-duper!
Yesterday was the 4th of July. Not such a big deal in New Zealand, but we made a good time of it anyway! As I said before, my co-workers kept asking about 4th of July because they thought that they could convince me to bring in pumpkin pie. I wanted to bring something in to share with them, but I didn't feel like going out to buy baking stuff, so I didn't. Plus, I wasn't around after lunch on Friday, the time when we normally share snacks and things, because I was at the hospital.
Fisher & Paykel has a good relationship with some of the hospitals around, so on Friday, I got to go visit one of the hospitals (Auckland General, I think). We went and brought the staff lunch and then we got a tour of the PICU. I didn't get to see very much of the hospital, but it was a good experience, and I think I'll get to go back sometime... Maybe to a different hospital or a different department, maybe the NICU.
After work on Friday I went to Girls' Night. There is another American at work named Laura and she invited me out so that I could meet some work people since I am new. We went to a Tapas bar in downtown Auckland and ate a bunch of food. Good times.
Paul hosted a 4th of July party at his house yesterday. I made 5-layer dip, but it was really difficult to find the proper ingredients at the grocery store! Refried beans ended up being over $4 per can!! Also, there were no avocados, so I ended up with frozen guacamole of some sort, and no jalepenos or serranos, so I got some red chillis. Tortilla chips are also kind of hard to find. There are a lot of funny flavored, circular, miniature tortilla chips. They're not bad, but they're definitely not taqueria worthy! I also bought a bag of tater tots... But we never ate them. =(
4th of July was a lot of fun. Paul, Jon, Jonti, Laura, Tim (a chemist from work), Sue (Tim's wife), and I hung out and ate a lot of food. Jonti was the only Kiwi there... Kind of funny to be in a room of Americans! Laura is a pyrotechnician, so we thought about getting fireworks, but we didn't have anywhere to launch them, but food was festive enough. Paul made really good chilli and macaroni and cheese. He also made homemade guac (I don't know why he could get avocados but I couldn't!). Laura made artichoke and tomato bruschetta... It didn't go with the All-American party food theme, but it was tasty! She also made homemade brownies. YUM! Sue made homemade chocolate chip cookies. It was fun and I ate way too much!
Jonti and me snacking.
Paul, Jon, and Laura dishing out the brownies.
The look on Paul's face is PRICELESS.
Today Paul, Jon and I went hiking at Waitakere. We did a short walk to the trail and then we did an 8 km loop. The Waitakere area looks like Jurassic Park! The trails are pretty well maintained. A local winery paid a lot of money to take care of the trail that we went on, Montana Trail. On our way down, we went on the wrong trail. We should have known because there was a tractor in the way. We went around the tractor and walked through some really thick clay-mud and then stopped when the trail ended at a scooper. I think they were actually building a new trail. Thankfully that segment wasn't very long, so it wasn't difficult to get back where we needed to be. The trail that we were on was being worked on, so there were some blocks and piles of gravel and stuff in the way. It was quite an adventure! It also started to rain briefly, but we were pretty well protected by the plants, so I didn't even need to take out my raincoat! The trail was a little bit muddy / slippery, but it was a great adventure! Oh- and it was in the area where they filmed some of Xena, Warrior Princess and Hercules.
The beginning of the hike.
A statue.
Tarzan.
A lake.
Walking down a muddy hill.
Scooper-duper!
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