Pretty please stop Getting sick/Cut on/Dying. For me?

PREAMBLE / APOLOGY

I'm sorry if this post has a self-pitying slant to it. Who am I kidding? It's a cathartic post, so it will be very self-pitying. But I'll be honest. I am a bit overwhelmed by events with my loved ones at the moment.

THE PAST
 
Thankfully, with the exception of some common American ailments, I myself am in relatively good health and spirits. To date this year, however, I have had an uncle and a grandfather die. Then, my grandmother was suddenly diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, then went into just as sudden a remission (Thank God, gods, the universe, whoever requires thanks for that.)

 THE NEAR FUTURE

Now, I'm faced with two people I love dearly undergoing major operations before the year is out. My partner J, has heroically consented to undergo a medical procedure that very likely will save the life of someone he loves. I have (more selfishly) consented to care for him pre-op and post-op for as long as I can. I want to make sure he is okay going in and coming out of this. The issue is that this operation must be done out-of-state, and one of us has to come home to pay the rent.

So, that leaves me only financially and job wise being able to go with him for two weeks. One week pre-op and one week post-op. He has to remain out there for two months. We discussed this during his initial testing, got tentative dates, and agreed on a plan of action. I budgeted accordingly for the loss of income and discussed my absence with my employers.

Then the hospital moved up the date of the operation and lengthened the amount of time between pre-op meetings. So now, it looks like I will need to take off work sooner and for 3 weeks instead of 2, to be able to go to his pre-op meetings and care for him post-op. There goes the plan.

Let me be very clear. J's health, and the health of his loved one are my primary concern.

THE CATCH ABOUT THE NEAR FUTURE

I do not make the kind of money or have the kind of job where I can take 3 weeks off and not plan insanely ahead for it. J is overwhelmed though with all the understandable emotional implications of this operation, as well as his own financial and job concerns. So overwhelmed that we will have to wait until his nerves calm down to discuss logistics.

One part of me is okay with this. As I said, I want to support him as much as I can in this. Another anxiety prone part of me is having a panic attack thinking that I now have to find a way to come up with an additional week's lost income, explain to my employers that it is now 3 weeks they will be without me instead of 2, and dreading the idea that I might not have a job if that is the case.

Yet another very selfish part of me is worried because I have been working a long time toward getting a job in my degree field. There are rumors that some full-time positions will be coming available in the next month at my library...essentially dream jobs. J's operation means that I will theoretically have to pitch a 3 week absence, a month and a half after my hire date, to the supervisors who would be considering me for these positions. So to some up: Panic attack that I cannot discuss with my partner at the moment because he is having the same panic attack.

THE TOO NEAR FUTURE

But more immediate than all of this is the second loved one I referred to at the beginning of this very long post. My four-year-old niece is going under the knife tomorrow to correct a congenital heart defect. This tiny, brilliant little girl is undergoing major life saving surgery. And all I can think about at the moment is damage control.

My sister, my niece's mother, has a very contentious relationship with both her ex (read: baby-daddy) and our own mother. The first of which is currently creating problems just to spite her. The second of which has the potential to create problems because she has the best of intentions to help, and believes that this gives her license to make any changes she deems necessary. Even if they are against my sister's wishes. Now, all of this is really none of my business, except that I dearly love my sister and niece. So, the mother hen in me feels the need to help them in any way I can.

My sister's direction of my helping hand means that I cannot confront verbally (or physically...though my theoretical fantasies of it seem very fulfilling) her ex's stupidity. It also means that I may have to avoid or flat out lie to my mother about where and/or when my niece's surgery will take place. This breaks my heart because I also love my mother dearly, and I do not want to choose between my loyalty to her and my loyalty to my sister.

THE PRESENT

I'm going to take my niece and sister to the hospital very early tomorrow morning for the surgery. I'm scheduled to hang out with my mother later tonight, and keep my mouth shut. I also need to bottle up the J/job anxiety until it is appropriate to discuss with him. This post is intended as a way to quiet my brain and worries enough to do that. So again, I apologize for the personal pity party.

Mastering the art of Google Searching

GOOGLING HOW TO GOOGLE GOOGLE

I've been recently completed the Powersearching with Google course.  As an "information professional" I've spent long hours with various blessed souls teaching me in online searching. Online searching was mostly taught as an overall concept in library school. Many different search engines have the functionality of combining search terms in various ways and limiting search results.

The trick is finding out which words or characters the search engine uses to accomplish these tasks (i.e. limiters and operators). How can I find information on the architecture of  both Golden Gate Bridge and London Bridge? I want to search types of beetles, how can I stop getting results that involve John, Paul, George, and Ringo? The problem here being that every search engine does this slightly differently.

So I was totally excited when I found out that Google was providing online training on how to do all these fun things. The Power with Google training covered Google Search, Images, Videos, Translate, Maps and a number of their other tools. Since the Google tools are constantly evolving, a lot of the information was new since the section in my online searching class. So here is a brief run-down of the things I thought were really noteworthy.

VERY COOL STUFF

- Search by Image allows you to upload an image file and Search for similar images or web results based on your uploaded file

         ~ What the heck is that thing?

         ~ I know! That there is a...Well, that's a....What the heck is that thing?

- Color Limiting in Google Image Search

         ~ I want a picture if P!nk...in pink!

- Site: vs Insite: limiters

         ~ site: ToBe.com OR  insite: not to be

-"Easter egg" of calculating numbers based on jokes

         ~ "the answer to life the universe and everything" plus "the loneliest number" = 43

REASONABLY COOL STUFF: I.E GOOGLE BEING COOL

- Google Translate vs Translate Foreign Language pages

         ~ Do you want to translate a phrase in another language or search webpages in 

            other languages?

- Discussion of Credibility in Google Search results

         ~ Google knows their search results are a popularity contest...and they are Google 

            enough to admit it!

- Searching as an Iterative process

- Teaching details first and theory afterwards 

- Discussion of importance of not taking Google search results at face value

- Discussion of how to verify information of one Google tool with information from another Google tool

         ~ Found "Call me Ishmael"quote  in Google Search. Check Google Books to 

            find out who to call Ishmael

- Use of phrase "sanity check" Hehehehehe...they assume I'm sane.

- Advice to "identify your sources" No Joke!

NOT SO COOL STUFF 

- "Occasional Misconceptions" CYA moment at the end of Lesson 5
        ~ Google would like to take this moment to say No, you cannot buy your way to the top of
           Google Search results...you naughty naughty corporation!
- Regional access to search features presented too late for use within activities
        ~ Trainee: I'm Canadian and cannot the search features you describe in Lesson 2
        ~ Google: Lesson 4- Search Features ...including Regional Access

- Spellcheck
        ~ Google, you are a wise, charitable, and humanitarian company. So, for the love of 
           FSM, please Spellcheck your Text Versions!

-  Better integration with Google Drive or Google Bookmarks for saving training materials
        ~ I had to do all of this manually in Drive and Google Bookmarks. 
        ~ Lesson 4.5 was not even made a savable file. Nor were the Activities
       
FINAL REVIEW

Overall, I really enjoyed this training! I think the Lessons were well organized to be of reasonable length, well thought out, and with the previously mentioned exception in reasonably good order. The video presenters were well spoken. And the text versions still made sense for when I needed to use them because I had no access to audio on my computer.

I learned how to use the searching concepts that I already knew within Google by learning their operators and limiters. I learned different search features within different Google tools, and the best way to combine them for best results. I learned about tools and features that I had not known existed. Built in measurement conversion anyone?

I really appreciated the whole of Lesson 5's discussion on Credibility of  verification of sources. People searching Google all too often take the first few results as gospel. Lesson 5 was very realistic about how Google's algorithms try to make their results relevant to the searcher, but the results they return are not always credible or authoritative. I think it was very cool of them to own up to this and to show people how to use their tools and features to better verify search results. I would go the extra step of trying to verify results with a source outside of Google, but that may just be me.

My one big criticism is that the training platforms that Google used for the class could have been better integrated with some of their other tools to make it more accessible to Registrants. I wish they had made the training videos into shared URLS for Google Bookmarks. Another way to do it would be to make the Text Versions shared documents in Google Docs so Registrants could upload them to Google Drive. Preferably, I would have like to have seen both. I can understand Google wanting to protect their training content. But registration was free and I would like to keep the files to refer back to later.

Also not everybody heard about the training by the Registration deadline. So it might be beneficial for Google to either re-open registration periodically, or make the training materials more shareable between Google accounts and Google account holders.

FINAL THOUGHT

Is it bad that I'm leaning toward buying an Android phone just because of this teaching tool? Ooh the search immersion!