Monday Morning and Early Hour Start Times

Going to work is difficult enough on Monday morning, but even more difficult after being off a week. We were in Florida visiting my mom, and it feels like I've been away a year. This year marks my fortieth year of full time work - thirty-one in health care - and nine as a civil servant. I used to have to get up for the 7 AM first shift while managing nursing units, then it moved to 8 in admin jobs. In the federal government there is flex scheduling that allows for a window of about 6:30-9:30 to begin a shift. I first started coming in for 9:00, but changed that to 8:00 when I worked nine hour shifts. Now that I work part time, I started coming in at 6:30 - because I love leaving at 3 PM! Even though I really dislike getting up so early - it's really not my nature- I like having a longer afternoon and can handle it for three days instead of five. Now the Library is starting to allow telework. I used to telework in Milwaukee one day every two weeks. But since it's easier to just walk a block or two, I'd rather just go to work. The place is so empty on a Monday and early morning. But I don't mind one bit. 

ZocDoc With Dr. Marjan Yousefi

Making appointments with physician offices can sometimes be painful. It wasn't always that way. I've been trying to make an annual appointment with my internist for the last three months. Every time I call they say I need to call back at the end of the month, the scheduling system has been updated, or some other nonsense. I wanted to switch physicians over this but decided that changing all the prescriptions is even more of a hassle. Recently I needed to schedule an appointment with a dermatologist and started looking on line and discovered ZocDoc. You enter your insurance and see who accepts it, read reviews, and office locations and select someone - in this case it was Dr. Marjan Yousefi. The rest is a piece of cake. Once the appointment is made, forms can be filled in on line so as not to deal with all that in the office. A confirmation email is sent, the physician office calls to verify, a reminder email about the appointment is sent a week in advance and then the day before. Following the visit, another email is sent to evaluate the visit, and a final notification is sent if a follow up appointment is required. I tried using this system with my internist, because she was also listed - but couldn't even get past step one. I notified ZocDoc to ask why it wasn't working, and they followed up right away and said there was an issue with her office - MedStar. All I can say is after working thirty years in health care and having a retired surgeon as a husband, it's simple to figure out which approach is more acceptable. One reminds me of Milwaukee, and the other reminds me of DC. Can you tell which one is which?!