Home Safe and Sound

Im back from our great capital. Was a very productive couple of days. It taught me 2 very important things: Accreditation is very confusing and its gonna be a long year! We have an accreditation date set for Nov 2007. If you can believe it we are actually supposed to be starting the process now 18 months away! Like yikes! How scarey is that? I found out that this "process" involves all this stuff that we do for a year to prove we have quality indicators and all this "language" that adds up to : you are doing a good enough job for the gov to say your "ok". Anyway at the end of all these months of papers filled with stats (my very least favorite thing in school), you have to go through this intense 2 day interview where these people called surveyors come out and analyise everything from A to Z. They interview everyone. My general take is that they are scarey people we probably spent 30 min discussing their needs for the interviewing days. We must provide them with lunch, coffee, refreshments, an IT person on call for their computers, a driver to take them to any locations of other services that we provide, a paper shredder, 2 separate rooms to conduct their stuff. Binders of stats and info neatly ready for reviewing. I am like Oh my God! the lord himself is coming to visit perhaps he will bring the queen, Britney Spears and maybe even Simon cowell with Ryan Seacrest! Thats how it felt. These people are serious, they dont smile they dont have personlities, they just have pens, note papers and pocket protectors. But the nice thing is after 18 months of work we will have the relief of a quick turn over time of knowing whether we got accreditation status or not: a mere 45-60 days (give or take). yup no stress there! The accreditation to help you get why Im sort of stressed is basically the future of my existence in this nice world I live in now. No accreditation= no contract, no contract= no agency, no agency means Cherie is the newest Walmart greeter in town. So this may not be the last thing you hear on this "accrediation" word. Oh the other thing I learned while away: Dont try to argue with a Russian coffee shop owner about whether the specifications to your "latte" are really coffee or not. It will only end in a poor coffee and getting a very grumpy service person.

I say I would ike a latte with skim milk and half the esspresso. Half the esspresso? He says in a think accent, I say yes half please. Then its not a coffee he replies. I say it is to me can you make it? No No to me it is not a coffee you are ordering. I say : I like it that way can you make it? He looks at me puzzled as though its mission impossible. I say again: can you make it or do I walk a block to Second cup, then he says why do you want only half the esspresso? I say that I cant sleep at night and its now 10pm. So he says why dont you get a decaf? I say can you do that? He says yes I say fine. He walks away to make it muttering to himself in Russian. The next morning he sees me and says something to his helper walks away from me at the counter and then the non english person takes my order. Which I loudly announce that I would like a regular latte with all the caffeine they have as its now morning and I want to be awake. The girl just looked puzzled.. but I know the coffee nazi knew exactly what I was saying!

Anyway thats it for me: oh one other piece of good news! I really did win a spa package and its a grand one might I add! we are talking head to toe pampering! I cant wait!