Questions! Green onion growing, EZ pass transponders, teaching, and more

I'm catching up on reader questions again today. Let's go!

Do you plant your onion ends in dirt or let them sprout in water? I've never had much success planting the ends either way. They rot on me. I'd love some hints to make them work.

I do a hybrid method; I usually stick the ends in a shallow dish of water for a couple of days to encourage the roots to grow, and then I plant them in a pot.

I do not have trouble with them rotting during the water stage; I just give them a water change every day. And once they're in the dirt, they usually grow just fine.

You only need a teeny bit of the bottom of a green onion for this; as long as it has even some short roots, it should grow for you.

Sometimes, if I am feeling a little lazy, I skip the water stage and just put the onion straight into the pot (as I am doing in the above photo). As long as the soil is pretty moist, this method also works.

Do you miss teaching? You were a homeschooler and a piano teacher - both of these required a lot of patience but also tangible rewards. I love that the last few years have allowed you to be a student and benefit from the learning but I wonder if you'd want to go back to teaching in some capacity, maybe teaching future nurses or doing continuing education.

Well, in a sense, I am still teaching! Nursing, when done right, requires a lot of teaching. Patients are not medical professionals, so they frequently need some help understanding what's going on with their bodies, and why we are doing/not doing certain things.

Like, I might say...."Some of that terrible pain is from gas because during a laparoscopic surgery, they fill your abdomen up with air, and some always remains after surgery. Let's get up and go for a walk because that can help move the air out."

A patient asks if I can take their IV out, and I say, "I'm so sorry, but it's our policy that it has to stay in place until you leave. It's for your safety, just because on rare occasions, a patient may need an emergency medication right before they leave."

If a patient asks for morphine, I have a conversation with them about their options, and I explain that morphine hits fast but also wears off fast, and that oxycodone takes a little longer to hit, but that its effects last longer. And then we work together to figure out the best plan of attack...but the education is necessary first, so the patient can make a more informed decision.

It would be possible to breeze through these scenarios and more without doing the teaching, but I have found that patients and their families really appreciate a simple explanation. And since teaching is right in my wheelhouse, I'm happy to provide this service. 🙂

I also teach when we have nursing students on our unit; when one is assigned to shadow me, I try my best to explain what I'm doing and why.

I haven't ruled out formal future teaching, though; a BSN will allow me to become a clinical instructor or a nursing lab instructor at my community college. There are also paid nursing tutor positions at the school, and I know I'm already qualified to do that! I just don't have the time right now.

One day down the road, I may get an MSN so that I can become a nursing school instructor. But getting another degree seems very daunting right now; I need a nice long break from school because I know I will have a serious case of burnout if I keep going after my BSN.

How did you get the “$0” charge transponder for your EZ pass?

I don't know if every state is different, but I just logged onto my state's EZ-pass system, and ordered one through there.

I have heard that the transponders are going away in the future; Massachusetts, for example, is switching to windshield stickers instead. Apparently, the stickers cost $0.55, while the transponders are $6-$7. As long as the stickers work, I'm all in support of this because it would be much less wasteful.

But for the moment, transponders are the thing here, and I'm glad I could get one for free!

I’m curious about how long it takes you to create a post. Also, has that changed with time? I used to contribute restaurant reviews for someone else’s blog, and it always seemed to take a long time.

Interestingly, blogging used to take me less time. It's not because I used to be faster; it's because blogging has become more complicated.

Back in 2008, you could just type up several long paragraphs, maybe add a photo, hit "publish" and you were done.

Now, it's prudent to write in very small paragraphs, and sprinkle lots of photos. The photos need to have a behind-the-scenes description written in for screen readers to comply with ADA regulations (a move I support! I'm just saying it adds some work.

Also...there's social media now, and sharing your work through some kind of email system. You have to set a featured image for each post, and it has to be a certain number of pixels tall and wide, and it too needs a written description.

Basically, there are more steps now than there used to be. However, I have definitely gotten faster as a blogger, just from sheer repetition and practice.

I honestly have no idea how long it takes me to write a post, and I also have no earthly idea how many hours I spend on my blog each week. I keep meaning to track it, but never do.

(The optimization bros would be horrified.)

I write at such random times, with no consistent schedule, so tracking would be a little complicated.

I will say that putting a post together takes longer than you'd think. Indeed, I often look at my finished posts and think, "Now, why did that take me so long to write??"

I suppose that is the case for most things we create; once they're done, they seem easy. But coming up with the thing in the first place is sort of hard/time-consuming!

If I ever do track my blogging time, I'll let you know what the results are.

Anything here is fair game for chatting about! And if you have a question you'd like me to answer, drop it in the comments. 🙂