Joan Oliver:  

Well, this is a bit daunting....so I will keep it simple and short. At age 25 I moved to San Diego CA for what I thought would be about 5 years, but ending up staying for 11! While I was out there, I attended National University while working as a medical assistant. It was a beautiful (and fun) place to live, but found myself missing New England and family. I moved back to RI in 1993 hoping to settle back down in Westerly, but found the pay scale in the area to be seriously lacking. I ended up finding a position in Hartford CT and have been living in Newington for many years now. I stayed in the medical profession (in various positions) until 2006 when I decided to try something a bit different. I am now an Office Manager for an IT Consulting/Staffing business in Middletown CT and it's amazing what I have learned about computers and programs and what people in this profession do. In March of 2007 I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and had to undergo six months of aggressive chemotherapy. I've always bee...Expand for more