I bought $204 dollars of stuff at PetsMart today. $30 of it was for two calming collars for my brother's neurotic cat. The rest was dog food. I see other people similarily stocking up, taking advantage of the PetsMart Holiday sales, while their cutsie little lab mixes and cocker spaniels trot behind and the jack russells and chihuahuas pee excitedly in the shopping carts. The two giant bags of dog food they're buying will last them 6-9 months (Shoot, might last the chihuahuas a year). I'll be happy if I get two months out of the four bags I bought. FOUR 34lb bags of dog food. 136 lbs of dog food. Remus's appetite is increasing because it's getting cold outside again. We're up to 10 cups of food a day. Actually, it's midnight right now and I just put another four cups in his bowl, if he finishes it before morning it'll be 14 cups of food in less than 24 hours. I'm contemplating buying a feedbag...
I shaved him a few days ago. His "Winter Cut". i.e. I left the clippers on the longest guard and he now has uneven tufts sticking out where the blades bogged down. Not sure if it really improved his appearance too much, but he sheds a little less, his fur is softer, and he no longer looks like a shaggy poof on stick legs. Why he can't grow a decent fur coat on his legs I will never understand. He just gets these ethereal whisps that trail out from his elbows and spike down his legs like the hair of a balding man attempting to gel spike his wrap around coif. Also, the shorter hair allows for better visualization of the jingle harness, oh yeah.
YES I will get pictures of him in his harness. I'm too proud of the construction of said harness not to post a few photes, but right now my camera battery is dead.
I'm still really not liking the whole "touch screen" smart phone. It doesn't "touch" where I touch it. It's always a few milimeters off. If they're going to make the touch buttons that darn tiny they should work on calibrating the sensors. I'm tired of typing text messages half a letter to the right to get them to make any sense. Otherwise, my text messages "qiyls kiij kujw rgua" ("would look like this"). Irritating.
Funny Things Patients (or their family) say and/or do.
"I've only had two beers." HA! Tell that to your car we're attempting to peel out of a tree, or reassemble like a jig saw puzzle, or disassemble with the jaws of life....
Spouse-angrily, to me, while I'm listening to his wife's lungs. "You don't understand asthma." Really? Then why did you call me? You've got three cars in your driveway and a valid drivers license, YOU take her.
Pt's mom, "I put the cream on the rash at noon today, and he's been fussy that it burns ever since." ...it is NOW 4am and pt (toddler) is sound asleep on her shoulder, but she wants him transported...by ambulance...to the ER...for.........?
Frequent flyer pt: "I just want some pain medicine, I hurt so bad." (This is her usual complaint) she continues "can't y'all give me something?" We respond, "Ibuprofen?" she responds, "If they put me in the front I'm just gonna sign myself out." We respond, "Then why do you want to go?" She responds, "It's all those other people that go to the ER for no good reason that make the wait so long!" Ah, sweet irony.
VERY heavy lady with a sinus infection who literally can't sit up in her bed without assistance, calling all of her friends with the succinct message, "Ahhh, Diva's Down! Diva's down..."
Pt: "I think I'm having an allergic reaction to a cat." Nurse: "where was the cat, did it touch you?" Pt: "No, I saw it cross the yard. I just want to make sure I'm not having trouble breathing." ...................
"Do you have any medical problems?" "No." "Do you take any medications on a regular basis?" "Yes. Lisinopril, HCTZ, Synthroid, Zoloft, Crestor, Insulin..." (Translation: Hypertension, hypothyroidism, depression, hyperlipidemia, diabetes...)
AH, and I had forgotten about this one. Assault call where patient was in back with my partner (pt had injured knee or something) and pt's girlfriend rode up front with me and regaled me with the whole convoluted often changing story. It ended with her deciding to check into the ER herself for a bite to her toes from a vicious stripper....yup, vicious stripper toe bites.
That's all for now :)
Monday, December 19, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Post Delay
I'm trying to be more consistent posting, but I am having definite writers block. Well, not truly writers block, I have no trouble writing, but I don't wish to post something wholey uninteresting to anyone except me. So, here are some unadorned snippets-or Friffles-floating around in my head.
-Someone decorated the inside of one of the ambulances with Christmas lights. Awesome.
-The more pages I scrapbook in a row, the harder it is to make them creative. I know if I put up my scrapbooking stuff for a month or so my creative juices will have replenished. I am at war with myself between the desire to get them finished and the desire for them to look nice.
-The closer it gets to Christmas, the longer my shifts at work seem to take.
-I've already started working on my New Years Resolutions list.
-This is the 2nd week of three that Brian's been doing combatives at work. I'll be happy when they're over so he can move normally and without wincing. For once, he has more bruises from his work than I do from mine.
-I've had no "interesting calls" at work for a few months now and it's getting tedious. I can't tell if I'm getting jaded or simply having a streak of boring luck.
- I'm making a "Pros and Cons" list about moving back to VA in August to try and be cheerful about the idea. (You guessed it, the cons right now vastly out weigh the pros)
Thats all for now, hopefully something post worthy will happen within the next few days...
-Someone decorated the inside of one of the ambulances with Christmas lights. Awesome.
-The more pages I scrapbook in a row, the harder it is to make them creative. I know if I put up my scrapbooking stuff for a month or so my creative juices will have replenished. I am at war with myself between the desire to get them finished and the desire for them to look nice.
-The closer it gets to Christmas, the longer my shifts at work seem to take.
-I've already started working on my New Years Resolutions list.
-This is the 2nd week of three that Brian's been doing combatives at work. I'll be happy when they're over so he can move normally and without wincing. For once, he has more bruises from his work than I do from mine.
-I've had no "interesting calls" at work for a few months now and it's getting tedious. I can't tell if I'm getting jaded or simply having a streak of boring luck.
- I'm making a "Pros and Cons" list about moving back to VA in August to try and be cheerful about the idea. (You guessed it, the cons right now vastly out weigh the pros)
Thats all for now, hopefully something post worthy will happen within the next few days...
Friday, December 9, 2011
Mind's Eye
I've been wanting to do this for awhile and I finally found the time. Below is my "month wheel" which is how I see the calander year in my mind. I can't place the months in a timeline (thats just awkward) or even spread them out evenly. The rendition isn't perfect- it's a 3D ring, like a tube,for one thing, also August is really a gold color and the light pink for May should be brighter (it looks dirty to me in Paint) and January is silver on the edges bluring into white in the middle- but it does a pretty good job of their sizes in my head relative to each other. This is how I've seen the months for as long as I can remember, and when I plan things throughout the year I literally think of them in spatial relation to each other on this wheel. So, seriously, I always feel busier in the fall. When I was a kid I used to love how Christmas and my birthday were evenly at top and bottom of the wheel and for the longest time I thought they were six months apart simply because they bisected the wheel. Took me a bit to figure out there were six months between them on the right and only four on the left.
Oh, and I put the colors for some of the numbers on the bottom too. No idea why some colors repeat in numbers and others stand alone. 17 is the same color as October (a slightly darker blue than seven). Seven is an exhausted number, nine is arrogant and flashy, three is logical and straightforward, sometimes boring. If you put any of those numbers in a different color (especially if you switch their colors, like making 2 red and 3 yellow) I get a little confused sorting them out.
-I have no idea why April takes forever.
-Purple is one of my favorite colors but I detest the month of February.
-August and September sometime seem to occupy the same space in my mind, like I can't seperate them as two distinctive months unless I'm thinking specifically about one of them. For example, if I'm thinking about June (and thus I see the rest of the wheel out of the "corner of my eye" so to speak. I can't take the months out of the wheel) August and September are just kindof a blurry spot below July and before October.
-In my mind, November is the shortest month of the year.
If I have memories specific to a month or season, they occur in my mind in the correct place for the time frame. For instance, when I got hired at Penn State as campus police it was in June, so when I think about the hiring process or those first few jobs I did directing traffic, the hazy memories take place in the green areas of the calender, in the upper-mid right cornor of my mind. When I think about jumping into Hideaway Lake with Brian in February, that memory plays out in the mid-bottom left, where February is located. Emma happened directly Left- I think thats pretty cool.
Anyway, this is probably of no or very little interest to anyone else, but it's kinda fun to me especially since it was only a little over a year ago that I found out that the "color thing" I do was synesthesia and not something everyone else did as well.
Oh, and I put the colors for some of the numbers on the bottom too. No idea why some colors repeat in numbers and others stand alone. 17 is the same color as October (a slightly darker blue than seven). Seven is an exhausted number, nine is arrogant and flashy, three is logical and straightforward, sometimes boring. If you put any of those numbers in a different color (especially if you switch their colors, like making 2 red and 3 yellow) I get a little confused sorting them out.
-I have no idea why April takes forever.
-Purple is one of my favorite colors but I detest the month of February.
-August and September sometime seem to occupy the same space in my mind, like I can't seperate them as two distinctive months unless I'm thinking specifically about one of them. For example, if I'm thinking about June (and thus I see the rest of the wheel out of the "corner of my eye" so to speak. I can't take the months out of the wheel) August and September are just kindof a blurry spot below July and before October.
-In my mind, November is the shortest month of the year.
If I have memories specific to a month or season, they occur in my mind in the correct place for the time frame. For instance, when I got hired at Penn State as campus police it was in June, so when I think about the hiring process or those first few jobs I did directing traffic, the hazy memories take place in the green areas of the calender, in the upper-mid right cornor of my mind. When I think about jumping into Hideaway Lake with Brian in February, that memory plays out in the mid-bottom left, where February is located. Emma happened directly Left- I think thats pretty cool.
Anyway, this is probably of no or very little interest to anyone else, but it's kinda fun to me especially since it was only a little over a year ago that I found out that the "color thing" I do was synesthesia and not something everyone else did as well.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
EMS Christmas.
Sometimes I get bored on the ambulance. Even in the midst of running calls I occasionally have to cudgel my brain into focusing on the task at hand instead of meandering off on it's own. Sometimes those meanderings bear pretty interesting fruit, and lately, I've been stuck on Christmas Carols. So not only do I blow the air horn in rhythm with my favorite carols while driving lights and sirens (Jingle Bells is especially effective) I've come to making up some specifically EMS related variations to the classics relevent to the calls we receive in abundance this time of year.
"There's No Place like Psych for the Holidays
So if you're feeling stressed out or alone
A strip search, bed, and gown are all yours for free
For the holidays theres no place like Psych Zone!"
"Tis the Season for Drunk Drivers
Fala lala la, lala, la, la,
Coming home from Christmas Parties
Fala lala la la, lala, la la
Hitting curbs and trees and fences
Falala, falala, la la la
Neighbors call the ambulances
Falalalala, lala, la, la"
"Santa Baby, slip a lawyer under the tree,
for me
I've been an awful good boy
Santa baby, and hurry to the precinct tonight
Santa Baby, a get away car with rims that spin,
I'll wait up for you here, Santa Baby
so hurry to the precinct tonight.
Think of all the jobs I've missed
Think of all the people that I haven't hit
Next year I could be on parol
If you check off my Christmas List, boo doo bee doo"
I admit the lyrics are pretty horrible, but they are entertaining to think up at work. I'll post more if I come up with any additional. Any other suggestions on how to keep in the Holiday spirit at work without getting fired?
"There's No Place like Psych for the Holidays
So if you're feeling stressed out or alone
A strip search, bed, and gown are all yours for free
For the holidays theres no place like Psych Zone!"
"Tis the Season for Drunk Drivers
Fala lala la, lala, la, la,
Coming home from Christmas Parties
Fala lala la la, lala, la la
Hitting curbs and trees and fences
Falala, falala, la la la
Neighbors call the ambulances
Falalalala, lala, la, la"
"Santa Baby, slip a lawyer under the tree,
for me
I've been an awful good boy
Santa baby, and hurry to the precinct tonight
Santa Baby, a get away car with rims that spin,
I'll wait up for you here, Santa Baby
so hurry to the precinct tonight.
Think of all the jobs I've missed
Think of all the people that I haven't hit
Next year I could be on parol
If you check off my Christmas List, boo doo bee doo"
I admit the lyrics are pretty horrible, but they are entertaining to think up at work. I'll post more if I come up with any additional. Any other suggestions on how to keep in the Holiday spirit at work without getting fired?
Monday, December 5, 2011
Reverse Psychology, cornoring the grumpy market
My point for this post is that I love the magic of Christmas, but I often struggle to enjoy it due to the stress and depression that clouds this time of year. For the past few years I've taken out some of my grumpyness on Christmas music. I mean seriously, who needs to listen to "Jingle Bells" for three weeks? I still draw the line at people preparing for Christmas PRE -Thanksgiving (be thankful before greedy, people) and that includes playing Christmas music, but after Thanksgiving? Well...three weeks doesn't seem like such a long time anymore. As I was rolling into work blasting "There's No Place like Home for the Holiday's" I realized a big turn in my mood towards Christmas music is due to my work environment.
Let me fill you in on a well known EMS fact. EMS workers are GRUMPY! And boy do I mean grumpy. They rant about calls going to them and after dropping the patient off. They rant about co-workers, they rant about small paychecks, and in this season of increasing money draining stress, it seems everyone has ramped up their grumpyness several notches. At first, I sank right into the persuasive grumpy feelings, after all, I've been starting my annual grumpyness cycle in December for years. Usually I had to fight the annoying stream of holiday fervor, but here was a place where grumpyness was extolled! EMS has a good chance of cornoring the grumpy market this year, and I was happily wallowing in fellow feelings. Unfortunately, within a few days I realized how my work time grumpyness had exploded way past normal limits and was bleeding into my home life with Brian and Remus. Thats when I started listening to Christmas music on my way to work.
A little grumpyness is ok, but when it starts making me irritable and quick to anger it's time to reconsider. Being angry is such a miserable feeling, even righteous anger, for me, holds zero charm. Anger means conflict, conflict gives me a stomach ache and usually makes me want to hide under a rock. Why would I want to encourage a way of thinking that leads to perpetual anger? Yuck! Perish the thought! Since I am stuck in a grumpy environment for 12 hour shifts- more grumpyness than even seasonally depressed me knows what to do with- I've decided to be UNgrumpy especially in regards to Christmas. Cue the music! I have embraced the holiday good cheer with a vengence, amping myself up on Christmas tunes and decorating my mantel with ornament bedecked reindeer. I'm constructing a red reindeer harness for Remus complete with silver bells, and considered wearing ribbon in my hair to work just to aggravate the Grinches. It seems the cure for my sinking into winter blues is not to try and cheer me up, but rather to out miserable me.
So, bring on the mistletoe and garlands! Instead of annoying me, I now sing along to Christmas songs on my commute to and from work. I think the true reason for my mood swing may be that it is far easier to be truly thankful for Christ coming into this world when the world I'm surrounded by needs Him so badly!
That said, there are still a few Carols that necessitate changing the chanel instantly, favorites are songs like "Mary did you Know?" And other Christ focused classics (Silent Night, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, Away in a Manger...) along with the fun "Baby, it's Cold Outside", "Santa Baby" and "Let it Snow". Songs I can't stand listening to include anything by Alvin and the Chipmunks, Jingle Bell Hop (that one is just mildly irksome) and my all time, least favorite carol- with lyrics that rival Rebecca Black's "Friday" for stupidest in existence-"Do you Hear what I Hear?"
Anyone else have favorite/least favorite carols? Any other people/work environments that you think may cornor the grumpy market?
Let me fill you in on a well known EMS fact. EMS workers are GRUMPY! And boy do I mean grumpy. They rant about calls going to them and after dropping the patient off. They rant about co-workers, they rant about small paychecks, and in this season of increasing money draining stress, it seems everyone has ramped up their grumpyness several notches. At first, I sank right into the persuasive grumpy feelings, after all, I've been starting my annual grumpyness cycle in December for years. Usually I had to fight the annoying stream of holiday fervor, but here was a place where grumpyness was extolled! EMS has a good chance of cornoring the grumpy market this year, and I was happily wallowing in fellow feelings. Unfortunately, within a few days I realized how my work time grumpyness had exploded way past normal limits and was bleeding into my home life with Brian and Remus. Thats when I started listening to Christmas music on my way to work.
A little grumpyness is ok, but when it starts making me irritable and quick to anger it's time to reconsider. Being angry is such a miserable feeling, even righteous anger, for me, holds zero charm. Anger means conflict, conflict gives me a stomach ache and usually makes me want to hide under a rock. Why would I want to encourage a way of thinking that leads to perpetual anger? Yuck! Perish the thought! Since I am stuck in a grumpy environment for 12 hour shifts- more grumpyness than even seasonally depressed me knows what to do with- I've decided to be UNgrumpy especially in regards to Christmas. Cue the music! I have embraced the holiday good cheer with a vengence, amping myself up on Christmas tunes and decorating my mantel with ornament bedecked reindeer. I'm constructing a red reindeer harness for Remus complete with silver bells, and considered wearing ribbon in my hair to work just to aggravate the Grinches. It seems the cure for my sinking into winter blues is not to try and cheer me up, but rather to out miserable me.
So, bring on the mistletoe and garlands! Instead of annoying me, I now sing along to Christmas songs on my commute to and from work. I think the true reason for my mood swing may be that it is far easier to be truly thankful for Christ coming into this world when the world I'm surrounded by needs Him so badly!
That said, there are still a few Carols that necessitate changing the chanel instantly, favorites are songs like "Mary did you Know?" And other Christ focused classics (Silent Night, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, Away in a Manger...) along with the fun "Baby, it's Cold Outside", "Santa Baby" and "Let it Snow". Songs I can't stand listening to include anything by Alvin and the Chipmunks, Jingle Bell Hop (that one is just mildly irksome) and my all time, least favorite carol- with lyrics that rival Rebecca Black's "Friday" for stupidest in existence-"Do you Hear what I Hear?"
Anyone else have favorite/least favorite carols? Any other people/work environments that you think may cornor the grumpy market?
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