Is it Spring-Time yet???

OK...Willard Scott...can you take a breather and send some warm weather up to the Northeast please??? I know...I know...how can I bitch? This could be Colorado, that gets 300 feet of snow every December. But this is MASSACHUSETTS!!! How often do we ever see a White Christmas (and I'm not talking about going to the Wang to watch the Musical!)??? Let's take a break already! One of the ONLY things I miss about living on Cape Cod, where I was born and raised, is that no matter how much snow a storm would dump on you...2 days later, it would rain like a bitch, be 45 degrees, and you'd be back to bare ground. Most times, the snow never even got the chance to get all dirty! Oh well...

Where the hell was TIVO when I was a kid? Technology is, for the most part, a great thing. But couldn't some of today's technology been around 25 years ago??? Remember that stupid show, The Greatest American Hero? I missed the very first episode, so I never got to see how he actually came into possession of that ugly red suit, or how he lost the directions to show him how to fly straight. If I had had TIVO, I would have been able to come home from school, and zone out on the couch and see the most important episode! Hell, never mind TIVO, now I can log onto Fox.com and watch old episodes of 24 and Rescue Me! I, we, were cheated. But...how can I really complain? On a Sunday afternoon, while the Boys are watching Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go, my DVR is taping the Patriots game for me, so that I can park my fat ass on the couch at 8pm when they go to bed, and enjoy the game...sans-commercials! Of course, the hardest part of that plan is keeping my friends from txt-ing or calling me to ask me if I saw the play that Brady or Moss or Welker just made! So far, I've been successful at not having a game "spoiled" for me. This weekend will bring on the next challenge, as the game is at 4:15, and I won't really be able to watch it until 8. Wish me luck.

Wanna help me fix my fish tank? I have a freshwater fish tank, and I tend to kill off most of my fish. I still have 5 very hearty fish. But I've lost probably 10 fish over the course of the last 2 months, since I set the tank up. Ammonia is my problem. Well, ammonia is my fish tank's problem. I myself have many other problems. hehehe

Let's get back to football for a minute. I watched a good portion of the Steelers/Rams game tonight. The Steelers won, although if not for an interception returned for a touchdown, it would not have been by such a large margin. But...in the process...they lost they're running back, Willie Parker, with a broken leg (he's screwed...he's out for the rest of their season/playoffs). Don't get me wrong...Davenport had a hell of a game in the place of Parker...but he's no Willie Parker. He was running against the Rams. The Steelers still aren't in the Playoffs yet, but if they do make it, I think this running back issue could become a big problem for them. Oh, by the way...Roethlisberger ended the game limping, and having his ankle being wrapped up. Good thing he got hurt on a Thursday night, so that he has 10 days to rest that ankle.

Speaking of lead poisoning...does it make me a bad Dad because I have not gone through my house and thrown out every possible toy that has the label "Made in China"??? Just wondering. I'm not one to jump on a lot of bandwagons, and this is one that I have not leapt for. Yes, I have looked at the list of toys online, and have come up with none that we have here...but some people are going to the extreme...and throwing out any toy that they didn't carve out of a branch themselves, or whatever. :-)

Nighty night all. Stay safe.

I'm tired...

You know? I've been a Paramedic for over 14 years. I've fully enjoyed my job/profession/career. I really have. There are great calls...the 80 year old woman who can't breathe because her lungs are full of her own fluid, and we give her Oxygen and drugs and by the time we get her to the Hospital, she is speaking full sentences, and is pretty much "fixed". And there are not-so-great calls, such as a 14-year old being hit by a car travelling 30mph, and though EVERYONE does everything possible, they don't survive. And then, of course, there's the 20 year old heroin addict, who we arrive on scene to find not breathing, due to an overdose. Yes, I carry the drug to instantly reverse your "Overdose", and make you breathe, and live, again. So that you can do this again tomorrow/next week/next month. And don't forget the drunk at 2am, who plows into another car, injuring innocent people, who vomits all over my nice, clean pants, while I'm caring for him.

Honestly? I do enjoy my job. I just think that I'm hating working for a "Private Ambulance Company". Let's see what the heck I'm talking about...

As a Paramedic working on an ambulance, there's a couple of different avenues that you can pursue. You can work for a Municipal Service, where you work for a Town/City/County, you are publically employed, and you pretty much are locked into your job, either by a Union, or other entities. Then you could work for a "Hospital-Based" system, where you work for a Hospital, and respond locally to Towns that do now have their own ALS (Advanced Life Support) system in place, so they contract the Hospital to provide Paramedics to their citizens. Then, you have "Private EMS"...or a Privately owned ambulance company, who provides EMS services for Towns and Cities, and also provides transport between Hospitals, and other Healthcare Facilities.

Working for a "Private"...you are basically an "at-will" employee. If you show up without your name-tag on, you could be fired, on the spot. If you forget your boots at home, and are forced to wear the shoes that you are wearing, you could be fired, on the spot. If you do not treat EVERY other care-working with the utmost respect and nicety (even in the face of being chastised by Nurses and Doctors, or even, heaven forbid, being referred to as an "Ambulance Driver", you could be fired, on the spot. You are truly an "At-Will" employee. If you upset a Nurse at a Hospital, you could lose your job. You could be the worst Paramedic in the world, but when Nurse Ratchet calls your Company because you were not cordial to her...BAM! You're fired!

I'm done with that. I really am. I have grown to hate the world of Private EMS. It's not my job that I dislike...it's all the BULLSHIT that comes with it!

Which is most likely why I'm now in Nursing School (that and the fact that I'll be able to make almost DOUBLE as a Nurse than I make now as a 14-year Paramedic!). And...no, money isn't everything...but providing for your family is. So you do what you have to do.

OK...I'm done babbling. What point did I actually make? I have no idea. I just know that I really don't enjoy my job right now. And I'm working hard at changing that.

Stay safe, everyone. :-)

Early Wednesday Morning

Good morning! I'm not sure why I'm still awake at 1:00am, writing this, but I guess the reason is not important!

So let's start with the Patriots. They beat the Mangina and the Jets last weekend, in a cold and rainy game. My Fantasy Football Team is so ridiculously stacked with Patriots players (including Moss, Welker, Gafney, Gastkowski, and the Patriots Defense), that I didn't score as many points last week as normal, as it was not a very good "passing" game. But I still won, and this weekend, when the Patriots play the Dolphins (who now are RELIEVED to not go 0-16), is the SuperBowl of my Fantasy Football League...and I've never made it to the SuperBowl before, so let's hope! :-) They're calling for rain on Sunday afternoon, but it's supposed to be almost 50 degrees out...so I predict that Brady will at least tie, if not beat, Manning's TD record, and Moss will grind closer to the record TD passes caught in a season. Oh...and this is for Don Shula...after the Dolphins won a game last weekend, and you got to go home, pop a Viagra, and jerk off in celebration...put your asterisk away...and watch your undefeated record go down. Of course... that's just my $.02.

So I, at 37 years old, just finished my first College Course! I "Clep"ed out of English Comp 1, and this past semester I took English Comp 2, online. I finished with a 4.0, so I'm bragging that I have a 4.0 College Average! hahaha. So...why am I in college? Honestly? Because I'm starting to get tired of being a Paramedic. Actually, I think I'm getting tired of working for a PRIVATE EMS Provider. I'm tired of the BS that goes along with working for a "Private", and I'm trying to expand my horizons. So I'm going to Nursing School. If I'm already jaded as a Paramedic, I might as well be jaded as a Nurse! hehehe

Anyway...I don't have any good stories to share tonight (or at least none that come right to my mind), but it's now 1:45am, and instead of going to bed, I just happened across one of my all-time favorite movies, "Smokey and the Bandit" on tv...so I'm going to go get all "Red-Neck", and watch it. I'll post again soon.