So I've had Jay G's writings from over at Stuck In Massachusetts on my blogroll for some time, yesterday he put up a post with a link announcing the addition of New Life Changes to his blogroll and brotha has jacked my sitemeter up!
I've recently added a couple of blogs to my list 'o daily reads as well. They are:
The Angy Pharmacist, cuz seriously, I love angry, snarky people.
Trauma Queen- its fun to read about my colleagues across the pond.
And, Cranky Prof, cuz she's a riot and I like her disclaimer "Parental Advisory, I say fuck a lot"
So, go forth and read them my children, they're pretty cool
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Oh how I love to fly.
I'm sorry that blogging has been light lately. I managed to get a few days off from my new job to fly home for Christmas to be with my family.
I love Priceline.com I always find cheap flights and travel packages there and once again they pulled through and got me home for the holidays at a reasonable price. My plane was supposed to depart from Pittsburgh at 0945 on Monday the 24th, assuming that holiday travel would mean more time at the airport I left early and arrived at the airport at about 7am. I forget that the Pittsburgh airport is so smooth to get through. I arrived at my gate with plenty of time to spare at 0730.
I nodded off for a bit because i was tired and not feeling to well. My fellow travelers arrive at the gate and take a seat, well at 0930 we still have not been called to board the plane. At 0945 just about every passenger stood up and walked to the desk to ask what was going on and we were then informed, individually, that the flight would be delayed. Frankly we were all quite miffed that the airline failed to inform us sooner that the flight had been delayed. Thankfully we were up and in the air by 1030 and on the way to Cleveland where I would catch my connection to Portland, Maine. Unfortunately because of the delay I landed in Cleveland just as they were announcing the final boarding call for my flight to Portland and I reached the gate just as the play was taxiing away from the gate.
I was less than thrilled. So after making my way to the customer service counter I learned that the next flight from Cleveland to Portland Maine would be leaving the next day at noon. This was simply *not* acceptable. I wound up catching a flight instead to Manchester, New Hampshire that required me to sit in the airport in Cleveland for three hours. Thankfully my wonderful cousin Nick was able to come pick me up in Manchester instead of Portland and I was able to make it to my grandfather's house in time to have dinner and see the whole family by 2000 hours.
I never told my parents that I was traveling home for Christmas. So, when Nick and I arrived at my grandfather's house he got out of the car and went inside and I waited in the car for a minute and put my stuff away in my suitcase and I made my way to the house. Once I got into the basement garage I called the house and asked for my Mom. We chit-chatted for a few minutes and then I started walking up the stairs. I saw her walking away from where I was and as we were chatting I said to her "Hey Mom, turn around" she turned and saw me standing there and started crying and gave me a hug. My holiday just went uphill from there.
I've only been gone for a few weeks but it was great seeing everyone. My 18 month old nephew, more commonly known as The Cutest Baby EVER has grown up so much in the past few weeks, he's walking smoother he's talking up a storm- he's still babbling in baby talk a bit but if you pay attention he actually makes sense some time. He mimics everything we do. While my dad was remodeling the bathroom a couple months ago he would sit outside the bathroom and watch Grampa work and he thought that the power drill (with the drill bit removed of course) was just the coolest thing ever so my folks bought him a toy power drill just like the one Grampa uses and my sister reports that since he opened it he hasn't put it down and when he doesn't have his finger on the button to make it make noise he's making the drill noise himself.
I could fill an entire blog with entries about my nephew and some day in the near future I will post the story of his birth along with some photos providing my sister gives the okay for it.
Anyhow, this is the end of day three of my four day visit and it is just too short. I head back to the big city tomorrow evening- I land in Pittsburgh at midnight and I have to be at work at 0600. I think I'm just going to drive straight to work and crash on the couch.
I love Priceline.com I always find cheap flights and travel packages there and once again they pulled through and got me home for the holidays at a reasonable price. My plane was supposed to depart from Pittsburgh at 0945 on Monday the 24th, assuming that holiday travel would mean more time at the airport I left early and arrived at the airport at about 7am. I forget that the Pittsburgh airport is so smooth to get through. I arrived at my gate with plenty of time to spare at 0730.
I nodded off for a bit because i was tired and not feeling to well. My fellow travelers arrive at the gate and take a seat, well at 0930 we still have not been called to board the plane. At 0945 just about every passenger stood up and walked to the desk to ask what was going on and we were then informed, individually, that the flight would be delayed. Frankly we were all quite miffed that the airline failed to inform us sooner that the flight had been delayed. Thankfully we were up and in the air by 1030 and on the way to Cleveland where I would catch my connection to Portland, Maine. Unfortunately because of the delay I landed in Cleveland just as they were announcing the final boarding call for my flight to Portland and I reached the gate just as the play was taxiing away from the gate.
I was less than thrilled. So after making my way to the customer service counter I learned that the next flight from Cleveland to Portland Maine would be leaving the next day at noon. This was simply *not* acceptable. I wound up catching a flight instead to Manchester, New Hampshire that required me to sit in the airport in Cleveland for three hours. Thankfully my wonderful cousin Nick was able to come pick me up in Manchester instead of Portland and I was able to make it to my grandfather's house in time to have dinner and see the whole family by 2000 hours.
I never told my parents that I was traveling home for Christmas. So, when Nick and I arrived at my grandfather's house he got out of the car and went inside and I waited in the car for a minute and put my stuff away in my suitcase and I made my way to the house. Once I got into the basement garage I called the house and asked for my Mom. We chit-chatted for a few minutes and then I started walking up the stairs. I saw her walking away from where I was and as we were chatting I said to her "Hey Mom, turn around" she turned and saw me standing there and started crying and gave me a hug. My holiday just went uphill from there.
I've only been gone for a few weeks but it was great seeing everyone. My 18 month old nephew, more commonly known as The Cutest Baby EVER has grown up so much in the past few weeks, he's walking smoother he's talking up a storm- he's still babbling in baby talk a bit but if you pay attention he actually makes sense some time. He mimics everything we do. While my dad was remodeling the bathroom a couple months ago he would sit outside the bathroom and watch Grampa work and he thought that the power drill (with the drill bit removed of course) was just the coolest thing ever so my folks bought him a toy power drill just like the one Grampa uses and my sister reports that since he opened it he hasn't put it down and when he doesn't have his finger on the button to make it make noise he's making the drill noise himself.
I could fill an entire blog with entries about my nephew and some day in the near future I will post the story of his birth along with some photos providing my sister gives the okay for it.
Anyhow, this is the end of day three of my four day visit and it is just too short. I head back to the big city tomorrow evening- I land in Pittsburgh at midnight and I have to be at work at 0600. I think I'm just going to drive straight to work and crash on the couch.
Monday, December 24, 2007
That time of year...
December twenty fourth, nine p.m. eastern standard time. From here on in I shoot without a script.......
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Updated & Rearranged blog
Recent posts that were put up and previously authored have been edited so that their entry dates reflect the date they were authored.
I've been addicted to my SiteMeter- it is quite a nifty tool. It turns out that I have a few regular readers and I'd like to ask them to come forward and say hello. SiteMeter doesn't tell me *exactly* where they are but it gives me the home of their ISP so, I would like my readers in the following locales to drop me an email and just tell me a little about themselves or how they found my blog. So if you live in or near the following cities, please say hi.
Shawnee, Kansas
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Murraysville, Pennsylvania
Leesburg, Virginia
Any and & all places in Maine
email me at medicmatthew (at) gmail (dot) com
Thanks!
I've been addicted to my SiteMeter- it is quite a nifty tool. It turns out that I have a few regular readers and I'd like to ask them to come forward and say hello. SiteMeter doesn't tell me *exactly* where they are but it gives me the home of their ISP so, I would like my readers in the following locales to drop me an email and just tell me a little about themselves or how they found my blog. So if you live in or near the following cities, please say hi.
Shawnee, Kansas
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Murraysville, Pennsylvania
Leesburg, Virginia
Any and & all places in Maine
email me at medicmatthew (at) gmail (dot) com
Thanks!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
EMS Geekery
This was just sent to me by my best friend back in Maine. Ryan's a FireFighter/Paramedic so naturally he thinks the second video is great.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Apologies
My apologies for not updating this over the last couple of weeks. Thanks to the speed at which Verizon works it has taken a while for me to get Internet access at my new apartment. Thank goodness my DSL modem arrived and I'm back online- I was on the verge of withdrawl, it was getting pretty rough.
Anyhow, I'm back online and regular posting should resume. I've got a few posts already written and they'll be put up soon, I just don't want to drop them all on here at once.
Anyhow, I'm back online and regular posting should resume. I've got a few posts already written and they'll be put up soon, I just don't want to drop them all on here at once.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Blood Pressure
For the last few days I've been feeling a bit crappy. Everyone here smokes, in the garage no less, and thats where everyone congregates when we're not on calls or taking care of things around the base. I would walk up to my second floor apartment and feel winded, or I would be doing something physical and get tired and so I blamed it on the second hand smoke at work. But the other day I stood up from a squatted position after working on something and I felt lightheaded and faint so Just for kicks I got in the ambulance and grabbed the BP cuff on the LifePak and checked my pressure. I didn't believe it so I had one of my coworkers check it and he got the same results, then I checked it again a few times over the course of the day. I have been on blood pressure medications for nine years, after not feeling right one day I had a friend check it and my BP was 222/110, since then I've been on medication to control it without a whole lot of success.
I have moved back to the city I love, I have a great apartment and a new job with absolutely no stress whatsoever. My blood pressure is 112/53. I am sleeping better. I wake up with my alarm feeling refreshed. I'm happy, it's some crazy shit. I could get used to this.
I have moved back to the city I love, I have a great apartment and a new job with absolutely no stress whatsoever. My blood pressure is 112/53. I am sleeping better. I wake up with my alarm feeling refreshed. I'm happy, it's some crazy shit. I could get used to this.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
First Day of Work
Today was my first day at my new job and of course as with any new job I was a bit apprehensive when I went in. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. I walked in to meet one of the guys going on shift with me sitting in the garage reading the news paper, we sat and bullshitted for a bit then the other medic on my unit came in and we bullshitted some more. My day was a routine of paperwork, boring training videos and more paperwork broken up by hanging out in the base joking around and ribbing on each other. It seems like there's a really good group of people that work there and they all joke around with each other and they all watch out for each other. I think this is going to be a really good place to work. We only went out on one call and the approach they take is different from mine, but I'm sure I'll settle in to a routine. I'm back tomorrow at 0600 for another 12 hours!
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