What with all the hefty stuff I’ve been posting about lately, I figured I should probably post something to prove that I actually have fun once in a while!
Myself, Jason and Phil checked out the monthly Geva Comedy Improv last night. They’re a local comedy troupe that does whose-line-is-it-anyway type improv at our local theater. We had a great time, and they even used one of Jason’s suggestions for a skit: in response to a request for “a place so small it’s not on any map”, Jason blurted out: My Bathroom! And they went with it! The ensuing 10 minutes were filled with a larger-than-life wedding-ring-retrieving expedition through the plumbing of Jason’s lavatory, complete with an encounter with the rare but surprisingly confrontational toilet gnomes!
After the improv let out, we cruised around town a bit looking for an open sushi bar – but no such place was to be found at 1:30 on a Saturday morning. We ended up landing at Monty’s Krown, where we endured a few minutes of detroit punk before finishing our drinks and heading for home – where the bottle of Four Chimneys 2004 Gemeinschaft wine we started earlier in the evening was waiting for us!
Today, it was 50° outside, clear, and sunny. I couldn’t not spend at least part of the day enjoying that weather – which is unusual but not at all surprising for January in Rochester. I ended up heading over to Powder Mills Park – which isn’t even far enough from the house for the car to warm up – and going caching:
I got a good hike in, took some photographs, and got all that winter dust cleared out of my system… Maybe the next time we have a freakishly warm day in the middle of the winter, I’ll get up early enough to drag a few geocaching-geek friends along with me, too!
Our overnight shifts at the ambulance base last eleven hours – spanning from 6PM until 5AM. Most weeks we enjoy a quiet dinner, watch some TV, and get to sleep through the night. If we’re feeling enthusiastic, we pick a piece of equipment for an hour or two of training. If there are trainees on, we might run a mock call. And sometimes, we get a real call or two to keep us on our toes. Sometimes, you can see a lot in eleven hours.
While it’s rare to have a three-call or four-call night, it’s not unusual for our agency to do two-call nights pretty regularly. Last night was one of them – and it was the ambulance shift equivalent of a seven-ten split.
The first call dropped before we even finished checking the ambulance. Just a block away from the base, an adult diabetic was unconscious and needed sugar. I always go to these kinds of calls with high hopes, since they’re usually easy: stick the finger, push some dextrose and wait for the patient to wake up. In short order, an advanced tech arrived to start the IV and administer the sugar, and within a half-hour the patient was awake and talking to us.
It wasn’t until 4AM that our second call for the night came in: A rollover motor vehicle accident with a person trapped. Since my partners were riding from home, I grabbed our first-reponse truck and headed out. They would arrive to pick up the ambulance a few minutes later, and meet me at the scene. Unfortunately for our patient, the ambulance wasn’t necessary for this call.
Just as quickly as a diabetic’s sugar can bottom out, and just as quickly as she can be revived with an IV and a tube of gooey sugar, a life can end amidst tumbling steel and the sound of scraping pavement. The victim of our car crash had been crushed under his SUV, and we pronounced him dead at the scene.
Sometimes, we EMS guys and girls get to do wonderful things. We deliver babies, we revive diabetics, we patch ouches and bring comfort to scary situations. Other times, we get to witness miracles, and feel God working through our hands. We shout “clear!”, drop a shock, watch the cardiac monitor and witness the first weak heartbeats of a life’s second chance. Still other times, we’re present for the worst of things. We’re the ones who crawl under the wreckage, search silently for a pulse, and emerge to peel off our gloves and radio to cancel our fellow responders.
Every job, every vocation, every hobby and every past time has its ups and downs. Through good times and bad, we pursue our passions and we dedicate our lives to the achievement of that which we value. While the things we do will always have their up- and down-times, those passions are part of what gives our lives meaning. They’re part of our purpose, so I say celebrate the spectrum – the bitter and the sweet and all the times in-between – and I sit tonight in silent thanks for all the beautiful and terrible times I’ve had and shared.
When you’re programming very small computers (a peculiar but lucrative pasttime of mine) it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on your stack. That’s the little chunk of memory you set aside to save assorted bits of information that need to be saved at certain times. If you (or your poorly-designed program) try to stick too much stuff onto the stack, then it “overflows” out into the big scary world of unprotected memory, and – congrats – you now have a runaway zombie of a very small computer.
When it comes to remembering things to write about on this blog, my chunk of “stack” memory upstairs is pretty small. So I know that since I last plopped anything on here, well before Christmas, I’ve thought of lots of neat things to write about.
I just can’t remember any of them.
So, here’s a quick synopsis of the intervening weeks:
Our wedding plans are coming along great. We’ve got the pastor, the chapel, the reception place, the limos, the photographer, the dress, the hotel bookings, the cake and the rehearsal dinner all lined up. The tuxes and the bridesmaids’ dresses are in progress, and the music – well, we’re workin’ on that..
I’m pretty much moved into the new house. The office is up and running (though my wireless router is still being recalcitrant) and I once again have access to all of my clothes, hygeine supples, cooking utensils and gadgets. Decorating? We’re workin’ on that too..
Phoenix the Intrigue is still hanging on. She hasn’t spat her tranny out yet, nor have I managed to wrap her around a tree thanks to the non-functioning ABS and traction control systems. She spent a day at the mechanic’s in December, since I finally got tired of not having any heat. $110 and a new thermostat later, I can ride to and from work in toasty warm comfort..
I keep hearing from friends. It must be that they want to keep in touch. I know I do, but for some reason I’m never the one to make the first move. In the last week or three, I’ve heard from Brett, Jer & Billie, Andy, Andy, Pauley and Dem. Wow. I didn’t realize they all have web sites.
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