Friday, September 26, 2008

Tipping the scales

My 1st Aid kit keeps getting bigger. I had to break it out recently, and it seems like every time I do, I think of other stuff I could use. The recent addition of a SAM splint and a CPR mask with a one-way valve mean that the whole thing no longer fits in the gallon ziplock bag in which I keep the kit.

I'm afraid I've gone from LPN-with-a-1st-aid-kit to I'm-not-a-combat-medic-but-I-play-one-on-TV...


I added CPR masks to my personal kit, each car kit, and Miss Fluffy will have one in her purse. It hadn't occurred to me that the kits we had in our respective cars lacked a mask.

Gas shortages?


This morning, the mighty HODAR sent me a text saying the gas shortage in his area (a major NC metro area) is still pretty nasty. He made reference to people getting "violent" and he's seeing abandoned cars - presumably out of gas.

My "local" news is out of Nashville (though I don't even live in TN) and they still report on gas stations running out of gas, but I'm not seeing any of this on CNN...

It seems like most of the country isn't having this problem and/or the media is ignoring it.

This excites the "bring on the apocalypse"part of my brain...

Circadian disrythmia

Normally I work nights - mostly 11pm to 7am, but occasionally 7pm to 7am. My ER shifts run from 5pm to 3am. In order to try and stay on a somewhat consistent schedule, on nights when I don't have to work I'll go to bed around 3 or 4 in the morning and get up at 11 or noon. Generally this schedule works out because I don't have to leave for class until 1pm local time on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Clinical days, however, throw everything off.

Clinicals are from 7am to 7pm... at a hospital an hour away... in another time zone.

So, in order to be on time for 7am clinicals, I have to allow for about an hour and a half driving time. Add to that the hour of which I'm robbed because of the different time zone (clinicals are in Eastern time, I'm in Central time.)

Our instructor isn't starting tomorrow until 7:30am, so we'll have to leave here around 5am local time. Which means I'm up around 4:30.

At least I just have to stagger across the road to meet my carpool...

Heh

From an e-mail from Miss Fluffy:

Recently on television a Democratic operative pointed out that when Obama holds a rally 25-30,000 people show up, whereas when McCain holds one he only draws 10-15,000.

The Republican spokesman replied, "That's because McCain's supporters are at work."

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The difference...

... between the two candidates:

McCain said:

"I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem."


Obama said:

"It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person will be the next president.."

Translation:

McCain wants to go do some work.

Obama wants to hear himself talk.

Typical.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Lovin' it!

Highs this week won't be above the mid '80s. Today's high is 73. Windows are open. I love this time of year.


Bye, summer! Don't let the door hit you on the way out...

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Souvenir

I've cut way back on my alcohol intake, but I had to enjoy some of one of the souvenirs I brought back from our anniversary trip...

Glueball Worming

"Global warming" is real, but it's overblown and - more significantly - it's not Exxon's fault. It's not "industry's" fault.

It's our fault.

I'm sick of people whining about global warming and record "big oil" profits and doing nothing to alter their own behaviors.

I put up a clothesline a while back. My clothes dryer (one of the biggest energy consumers in the average household) might get used an hour a week.


Stop whining and do something.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Pooped

OK, I got up Wednesday morning around 11am. I trimmed shrubs, mowed the yard and did 2 loads of laundry. I tried unsuccessfully to take a 20 minute nap before going to work at 11pm. I got off work a bit after 7:30 Thursday morning.

Let me say one thing about a nurse's shift: if you're scheduled to work 11pm to 7am, you end up working from 10:53pm until 7:30am. That allows time to get report, count the narc cabinet and generally get things together, do your shift, give report and count the narcs again. 11-7 is really more of a guideline than it is a hard-and-fast indication of the time a nurse works on that shift.

But I digress.

I came home and got in bed around 8am Thursday morning. I was up again a bit after 11am to go to class. I got home around 6, ate supper and got in bed around 7:30. I was up again at 10pm to be at work for last night's 11pm to 7am shift.

I got home this morning, took a shower and hit the sheets again around 8am. I didn't get up until 4pm.

I'm still tired.

I've got an IDPA match in the morning, but I'm not sure I'll go.

On his sleeve

I made the mistake of watching Chuck Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin just now.

Oopsie. What was I thinking?

He trundled out the ol' "70% of Americans support a ban on military-style assault weapons" mantra in a clumsy attempt to skewer her gun-rights stance.

Here's a clue, Chucky. 70% of Americans support that ban because media talking-heads like you consistently mislead them about the rate at which they're used in crime (here's a hint - they rarely are.)

What a jerk. That's an hour of my life I'll never get back. The "interview" was little more than Chucky making his views on hot-button issues known through carefully worded suggestions ... er, questions.

Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly required.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Anniversary trip!

Miss Fluffy and I took a little trip over the weekend to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We decided we wanted to see and do some of the things there are to see and do here in KY.

We started with Abraham Lincoln's birthplace:



Then on to the Maker's Mark distillery:




The next day, we went to the Jim Beam distillery:




and finished up at the capitol:





Each tour was free, so we only had to shell out for food, lodging, gas and souvenirs. Not bad, considering our meager budget... and we had a great time.

Friday, September 05, 2008

Convinced

OK, I've tried to be open minded. I've listened to enough speeches in the last two weeks to make even a Political Science major like me get sick of politics all together.

Frankly, I'm even more concerned about the Obama cult of personality than ever before. Now, I say that a solid week after listening to his speech, which was one of the best speeches I've ever heard, hands down.

That's the problem, though ... he gives great speeches -- and that's about it.

He's presenting himself as non-partisan ... an apolitical healer of a divided country's wounds, but how can anybody believe that after even a cursory examination of his record?

I'm totally sold on Palin. She's all American, as far as I'm concerned ... clear down to her pregnant teenage daughter. She's gone from working on her husband's fishing boat to working as a sportscaster (with totally 80s hair, I might add,) to the PTA to mayor to Governor.

For God's sake, Mrs. Palin ... run for President in 2012.

When it comes to McCain, I figure I've got a choice ... I can choose the Harvard Law community organizer from Chicago, or the near-bottom-of-his-class fighter pilot POW war hero from the desert Southwest.

I'm going with the war hero.

Yeah, if he's elected, there will be flaming on this blog about his support for (or, at the very least, lack of opposition to) gun control, and I still believe the McCain/Feingold act is downright unconstitutional. But I don't ... and can't ... expect to agree with everything he says.

For now, though, hopefully it's...



(Image from here via Tam.)