Job Hunting

Just when I get my life under some sort of semblance of lesser chaos, all sorts of things like to get turned on their head.  What that means for me is back to job hunting...which is so not my favorite thing.  See I find job hunting to be tedious and boring, there are plenty of jobs in my field, its just the lather rinse repeat business of typing all my info over and over, attaching my certs over and over,

staring at jobs wondering if I actually already applied for this job or not...over and over.  To break up the tedium I have made a deal with my self.  For every job I apply to, I get to read one chapter of my book...so far I'm up to 4 applications and about 10 chapters...yeah not so good at putting down the book lol.  Anyways if anybody needs me I'll be the girl with the computer in front of her face and a book in her lap.  Happy Reading Everybody!

The Hard Part

Hi folks, this is gonna be a weird post, not directly related to reading, but this is what is going on right now.  This weekend I lost a sister in blue.  I did not know her, it was her first night on duty and she was killed by a gunshot.  Two brothers in blue who where with her were also shot and wounded and are guys who have had my back and others in Fire and Rescue on numerous occasions.  These are the gals and guys who have my back on any call I may need them, they put themselves in harms way to keep me and my team safe and this weekend they payed a grievous price to do it.  I just want to use this moment and this post to make sure I always remember that this job, this life is about all of us, that defending the weak and having your peoples backs is not just something you read about in your favorite adventure book, it is something that happens in real life.  That when people get hurt and die in books you can put it down and move on...but it happens for real too and the hurt is real.

I am uplifted by the outpouring of support from pretty much everywhere and everyone in this hard time and am glad that we can all come together to support the people most affected by yet another seemingly senseless act of violence.  I encourage everybody to hold their loved ones tight, maybe read an extra book to the littles before bedtime, thank a person in uniform for their service and then go live your life to the absolute best of your ability.  This is how you honor family, friends and strangers who are willing to go that little extra bit.  Rest easy sister and know we have it from here.
Happy Reading Everybody!

32YOF Reads EMS Book By NREMT-P

I was going to write this post like I write my patient reports...but then I remembered people might actually want to read this at some point :-)  The reason for this burst of medical creativity is I just finished reading a book called A Paramedic's Story: Life, Death and Everything in Between by Steven "Kelly" Grayson.  This book is not one that lends itself to synopsis, so I will just jump right into rambling about it.

I originally picked this book up for EMS week, and the author regularly posts on EMS1.com and I have enjoyed those.  The book is pretty much a look at the authors EMS life through quick little stories about calls he has run through out his career.  Not a whole lot I can say about the actual content other then it is exactly that, a few pages on each call he chose to wrote about.  I enjoyed reading about the calls in this Louisiana parish that the author worked in for many years.  It was interesting to see how they handle calls, what rules they have that we don't and vice versa, the resources they may or may not have, and different issues they may be concerned about. The structure was a bit rough for me.  I felt like he kept referring to events that we should know about, but had never been discussed.  A lot of times the story would just end, with no resolution to what happened, for example the last sentence in one story is how he and a Dr. were named as primary defendants in a malpractice suite...and that was it, it was never mentioned again.  I would have liked to at least know the outcome of that case as it would be a good teaching moment.  I also wanted to know more about the author personally, he would give us tantalizing tidbits, but rarely any linear cohesiveness...if that makes any sense. I also wanted just a touch more background on the stories, I was never sure where he was at for most of the calls.  My overall impression of the book is that I was intrigued, but I wanted more of everything.  In some ways I think the telling of "calls" works best in person.  Our favorite past time at the station is all gathering around, the table, the grill, the alarm room, the rigs, whatever and share stories over and over again.  This is how we pass stuff on to the new recruits, how we brag, how we bond and as well written as these calls are, it loses something in being read and not told.  I love reading the authors blog, and would love to actually meet him in person and hear his stories.  I give this book a 6 out of 10 lights and sirens.
Do you like to read books that relate to your work?  What are some of the oral vs written story issues?  Do you ever feel like trying to write down your crazy work experiances?