More stuff

A second post in a night, but mainly because I'm still quite irritated about the whole dispatcher thing the end of last week, and if I end on that note, I'll be too irritated to sleep well tonight.

Friday my partner and I picked up an hour of OT before our shift started. We were told it was a standby for a PSA against smoking. We figured we'd sit around for a few hours, listening to the radio and reading or whatever.

We were wrong. It was for a video against smoking, and my partner and I were playing EMT's. Three hours of pulling the cot in and out of the ambo, picking up a 250 lbs guy on the cot (about 7 times), and then putting him back in the ambo. In the rain. All in all, it wasn't bad, and it was an hour of OT.

This week I think I only got out of work on time once. Thankfully it was a Thursday (Thursday's are practice days). I'm a firm believer in OT, but it was a bit ridiculous. Then again, I probably won't think so when I get my paycheck on Friday. Which, I might add, is now on direct deposit, which means that my bank SHOULD be giving me an extra $75 for it. I'm not complaining.

I really like my partner, aside from his total inability to pay attention to the GPS, or my directions. His sense of direction is suspect, but he's a good guy. We agree on a lot of things. This week, while listening to news radio (around here, you live by 'Traffic on the 8's' on the local news network starting around 2pm) we heard the story about the couple who spied for Cuba for 30 years. My partner's repsonse? 'Fuck 'em! That's treason, and they should be killed for it!"

I do like the job, really I do. I like the patients, and talking to them, and learning about them and their life (well, at least the one's who can talk). I get infuriated at the often uncaring nurses and doctors that the patients and their families have to deal with, and I help when I can. But the stupidity on other levels of this job drives me up the wall. Such as being sent 50 miles out of town during rush hour an hour before we are to get off shift, and having the dispatcher say "ok" when we tell her that traffic will prevent us from getting out there in less than 2 hours. On our way, we are asked if we have a pulse ox (we don't...they are too expensive to waste on BLS units, so only the ALS have them due to the LifePack 12's). She gets back to us just as we get off the highway, to tell us that we are cancelled from the call, due to the fact that the patient 'requires a pulse ox, and that's an ALS skill." Insert massive eyeroll here. And here we have another reason why I like my partner...he shares my distain for the medical community's insistance that the pulse ox is required and valid no matter what. At any rate, we swung by an ice cream parlor before heading back, since it would be another hour back to base. Without traffic.

I do enjoy it, but I miss emergency calls. Waiting around all day in a truck, waiting to shuttle patients from one place to another is boring. I like the patients, but it's really not enough. I wouldn't mind doing this job as a second, part-time job, but to do it full-time, all the time...nah. I just don't have that temperment. I find myself repeating the mantra "just till August, just till August." Luckily, given that I have a lot to do between now and August, and that I have a 2 week vacation coming up in late July, early August, the time should pass very quickly. And I've joined up with a fire station near the house, so that might quell the boredom a bit.

I still have to talk to the bank about a loan for school, and pay my bill. I have to register for my classes and buy my books. I also have to get things made and fixed for my vacation.

I really would like to take Krav Maga. Right now I just don't have the time, and when I'm in school I won't have the money.

I got invited to take the Phase 1 test for the FBI. Gotta take PTO for it, but I might be able to make it up with some OT on the weekend. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I'm pretty sure that the process takes a long time, so school will likely be finished anyway. Although, given the current state of affairs at the DOJ, I'm not sure that it's something that I really want right now.

Random thoughts on a Sunday night...