Boo Ya!

Right on, yes, sweet, awesome, life is good!

I found out today that I got my practicum site at Strathcona County in Sherwood Park. They chose 4 of us from the 18 med students to go there. They are widely regarded as one of the best departments in Alberta and getting by practicum there is a big step in getting a job down the road, should that be the best option for me and Mrs. B. It also can't hurt my chances for any other department. Could be a great reference.

Also, I am officially a licensed Emergency Medical Responder. Next up with be the EMT, which won't be official until I write the provincial exam in February. EMR is only somewhat more qualified than a first-aider, but it's all about baby steps.

Yesterday I sat down on the couch at about 10:30 am. 11+ hours later i got up, having watched about 7 football games, including the riders incredible comeback. Good news it was a great day of watching sports and the riders won, bad news is I did not get much homework done and I lost my opening week of fantasy football. I blame the loss on Carson Palmer and is measly 99 yards passing and Willis McGahee who did not tell me he wasn't playing. A-hole.

I rocked my scenario today when I was incident command at a single story structure fire. I managed 9 firefighters, and had EMS in to save two victims, and managed not to get yelled at. Sure, I gave instructions to ventilate a little early, but I feel the fire was under control.

Tomorrow I get a free lunch.

I get to see the wife in 4 more day.

Life is good everyone... Life. Is. Good.

Stuck in the middle

Last night it came to my realization again that somehow I just haven't been able to find my crowd here at school. I feel i am liked, and I enjoy the company of many of my classmates, but I really don't fit in great with any of the main groups. Let me break it down for you.

The way I see it there are about 4 groups of people here at school. The first two I don't have much to do with, the second two I really feel is where I am stuck in the middle.

1) "The Youngsters" - these guys are decent enough, but they are about 8 years my junior. Some of them might be just like me when they are 26 but right now we just don't have much in common.
2) "The Always Go Homes" - there is the group that goes home every weekend. They might be good people but they are never around on the weekend to get to know. They don't seem very interested in hanging with the group.
3) "The Friendly musicians" - these folks are my kind of people...almost. They are super nice, great to visit with, down to earth, and I consider them friends. They really are the kind of people you want to know, the kind of people that make the world a better place. However there is one major problem... our interested are not the same at all. These folks regularity get together on the weekends to "JAM". They are really quite good, I have listened to them often. But it's no secret that I don't do music. I don't know why exactly, but it just doesn't "speak to me" if that makes sense. But that is only half the problem... they don't like sports - ANARCHY, ANARCHY! Not only do they not take an interested in any sporting event, they don't even have TV- NO TV I TELL YOU. No talk about sportscentre, the football game, or ever non related sports shows such as Lost, Heroes, or the Office. Sometimes they try, they will ask me about the riders or the blue jays - but I know they are just amusing me, they don't really care, and they certainly don't care about watching any games. I do think that many of you readers of this blog would like these folks. In fact if some of you were around then it would make the whole thing more comfortable, there could be some music combined with some current events talk. When hanging out with these folks there is way to much just sitting and listening got music that I can't understand and don't care much about, no matter how good they are. And I think they are pretty good.
4) “The Drunken Sports Fans” - This is the other main group that I spend much of my time with. Interestingly enough, the drunken sports fans do not do much hanging with the friendly musicians. Now, at first glance you might ask - what's not to like about a drunken sports fan??? Well the problem is “drunken” comes before “sports fan.” You know those drunken fools at sporting events that are so drunk you know they can't even see the play, and their is no way they will remember the game. All though sports fans most of these guys are still more interested in drinking then they are the game. You get the feeling that to them sports is more off an excuse to drink than a reason to have a drink. I like hanging with these guys but I also am past the days that I need to get wasted on a Tuesday night, and I don’t really enjoy going to the clubs anymore either. What about a good pub fellas??

But in the end it doesn’t matter, I just hope that when I get hired somewhere I fit in with everyone a little bit more.

I'm not quitting you!

Fuck it, I am not quitting. I like this blog and no matter how pathetic it might be I see no reason to shut it down. I only have two months left of school and once unemployed I will be looking for things to do.

I do not however have much to say. But here are a few things I am excited about:
- NFL football starting tomorrow. F-ya. Go Vikings and go Practice Roster (my fantasy football team)
- JAM's babies ** please note that these items are in no particular order. I do not think football is more important than babies... Hockey yes, football no. :)
- that I only have 8 weeks of school left. Can't wait to get done and get a job.
- that I soon will get to use some of the stuff I have learned.
- I did the fire fit for the last time here at school. It is the worst 2.5 minutes I have ever experienced by far. Total and utter pain like I have never felt. Here again, I mean no disrespect to babies and deliveries
- in 9 days I will get to see my wife... and my new niece who arrived last Saturday courtesy my only sister in law.
- all the TV shows are starting again soon.
- that I still have a blog.
- the leafs traded Brian McCabe. aka. over paid bum.
- that the riders play Winnipeg again this week. haha. They suck. Go riders.

Is it time to pull the plug?

I am wondering if it is time to shut down this blog of mine. It has been fun, but in the past few months I just haven't been very inspired to write and every time I turn on my computer I feel guilty for not posting. I would just leave it dormant, but somehow I hate to leave my inner most thoughts just sitting on the world wide web.

I am sure there will be a overwhelming repose to tell me not to quit, but come on, admit it, I really have been doing a piss poor job. Plus the only things I have to blog about seems to be firefighting, the odd sporting event, and maybe an occasional rant.

All is good

Hi all, i was just thinking that any of you who check my blog might see my last post and think that I am still miserable.

So just to let you know I am good. Some things still piss me off, but some things have changed. I have cooled down.

Anywho, changing the subject. This weekend is the Brizzy's wedding in which I will be best man/MC. Should be lost of fun. Hope to see you all during my week of starting August 9th.

Take care out there.

How good have the Riders been?!?! Hope we can keep it going in spite of all in injuries.

No Discipline

I am pretty pissed off at my fellow class mates today. It isn’t just one thing, but a number of things that have really got me going. It had been building for a while, and I think I need to vent a little.

It all stems around the fact that I am highly disappointed in the discipline our class is showing as a group. I blame the administration of the school somewhat, and I will touch on that in a bit, but my fellow classmates are starting to let me down.

Not showing up for gym in the mornings…giving a half ass effort at gym… not showing up for class because of whatever reason… lying about assignments being handed in…blaming the teachers for the program for all their problems… complaining… complaining… and more complaining.

Diving a bit more into these; on Friday we have 1/3 of our class missing from gym class. Yep, only 20 of 30 people showed up. One individual also missed gym on Thursday and Monday. That just isn’t good enough to me. On Thursday our fitness instructor didn’t show because he slept in…it happens, but many students, rather than stay and do the 20k bike like we knew we were supposed to, just went home…I just expected more form people. Or there is our test today, several people didn’t study, but when they do poorly they blame the school. Or they did fine and brag about not studying and passing…well way to sneak by champ! One person in out class regularly misses Friday’s and Monday’s and I really don’t see any fallout of this…what message does that send to the rest of us.

I may sound like a bit of a hypocrite about the complaining piece, seeing as this blog is one hug complaint, but people seem to focus so much on the negative it is getting to me. Be happy about the fact that you are here; you could be doing something much, much worse.

As for the administration, I am disappointed at the discipline tactics they use…when I came into this program I was told it was going to be para-military, and I expected to have a bit of a rough go…HA! No freaking way. Did you know that our instructors are not allowed to make us do more than 10 pushups at a time…this is a OH&S guideline. This obviously doesn’t include gym class, but what a joke. I thought I would be doing pushups every time I was late, every time I misspoke or screwed something up. One person in our class missed last Friday because they were to hung-over to come, on Monday the instructor told her that he wasn’t mad, he was more feeling bad for her because he knew how bad she must have felt… FUCK OFF! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!...again, what message does that send to the rest of us.

I thought when I came here I was going to be pushed to improve myself…they told us we would become a different person, and I honesty don’t think I am any more disciplined than I was before I came. It pains me to say that, but I just expected to much more.

It’s not like I find this course super easy, it is challenging academically, physically, and emotionally… at times…but I came here to be pushed…and for the most part I have not been.

Anyway, I think I need to talk to someone at the school about this. I don’t know if it is better in person or in writing but I need to let them know what I think. And I am not alone. There are a few people in the program who are very focused, very dedicated, very disciplined….they make me look like a loser gang banger, and I can’t begin to tell you how much I respect them, how much they inspire me. I just wish there were more people like that. It’s not the course material or content that I have a problem with, it is the overall, general attitude that seems to be prevalent in the group and in the school. It’s like after years of teaching, they have lost some of there heart. I don’t want them to break us like we are in boot camp, but I would like to see consequence for behavior seems to be very clearly unacceptable.

And to my classmates… are you not hear because you want to be…are you not trying to be ready for one of the greatest and most respected professions in the world…do you not respect the sort of effort that takes…do you not respect all the firefighters that have done this before you…are you not worried about how you look and how ready you will be when school is over.

Tell me, please, am I being to hard on people? Am I just expecting to much. It is because I think what I am trying to do here is more special than it actually is. Am I going to be equally disappointed when I get a job after this and see that all firefighters are not what I thought they would be.

Can I take that kind of disappointment and still be in the profession.

Writing this has not made me feel better.

more randomness

After working out early Tuesday morning I returned home to two cop cars blocking my parking spot and two officers standing by my front door. I thought for a moment that my roommate finally flipped his lid and what up on the roof with a riffle, but it turned out there was some sort of domestic at our neighbors apartment. When I walked by I could still hear shouting. Nothing really exciting came out of it, but it’s always cool when cops are at our door.

The Mrs and I spent part of our long weekend in Edmonton. Highlights include our Polynesian themed room at the Fantasy Land Hotel at the west Ed. The room was complete with a bed that seemed like some sort of boat, and a large Jacuzzi, complete with waterfall. However the TV remote did not work to my satisfaction, so I give the room only 3 stars.

Speaking of TV, the riders won and that makes me happy. I watched that game in Edmonton and was happy to cheer out loud when watching the game in the lounge at Chilis.

Also in E-town we went to Body Worlds – which is an exhibit of actual human cadavers, preserved and placed in interesting positions to allow viewers to see how the body works. Examples were a guy playing basketball, a person sitting and playing chess, or one had two dudes playing football – one talking the other. The have holes or layers cut away to highlight different systems in different models. Very cool stuff. I would recommend this to anyone going to Edmonton before the show ends in mid October.

We all have pet peeves, and I may have more than the average guy. One that has been bugging me lately is people who swear loudly in public. Don’t get me wrong, I swear, at times I swear a lot, but I do not like to swear in the presence of children or seniors. But you get those people in public places that drop the loud f-bombs for everyone to hear and it makes me cringe. I think it is a huge display of disrespect, and by the name of this here blog you now that would not sit well with me. I think it really shows a general lack of character.

I can NOT believe the leafs signed Jeff Finger to a 4 year deal worth 3.5 million per season. Why is it the insist on overpaying players that don’t deserve to be overpaid. It would be one thing if they overpaid Marion Hossa, but they insist on overpaying players like Bryan McCabe, Jason Blake, and Jeff Finger.

I need to do two speeches this week in class. I’m not worried about them, but I am stumped on what topic to do my persuasive speech on. I am doing my informative speech on how to officially score a baseball game, but I can’t decide what to persuade people about. I have thought about sports or driving habits, but it needs to be 20 minutes and I don’t know if those two things will take up enough time.

Later gang.