Brad's (now retired!) Firefighter/Paramedic...and Other Misc Info..

One more experiment....sorry I'm using you, the readers, as Guinea pigs....I' activated some tag with my posts.... powered by performancing firefox

I just added an extension called Perfomancing in Firefox  which lets you blog from anywhere....so this is my first entry using it....let me know what you think....oh you probably won't notice anything...duh...oh well...I'l let you know!!!

Yep...I'm on the fire department softball team...pitcher. Thought it would give me a little exercise and some fun. Also my stepdaughter graduates from ISU in 2 weeks and her open house is in 4.....so I'll be trying to get a patio walkway put in and maybe a fence by the open house. I should have the time but not sure about the skill...oh well...I guess the Internet can help me get started!! Then New Mexico with our support team next week....I'll fill you in on all the activities as time allows. Of course, getting DVR for Dish Network hasn't helped with time...I'm a recording fool and an efficient couch potato at times!!!!!

(another attention-grabbing title...) I thought I'd drop by since I've been lazy about updating. Nothing really new...the only recent memorable call we had was a patient that we were called for as having an allergic reaction. Now this could be anything from a little rash to a person not breathing. On our arrival the patient is sitting in a chair with his tongue sticking staight out and a large knot on his neck that looks like a tight muscle. He can barely talk but all vital are good. These symptoms are typical of someone having an adverse reaction to compazine or thorazine but family swears he does not take any of those meds. Later found out he was on Haldol which will also give these kind of symptoms....Any way, his back started to spasm in the truck so I tried to massage the knot out, which seemed to help. Later we took another patient in and went to check on him and he looked great (An injection of Cogentin counteracts these symptoms). He was so bad originally that my partne...

Om Wednesday I'll be upgrading my Treo 600 to a treo 650...I'll let you know about it. I wanted to wait for the rumored 700p but since it's a rumor so far, I don't want to wait 1-6 months or however long it will be....I'm into instant gratification a bit I guess.....

Yes, I'm stiill around for all my fans (????...I have fans???) that have missed my antics. A lot of things have gone on but I'll just give you recent highlights. February 14th was my 50th birthday so my wife and I went to spend the night in Indianapolis. There we ended up meeting a wonderful couple that we really connected with and eventually went back to their home and talked until 5AM! ...Before that we even shut down a bar which I haven't done since....well I don't think I ever did that!!!! We had so many interests and similarities, it was just amazing .We felt like we were on a real long first date with someone we want to spend a lot of time with in the future. So to most of you, this is a pretty boring post but to a lot of you, you probably can relate... Let me know of your similar situations where this happened to you......

Will be getting off in the morning after 9 call so far today...4 in the last 30 minutes!! But... MerryChristmas to everyone and thanks for stopping by my Blog!!!

I kinda like snow... I like working in it at the fire department and like being home while it blizzards...yes I'm weird...but I still like it. Supposed to snow about an inch tonight. And a Christmas party at 1 of the doc's homes Friday where I don't have to work the next day...WooHoo!!! ...and not too early to plan for my half-century mark in February..(the 14th, by the way). I'm hoping for something real special...any ideas????

Well our mayor may want to screw with our shifts because we've talked to the council on some of the things the mayor has been doing...eg the council didn't realize that we are budgeted for an extra man per shift but the mayor told our chief not to schedule them any more. Lots of other things too but the mayor called our chief and said that we are not allowed to talk to the council. Ok, I usually don't spout off too much about this kind of stuff but was it wearing on me for a while. On another note, Tim, our Washington support team was here this last weekend and we had a great time...and hopefully learned a few things to advance us....OUT OF MY POLITICAL RELATED JOB!!!!! Did I yell?

Half way through the shift again and nothing new..Had a shift off and that was nice. Another shift off coming up Friday...This is when our support team from Washington will be out. This is always a good time and we try getting as many new and existing business owners in front of him as we can. Not too many other business will give you this kind of support...for free....!!!

Getting ready to eat breakfast at The Country Chalet in Mt Pleasant, MI, the B&B we're at. Nice to get away. For more info, go to www.countrychalet.com ... I guess my phone has a send limit...I finished the post at home...

So my vacation starts...and I'm sore....I'm building visqueen windows for my gazebo (with hot tub inside) to block the wind in the winter. I used to just wrap the whole thing but decided to make these reusable windows. I'm sore because I did a lot of bending and screwing in awkward positions (knock it off you perverts!!!). Anyway...if I get a chance, I'll take a picture of it with cam phone or regular camera and let those that are interested take a look...

On the last Tuesday of the month we check dates and quantities of all our drugs and supplies. It's a necessary evil but a real pain. Up-to-date drugs are exchanged with nearly expired drugs, if any, and then replaced. All along while trying to run calls and throwing the truck back together so you can find everything during a call. On the other hand, it's time for a vacation!!! I usually take of 3 shifts around our anniversary (10/30) (12 years) in case we go anywhere. This year we're going to Mt. Pleasant, MI to meet up with a friend coming from Colorado to visit her parents. We'll stay at a B&B there for a couple of days. ......and I'll try to phone or laptop blog from there......no really!!!! Business-wise, we had our weekly conference call for the business last night which was as good as it always is. We're trying a free conferencing service that you only have to pay for a long distance call. Since most of us have free long distance through MCI or our cel...

Just started playing with the Rent-My-Blog feature of Blogexplosion and my very first renter is..... Haunted House Dressings by Jeremy C. Shipp!!.. Thanks Jeremy and may your traffic and readership both climb!!!

I couldn't blog from the campground because I was on roam...Oh well...We did have a great time though!!!. Very relaxing.. And the picture is of my 2 nephews at the Covered Bridge festival....

Ok..maybe I lied... Maybe I will post by phone blogging while camping if I have service...

We're going camping in the area of the cover bridge festivals in Rockville, IN. The only thing we could find was a primitive site (no electric) but we don't care. My sister-in-law just got back from Louisiana for the Red Cross and set this weekend up for us. So...no blogging from now (October 13) until Next week sometimes... I know, how can you possibly be without my inciteful wisdom?????? Well Just look long longingly at my archive, I guess...LOL. Just got off the station and nothing exciting except the man that went into the police department and wanted them to shoot him...because he was in so much pain. From what? I'm not sure...was a bit hard to understand but I know he had been depressed lately so his wife showed up and took him into the hospital herself...could she have decided that before waking us up at 4:30 AM? ...Was that insensitive?? And just got our XS energy drink...in root beer!!! Go here if you want more info...no carbs, no sugar, 4900% B12 and more!!! Wo...

So we back up a nearby community thta needed a total of at least 3 amblulances for at least 5 kids aged 12-16 that took unknown substances and were semi-conscious. We ended up not transporting but the other community had their ambulances available. I guess Jimson weed was the culprit. They were alone at home but were chatting with online with some other kids. The mom of those kids was alerted and since they lived close, went to the home and the called 911. I never even drank at that age but I may have been a sheltered,shy kid also...LOL. Kids were hallucinating a bit but should be fine.

Well another 10 calls (by the way, if you want a peek at some of our stats and other info about our department, go to http://www.cpfire.com/ ) . 3 back to back including a full arrest and a “man down in the street”. We get to that call and the patient can’t tell us what happened but is cover in blood from head to chest and abdomen….so being the optimist that we medics are…we first look for bullet holes…but can’t find any. We do get out of the pt that he is “very drunk” (Surprise!) and we think he got hit in the head with an unknown object by, of course, by unknown subjects…which later found to be true. He apparently cut someone off while driving (another surprise…hmmm, drinking and driving….) who then got out of the car with a baseballbat and wacked our pt in the head a few times… hence all the blood ( any cut to the head bleeds a lot !). An on the business side, we’ve just been called to host the speaker this Saturday. We’ve known the speaker since we have both been at the same level…...

Well, our Fire Department softball team played the special ed softball team in an exhibition game today. Our police department did the same earlier in the day. No, really... I know it sounds funny but this team finished 2nd in the state in their class! Since our team isn't that good anyway, it was funny to hear their coach say to make it more interesting, they would put some of the bigger players in that had just played the police....I don't think they know how bad we are!!! LOL!! Anyway they had quite a good team but we won. Their players were not severly handicapped and we may not have played quite as hard as we normally would have in a regular game but everyone had a good time and that's what it was all about anyway...and no, Ididn't play since I'm on duty...not to mention pretty bad myself!!!