School's Out for Summer...

I'm done, done, done, done and done. No more paramedic classes for me. It is really weird to say that. I know I still have ride time to do but I have no more classes. I have been working towards this for the last 4 years now and its finally over. I do still have the national registery test in August but right now I am not worried about that too much. This weekend has been fun, we have all been hanging out and just chillin. For the first time in a year I don't have to feel guilty that I'm not studying or doing something constructive. Well there is more booozin to be done....I'm out!

It's down to crunch time. I have two days before the finals begin. I think I am ready but you never know. We have three 8 hour days that have various types of testing from a comprehensive multiple choice final covering the entire year to our practical station where we get tested on our ability to run a cardiac arrest situation. I have two days left to cram whatever I think I need to have memorized into my overcrowded brain.

Yesterday was a nice break from all the studying. I worked over in Union Gap which is south of Yakima. Had a couple of good calls and got some good experience. I saw some sad situation though. There is soooo much alcohol abuse on the Indian reservation. Every one of my calls had alcohol as the cause of the accident, from a rollover where the patient was ejected and has open leg, arm and pelvic fractures to a women who was shit faced at 8 am and fell over and split her lip and broke her nose. It's just sad to me to see a culture that as a whole has been so affected by alcohol.

Today was a bit of a ho hum day, nothing too exciting to report. I have been trying to fight off a cold which I am now starting to think is my first bout with allergies. I have had this mild sore throat feeling for about 5 days now that hasn't gotten any worse or better and I don't really feel sick either. But I am treating it like a cold none the less. I slept in today to a whopping 8 and got up and had a healthy breakfast and then took the dogs for a walk.

Stu is tolerating the little one way better then I thought he would. She is a holy terror that will not leave him alone but he just kind of sits there and takes it and when he has had enough he just gives here a little growl and she backs off. She has a new trick where she just creeps up on him and starts to lick his face but then he slowly lifts up his ear flap and then barks just about as loud as she can right in his ear...Not very nice if you ask me but he just still sits there...Good boy.

On a break from my studies I made a run to the store to resupply some of my essential food items (pizza and sharp cheddar cheese) and noticed the campus police and Ellensburg pd had some sort of crackdown going on. Between the Safeway and my house, which is all of a mile, I saw 6 people pulled over. This was amazing to me because I have never been in a town that is so inept at driving. They take their stereo type of small town drivers to heart and just go with it. Example...In E-burg do not assume that anyone is going to stop for you at a cross walk. You could wait there all day looking like you are going to dart out into traffic and no one will stop. But there is one exception to that rule, if you are at a 4-way stop you're golden. This little anomaly stems from the previous example I'm sure. I think that everyone assumes that at a 4-way stop the other people aren't going to stop (see example 1) and they just try and wait until traffic is clear and then they go. I can't tell you the number of times I have been the third car to an intersection and am the first to go.

Well time to prolong the study break a bit longer and take the dog for a walk. I just have to brave the spring winds. Today there is a high wind advisory for gusts of 50-55. Its nice though because I can just toss Stu's toy up in the air and it drifts for what seems like 100 yards.

The End is Near!

I thought I would finally get around to making my first post of the new year, yeah that's right the first post of the year. Everybody keeps asking me what's new with me and I have only one stock answer....Not much. That is the honest to god truth. I go to class and I go on ride along, that's about it. I have had three days off since the beginning of April, one was just a random day and the other two were for Dman's wedding (thanks Dan for giving me an excuse to take a couple of days off). The wedding was awesome and I am glad I could make it. It was nice to see the crew again and make a couple of new friends.

I can't complain too much about school. It has been hard but fun at the same time. The last quarter has been a lot more hands on and we have been doing cool stuff like learning how to do central IV lines and surgical airways(trachyotomys). The really scary part is that we are done with classes. I have finals next week and then I am done with paramedic classes and just have to finish up my ride along this summer and the national exam is on August 12th and 13th.

There has been a bit of extracurricular stress that I could have done without though. The move was not something I planned but worked out pretty well. I am in a much better house that is a lot more relaxing. Right about the same time my 4runner crapped out on me and I had to do a quick diagnoses. It turned out to only be the water pump and an hour later it was up and running again. There was still a vacuum issue though and that took some searching to figure out and I think I just finally got it fixed, keep your fingers crossed.

Here is the best thing though...I got a letter on Monday from financial aid. It basically said sorry but we ran out of money to give out (loans included) and you will need to look elsewhere for money. I think that should work out okay though because I am already getting half of my loans from Sallie Mae anyway so I will just need to up the amount on those and it should be all good. I hope they find some more money for fall because most of my package is made up of grant...That's right, free money...woooo. I am starting to get a little excited about graduation in the fall, after this summer I will only need 3 more credits to get my BS.

I will try and be a little more diligent in the posting...