One ambulance I worked on had a tube radio on board with a whopping 2 channels.  There were instances where we arrived at the scene before it ever warmed up.  One time they were dispatched to an auto accident and the dispatcher didn’t hear from them as to whether they heard the call or not so he asked rescue when they were approaching the scene if the ambulance was even there and they answered yes.  Then some crackling noise comes over the airway and it was the ambulance calling in that their on the scene and sorry, but they had a loose wire on the radio.  When this vehicle was replaced they tried to trade the radio in for credit towards the new radio, they were laughed at.  That radio probably is a collector’s item now, but back then no one wanted it.

There was also a competition between the ambulance service and fire rescue as to who could get to the scene first.  In the beginning the rescue was a big truck and if they turned left out of their station they had to go up a hill and it crawled.  It would then piss them off as we passed them by and waved.  Eventually they got fed up and bought a smaller rescue that could do that hill as fast as us.  We were hurting their pride I guess.

One of the most depressing ambulance calls to get was when someone is clearly dead and has been for hours.  Upon entering the house the love ones are looking for you to provide a miracle and once you asses the patient it becomes clear that nothing can be done.  Now you have to go face the family and say I’m sorry, there’s nothing we can do.  I had one new widow praying hard on her rosary beads for just such a miracle that was never coming.  You’d like to revive their loved ones, but it just isn’t in the realm of possibility.

I desire so much, but accomplish so little, what a way to live. Perhaps this is where my Cabin In The Woods comes into play.

When they teach about child birth one of the things they explain is if the pregnant lady tells you she has got to pee during labor, it’s just the baby putting pressure on the bladder on its way out. This was followed by a story of a new EMT responding to a lady in labor. As they were walking down the hall of the house they spotted a lady on the toilet and rushed in and pulled them off of it saying, it’s the baby putting pressure on your bladder ma’am, I guess they didn’t want the baby to arrive in a toilet. Turns out it was the sister of the actual person in labor. That’ll teach her to leave the bathroom door open with company coming.

One of my co-workers parents are from India, but he was born here. He does a real good stereotypical Indian accent. The other day someone asked him if he was located in the US or India, which is annoying. He responded US and then said please hold while I transfer you and then switched into his Indian accent.

Post #400

Someone is submitting paperwork for their claim and wanted to know our decision before we even seen it. I advised I can’t speak to what we don’t have yet. That’s like asking someone to assess your finances without seeing the financials.

What you think you know of me is all an illusion.

I talked to someone who clearly thinks people should move mountains to accommodate them because they’re all that’s really important and right in the world. However the mountain this person was demanding I move, I couldn’t since I didn’t have the equipment. When I explained that I couldn’t help, they became belligerent even though I was offering them the information they needed to move that mountain by contacting the correct people. I wondered if it ever occurred to them that no matter how much they tried to mistreat me, in the end when our conversation was over, that mountain was still in their way and even if I had the tools to help, I wasn’t going to lift a finger because of their attitude. Feel the wrath of my dial tone!

I’m living in one of those movies where aliens are replacing humans and suddenly the humans finally realize it’s going on, except in my case it’s hubcaps that are being replaced. I was teaching my child how to put one on a car when they pointed out most cars don’t have them anymore. When did alloy wheels replace hubcaps? I never noticed it before, it’s a conspiracy and I was the last to catch on. What else have I missed that’s going on around me in plain sight?

I’m one of them! Those people who drives for miles with their blinker going. I’ve noticed recently that I’m doing this more and more. As George Carlin would have said, I’m making a left hand turn around the world.

OK, I don’t have an original thought in my head.  Does that make you feel any better?

I have 2 coworkers, let’s say Alice and Matilda.  They both have ex’s from their recent past.  Alice I consider an acquaintance and I’m aware she has an ex, but she’s never spoken of him so I leave it at that.  Now Matilda on the other hand I hardly consider an acquaintance, yet I know all about her ex since she announces unsolicited info about him all the time.  I have an Associate in social work which entitles me, not really, to an opinion that someone needs help.

Got home last night and noticed the car my 19 year old drives had a flat.  So this morning when I saw them I gave them a $20 and told them to go get it fixed.  Their response, I have a flat?  I drove the car last night and it wasn’t flat, well I highly doubt that.  They just didn’t notice the car driving funny; stuff like that just doesn’t register in their world.

My employer has started a facebook/twitter like service for company use.  Since we are located all over the world they want us to be better able to keep each other informed as to what’s going on in the company and we were required to sign up.  However I don’t even want to know what the person sitting across from me is doing, what do I care about what’s going on, on the other side of the world.  I guess I’m not a model employee.  They also want to empower our engagement in our careers, I don’t want a career either, tried that, didn’t work out.  How is it I’m still employed here?  I’m happier with no career prospects anyhow.

Someone once said to me “well I feel like” when I was explaining something.  I wasn’t asking for their feelings, I was explaining the facts.

My spouse went to our youngest spring concert the other day; I think the students point was to attract a moose by their music. Anyhow my 17 year old was working the stage crew and she was wondering how she could get this child to work that hard and fast at home. Their doing it for free, so money is not the motivator? What is?

A common comment I get when people find out their not covered is: then why did I buy the policy. I don’t know; why did you buy it? No one was making you and did you even read it before deciding to do so, did you? Maybe try to understand what you’re buying before you buy it, a novel thought.

I bought a chimichanga the other day and took 2 bites and wondered why I chose it, but I didn’t go back to counter and demand a refund because I never asked what was in it and it just so happen to taste like crap. I accept that I made a poor decision, the restaurant only offered to sell it to me, they did not force me to buy it; I made the choice not to ask any questions.

Write an angry draft letter that your lawyer won’t approve of and then mail it out. What could possibly go wrong?

I’ve owned my minivan for about 10 years now and it came with the sensor that turns the headlights on when it gets dark. Well I never liked this feature and now it has given me less reason to like it. I’ll be starting the car in the dark and no lights will come on or I’ll be driving down a dark highway and the sensor will decide there’s enough light and turn the headlights off, very annoying. I just turn the lights on now, don’t need to be plunged in to darkness unexpectedly on a windy back country road and meet a tree. I knew I hated this feature.

One afternoon I heard a neighboring ambulance service get called out to a personal injury from a fall at a local airport. When they called in to say they were in route, dispatch came back and advised them not to hurry, the parachute didn’t open.

When our children were younger we would send them off to day camp with a water bottle in hand. My oldest decided they didn’t want to carry a full bottle so they only put a little water in the bottle as a norm. Well they learned the hard way why you need to drink a lot of water on hot days when you’re playing hard so you don’t then pass out. What they told me that they actually learned was, when you’re holding on to something and pass out you let go and fall to the ground, yep, gravity. When my spouse arrived to get the children she avoided the ambulance figuring to give the people their privacy, unaware they were looking for her, surprise.

Had a lady call the ambulance once, she was looking for a ride to her doctor’s appointment and was running late and thought we would be a good option to get her there on time. We advised her for us to just show up was a $500 charge and it was $5.50 a mile after that and if we did anything it would cost more. Plus if she wanted us to wait around and bring her back that would be another $250 plus the mileage. Her response was, a taxi cost less, I’m sure it does. We operated a 911 service and didn’t do transports and were not running a taxi service. We’d prefer to stay in service for real emergencies. She called us through our private line, not 911, so we priced the call out to deter her from calling us again. At the time our 911 services were free, but we accepted donations.

My employer is amazed how fast I get through phone calls without rushing the client. I’m just more efficient in gathering the info and getting to the point than my coworkers, not a bad thing.

Remember when only living things got viruses.

I was sick the other day and a little bit out of it and unfortunately I can prove it. I went to the bathroom and was sitting in the stall when it dawned on me; I was in the women’s room. First there was a sign hanging on the back of the door about cleaning up after yourself and I thought, well that’s new. Then I noticed the foot wear on the person next to me looked, well, feminine in nature (high heels) and I wasn’t in a drag queen bar (this time). It was an oh sh*t moment. I waited for about 10 minutes until I was sure I was the only one in there and then ducked out quickly. No one was the wiser, at least until I decided to post it.

I have a coworker with a trigger word that can stop any argument or conversation in its tracks. That word is phlegm, totally grosses her out. Of course this is not an everyday word, especially when it comes to me spelling it. So going back to my fifth grade experience, flem seemed correct so I went with that. I was advised that misspelling phlegm would not bother her. So now I had to look it up, really ph. I’ve never claimed to be a spelling bee champ, I was first round and out on the classroom level.

You’re talking out of you’re azz from a position of ignorance, need I say more, apparently yes. If you’re going to argue with someone on a topic they are very well acquainted with, do your homework, if not, your just kidding yourself you’ll win with an emotionally flawed and ignorant stance.

Ever write yourself a note to remind you of something and then read it later and totally forget what you meant by it. Often when I come up with an idea for my blog, I’ll put it in a text and save to the draft folder. Well the other day I typed in “pool water nap” and now have no idea as to what my idea was, how sad is that. These words were meant to trigger my memory, however apparently there’s rust in there for it didn’t work this time.

An individual started their conversation with the phrase, “Do you work for ScrewU.com?” While no, my answer should have been, no, I work for F**kU.com. Such attitude they did have said Yoda.

Post #375

I was transporting a patient one day in an ambulance that was a bit worn out. While going to the hospital, the sliding door popped open and I couldn’t get it to secure. Then the siren cut out, so the driver was using his horn figuring that they at least had the light bar working. Turns out, not entirely, when we arrived at the hospital we discovered only half the light bar was actually rotating. Lucky for us the patient was unconscious so was never aware of any of these issues. This particular vehicle also had a small window between the driver and rear compartment and once all the doors were shut, there was no way to open the doors from the inside of the patient compartment. We had to wait for the driver to do so. In of itself not a safe situation, plus the A/C sucked if it even worked. This service also had another ambulance that would do a thing the mechanics called vapor lock, which would just shut the engine off at random times, not helpful. It was also equipped with a lighting device on the center of the hood called a Mars 88, it was supposed to wiggle back and forth to get the drivers attention in their rear view mirror, but it was mostly broken. Eventually they just made it a flashing on and off light with no movement.

Yet another service I worked for built their rigs with a mechanical lift to hoist the stretchers, since their main intent was to transport neonatal babies. However they put so much equipment into these vehicles that the transmissions was over loaded and we would burn them out on a regular basis. It also had an on board generator that when turned off would back fire sounding like a shot gun, also not helpful, especially when transporting into poorer neighborhoods. The lift also would rattle while traveling, but on those heavy patients it was a god send. More than once I watched the rear of the ambulance go down and wondered if the lift was even going get them off the ground.

We once used a loaner when one of our rigs was receiving major service and it became quickly apparent as to why the prior company had retired it. You could only use it for one short call, if it was started up cold and then you had to let it sit for a couple hours and cool off before it could be used again. Why might this be necessary? If you ran it to long the dip stick for the transmission fluid would become a geyser spewing transmission fluid everywhere. Had another loaner that bounced like basketball while going down the road and according to our mechanic was leaking gas from so many places that it was likely to erupt into flames at any moment.

1976 Chevy

Life is best lead by sitting on one’s azz.

I was explaining a policy to someone on how our medical is secondary to their primary. I guess they didn’t like the answer since they hung up on me. However; by doing this it’s not going to make their situation change any.

Like many people today I long ago got rid of my land line, my cell phone works everywhere in the house and we never used the antique. However; when a business or random person asks me for a phone number I will give out my disconnected number. I wonder how this might affect who ever has it now. Ok, not really. I could also give out my mom’s old number, she isn’t using it either.

My employer awards us with a star when we do something good (just like kindergarten) that they then hang over our cubicles. Currently my coworkers have a galaxy over their heads. I must be in a black hole.

If your belief system is based on the delusion that you’re entitled to it, this is what’s going to get you into trouble in the future.

I use to work with a life insurance product called Key Man Insurance. The purpose of this insurance was to cover someone considered a Key Man in a business in the event that they died and/or were disabled and this event would have a negative impact on that business continuing. I never sold any of these policies however it got me to wondering. I’ve never meet someone that I would consider a Key Man during my decades of working.   No matter how useful someone may have been where I was working, once they left, we continued as usual. One time the main go to guy was there for five years when he left, I was only there for six months when he did so and I became the senior person, but I survived, I figured it out. I knew how to ask questions if I didn’t know the answer. Did this qualify me as the Key Man? Maybe someday I’ll meet such a person, but so far not yet.

I did however have a former coworker who apparently thought of herself as a Key Man. She was one of the supervisors and was involved in a disagreement with another supervisor over company policy and came out on the losing side of it and was told to resolve this issue along company guidelines. She refused and demanded not only to get her way, but if she didn’t she was going to quit. My employer’s response was, nice to know you and don’t let the door hit you in the rear on the way out. They wouldn’t even let her pack up her desk; they escorted her right out of the building and mailed it to her. I guess she was a self-perceived Key Man, but only she saw it.

Recently heard a co-worker state when dealing with a client; “whoops, oh well”, what outstanding customer service.

During a heavy lake effect snow storm we got a call out for a bus that had crashed. The bus was transporting a group back from a ski trip down a rural road when it fish tailed and the rear tire hit a ditch and flipped onto its side. Since this occurred in a rural area they were bringing in ambulances from the surrounding districts, including mine, to assist. I was the driver for that shift and had no idea where I was going, but with help of the dispatcher we found the scene. The snow was coming down so hard that I had to turn the light bar off because the reflection off the flakes was blinding me. When we arrived on scene there was mass chaos with 54 patients looking for care; so triage ensued with the snow continuing to dump on us. We ended up transporting 3 patients, one in our stretcher, one on a back board on the bench and a walking wounded in the jump seat, who was apparently in the rest room when the bus went over. The State was running a snow plow up and down the route to the hospitals just to keep the road open. This particular county had a mass causality plan in place and this happened to be the first time it was used. One aspect of this plan was to transport the walking wounded by school bus, since resources would be tight, as they were. However these people weren’t too keen on getting onto another bus after crashing in theirs. This possibility probably never came up with the planning committee.

As would be expected this was a big story in the area and it received a lot of media coverage. When I was explaining the accident to my family, my mother had one concern, was I wearing my hat. Just so happen a local TV crew filmed me loading up our stretcher patient so I could show her, yes, I was wearing my hat. That wasn’t the focus of the call for me, but she was concerned I might catch a cold.

This was the biggest mass causality event I ever participated in and it scared the crap out of me. I almost quit EMS over it. There’s nothing that can prepare you for a situation like this when you have dozens of real patients all wanting help other than to let your training kick in and start our assessments and do triage.

Although zombies weren’t popular back then, when I think back on it, it was kind of like the walking dead in a bad snow storm when we arrived on scene. This was a Cabin In The Woods situation for me long before I came up the concept.

I came across a child who didn’t understand how to use a mouse. They had only been exposed to touch screen technology. When did that happen?

I opened a fortune cookie and it did not have a fortune in it. Should I be concerned about this?

My spouse asked one of our children if they knew how to open the hood of the car. They said yes and proceeded to reach in and pulled a lever and the trunk popped open. Time to take back that learners permit I believe.

My Mom grew up in a family that was always lacking the security of a regular income. This played into her decision to marry my father, since she believed a school teacher would always have a job. She trained as a nurse during WWII, but was never drafted into service, which was a good thing. She couldn’t stand the sight of blood, passed out during a surgery rotation. Though every injured child on my street was brought to our house to seek treatment; she just smiled and took care of them.

While running a singles club she met my father. When he proposed she refused to marry him since he was younger than her (there was 9 months between them), so they waited for his 30^th birthday and got married two weeks later. Then between the ages of 30 and 45 she had 9 children. I believe it was because they were being good Catholics and being fruitful and multiplying, but according to her it was because of an allergy to latex. I remember whenever she got mad at one of us and her going down the names of the kids until the right one was found and then proceeded to yell at us. I have the same issue and I only have three kids. Of all of her childbirths she said the best one was when she got snowed in at the hospital for a couple of days with the newborn.

From what I’ve heard she worked as a nurse until I was born, her 6^th child, and then became a full time mom. When my Dad asked her to marry, he promised that she would never have to cook, he lied. To say my mother liked to cook or was good at it would also be a lie. The family joke was that her meatloaf was the corner stone to the addition on the house. My Dad on the other hand loved to cook, so once he retired from work, she retired from cooking; no tears were shed there by us.

She was also a HUGE sports fan and it really didn’t matter what sport, she watched everything. Once found her watching cricket because nothing else was on, didn’t understand it, but still… The only reason we got cable was so she could watch more sports. I have many memories of watching games with her. I also relayed on her for the game times of our favorite college basketball team, now I have to look it up myself. I wonder if you can receive texts from heaven?

After my dad passed away she actually figured out how to use the internet, something my dad never did. She liked to order books off Amazon.

She ended up with 21 grandchildren before passing a couple of years ago, well into her 80’s. The day of her funeral was one of the biggest snow storms of the season where she lived, didn’t stop it, but I thought it poetic; big storm, big family.

Technology is great, until the power runs out. One group I knew of was following a map through the woods on a smart phone; that was until the battery died and now they had no map or idea as to what to do next. With all the years I’ve hiked through the woods, I’ve never had a battery die with my paper map; it’s gotten soggy, ripped, but still worked.

There was another group that got lost in the mountains recently. They had a GPS but no map of the trail system on it. So hopelessly confused and lost they called out for help via their GPS. The ranger used his GPS to locate them, 50 feet from the trail. So they had power, just not a clue.

To live a life in oblivion is a special thing, for you need to be a speck on a speck to accomplish it.

We received a claim submission via the internet for a gentleman, let’s say William and his lady friend, let’s say Alice requesting to cancel their cruise because Alice got sick. We needed to contact them for some additional information before sending out the claim forms. Apparently William had put Alice’s contact info into our system. So one of our representatives called and asked for either William or Alice. The man who answered, let’s say George; said there was no William here but Alice was his wife. So the representative asked if Alice had booked a cruise and they replied, we never go on vacation. Apparently they had reached Alice’s husband who knew nothing about William or his wife’s planned cruise. It also came out that William did not know about George either. Maybe if they did take vacations, Alice won’t have hooked up with William in the first place, but then I’m just making an uninformed judgment an’t I, which you shouldn’t do. Does that make us a home wrecker? I’m certain there were major changes in that house hold after our “innocent” call.

Being one of nine kids there wasn’t a lot of extra money to be had. I remember one time I was getting the dirty cloth’s for my mother when a twenty fell out of one of my brother’s pants pocket. Ok I admit it; I was looking for loose change, I grew up in a time when loose change could actually buy something. This was the first time I had a whole twenty of my very own and I decided to keep it. Finders’ keepers, loser’s weepers. I then proceeded to get on my bike and off to the drug store I peddled where I spent most of it on candy! I’d had never gotten sick from eating candy before, but it was so worth it!

Back in the 70’s my parents inherited some money and decided to spend the month of August doing a family trip to the Grand Canyon. So we loaded all 11 of us into our white Plymouth Fury station wagon, hitched up our 18 foot Shasta trailer and off we went. We went through the upper states on the way there and the lower states on the way back, it was the one big family trip we ever did. We made stops at many historical sites along the way, Dad being a teacher and all.

There was a variety of places we camped along the way like a gas station in Toledo Ohio for two days while they replaced our transmission, we must have drove those mechanics crazy. Also found a nice camp to stay at in New Mexico while Dad went out for new tires. I celebrated my birthday at a strip mall in Texas, they went into the stores, got me some presents and a cake and we celebrated in the trailer. At another camp site in a desert some where we were walking down the road and got between 2 rattle snakes. One place we stayed at the wood was real easy to carve so being kids we made swords and knives out of it, my Dad made firewood of them. Were also at a camp where a nearby creek was drying up and each puddle was full of fish, so we were grabbing them by hand, didn’t go hungry that night.

We also visited an Aunt of my Mother’s that was a Nun at a convent in Kentucky. The Nun’s loved having all 9 kids visit and made a big meal for us. Plus they gave us toys. I got a cat, which I still have.

At one point while the four youngest were sitting in the back of the car my sister was playing wedding when her vial (aka blankie) was sucked out the back window, my Dad wasn’t stopping for that no matter how much she cried. Also he did not stop if one of the boys had to do a #1, just pass the Clorox bottle along, we’ll empty it later. We also decided to drive up a mountain in the Rockies and froze our butts off and played countless games of Crazy 8 along the way. It was the one family trip most of us older children remember. The seating arrangement during it went as follows, 3 in the front seat, 4 in the back seat and the rest in the back with no seats, and I doubt anyone else wore a seat belt.

For my parents 40^th wedding anniversary the video we made was centered on the pictures from this trip. As I said, this was thee family trip.

I have all the time in the world that’s left to me.

I was once ambitious and started my own insurance agency. It was a lot of work and I couldn’t yet afford to hire staff. So from time to time my oldest child, who was six at the time, would come “assist” me with simple tasks and give my spouse a rest. One time I had a pile of paperwork in the shredding bin that I hadn’t got around to yet. So I had them feeding the shredder to keep them occupied. So they were busy at work when they said, “Dad should the machine be smoking?” That’s when I realized that cheap shredders aren’t made for volume work. They also loved to run the mail through the postal meter and then run down the hall and put the mail in the slot, mostly so they could visit the gold fish pond on their way back.

Do you remember where you were when Nixon resigned? I was at a youth summer camp in my tent when our leader from Australia came around and announced, “If you care, your president has just resigned”. I was a tween, I knew all about Tricky Dicky, but wasn’t too concerned.

One of my tent mates there had this weird ability. They did not need an alarm clock to wake themselves up. They just thought of the time at night they wanted to get up and the next morning would awake at that time when they saw red eyes in their sleep. It worked for them all week, so I didn’t doubt it, cool but strange.

A while back when home heating oil was well over four dollars a gallon and my income was not I was looking around for a cheaper heat source. Turned out kerosene was about a buck fifty less a gallon and a heater would do a good job of heating up our living and dining rooms, so at least some of the house would be warm. One gallon lasted about 10 hours. At night when everyone went to bed I would turn the thermostat down to conserve on fuel oil so of course in the morning the house was cold. I would turn up the heat in the morning and turn on the kerosene heater. From this a new tradition was born, my children would sit on the floor in front of the heater and eat their breakfast, warmest spot in the house. Now since heating oil has declined and my income increased the heater is collecting dust in the basement. But it did save me money and served its purpose.

If you don’t make the attempt to understand something, then you can’t complain about it.

Yesterday was not a good day; I called in sick to work, told my spouse I wasn’t feeling well and stayed in bed for about 12 hours. I wasn’t physically sick; I was just over whelmed by depression. I just didn’t want to do anything but lay there in bed, ignore the world and dream of my Cabin In The Woods. I think I needed that, feel much better today.

When my Dad was born in the 1924 he was diagnosed as a Blue Baby. These infants generally only survived a couple of weeks; he proved them wrong and lived for 75 years. Though surgery was required later in life to correct the heart issues that were caused by this condition.

He was a veteran of WWII (Europe) serving in a combat engineering unit and worked as a school teacher for 35 years, starting off in a 2 room school house. He often said if it wasn’t for the GI bill, he would have made a living from the skill the Army had taught, driving trucks. He loved teaching; so much so, he turned down becoming a principal. He taught elementary grades, languages, remedial reading and life. Having 7 boys he also volunteered as a Scout leader. One of my fondest memories of him was going to his school and finding him sitting in the hall with a first grader sitting in one of those small chairs they use in that grade, I wish I had a camera. He always worked at their level. Throughout his career he wore a suit and tie even after it was no longer required; it just meant something to him.

He learned to hunt during the depression era, being the oldest of four children, not for fun, but to put more food on the table when it was in short supply. He became an excellent shot since there might only be a few bullets; had to make them count. Once out of bullets he’d switch over to bow and arrow. During anti-aircraft training in the Army with the .50 cal., he got in trouble for hitting the drone, forgot himself and was leading the plane like he would have a duck. One time when he arrived home after work one of my brothers was practicing with a bow and was hitting around the target. He took the bow and shot once and hit the bulls-eye and went inside.

I’ve always wondered how he handled a classroom of kids all day and then come home to the nine of us. We were hardly saints and often pushed the envelope. Though there was a rumor that he wasn’t allowed a wooden pointer in class, allegedly he broke too many.

My Dad had many stories about the war which he shared with us. But when it came to the men of his unit rarely did he speak of them and if it came up tears always came to his eyes. Roughly a fourth of his company of 200 men made it back unscratched, he was luckily one of them.

During a training phase in the dessert (originally the unit was going to Africa) he was lucky in being assigned to drive the water truck, so while others would be rationed a half a canteen of water a day, he had all he wanted. One night they went to sleep under the stars and from his Scout training he learned to always put the cloths in his sleeping bag, while the others in the unit didn’t do this. That night as often happens in a dessert the temperature dropped and it snowed. The next morning they woke up to frozen cloths covered in snow, except for my Dad, he knew better.

He recalled times when they were building bridges. It would take eight men to lift one section and put it into place. The German snipers would wait for them to hoist it into the air and then shoot one man so the piece would fall on the rest. During one instance when a sniper was doing this, they were shooting from a pill box up river, so my Dad’s unit took a bull dozer and buried the door and the slits and went on building the bridge. Another time they had to shoot a gap with their trucks, then do a fish tail to unload the bridging and return through the gap without getting hit by German 88’s, many trucks didn’t make it. My Dad would say the 88’s were like a rifle, if they could see you, they could hit you.

He was also his unit’s interpreter speaking both French and German. He recalled one time in Paris, shortly after liberation, he collected up a box full of soap figuring the French didn’t have access to it during the occupation and he could make some easy money. So he went to a busy street corner and announced there was soap for sale and before a price could be set he was besieged by French women stuffing money into his pockets/shirt and grabbing the soap and running off and it was sold out immediately. He was also very popular with his fellow soldiers when it came time to speak with the local women.

Outside of Paris his unit built themselves barracks out of shipping crates, being an engineering unit they were well built and they used them for a couple of months. There was a refugee issue occurring and when it came time for them to move out, they had French refugees waiting to take over the barracks. They were all homeless and it was a place to live.

My Dad never really had a lot of facial hair, so when his Lieutenant during an inspection told him, “solider you need a shave”, he responded by smiling ear to ear and the Lieutenant walked away shaking his head. He only had peach fuzz at that age.

What I miss most about him is just being able to call and talk. It has been 16 years since his passing and just typing this is bringing tears to my eyes. No matter how old you get, you still want your Daddy.

Post #350

Just because you are stating that the policy was not available online for you to review doesn’t mean you’re right. Rather it means you’re expressing your ignorance or just plain lying. Especially since the last person I spoke to was quoting from it while on the site as they asked me their questions. It’s there and we’re not hiding it from anyone.   Another satisfied customer who didn’t read what they bought and now think were scamming them since they instead choose to ass(u)me after they checked off yes that they read it and agreed to it when prompted by the website. They then conveniently forget that they actually did this, so how is this our fault?

There is a kernel of truth to everything I write, hopefully.

We sell liability insurance for weddings. One bride to be was insuring her $70,000 wedding and had one question about the insurance. Can I get my premium back if I decide not to go through with the wedding? If she’s having this thought now, maybe she should stop the wedding before she spends more money. Not a good sign for the future of that marriage.

I was once invited to a bachelor’s party with a group from an ambulance service I was working at. They decided to go strip joint hopping. At one venue the girl comes on the stage and the groom to be was shocked, it’s his old next door neighbor who’d he’d had a crush on as a teenager. Well I guess he didn’t have to imagine her naked anymore.

This party was also pre dating the concept of designated drivers. So our approach was to put all the drunks in the first car and follow it with the sober ones. We figured we were paramedics/EMT’s and if they crashed we could care for them. I suppose we could have just have borrowed an ambulance for the sober party goers to drive in, or if you think about it provide a sober driver for the drunks, we never thought of that.

One fund raiser this service often did was to sit at the front door and ask for a cover charge to enter the bar, it was a great money maker. How the times have changed.

These days if your kid is signed up for a sports team and shows up they get a trophy for participation. I think that this is a conspiracy put forth by trophy makers to sell more trophies. Much like when the diamond ring makers were suggesting that you should spend at least 3 month’s salary on a diamond engagement ring or you were being cheap. Anyhow I digress; way back when you actually had to accomplish something to get one, I played Little League Baseball for one season. (Parents signed me up) Just so happened my team won first place even though the position I played was left out. So I actually still have the trophy from that to this day, prized possession, I guess. One of my siblings had skills and was a good player, but was never on a team that won, so it bothers them that I even have this trophy and they have none. I’ve told them that I’ve left it to them in my will. They’ve told me I can put it where the sun doesn’t shine; their still jealous after all these years. I also once won a plaque for the smallest kite, but that was kind of sad and I think this was the beginning of giving out trophies for doing nothing.

Frustration of purpose leads to desperate irrationality over common sense. Look it up.

One of my old college apartment addresses was 66 East 6^th Street. I had a friend that refused to come visit me there. I’ve never understood why this was the case?

Mr. Green married Ms. Brown and they mixed their DNA together and made a little baby named Cyan.

When I was younger and went camping I wasn’t too concerned about comfort. Hiking through the mountains you’d never know where you would be sleeping next, some nights were good, some not so much. Now when I go camping I want my cot. I spent some money on it so it’s a nice and comfortable, not as good as my sleep number at home, but I’m older and it’s better than the ground. Also have a heater for those cold nights in the tent. I like comfort and my Cabin In The Woods, are privileges of my advanced wisdom.

On my last trip I came down with a cold and that cot and heater made my tent feel like I was home.

Bothering a crazy person is like poking a bear, not a good idea.

Someone called in all primed and pissed off and ready to argue. They were disappointed.

Back when cable first came out they gave you a box with buttons to change channels that was attached to the cable box by a wire, made it hard to loose. When remotes finally came out, the ambulance I was working at decided to upgrade. Well, I use to work with this one person on a regular basis that would bring in their 8 year old child with them since they couldn’t afford a baby sitter. During one shift the child was busy watching their cartoons and weren’t aware of the new remote, but I was. So being a nuisance by nature, I was down the hall changing the channels from their show to others and then back. They were desperately looking for the old box until they realized what was going on. Then I had to run and hide. You don’t know fear until you have gotten between an 8 year old and their favorite cartoon!

I’ve been working with insurance for some 20 years now and have been recently comparing policies I’ve worked with in the past to what I’m doing now. At one point I had my Property & Causality, Life & Health and Securities licenses. That was kind of like earning a doctorate. But I decided I didn’t want to work off commission anymore and instead wanted a more 9 to 5 schedule so I could spend time with my kids and switched to Dental. Well my last employer was struggling to exist so I went looking for a new job and ended up working with Travel Insurance. It occurred to me today that this is the Kindergarten of insurance policies. Very simple and straight forward, at least compared to what I have worked with. Maybe that’s way I’m writing this blog, no challenge with this current job.

You can leave, or you can LEAVE, your choice.

Asked someone if they live in the US, their answer was no South Carolina. Did they secede again? Yes I know my history.

One of my in laws decided to redo their kitchen and they picked out a shade of yellow to paint it in. They then went away for a couple of days and my sibling was left to complete the task. Upon returning the kitchen was all done in a nice shade of school bus yellow, which was the color she had picked. They couldn’t blame my sibling either, since they are totally color blind and only see in shades of gray. Maybe they should have done a sample area before the whole room was completed. Though it would wake you up in the morning.

When I arrived at college with my parents for my first semester living in a dorm, my roommate was already moved in. The first thing my mother notice was how he kind of put the bed behind a desk and she commented, “what, are they a hermit?” Turns out, kinda were. They’d had a tough upbringing and had tendency to withdrawal, so we were perfect for each other.

At one point I took a job at the dorm minding the front door. After some drunken azzholes attacked me because I wouldn’t let them in without ID, my roommate was one of the few that stood by me, even showed up to support me at the hearing. The school was next to useless with this situation, so I had the azzholes arrested. Later we moved off campus with some other friends to an apartment (dump). (I decided to move out of the dorm after a group in the room across from me was arguing over their D&D character strengths until 5 in the morning.) Once we moved in he was beginning to have some issues which should have alerted us since all the utility bills were in his name and we gave him our share of the bill every month. When we came back after Christmas break he was gone and we had no heat or electric because he had pocketed our money and skipped town. We later found out they went to Florida. Later that semester he showed up at our door; all apologetic about taking our money and skipping town, but there was no offer to pay back our money. He had apparently been kicked out of where ever he had run off to in Florida and were now homeless and thought we might let them crash with us. They were right, but this was the first instance of a pattern I saw in their later life. Once I graduated from school I would hear from mutual friends that he had been booted from yet another place because of their drinking/drug use and the habit of stealing to support it, until finally everyone had lost contact with him. Last I heard of them they were up in the New England area. So the theories I’ve been going by basically revolve around that they are now truly a hermit or dead. Maybe someday I’ll find out, but I’m not holding my breath. When I heard about the Hermit of Maine, I thought maybe, nope, wasn’t him.

Had another college friend (yes I had more than one) and former roommate that have also disappeared. I remained in contact with her for decades after college though she was very often hard to get ahold of. They came to my wedding and several of my children’s milestone events. Even house sat for me when I went to Alaska. After college she worked for way to many years in an ice cream shop before deciding to go back to school to get a masters. They were eventually working as a TA at a college when one day I realized they were disconnected from life. Their phones were all shut off, they did not respond to emails I sent and the mail was returned from their apartment with no forwarding. She had just disappeared? They never married or had kids and lived a reclusive life. I believe she was still involved with someone they had dated during college and were on and off with them through the years, even though that person was married to another and had a family, but I could never get them to talk about it. I’d be more interested in knowing what has happen to them. Though these 2 people do point to a trend in people I make friends with. But then we all have had friends in the past who’s where bout’s are unknown to us today, you just lose touch. But then I think these two individuals are now on another plain of existence.

I’ve always like it when the floor in the bathroom is sticky; it just makes me wonder why and with what?

It was recently stated to a narcissist, it’s not all about you, but mostly.

We took a call from a customer who wanted to complain to us that the rental car company wouldn’t let them have a car and they were pissed (not like we cared). So why weren’t they allowed to rent the vehicle? There was a very good reason, both of the drivers showed up at the counter with expired driver’s licenses in hand. In their world view it was the company’s responsibility to inform them they needed a valid license before they could pick up the car. This is where personal accountability comes into play, which they were sadly lacking. They just wanted to blame everyone for something that’s their responsibility. If you want to drive legally, you need a current license and if you want to rent’s someone else’s car, they have the right to require one. Of course this was also our fault; because our client’s website hadn’t been stupefied enough for them to follow along.

I don’t think anyone is capable of making an intelligent decision; perhaps this is good, but differently not helpful. So I’ve decided not to fret over any of it. Life is too precious.

I’m not an onion, there are no layers. I’m just not that complicated.

A claimant called in to file a claim and was all apologetic for taking so long in doing so. Apparently they had been recovering from the gunshot wounds they received while sitting in the rental car that was shot up. I guess we’ll let it slid, but next time…

I was spending my night off by a camp fire in front of my Cabin In The Woods. Down the hill was a cabin housing teenage girls and they were hanging out on the pouch doing whatever. Then along came a group of teenage boys and that got my attention. There were words exchanged as one would expect between the groups when one of the boys decided an appropriate response to the girls would be to moon them. Now I’m thinking, great, it’s my night off and I now have to go and bust them. The boys hadn’t noticed me up on the hill so were surprised when I came up from behind them and requested they follow me to the office. I noticed one thing about being the camp nurse, the campers weren’t certain as to what kind of authority I might actually have (neither was I), so they always listened. One of my friends was manning the office that night when I arrived with my wards. The children decided to give him crap, especially the Full Moonee, when they walked over to a file cabinet and pulled out the boy’s paperwork. When the delinquents asked why they were doing this, his answer was, so I can call your parents and let them know what you’ll been up to tonight. There was an instant silence accompanied by an attitude change. Ah, fear of parents, a powerful tool.

One service I worked for would give out stork pins to wear on your uniform collar if you successfully delivered a baby. (blue for boy and pink for girls obviously) This evolved into a joke; that you would also get a black cross every time someone died on your rig. This lead one long time paramedic to complain they won’t be able to raise their head if they had all those crosses pined to their shirt.

Post #325

I have to conserve my energy for more important things like rolling over and going back to sleep.

Part 4 is before Part 5 and after Part 3 and in between both. Yes I have had to give instructions this specific, they couldn’t locate Part 4.

At a weekend camping trip with one of my children they were employing us adults to serve the food in the cafeteria. I was assigned the technically difficult task of placing hot dogs into buns and handing them out. I was preforming this essential and life sustaining function when an upset parent approached and stated, “the children’s hot dogs are rolling out of the buns and on to the floor”, and wanted to know what I was going to do about that. Ah, let’s see, nothing, tell the kids to hold onto their food. It was funny and sad all at the same time, because they actually expected something to be done. What that might have been, I had no idea; I was and still am a novice in the hot dog distribution industry and wasn’t up on the latest anti-rolling techniques. Maybe square hot dogs; wouldn’t roll.

One night a camp staff member came running into the nurse’s office saying a child was having difficulty breathing. So I rushed over to their cabin to assess the child. Turns out the reason for the breathing issues was the child was hyper ventilating, so I used a plastic bag and got them under control, which impressed the staff. Next I had to figure out why this child was hyper ventilating. Turns out the counselor for this group of kids was mad at them and this child took it personally (they looked up to them). This particular counselor was assigned to the 8 & 9 years old since their maturity level was similar to that age group. After a discussion between the two, everyone was happy and harmony had been restored to the cabin.

I asked the question, do you remember the departure date? Their answer was yes, December something. I guess that comes after any time and before I don’t know.

People don’t want to hear it when they called the wrong place; they still want us to take care of their issue. I believe this is because they feel foolish in calling us in the first place and are trying to blame someone.

Claimant called in to cancel their 86 year old mother’s trip. She apparently fell and broke some bones in her spine. It’s the way she fell that is funny. She lives in an assisted living facility and a gentleman there leaned in to kiss her, lost his balance and fell on top of her thus knocking her to the floor and braking bones. So, they fell hard for love, right, or perhaps love hurts?

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that, then I’d have a nickel.

After a busy summer of caring for sick kids I departed to my parents’ house. I knew they were going on vacation and I figured I get some down time before I went back to school by staying at their house. But (there’s always a but) my parents cat was sick, so I ended up caring for it. The kids at camp never tried to scratch the crap out of me when I gave them their medications like this she devil cat did. But then I was trying to get them to swallow a pill, by semi gentle force. Ever try and hold a cat that doesn’t want to be held.

You should be professional at all times while caring for a patient. One time I slipped up. I was driving the ambulance lights and siren and was trying to make a right hand turn around a Pinto at an intersection and the idiot kept inching up. I got frustrated and let the F bomb loose. The patient heard, they complained, and then I heard it from the director. Not one of my better moments.

On another call when I was a new EMT I was rolling bandage over gauze and accidently dropped it and it rolled across the floor, a little nervous. For some reason the patient declined to be transported. It has always been a mystery to me as to why.

Here’s another stupid action on my part. One time I was behind some cars at a stop sign leaving the hospital. We were doing the stop and roll when my director called on the radio and for a split second I looked down to get the mic. The van in front of me proceeded to stop and so did I by using their bumper. The vehicles were undamaged but the van I hit was from the local state prison and was transporting a convicted murder back to it, so we needed to call the police to file a report. I blamed the director since they called and distracted me, fair enough, even thou I had called them first.

When I’m explaining or reading something to a customer and I hear them say: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I know they aren’t paying attention. Then they’ll turn around and ask me a question on something I’ve already explained. Perhaps if you were listening the first time, I wouldn’t have to repeat myself. Or I could just start making stuff up to see if they notice?

You make choices in life, sometimes you live to regret them, sometimes you don’t.

A co-workers son is currently in training to become an EMT and just watched the child birth video and was impressed. What I remember most about this experience during my training was the film I viewed was retrieved from a 1950’s era fallout shelter. (I mean actual film) It was in black and white (not that color is needed) and was set in a fallout shelter with a lady going through an actual birth, as a narrator explained how to proceed with care. There were some lost lunches during the viewing. The original purpose of this film was for it to be stored in these shelters to instruct anyone who might find themselves in this situation. Why it had to be filmed in a shelter, god only knows, especially since I’m sure the film makers are all dead. Also how was the shooting schedule figured out, it’s not like you can predict when someone is going to go into labor. Were they just hanging around a shelter waiting? Of course the mother could then say to their child, I allowed your birth to be filmed and thousands of strangers are going to watch it during the next Armageddon.

 

Someone has been calling us with the apparent idea that if they complain enough the reasons for coverage will change just for them. Nope, in this case the squeaky wheel is just noise and it doesn’t bother us.

Your swearing at me is not proof that I should believe you actually did what you are claiming to have done. For all I know, this is your reaction because in fact nothing has been done. So get over it and stop trying to bully people to get what you want, especially when you’re not entitled to it.

Just because you agree with what someone is saying doesn’t mean either of you have it right.

Even when I’m on the clock, I’m off it. Plus, I’m very much by the book. This would be true if I actually had looked at it or cared.

It’s clear to me you are clueless about your job, but that doesn’t leave it up to me to teach it to you. Your employer should have done that before they set you free to give out wrong information.

Do you really believe you’re the first person to bring up this lame argument and do you really think you’re the one that’s going to win with it? Keep dreaming.

With 154,000 miles on my minivan, I no longer sweat the small stuff; it’ll all work out or fall off on its own.