Going, Going, Gone. Now, back at it....
Here it comes......there it goes. zzzzzzzip. And break is over. Back to school it is this week, but not without some good times to remember. Good times with a bit of a therapeutic effect. Sitting in school with basically no social life can get old in some ways. The only way to temporarily overcome that is if the classes are absolutely intriguing. Maybe that will be the case this semester. The credit load will include two 400 level biology classes, and two 300 level nursing classes, for a total of 14 credits. Not a high number, but certainly hard enough. And no more Spanish!!!!! Yay!!!
Oh, but what about those good times? Well, here's a bit of a review.... I took that job at Lehigh Valley Hospital's main campus on Cedar Crest Blvd. and have to admit that I am really enjoying it. I only wish I could have spent more time there before going back to school, because I feel like I've barely gotten into the swing of things there. Besides the new job, well,,,,,, I got a pretty decent amount of time in on the ambulance, mostly at Schuylkill Valley EMS, and got a pleasant variety of calls. At this point, running ambulance is somewhat analogous to the sensation that some of you coffee lovers get when you get that pleasant aroma wafting into your nostrils on a cold morning. I mean, it perks you up, doesn't it? Well, when you sit at a desk pushing a pencil, forevermore sit there reading, or frantically jamming away at the poor computer keyboard on some project, it all begins to blur into some unrealistic mess, and I really wonder if I'll be properly prepared to be booted out into the real world in about 16 months. Aaaaaaah!!! Yezzz .... bubba ....need....more....clinical. Let me at 'em. Thus the new per diem job and ambulance time while I had the chance. That was my whiff of coffe, my flicker of light at the end of the tunnel.
I also got to run on a few fire calls, and I'm not talking about some boring little automatic fire alarms that malfunctioned or something like that, but some real working structure fires. Obviosusly, becaase you can see one of them in the last post. Everyone from the fire departments around here were happy to get those pictures, and liked them a lot. The other fire that I was at was a real eye opener. I was at the gas station less than half a mile away when simultaneously I noticed smoke rising not far away and heard my pager chattering. I payed for my stuff quick, and went hauling up there to see what's going on. None of the trucks had gotten there yet, only a few other guys in their personal vehicles too. This house was just blazing away and pouring out thick smoke. The only thing we could do for about 3 minutes was wait for the first trucks to arrive. Bethel's engine/pumper got there first and dumped a bunch of hoses, and we went at it. Rehrsburg's engine got there next and started an attack also. Then a whole mess of trucks and guys showed up and we set up a bucket brigade. No, just kidding, we did pour a huge amount of water on the place though, and it's still standing, but basically ruined throughout. The owner got out alive, with just a little bit of smoke inhalation, but he'll be OK. Sorry, no pictures this time.
Aside from all of that, I did have some good down time with friends over winter break. I made a new rabbit hunting buddy, actually a husband to one of my professors. The ice storm that we had about a week or two before Christmas sort of put a monkeywrench in the works for the clay bird shoot that I had planned, but that's OK. A few of us hardcore's got together in the cold of January and shot'm up anyway. What else? Well, of course all of the Christmas parties and stuff. Good times with good friends, and a nice long chat with my cousin about getting through college and how he managed to do it. Turns out, we think and study very much alike. At the moment of the new year, I found myself watching the fireworks erupting up out of the city of Reading while driving the ambulance to the hospital. I got a good view while traveling all the way down the West Shore Bypass till we had to get off at our exit. Also, a buch of my friends from around the neighborhood and a few other places managed to get together a couple of times for some games, i.e. volleyball, cards games, etc. Most people probably don't think much of that, and it's nothing highly special to them, but when you've been cooped up in a classroom for x number of weeks, it's good to get away from it and just blow off a little steam.
Oh, but here we go again, for another semester. So here's the lineup: Pharmacology, Pathophysiology, Transcultural Nursing, and the kicker, for 5 credits including a clinical rotation once per week, the fourth class is another nursing class dealing with behavioral health and so forth. Hmmmm, behavioral health and pathophysiology together in the same semester. What an interesting mix. I'm sensing Déjà vu of a semster gone by when I took Theology and Philosophy at the same time.
Oh, but what about those good times? Well, here's a bit of a review.... I took that job at Lehigh Valley Hospital's main campus on Cedar Crest Blvd. and have to admit that I am really enjoying it. I only wish I could have spent more time there before going back to school, because I feel like I've barely gotten into the swing of things there. Besides the new job, well,,,,,, I got a pretty decent amount of time in on the ambulance, mostly at Schuylkill Valley EMS, and got a pleasant variety of calls. At this point, running ambulance is somewhat analogous to the sensation that some of you coffee lovers get when you get that pleasant aroma wafting into your nostrils on a cold morning. I mean, it perks you up, doesn't it? Well, when you sit at a desk pushing a pencil, forevermore sit there reading, or frantically jamming away at the poor computer keyboard on some project, it all begins to blur into some unrealistic mess, and I really wonder if I'll be properly prepared to be booted out into the real world in about 16 months. Aaaaaaah!!! Yezzz .... bubba ....need....more....clinical. Let me at 'em. Thus the new per diem job and ambulance time while I had the chance. That was my whiff of coffe, my flicker of light at the end of the tunnel.
I also got to run on a few fire calls, and I'm not talking about some boring little automatic fire alarms that malfunctioned or something like that, but some real working structure fires. Obviosusly, becaase you can see one of them in the last post. Everyone from the fire departments around here were happy to get those pictures, and liked them a lot. The other fire that I was at was a real eye opener. I was at the gas station less than half a mile away when simultaneously I noticed smoke rising not far away and heard my pager chattering. I payed for my stuff quick, and went hauling up there to see what's going on. None of the trucks had gotten there yet, only a few other guys in their personal vehicles too. This house was just blazing away and pouring out thick smoke. The only thing we could do for about 3 minutes was wait for the first trucks to arrive. Bethel's engine/pumper got there first and dumped a bunch of hoses, and we went at it. Rehrsburg's engine got there next and started an attack also. Then a whole mess of trucks and guys showed up and we set up a bucket brigade. No, just kidding, we did pour a huge amount of water on the place though, and it's still standing, but basically ruined throughout. The owner got out alive, with just a little bit of smoke inhalation, but he'll be OK. Sorry, no pictures this time.
Aside from all of that, I did have some good down time with friends over winter break. I made a new rabbit hunting buddy, actually a husband to one of my professors. The ice storm that we had about a week or two before Christmas sort of put a monkeywrench in the works for the clay bird shoot that I had planned, but that's OK. A few of us hardcore's got together in the cold of January and shot'm up anyway. What else? Well, of course all of the Christmas parties and stuff. Good times with good friends, and a nice long chat with my cousin about getting through college and how he managed to do it. Turns out, we think and study very much alike. At the moment of the new year, I found myself watching the fireworks erupting up out of the city of Reading while driving the ambulance to the hospital. I got a good view while traveling all the way down the West Shore Bypass till we had to get off at our exit. Also, a buch of my friends from around the neighborhood and a few other places managed to get together a couple of times for some games, i.e. volleyball, cards games, etc. Most people probably don't think much of that, and it's nothing highly special to them, but when you've been cooped up in a classroom for x number of weeks, it's good to get away from it and just blow off a little steam.
Oh, but here we go again, for another semester. So here's the lineup: Pharmacology, Pathophysiology, Transcultural Nursing, and the kicker, for 5 credits including a clinical rotation once per week, the fourth class is another nursing class dealing with behavioral health and so forth. Hmmmm, behavioral health and pathophysiology together in the same semester. What an interesting mix. I'm sensing Déjà vu of a semster gone by when I took Theology and Philosophy at the same time.
posted by GKStauffer at 23:20
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