A lil' history

I'm not much of a history student, unlike my mom, who spends almost every waking hour scouring every conceivble resource for geneaology and stuff like that. I like to hear someone else read or tell stories if they are interesting, or seeing movies that tell about history, but I'm just not much for reading about it. And geneaology to me is mostly boring. Actually, I just don't like reading much at all, because I'm so slow at it, so that's one of my biggest problems in college. I don't have patience. Patients yes; patience no.
Also, I'll admit that I like some newer styles of music, more than some old ones, simply because the old songs have been repeated over and over for ages. But I guess it makes a difference when you know the story behind a song.
A while back my aunt & uncle posted something on their blog of historical significance. They talked about the story of Philip P. Bliss. Yesterday, I heard a re-run of a story about another gentleman by the name of Horatio Spafford. Not sure who would name their baby Horatio, but that was a different era. Philip Bliss and Horatio Spafford knew each other, and I would write all about it, but that would take too long. Besides, if you are anything like me, you would rather hear it told instead of reading about it. So here's a link to a radio drama version the story, which is better than me trying to write about it anyway. Here's the link. Just click on the episode titled "It is Well" when the window opens.
I heard this story on the radio yesterday, and it reminded me of my uncle's blog post, and a few of the songs that I posted on my music player that have to do with 9/11, and the Titanic. Maybe I'll post Mr. Spafford's song in with those others. You should be able to hear the story if you have high speed internet, but I'm not sure how long that episode will be accessible, because that website is constantly changing. Anyway, enjoy!

Gizmo's Gadgets Thingamajigs Whatch'ya'ma-callit's and other Handy Dandy Doo-ma-hickies

So, what are all those things I pull out of my pockets, unhook from my belt, or otherwise disentangle from my clothing at the end of the day? Somehow I've accumulated a barrage of all sorts of "things and stuff" that I carry almost everywhere, and I understand now why they make pants with extra saddle-bag pockets on the sides of the legs. You probably wouldn't know it by just seeing me walking around most of the time, but when I unload those pockets, all sorts of stuff shows up. Did you ever read the book Old Yeller? I think it was in that book where the mom always made the little kid empty his pockets at the end of the day, because when she would wash his clothes, she would usually find something disagreeable in his pockets, like frogs, spiders, baby snakes, sticks, rocks, and who knows what else. It's not quite like that for me, and not always the same stuff every day. Not all of my stuff is pictured here, but at least this gives you an idea. A camera, a trauma shears, Letherman tool, PDA (personal digital assistant), Sirius satellite radio, a watch, calculator, digital voice recorder, cell phone, stethoscope...

That's just what's in the picture. Depending on where I'm going for the day, there could be a few other things as well. Like maybe a tablet, pen, penlight, fire pager, EMS pager, ID badges from work or school, sometimes a sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) and of course always my wallet. Oh, and lets not forget keys! I have keys to just about anything. My vehicles, the fire company, the ambulance building, my church, my gun cabinet and trigger locks, and so on. I'm basically a walking hardware store some days. Hey! That reminds me, I even have keys to the hardware store itself. The boss wanted me to keep them for now, but I think it's about time to just give them back anyway, because I doubt I'll be working there much anymore. It's been almost 2 years since I punched that time clock, even though I never officially quit. I just sort of gradually phased out of there with the agreement that if the boss ever gets in a bind, he can call me to help him out. That's why I still have the keys, but he hasn't called for a long time.

The trauma shears will cut through just about anything I need it to, including seat belts, my finger nails, a trauma patient's clothing, even a penny. The camera isn't mine, but I use it all the time to capture those Kodak moments. The calculator is slowly becoming outdated because of other technology, but it is still useful for its scientific functions in statistics and other stuff. The voice recorder is a great surveillance tool, and personal memory assistant. The watch is a cheap WalMart commodity, but it has this little button on the side, so that if I push it as far down on my wrist a possible, then extend my wrist (opposite direction of flexion), then the back of my hand pushes the button and the light comes on. That way my other hand is free, and I can check a patient's pulse in a dimly lit area.

Of all these gadgets, besides the cell phone, the two that I've used the most often over the past several years are the Letherman tool, and the PDA. I used the Letherman on a daily basis for just about anything when I was farming, building silos, wrenching on cars, and building pole barns. It's been used as a hammer, a wedge, a butcher knife, and who knows what else. I consider the PDA to be my "Letherman" of nursing. Certainly, you can be a nurse without a PDA, or a farmer without a Letherman, but it sure is handy to have right there at your side all the time. My PDA has a drug guide, medial dictionary, lab book, drug interactions guide, clinical calculator with all sorts of pre-programmed formulas, NCLEX practice test book, disease classification tool, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It has more functions than I regularly use, like bluetooth and infrared data transfer. It will connect to the internet via Wi-Fi, accept an SD card or a USB cable, play music like a iPod, keep a schedule for me, and store PowerPoint and MS Word documents. I even carry it to church, because I bought a digital NIV Bible and loaded onto the PDA. I would be in bad shape if that thing malfunctioned or got lost.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not trying to brag about posessions here, because there's nothing worthy of bragging about; it's more of a pondering of these things in terms of their utility. In the fire department and on the EMS squad, even in the ER, they mockingly (yet somewhat affectionately) refer to people who insist on showing up at every single emergency call, and carry lots of stuff as "whackers." There's nothing like being prepared, you know, just like the goat in the movie Hoodwinked. All of this stuff is handy as long as you know how to use them, and they don't break or whatever else. I just wonder what kind of a different person I would be if I didn't have these gadgets to bail me out all the time. Would I have learned to be more proficient and intelligent, or would I be just as clueless as I am now, and just a little more disadvantaged?

What about you? Allow me to quote Capital One credit card company: "What's in your wallet?" Or maybe, Gollum, from Lord of the Rings, "What has it got in it's pocket'sz?" What sorts of small gizmo's and gadgets do you use on a daily basis? Tell me about it after you check out this rendition of Benji Gaither starring as the goat in Hoodwinked.

Cabela's points

I have a Cabela's Visa card, and I try to do most of my spending through that. It's not that I inentionally spend more money than I would otherwise, just because I have this card, but rather that I try to do as much of my spending through the card as possible because there are several good reasons for me to do so. I learned a long time ago that I am more likely to spend cash if I carry it, rather than charge things to a card. I know, not everyone is like that, but it works for me. Also, I want to build my credit score as much as possible, and having this credit card is one way of doing it. Also, Cabela's has a points system where they give you a 1% reward for everything you charge to your card. In other words, if I charge something worth $100 to my card, they give me $1 of credit to buy something in their store. If you are responsible with a credit card, and never have a late payment, and never get charged any interest, then the points system is basically their way of thanking you by giving you something free from the Cabela's store. If I have my info correct, you can only use the points to buy something from the store though; you can't use it to pay off your credit card bill, or collect the value in cash, or anything like that. It's one of those things that's good to sign up for, then forget about it for a few years, if you can, and not worry about how many points you are accumulating. I've been using my Cabela's card for a few years now, and I don't remember for sure if I ever used any of my points to buy anything at Cabela's or not. I was saving up my points in hopes of getting another gun some day. Well, on Friday I finally got around to it. I got a Ruger .44 Magnum revolver almost for free. I figured that off all the things I could have gotten at Cabela's, a gun would hold its value the best, so in that way it might have been the best choice of an investment. It was used, and listed at a price just a little bit above the number of points I had saved up. It had a scope on it, but I got them to take it off so I could fit the gun to a holster. The scope was not very nice, and looked scuffed pretty badly. Some other customer at the gun counter at Cabela's was eyeing up my gun, and we got to chit-chatting a little bit. I offered to give him the scope for free, because to me it looked like a really beat up piece of junk, and he, in turn, offered to buy a box of bullets for me. So I walked away with a nearly free gun, a free box of bullets, and a few years of establishing good credit with Cabela's Visa. Suits me fine!