Jumping Sphincters

That was a comment from our physician advisor the other day at case reviews.  He was talking about the 'good' calls, when your inner paramedic says 'oh, shit', or, you develop a case of the jumping sphincter.  Not sure how that compares to jumping spiders, but not something I'd seek out.

He also had this to say:  "We're gonna kill them one way or they'll die the other way".  This was in the same conversation and he was trying to say that yes, some of the treatments we administer are dangerous and can be lethal, but sometimes if we don't do anything, the patient will die.

I'm finally getting settled in and cleaned up.  Michael & Gaelen are back at home and in school.  I drove them up on New Years Day, 13 fun-filled hours of driving.  On the way up, though, we stopped at the Seattle Maritime Academy.  One of their training boats is a decommissioned Coast Guard cutter, the USCGC Point Divide.  My dad served on her in the late 60's out of Corona del Mar in Newport Beach, California.  That's when Richard Nixon was president - the Coast Guard patrolled off of San Clemente when Tricky Dick was at the Western White House.  That's also when/where The Boatniks was filmed.  I remember going out on the boat twice - once to fish for shark, and the other to recover some parachutists who jumped into the ocean.  Anyway, we stopped so that I could take a picture to show Dad.  Of course, the place was locked up so I had to settle for a through-the-fence shot.  Here's a much better one.

I did 125 floors in half an hour the other day on the Stairmaster.  Between that and the Soloflex, I'm still losing weight (or at least not gaining it back).  Living on a 3rd floor apartment helps, too.  I've learned to combine my movements - if I need to go out, something (garbage, recycling, etc) goes with me.  Similarly when I come back.  Thanks to the generosity of co-workers, I've got pretty much all the furniture I need.

I've also got a new computer.  Dell was stupid kind enough to extend me a line of credit for my new laptop.  I'm really enjoying the portability of it.  I know laptops have been around for quite some time, but this is my first and it's still a novelty and a great tool.

Now that the madness of the past few months has settled, I'm starting the monthly training again, and looking forward to it.  Oregon only requires 24 hours of continuing education every two years, but that will likely change in the next year or two, so that I'll be busier.

Nancy & I had coffee this morning, a pleasant hour of talking and laughing at the dog.  Hopefully we'll do it again soon.