After my last post I was accused of being up on a soap box. Well...I liked the view from up there so here I go again. Last night a friend and I were baiting people on facebook with some political stuff, just for giggles. He's a liberal communist fag, I'm a conservative fascist douchebag, it's pretty much a match made in heaven. The truth of it is we're both pretty moderate, he leans to the left, I lean to the right, but both of us prefer common sense and reason to political talk show silliness. So last night I was actually arguing in favor of the liberal side, not because I believed it, but because the people arguing the conservative side were using nothing but media lines, name calling, and unrealistic views about what the president can accomplish. So in honor of those people, here is a list of people I hate :)
1. Republicans. Not all of them, because I'm obviously pretty awesome. No I hate the republicans that denounce democrats and everything they do just because they're democrats and they do stuff. They have no logic, no reason, or rely on completely misplaced anger. On a personal level I don't like Obama because he seems to be incredibly mediocre. He didn't start the war in Iraq, he didn't start the recession, he didn't kick your dog and steal all your toilet paper. He also hasn't ended the recession, well he did officially but not in reality. He hasn't ended the war in Iraq. He doesn't walk my dogs for me and he won't share his presidential 73 ply toilet paper. Now a lot of this isn't his fault, congress has road blocked much of what he tries. Would any of his plans work? Who knows. I would like to see him get more passionate about it though.
2. Democrats. Again, not all of them, but there are tons and tons of rich democrats that are guilty of the exact same money hording and refusal to hire as the rich republicans. That little D next to your name doesn't make you one of the regular people. IF democrats believe that businesses and rich people have a social responsibility to hire and help this recovery, then they can do it. Even if republican controlled money stayed sidelined if all of the democrat controlled money was in play it would make a huge impact. On top of that, the conservatives would be forced to put their money in play or risk falling behind in business.
3. Independents. Just...choose a side. Yeah I'm probably an independent when it comes down to it, but I get sick of the ones that only choose a side based on who's winning a particular argument. They manage to never be wrong by not taking a stand until after the fight. Grow a pair.
4. Stupid teenagers. I covered this in my last post so I won't take up space here.
5. Smart teenagers. You're not that smart.
6. People that complain about a problem they helped cause. This can be on any scale. I'm cold, well maybe you should have brought a jacket like I told you or put down the 72 ounce ice cold coke. Or on a bigger scale, and this has parts of two separate conversations I had with the same person, I'm still waiting for him to connect the dots.
Dumdum: "All these people need to stop complaining about unemployment and go get jobs."
Me: "Most of them agree with you. Sure there are a lot that are just abusing the system but most WANT to be working. Look at me, I've been a construction worker my whole life and now there is simply no work to be found."
Dumdum: "You should come check out my new house. I never would have been able to afford something this big if it wasn't for illegal immigrants."
And here comes the giant facepalm. Obviously there are a lot of variations, but a typical house has enough man hours to keep a person working for close to 2 years. So this guy complaining about people being unemployed is directly responsible for one person being out of work for 2 years. When I tried to explain it to him I just got the blank stare of doom.
7. Bad drivers. We've all seen the texters, the eaters, the makeup appliers, and no one likes them. To truly earn hate you have to be extra stupid though. I'm talking about the woman I saw driving down 435 reading a book. Not glancing at it, or checking out the cover, but actually propped up on the steering wheel turning pages while she drove across 3 lanes of traffic. If you're smart enough to read, you should be smart enough to know this is a bad idea. I'm also talking about the person who stops in the middle of the highway because they missed their exit. Guess what bud, cars behind you going 70 and you going 0 don't mix. Keep driving, there's another exit in 2 miles where you can turn around.
8. Self righteous "religious" people that ignore large chunks of scripture. Usually these are the people screaming about sexual morality. No abortions, no sex out of marriage, no homosexuals, and often times they use arguments that are found no where in the Bible. They've been added in later by other religious figures, or the meanings of the scripture are open for debate, it doesn't matter you're going to burn in hell. Point out to them that usery is a sin equal to sodomy? I'm going to hell because I'm defending gay people. Highlight scripture that speaks out against greed or excessive wealth? I'm just trying to draw attention away from my whoring ways. Point at the 9 year old boy duct taped in their closet? Well, he was practically begging for it.
9. Fred Phelps. He's the only one that actually gets named here. I could put him with the group above but he's a special kind of stupid. I've been banned from his website under a few different names just for pointing out holes in their reasoning. Without listing every questionable thing they say the basic idea they have about our troops dying out of punishment is, several years ago some idiot threw a pipe bomb in the street near one of the WBC member's house. It did a little damage to a car, think a couple paintings fell off the wall, I'm sure it was a terrible experience. They automatically jumped to the conclusion that someone was trying to kill them. It's possible, but the explosion happened in the street, not in their house. They really had nothing else to go on, but this was enough. So they tie that in to troops dying saying that God is using the Improvised Explosive Devices like the one they were attacked with to punish our troops. The tie in to gays is tenuous at best. I simply asked if God was using IED's as punishment, how do they know the one He used against them wasn't as a punishment for being hateful and judgemental to their fellow man. I was banned that day.
10. You. Thanks to the people I argued politics with last night I realize I don't even need a reason for this. In fact, I think I will quote one of them, only replacing whatever slur he used for Obama's name with the word you. "Who needs to post proof on here when everyone knows YOU suck giant donkey...."
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
It doesn't have to be this hard
School is going great so far. Well, except for my magical disappearing scholarship that I still haven't gotten straightened out. Classes though, are going great. I really enjoy all of my teachers, and I find every single class interesting. I'm also kicking the crap out of them. 3 of the classes I'm near 100%, and the other is lower but still an A. The lower grade, biology, is down for ridiculous reasons though. And despite the ease I see in all of these classes I also see a lot of kids struggling with them for no reason.
As for biology, I'm limping along by just barely getting A's on all of the tests and quizzes so far. If it was just a difficult class, or an extreme amount of materiel that was causing this I'd be ok with it. But it's not. The quizzes and tests are littered with questions that the teacher admitted to me are intentionally worded to lead people to the wrong answer. On top of this he will put at least two answers that are virtually identical to further mislead people. Other answers will be littered with abbreviations, looking more like a collection of random refrigerator magnets than a test.
Something like this:
A. ATP, NAD, AT, FADH
B. ATP, NADH, CG, FAD
C. ADP, NADH, CG, FAD
C. ATP, NADH, CG, FADH
Answer choices like that coupled with misleading questions are just setting people up for failure. If that wasn't enough, he also throws in a few questions that aren't in the assigned readings, study guides, or lecture notes. On one hand I get this, he wants the difference between an A and B to mean something. So you do some extra reading, make sure you hit the captions and highlighted sections of the chapter, easy right? Not so fast. His order of teaching has us bouncing around the book like it's an Addam's Family pinball machine. Two pages in chapter one, eight in chapter 12, a diagram in chapter three, even if you wanted to do the extra reading you wouldn't know where to begin. As it stands, you can study for a B, an A takes some good guessing. This is completely the teachers fault, and it should be obvious to him when the crown of his bell curve is centered somewhere around 55%.
Now to the idiot teenagers. I hate them. I hated teenagers when I was one, which is why I didn't have many friends, and I hate them now. Every day I hear someone complain about their grade, they're gonna lose a scholarship, get kicked off the team, get kicked out of school, get their ass beat by mom and dad, whatever. Then they will proceed to sit there and talk about nothing for two hours between classes instead of studying or reading. The teachers really aren't asking much of people. And I know all about blowing stuff off, hell I faked my way to an electronics engineering degree right out of highschool. The difference is, I knew it was my fault. Most of these kids don't put in even a little bit of effort, then act completely surprised when they get crappy results. I even heard one say that as much as his parents are paying for the school they should give him the grade. I just want to slap the hell out of some of these kids. Try a little, I watch you sit here for at least four hours a week doing nothing while I'm reading, making note cards, writing papers, whatever I need to do. Stop lying to yourselves, you have time. What you don't have is the initiative. I don't care if you pass or fail, I'm just sick of the bad excuses for their own laziness.
As for biology, I'm limping along by just barely getting A's on all of the tests and quizzes so far. If it was just a difficult class, or an extreme amount of materiel that was causing this I'd be ok with it. But it's not. The quizzes and tests are littered with questions that the teacher admitted to me are intentionally worded to lead people to the wrong answer. On top of this he will put at least two answers that are virtually identical to further mislead people. Other answers will be littered with abbreviations, looking more like a collection of random refrigerator magnets than a test.
Something like this:
A. ATP, NAD, AT, FADH
B. ATP, NADH, CG, FAD
C. ADP, NADH, CG, FAD
C. ATP, NADH, CG, FADH
Answer choices like that coupled with misleading questions are just setting people up for failure. If that wasn't enough, he also throws in a few questions that aren't in the assigned readings, study guides, or lecture notes. On one hand I get this, he wants the difference between an A and B to mean something. So you do some extra reading, make sure you hit the captions and highlighted sections of the chapter, easy right? Not so fast. His order of teaching has us bouncing around the book like it's an Addam's Family pinball machine. Two pages in chapter one, eight in chapter 12, a diagram in chapter three, even if you wanted to do the extra reading you wouldn't know where to begin. As it stands, you can study for a B, an A takes some good guessing. This is completely the teachers fault, and it should be obvious to him when the crown of his bell curve is centered somewhere around 55%.
Now to the idiot teenagers. I hate them. I hated teenagers when I was one, which is why I didn't have many friends, and I hate them now. Every day I hear someone complain about their grade, they're gonna lose a scholarship, get kicked off the team, get kicked out of school, get their ass beat by mom and dad, whatever. Then they will proceed to sit there and talk about nothing for two hours between classes instead of studying or reading. The teachers really aren't asking much of people. And I know all about blowing stuff off, hell I faked my way to an electronics engineering degree right out of highschool. The difference is, I knew it was my fault. Most of these kids don't put in even a little bit of effort, then act completely surprised when they get crappy results. I even heard one say that as much as his parents are paying for the school they should give him the grade. I just want to slap the hell out of some of these kids. Try a little, I watch you sit here for at least four hours a week doing nothing while I'm reading, making note cards, writing papers, whatever I need to do. Stop lying to yourselves, you have time. What you don't have is the initiative. I don't care if you pass or fail, I'm just sick of the bad excuses for their own laziness.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Crazies
Well, bidness is bout to pick up. Last week I got the license I needed to take the job I got a while back, and they held it for me. I'm starting a month later than planned but whatever, at least I got it. It's PRN so the hours will vary a lot, but I'm assuming it will be the end of free time for me. Hell, if it isn't then I'm not getting enough hours and need to look for another job. It's a float pool job, so getting adjusted may take a while, but some of the experiences I've already had volunteering in the ER really have me looking forward to it.
The vast majority of the patients in the ER are just normal people with normal problems. Chronic and new illnesses, minor accidents, or a sick relative that they are sure is dying but really just has indigestion. They are often scared, usually confused, and always extremely grateful. This is the group that leaves you with that warm fuzzy feeling when they leave. With this being the norm, it's easy to understand why most of the nurses I know have such high job satisfaction.
On the other hand, you get the crazies. Now, they aren't always separate from the normal group, they are often just as friendly and easy to work with. The difference is the more extreme behavior and/or circumstances with which they come in.Some of the nurses dread these cases, like others, I thrive on them. They are the most intriguing, exciting, and sometimes funniest cases you see. I don't know why, but there seems to be one every night that stands out.
My first night was the kid who got high for the first time. His parents were afraid he was dying, and the kid alternated between laughing at everything to freaking out. All tests showed that he was fine, no toxins, he just needed a little time. Truth be told, there were probably a half dozen other people in the ER that were just as high, but this relatively harmless hijinks made the evening.
On another night we had a patient who was very combative, especially with the female staff. I have no clue what ended up being wrong with him, I just know at this time he was quite a handful. After he threatened one of the female staffers I went over there, told her that I could watch him, and gave her a chance to get away. He immediately threatened me, saying that if he wanted to leave he would go right through me, and if I tried to stop him he would get me fired. I just answered, "sir, I'm a volunteer, I can't get fired". A passing doctor stopped and affirmed it, saying "yeah, it doesn't matter what he does we can't fire him". The man then quietly sat on the bed, folded his hands, and didn't say another word until security showed up to watch him. Later on in the night I checked up on him and found out he was quite possibly the most passionate football fan alive, even if he didn't know what team he liked.
Couple weeks back was a little old lady who had emphysema. She was cooky and funny, and I honestly can't say if she was completely with it or not. She was either half nutty, or extremely clever and liked to mess with people. I suspect the latter. At one point I was talking to a medic as she was passing by in a wheelchair, I told the medic "this one put up a good fight." To that she hit wheel lock on the chair, shocking the hell of the guy pushing her, stood up, put up her dukes, and started humming Eye of the Tiger.
I could understand if you lived with one of these people, or had to deal with the same person for the same problem on a daily basis that it would get old. In the situation where you are only around one of them for a short time, I think it makes your day. Even the combative angry guy who threatened me, but even he was very fun and lively in the end. It certainly gives you something different to deal with, and you never know what's next. I think it must be a good sign though, that the cases that push some away from the profession are the ones that are propelling my enthusiasm.
The vast majority of the patients in the ER are just normal people with normal problems. Chronic and new illnesses, minor accidents, or a sick relative that they are sure is dying but really just has indigestion. They are often scared, usually confused, and always extremely grateful. This is the group that leaves you with that warm fuzzy feeling when they leave. With this being the norm, it's easy to understand why most of the nurses I know have such high job satisfaction.
On the other hand, you get the crazies. Now, they aren't always separate from the normal group, they are often just as friendly and easy to work with. The difference is the more extreme behavior and/or circumstances with which they come in.Some of the nurses dread these cases, like others, I thrive on them. They are the most intriguing, exciting, and sometimes funniest cases you see. I don't know why, but there seems to be one every night that stands out.
My first night was the kid who got high for the first time. His parents were afraid he was dying, and the kid alternated between laughing at everything to freaking out. All tests showed that he was fine, no toxins, he just needed a little time. Truth be told, there were probably a half dozen other people in the ER that were just as high, but this relatively harmless hijinks made the evening.
On another night we had a patient who was very combative, especially with the female staff. I have no clue what ended up being wrong with him, I just know at this time he was quite a handful. After he threatened one of the female staffers I went over there, told her that I could watch him, and gave her a chance to get away. He immediately threatened me, saying that if he wanted to leave he would go right through me, and if I tried to stop him he would get me fired. I just answered, "sir, I'm a volunteer, I can't get fired". A passing doctor stopped and affirmed it, saying "yeah, it doesn't matter what he does we can't fire him". The man then quietly sat on the bed, folded his hands, and didn't say another word until security showed up to watch him. Later on in the night I checked up on him and found out he was quite possibly the most passionate football fan alive, even if he didn't know what team he liked.
Couple weeks back was a little old lady who had emphysema. She was cooky and funny, and I honestly can't say if she was completely with it or not. She was either half nutty, or extremely clever and liked to mess with people. I suspect the latter. At one point I was talking to a medic as she was passing by in a wheelchair, I told the medic "this one put up a good fight." To that she hit wheel lock on the chair, shocking the hell of the guy pushing her, stood up, put up her dukes, and started humming Eye of the Tiger.
I could understand if you lived with one of these people, or had to deal with the same person for the same problem on a daily basis that it would get old. In the situation where you are only around one of them for a short time, I think it makes your day. Even the combative angry guy who threatened me, but even he was very fun and lively in the end. It certainly gives you something different to deal with, and you never know what's next. I think it must be a good sign though, that the cases that push some away from the profession are the ones that are propelling my enthusiasm.
Monday, October 10, 2011
The anniversary post!
Obviously not for the blog, it's only been what, 3 months or so since I started this? No, today marks two years since I joined my present to my future. With all we've had to deal with in our young marriage I think you have to count them in dog years. However, facing all the hardships that we have has done nothing but prove that I made the right decision. Health issues, money issues, both of us going back to school, and me making a major career change, all things that could easily break a relationship. For us though, it's really been pretty easy. There's never been blame or complaints directed at each other, whenever one gets overwhelmed the other is always ready to step up. The ability to walk through so much without our relationship taking any hits is amazing to me. We're scheduled for a couple more tough years, at least until I finish school, but I'm not worried. Sure there's gonna be plenty of problems and hard times getting there, but I'm happy knowing they won't effect how we see each other.
Two years ago, I gave my heart
To the woman I love, so we could start
To build a life, and a love so pure
That could see us through life's adventure.
Happier now than I ever thought I could be
Because you also gave your heart to me
Living now in serenity, and in peace
Thank you for choosing me, I love you Denise
Two years ago, I gave my heart
To the woman I love, so we could start
To build a life, and a love so pure
That could see us through life's adventure.
Happier now than I ever thought I could be
Because you also gave your heart to me
Living now in serenity, and in peace
Thank you for choosing me, I love you Denise
Friday, October 7, 2011
Boom! Headshot!
As I was leaving school today I heard a pretty loud smack a few blocks away. Looked up and saw it was a car wreck, but only one car. I ran up there to see if there was anything I could do. It was unintentional but the whole time I was running I started running the steps of CPR through my head, even though I've never done it. When I got there a woman who was driving by had stopped as well, and I saw her crouching over a young boy of about 5 or 6. Fortunately, she was a nurse. I told her I was a CNA and asked what she needed help with, and she had me hold the boy still for a minute or two until he calmed down so he didn't move his neck. Fortunately he didn't break any bones, had only minor scrapes, but likely had a concussion because he took a very hard blow to the head. The car took his legs out from under him and his head hit on the hood. He was a tough little dude, stopped crying very quickly, followed directions, and was able to answer questions. The cops and medics were all super fast arriving, and we were only a couple miles from Children's Mercy South so hopefully everything ended up ok.
Now, there is no doubt the kid never should have been in the street. That being said, I have very serious doubts about the drivers story. She said she had just come over a hill and he was right there. The speed limit there is only 35, and despite what she said about just coming over a hill the crest was at least 30 yards away. I know that's not a lot, but at 35mph that's plenty of time to stop. The other reason I doubt her story is because the collision happened dead center on her car. With the distance and speed limit even if she wasn't able to stop she should have swerved at least some. I also did not hear the brake screech until after I heard the impact. I told all of this to the police, even though I didn't see the actual impact. I think it's worth checking her cell phone records at the very least. If she is lying then I hope really bad things happen to her. I can't imagine hitting a kid and being more worried about my own ass.
The other problem I saw was crowd control. Within just a couple minutes a small crowd had already gathered, moving in closer and closer to the kid. He's hurt, scared, and people need room to take care of him, the last thing he needs is a bunch of people standing over him gawking. Since I wasn't needed anymore to help hold him I started pushing some of the people back so the medics would have a clear path. One person thought it was appropriate to try and take a picture of this poor kids knot. I blew the rare fuse at that. I told him if he didn't put his *&^%$%^# camera up right now I was going to stick it up his ass. I could just see the kids picture on the internet later tonight with a stupid caption under it. Later on at the ER where I volunteer I saw one of the medics that heard me say it, he had a little fun with me over it but damn, did he laugh.
It was great to be able to get in and actually help, not just be another person in the way. Really hope the little man is ok but there's no way for me to find out. If nothing else, he'll be a hero the next few days in school.
Now, there is no doubt the kid never should have been in the street. That being said, I have very serious doubts about the drivers story. She said she had just come over a hill and he was right there. The speed limit there is only 35, and despite what she said about just coming over a hill the crest was at least 30 yards away. I know that's not a lot, but at 35mph that's plenty of time to stop. The other reason I doubt her story is because the collision happened dead center on her car. With the distance and speed limit even if she wasn't able to stop she should have swerved at least some. I also did not hear the brake screech until after I heard the impact. I told all of this to the police, even though I didn't see the actual impact. I think it's worth checking her cell phone records at the very least. If she is lying then I hope really bad things happen to her. I can't imagine hitting a kid and being more worried about my own ass.
The other problem I saw was crowd control. Within just a couple minutes a small crowd had already gathered, moving in closer and closer to the kid. He's hurt, scared, and people need room to take care of him, the last thing he needs is a bunch of people standing over him gawking. Since I wasn't needed anymore to help hold him I started pushing some of the people back so the medics would have a clear path. One person thought it was appropriate to try and take a picture of this poor kids knot. I blew the rare fuse at that. I told him if he didn't put his *&^%$%^# camera up right now I was going to stick it up his ass. I could just see the kids picture on the internet later tonight with a stupid caption under it. Later on at the ER where I volunteer I saw one of the medics that heard me say it, he had a little fun with me over it but damn, did he laugh.
It was great to be able to get in and actually help, not just be another person in the way. Really hope the little man is ok but there's no way for me to find out. If nothing else, he'll be a hero the next few days in school.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)