Almost Died Last Night!!!!

Dang! Can you say white knuckle driving?
Drove to Little Rock last night.
60mph winds, drving rain and tornados the whole way. 9 1/2 hours.
You should have seen all the buildings blown down along the way.
Crazy too, they drive like 90 and above through AR and OK. Seriously. I was driving 80+ just so that I wouldn't get run off the road (Inthe weather mentioned) and people were still tail gating me andpassing me. Went by a pretty big car accident on the way into Tulsa, the ambulances were just leaving when I went buy. I guess some wood from a lumber yard got blown into the interstate, struck a mini-van and knocked it over. Killed one guy, the other guy was in critical condition last I heard. Yet, they still drove on like loons.
Went to MEMS of Little Rock for an Paramedic position.
It was rather anticlimactic.
Filled out an application, handed her my resume packet and she looked at it and said, "We'll call you for testing and interviews." She looked at the Resume, saw the color copies of all my certifications and said, "Ooooh, that's nice...what a great idea." paused and said, "You're already a Paramedic, that's good." What the heck? Of course I'm "Already a Paramedic". It's not an OJT thing....I know there is a reason I was suppose to drive there and apply. I need to trust God that he's going to make things work out.
-sigh.
Now I'm in Tulsa for my intervew tomorrow.
Man, I'm tired.
Didn't sleepwell last night.
I'm nervous as all get out, Panel interview in the morning, so I probably won't sleep well tonight.
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Maybe We Could Be On A Roll In Little Rock?

So, I was thinking. Since I'll be going down to Tulsa next week...I could just swing by Little Rock a day early and submit a resume with this EMS company down there. They ONLY take resmues in person. No online, no mail...in person. It's woth a shot. Plus it would give me an excuse to sing the Collin Raye song...

"I think I'm on a roll here in Little Rock.
I'm solid as a stone, baby, wait and see.
I've got just one small problem here in Little Rock,
without you, baby I'm not me.

Without you, baby I'm not me...

I think I'm on a roll here in Little Rock."

I've never been to Little Rock and have always liked that song.

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Move Along

Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.
Ho hum couple of days. Nothing really exciting.
'cept, we traded in the Air Craft Carrier (15-Passenger) Goliath for a Dodge Caravan.
That's about exciting, isn't it?
No, seriously. It's nice to have a vehicle that doesn't scream. "Immigration and Naturalization Service, we're here to deport you!!" Especially in our neighborhood.
You should see the people run.
Though, that does make for a cheap Friday night date with the Mrs.

Is It For Breakfast?

Mmmm......Last night my wife made some pretty tastey home made vegetable soup. It had nice "hearty" (whatever that means, but it sounds appropriate) chunks of vegetalbes. I was thinking, this is really nice, but it needs just one more thing...some sort of sausage. So, I decided to go out and get a movie (I had yet to see Star Wars Episode III-Revenge Of The Sith) and rented it.

The video store is next to a discount super market so I decided to peruse the meat counter.
Low and behold what do I see? But a Hillshire Farm Hot Smoked Sausage looking at me. We love the Hillshire Farm Polska Keilbasa, but I had never seen this.

To make a long story not at all much shorter, but for the lack of a better segway, this morning I was chopping up the Hot Smoked Sausage to put in the soup and saw that I had more than what the soup really needed. Since my two middle children had eaten my Malt O'Meal I heated up about an inch of the alluring link. HOLY CROW! That stuff is awesome!!! I would highly advise anyone who has even a bit of a palate to try that. If they don't have it at the store you frequent change stores immediately because your store meat manager is a moron.

I think I just may have to make a store run after the Mrs. gets back and do some of this for lunch. Maybe with some nice boxed AuGratin potatos.

I had a rooomate once with whom I used to cook Hillshire Farm Polska Keilbasa and Boxed AuGratin Potatos and Broccoli a lot with. When you're a couple of bachelors that's good home cook'n.

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Oh, by the way, I neither work for nor represent Hillshire Farm in any way. I just think saying the entire name is fun.
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Tulsa Trip

Well, it looks like I'm Tulsa bound.

Finally got in touch with EMSA, seems thier recruiting coordinator is overly taxed and is not in his office much. Imagine, a guy involved with EMS overly taxed. But, I want to get involved with this stuff in the worst way.

It's nice having friends down in the Tulsa area.
I have options to chose from in where I can stay, though, I'm looking forward to staying with a family who are pretty much our best family friends. We love these guys and only can pray they stay a long time. They miss Nebraska a ton. Maybe it'll be easier for them when we move down there.

EMSA: Panel interview on the 29th and thier 4 week Academy begins January 9th.
I think I can manage staying at Starbuck's for a little while longer, just need to pick up as many hours at other stores as I can.

Being in Big 12 Country will be still be cool. I couldn't imagine living in Big 10, SEC or ACC country. Like the history in OK.

Man, am I ready for a change.

Dang, I'm late for work!!!!!!!!!!!!.

How Long?

Dang, how long must it take to get in touch with Tulsa?
It's like phone tag, but they're in slow motion.

I always tell my brother, "Employers are never in as much of a hurry to hire you as you are to be hired.", but It's hard to take ones own advice.

I really need to start looking for another job. $8.50 and hour plus tips at Starbuck's isn't enough to support a family. Paramedics for private ambulance companies here in Omaha only make $9.00 an hour so it's not much better.

Maybe I can look at Creighton Medical Center and get a job as an ICU tech or something.
It's getting rather frustrating. I looked at Little Rock, AR, but you have to go down there and apply in person. That's a bit of a jaunt to fill out an application that may or may not happen.

Today is the first snow of the year and everyone is driving like morons. It's amazing how the time between snow falls erases any type of winter weather driving skills. The kids were so happy that it was going to snow that they had us get out thier "Heavy Coats" out the night before so they'd have them ready.

I'm dreading my Noon to 4 shift at Starbuck's today. (What a worthless shift) It's going to be freagg'n busy with people coming in for winter drinks. What amazes me is that no matter how cold it is out, there is always some one and her friend (usually a women and no I'm not a mysoganist,) who order two different kinds of Frappuccinos during a stink'n rush.

Ok, I'm being bad father by ignoring my kids while the spouse is gone.
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Anyone know of a 911 base ambulance service that is hiring, pop me a message, will ya?
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Bilateral Pedal Paresthesia Neuropathy

Bot of my feet have fallen asleep. I hate that. I think I'm getting old. My feet sometimes even ache after when I try to walk after sitting or laying down for a long time. Goes away after a few seconds, but it's still quite discomforting.

Speaking of discomforting. This season's football is going to be the death of me. Seriously, can someone please bolus me with some verapamil? I think I'm going to have a heart attack watching both my Huskers and my Buccaneers play. Both of those teams have won their last games by come from behind wins in the last seconds and have held off the opponents as the seconds wane.
I don't know how much more of this I can take. At least my Huskers have salvaged the season and have won a bowl bid. Maybe the Callahan haters will stop whining for some changes....like the last couple of years haven't been changes enough. Brainiacs. [insert :rolleyes:]

Today our youngest turned one. We haven't didn't have a party for him because we were hoping for a doppio celebration with the adoption being finalized, but the complete loser of an adoption counsilor screwed that opportunity for us.

We had quite a cultural masala today.
Neighbors are from Bangaladesh. Thier daughter turned 12 today. That's a big day in thier culture. Kind of her coming of age celebration. It was held at a Chinese Buffet.
So, you have a (mostly) Mexican family, with a nearly albino son, at a Chinese Buffet celebrating the birthday of a Muslim Bangali girl who had invited some of her African-American classmates as well. It was pretty cool. Everyone was dressed to the nines (except for the Americans) and they were playing some AWESOME Bangladesh music (Sounds Like Indian music, but I'm dumb). I was digging it pretty well. Unfortunately, the gir doesn't like my kids, but the parents love my family and we really love the parents, so there you go.

Hey, my feet are no longer asleep....Oh, sorry I slipped for a moment...I am no longer experiencing bilateral pedal paresthesia neuropathy.

I am still full from the buffet of 5 hours ago, but am intending on popping some microwave popcorn with my wife after the kids go to sleep and washing it down with some Eggnog.

Maybe I should go to the BP (Beyond Petroleum, my foot) and buy some Captains to go along with my Blue Bunny EggNog. That might take away this caffine headache that Starbuck's has so cursed me with. I should no better than to add a shot to my Iced Vente 6 pump vanilla quad Caramel Macchiato.
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Paper Thin

Man, the walls of these towne homes are paper thin. You can hear the neighbors like they're sitting in your living room.
I knew I was a pathetic drunk when I was in my college days back in the 80's, but these guys take the cake. (must be rum cake) I'm getting up at 5:00am to go to work and they're just getting home. Loud, boisterous and stupid! Talking at 30o decibles about absolutely stupid stuff.
The one roomate has lost his lisence to DWI and has to have everyone pick him up.
It's pretty sad really.

Baby's Doing Fine

Things are goood. Surgery went really well.
G-Tube is out. Fistula closed. All bandaged up and packaged nicely.
Kids are amazing. He wakes up from surgery and just starts playing like nothing is unusual.
I actually think he's in a better mood than he has been in months, his G-Button site must have really been killing him more than we thought.
All the nurses loved him. What's not to love?
Oh, yeah...and he's home now eating like a machine.
Got his one year photos back today. He's so stink'n cute!!!

More and More Drama

Holy stink'n crow.
When it rains it pours.
Maybe there should be a law for drama limits in a week or something.

As you guys know, our adoptive baby boy has a G-Button (Tummy tube feeding valve thingy) because when we got him he was in failure to thrive. He was only taking 1/2 once by mouth the rest by G-button. Well, we haven't used it in 10 weeks for nutrition and for about 8 weeks for medication. He is taking 100% of his intake by mouth.
Well, the last 4 weeks his G-button has been really red and leaky. We called and they said, that's normal. We said, we know it's not normal. They said, you have a Dr appointment in 6 weeks let's look at it then.
The last two weeks th G-button has been WAY LEAKY, like 3-4 ounces leaky after each feeding.

The last week, it's been literally squirting out stomach acid. We've caled and called and they said, "Well, it needs to stay in for 6 months after last use anyway just in case he catches a cold." WTF??? "Yeah, in case he catches a cold and needs fluid." WTF do you do normally with kids who get really sick during the cold season. Worst case, send them to the ER and put in an IV. Just because the kid has Down, we have to leave it in?

Any way, finally we called enough times in the last few days to get thier attention and they said, "We'll take it out and put a new one that fits better in, it must just need to be replaced."
Mrs. Bug takes him to the office, it's only a nurse who looks at it, she lifts up his shirt and says, "Um, we need to have the Doc look at this in-between his surgeries." The doc is pissed off that he has to be called to the whiney parents, storms in, looks at it and says. "Oh, that's not right. No F'n duh, you freak'n asss hole.

[side note: Mrs.Bug has worked with him in surgery and knows hes one of the biggest asses in surgery she's ever worked with]

Anyway Mrs. Bug tells him the whole story of how he was when we got him and where he is now......factors into his decison that........
The site not only is really erroded and infected, but also quite herniated. The pulled the tube[spewed mucousa, food, and acid all over the doc] now his is in the hospital, they're doing surgery on Wednesday to fix the herniation and they decided not to replace the G-button.
Bastards, we could have saved them the trouble a few weeks ago when we asked them to pull it out then and he wouldn't have to have all this surgery.

We are not these, "Well, we're medical people and you better listen to us pain in the butts, but WE'RE MEDICAL PEOPLE AND YOU BETTER LISTEN TO US!!!!
You would not believe how nice everyone was being to us tonight. I just left the hospital and Mrs. Bug and I did the pass the baton of staying in the room. Next couple of days are gonna suck.






By the way, I may be driving down to Tulsa for an interview next week. Will solidify things tomorrow (Wednesday)

Cops Called.

We called the cops on one of our neighbors today.
They send their 2 year old, 4 year old and 8 year old out to play with NO supervision all the time. I mean ALL the time. We NEVER see the parents.

Well, today a neighbor lady knocks on our door at 8:00 am. She's holding a the two year old who is only wearing Pampers and little t-shirt.
The lady asked, "This little guy was just wandering around. Do you know where he belongs?"

So I take the guy over to his apartment where only the screen door is closed.
I knock...wait...knock harder....wait...ring the bell and knock....wait.....nothing.
So I stick him inside. [Repeat the previous three times]

So, We call the cops. I was just going to call CPS, but the wife wanted the cops called because the parents might be dead or sick or something.

Cops come and knock and ring and call in through the door. Get no response. So the cops go inside. Turns out that the mom was just sleeping upstairs. She said her son must not have locked the screen door when he left for school. They said that they filed a report and the next time it happens the mom will be arrested. Mrs. Bug is worried that we pissed off the neighbors, but I could care less. Better a pissed off neighbor than a dead kid.
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Casting Out A Net

Well, can't sit around licking my wounds. Just started applying for other jobs.
Looking at Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
Gonna look elswhere too.
If I want more fish, need to cast out a bigger net.

Hey, At Leat I'm Lisenced..

For what it's worth, I'm lisenced.
I submitted my request on Monday, and got it today.
Never knew the State could be so quick and efficient.

How Many Ways To Fail?

Well, here's yet another opportunity to spiral down the rejection cycle into the depths of hopelessness and anguish.

Just got a cheerful call from the hiring director for Johnson County MED-ACT who let me know that not only did I not pass the test, but did so in an absolutely abysmal capacity. How the heck could I have scored a 66%?????? Sixty-Six freak’n percent!

I just passed the National Registry, how the heck, could I fail this so miserably?

What the heck should I do now? I knew that I was going to have to re-orientate my focus and gear toward staying until January, but now I have ABSOLUTELY NO LEADS!!

Back to the freak’n drawing board.

I feel like looking everywhere in the world for a job just so I don’t have to face the humiliating questions like, “So, when are you going to be a paramedic?”

Hmmmm….”C’mere, let me rip out your throat and then try to save you!!!”

AAAAAAGH! I want to start breaking things!!

I am so pissed, disappointed, sad.

I just want to curl up in a ball in the closet and cry.

How much more humiliating can this all get?

-Oh, great, ask a question like that and you’re bound to find out in a way you don’t want.

The Waiting Game

So, now it's time for the tried and true version of "THE WAITING GAME!" [Insert deep, echo chamber voice]
All necesary items have been sent down to Johnson County MED-ACT. I have taken thier version of the National Registry (Which, if I failed to mention, I passed) and am waiting for them to grade it. I found out today, that they are not starting their academy on the 28th of November as I had previously assumed, but they are starting on January 4th. Takes the pressure of quite a bit.
November 28th is when they begin the interview process. Must remember to clean my ears out more regularly.
I guess, I get to work at Starbuck's a little while longer. That's good in a way, in December I get 2 lbs of coffee a week instead of one. I will build up my caffine stockpile like a bean miser...bwuah, ha, ha, ha...
I'll have to reorientate my brain toward staying a bit longer. I think I've been buying into the short timer syndrome, which is not good either way.
Speaking of Starbuck's. Today they unveiled the new seasonal, Ginger Bread and Egg Nog Lates. I like ginger bread and I like Egg Nog, but in a Late? Freak'n gross!!!
With the Pumpkin Spice Lates that they have now, people ask me if it's good. I just give them that "Legendary" smile and say, "It's very popular." [Translation, I think it's absolutely gross, but women and some men who I hold in very little regard order it all the time.]
Seriously, If you are a guy who orders a freag'n Pumpkin Spice or Ginger Bread Late, you have immediately lost all guy points. Stink'n grow a set and order a Doppio Esspresso. If you want to feel you feminine side order your Doppio Esspresso Con Pana (with whip) That's an acceptable deviation of masculine taste. These, um, men, come in and order a non-fat Pumkin Spice Late with one SPLENDA®. You know this guy has a pink triangle on the back of his car and if he doesn't I'll go put one on there for him because he drinks like he needs it there.
Maybe I'm a coffee snob. I like my coffee like I like my women. Bitter and murkey.
Alright, better get upstairs.
Been hiding too long on the computer.