Girl...what you call your Husband?

We were busy little things. Running all over the city, picking up people from all walks of life. Okay I lie, it was only one kind of walk, the downtown ghetto pimp walk. We had psychs, we had diabetics, we had diabetic psychs, we had people just making shit up for a ride. And I got hit on twice and one marriage proposal that went a little something like this...
"Girl. What you call your husband?"
"I call him Officer.
"For RRRREAL!"
"Yeah, for real."
"Girl, you tripping. Where's yo ring?"
"Man. It's diamonds and platinum. You think I be wearing it to work? You crazy."

I was actully suprised the man took a gander at my ring finger and the fact he knew which finger to look at. I wear a silver ring on my right hand, he knew to check the left. Even though the drunken haze he was fairly observant. Too bad he couldn't tell me what happened to his wrist. "Man I broke or sumpin." Genuis. Then there was a schizo diabetic who would hollar gibberish at the top of his lungs unless I I spoke to him. Then it was "Yeah darling whatever you want, you gots a purtty smile" The cops loved that. We saw one of the officers later and he kept saying "You gots a purrty smile, what you call your husband?" I call him "Doctor" officer. I told my mom who was working at the ER tonight about my sorted adventures with the city crowd and my marriage proposal she asked what kind of fantasy world did I live in? All in a days work I guess. Man. I love the city trucks, you get to meet all kinds of people. Tonight will be my last scheduled night on a city truck though. I get shipped off the the islands for a break, even though I just got back on the truck and don't need a break. But whatever I go where I'm told.

Sleepy...

Brutal, fucking brutal. I forgot how bad a 24 hour shift is on 12 hour trucks. (just for those who don't read regularly we have 12 hour shifts in the busier parts of the system, and the norm 24/48 hour shifts in the slower parts) We are so short-handed that we sometime work up to but not exceding 36 hours on the busier 12 hour trucks. (Yes, we do get shipped off to slower outlying trucks to try a get some rest if you are on a 36.) Most of us are used to the long hours of runing and running, but I, my friends, am a bit out of practice. this was my first long shift since comming back to the streets. My body aches, my foot hurts and I am getting ready for bed. One more 12 hour shift tonight, then a long three day weekend that is well deserving. Lckly I have a paramedic partner who can help pick up my slack (We run a ALS on every truck, SInce I am still a crew member I will always have a Paramedic Crew Cheif) Also Luckly, even though it was busy, it was busy with alot od crap calls. Nobody dying, nobody in dire need, Nobody really in need of an ambulance. Just some sick party calls, some ETOH over indulgence, and some non cardiac chest pain. I started IVs because the hospital like them, not because the people were truly dying. I did 12 leads because I was told to, not because anyone was having an active MI, I gave O2, not because anyone was Short, but because it comforted and calmed my patients. I gave Morphine to ease the pain of a very angulated ankle, but it was more out of kindness and comfort, than nesessity. But now, I am going to bed only to get back up in 9 more hours to go and do it all again tonight. But fear not citizens, we are used to it.

Eh...

Run...Run...Run. Thats what we did all night. We went from assault to assault. To CHF then to Asthma. The more assaults. Man I don't know what was going on but people just felt like beating the crap outts each other last night. Nothing serious, mostly Lacerations that might have needed a few stitches... but still. Alot of ass kicking going on for a Monday night. Everybody seemed to have a case of the Mondays too, I got cussed at twice, swung at once and restrained one guy who tried to eat my fingers off. Crack is seriously wack. Oh and we went to this one house because her Imagianary friend was having shortness of breath. (Yes the same one who's other imagianary friend was stabbed a last week, he must have notof made it) But this time, knowing better, we didn't go hunting for 45 mins like we did last week.

I'm gonna end today by saying my heart goes out to all of the students, faculity and families of VT. I don't know you, but you are in my thoughts today... And to the first responders...You did good work yesterday. Medicine in the streets is hard enough when you don't know the people you are helping. I can only imagine what it must be like to work on fellow classmates, friends.

Blegh! OKAY I get it.

Learned two very important lessons last night. One of which that should be taught is every paramedic school everwhere. Narcan causes, no matter how slooowww you push it, Exorcist type vomiting. I knew it could cause vomiting because that is listed under side effects in the formulary, but what it should say is May cause vomiting that will put your unit out of service for 45 mins and need a mop and a hose to clean up thats what it should say. I have never seen anything like it. It was one the ceiling. Dripping like some brown alein goo you see in horror space flicks. And the second lesson is if you sit on the ambulance bay for long enough outside of the Level One Trauma Center, bloody stabbing victims pull up in POVs causing you to get yet another clean uniform bloody. I had just taken off the vomit shirt. Damnit. Luckly, it was just a little bit of blood and peroxcide got it out, but still. I also have a deep seeded aversion to feet. It goes back to when I was a brand new ER tech, and not knowing better pulled the socks off a homeless person c/o feet pain. With the sock came off three necrotic toes. Since then I don;t do feet. I'm not gonna touch yours and you're not gonna touch mine. I don't get pedicures and my orthopod thought this was hilarous. (He said I was the only patient's he's ever had that he couldn't do a compleate physical exam on because he thought I would freak out. I told him I wouldn't freak out, but make the exam quick) But We had not one but three patients with necrotic diabetic feet. I made my partner ride them in. I couldn't handle it. I said I would take the next five intoxicated assaulted college kids and/or smelly homeless if he would ride in the feet. Thats how bad my Feet Aversion is. Seriously.

Well lessons learned. Add that to my growing list of "Things Every Paramedic should Remember" Right above, push Lorazapam slow and keep a BVM near by, just in case your patient goes apenic. (Yep, learned that one the hard way too)

First Night

First night back after 5 months of recovery. Foot held up nicely. Only needed one dose of Aleve to calm the screaming bones, and only limped a couple of times, mostly when we stayed still for longer than 30 min. Took about 10 min to work all the kinks out. Which was well, twice in 12 hours. Had 8 calls and one wild goose chase though an apartment complex looking for what turned out to be an imaganary friend of one of the residents. The voices in her head told her that someone had been stabbed. It took 45 mins of looking for this person before us and PD figured it out that she was basicly talking to herself. Ah the joys of urban EMS. I slowly caught on the the new ways the radios worked (we went to digital 3-4 months ago) and working the AVLs. I figured out very quickly that I need to build my muscles back up when I tried to put the stretcher back into the truck fully loaded with a 300 lb patient. And I also need to clean up my now rusty IV skills so I don't turn my poor patients into a human pin cushion. (I did get one, and he was a tough stick) But everyone was right, it's like driving a car (or riding a bicycle) you don't really forget. You just are out of practice. But... I still felt like a new EMT. I drove a bit, running code once or twice, trying really hard not to throw my partner around the back. All and All an pretty tame night back. Now I'm off to bed so that I can do it all again tonight.

I get to go back I get to go back

Well thank god. I walked into the doctors office today will all the hope of a kindergardener on the first day of school. Hope that I can go back to the ambulance. So I waited quietly of over an hour in the waiting room. Then was brought back and the nurse said "he's a bit backed up" Really, no way, I thought I was just sitting in that room with all the other patients for no apparent reason. But I kept that thought to myself, because I am a sweet, nice person damnit. SO I waited a bit more in the room and the Doc walked in and before he had even shut the door I go "It's-nice-to-see-you-can-I-go-back-to-the-streets-now? My crackheads need me."
"You want to go back to being a street walking crackhead?"
"Yes Please."
"well you can add that statement to the Words I never thought Id hear my patients say list. Yes, you can go back to being a street walking crackhead"
"Thank You...so this is last time I have to see you ever?"
"yep, unless...when is your next big birthday?
"Well, 30 is in about three years"
I actully will miss the doc, he was one of my favorites. He was kind and had a great sense of humor. And most important right after the whole being a good surgeon, has a wonderful bedside manner. Throughout my whole injury and recovery he spoke TO me never AT me. He explained everything and didn't rely on his residents to carry the workload. When I was in the hospital, he would actully come into the room and explain and answer questions, even if the residents had already come in. It's like he takes the time to get to know who he's cutting on. I think he even came down into the ER before I was addmited and spoke to me, which for an attending to do, is well, unheard of. SO I thank him for being so kind to no only me, but my family. So I will miss my doc. But I hope never to see him again, at least not as a patient.

So Thursday night I go back. Back to the streets I call home. I'll be working the City truck. I think I have even found a new apartment. Downtown apartment, in a huge house. I will have mmy hardwood floors and huge windows and 10 ft ceilings. Just what I asked for. And the people in the house seem cool as hell. So everyone, pray to whatever god your pray to that they find me worthy.

New news

Okay, it was pointed out to me that it has been too long since I last posted, so here is some news. I go back to the ortho-pod on Tuesday. Who told me at the last appointment "Unless you seriously fuck up your foot between now and then, I will absolutly let you go back to the streets..." er...or something along those lines, he might have not dropped the F-bomb, so I was paraphrasing, whatever. So we are looking at the soon-est Tuesday night going back to work, unless I decide to get plastered again and fall down some more stairs. But I think the key to the whole thing was the heels, and since I won't be wearing them anytime soon, I think I'm safe. I survived the past Irish Holiday without an ER visit, so we can rule out the alcohol right? Anyways, I am looking forward to going back to my nights of reaking havoc upon the streets of my fair southern city. HQ is getting a bit...ah...tedious. My job right now is finding lost PCRs (patient care reports, for those who aren't medical) We went to electronic PCRs about three years ago. And medics are a fast thinking, but dyslexic group of people, so they like to transpose call numbers, addresses, times, dates and anything else. So in turn the programs we use loses reports. So I take a list of "Lost" reports which is about 100 calls (You do it by month) and find all the mixed up numbers and street names and fix them so the system can find them. It's like a giant game of Where's Waldo...and it blows. Except when you find one you have spent most of the day looking for. Which you then have 30 seconds of "I found it! I found it!" and then you just go to the next one on the list.

When I go back, I will also have to be Third Person for a couple of shifts. "Not because I'm a retard" as one of my supervisors put it. But because we have installed new AVLs, have a totally new radio set-up (we went to all digital radios about two months ago) and these new Stryker Stretchers that are electronic. Yes, you hit a button and it raises and lowers all on it's own. And the legs raise when you go to put the thing in the truck. And it works up to 700lbs (or 317 kgs). And they changed a few of the standing orders. So It's kinda llike easing me back into EMS. Then I will be on probation for and extra month or so and then I will be able to get my acting crew cheif.

So thats all my news for now.

Rules of a Night Shifter

So while I was sitting cubicle hell today, trying to fight off sleep and my ADD by reading the newest issue of JEMS (Journal of Emergency Medical Services) I can across an article by Steve Berry. For those who aren't familar with the man. He is the man behind the I am NOT and ambulance driver cartoons. (www.iamnotanambulancedriver.com) He also writes a column of JEMS. A humor column dealing with some of the lighter things in EMS...and they include the wonderfully twisted humor. This month's column actully caught my eye because he writes about the diffrence between Night shift medics and how we can be a little bit more...ah...rough around the edges. Mostly because we are sleep deprived weirdos who deal with more drunks, more psyhos, more violence than our daylight counterparts. EMS can be a difficult job, and even more when the sun goes down. We, as Steve puts it, "replace [our] pen- lights with the foot long MagLite, donning bullet-proof apparel, and matching garlic necklace, carrying Taser guns with silver-tipped prongs, recharging [our] iPods, and carrying a coffee mug so dee that it warrants a lifeguard when left unattended" He also explains how the attitude of the average EMS worker changes after about midnight. We may not be as sharp looking, sometimes fairly ragged, espaically if you catch us at the tail end of a 36 hour shift. As we know from my other post, I prefer the night. I am the only one in my circle of "medic friends" All the rest prefer working when the sun is out. I tried to explain it to them once, but it was futile. I think it has something to do with my mom being a night RN when she was pregnant with me, and when I was growing up, and when I started this job. It was the time I got the hang with my mom. Even now, if I work the city truck, we sometime go to the ER she works in and chill with them. The other people that work in the ED don;t mind because as long as we are with them, we aren;t out reeking havok and bringing them patients. And sometimes we even bring them donuts or bus-cuits from the 24 hour Hardee's down the skreet. So like like the night.
Steve Berry also mentions that everyone seems a little more laid back post midnight. oh...and he also has a list of rules that he states should be "posted on the ceiling of the ambulance, above the stretcher" They cracked me up, but are so true. Just ask any night medic so here...I will share...These are his words not mine...although I agree with every single one of them. (esp. rule number 2 and rule numbers 8, 9 and 10)
1. It's past midnight and I am not the same kindly medic I was at 8am, so be nice. I have big needles
2. I may need to examine you, but you..."no touchy" the medic
3. Alcohol may turn you into an idiot, but try not to be stupid
4.You are not Immortal. Beware: Ambulances used to be hearses
5.Don't force us to use retraints. We used to work in the rodeo
6. If you drank enough to require my services, it's not beneath your dignity to have me hand you a wastebasket to throw up
7.By law, you are not allowed to smoke in most public places. So what makes you think I am going to let you light up in an oxygen-enclosed closet on wheels
8. Arriving by ambulance to the ED won't necessarily get you faster service. Welcome to Managed Health Care.
9. If you think I'm tough, wait until you meat the ED triage nurse and hospital security guards
10. Maybe I wouldn't have to cut your clothes off if you had worn your seatbelt
11. Life's not fair. Get used to if. If it were there would not be 2 million lawyers in this town
12. Coming in by ambulance is not a "get out of jail free" card
13. To repeat: I am sorry, life is not fair. If it was, I wouldn't have to be here with you at this time and at this place. So, take responsiblity: Will this be cash or charge?
Taken from: "The Lighter Side: What They Don't Tell You in Medic School; When Darkness Falls by Steve Berry (JEMS, March 2007)

So To my fellow vampires...enjoy the night. Because everything looks to bright in the daylight.

Computers suck

Okay people, So My hard drive crapped out on me. Fuck. So it will be a while until I can post again. Just wanted to let yall know.
****EDIT****

I have been borrowing my sister's laptop. So maybe I spoke to soon. Anyways, the closest place I can get my computer worked on in Savannah, Georgia. You would think a city with an art school, and a libral arts college would have an Authorized Apple Dealer. But...noooo...I have to drive 2 hours away to get my computer looked at everytime it hiccups. Or makes a terrible, horrible, very bad screeching noise that I deduced came from the Hard Drive. So I called AIS computers in Savannah, who I have used before and they are wonderful people, and was told that "Yeah, your Hard Drive is about to kick it, and not in a good way, but run Disk Utility, you know, just in case" So after running the Disk Utility, it told me in big bold red letters "The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired" So I guess that means my computer is fucked. But at least it is just the hard drive and it will cost me approx. 220 bones to buy and install a new one. thats 120 for the drive and 100 for labor. I would do it myself, but the only downfall to being a card carrying menber of the Cult of Mac, is that Macs are incredibly hard to fix or upgrade hardware. They aren't quite as customizable after the fact as a PC. Still, not a big enough reason for me to switch. I've seen Vista, I watched it as it gave Mr. Gates the Blue Screen of Death during a keynote speech. So went Mac and never looked back (ha! I made a rhyme...I'm an idiot *sigh*) Now I must go and mourn the death of Mac. I'm wearing all black tomorrow.

EMS! Someone call for us?

So last night I went out with friends for drinks (no broken bones this time). Some EMSers and a couple not. One of the ones who wasn't in public service is acually trying to get on with a local Police department. It will be a good change for him, I think. But he is coming from a 9-5 desk job into a whole new world. So we (the EMSers) were telling him of stories. Some of the more strange things we run into. Now when I say what I'm about to say, It's not in a bad way, but I don't think he has any ideawhat it's like to do a job like EMS or Police work. Being a cop is more than running after people and shooting things. It, like EMS, has mnay diffrent layers for lack of a better word. As they were telling stories and telling him "you think that's twisted listen to this..." I was brought back to my first day as an EMT-B. Small things bothered me Like it really bothered me to just walk into someone's house without knocking. I was rasied in a very southern household where it was just polite to knock. That seemed very strange to me. I got over it very quickly, but I still feel kinda weird opening a door without first knocking. I have learned that it's okay to open the door slightly and yell "EMS! Someone call for us?" And then very quicklt get over what are you gonna see on the other side of the door. Are you gonna see a 80 year old with shortness...or are you gonna find a 400 lbs woman sitting on her sofa buck naked smoking a cigarrette yelling about the Queen of England living in her closet. You just never know.

And as always when one speaks of strange EMS calls the conversation always goes to one place. Things in Orfaces. Eggplants, tabasco sauce bottles, lightbulbs, straight pins, cotton balls, bic pens, you name it, somebody has shoved it up in a deep dark place for various reasons. And you never get a straight story. "I slipped and fell on it". But like any other job, you have to maintain some sort of composure and professionalism. I alway have the same running thought during calls like that ...It embarassing for them....Its embarrassing for them. And I think of something like naming all the Beatles albums in order or mundane things like the recipe for my bean salsa, as to keep me from losing it.

Then there are the heinous scenes, the MVAs with deaths or missing body parts, the homocides, the suicides, the dead baby calls. Too many of those, and one could lose thier mind if they don't know how to approach them. You just go to that happy place in your mind and do your job. You just have to think of it that way. It's my job. It's not easy, but this is what I have choosen to do with my life. You take the good and the funny with the awful and the twisted.
We all have way of dealing with the things that we see. Some go to the shooting range, some run or bike. Some turn to the bottle, whether it be alcohol or pills. I, myslef, shoot photographs or I paint. I go behind the camera and with every click of the shutter I let a little bit of all those fucked up emotions go away. But one thing should be the same for everyone. You need an escape from it. This job can kill a person if you let it. You have to grow a thick skin and an even thicker psyche.

Gerber Daisy Sepia I

Gerber Daisy Sepia I
Originally uploaded by artist in the ambulance 190.

Gerber Daisy VI

Gerber Daisy VI
Originally uploaded by artist in the ambulance 190.

Gerber Daisy sepia III

Gerber Daisy sepia III
Originally uploaded by artist in the ambulance 190.

My very good friend K. sent my flowers the other day. Gerber Daisies, which are my favorites. I was having a cruddy day. But she helped make it so much better. It was kinda funny, I had this big bunch of flowers on my desk all day. And everyone who asked who sent them my reply was "A friend" and why they would ask next " Just because"

They really should have naptime

I'm reverting back to my old habits a little bit too soon. I was doing really well going to be at a resonable hour back in January, but now...now my bedtime is getting later and later. I think my body's trying to tell me something. Like maybe I just can't operate in a 9-5 world. We all know by now, I am a night shifter. I prefer the dark as opposed to the sun. I have very fair irish skin, what can I say, the sun burns. It was something ingrained in me as a zygote. My mother worked nights when she was pregnant with me, so I think it totally screwed up my circadian rhythm for the rest of my existance. I'm going to blame her. But I don't mind except at 0830 when I have to try and function and not fall asleep at my desk. And I am working on the always exciting bill codes. Isf they would let me I would totlly work 2030 - 0500. My mind works better at those hours, plus there is less distraction in the middle of the night. And if there is something I don't need its any more distraction. The shiny things on the supervisor's desk I sit at provides me with enough of that. Anyways, I am reverting back to the staying up all night...I try and get into bed by 2200, but I tend to lay there staring at the ceiling until I get bored with that and open my laptop back up and internet for the next couple of hours until about 3 when I finally doze off only to be awoken at 7 to get ready for another exciting day in cubicle hell. All the while I'm at work I keep thinking "I wonder if anyone would notice if I crawled uder the desk and took a nap?"

I need...

I had a friend of mine today say "You're one of the only girls I know that actually misses the work" And I said to myself...I says "Self...Only six more weeks. And then I thought...You spend 8 hours a day 5 days a week in a sunless cubicle, staring at the walls and a computer screen typing in DXs and ICD9s, who wouldn't miss the street?" Right? I need the streets. They are my life. They are a part of me. I feel the need for drips and drugs boluses. I feel the need for blood and guts and Chest Pain and Shortness...I need gunshots and MVAs. I need retarded drunks argueing with me about taking them to the hospital. I need to be able to yell at the stupid DUI kid who just slammed his car into a pole and who has the audacity to call me a bitch. I need precordial thumps, cardioversions, Radid Sequence intubations and needle decompressions. I need to look death in the face and go...HA HA not today you sick bastard! Your not taking him today! I need my old life back. I'm sick of looking at ICD9s and choosing between ALS1 rides and ALS2 rides.

I dream of the day I go back. I miss it. I feel kinda useless. But I am healing. The healer is healing. so I will continue to heal until the day the orthopod says to me "B- you are ready, go forth...save the crackheads; save the sick...save the stupid."

Six

...Six is the number of the day. I went to my wonderful orthopod today for me post-op exam. The good news is I'm healing quite well despite my best efforts. I'm wearing two mathcing shoes. I do have a slight limp, which is slowing becoming less and less. I have alot of pain at night after being on my feet all day, all of which is normal after... lets count... 5 fractures of my foot. The bad news is he wants me to heal for another Six Weeks!. Six. So April is when I'm looking to hit the streets again. I completly understand his line of thought though. I would rather go back a few weeks late, than go back to early and reinjure my foot. I had a very impresive injury. ( a lisfranc fracture, three metatarsal neck fractures, and a Jones, or Dancers Fracture) But six weeks more in cubicle hell is a long time. I miss my crackheads, my gunshots, my CHFers. But healing is what I'm doing now. He told me if I didn't do what I do, I would be back to work in a week, but because my job intails being on my feet for 12 hours, lifting up to 80 lbs of gear up and down stairs and possibly running for my life when the crackheads start shooting at us, he would rather be safe than sorry. So here I am, six more weeks doing ambulance billing. Which I am happy to do, they didn't have to give me that job. I could just be on LWOP. But still...it kinda sucks. But I'm healing, slowing but steadily.

New post.

Well, first I'm going to apologize to all of my faithful readers. I am sorry I haven't posted in a while. Been busy, I'm moving this weekend, so between that I being sick, and having my foot cut open to remove the hardware I haven't really been up to posting. But tonight I shall post. Even if it is a completly pointless post.

Well The pin pulling was a success, I am healing quite nicely. It was kinda funny, the anesetheologist who put me under for my first surgery, was also the one who put me under for this procedure. He was going through his shpeal before, "We are going to give you some medicine that will put you to sleep and then we are going to put a breathing tube...blah...blah", when I stoped him and said "I'm a Medic, you can use the big words on me I understand then...so what size tube to you think you will use?..and weren't you the doc that did my nerve block before?" (I'm a 6.5 ETT, just FYI). He then looked at me really hard and then cracked up..."You were the Medic who got tanked on her birthday and shattered your foot weren't you? We still get a kick out of your story. Your fractures were impressive... Yes, that whould be me, I am that girl.

But taody was a big day for me I wore two matching shoes. This is a big deal because for the past three months I have had to wear a big ugly AirCast on the broken foot...but today...TODAY, I wore Both of my Adidas Shelltop Gazelles. Granted one's a little bit more beat up than the other, but nontheless I was still thrilled.

I also pissed off a snarly High School student when I told him that his reason for not wearing a seatbelt was idiotic it is uncomfortable and his brother's, best friend's cousin's life was saved because he WASN'T wearing a seat belt (Thats a really stupid thing to tell a Paramedic who in five years has never cut a dead body from a seatbelt, but has on more than a few occasions scraped dead ejections from the asphalt, because they were not wearing one...it was like when I was told by a HS student from the same HS that drunk drivers are more careful drivers because they are intoxicated, someone explain that logic to me)

Okay, well thats enough for me tonight, I must sleep, tomorrow I have to help test 20 or so EMT's for the 4 open EMT slots for my system. A...A is for Airway...right?

Pin pulling party

Tomorrow is the day. The day that I have been waiting for for almost three and a half months. Since that fateful fall from grance. No thanks to a bartender and two bottles of a really good spanish wine. I get my screw and last pin removed from my foot. The pin by the way that has almost made it's way to the outside of my skin. gross. But yeah, they come out and I will be able to wear real shoes again. Maybe not black patent leather three inch Steve Maddens, but shoes. I should write a letter the the Madden company though and tell them that even after a fall from three flights of stairs with three shattered metatarsals, a Lisfranc, and a Jones fracture, the shoes remained unscathed. He makes a damn sturdy shoe. Beautiful and tough little things those heels are.

Fallen.

We had a police funeral today. Not a line of duty death, thank god, but he was a well known and well liked officer, not just by his fellow officers, by other public servants. He was good to us, and he will be missed. I only knew him through work. Would talk on scenes, joke, you know normal stuff. I don't have a whole lot of stories like some of the people who knew him very well. But still...he was one of us.

So I don't know how many of you have even been part of a Police funeral, by it is a sight to behold. The city really does shut down. They closed down the main street in front of the church. All the officers lined up at attention in thier dress blues. We also had about 20 medics lines up behind the officers. Then came the rumble of the motorcycles (the officer was a member of the moto team), officers from every juristiction. The drove in front before the casket, with the officer's police crusier behind them. Then we all filed into the church. After it was over there was a motorcaid that stretched across the Connector in to the Island. Just a line of blue lights that strtched on for ever. We had five units at the end and there was two fire trucks. We wound our way to the grave site. There we fell into line, again behind the officers in the dress blues. They had a bugler that playyed Taps, and bag piper that played Amazing Grace, the 21 gun salute. That even had me choked up. Especially when they handed the folded flag to the Parents. Then came the 10-42 salute. It was impressive and beautiful. You never want to have to see this, but it is a wonderful salute to the type of officer he was.

Stupid people

Okay well even when I'm not at work I am still witness to the stupidity of humans. SO I was driving home from k's house tonight after Grey's Anatomy... Well actully let me just say this first, It's pouring down very cold rain and it 35 degrees outside...Okay, so...I was driving, sitting at a light on the Crosstown ( a main street that goes from Downtown to the interstate) when I look over to see some totally fratastic dude running down the street in nothing but a show me your vagina Paris Hilton mini skirt. Thats it. Seriously. Thats really all I have tonight. I'm tired and I have to go to cubicle hell in the am.