Bruised

Went paintballing last minute with Timmy today. Boy did I get tore up. I am not used to the rental markers although I should be since I used to OWN a Tippman 98 custom w/ a Dye boomstick barrel. Then I upgraded to a WGP Autococker with a drop forward and high pressure system. I ended up giving the gun to my buddy Roger since there were no paintball fields in San Jose at the time and the sport was getting expensive. Then guess what? 1.5 years later they open up Santa Clara Paintball next to the County Fairgrounds...

Wow bad judgement call on my part!

So instead of a double trigger w/ light trigger pull and a trigger stop, I have a single trigger rental that is so SLOWWWW.

What is it? Maybe I got pityriasis rosea from my friend Kim? Nawww! Maybe it's a hicky? yeah... like I'd get one on my leg? Just kidding... it's a wheal or more commonly known as a paintball welt on my leg.

I also got hit directly on the hand and it broke skin and gave me some small hematomas also; surprisingly blood looks cool mixed with yellow paint! It's like the paintball was locked onto my ring =D. Yeah I know... paintballs like shiny objects!

Christmas

Since losing my job to help my mom back in San Jose, I have been steadily losing money. This Christmas I did not get my lovely lady anything fancy or even remotely great as I would have like to. Instead I bought her a guava. Yes you heard correct: I am quite broke and ended up buying her a single fruit for Christmas. She was really appreciative and loved it even though it was nothing compared to the nice $400.00 sewing machine I bought her last year. As for my sister, I gave her my second Littmann Student Accessory Kit; for some reason Littmann sent me two and those little packages actually cost quite a bit, so I'm quite lucky and thankful to acquire a present for my sister. SGU still hasn't solved my financial aid issues yet. Goes to show that a single year can change a person's situation greatly.

Failure to Act

Un-freakin-believable.

These two FDNY EMT's gave all medical personnel a bad name after allowing a pregnant coffeeshop employee/barista to collapse and die without even lifting a finger to help. Really? I mean yes, you may be on break, but come on... as an EMT in uniform you have a duty to act not to mention you are a freakin human being so you have a moral obligation to act. With 2 "thingys-to- act" you would think they would ACT!

For those of you who don't understand, let's make it clearer. It would be as if I was wearing my scrubs or my search and rescue uniform and someone collapses in front of me in the coffee shop while I am on my break and instead of helping, I say "call 9-1-1" and take off. I'm so lazy I don't even call 9-1-1 myself, I actually tell people in the coffeeshop to do it and then leave. Anytime you are in uniform as a public safety personnel or a medical professional you create an appearance that you are on duty; don't want the hassle of being on duty, then take off the uniform.

Because of their actions, or more exactly- inaction, two lives are gone. Yes, the fetus died too. If you keep up with this blog, you know I always offer help when people are in need of medical attention.

N-O-R-M-A-N

spells NORMAN!

Who is currently chilling under my bed in the "tenderloin" position. We call it this because he lays down flat with his legs spread out and his body is long and skinny like a pork tenderloin.

I saw some pics today of the place I'll be staying at. Pretty cramped and almost no privacy... I just hope I get a cool roommate and not some cocky MS-1.

Rain

Yesterday was really really rainy!

Stood in the rain for 8 hours in traffic and got soaked trying to keep H1N1 vaccine patients safe. I even got my picture taken by Chris the super- visor! hahaha Apparently I was yelling at the driver to slow down while doing hand motions and trying to clear this lane cause there were obstructions ahead creating a big hazard. Multiple cars went from the "good lane" to the lane I was trying to clear (which was the slow lane). HELLO? Where did you learn to drive and how did you get a CA driver license? My mom worked for the DMV for over 35 years! I know most of the examiners in the Bay Area and they are tough.... WHO did you bribe to get your license given to you because you sure as heck did not earn it!

So I was yelling at these drivers and then I heard a few teenage girls that just got their shot giggling on the sidewalk cause these drivers are so bad and Chris caught me yelling at them. All of us had our fair share of yelling at drivers yesterday; Chris saw me and Phil (a Stanford corneal researcher) almost get ran over!

At the end of the day we finally took a small group photo... very small. I'm hoping they send it to me so I can post it!

On another note, I've been listening to my Littmann Cardiac Sounds CD and boy some of these heart sounds are hard to differentiate. A wide split S1, opening snap, and an ejection click all sound similar! Damn nuances...

Restroom Syncope

Today after shooting at the range with Courtney I picked up Kim Le so we could do some shopping for birthdays coming up. It was decided that Eastridge might be the mall we can find everything we need.

After we arrive I gulped down too much diet coke and needed to use the head before we went into hello kitty store (my gf gets mad at me cause I call it hello kitty instead of Sanrio, but I don't care). As I was walking in, I saw a security guard pop out of a nearby door and enter the restroom side by side with me while holding an AED and medic bag. My thought was WTF? But then I saw some 30 y.o saying "he fell, he fell" WOW talk about timing. Bladder is super full at this point: pee or hold it in? Like the hell I'm going to pass up on helping someone especially when the security guards are just standing around not really doing anything. I then summon on my will power to clamp that sphincter shut and put on my gloves I keep in my pocket.

Elderly man only spoke Vietnamese.... damn- I thought game over, but the guy who was yelling "he's on the floor, he fell" earlier, happened to be Vietnamese, so I get a free translator. After checking his head and neck I determined he was not a trauma and something else was going on. Told security dudes to call fire and AMR and start a response while I do a more thorough history. I also realized at that time I have a freakin former medical translator shopping with me.... *superman song plays in the background* KIM LE to the rescue. She comes into the men's restroom, cape and all and I tell the other dude thanks for his help, but we got it covered.

So the breakdown goes:

Name: Mr. HIPAA, HIPPA y.o male, A&Ox4, history of diabetes, hypertension, heart surgery- possible CABG, had unidentifiable medications in his backpack, no family present, took bus to mall, orthostatic, HR: 100 s/irregular, RR: 18, O2: 93% fluctuating, denied SOB and chest pain but I could tell he had some trouble breathing, did not look well.

He wanted to leave right away, but no way was I going to let him AMA without at least getting a 12 lead EKG and blood glucose by fire and AMR. When they arrive, they say the exact same thing. The AMR paramedic busted out his iPhone and used EpocratesRx to figure out what the drugs were. They were really impressed with my Nonin Pulse ox though!! 12 lead showed he had atrial flutter and possible bundle branch block. He really should go to the hospital and despite all the begging, pleading, and translating he refused because the poor fella was scared and poor. Now that's a sad society where one can't get medical care because they are scared of hospitals and poor....

So he AMAed. I sure hope he didn't end up keeling over and dying, and made it to the bus stop and home safe.

THEN... AHHHHHH... peace and quiet in the restroom as I let the urine flow. Then we were on our way to hello kitty!! I ended up buying a toaster that toasts hello kitty's face onto bread; how awesome is that?

Nursing Lecture

I went to one of my sister's nursing lectures today at SJSU. It was a little bit weird being on campus again since it has been quite a while.

The lecture was on geriatrics and was pretty decent; it mainly consisted of stats, some depressing thoughts, and dissing the Emergency Department, which I did not enjoy very much. It brought up the word GOMER, which I have never heard spoken or used in my entire life. GOMER was explained to mean "Get Out Of My ER" and that ER personnel always wanted to get rid of the elderly because they are infirm and are a burden. Supposedly a doctor came up with that phrase about what she witnessed going on in her ER.

First off I take offense to the thought that ER personnel are not caring of elderly and want them out of the ER just because they are incontinence and "boring" to care for. I love my geriatric patients and always try to chat them up when we are not swamped, but the reality is the only Level II Trauma Center that serves the whole Central Coast of California is not going to have a lot of downtime. Also, the doctor who criticizes ER staff of GOMER can't possibly say this is targeting geriatric patients; it's the freakin ED! We have that general mentality towards ALL patients! Be you young, old, psych, lacerated, broken bone, head trauma, stroke, AMI, STEMI, or even a hottie (which doesn't happen very often) I want you out of the ED ASAP, so yes GET OUT OF MY ER- GOMER!

The fact is the ED is not much different from EMS and prehospital care: we stabilize, package, and ship. The faster we do it, the better- of course without sacrificing quality care. We are not the med/surg, onco/hema, peds, OB/Gyn, SICU, MICU etc. floor where longer term care is provided. I have not seen anyone stay in the ED longer than 8 hours unless they were an undomiciled patient sheltering from the environment and we happen to have room. GOMER is a true statement, but not targeted towards any population. The reason the ED needs to be kept clear is because as nice as it would be to have people stay and chat, those precious rooms are needed just in case two buses collide or a plane decides to fall out of the sky. An empty ED is a good thing.

So the next time you hear the word GOMER, please don't think we are being rude or targeting a specific population. That doctor who invented the word should know better or get a clue by working in the ED. It is a fast paced environment which has a tendency to present itself as more callous than your "slower" floors.

Regards,

Your friendly (former) ER tech.

Let it Rain

So the vaccination clinic this weekend went really smooth compared to all the ones before it. We closed down the outside corral early and just had people trickling in all day, but the weird thing is we vaccinated even more people than before! Everything was orderly and we did over 5,000 something vaccinations and the rain let up.

However, the day before was another story. The story begins with some awesome sushi eating at Sushi Chocolate in Sunnyvale w/ Ray and Ed with in pouring outside. After lunch I went to Trader Joe's to go buy some salad for Norman and some other groceries for our dinner party at night still- it's still raining like crazy. Going back home southbound on 85, I see a pretty gnarly accident on the northbound side in the fast lane (I am unable to hop the median cause it splits into a ramp/overpass w/ the VTA lightrail moving through the middle. I immediately phone 911 and let them know the whole situation while I get off at the Blossom Hill exit and illegally flip a bitch and put the car going back northbound on 85. By the time I do this it's only been a minute after the crash and already a law enforcement unit is helping move traffic, but it wasn't who was dispatched. It was some police firearm instructors for the range and happened to be in a code 3 car! (I thank god they were there to help with scene safety).

I immediately got to work and realized there was only one injured person who was a 66 y.o lady in the driver's seat of the vehicle that was spun around facing oncoming traffic. The other couple only had some minor arm injuries. Her door was already opened and a bystander was trying to console her w/ a towel on her head to prevent her from getting wet by the rain? I have no idea why he did that cause as soon as I got there I removed it to get a good look at her and assess her. Told him to hold c-spine and showed him cause he already was kind of holding her head to calm her down, but it was definitely not c-spine. It was hard to get vitals on her while she was sitting awkwardly, but I did. Thank god for my Nonin Pulse Ox; her sats were kind of low at 93% so I put her on a non-rebreather at 15L. Her sats went up in the next two minutes to 99%. Her chief complaint was trouble breathing/SOB; but it was most likely positional. She had a open fracture to her left leg which I didn't even bother dealing with at the time. Her head was bleeding and so was her nose. She had a heavy MOI for trauma but was A&Ox4. Her pupils were quite constricted and a little bit sluggish to respond, but PERRL. The rest of her "kill zone" was not bleeding and unremarkable. She was getting on the freeway via a "loopty loop" onramp and as soon as she got to the entrance of the freeway she fishtailed and was hit by a car in the second lane which spun her, and the car continued laterally into the third/fast lane where she was hit again and then pinned onto the median. These two cars are very lucky because on the median you could see how high the tires actually went up the median (they almost fell over the overpass). Engine 12 and AMR arrive on scene along with CHP and we extricate her. I am completely soaked cause I have now been on scene for over 10 minutes and I wasn't wearing proper clothing for a rescue. After we swap her off my O2 to AMR's and get her on the stretcher I was able to complete the hand off and snap the photo below. I stayed on scene for about another 30 minutes until both cars were hauled off and debris was cleared because I was parked directly behind this mess. I was thanked by both AMR, fire, and CHP before taking off. I told them this was my first freeway rescue in the rain in a very, very long time, but they said I did awesome. I'll be the first to say that after working hospital care for so long, you kind of get used to it and forget all about your pre-hospital EMS training. I almost forgot scene safety and to put on my ANSI lime jacket and SAR helmet; thank you Engine 12 for keeping me from getting hit by a car. Also Santa Barbara County has different protocols on backboarding than Santa Clara..... similar but different- why can't we just standardize it nationwide?

And this concludes the story and as far as I know she was transported and treated at SCVMC's Level 1 Trauma Center.

it's in my nose

my dad just lit a fire in the fireplace. apparently we haven't used it in a while because it's smoking up the whole house..... danger! danger!!!

now the smell of burned stuff is all up my nose.

Vaccination Part 2

We had our second mass vaccination today. I helped out a poor lil old hispanic lady w/ SOB. Very unremarkable day. As sad as it may seem, I think we need someone to get hit to set an example... too many people walk in the middle of the street of a 40 mph road. NOT SAFE FOOLS!!!

Spiel done.

Mass Vaccination in Santa Clara County

**Update**

the count is in: 4,175 people vaccinated at the fairgrounds.

----------------

Yesterday I got to put on my Medical Reserve Corps Uniform for the first time! It's actually pretty awesome looking when an army of us showed up in our BDU's; we really looked like a paramilitary medical group other than the fact that everyone other than myself in the same uniform was over 50 years old.

With that being said, the uniform attracted many young ladies. VERY awkward when you are walking around and random people standing in line for their H1N1 flu shot are gawking. Asian girls saying "hi" then giggling and one even had the nerve to whisper "go talk to him" to the other girl and she responded "he has a girlfriend, see his ring". **hint...whispering doesn't do any good when the person you trying to hide it from hears it!**

Even a couple of female pharm students from UOP sat down to eat with me; apparently they do clinical rotations at Valley Med and have "never met a medic before". After eating lunch with them, they convinced me to let them inoculate me nasally: JOY! I got to be one of the first few people in Santa Clara to get the live attenuated piggy flu.

Thousands were vaccinated. No joke. People lined up at 0300 in the morning and we opened clinic at 0930. We were set to close at 1530 and ended up staying open till 1800. For those that live in San Jose: The line looped inside the County Fairgrounds and then went from the fairgrounds down Tully Rd. till the McDonalds, past Senter Rd. and then down Senter Rd.

My role as Asst. Safety Officer let me deal with the emergencies that occurred while these patients were waiting or being vaccinated. We had: adult fainted after injection, 8 year old collapse, pregnant lady's water broke (she went to the hospital after she got her shot), and the lady I dealt with was a pregnant woman who started to have contractions while standing in line.

So I only dealt with one medical emergency, but still a fun day.

The nasal had a bad aftertaste that was kind of sweet similar to the taste of licking an envelope.

MVDR uniform pic:

Urban Shield

I got back home around 0615 this morning from being at a medical post all night since 1700 the night before. It was quite a slow night compared to my usual workload at the ER; I really do wish the SWAT guys were less careful than they are now. I guess that means all the teams are improving and making much fewer mistakes than last year. I did get to meet the French National RAID team, all of them were extremely nice and shook everyones hands and kept thanking us for the invite. My partner for the night- Matt Rossi, was a wilderness first responder from San Mateo County Sheriff's office. He had quite a few funny stories and was super nice and easy to get along with unlike some other people I have had to be partnered up with at medical events. Very down to earth mellow guy who didn't play the "this is my territory since we in San Mateo and I am boss" card. He actually wanted to leave me in charge and I told him I'd pass cause I hate being boss in a foreign place, but if there was something big medically, sure I'd take over the situation I guess. I taught him some more advanced wilderness techniques which he found quite cool and I think he's probably going to share it at his next SAR meeting. My family didn't help my fatigue by waking me up at 0900 giving me a total possible 3 hours of sleep and a large migraine for the rest of the day.

Here's some pictures for your enjoyment:

Update

I greatly enjoy season 3 of The Academy, a Fox Reality show. The first 2 seasons were following a law enforcement academy, but this season it is a fire academy from Orange County, CA. It is a much better insight into the life of a firefighter/EMS worker than all the other medical trash that has been developing e.g. NBC's Trauma, Mercy, Three Rivers, etc. There are so many errors in medical dramas that it isn't even watchable. Ever see a paramedic use a laryngoscope to put an OPA in? HECK NO!

I still think the best EMS drama/documentary is Discovery Health's Trauma: Life in the ER. I mean it is all documentary; EMS and the ER is full of drama already, it actually doesn't need any "fakeness" added to make it awesomely interesting. My $0.02.

On another note, my sister almost killed her patient yesterday. She was suctioning a trach tube to clear it of secretions and buildup and she had the yankauer tip in longer than necessary eliminating the pt's oxygen source. It's alright, mistakes made now won't be made later when it matters.

Mom's CEA is down to 17 now from 400's and her CT scan showed a 15% reduction in tumor size. All good news, but the tumor reduction seems slight compared to her bloodwork so there is some discrepancy. PET scan in 2 months will give us a better understanding of what the heck is going on. At Kaiser today, there was a new medical assistant learning and didn't know how to use the machine to take vitals; did not know how to use the pulse ox and BP cuff. Honestly if you don't know how to do something ask! Don't make stuff up.

She said "oh that's your BP" to my mom and my mom told her that was the patient before and that she hasn't even felt the cuff inflate yet (the MA didn't know where the inflate button was... heaven forbid she had to do a manual BP).

Articles

I love Medscape!

For any medical buffs out there that have not signed up for it, you should really consider doing so. I love the CME articles and really enjoy diagnosing the problem presented and usually the articles come with awesome pictures. Just finished an article on lower abdominal pain in a 30 y.o woman- she apparently has a tuboovarian abscess.

Next up: Recurrent GI Bleed in a 64 y.o woman.

On another note... a pretty big earthquake was felt today (only a 3.3, but it felt much bigger) probably due to the S-waves.

Nota bene that tomorrow is a California state-wide earthquake drill known as the Great Shakeout.

=]

*Edit/Update*

2150: I love it how at the end of the article the GI bleed in a woman becomes a man, because apparently after discharge "his hemoglobin was stable". hahahaa

*Burp*

I am so full right now.

I skipped breakfast and lunch today cause of training, but when I got home around 1600 I ate one Costco hotdog, a whole leftover fish, rice, and veggie dish from Coco's, 10 pieces of sushi, and downed a 64 oz. soda.

Yup... it's official. I'm a fatty. =D

Git 'R Done

So we did the most difficult painting portion today.

Foyer = done!

Freaking paint tried to tag me in the eye, but I moved out of the way with panther like speeds. Hah! Take that paint and Newton!

Earlier in the morning I sent out the second portion of my deposit to make me smarter. Yay for edumakation.

Tomorrow I got training with the county's Medical Reserve Corps aka MVDR. We are going to play with the trailers and cabana so I will be proficient at making a mobile hospital during big bad situations. Too bad my fellow teammates don't realize I'm going to hum the theme song to MASH the whole time.... hahahaa

Afterwards I plan to hit up Borders to use that lovely 40% coupon. I love bookstores and can spend hours in them. I get so giddy opening up good medical references and looking at what kind of silly grown ups still read in the manga section. Of course occasionally I do browse prior said section, but only occasionally =P

Call me Picasso

Yeah right....

Mr. Picasso never painted with just white! Our dirty, crayon crusted, feet-marked walls are being painted glossy white and it makes the rooms so much brighter with the same lighting. I plan to do the majority of the house except for the bedrooms; so far I finished the dining area today. =D

At least Picasso never cut off his earlobe and gave it to a prostitute and then later on commit suicide by shooting himself in the chest.....

Winner Winner... Chicken Dinner!

Holy MOLY!!!

I am super lucky of some sorts because today I got an email from Nonin Medical saying I was a winner of the Nonin Challenge. You submit a small essay on how Nonin fingertip pulse oximeter has affected you or your experiences with it and each month they select a submission and give the person a free Nonin Onyx II 9550 pulse oximeter! WOOHOOOO

Valued at $350.00 and I got it for FREE. The pulse ox is so amazing though if you have ever used one; there will always be imitators and duplicators. It took kind of long for them to respond though and I though I lost or something cause it has been months since I wrote it....

Rock N Roll

More like ska and reggae 1/2 marathon! For the majority of the day I heard music genres other than Rock and Roll; I am not a music major, but I'm pretty sure of my observation.

Our medical station was really, really, REALLY slow throughout the early portion of the day, but when the runners finally started to come in it was crazy! We'd be popping a blister or icing a wound and there would already be 3 other people in line. Our team was also one of the largest teams for any of the medical stations, but it still felt like we were shorthanded.

Our group had:

3rd year residents x 2 (i call them captain and co-captain)

1 PharmD

2 RN's

1 Paramedic

1 Wilderness EMT/ER Tech (me)

3 RN's in training

bunch of high school students

They called me blister dude cause apparently my experience from search and rescue, Urban Shield SWAT exercise, and Boy Scouts made me the super expert. Also, all of my fellow teammates need to do more patient teaching. I saw way too much doing and not enough explaining, which isn't just bad medicine but also dangerous. We were putting ice on lots of people, but not telling them how long, when to remove, frostbite precautions, etc. All in all good job by all though.

I gots me a free t-shirt =D

Old School

Today I went to Carl's Jr to buy a burger and saw one of my old English teachers chilling with some friends at the restaurant. I didn't say anything, but I definitely recognized him as Mr. Oppenheimer; I think the main reason I remember him is cause of his "Santa Clause" type features not to mention his son was also our year at Leland High.

Wow it's been a while and he hasn't changed one bit.... looks exactly the same.

Locked Out

I was so bored today cause there was no one home, I decided to go on a stroll in my neighborhood. I took my D90 along to hopefully capture these two turkeys that seem to always be in our area, but they keep eluding me- sneaky sneaky!

I ended up seeing a thong hung on a wire fence less than a minute into my walk. I guess a neighbor of mine decided she would like to go commando... the funny thing is the area where the fence is located is covered in poison oak. I wonder if she is now itchy in her special place?

When I got home I realized I forgot to take my set of keys and had to chill outside waiting till my parents got home from their shopping run.

I miss my sizzle sizzle Lovely Lady and Normie.

Needles

Jeez.... I just got another shot, but at least this one was SQ instead of IM- those intramuscular ones hurt pretty good! I was lucky to get a lil 25 gauge needle. It's interesting that my lab work came back with low titers for mumps, but not measles, rubella, and varicella. I wonder what is going on? Is my immune system going wacky or something? I just had titers done almost exactly a year ago before working at Cottage Hospital and they were fine.... hmmmmm???

I can't complain, but dang shots are expensive. MMR is $75.00! So for my physical and immunizations I have spent over $450.00 out of pocket *looks in wallet and sees a huge hole*

=(

Oh btw pregnant women stay away from me cause it's a live vaccine! haaaaah

Started using a kettle bell for working out and it is amazing. I can get my heart rate from 58 to over 110 in under 4 minutes by doing alternate arm swings! It'd take me about 10 minutes of jogging to do that!

Excited for Sunday! Rock n Roll marathon medical station time! woot!

Jerry Garcia Ties

There is something so cool and artsy about these ties. I have started collecting them just recently; if you want to get me a present let this be the thing you can get me.... just make sure I don't have that one already. =D

"Duckworm Alarm" (the first one I bought)
"Alligator Works" (the second one I bought)
"Inferno" (my one year tie Lovely Lady bought me)

Resignation

So I sent in my resignation letter today and no longer work at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

*sigh*

this means there's a new chapter in my life that is starting (officially).

Mom just got her 7th chemo dose and is doing well, but still feels considerably weak the couple days after...

Lovely Lady is starting school and also getting her study on, while Normie is back to being a terror at home; hopefully he isn't too upset about being away from me =D

Recently I received my first anniversary tie, even though it was belated! My Lovely Lady and I have a thing where every year she will get me a Jerry Garcia tie. Now I have 3!!! I'll post pics soon!

Ungrateful

Oiiiiiiii....

I cooked dinner for the past few days even though I was teaching CERT a majority of the days. I started usually around 1400 and cooked straight till dinner around 1800. My parents today stated I didn't prepare this and that right; so frustrating especially when they are the ones telling you not to put too much salt and no spiciness, etc. etc. Then they state "ohhhh you should add some more salt to the tofu" when it was perfectly salty enough already and I know anymore and they'd complain the other way. I mean seriously? you can't shake some extra salt onto your food if you think it needs more?

I feel so unappreciated. My sister isn't even home half the time and I'm taking the blunt of everything. I sacrificed my job and I'm making absolutely no money right now: in fact I'm losing quite a bit from making all the grocery purchases for dinner, etc now for 4 people instead of 2 like before when in Santa Barbara. I don't get to see my lovely lady and instead I get to deal with nag nag nag...

I feel bad that I am pissed off because yes my mom has colon cancer and any decent child would support their parent, but seriously no one knows how tough it is on a caregiver when all they do is work w/ no thanks given. I've already been to the ER once from stress induced PVC's and now I'm getting so sick and tired I just want to give up......

*sigh*

family = sacrifice

CERT Class

So a new group of CERT members graduated yesterday. Most of them are from Americorps, but unlike all the other Americorp groups I have trained, this group was actually good and attentive. When Americorp personnel want to take CERT I always roll my eyes because they are "required" to take it and are not there because they want to learn, yet they need to be there so they can continue to be in the program and receive their stipend. For those of you who don't know what CERT is check out https://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/

Katrina told me budget cuts to the CSU system might end up killing CERT, but that's how the cookie crumbles I guess...

A couple days ago my lovely lady sent me a video of our baby Norman biting a metal chain. He's the cutest bunny ever!! =D

I love you babe and Normie too!!