Such is my mania

It's just a blurry camera phone picture, but you can see that clearly someone has gone nuts and is percolating coffee on the grill. That would be me. It all started the day before yesterday, the day my life was forever changed by a miniscule hole toward the bottom of my coffee carafe. Per my usual routine, I set it in the sink and filled it up with cold water, in preparation to make the vital nectar which would motivate me and keep me awake and non-homicidal for the next several hours.

Carafe full. Water off. I feed the Old Girl then turn back to the sink to retrieve my carafe and make my coffee. It's empty. *blink* *blink* Knowing I sometimes forget stuff when I'm not caffeinated, I fill it again. Then I hear it. The sound of water trickling. A hole, no bigger than 3mm across along the bottom third of the carafe, is the culprit. This is the second carafe I've had with this machine, and I had to special-order it online because I couldn't find it anywhere. I'm in no shape to drive anyway - I haven't had my coffee, for Godssakes!

I made do the first day with some tea-bag-like contraptions that actually contain instant coffee. Ick. It kept the dope-sick headache away, at least. (I had them in my camping stuff; I don't routinely set out to buy stuff that sucks - I feel the need to inform everyone). Another thing I remembered I had in my camping stuff was this wonderful percolator. Precisely because I had had the instant stuff on one camping trip and swore never again.

You can't even imagine my excitement when I saw the beautiful amber liquid bubbling up into the top of the percolator, after about 25 minutes on the grill. I had forgotten how great of a pot of coffee that percolator makes. So, until I get back from my trip next week, that's gonna be the source of my fix. Then I'm going to be on the prowl for a Hamilton Beach BrewStation. No more carafes to break!

Of course, they too may disappear from the face of the earth, just because I posted about them. Look at what happened to Scrabulous.

The enemy of boredom eating..

Scrabulous on Facebook. Dan and I have been playing each other obsessively when we're not together.

Heard over the airwaves

"Medic xyz to 123 Smith St, Anytown for a 19 year old female who.. (pause) states she weighed herself and the scale says she weighs 47lbs. She states she is supposed to weigh 103lbs."

The new medic sitting beside me laughed. "That is exactly the kilogram to pounds conversion."

The ditz had her scale set on kg instead of lbs. And called an ambulance because she apparently doesn't know what 103lbs vs. 47 lbs. looks like in the mirror.

Priceless.

Day in the life.

We step quickly up the sidewalk, toward the side entry of the house, secondary equipment in hand - on the way to back up the first crew in. The first thing I notice is a kid, probably under 12, inconsolable in (I assume) the neighbor's arms. The second thing I notice is the house-arrest bling on the ankle of "the neighbor".

When you hear the words "CPR in progress" and the patient is in their 40s, we expect the worst. This was no exception. We pull out all the stops for these patients, but the result is rarely good. Especially difficult was the fact that this patient - after a night of drinking - snored irregularly passed out in his chair, and the time of actual arrest was in question.

In the end, all we did was not enough, and my partner and I actually had to leave the scene after helping to extricate the cardiac arrest patient from the house to cover another call - a rectal foreign body insertion.

From the mortal to the ridiculous. Just a typical day in the life.

Plugging Along.

I only had 10 good minutes left in me yesterday after a long day at work and a shopping trip before I got home. Today was the start of *bliss* night shifts *bliss* so I had a little more time.

Yesterday:

• Cardio

Today:

• Total Body
• Lower Body

Goodbye to a true hero of our time.

Dr. Randy Pausch died today, his lifespan - but not his life - cut short by pancreatic cancer. You may remember him as the 'Last Lecture' professor.

Peace be with his wife, children, family, and all who loved him.

... Remember, the brick walls are there for a reason.

The brick walls are not there to keep us out.

The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. ...

• Loyalty is a two-way street.
• Never give up.
• You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being earnest. I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.
• Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.
• Get a feedback loop and listen to it. ... Anybody can get chewed out. It's the rare person who says, oh my god, you were right. ... When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it.
• Show gratitude.
• Don't complain. Just work harder.
• Be good at something, it makes you valuable.
• Work hard.
• Find the best in everybody. ... No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side; just keep waiting, it will come out.
• And be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.

Randy Pausch 1960-2008

Both Good and Perfect took a break yesterday.

Chillax tied them up and locked them in the basement.

Hung out with my best friend yesterday, had some homemade iced tea with lime and freshly muddled mint (delicious, in case you were wondering), and raided her garden for fresh cukes and zucchini. It was after 10 when I got home and proceeded to get my butt handed to me by my sweetie, playing Scrabulous. He's lucky I love him, because he won by over 100 points and we all know I don't take losing very well.

So, back to the TMT dvds tonight after work, because I didn't work out this morning. (Last daylight shift, w00t!!!)

Day before yesterday I did 3 of them:

• Cardio
• Abs
• Yoga Flex