Friday, May 18, 2012

Wasted by ACLS

This will be a short post, as I'm about ready to hit the sack. I spent most of the day in ACLS today. For those of you lucky enough not to be in the healthcare field, ACLS is "Advanced Cardiac Life Support". Many hospitals and emergency services require staff to be certified in ACLS in order to be qualified to perform procedures necessary to saving a life while hospitalized. I.E. administering correct medications in correct dosages, identifying cardiac rhythms in order to decide what drugs to give at when, and what steps to take to 'hopefully' prolong cardiac function long enough to have some high tech procedure done by the folks who make the big money. The only drawback to all this educating and certifying is that unless you're employed in some very specific areas, you may only have occasion to use this info once or twice a year. In many cases, you cram all this info into your brain, only to forget it again before you use it! This is the time when I'm glad to NOT be a doctor, because generally they are in charge and telling the rest of us what to do. Prior to the class, you're required to take the "Pre-test" to determine your current level of knowledge and what areas you may need to review. My score was 62%. Uh-oh.(Did I mention that I have to have this certification in order to actually work and earn money?) Hmmm, guess I better hurry up and start cramming! Two more tries at the pre-test and my score was up to 95%. Okay, well that's better. (I hope). Anyway, through divine intervention and a lot of finger crossing, I managed to squeak through. It's safe for me to go back into work next week. (Too bad. I would have liked to take early retirement!) I'm safe for another two years (or until someone codes on my shift). Time to go to bed.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

MSNBC - The Last Word - Sean Harris gives 'punch gay kids' sermon

Another video going viral on Twitter that just made my chin drop. Speechless.

Amendment 1, Oh Lord

Hi All, It's been a looonnnggg time since I last posted. Let's call it a combination of Winter Blahs, lack of ideas, and too many "to be read" books on Kindle. But one thing in particular made me pick up my pen (or laptop)again. Yesterday in North Carolina, Amendment 1 was passed into law. Contrary to popular belief, this amendment is NOT just about gay marriage. It has the potential to affect many more people than just the LGBT people of North Carolina. My fear is that it has the potential to affect ALL people in ALL states if a movement of this sort were to pick up in other areas. Please view the video below. it's something I wish I and all the people of North Carolina had seen before voting for this amendment. Doesn't that video give you a lot to think about? I don't consider myself a political person in any sense of the word. I'm embarrassed and ashamed to say that at my age (almost 50) I have never voted in an election of any sort. Strangely enough, Twitter, of all things, has brought things to my attention that I probably would never have been aware of. It probably sounds crazy to you, but I rarely watch television, and when I do it's not the news that I watch. We don't subscribe to any newspapers or magazines. Occasionally I may see bits of a newspaper online, but political news is not something that I would normally gravitate to. The people I follow on Twitter have introduced me to issues and ideas that I haven't known about. I encourage all of you (few that you may be) to become informed. Learn about the issues, the people, and consider the future of this country that we live in. It's scary to think about sometimes. We have people who call themselves "christians" who seem to have an awful lot of hate inside. We have politicians running on "family values" platforms who seem to have a lack of them in their personal lives. (Didn't John Edwards run on this, as well as playing on the sympathies of the American people with his poor, sick, cancer-stricken wife? Now he's in the news for using campaign funds to pay off his mistress and support his illegitimate child. Hello...hypocritical much?) Everyone seems to feel free to play with semantics; using their own definitions of 'family values', 'christian', and 'equal rights'. Amendment 1 in North Carolina has the potential to limit and/or revoke rights of ALL persons in the state, unless they are "one man & one woman" who are "married". To be honest, I'm saddened and afraid. I don't want to see ANYONE'S child with any fewer rights that anyone else, just because he or she chooses not to get married, or loves someone of the same sex. It INFURIATES me to hear people say that gay marriage threatens the sanctity of marriage, when more than 50% of heterosexual marriages end in divorce. It seems like "marriage" is really just a contract between two persons. What makes it "sanctified" is the deep commitment involved if it's a TRUE marriage. The ability to make that commitment depends on the values, morals, and beliefs of the people involved; NOT their physical sexual characteristics. Ah, well. I guess I've had my rant for today. Thus is the value of the blog. I feel much better now, having gotten all that off my chest! Stay tuned for the next rant of the day, sponsored by Twitter!