New Beginnings

Those of you who know me understand that my life is accustomed to moving at a comparatively slow rate. Having been in EMS for a number of years, I’m used to working a lot of hours in a short timeframe and then having several days in a row off. My pace has been dramatically changed and I’m having a difficult time transitioning.

Recently, I accepted a government job that required my family and me to relocate to a more centralized area of the state. The move was hectic enough. Preparing to move, packing, cleaning, disconnecting utilities, reconnecting utilities, etc. are all taxing in themselves. Then, you make the move which requires you to live in total chaos as you unload, unpack and reset everything you’ve acquired in your lifetime back up. Through in the mix, a new job with a totally foreign schedule and you’ve got the makings of a major stress filled scenario.

I’m now a Monday thru Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM person. I love that this new schedule allows me to be home every night with my gorgeous family, but I’ve quickly come to the realization that there isn’t enough hours in the day or enough energy in my body to do everything I used to do. Throw in the mix that I have recommitted my life to the service of Christ and that Lezlie and I feel led to participate and help out with our new church’s youth group on Wednesday and two church services on Sunday’s - where is the time to get stuff done that I used to have?

My wife is a natural at moving at warp speed and having multiple irons in the fire at one time. She is an excellent juggler. Me, not so much! I’m really having to work hard at it. Still, I’m confident that we’re right in the middle of where God wants us to be at this time in our lives. This move has been ordained since we first considered it. God has opened every door and His leading has been very clear. We have not had to work at making anything in this move happen. From finding our new home to finding our new church to Lezlie working out a deal that allows her to continue in her present role at her job, but work from home most of the week. Hallelujah! God is powerful, gracious, and merciful.

I’m confident that we’ll settle into a new routine and that I’ll adjust to working bankers hours. I’m thankful for the way God is working in our lives, for second (or many more than second) chances, for the amazing friends that God is putting into our lives, for my amazing family of whom I have been so blessed to have, for my career which is moving in the direction I had always envisioned it heading, and for a God who knows me by name, loves me despite of myself, and considers me His friend.

The Silent Monks Perform the Hallelujah Chorus

The Commemoration of My Life

This past weekend my family and I traveled back to my home in Indiana to celebrate the life of my great aunt. My aunt is dying of leukemia and though we will honor her in her death, it was a very joyous occasion to honor her in life. See, my aunt is part of a large family and has amassed a vast number of friends and we’ve all been blessed and honored to have been a part of her life and her, a part of ours.

During the gathering on Saturday, among the 450+ people that attended, I was fortunate to overhear many wonderful stories about how my aunt has touched the lives of so many. Listening to all of the stories made me begin to think about how my life will be remembered.

I’ve made many mistakes in life. Some were huge and some weren’t so big, but they all taught me something and helped to shape me into the man I am today. Many periods in my life I wish were easier to travel through, but character isn’t achieved during the times that are peaches and cream. I’m thankful for every dumb thing I have ever done, because those things are the ones that have been the biggest factors in making me, well, me.

When your time comes, what will people remember most about you? For me, I hope people always remember me as someone who spent his life in the service of others. I want to be remembered as someone who cared deeply about the needs of others and who worked to ease the burden of those I encountered. I am never happier than when I can do for others, that which they cannot do for themselves.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” What an excellent tenet to govern you life.

No one expects his or her lives to be cut short. My aunt never thought that her time would draw near at such a great age. What about you? Are you living your life in a manner reflective of how you want to be remembered? Even in the valley of the shadow of death my aunt inspires me. What an amazing person she is.

Appropriate Birthday Card

This card was so appropriate for my birthday.

YMC Personality Perfectly Described

I took a little Personality test online. I am astounded at how accurately it describes me. Some call me obsessive, others call me stubborn, yet according to this test,I am gifted and usually right. The results are below with the interpretation

Your Type is INFJ

Strength of the preferences %
Introverted 56% Intuitive 12% Feeling 12% Judging 67%

You are:

moderately expressed introvert

slightly expressed intuitive personality

slightly expressed feeling personality

distinctively expressed judging personality

The Protector

As an INFJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit with your personal value system.

INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types.

INFJs place great importance on having things orderly and systematic in their outer world. They put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done, and constantly define and re-define the priorities in their lives. On the other hand, INFJs operate within themselves on an intuitive basis which is entirely spontaneous. They know things intuitively, without being able to pinpoint why, and without detailed knowledge of the subject at hand. They are usually right, and they usually know it. Consequently, INFJs put a tremendous amount of faith into their instincts and intuitions. This is something of a conflict between the inner and outer worlds, and may result in the INFJ not being as organized as other Judging types tend to be. Or we may see some signs of disarray in an otherwise orderly tendency, such as a consistently messy desk.

INFJs have uncanny insight into people and situations. They get "feelings" about things and intuitively understand them. As an extreme example, some INFJs report experiences of a psychic nature, such as getting strong feelings about there being a problem with a loved one, and discovering later that they were in a car accident. This is the sort of thing that other types may scorn and scoff at, and the INFJ themself does not really understand their intuition at a level which can be verbalized. Consequently, most INFJs are protective of their inner selves, sharing only what they choose to share when they choose to share it. They are deep, complex individuals, who are quite private and typically difficult to understand. INFJs hold back part of themselves, and can be secretive.

But the INFJ is as genuinely warm as they are complex. INFJs hold a special place in the heart of people who they are close to, who are able to see their special gifts and depth of caring. INFJs are concerned for people's feelings, and try to be gentle to avoid hurting anyone. They are very sensitive to conflict, and cannot tolerate it very well. Situations which are charged with conflict may drive the normally peaceful INFJ into a state of agitation or charged anger. They may tend to internalize conflict into their bodies, and experience health problems when under a lot of stress.

Because the INFJ has such strong intuitive capabilities, they trust their own instincts above all else. This may result in an INFJ stubbornness and tendency to ignore other people's opinions. They believe that they're right. On the other hand, INFJ is a perfectionist who doubts that they are living up to their full potential. INFJs are rarely at complete peace with themselves - there's always something else they should be doing to improve themselves and the world around them. They believe in constant growth, and don't often take time to revel in their accomplishments. They have strong value systems, and need to live their lives in accordance with what they feel is right. In deference to the Feeling aspect of their personalities, INFJs are in some ways gentle and easy going. Conversely, they have very high expectations of themselves, and frequently of their families. They don't believe in compromising their ideals.

INFJ is a natural nurturer; patient, devoted and protective. They make loving parents and usually have strong bonds with their offspring. They have high expectations of their children, and push them to be the best that they can be. This can sometimes manifest itself in the INFJ being hard-nosed and stubborn. But generally, children of an INFJ get devoted and sincere parental guidance, combined with deep caring.

In the workplace, the INFJ usually shows up in areas where they can be creative and somewhat independent. They have a natural affinity for art, and many excel in the sciences, where they make use of their intuition. INFJs can also be found in service-oriented professions. They are not good at dealing with minutia or very detailed tasks. The INFJ will either avoid such things, or else go to the other extreme and become enveloped in the details to the extent that they can no longer see the big picture. An INFJ who has gone the route of becoming meticulous about details may be highly critical of other individuals who are not.

The INFJ individual is gifted in ways that other types are not. Life is not necessarily easy for the INFJ, but they are capable of great depth of feeling and personal achievement.

State Licensing

Well, now that the academics are over I have to go through the colossal steps of applying for the state licenses. See, the NREMT only certifies that you've been educated and demonstrated proficiency for the knowledge and skills as a Nationally Registered Paramedic. It has no lawful control over whether you can practice medicine in any given state, as that is at the sole discretion of each state. Most states recognize the passing of the NREMT as acceptable to apply for and receive their state's license to practice.

I am applying for licenses in Ohio and Kentucky since I live on the border and perhaps one day may work for a Cincinnati based agency. I also plan to apply for Illinois and Indiana as both are prospects for relocation down the road. Applying for state licensing is about as pleasurable as jumping through the hurdles to join the military. Copious amounts of paperwork that you hurriedly fill out and send in, only to be acted upon on the states own time table. Let's face it, the government is not know for their efficiency.

To top it off, required certifications that were part of our training and education done months ago have still not made it to us from the university. Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support were successfully completed last year...still here I sit in wait for their arrival so I can complete my application process to the states. They had to wait to give us the certifications until successful completion of the class...tomorrow will be one full week. One full week doesn't sound like a long time, but it really is since, a). we already passed the training for these certifications months ago and, b). the university staff knew in advance that we would be graduating on time. Maybe I am just being too impatient...but I can't do anything until I can successfully make it through the application process.

For those of you concerned, my surgery last Wednesday went well. The doctor was able to remove two of my three screws successfully, however, the third was to far in to be removed without a lot of extra work. He said I had a lot of scar tissue on the lateral (outside) aspect of my ankle that he tried to clean up. He hasn't said one positive thing about how the original surgeon did his job. He believes, as I do, that the original doctor made things way worse by doing things with such archaic procedures and techniques, which are no longer used by most ortho's because of the kind of results that they yield. I am up walking some, but I get really sore where the one screw was that was holding that little ball on the inside part of your ankle. That one spot hurts the most. I was miserable the first two day with pain...now I am down to once or twice a day on pain meds. The surgeon is still dealing with my insurance company concerning the knee injections I am supposed to receive which may help me avoid surgery in that area. Dr. Nick hacked me up there too when he was trying to do the autograft.

Culmination of Determination, Perspiration and Dedication

On Monday, a culmination of determination, perspiration, and dedication came together for me as I graduated from the Paramedic Program at the University of Cincinnati. I began my career in EMS in 2000 as an EMT-basic. I liked it so much that I decided to continue my education and become an EMT-intermediate. EMS became much more than a career choice for me; it became my passion. I worked as an intermediate, took and passed the didactic portion of the paramedic program in Illinois at the EMS Training & Research Development Institute prior to our relocation to the greater Cincinnati area in 2004. I was unable to complete my internship due to relocation and a series of medical procedures on my right leg.

I decided to apply to the University of Cincinnati at the beginning of 2006 and much to my delight, was accepted into the program. You may or may not know that Cincinnati is the birth place of EMS in America. Napoleon was the first to use a triage and EMS system in recorded world history. But I digress…to say the least, this paramedic program is among the best in the nation. I was, and am, honored to have been fortunate enough to receive my education there.

Graduating from the university's paramedic program only gained me a diploma for the program. It did not allow me to seek out and obtain the state license necessary to practice medicine. For that, I had to take the NREMT-Paramedic practical and written examinations. If you know anything at all about these tests, you know that they are extremely difficult. My friend in Illinois, who has been an instructor for two decades, had to take his test three times prior to passing. The questions are not based on finding one right answer. Instead three of your four choices may be good answers, but your task is to select the one that is the BEST answer. These questions are largely scenario based, and while the education system attempts to standardize to the best of their ability the approach to certain scenarios, the way you approach a scenario may not be exactly the way I do. Nevertheless, much to my wonderment, I did pass both the practical and the written.

My lead instructor, Anthony Kramer, is a very gifted instructor. He made the educational experience, as labor intensive as it was, interesting and fun. The practical experience he brought to the classroom was extraordinary. The man has been teaching in this program for over twenty years, is a practicing paramedic with a local agency and is also an RN.

During our graduation ceremony, Mr. Kramer decided to say a few words about each of us in our class. He described me as the IT person of the class. Moreover, he described me as obsessive. Imagine that! Me obsessive? I’ve been obsessing about his comments ever since he made them.

The basis for his comments revolved around what I considered to be ambition and a drive for excellence. When an assignment was due, I tried to do it better than the norm. The norm for our patient summary reports were to be handwritten. However, I thought it would be easier for him to read and grade them if I reproduced the form and was able to type each one out. I generally tried to arrive early to class, help set up and then stay late to help tear down. I wasn't content with just settling and so I would try to communicate with my instructors and try to be as professional as possible. Anyway, to make it short, my intention wasn’t to be annoying, it was to display my commitment to succeed and to demonstrate my desire to do it to the best of my ability. It’s not the first time I have been described as obsessive and I am sure it will not be the last, but it does bother me that it came across as annoying, because I really wanted it to be a reflection of my work ethic.

What’s next? Well I plan to apply to Western Carolina University for a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Emergency Medical Care program. I can do most all of it by distance learning and it’s a program recommended by a former Executive Director I worked for and respect. I am about the least academic person you’ll ever meet so I may be sixty by the time I graduate, but it’s for what I aspire.