"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'
"Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'
"When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'
"So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." (Luke 2:1-20)
About Me
- Robert
- I'm a 2009 graduate of Dartmouth College who loves Jesus, my wife and all things Northeast.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
From page to screen
You never know what's going to happen when Hollywood adapts a novel or play to the big screen. Fans of the original work often brace themselves against what they fear is going to be a commercialized, unfaithful adaptation of a beloved story. Other people, perhaps more inclined toward watching movies than reading books anyway, feel no such apprehension. As a general rule, I have found that the book is better than the movie. But what about when this is not the case?
Two movies leap to mind as being better than the book on which they were based: The Silence of the Lambs and The Godfather (also The Godfather, Part II, which was based on the same book). Each of those movies won the Academy Award for Best Picture, in 1991, 1972 and 1974, respectively. This got me to thinking: How many Best Picture winners are better than the book? I realize that this is an entirely subjective determination and not every movie is even based on a book, but my new project for 2010 is to read the book, watch the movie and then decide which is better.
The three aforementioned titles are the only ones I can check off the list straightaway, but there are a few others (All Quiet on the Western Front, Hamlet, No Country For Old Men) where I've read the book and only have to watch the movie. Speaking of No Country For Old Men, I checked it out from the Dartmouth library yesterday and finished it this afternoon. It was my first Cormac McCarthy novel, and I really liked it. The ending threw me a bit, but hopefully it'll sit better once I digest it more fully. I'm looking forward to watching the movie, and especially to seeing Javier Bardem's Best Supporting Actor-winning performance as Anton Chigurh.
Merry Christmas Eve!
Two movies leap to mind as being better than the book on which they were based: The Silence of the Lambs and The Godfather (also The Godfather, Part II, which was based on the same book). Each of those movies won the Academy Award for Best Picture, in 1991, 1972 and 1974, respectively. This got me to thinking: How many Best Picture winners are better than the book? I realize that this is an entirely subjective determination and not every movie is even based on a book, but my new project for 2010 is to read the book, watch the movie and then decide which is better.
The three aforementioned titles are the only ones I can check off the list straightaway, but there are a few others (All Quiet on the Western Front, Hamlet, No Country For Old Men) where I've read the book and only have to watch the movie. Speaking of No Country For Old Men, I checked it out from the Dartmouth library yesterday and finished it this afternoon. It was my first Cormac McCarthy novel, and I really liked it. The ending threw me a bit, but hopefully it'll sit better once I digest it more fully. I'm looking forward to watching the movie, and especially to seeing Javier Bardem's Best Supporting Actor-winning performance as Anton Chigurh.
Merry Christmas Eve!
Monday, December 21, 2009
The joy of reading books
The lament is not new: people don't read books anymore. In fact, this refrain is so well-worn that it's at risk of becoming a cliche. Television was going to be the end of books. Video games were going to be the end of books. Computers were going to be the end of books. The Internet was definitely going to be the end of books. And yet people still read them. But will books' luck ever run out?
In a previous life, I was preparing for a career as a book editor in Manhattan. Last summer, I heard the head of digital media for HarperCollins Publishers talk about whether the publishing industry faced a threat from the rise of e-books and devices like the Kindle (which is basically a portable e-book reader). Her stance was instructive. "We own the content. The consumer decides on the form. If people want to read all their books electronically, that's fine. If people want everything on audiobook, no problem. Printing companies may be in trouble if books go by the wayside, but we're not threatened at all."
When you stop to think about it, this makes perfect sense. No matter if they end up traditionally bound, recorded on CD or rendered digitally, manuscripts still need editing, stories still need marketing and packages still need designing. There is no position in the publishing house that is threatened by the theoretical extinction of the book. (Although this is not true of newspapers. Newspapers are dependent upon advertising revenue, which is itself directly linked to circulation. The book will endure, but the newspaper's future is less certain.)
Indeed, there is no question that book sales are down. This trend has lasted for years; people are simply not buying as many books as they used to. Moreover, people are not reading as many books as they used to. This does not mean people are consuming less literature than before, though, merely reading fewer books. He courts obsolescence who denies literature's dynamism, its capacity to grow and evolve into shapes and forms previously unconsidered. The concept of literature, define it as you will, preceded the book and will survive it as well.
And yet I cannot wholly abjure the book. Reading a book brings a rush of sensory pleasures all its own. Who does not relish the scent of a brand-new volume, its heft in your hands, the whisper of its pages flitting past? These things will never be duplicated on a compact disc or a computer screen.
With all that said, I find that I read much less than I would like. Granted, schoolwork and other responsibilities cut deeply into my reading time. The time I do have to read, consequently, is that much sweeter. I finished Gary Thomas's Sacred Marriage over the weekend (interesting book; worth a look if you're married or engaged, but otherwise there's not much there for you), and he mentioned offhandedly in one section that he reads thirty to forty books a year plus assorted magazines. Reading one book every nine to twelve days is not a bad clip!
The rate at which you read, of course, is far less important than the fact that you're reading books at all. With more than fifty books in my own reading queue, I am deeply excited for my winter break, which starts tomorrow afternoon. (And far more exciting is that I get to see my beautiful Ellen tomorrow!)
In a previous life, I was preparing for a career as a book editor in Manhattan. Last summer, I heard the head of digital media for HarperCollins Publishers talk about whether the publishing industry faced a threat from the rise of e-books and devices like the Kindle (which is basically a portable e-book reader). Her stance was instructive. "We own the content. The consumer decides on the form. If people want to read all their books electronically, that's fine. If people want everything on audiobook, no problem. Printing companies may be in trouble if books go by the wayside, but we're not threatened at all."
When you stop to think about it, this makes perfect sense. No matter if they end up traditionally bound, recorded on CD or rendered digitally, manuscripts still need editing, stories still need marketing and packages still need designing. There is no position in the publishing house that is threatened by the theoretical extinction of the book. (Although this is not true of newspapers. Newspapers are dependent upon advertising revenue, which is itself directly linked to circulation. The book will endure, but the newspaper's future is less certain.)
Indeed, there is no question that book sales are down. This trend has lasted for years; people are simply not buying as many books as they used to. Moreover, people are not reading as many books as they used to. This does not mean people are consuming less literature than before, though, merely reading fewer books. He courts obsolescence who denies literature's dynamism, its capacity to grow and evolve into shapes and forms previously unconsidered. The concept of literature, define it as you will, preceded the book and will survive it as well.
And yet I cannot wholly abjure the book. Reading a book brings a rush of sensory pleasures all its own. Who does not relish the scent of a brand-new volume, its heft in your hands, the whisper of its pages flitting past? These things will never be duplicated on a compact disc or a computer screen.
With all that said, I find that I read much less than I would like. Granted, schoolwork and other responsibilities cut deeply into my reading time. The time I do have to read, consequently, is that much sweeter. I finished Gary Thomas's Sacred Marriage over the weekend (interesting book; worth a look if you're married or engaged, but otherwise there's not much there for you), and he mentioned offhandedly in one section that he reads thirty to forty books a year plus assorted magazines. Reading one book every nine to twelve days is not a bad clip!
The rate at which you read, of course, is far less important than the fact that you're reading books at all. With more than fifty books in my own reading queue, I am deeply excited for my winter break, which starts tomorrow afternoon. (And far more exciting is that I get to see my beautiful Ellen tomorrow!)
The monetary value of sleep
The community college tutoring center, where I work part-time, was recently so inundated with students that it began allowing tutors to show up at any time, no matter whether or not they were on the schedule. This struck me as a great way to pick up some extra hours during the week. When I told Ellen about my idea of going in to work early, she was quiet for a moment and then said, "Is the extra money you'll make during that hour worth losing the hour of sleep?"
I chose the sleep, but the underlying question stuck with me. If I were making five thousand dollars an hour, I would have been at the tutoring lab the second it opened. But as a minimum-wage employee, the balance tipped in favor of restorative slumber. Where exactly does the tipping point lie? How much money is an hour of sleep worth?
Pose that question to a college student in the throes of final exams, and they will quote you an impossibly large, probably fictional number ("Infinity billion dollars," after all, is not a real sum). But it's a practical question. Too little sleep can have far-reaching effects on emotional and physical health. Too much sleep can be equally detrimental, new research is showing.
What would you give for an extra hour of sleep? What would you not give?
I chose the sleep, but the underlying question stuck with me. If I were making five thousand dollars an hour, I would have been at the tutoring lab the second it opened. But as a minimum-wage employee, the balance tipped in favor of restorative slumber. Where exactly does the tipping point lie? How much money is an hour of sleep worth?
Pose that question to a college student in the throes of final exams, and they will quote you an impossibly large, probably fictional number ("Infinity billion dollars," after all, is not a real sum). But it's a practical question. Too little sleep can have far-reaching effects on emotional and physical health. Too much sleep can be equally detrimental, new research is showing.
What would you give for an extra hour of sleep? What would you not give?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Fire and ice in Buffalo
It has been a slow week in Western NY. This is largely due to the arrival of the first "Lake Effect" storm of the season last Thursday, which deposited upwards of a foot and a half of snow. (Somebody once tried to explain the Lake Effect to me in meteorological terms, but I have a sneaking feeling that it just boils down to the locals blaming nearby, defenseless Lake Erie for the awful winter weather around these parts.) The storm was so bad that some stretches of I-90 were closed between Buffalo and the Pennsylvania border. Some motorists spent as long as twelve hours stranded in their cars before the roadway reopened Friday morning. I guess that gives new meaning to the phrase, "Cold shoulder!"
On the plus side, the storm meant that I got to enjoy my first snowday since sophomore year of college. I actually came pretty close to going to school anyway until I walked outside to warm up the car, looked around and realized that there was no way classes were going to be in session, a theory that was quickly confirmed by a call to the emergency closing hotline. I had just gotten my snow tires two days earlier, too, but I'm sure I'll get another opportunity to test them out soon.
Unfortunately I came down with a high fever over the weekend, which has only recently begun to abate. Although attending paramedic school full-time and working three jobs keeps me running around at an often frenetic pace, I'd much rather be out and about than laid up sick. Suffice it to say I'm looking forward to getting back on my feet!
In other news, several big-name pitchers are on the move. Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay is bound for Philadelphia, who is in turn sending Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners. John Lackey, formerly of the Angels, signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent. These are all big developments, but the best rotation in baseball still belongs to the New York Yankees. Can't wait for Opening Day!
On the plus side, the storm meant that I got to enjoy my first snowday since sophomore year of college. I actually came pretty close to going to school anyway until I walked outside to warm up the car, looked around and realized that there was no way classes were going to be in session, a theory that was quickly confirmed by a call to the emergency closing hotline. I had just gotten my snow tires two days earlier, too, but I'm sure I'll get another opportunity to test them out soon.
Unfortunately I came down with a high fever over the weekend, which has only recently begun to abate. Although attending paramedic school full-time and working three jobs keeps me running around at an often frenetic pace, I'd much rather be out and about than laid up sick. Suffice it to say I'm looking forward to getting back on my feet!
In other news, several big-name pitchers are on the move. Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay is bound for Philadelphia, who is in turn sending Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners. John Lackey, formerly of the Angels, signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent. These are all big developments, but the best rotation in baseball still belongs to the New York Yankees. Can't wait for Opening Day!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
In defense of EMS
It has been nearly nine months since I decided to pursue a career in Emergency Medical Services after my college graduation. In that time, I have frequently encountered the question, "You went to Dartmouth and you're here?" I simply reply, "Yes, I like EMS," and leave it at that. I'm growing increasingly irritated by the question, however, because it reflects both a misunderstanding of what paramedics do and the vaguely classist belief that EMS is a career field for the poorly educated.
Paramedicine is a career in a near-constant state of flux, and as a result many people are left with an outdated or simply misinformed perception of what EMS providers do. Although Johnny and Roy helped to introduce paramedicine into the public consciousness with "Emergency!" in the 1970s, more recent television programs like "Saved" (2006) and the gosh-awful "Trauma" (2009) have done more to muddy the picture than clarify things.
Thirty five years ago, patient care consisted simply of arriving on scene, throwing the patient in the back and speeding to the hospital so the patient could begin receiving treatment. These days of "Swoop and scoop" EMS are long gone, but the perception of paramedics as mere "ambulance drivers" has persisted. Today's paramedic ambulance unit, however, is essentially a mobile emergency department.
Paramedics have the knowledge and training to administer more than three dozen medications, to perform extensive airway management maneuvers, to interpet EKGs and manage cardiac dysrhythmias and to assist in childbirth in addition to providing treatment for a wide range of other medical and trauma (injury) emergencies. Whatever was once true, the 21st century paramedic is a highly trained, skilled practitioner of emergency medicine.
As for the false assumption that EMS is a job for the poorly educated, this largely stems from the low salaries many EMS providers earn. Paramedic certification does not require a college degree, so employers do not feel obligated to pay a high wage. Even for those EMS providers who do hold bachelor's degrees or beyond, salaries are primarily determined by the education you need to have, not the education a given individual necessarily does have.
Thus arises a vicious circle: Relatively speaking, EMS is a fairly low-paying job. Low-paying jobs tend not to appeal to Ivy Leaguers (or bachelor's degree holders of any stripe). As a result, few college graduates choose EMS as a career, and the dearth of college graduates in the industry enables agencies to continue justifying their low salaries. This industry-wide combination of low salaries and few bachelor's degree holders has bred the assumption that EMS as a career is somehow beneath the well-educated, that they ought to be working elsewhere while those with less education man the nation's ambulances.
I reject this view. A job may be low-paying, but that does not mean it is unimportant. EMS is a demanding and worthwhile career that will challenge even the most capable provider on a daily basis. What's more, it is taken for granted in today's society that if you call 911, someone will come to help you. So why the expectation that these heroes will be society's second string? Nothing could or should be further from the truth.
Paramedicine is a career in a near-constant state of flux, and as a result many people are left with an outdated or simply misinformed perception of what EMS providers do. Although Johnny and Roy helped to introduce paramedicine into the public consciousness with "Emergency!" in the 1970s, more recent television programs like "Saved" (2006) and the gosh-awful "Trauma" (2009) have done more to muddy the picture than clarify things.
Thirty five years ago, patient care consisted simply of arriving on scene, throwing the patient in the back and speeding to the hospital so the patient could begin receiving treatment. These days of "Swoop and scoop" EMS are long gone, but the perception of paramedics as mere "ambulance drivers" has persisted. Today's paramedic ambulance unit, however, is essentially a mobile emergency department.
Paramedics have the knowledge and training to administer more than three dozen medications, to perform extensive airway management maneuvers, to interpet EKGs and manage cardiac dysrhythmias and to assist in childbirth in addition to providing treatment for a wide range of other medical and trauma (injury) emergencies. Whatever was once true, the 21st century paramedic is a highly trained, skilled practitioner of emergency medicine.
As for the false assumption that EMS is a job for the poorly educated, this largely stems from the low salaries many EMS providers earn. Paramedic certification does not require a college degree, so employers do not feel obligated to pay a high wage. Even for those EMS providers who do hold bachelor's degrees or beyond, salaries are primarily determined by the education you need to have, not the education a given individual necessarily does have.
Thus arises a vicious circle: Relatively speaking, EMS is a fairly low-paying job. Low-paying jobs tend not to appeal to Ivy Leaguers (or bachelor's degree holders of any stripe). As a result, few college graduates choose EMS as a career, and the dearth of college graduates in the industry enables agencies to continue justifying their low salaries. This industry-wide combination of low salaries and few bachelor's degree holders has bred the assumption that EMS as a career is somehow beneath the well-educated, that they ought to be working elsewhere while those with less education man the nation's ambulances.
I reject this view. A job may be low-paying, but that does not mean it is unimportant. EMS is a demanding and worthwhile career that will challenge even the most capable provider on a daily basis. What's more, it is taken for granted in today's society that if you call 911, someone will come to help you. So why the expectation that these heroes will be society's second string? Nothing could or should be further from the truth.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
A weekend off
I played in the Sardinia Open today, winning the tournament with a 3-0 score. It was a smaller field than the October edition, and the other three players were rated class D or below. Nevertheless the games were enjoyable, and it was a lot of fun to play in a chess tournament again. I reached the position below in the last round against Antonio Cirelli; after 19. Rb1 Black is hard-pressed to stop Bg4+ Kb8 Qxc6. But his try in the game didn't save him.
19. ... b6 20. Qxc6 Qxa2 21. Rc1 Rd7 22. Qa8#
After a series of delays, I had my final supervisor evaluation on Thursday at the ambulance company where I've started working. Until now my shifts had been part of my "new hire" time, meaning I'd been assigned a field training officer with whom I would ride along while learning the ropes at the company. As my training time drew to a close, however, we hit a prolonged dry spell with virtually no calls, so I had to extend my ride time. I finally cleared on Thursday, though, which means I will be able to start signing up for shifts next week.
In other news, the series finale of "Monk" aired last night. I remember watching the series premiere, all the way back in July of 2002. And I wish I could say I watched the (entire) finale, but due to a misunderstanding with the DVR, I only saw the first thirty minutes. So no one tell me what happens!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Frosty the Snowman exposed
With the recent deluge of Christmas music on the radio, it was only a matter of time before I heard that childhood classic, "Frosty the Snowman." As its dulcet tones caressed my ears, however, I suddenly realized that this seasonal classic's chipper melody masks an insidious agenda. Let's consider the opening refrain:
"Frosty the Snowman / Was a jolly happy soul / With a corncob pipe and a button nose / And two eyes made out of coal."
The dangers of smoking are well-known, as is the heightened suggestibility of children and adolescents with respect to starting to smoke. Yet one of the most iconic figures of the holiday season swaggers around smoking a pipe! Not only that, but he is jolly and happy while doing it, not showing an ounce of regret for the damage he is doing to his body or the danger his second-hand smoke poses to others. Forget the Marlboro Man; the tobacco industry's most popular and effective spokesman wears "An old silk hat."
It gets worse. There are a lot of objects that would make excellent eyes--carrots, raisins, two extra buttons--but the coal industry has somehow gotten its smog-stained hands on our holiday anthems. It is subliminally programming children to believe that fossil fuels are toys instead of environment-destroying death crystals. And don't believe for a minute that the use of coal was simply an aesthetic decision: Solar panels are the same color.
As the song progresses, the reality of Frosty's manipulative mission hits home: "He led them down the streets of town / Right to the traffic cop / And he only paused a moment when / He heard him holler stop!"
By deliberately ignoring this police officer, Frosty is teaching the next generation to brazenly flout authority. This subversive attitude, reinforced with a healthy dose of nicotine and greenhouse gas, is rotting the moral compass of children everywhere.
The snowman must be stopped.
"Frosty the Snowman / Was a jolly happy soul / With a corncob pipe and a button nose / And two eyes made out of coal."
The dangers of smoking are well-known, as is the heightened suggestibility of children and adolescents with respect to starting to smoke. Yet one of the most iconic figures of the holiday season swaggers around smoking a pipe! Not only that, but he is jolly and happy while doing it, not showing an ounce of regret for the damage he is doing to his body or the danger his second-hand smoke poses to others. Forget the Marlboro Man; the tobacco industry's most popular and effective spokesman wears "An old silk hat."
It gets worse. There are a lot of objects that would make excellent eyes--carrots, raisins, two extra buttons--but the coal industry has somehow gotten its smog-stained hands on our holiday anthems. It is subliminally programming children to believe that fossil fuels are toys instead of environment-destroying death crystals. And don't believe for a minute that the use of coal was simply an aesthetic decision: Solar panels are the same color.
As the song progresses, the reality of Frosty's manipulative mission hits home: "He led them down the streets of town / Right to the traffic cop / And he only paused a moment when / He heard him holler stop!"
By deliberately ignoring this police officer, Frosty is teaching the next generation to brazenly flout authority. This subversive attitude, reinforced with a healthy dose of nicotine and greenhouse gas, is rotting the moral compass of children everywhere.
The snowman must be stopped.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Congratulations all around
Chief among them to my (now former) roommate Chris and his new wife Megan! They were married Saturday at Megan's church in Vermont and are currently honeymooning someplace a lot warmer than Buffalo. I wish them a long and blessed life together!
Ellen and I traveled to the outskirts of Boston last week to spend Thanksgiving with my father, brother and grandmother. While we were there, she competed in the annual Turkey Trot 5k in Braintree. Not only did she eclipse her goal of a sub-7:30 mile pace, but Ellen also blew away all the competition! She won her age group by a comfortable thirty second margin against a sizable field (there were 600 competitors across all age groups). Way to go Ellen! Complete results can be found here.
Moving into professional sports, Derek Jeter was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year today. A fitting cap to yet another distinguished season, and a far cry from the New Jersey Nets' newfound immortality. They are currently tied for the worst-ever start to an NBA season, and if they lose again on Wednesday, the record will be all theirs.
In other news, the first snowfall is being forecast for tonight into tomorrow. I'm curious to see the "Lake Effect" in action . . .
Ellen and I traveled to the outskirts of Boston last week to spend Thanksgiving with my father, brother and grandmother. While we were there, she competed in the annual Turkey Trot 5k in Braintree. Not only did she eclipse her goal of a sub-7:30 mile pace, but Ellen also blew away all the competition! She won her age group by a comfortable thirty second margin against a sizable field (there were 600 competitors across all age groups). Way to go Ellen! Complete results can be found here.
Moving into professional sports, Derek Jeter was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year today. A fitting cap to yet another distinguished season, and a far cry from the New Jersey Nets' newfound immortality. They are currently tied for the worst-ever start to an NBA season, and if they lose again on Wednesday, the record will be all theirs.
In other news, the first snowfall is being forecast for tonight into tomorrow. I'm curious to see the "Lake Effect" in action . . .
Monday, November 23, 2009
'Tis the season
Christmas seems to come earlier every year, or at least Christmas season does. It was not long ago that radio stations would mark the Thanksgiving holiday by pausing their regular programming and playing Christmas music 24/7 until December 26. But last Tuesday (November 17!), I noticed that several local radio stations had started the carol carousel. Amusingly, some competing radio stations began promoting themselves with slogans like, "Think it's too early for Christmas music? So do we . . ." It's not that I dislike Christmas music; on the contrary, I adore it. I look forward to when radio stations begin playing it. The trouble, though, is that there's a big risk of becoming desensitized by the time the big day arrives. Five weeks of nonstop Christmas carols will transform anticipation and novelty into oversaturation, and what could be worse than being sick of Christmas carols on Christmas??
On a more positive note, this is a good time to be a chess fan (as if there were ever a bad time). The New York Knights upset the New Jersey Knockouts last week, catapulting themselves into the championship match for the second time in franchise history. Their first finals appearance came in 2006, when they lost to the San Francisco Mechanics in a tiebreaker. This year they're poised to win it all, with only the dangerous Miami Sharks standing between the Knights and chess glory. The championship match will be played on Monday, December 7 at 7 pm.
To tide you over between now and then, the chess world has offered the World Blitz Championship, which ended Wednesday, and the World Cup, which began on Saturday. Ten Americans embarked for Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia, to play in the World Cup, although only four of them advanced past the first round. Grandmasters Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Alexander Shabalov and Varuzhan Akobian will all do battle tomorrow in Round 2. Good luck to them, and congratulations to all who competed! As for the World Blitz, it was won by 18-year old Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has unofficially taken over the number-one world ranking. I thought I was a big deal for holding the #13 spot in the USA for my age group when I was 18; Carlsen's accomplishments put mine in perspective, to state it mildly.
Paramedic school continues to go well; I completed Stage I of my clinicals yesterday with another shift in the Emergency Department. There are five stages of clinical in all, with each one built around time in the ED but including various other, unique locations. Clinical I had the operating room and morgue, for example, while Clinical IV will rotate us through the psych center and burn unit. In the classroom, we began Pulmonology/Cardiology today, which includes EKG monitoring and Advanced Cardiac Life Support and will take us through the end of 2009. After that will come EMS Operations, Medical Emergencies II (we do Medical Emergencies I later in the year for some reason), Pediatric Advanced Life Support and Trauma.
Happy Thanksgiving!
On a more positive note, this is a good time to be a chess fan (as if there were ever a bad time). The New York Knights upset the New Jersey Knockouts last week, catapulting themselves into the championship match for the second time in franchise history. Their first finals appearance came in 2006, when they lost to the San Francisco Mechanics in a tiebreaker. This year they're poised to win it all, with only the dangerous Miami Sharks standing between the Knights and chess glory. The championship match will be played on Monday, December 7 at 7 pm.
To tide you over between now and then, the chess world has offered the World Blitz Championship, which ended Wednesday, and the World Cup, which began on Saturday. Ten Americans embarked for Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia, to play in the World Cup, although only four of them advanced past the first round. Grandmasters Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Alexander Shabalov and Varuzhan Akobian will all do battle tomorrow in Round 2. Good luck to them, and congratulations to all who competed! As for the World Blitz, it was won by 18-year old Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has unofficially taken over the number-one world ranking. I thought I was a big deal for holding the #13 spot in the USA for my age group when I was 18; Carlsen's accomplishments put mine in perspective, to state it mildly.
Paramedic school continues to go well; I completed Stage I of my clinicals yesterday with another shift in the Emergency Department. There are five stages of clinical in all, with each one built around time in the ED but including various other, unique locations. Clinical I had the operating room and morgue, for example, while Clinical IV will rotate us through the psych center and burn unit. In the classroom, we began Pulmonology/Cardiology today, which includes EKG monitoring and Advanced Cardiac Life Support and will take us through the end of 2009. After that will come EMS Operations, Medical Emergencies II (we do Medical Emergencies I later in the year for some reason), Pediatric Advanced Life Support and Trauma.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Knights victorious
The New York Knights upset the Boston Blitz in the U.S. Chess League quarterfinals last week by a score of 2.5-1.5. Grandmasters Giorgi Kacheishvili and Pascal Charbonneau defeated Boston GMs Larry Christiansen and Eugene Perelshteyn, respectively, while Yaacov Norowitz drew with Ilya Krasik and Matt Herman (whom I defeated in the 2005 World Open) was the lone Knight to fall, losing a endgame against Vadim Matirosov. The Knights face an even bigger hurdle this week in the form of the top-seeded New Jersey Knockouts. I hope they wear their upset caps on Wednesday, because the championship game is just one victory away!
I had my first Emergency Department rotation on Saturday, and it was a terrific experience. My preceptor was extremely friendly, and I spent the bulk of my eight-hour rotation following her around as she moved from patient to patient. She was great about letting me perform procedures; I spoke to a paramedic student from the night class who said his preceptor didn't let him do anything until almost halfway through the shift. For me, though, all of the nurses got in on the act: Whenever there was blood to draw, medicine to give or an IV to start, someone would always come looking for me (they liked having someone so eager to do their work for them!).
One of the highlights of my ED rotation was the patient who somehow came under the impression that I was a physician (my clinical uniform says STUDENT in two different locations). Every time I talked to him, he would answer with, "Yes, doc" or "No, doc." I thought little of it--"Doc" is a fairly generic moniker, after all--until he was discharged near the end of my shift. He made a point of coming over to me, shaking my hand and somberly intoning, "Thank you again for everything, Doctor." As I shook his hand and watched him walk away, too surprised to reply, I heard a soft thud behind me as my preceptor hit the floor, rolling with laughter.
In other news, the college basketball season is starting to get underway. Go Big Green!
I had my first Emergency Department rotation on Saturday, and it was a terrific experience. My preceptor was extremely friendly, and I spent the bulk of my eight-hour rotation following her around as she moved from patient to patient. She was great about letting me perform procedures; I spoke to a paramedic student from the night class who said his preceptor didn't let him do anything until almost halfway through the shift. For me, though, all of the nurses got in on the act: Whenever there was blood to draw, medicine to give or an IV to start, someone would always come looking for me (they liked having someone so eager to do their work for them!).
One of the highlights of my ED rotation was the patient who somehow came under the impression that I was a physician (my clinical uniform says STUDENT in two different locations). Every time I talked to him, he would answer with, "Yes, doc" or "No, doc." I thought little of it--"Doc" is a fairly generic moniker, after all--until he was discharged near the end of my shift. He made a point of coming over to me, shaking my hand and somberly intoning, "Thank you again for everything, Doctor." As I shook his hand and watched him walk away, too surprised to reply, I heard a soft thud behind me as my preceptor hit the floor, rolling with laughter.
In other news, the college basketball season is starting to get underway. Go Big Green!
Monday, November 9, 2009
News from around the league
A big congratulations to the Dartmouth football team for its second victory in three weeks, a 20-17 double-overtime thriller against Cornell. Freshman Greg Patton rushed for 243 yards, breaking the all-time Dartmouth rushing record in the process. This win provided a much-needed boost to the Big Green (and its fans), and although Brown and No. 16 Princeton will be formidable opponents in the final two games, I'm optimistic that this will energize Dartmouth and propel them to a strong finish to the season.
The U.S. Chess League playoffs are currently underway, with the New York Knights facing off against the Boston Blitz and the New Jersey Knockouts taking on the Baltimore Kingfishers. On the opposite coast, Arizona-San Francisco and Miami-Seattle will be battled out on Wednesday. (If anyone can tell me why Miami is in the Western Division, I would love to know.) I am half-seriously thinking about attempting to form a New Hampshire expansion team in 2011. New Hampshire doesn't sport the glut of titled players that you'll find in Manhattan, San Francisco or a similar chess metropolis, but if we fielded players from western Massachusetts as well, a competitive team just might materialize. Stay tuned!
I heard on the radio today that Sesame Street turns 40 this week. "Big Bird Visits the Firehouse" was one of my all-time favorite movies as a child, and Count Von Count taught me just how scary math really is (a lesson reaffirmed by my multivariable calculus professor at college, who sadly sported neither purple skin nor a cape). Congratulations and many happy returns!
In other news, The Dartmouth Apologia, the journal of Christian thought I helped found in the fall of 2006, has just came out with its fifth issue. I haven't had a chance to savor it at length, but early signs are pointing to an excellent issue. The journal can be read at http://www.dartmouthapologia.org/ ; there is also a fascinating and vibrant blog at blog.dartmouthapologia.org which features brief, weekly entries about topics in Christianity. I strongly encourage you to check out both sites!
The U.S. Chess League playoffs are currently underway, with the New York Knights facing off against the Boston Blitz and the New Jersey Knockouts taking on the Baltimore Kingfishers. On the opposite coast, Arizona-San Francisco and Miami-Seattle will be battled out on Wednesday. (If anyone can tell me why Miami is in the Western Division, I would love to know.) I am half-seriously thinking about attempting to form a New Hampshire expansion team in 2011. New Hampshire doesn't sport the glut of titled players that you'll find in Manhattan, San Francisco or a similar chess metropolis, but if we fielded players from western Massachusetts as well, a competitive team just might materialize. Stay tuned!
I heard on the radio today that Sesame Street turns 40 this week. "Big Bird Visits the Firehouse" was one of my all-time favorite movies as a child, and Count Von Count taught me just how scary math really is (a lesson reaffirmed by my multivariable calculus professor at college, who sadly sported neither purple skin nor a cape). Congratulations and many happy returns!
In other news, The Dartmouth Apologia, the journal of Christian thought I helped found in the fall of 2006, has just came out with its fifth issue. I haven't had a chance to savor it at length, but early signs are pointing to an excellent issue. The journal can be read at http://www.dartmouthapologia.org/ ; there is also a fascinating and vibrant blog at blog.dartmouthapologia.org which features brief, weekly entries about topics in Christianity. I strongly encourage you to check out both sites!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Live sticks and hockey players
I finished my intubation clinicals last week. While it was exciting to be in the OR and perform intubations, I'm glad to get it out of the way before Emergency Department clinicals begin in earnest next week. My ED rotations are scheduled for the Erie County Medical Center, which is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the area. Hopefully I'll be exposed to a wider variety of patients at ECMC than at one of the smaller hospitals. The Veterans' Administration medical center is another popular clinical location among paramedic students, so perhaps I will do future ED rotations there as well.
Before being allowed to sign up for ED clinicals, though, we each had to leap the "live stick" hurdle. After practicing starting IVs on the mannikins, we got to partner up and perform the skill on a real person. To the lab instructors' great disappointment, none of the patients passed out while having IVs started on them. Although I don't particularly relish being unnecessarily perforated, I apparently have "interstates" for veins (according to the lab instructors), which made my partner's task quite easy.
The ambulance company I work for provides EMS coverage to Buffalo's HSBC Arena, which is home to the Buffalo Sabres, among others. As a new hire, I had to go to the semiannual "Arena training," which took place on Monday. This half-day training combined an overview of Arena policies and procedures with a tour of the facility and drills on its various levels. The nosebleed section, for example, poses considerable difficulties for spinal immobilization, so we spent some time learning how to overcome those challenges.
Another unique environment is the surface of the ice itself. Backboarding a professional hockey player and getting him safely to the ambulance--with the color commentators critiquing your every move on national television--leaves zero margin for error. To motivate us, we were shown this clip, which is the #3 Youtube hit for "Mike Modano dropped by paramedics" (start at the 1:11 mark).
On the plus side, I took $3 off of the company's CEO at dollar-a-question sports trivia, including this question: If the Yankees defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, how many total World Series championships will they have won?
Game Six is tonight; GO YANKEES!!
Before being allowed to sign up for ED clinicals, though, we each had to leap the "live stick" hurdle. After practicing starting IVs on the mannikins, we got to partner up and perform the skill on a real person. To the lab instructors' great disappointment, none of the patients passed out while having IVs started on them. Although I don't particularly relish being unnecessarily perforated, I apparently have "interstates" for veins (according to the lab instructors), which made my partner's task quite easy.
The ambulance company I work for provides EMS coverage to Buffalo's HSBC Arena, which is home to the Buffalo Sabres, among others. As a new hire, I had to go to the semiannual "Arena training," which took place on Monday. This half-day training combined an overview of Arena policies and procedures with a tour of the facility and drills on its various levels. The nosebleed section, for example, poses considerable difficulties for spinal immobilization, so we spent some time learning how to overcome those challenges.
Another unique environment is the surface of the ice itself. Backboarding a professional hockey player and getting him safely to the ambulance--with the color commentators critiquing your every move on national television--leaves zero margin for error. To motivate us, we were shown this clip, which is the #3 Youtube hit for "Mike Modano dropped by paramedics" (start at the 1:11 mark).
On the plus side, I took $3 off of the company's CEO at dollar-a-question sports trivia, including this question: If the Yankees defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, how many total World Series championships will they have won?
Game Six is tonight; GO YANKEES!!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Homecoming
I went back to New Hampshire for Dartmouth's Homecoming this past weekend. While making my way toward the Upper Valley, I found myself reflecting on the occasion, whose name seemed especially apt. As much as anywhere else, Hanover is home for me. I spent the four most formative years of my life there, during which time I met both my Savior and my future wife. What's more, I'm going back after paramedic school to get married and begin wedded life there.
But that lies ahead, and Homecoming is ultimately an occasion for looking nostalgically backward. As an undergrad I had never paid much attention to the visiting alumni, but then again, I could barely imagine life apart from Dartmouth, either. And whether it was the football team thinking wistfully about November 3, 2007 (the last time they had won a game before Saturday's impressive 28-6 victory over Columbia) or the numerous class mini-reunions around campus, The Past had a palpable physical presence throughout the weekend.
I got into the nostalgia act myself, coming out of retirement to take half a shift with Dartmouth EMS. It was a lot of fun to ride with them again, and encouraging besides. The unit has excellent student leadership this year and a small but committed cadre of supporters in the administration. They have made incredible strides over the past two and a half years, and I am eagerly looking forward to seeing where things go from here.
The highlight of the weekend, of course, was getting to see my beautiful fiancee. Below is a photo taken at the Dartmouth Night Bonfire. Just over ten months until the wedding!
In other news, the NBA regular season starts tonight. My Knicks haven't given me much to cheer about recently, but it's a brand new year and anything can happen!
But that lies ahead, and Homecoming is ultimately an occasion for looking nostalgically backward. As an undergrad I had never paid much attention to the visiting alumni, but then again, I could barely imagine life apart from Dartmouth, either. And whether it was the football team thinking wistfully about November 3, 2007 (the last time they had won a game before Saturday's impressive 28-6 victory over Columbia) or the numerous class mini-reunions around campus, The Past had a palpable physical presence throughout the weekend.
I got into the nostalgia act myself, coming out of retirement to take half a shift with Dartmouth EMS. It was a lot of fun to ride with them again, and encouraging besides. The unit has excellent student leadership this year and a small but committed cadre of supporters in the administration. They have made incredible strides over the past two and a half years, and I am eagerly looking forward to seeing where things go from here.
The highlight of the weekend, of course, was getting to see my beautiful fiancee. Below is a photo taken at the Dartmouth Night Bonfire. Just over ten months until the wedding!
In other news, the NBA regular season starts tonight. My Knicks haven't given me much to cheer about recently, but it's a brand new year and anything can happen!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Never a dull moment
It's been a frenetic two weeks (more to come soon on Dartmouth's Homecoming). Paramedic school has been a whirlwind of patient assessment lectures, labs and exams. Patient assessment is often referred to as the cornerstone of EMS care, because it is impossible to decide on a course of treatment without an accurate impression of the presenting condition. In addition to traditional, prehospital patient assessment, we also learned something called expanded scope assessment. This is a more detailed, physician-level set of assessment techniques that is intended for the clinical setting (i.e. a doctor's office).
Some states, such as North Carolina, have an "Advanced Practice" paramedic respond in lieu of an ambulance. He performs an extensive evaluation of the patient and determine if the emergency department is truly the most appropriate destination. If so, an ambulance is called and the patient is transported. If not, the paramedic calls the hospital and makes an appointment for the patient with the appropriate department. This prevents the waste of both ambulance and emergency department resources while simultaneously directing the patient to the most appropriate care. New York does not have such a system in place yet, but we're receiving the training now so that we'll be prepared when it does arrive.
Outside of class, my clinical rotations are continuing in earnest. I spent Wednesday morning in the Erie County morgue observing autopsies, which was a fascinating experience. It's not every day that you get to see a heart being prepared for transplant! Being able to actually see the internal organs instead of simply labeling them on a diagram makes a big difference. And the sound of the bone saw was a bit unsettling, but fortunately they weren't using it for long. This Wednesday I'm heading back to the operating room for more intubation clinical, which I'm looking forward to.
Updating a previous item, the NYS Health Commissioner has rescinded the mandate for all healthcare providers to receive the H1N1 vaccine because of an inadequate supply. This preceded President Obama's declaration that the swine flu outbreak is a national emergency, which has implications only for hospital treatment procedures and has no bearing on the vaccine. The seasonal flu vaccine, of which there is no reported shortage, is still a requirement for NYS healthcare providers.
In other news, the Yankees beat the Angels last night to advance to the World Series. This is the Bronx Bombers' fortieth pennant! The Yankees will host the Phillies on Wednesday night. You can bet I'll be watching.
Some states, such as North Carolina, have an "Advanced Practice" paramedic respond in lieu of an ambulance. He performs an extensive evaluation of the patient and determine if the emergency department is truly the most appropriate destination. If so, an ambulance is called and the patient is transported. If not, the paramedic calls the hospital and makes an appointment for the patient with the appropriate department. This prevents the waste of both ambulance and emergency department resources while simultaneously directing the patient to the most appropriate care. New York does not have such a system in place yet, but we're receiving the training now so that we'll be prepared when it does arrive.
Outside of class, my clinical rotations are continuing in earnest. I spent Wednesday morning in the Erie County morgue observing autopsies, which was a fascinating experience. It's not every day that you get to see a heart being prepared for transplant! Being able to actually see the internal organs instead of simply labeling them on a diagram makes a big difference. And the sound of the bone saw was a bit unsettling, but fortunately they weren't using it for long. This Wednesday I'm heading back to the operating room for more intubation clinical, which I'm looking forward to.
Updating a previous item, the NYS Health Commissioner has rescinded the mandate for all healthcare providers to receive the H1N1 vaccine because of an inadequate supply. This preceded President Obama's declaration that the swine flu outbreak is a national emergency, which has implications only for hospital treatment procedures and has no bearing on the vaccine. The seasonal flu vaccine, of which there is no reported shortage, is still a requirement for NYS healthcare providers.
In other news, the Yankees beat the Angels last night to advance to the World Series. This is the Bronx Bombers' fortieth pennant! The Yankees will host the Phillies on Wednesday night. You can bet I'll be watching.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Nobel Prizes announced
The Nobel Prizes were announced this week. Of greatest interest to me this year were the Literature and Medicine Prizes. The latter was awarded to three American researchers whose biological research has offered important insights into cell aging and death. This is a bit far afield of my own area of expertise, but I'm pleased for them nonetheless. The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Romanian-born German author Herta Muller. It seems less than a quarter of her oeuvre has been translated into English, which might explain why I have never heard of her.
Though the Nobel Prize for Literature is my favorite of the awards, it's also the one with which I am often most dissatisfied. The award was founded in 1901 and since then has been awarded every year but seven. During that time some unquestionably brilliant authors have received it: Eliot, Yeats, Faulkner, Solzhenitsyn and Neruda, to name a few. Other recipients, however, have not been as deserving. 2004 laureate Elfriede Jelinek's The Piano Teacher, for example, is pornographic tripe. It is the nature of these awards that not everyone will agree with every choice of recipient. But let's look at who's doing the choosing.
There are more scientists and historians in the Swedish Academy than novelists, and none of them is widely known outside Swedish circles. Until resigning from her position, one of the members was best known for her detective stories. Are newspapermen and computational linguists really qualified to confer a prize of such global magnitude? Of course not. Great Britain's Man Booker prize, for example, is conferred by a board composed of the leading writers and critics in the Commonwealth.
The public is also culpable for blowing the award out of proportion. There is a certain weight conferred by the Nobel brand, but the award never claims to identify the single greatest author or work in the world. The public too frequently assumes otherwise and heaps exuberant laudation upon individuals who don't always deserve it. I do not mean to denounce any specific laureate (except Ms. Jelinek), merely to shed some light on a widely misunderstood prize. In the meantime, I look forward to reading Ms. Muller to see for myself.
And now I would like to announce a few Nobel Prizes of my own, in the following categories:
Dumb disclaimers:
1) The daily horoscope in the local newspaper: Predictions have no reliable basis in fact
2) Sleep aid warning labels: May cause drowsiness
3) The price-check gun at the supermarket: Small children should not shine laser in eyes
The winner is: The price check gun at the supermarket. It turns out that lasers will blind you at any age. Just ask Phil Cuzzi.
Exasperating engineering:
1) The $0.15 toll on Interstate 90 between Buffalo and Depew.
2) Alarm clocks
3) The jump seat in the back of van-style ambulances
The winner is: The jump seat in the back of van-style ambulances. It'd be more comfortable to sleep on a porcupine's back.
Coolest electronic device I've used in the past two months:
1) MonRoi Personal Chess Manager
2) Garmin GPS
3) Logitech Webcam
The winner is: The webcam. The MonRoi is great to have for chess tournaments and the Garmin gets me from A to B, but only the webcam lets me see Ellen while we're 400 miles apart.
Though the Nobel Prize for Literature is my favorite of the awards, it's also the one with which I am often most dissatisfied. The award was founded in 1901 and since then has been awarded every year but seven. During that time some unquestionably brilliant authors have received it: Eliot, Yeats, Faulkner, Solzhenitsyn and Neruda, to name a few. Other recipients, however, have not been as deserving. 2004 laureate Elfriede Jelinek's The Piano Teacher, for example, is pornographic tripe. It is the nature of these awards that not everyone will agree with every choice of recipient. But let's look at who's doing the choosing.
There are more scientists and historians in the Swedish Academy than novelists, and none of them is widely known outside Swedish circles. Until resigning from her position, one of the members was best known for her detective stories. Are newspapermen and computational linguists really qualified to confer a prize of such global magnitude? Of course not. Great Britain's Man Booker prize, for example, is conferred by a board composed of the leading writers and critics in the Commonwealth.
The public is also culpable for blowing the award out of proportion. There is a certain weight conferred by the Nobel brand, but the award never claims to identify the single greatest author or work in the world. The public too frequently assumes otherwise and heaps exuberant laudation upon individuals who don't always deserve it. I do not mean to denounce any specific laureate (except Ms. Jelinek), merely to shed some light on a widely misunderstood prize. In the meantime, I look forward to reading Ms. Muller to see for myself.
And now I would like to announce a few Nobel Prizes of my own, in the following categories:
Dumb disclaimers:
1) The daily horoscope in the local newspaper: Predictions have no reliable basis in fact
2) Sleep aid warning labels: May cause drowsiness
3) The price-check gun at the supermarket: Small children should not shine laser in eyes
The winner is: The price check gun at the supermarket. It turns out that lasers will blind you at any age. Just ask Phil Cuzzi.
Exasperating engineering:
1) The $0.15 toll on Interstate 90 between Buffalo and Depew.
2) Alarm clocks
3) The jump seat in the back of van-style ambulances
The winner is: The jump seat in the back of van-style ambulances. It'd be more comfortable to sleep on a porcupine's back.
Coolest electronic device I've used in the past two months:
1) MonRoi Personal Chess Manager
2) Garmin GPS
3) Logitech Webcam
The winner is: The webcam. The MonRoi is great to have for chess tournaments and the Garmin gets me from A to B, but only the webcam lets me see Ellen while we're 400 miles apart.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Much ado about swine flu
Distribution of the H1N1 flu vaccine began yesterday amidst a swirl of fanfare and controversy. This vaccine, which specifically targets the dreaded "swine flu," is taken in conjunction with a seasonal flu shot. I'm not big on fad vaccinations; I eluded SARS and the avian flu and I'm similarly unconcerned about a sudden outbreak of bubonic plague or the Vidiian Phage. I even survived twelve years of grade school without a "cooties shot." So ordinarily I wouldn't be paying much attention to the raging brouhaha. The wrinkle is that New York has become the first--and so far the only--state in the country to make the H1N1 vaccine mandatory for all healthcare workers.
My principal concern is that the vaccine has not been adequately tested. No one really knows if the vaccine works or if it is safe. As one classmate, a former combat medic, put it, "They haven't even tested it on the Army yet, and they test everything on us." There was a swine flu vaccine in the 1970's, but problems arose when people began dying from it. Presumably that shortcoming has been corrected with this new batch of vaccines, but new ones have arisen to take its place. The nephew of one of my lab instructors received the new vaccine and promptly developed Herpes zoster (which is distinct from but related to the venereal disease).
The outbreak of Spanish Influenza in 1918 killed upwards of 50-100 million people. One of the major contributing factors to this astronomically high death toll was a lack of appropriate public health response. Nearly a century later, epidemiological knowledge has progressed by leaps and bounds and proactivity is a major weapon in the public health officer's mitigation arsenal. Mass-producing a vaccine with which to protect the population is a responsible and sound decision.
I fear, however, that overzealousness has led to undue haste in the development and approval of this vaccine. No doubt the scientists working on the vaccine were under tremendous pressure to have the final product ready to go in time for "flu season," and the vaccine approval personnel were similarly motivated to put a product on the market. I find it impossible to believe that the H1N1 vaccine was developed and tested with the rigor, longevity and a scrutiny that a less "important" product would have received. (The volume of drug recalls in recent months has also shaken my faith in the entire approval process, but that's a different story.)
If I had a choice, I would not receive the H1N1 vaccine and I disagree with New York State's decision to make vaccination mandatory. The vaccine is available in all fifty states, but the other forty nine are leaving the decision to the individual providers. Surely the Department of Health must realize they're missing something everybody else can see? Nevertheless, I am an EMT and EMTs have to receive the H1N1 vaccine. So bring it on. But please hold the Herpes.
My principal concern is that the vaccine has not been adequately tested. No one really knows if the vaccine works or if it is safe. As one classmate, a former combat medic, put it, "They haven't even tested it on the Army yet, and they test everything on us." There was a swine flu vaccine in the 1970's, but problems arose when people began dying from it. Presumably that shortcoming has been corrected with this new batch of vaccines, but new ones have arisen to take its place. The nephew of one of my lab instructors received the new vaccine and promptly developed Herpes zoster (which is distinct from but related to the venereal disease).
The outbreak of Spanish Influenza in 1918 killed upwards of 50-100 million people. One of the major contributing factors to this astronomically high death toll was a lack of appropriate public health response. Nearly a century later, epidemiological knowledge has progressed by leaps and bounds and proactivity is a major weapon in the public health officer's mitigation arsenal. Mass-producing a vaccine with which to protect the population is a responsible and sound decision.
I fear, however, that overzealousness has led to undue haste in the development and approval of this vaccine. No doubt the scientists working on the vaccine were under tremendous pressure to have the final product ready to go in time for "flu season," and the vaccine approval personnel were similarly motivated to put a product on the market. I find it impossible to believe that the H1N1 vaccine was developed and tested with the rigor, longevity and a scrutiny that a less "important" product would have received. (The volume of drug recalls in recent months has also shaken my faith in the entire approval process, but that's a different story.)
If I had a choice, I would not receive the H1N1 vaccine and I disagree with New York State's decision to make vaccination mandatory. The vaccine is available in all fifty states, but the other forty nine are leaving the decision to the individual providers. Surely the Department of Health must realize they're missing something everybody else can see? Nevertheless, I am an EMT and EMTs have to receive the H1N1 vaccine. So bring it on. But please hold the Herpes.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Beginnings and endings in October
October is a highly transitional month. Today, for example, is the last day of the Major League Baseball regular season, with the playoffs beginning later this week. But even as baseball draws to a close, college and professional football are in full swing. My New York Giants have jumped out to a solid 4-0 start; the 3-0 Jets are fighting an uphill battle against New Orleans as I write. Unfortunately, Dartmouth football continues its losing ways. They lost a 30-24 game to Penn for their fifteenth consecutive loss. Next up is Yale; here's hoping for a Big Green victory!
This week was marked by the passing of William Safire and Jerry Hanken. Safire distinguished himself as the resident grammarian of The New York Times and is warmly eulogized by colleague Maureen Down here. Jerry Hanken was a household name as well, if to the slightly smaller demographic of US Chess Federation members. His "Hanken's Corner" articles for Chess Life Magazine and interviews with class winners at major open tournaments had become a staple of the American chess experience. I did not have the pleasure of knowing Hanken personally, but I will miss him nonetheless.
I played another chess tournament yesterday, winning the Sardinia Open with a 3-0 score. My second round opponent played a daring knight sacrifice and even achieved a winning position, but a handful of inaccurate moves late in the game allowed me to equalize material and win the ensuing rook-and-pawn endgame. He was disappointed (and I was relieved) by the result, but I'm sure we'll both learn a lot from the game. My third round victory over 1581-rated Matt Peck is as follows:
1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 0-0 6. Nf3 c6 7. Qc2 Nbd7 8. Bd3 h6 9. h4 Ne8 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. g4 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Nd6 13. Be2 e5 14. g5 e4 15. Nd2 f5 16. 0-0-0 hxg5 17. hxg5 Qxg5 18. Qb3+ Nf7 19. Rh5 Qf6 20. Rdh1 g6 21. Rh7 Nb6
22. Ndxe4 fxe4 23. Nxe4 Black resigns
This week was marked by the passing of William Safire and Jerry Hanken. Safire distinguished himself as the resident grammarian of The New York Times and is warmly eulogized by colleague Maureen Down here. Jerry Hanken was a household name as well, if to the slightly smaller demographic of US Chess Federation members. His "Hanken's Corner" articles for Chess Life Magazine and interviews with class winners at major open tournaments had become a staple of the American chess experience. I did not have the pleasure of knowing Hanken personally, but I will miss him nonetheless.
I played another chess tournament yesterday, winning the Sardinia Open with a 3-0 score. My second round opponent played a daring knight sacrifice and even achieved a winning position, but a handful of inaccurate moves late in the game allowed me to equalize material and win the ensuing rook-and-pawn endgame. He was disappointed (and I was relieved) by the result, but I'm sure we'll both learn a lot from the game. My third round victory over 1581-rated Matt Peck is as follows:
1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 0-0 6. Nf3 c6 7. Qc2 Nbd7 8. Bd3 h6 9. h4 Ne8 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. g4 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Nd6 13. Be2 e5 14. g5 e4 15. Nd2 f5 16. 0-0-0 hxg5 17. hxg5 Qxg5 18. Qb3+ Nf7 19. Rh5 Qf6 20. Rdh1 g6 21. Rh7 Nb6
22. Ndxe4 fxe4 23. Nxe4 Black resigns
I went back to the operating room on Wednesday for another round of advanced airway clinicals. Unfortunately the trip was only a partial success. I didn't get to place the required number of airways, so I have to go back a third time later in the month, but as always it was neat to see everything that goes into a safe and successful surgery.
I'm trying to get excited about the National League playoff cycle, but it's tough when all it confers is the right to lose to the Yankees in the World Series . . .
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Ending September on a high note
Ordinarily I save "In other news" for the end of a post, but the World Beard and Moustache Championships just can't wait. Some pictures are worth more than a thousand words! Only 591 days and counting until the 2011 installment. http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/
I paid a quick visit to Hanover this past weekend for a belated celebration of Ellen's birthday. In addition to getting to spend altogether too-scarce time with Ellen, I also got to see a number of undergrad and grad student friends. The temperature dipped below freezing at night, which was a clear sign that fall has arrived. On the plus side, this made for stunning foliage on the lengthy drive to and from New Hampshire.
Paramedic school continues to go well. It's hard to believe I'm more than 10% of the way done already. The program is becoming increasingly rigorous (we took three exams today and more are on the immediate horizon), but I'm loving every minute of it. In addition, I was hired by a local ambulance company last week to do part-time standby and shift work. This is a great opportunity to keep up my skills and gain some experience working alongside veteran paramedics, so I'm pretty excited. New-hire training begins on Thursday and I'm heading back to the operating room tomorrow to continue with intubation clinicals. It's going to be a good week!
Congratulations to the Yankees for clinching the AL East and to the Giants and Jets for starting the season 3-0!
I paid a quick visit to Hanover this past weekend for a belated celebration of Ellen's birthday. In addition to getting to spend altogether too-scarce time with Ellen, I also got to see a number of undergrad and grad student friends. The temperature dipped below freezing at night, which was a clear sign that fall has arrived. On the plus side, this made for stunning foliage on the lengthy drive to and from New Hampshire.
Paramedic school continues to go well. It's hard to believe I'm more than 10% of the way done already. The program is becoming increasingly rigorous (we took three exams today and more are on the immediate horizon), but I'm loving every minute of it. In addition, I was hired by a local ambulance company last week to do part-time standby and shift work. This is a great opportunity to keep up my skills and gain some experience working alongside veteran paramedics, so I'm pretty excited. New-hire training begins on Thursday and I'm heading back to the operating room tomorrow to continue with intubation clinicals. It's going to be a good week!
Congratulations to the Yankees for clinching the AL East and to the Giants and Jets for starting the season 3-0!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Last day of summer
Despite my most fervent efforts to forestall it, the last day of summer has arrived. It's not that I don't like fall--it boasts the baseball playoffs, football season and the U.S. Chess League--but I like summer better. Above and beyond the aforementioned autumnal advantages, though, this fall brings considerable reason for excitement. Not the least of which is ELLEN'S BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!!
As hard as it is to believe, I'm 10% of the way through my paramedic class. It has exceeded my expectations thus far, for classroom, lab and clinical components alike. I have a number of clinicals coming up; in addition to my return to the operating room and rescheduled trip to the morgue (last week's trip got canceled because there were no autopsies scheduled), we begin Emergency Department rotations in a few weeks. We're concluding pathophysiology and immunology with tomorrow's exam, and Patient Assessment starts on Thursday. After that will be pharmacology, respiratory and cardiology, which will take us most of the way to Christmas.
Chess also continues to go well. I won the Daniel R. Acker Grand Prix tournament on Saturday with a score of 3.5 / 4. It was a small but strong tournament, with no titled players but five people rated Class A or higher. The tournament organizer even graciously posted two announcements on the Buffalo chess blog welcoming me to the area. Here's my Round 2 win over Class A player Glenn Westcott:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Qb6 7. Na4 Qa5+ 8. Bd2 Qc7 9. Rc1 Bf5 10. Ne5 e6 11. e3 Bd6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Bb5
13. ... cxb5 14. Rxc7 Bxc7 15. Nc5 0-0 16. 0-0 Bd6 17. Qe2 a6 18. Rc1 Rfc8 19. f3 h6 20. Qe1 Bc7 21. Ba5 Bxa5 22. Qxa5 Nd7 23. g4 Bg6 24. Rc3 Nb8 25. Qb6 b4 26. Qxb4 Nc6 27. Qa4 Kh7 28. Nxa6 Ne7 29. Rxc8 Rxc8 30. Nc5 Nc6 31. Qa6 Rc7 Black resigns.
I'm also beginning to settle into "WNY" life in other ways, most notably an apparent resolution to my search for a church home. More on this soon.
As hard as it is to believe, I'm 10% of the way through my paramedic class. It has exceeded my expectations thus far, for classroom, lab and clinical components alike. I have a number of clinicals coming up; in addition to my return to the operating room and rescheduled trip to the morgue (last week's trip got canceled because there were no autopsies scheduled), we begin Emergency Department rotations in a few weeks. We're concluding pathophysiology and immunology with tomorrow's exam, and Patient Assessment starts on Thursday. After that will be pharmacology, respiratory and cardiology, which will take us most of the way to Christmas.
Chess also continues to go well. I won the Daniel R. Acker Grand Prix tournament on Saturday with a score of 3.5 / 4. It was a small but strong tournament, with no titled players but five people rated Class A or higher. The tournament organizer even graciously posted two announcements on the Buffalo chess blog welcoming me to the area. Here's my Round 2 win over Class A player Glenn Westcott:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Qb6 7. Na4 Qa5+ 8. Bd2 Qc7 9. Rc1 Bf5 10. Ne5 e6 11. e3 Bd6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Bb5
13. ... cxb5 14. Rxc7 Bxc7 15. Nc5 0-0 16. 0-0 Bd6 17. Qe2 a6 18. Rc1 Rfc8 19. f3 h6 20. Qe1 Bc7 21. Ba5 Bxa5 22. Qxa5 Nd7 23. g4 Bg6 24. Rc3 Nb8 25. Qb6 b4 26. Qxb4 Nc6 27. Qa4 Kh7 28. Nxa6 Ne7 29. Rxc8 Rxc8 30. Nc5 Nc6 31. Qa6 Rc7 Black resigns.
I'm also beginning to settle into "WNY" life in other ways, most notably an apparent resolution to my search for a church home. More on this soon.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Clinicals begin
The clinical component of my paramedic course began last week with a trip to the operating room for hands-on advanced airway experience. Anytime a patient is placed under general anesthesia, he cannot breathe for himself and must have the anesthesiologist do it for him. Hence, once the patient is unconscious, a thin plastic tube is placed in the airway and connected to a ventilator. This ensures that the patient receives adequate oxygen as well as sufficient anesthesia gases to maintain a deep level of sedation. It's rare for prehospital care providers to have a ventilator on hand, but the intubation procedure is the same in the OR as at the side of the road, which makes this an effective method of skills practice.
It was something of a slow day at the OR when I went, at least in terms of cases requiring general anesthesia. There were a number of surgeries being performed under local or regional anesthesia, but since those procedures don't require the patient to be intubated, they didn't do me much good. I wound up attending two surgeries and performed one intubation. Unfortunately, the requirement is that I perform four intubations (one of which must be a laryngeal mask airway placement), so I'm heading back at the end of the month to finish up.
Tomorrow I'm headed to the county morgue to observe two autopsies. I don't need to participate at all, just watch the medical examiner at work. The goal is to give us a better sense of topographical anatomy (i.e., where everything is in the body), which will be beneficial as general knowledge but especially for our understanding of trauma calls. In the evening I'll be attending a meeting of the local Regional Emergency Medical Advisory Committee (REMAC). This is a board of physicians and other experts who approve protocols for use by EMS providers. I'm looking forward to glimpsing the process by which our protocols and procedures are decided upon and modified. And I'm sure it'll smell better than the morgue.
In other news, I made my Western New York chess debut on Saturday, winning the Jenifer Woods Memorial Grand Prix with a score of 3.5 / 4. The tournament was rather top-heavy, with two of the eleven players holding the title of FIDE Master. I managed to defeat both masters before a last-round draw with one of the Duke Chess Team's recent alumna. The tournament was hosted by the Rochester Chess Center, which is an excellent venue for playing chess. It boasts the elusive combination of a well-equipped facility and a low-key, friendly atmosphere and staff. If only it weren't an hour and a half away!
It was something of a slow day at the OR when I went, at least in terms of cases requiring general anesthesia. There were a number of surgeries being performed under local or regional anesthesia, but since those procedures don't require the patient to be intubated, they didn't do me much good. I wound up attending two surgeries and performed one intubation. Unfortunately, the requirement is that I perform four intubations (one of which must be a laryngeal mask airway placement), so I'm heading back at the end of the month to finish up.
Tomorrow I'm headed to the county morgue to observe two autopsies. I don't need to participate at all, just watch the medical examiner at work. The goal is to give us a better sense of topographical anatomy (i.e., where everything is in the body), which will be beneficial as general knowledge but especially for our understanding of trauma calls. In the evening I'll be attending a meeting of the local Regional Emergency Medical Advisory Committee (REMAC). This is a board of physicians and other experts who approve protocols for use by EMS providers. I'm looking forward to glimpsing the process by which our protocols and procedures are decided upon and modified. And I'm sure it'll smell better than the morgue.
In other news, I made my Western New York chess debut on Saturday, winning the Jenifer Woods Memorial Grand Prix with a score of 3.5 / 4. The tournament was rather top-heavy, with two of the eleven players holding the title of FIDE Master. I managed to defeat both masters before a last-round draw with one of the Duke Chess Team's recent alumna. The tournament was hosted by the Rochester Chess Center, which is an excellent venue for playing chess. It boasts the elusive combination of a well-equipped facility and a low-key, friendly atmosphere and staff. If only it weren't an hour and a half away!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Doing double duty
In honor of Labor Day, I wanted to highlight an article from Thursday's New York Times entitled "Firefighters Become Medics to the Poor." Imprecisely titled and haphazardly organized, the article nevertheless touches upon several of the major issues confronting EMS and the fire service today.
The article, which follows the Washington, D.C. Fire Department's Engine Company 10, boasts a title that suggests firefighters have not always been called upon to provide emergency medical care. In reality, Engine Company 10 is staffed and equipped for both fire and medical calls. The shift in the proportion between EMS and fire calls is a fascinating and complex issue unto itself, as is the reaction of the emergency services community to this phenomenon.
The issue at the center of the article is excellently presented: First responders are increasingly called upon to act as primary care physicians. Unfortunately the author doesn't pursue this question in any depth. What does it say about society when poor people choose to call 911 instead of going to see a doctor? Is it selfishness, an abuse of the emergency response system? Or is there a broader social statement when millions of people cannot afford to see a physician but desperately need medical treatment of some kind?
Prehospital emergency care rarely comes cheap to the patient (for more on reducing the costs associated with ambulance treatment, see my earlier post on the subject). Calling for an ambulance instead of making an appointment with a physician will not fend off a bill. The bottom line may even be more expensive with an ambulance ride since often this results in a trip to the emergency department and opens up an entirely new front of charges.
There are some people who take advantage of the 911 system, it is true. But these individuals are much rarer than those who simply see an ambulance as their only means to medical care. This may stem from inadequate or nonexistent health insurance or from some other obstacle. Whatever the case, the American health care infrastructure is in a state of crisis. No one should ever have to call an ambulance because they have no other access to health care. But as long as they do, EMS will be there.
The article, which follows the Washington, D.C. Fire Department's Engine Company 10, boasts a title that suggests firefighters have not always been called upon to provide emergency medical care. In reality, Engine Company 10 is staffed and equipped for both fire and medical calls. The shift in the proportion between EMS and fire calls is a fascinating and complex issue unto itself, as is the reaction of the emergency services community to this phenomenon.
The issue at the center of the article is excellently presented: First responders are increasingly called upon to act as primary care physicians. Unfortunately the author doesn't pursue this question in any depth. What does it say about society when poor people choose to call 911 instead of going to see a doctor? Is it selfishness, an abuse of the emergency response system? Or is there a broader social statement when millions of people cannot afford to see a physician but desperately need medical treatment of some kind?
Prehospital emergency care rarely comes cheap to the patient (for more on reducing the costs associated with ambulance treatment, see my earlier post on the subject). Calling for an ambulance instead of making an appointment with a physician will not fend off a bill. The bottom line may even be more expensive with an ambulance ride since often this results in a trip to the emergency department and opens up an entirely new front of charges.
There are some people who take advantage of the 911 system, it is true. But these individuals are much rarer than those who simply see an ambulance as their only means to medical care. This may stem from inadequate or nonexistent health insurance or from some other obstacle. Whatever the case, the American health care infrastructure is in a state of crisis. No one should ever have to call an ambulance because they have no other access to health care. But as long as they do, EMS will be there.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Sad news from the fire service
The Buffalo Fire Department suffered two line-of-duty deaths last week. Lt. Charles McCarthy and Firefighter Jonathan Croom were killed last Monday when the first floor of a burning building collapsed, trapping them in the basement. Investigators have not determined what caused the fire.
Lt. McCarthy entered the building after bystanders reported hearing voices from inside calling for help. When the floor collapsed, Lt. McCarthy radioed for help and Firefighter Croom went in to rescue him. Unfortunately he too fell through the floor and additional efforts to reach the men were unsuccessful. After the fire was extinguished, investigators concluded that there was no one in the building besides the deceased firefighters. It was not immediately clear if there had been someone trapped inside who had managed to escape, but authorities later determined that the voices the bystanders reported hearing came from an unrelated argument taking place on the street in front of the store.
Emergency services personnel are above all public servants, and Lt. McCarthy and Firefighter Croom served with distinction and honor. These men exhibited a depth of commitment and steel of resolve to the public welfare that sets the bar for every emergency services worker. The next time you meet a firefighter, thank him in memory of these two fallen heroes.
Lt. McCarthy entered the building after bystanders reported hearing voices from inside calling for help. When the floor collapsed, Lt. McCarthy radioed for help and Firefighter Croom went in to rescue him. Unfortunately he too fell through the floor and additional efforts to reach the men were unsuccessful. After the fire was extinguished, investigators concluded that there was no one in the building besides the deceased firefighters. It was not immediately clear if there had been someone trapped inside who had managed to escape, but authorities later determined that the voices the bystanders reported hearing came from an unrelated argument taking place on the street in front of the store.
Emergency services personnel are above all public servants, and Lt. McCarthy and Firefighter Croom served with distinction and honor. These men exhibited a depth of commitment and steel of resolve to the public welfare that sets the bar for every emergency services worker. The next time you meet a firefighter, thank him in memory of these two fallen heroes.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
CHaD successes
The Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD) Half-Marathon was run yesterday in Hanover and Norwich. According to the official website, this race/fundraiser has brought in more than $200,000 in donations. Ellen ran a fantastic race, completing the 13.1 mile course in 1:51:23, or an 8.5-minute mile pace. Final standings can be viewed here. Congratulations to Ellen and everyone who ran, walked, donated or volunteered in this event!
The race organizers also coordinated an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most people gathered in one place dressed like superheroes. They evidently succeeded, assembling 1,016 costumed individuals on the Dartmouth Green before the race. Kudos to the new world-record holders!
In other news, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Friday that one of the biggest threats to the ozone layer is nitrous oxide. This didn't come out of the blue, as the EPA had already declared nitrous oxide a threat to public health back in April due to its heat-trapping tendencies.
The public-health-threat part is a bit ironic considering nitrous oxide is better known as "laughing gas" and is widely administered in dentist offices (and some paramedic ambulances) the nation over. Lest any dentophobes feel guilty, however, the article scarcely mentions nitrous as an anesthetic and anxiolytic. Rather, the gas is produced as a byproduct of fertilizer and other non-medical applications. A pun here is obligatory, but I will leave it for you to supply. Leave a comment if you come up with a good one.
The race organizers also coordinated an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most people gathered in one place dressed like superheroes. They evidently succeeded, assembling 1,016 costumed individuals on the Dartmouth Green before the race. Kudos to the new world-record holders!
In other news, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Friday that one of the biggest threats to the ozone layer is nitrous oxide. This didn't come out of the blue, as the EPA had already declared nitrous oxide a threat to public health back in April due to its heat-trapping tendencies.
The public-health-threat part is a bit ironic considering nitrous oxide is better known as "laughing gas" and is widely administered in dentist offices (and some paramedic ambulances) the nation over. Lest any dentophobes feel guilty, however, the article scarcely mentions nitrous as an anesthetic and anxiolytic. Rather, the gas is produced as a byproduct of fertilizer and other non-medical applications. A pun here is obligatory, but I will leave it for you to supply. Leave a comment if you come up with a good one.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Testimony
As promised, here is my testimony of faith, as delivered at the Christ Redeemer Church baptismal service on July 12 and at the Sunday morning service on August 23.
"It’s hard to say exactly where my journey to faith began. I didn’t grow up in a Christian home; my father didn’t buy into religion, and my mother was a Christian nominally at best. She used to drag me to church sometimes, back when I was still young enough to be scooped up and thrown in the back of the station wagon, but that was the extent of my exposure to Christianity, and I came to associate going to church with near-mortal boredom. Before long, my mother got busy with other things, and I was off the hook. My father would have been willing to drive me to church if I’d wanted to go, but I didn’t. I was too young to want a relationship with God for myself, or even to understand what that meant.
I cruised along for the next few years until the day after my sixteenth birthday, when my father told me that he and my mother were getting a divorce. My mother was an abusive parent and she and I did not have a good relationship, but even so, I had always turned to my family as my refuge, to be the one place where I could dwell in constancy and relative safety. And that was torn away from me.
The next months passed by in a blur. My younger brother and I went to live with my father. As the divorce and bitter custody battle unfolded, I found for a time that I could sustain myself emotionally on the us-against-the-world pathos my father, brother and I had formulated. But it was an artificial solution, a quick fix, and it didn’t last long.
The combined weight of high school and family troubles soon grew to completely overwhelm me. It just became too much and I couldn’t keep going. I didn’t snap, or break down, at least not on the outside. But all the pressure and despair I was feeling started getting directed inwardly, and there grew a searing pain in my heart. And seeing the void left in my heart by the loss of the family structure I’d needed so badly made me realize that there were a lot of other voids that needed filling, too. That’s when I first realized that there was something missing in my life, something bigger than what I’d lost, and something I desperately needed.
When I arrived at Dartmouth in September 2005, I had done some thinking about God. Did I believe in Him? I believed that there was a supernatural power that ordered things and made them happen a certain way, so in that sense I suppose I believed in God, or at least in a God-being. But was I a Christian? Definitely not. I didn’t know anything about who Jesus was or what he did.
What defined the early days of my Dartmouth career was my interaction with Christians. Of everyone I met, they were consistently the nicest and friendliest of the bunch. I continued spending time with members of the Navigators because I liked them and I felt comfortable around them. And for the first time I was intrigued by Christianity and I wanted to learn more about it. So I got involved with a freshman Bible study and joined some of my friends in regularly attending CRC. And it didn’t take long after that before I came to profess Christ as my Savior and Lord.
Accepting the reality of sin was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever had to do. I didn’t want to believe that deep down, I and everyone I knew was a sinner. Admitting that to myself, though, enabled me to truly embrace the fact that Jesus went to the cross as our substitute. His death paid the penalty for all of our sins. And when I realized that, I understood what it meant to truly be free.
Praying for the first time; being surrounded by people singing praise songs and joining in with all sincerity and joy . . . it was something really sweet. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” And indeed I was a new creation; the mind-numbing pain and despair I’d known in high school didn’t seem insurmountable anymore. I still had struggles, of course, but I didn’t have to face them alone. Being able to ask someone to pray for you . . . it can be easy to forget, sometimes, just how amazing that is, that your brothers and sisters will go before the Lord on your behalf.
Jesus tells his disciples, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). I’ve seen that, and I’ve experienced that firsthand. I’ve seen and even felt how God is glorified by the faithful gathering to praise His name. And not just during church services or large-group fellowship meetings, but on an individual basis too. “A new command I give you,” the Lord said. “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
I praise God that He brought me here to Dartmouth and I praise Him that He led me to this wonderful church, because through the faithful witness of the saints He brought me to His Son."
"It’s hard to say exactly where my journey to faith began. I didn’t grow up in a Christian home; my father didn’t buy into religion, and my mother was a Christian nominally at best. She used to drag me to church sometimes, back when I was still young enough to be scooped up and thrown in the back of the station wagon, but that was the extent of my exposure to Christianity, and I came to associate going to church with near-mortal boredom. Before long, my mother got busy with other things, and I was off the hook. My father would have been willing to drive me to church if I’d wanted to go, but I didn’t. I was too young to want a relationship with God for myself, or even to understand what that meant.
I cruised along for the next few years until the day after my sixteenth birthday, when my father told me that he and my mother were getting a divorce. My mother was an abusive parent and she and I did not have a good relationship, but even so, I had always turned to my family as my refuge, to be the one place where I could dwell in constancy and relative safety. And that was torn away from me.
The next months passed by in a blur. My younger brother and I went to live with my father. As the divorce and bitter custody battle unfolded, I found for a time that I could sustain myself emotionally on the us-against-the-world pathos my father, brother and I had formulated. But it was an artificial solution, a quick fix, and it didn’t last long.
The combined weight of high school and family troubles soon grew to completely overwhelm me. It just became too much and I couldn’t keep going. I didn’t snap, or break down, at least not on the outside. But all the pressure and despair I was feeling started getting directed inwardly, and there grew a searing pain in my heart. And seeing the void left in my heart by the loss of the family structure I’d needed so badly made me realize that there were a lot of other voids that needed filling, too. That’s when I first realized that there was something missing in my life, something bigger than what I’d lost, and something I desperately needed.
When I arrived at Dartmouth in September 2005, I had done some thinking about God. Did I believe in Him? I believed that there was a supernatural power that ordered things and made them happen a certain way, so in that sense I suppose I believed in God, or at least in a God-being. But was I a Christian? Definitely not. I didn’t know anything about who Jesus was or what he did.
What defined the early days of my Dartmouth career was my interaction with Christians. Of everyone I met, they were consistently the nicest and friendliest of the bunch. I continued spending time with members of the Navigators because I liked them and I felt comfortable around them. And for the first time I was intrigued by Christianity and I wanted to learn more about it. So I got involved with a freshman Bible study and joined some of my friends in regularly attending CRC. And it didn’t take long after that before I came to profess Christ as my Savior and Lord.
Accepting the reality of sin was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever had to do. I didn’t want to believe that deep down, I and everyone I knew was a sinner. Admitting that to myself, though, enabled me to truly embrace the fact that Jesus went to the cross as our substitute. His death paid the penalty for all of our sins. And when I realized that, I understood what it meant to truly be free.
Praying for the first time; being surrounded by people singing praise songs and joining in with all sincerity and joy . . . it was something really sweet. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” And indeed I was a new creation; the mind-numbing pain and despair I’d known in high school didn’t seem insurmountable anymore. I still had struggles, of course, but I didn’t have to face them alone. Being able to ask someone to pray for you . . . it can be easy to forget, sometimes, just how amazing that is, that your brothers and sisters will go before the Lord on your behalf.
Jesus tells his disciples, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). I’ve seen that, and I’ve experienced that firsthand. I’ve seen and even felt how God is glorified by the faithful gathering to praise His name. And not just during church services or large-group fellowship meetings, but on an individual basis too. “A new command I give you,” the Lord said. “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
I praise God that He brought me here to Dartmouth and I praise Him that He led me to this wonderful church, because through the faithful witness of the saints He brought me to His Son."
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Hanover and back, part II (Or, Amtrak defeated)
The lengthy journey to the Upper Valley behind me, I had a terrific weekend in Hanover. The highlight was getting to see Ellen, of course! (Video-Skype just isn't the same thing.) I also saw a number of Dartmouth friends who were on campus for Sophomore Summer or grad school. The Information Age has produced some remarkable innovations to help people stay in touch, but there's nothing like a good face-to-face conversation.
And for my revenge against Amtrak: I bought a car!
Alright, so maybe the whole purpose of my trip to Dartmouth last weekend was to pick up the car and I didn't do it in retaliation for my bad travel experience. But even so, I won't be needing Amtrak's services anymore! While on the subject of automotive triumphs, I was treated to a drive in Dartmouth EMS's brand-new flycar. It's a terrific piece of equipment that is the result of endless hours of dedication and hard work by some very committed people. My heartfelt congratulations to Ryan Speers, Jeff Spielberg and everyone else who labored long and hard to make this a reality.
While I was in Hanover, Don Willeman, the pastor at Christ Redeemer Church, asked me if I would be willing to share my testimony of faith at church on Sunday. I considered it a privilege to oblige. You can listen to it here or, if you're like me and can't stand the sound of my recorded voice, I'll post the text shortly.
And for my revenge against Amtrak: I bought a car!
Alright, so maybe the whole purpose of my trip to Dartmouth last weekend was to pick up the car and I didn't do it in retaliation for my bad travel experience. But even so, I won't be needing Amtrak's services anymore! While on the subject of automotive triumphs, I was treated to a drive in Dartmouth EMS's brand-new flycar. It's a terrific piece of equipment that is the result of endless hours of dedication and hard work by some very committed people. My heartfelt congratulations to Ryan Speers, Jeff Spielberg and everyone else who labored long and hard to make this a reality.
While I was in Hanover, Don Willeman, the pastor at Christ Redeemer Church, asked me if I would be willing to share my testimony of faith at church on Sunday. I considered it a privilege to oblige. You can listen to it here or, if you're like me and can't stand the sound of my recorded voice, I'll post the text shortly.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Hanover and back (Or, The war with Amtrak)
It's 2:45 AM on Saturday morning. I'm standing in a dark parking lot in Middle-of-Nowhere, VT, with only thick tendrils of mist for company. And it's all Amtrak's fault.
The journey began at 1 pm the previous day when I boarded a clean and spacious train leaving sunny Buffalo, the first leg of my weekend trip to Hanover. All went extremely smoothly at first, and we even put into Schenectady, NY at the precise minute printed on the schedule (when was the last time you saw an airplane do that?). There was a scheduled 2.5 hour layover, which was plenty of time for a quick hamburger with some exploring for dessert. In addition to Union College (Dartmouth's old ECAC hockey foe), Schenectady is home to General Electric, which was called the Edison Electric Company when Thomas Edison founded it in 1878. Quite a neat town.
The trouble started when I asked the stationmaster from which track my train, which was due to arrive in three minutes, would be departing. He wasn't sure, so he made the appropriate inquiries and came back with the news that it would be delayed approximately 55 minutes. That didn't actually answer my question but was good enough for the time being (it ended up coming on Track 2). When the train finally arrived, loaded/unloaded passengers and luggage and resumed its journey with me aboard, it was running more than 90 minutes behind schedule. Even this wouldn't have been a problem if the train had exceeded 40 miles an hour for the rest of the trip, but it didn't. They held us for an additional 45 minutes at one station for a mechanical inspection but apparently could not correct the problem.
We finally pulled into our final destination only to be shown the door by an impatient stationmaster. While his eagerness to go home could but equal mine, his means to do so were far superior. A flick of the lightswitch and a turn of the key and he was homeward bound. And so I found myself alone with the Amtrak parking lot in all its dark, dank splendor. Fortunately relief came quickly in the form of Ellen, who drove me back to Hanover and a long-overdue reunion with my sleeping bag in a friend's apartment.
More to come on this trip soon (including my revenge against Amtrak), but one positive from the Amtrak (mis)adventure was that I had a chance to finish my book. Sheldon Vanauken's A Severe Mercy came highly recommended by a friend, who called it the best book she had read in a long time. Vanauken recounts "the spiritual autobiography" of the love he shared with his wife before her premature illness and death, including their conversion to Christianity and the grief that followed her passing. Yale- and Oxford-educated and a longtime correspondent with C.S. Lewis (some of their letters are shared in the book), Vanauken is insightful in a simultaneously subtle and profound way. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in poetry, love, faith or God. If you're in or near Hanover now, there's a copy in Berry lower level.
The journey began at 1 pm the previous day when I boarded a clean and spacious train leaving sunny Buffalo, the first leg of my weekend trip to Hanover. All went extremely smoothly at first, and we even put into Schenectady, NY at the precise minute printed on the schedule (when was the last time you saw an airplane do that?). There was a scheduled 2.5 hour layover, which was plenty of time for a quick hamburger with some exploring for dessert. In addition to Union College (Dartmouth's old ECAC hockey foe), Schenectady is home to General Electric, which was called the Edison Electric Company when Thomas Edison founded it in 1878. Quite a neat town.
The trouble started when I asked the stationmaster from which track my train, which was due to arrive in three minutes, would be departing. He wasn't sure, so he made the appropriate inquiries and came back with the news that it would be delayed approximately 55 minutes. That didn't actually answer my question but was good enough for the time being (it ended up coming on Track 2). When the train finally arrived, loaded/unloaded passengers and luggage and resumed its journey with me aboard, it was running more than 90 minutes behind schedule. Even this wouldn't have been a problem if the train had exceeded 40 miles an hour for the rest of the trip, but it didn't. They held us for an additional 45 minutes at one station for a mechanical inspection but apparently could not correct the problem.
We finally pulled into our final destination only to be shown the door by an impatient stationmaster. While his eagerness to go home could but equal mine, his means to do so were far superior. A flick of the lightswitch and a turn of the key and he was homeward bound. And so I found myself alone with the Amtrak parking lot in all its dark, dank splendor. Fortunately relief came quickly in the form of Ellen, who drove me back to Hanover and a long-overdue reunion with my sleeping bag in a friend's apartment.
More to come on this trip soon (including my revenge against Amtrak), but one positive from the Amtrak (mis)adventure was that I had a chance to finish my book. Sheldon Vanauken's A Severe Mercy came highly recommended by a friend, who called it the best book she had read in a long time. Vanauken recounts "the spiritual autobiography" of the love he shared with his wife before her premature illness and death, including their conversion to Christianity and the grief that followed her passing. Yale- and Oxford-educated and a longtime correspondent with C.S. Lewis (some of their letters are shared in the book), Vanauken is insightful in a simultaneously subtle and profound way. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in poetry, love, faith or God. If you're in or near Hanover now, there's a copy in Berry lower level.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Paramedic school begins
I began paramedic school yesterday. We had a full-day orientation where the instructors introduced the didactic and clinical components of the program, walked us through volumes of paperwork and gave us a tour of the lab facilities. There are sixteen of us in the day session (there's also a separate night class), and I'm among the youngest both age-wise and experience-wise. There are five EMT-Intermediates, one combat medic and a couple EMT-Basics who have been in EMS since before I could walk. It's exciting to be learning with an experienced and dedicated group of providers.
The course consists of classroom lecture, lab-based skills practice and a rigorous exam schedule in addition to extensive clinical and field rotations. There's a lot of work but it's easy to stay motivated. I'm accountable not only to myself and my instructors but also to my future patients. They will need me then to have mastered this material now.
The EMS facilities at the community college are more than adequate, but the rest of the campus is not quite as advanced. I noticed the following label on a door:
And then I noticed where the door was located:
It's going to be a good year!
The course consists of classroom lecture, lab-based skills practice and a rigorous exam schedule in addition to extensive clinical and field rotations. There's a lot of work but it's easy to stay motivated. I'm accountable not only to myself and my instructors but also to my future patients. They will need me then to have mastered this material now.
The EMS facilities at the community college are more than adequate, but the rest of the campus is not quite as advanced. I noticed the following label on a door:
And then I noticed where the door was located:
It's going to be a good year!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Arrival in Buffalo + How to Beat a Mosquito Bite
I arrived safely in Buffalo on Saturday, where I'll be staying with my college roommate and his family. They have been the epitome of friendliness and hospitality, and I'm excited to be living with them for the year. Jenny, their dog, is a great lover of turkey sandwiches, as all dogs seem to be. I was pleased to discover that while she will sit and beg for a bite of my sandwich, she will not take matters into her own paws. This is a pleasant change from Sadie, the Willemans' beagle, who once scaled a table and scarfed down half a sandwich without leaving behind so much as a crumb . . . all in the fifteen seconds it took me to retrieve something I'd left in the next room.
Paramedic classes begin on Thursday. I'm taking the program through a nearby community college. The campus is located within view of Ralph Wilson Stadium, where the Buffalo Bills play, but fortunately there are no classes on Sundays. I swung by yesterday to take a look at the facilities. As a whole, the campus is somewhat spartan but seems perfectly adequate for my needs. The EMS lab setup looks great, and I was impressed by the faculty when I interviewed back in the spring, so I'm excited for the year!
My once and current roommate, Chris, gave me the driving tour of the area yesterday, which included such highlights as the Bills' stadium and Chestnut Ridge Park, a neat WPA project that features a toboggan chute and a small lodge for winter recreation and an expansive Frisbee golf course for warmer weather, along with assorted picnic pavilions, tennis courts and the like. Rumor has it you can see Toronto on a clear day. The next item on my sightseeing list is Niagara Falls. It's a beautiful area, and the only drawback is that Ellen is 416 long miles away . . .
In other news, I heard an interesting tip on the radio last week. If you suffer a mosquito bite, it said, apply anti-perspirant to the bite site. The aluminum ions in the anti-perspirant will draw fluid away from the bite and will eliminate swelling and itching. I tried it out after getting bitten on Thursday and found that it worked extraordinarily well. So in honor of the new GI Joe movie, now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
Paramedic classes begin on Thursday. I'm taking the program through a nearby community college. The campus is located within view of Ralph Wilson Stadium, where the Buffalo Bills play, but fortunately there are no classes on Sundays. I swung by yesterday to take a look at the facilities. As a whole, the campus is somewhat spartan but seems perfectly adequate for my needs. The EMS lab setup looks great, and I was impressed by the faculty when I interviewed back in the spring, so I'm excited for the year!
My once and current roommate, Chris, gave me the driving tour of the area yesterday, which included such highlights as the Bills' stadium and Chestnut Ridge Park, a neat WPA project that features a toboggan chute and a small lodge for winter recreation and an expansive Frisbee golf course for warmer weather, along with assorted picnic pavilions, tennis courts and the like. Rumor has it you can see Toronto on a clear day. The next item on my sightseeing list is Niagara Falls. It's a beautiful area, and the only drawback is that Ellen is 416 long miles away . . .
In other news, I heard an interesting tip on the radio last week. If you suffer a mosquito bite, it said, apply anti-perspirant to the bite site. The aluminum ions in the anti-perspirant will draw fluid away from the bite and will eliminate swelling and itching. I tried it out after getting bitten on Thursday and found that it worked extraordinarily well. So in honor of the new GI Joe movie, now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Mapquest: 1, Humans: 0
Here's a hypothetical situation for you: An ambulance crew is on its way from New Hampshire to a hospital in Peabody, outside Boston, on Friday afternoon. The Mapquest directions are simple: Take I-93 S to I-95 / MA-128 N and get off at Exit 26. Upon exiting from 93 onto 95 / 128, however, the intrepid crew notices that the exit numbers are going up, not down: 37 . . . 38 . . . 39 . . . 40. The crew pulls off the highway and calls the destination hospital for assistance. The hospital operator listens to the crew's dilemma and declares, "I don't know how to get here from there." The quick-thinking, dashingly handsome driver asks to speak to someone who DOES know how to get there from here and is connected to the ICU, where the staffer tells him, "Turn around and come back the way you came." After confirming its current location and the ICU staffer's instructions, the ambulance crew gets back on the highway.
Half an hour later, the ambulance crew arrives at Exit 26 and finds that none of the subsequent turns and road names listed on the Mapquest fax exist in Waltham, MA. Stopping at a pharmacy to ask for directions, the crew is informed that Peabody is approximately 26 miles away. The helpful pharmacist pulls out a map and shows the driver that I-95 / 128 run together until Exit 44, and then I-95 veers off and 128 continues starting at Exit 28 and counting DOWN. Flabbergasted, the driver--who had specifically asked the ICU staffer if the exits start over--thanked the pharmacist and returned to the ambulance.
The crew once more got on I-95 N and almost immediately began cruising at 5 mph, a victim of Boston's Friday traffic. Eventually the ambulance arrived at the hospital, but what should have been just over a two-hour trip took five hours. It's a good thing this is purely a hypothetical situation, but it's enough to make a hypothetical EMT switch to Google Maps.
In other news, not one but two business establishments left me scratching my head this week. The first an eatery near the ambulance station which proudly advertises "Breakfast served every day" immediately above the sign announcing "Closed Tuesdays." The other was the opening of an adult-toys emporium three doors down from a pro-life pregnancy center. It would appear the zoning board has a sense of irony.
Buffalo is T - 6 days and counting . . .
Half an hour later, the ambulance crew arrives at Exit 26 and finds that none of the subsequent turns and road names listed on the Mapquest fax exist in Waltham, MA. Stopping at a pharmacy to ask for directions, the crew is informed that Peabody is approximately 26 miles away. The helpful pharmacist pulls out a map and shows the driver that I-95 / 128 run together until Exit 44, and then I-95 veers off and 128 continues starting at Exit 28 and counting DOWN. Flabbergasted, the driver--who had specifically asked the ICU staffer if the exits start over--thanked the pharmacist and returned to the ambulance.
The crew once more got on I-95 N and almost immediately began cruising at 5 mph, a victim of Boston's Friday traffic. Eventually the ambulance arrived at the hospital, but what should have been just over a two-hour trip took five hours. It's a good thing this is purely a hypothetical situation, but it's enough to make a hypothetical EMT switch to Google Maps.
In other news, not one but two business establishments left me scratching my head this week. The first an eatery near the ambulance station which proudly advertises "Breakfast served every day" immediately above the sign announcing "Closed Tuesdays." The other was the opening of an adult-toys emporium three doors down from a pro-life pregnancy center. It would appear the zoning board has a sense of irony.
Buffalo is T - 6 days and counting . . .
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Many happy returns
Yesterday marked the beginning of my last fortnight in the Upper Valley. I feel some sadness about leaving, but it's greatly mitigated by the knowledge that I'm coming back next year. And it will be a very happy return indeed, for Ellen and I have set a wedding date! We'll be getting married in the Upper Valley (precise location TBD) in early September 2010. Don, our pastor at Christ Redeemer Church, will be performing the ceremony. Ellen and I couldn't be happier.
On the subject of happy returns, I played in my first over-the-board chess tournament in seven months on Saturday. The Hanover Chess Club hosted quads (a four-player round-robin event) that were converted into a Swiss due to attendance considerations. I was a bit rusty after so long away from tournament chess, but it was great to start getting back into the swing of things. I scored 2-1, losing on time in the final round after reaching a difficult endgame that was not without drawing chances. My favorite game was this round two victory. The game began as a mild-looking Fajarowicz Gambit, but my opponent left his king in the center too long. 18. ... g6 is the critical weakening move.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ne4 4. a3 d6 5. Nd2 Nxd2 6. Bxd2 dxe5 7. Bc3 Qxd1+ 8. Rxd1 Nc6 9. Nf3 f6 10. e3 Be6 11. Be2 Rd8 12. 0-0 Be7 13. Rxd8+ Kxd8 14. h3 Ke8 15. Nh2 Kf7 16. b4 Rd8 17. Ng4 Bf8 18. c5 g6 19. f4 Bxg4 20. hxg4 e4 21. Bc4+ Ke7 22. g5 Bg7
23. f5 Rf8 24. fxg6 hxg6 25. b5 Nb8 26. c6 bxc6 27. Bb4+ Ke8 28. Bxf8 and Black resigned soon thereafter. I've heard Buffalo has a fairly strong chess club and I hope my studies will permit me at least a little time to play next year.
PS: It was brought to my attention that the photos in my most recent post weren't loading properly. The problem should be fixed now.
On the subject of happy returns, I played in my first over-the-board chess tournament in seven months on Saturday. The Hanover Chess Club hosted quads (a four-player round-robin event) that were converted into a Swiss due to attendance considerations. I was a bit rusty after so long away from tournament chess, but it was great to start getting back into the swing of things. I scored 2-1, losing on time in the final round after reaching a difficult endgame that was not without drawing chances. My favorite game was this round two victory. The game began as a mild-looking Fajarowicz Gambit, but my opponent left his king in the center too long. 18. ... g6 is the critical weakening move.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ne4 4. a3 d6 5. Nd2 Nxd2 6. Bxd2 dxe5 7. Bc3 Qxd1+ 8. Rxd1 Nc6 9. Nf3 f6 10. e3 Be6 11. Be2 Rd8 12. 0-0 Be7 13. Rxd8+ Kxd8 14. h3 Ke8 15. Nh2 Kf7 16. b4 Rd8 17. Ng4 Bf8 18. c5 g6 19. f4 Bxg4 20. hxg4 e4 21. Bc4+ Ke7 22. g5 Bg7
23. f5 Rf8 24. fxg6 hxg6 25. b5 Nb8 26. c6 bxc6 27. Bb4+ Ke8 28. Bxf8 and Black resigned soon thereafter. I've heard Buffalo has a fairly strong chess club and I hope my studies will permit me at least a little time to play next year.
PS: It was brought to my attention that the photos in my most recent post weren't loading properly. The problem should be fixed now.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Birthday and baptism
Friday was my 22nd birthday. To celebrate, Ellen took me to a Fisher Cats game (AA baseball in Manchester). We had a fantastic time! Our seats were in the second row behind the visiting dugout. I'm pretty sure that's the closest I've ever sat at a professional baseball game. With a little gyration I was even able to touch the top of the dugout from my seat. On top of all that, Ellen made me birthday cupcakes AND a birthday cake. I'm very blessed to be engaged to this wonderful woman who knows me so well!
The Sunday before, I took part in Christ Redeemer Church's baptism ceremony. Four of us were baptized that day in a compact but touching service at the Wilder boat launch. A large number of the CRC congregation were in attendance, as well as my aunt and a friend from Dartmouth. Don, our pastor, began by offering a brief explanation of the meaning and significance of baptism. After that each of us got up in turn and gave his testimony of faith, and then we moved down to the water.
As I waded into the Connecticut River, Don insisted that the water was warmer than ever before for a CRC baptism. That may be so, but past ceremonies were surely performed above the Arctic Circle. In any event, I was only in the river for two or three minutes at most. Being baptized was one of the high points of the summer so far, and in a lot of ways that are even now continuing to sink in for me, one of the most momentous occasions in my life.
Baptism symbolizes the new life we have through faith in Jesus Christ. Being lowered into the water and brought back up represents spiritual rebirth. When performing baptisms, Don emphasizes that this is something happening to you and not something you can do under your own power. Baptism is also a partial fulfillment of the Great Commission, the instructions Jesus gives his disciples when he addresses them following his resurrection. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28: 18-20).
As I said at the conclusion of my testimony, I praise God that He brought me here to Dartmouth and I praise Him that He led me to this wonderful church, because through the faithful witness of the saints He brought me to His Son.
The Sunday before, I took part in Christ Redeemer Church's baptism ceremony. Four of us were baptized that day in a compact but touching service at the Wilder boat launch. A large number of the CRC congregation were in attendance, as well as my aunt and a friend from Dartmouth. Don, our pastor, began by offering a brief explanation of the meaning and significance of baptism. After that each of us got up in turn and gave his testimony of faith, and then we moved down to the water.
As I waded into the Connecticut River, Don insisted that the water was warmer than ever before for a CRC baptism. That may be so, but past ceremonies were surely performed above the Arctic Circle. In any event, I was only in the river for two or three minutes at most. Being baptized was one of the high points of the summer so far, and in a lot of ways that are even now continuing to sink in for me, one of the most momentous occasions in my life.
Baptism symbolizes the new life we have through faith in Jesus Christ. Being lowered into the water and brought back up represents spiritual rebirth. When performing baptisms, Don emphasizes that this is something happening to you and not something you can do under your own power. Baptism is also a partial fulfillment of the Great Commission, the instructions Jesus gives his disciples when he addresses them following his resurrection. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28: 18-20).
As I said at the conclusion of my testimony, I praise God that He brought me here to Dartmouth and I praise Him that He led me to this wonderful church, because through the faithful witness of the saints He brought me to His Son.
Monday, July 13, 2009
How to pay for healthcare
That seems to be the $64,000 question these days. President Obama's health care-reform plan carries with it an estimated $1+ trillion price tag, and no one is entirely sure how to come up with the money. The New York Times reported on Friday that some congressmen were contemplating an incremental tax on individuals making $280,000 or more and couples making more than $350,000 a year. Predictably, this prompted a flurry of polarized comments, many of which were criticizing the proposal. On the whole, though, it's really not a bad idea.
Health care reform is necessary. The number of people in America who have little to no health insurance--and therefore little to no access to adequate health care--is both shocking and embarrassing. Any kind of systemic improvement will come at a price, but who should be paying? Asking those who are already hard-pressed to pay for health care to pay still more for affordable health care is a solution worthy of Joseph Heller. So why not institute a modest tax on those with substantial means? The Robin Hood undercurrent notwithstanding, it's a relatively small contribution per person that will do vast good across society. When it comes to health, less is not more.
And let's not forget the words of preeminent philosopher Count Rugen, "If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything."
In other news, the Home Run Derby was tonight, the All-Star Game is tomorrow and my birthday is on Friday. It's going to be a good week!
Health care reform is necessary. The number of people in America who have little to no health insurance--and therefore little to no access to adequate health care--is both shocking and embarrassing. Any kind of systemic improvement will come at a price, but who should be paying? Asking those who are already hard-pressed to pay for health care to pay still more for affordable health care is a solution worthy of Joseph Heller. So why not institute a modest tax on those with substantial means? The Robin Hood undercurrent notwithstanding, it's a relatively small contribution per person that will do vast good across society. When it comes to health, less is not more.
And let's not forget the words of preeminent philosopher Count Rugen, "If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything."
In other news, the Home Run Derby was tonight, the All-Star Game is tomorrow and my birthday is on Friday. It's going to be a good week!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Back to the Upper Valley
For 2010, that is. My fiancee was officially accepted as a Ph.D. student at Dartmouth, where she will be continuing her space physics research. Which means that once I complete paramedic school in August 2010, I'll be returning to the Upper Valley for the next few years. It also means that Ellen and I are close to picking a date for our wedding!
Last week I wrote about a federal advisory panel's recommendation to ban Vicodin and Percocet, along with several other painkillers, due to concerns about the overuse of acetaminophen. Yesterday Tara Parker-Pope's New York Times health blog ran an article seeking to calm fears about acetaminophen use. The issue, she writes, is not that it is an inherently harmful drug but that it's so ubiquitous that people are unknowingly exceeding the recommended dose. No word yet on whether or not the FDA will adopt the panel's recommendations. For now, make sure to carefully read the label whenever you take medicine.
In other news, a tentative deal has been struck to sell the Chicago Cubs. The prospective buyer is the Rickett family, whose credentials include founding the TD Ameritrade brokerage firm. The Cubs haven't won a World Series in 101 years and Wrigley Field now hosts night games, so things really can't get any worse. Maybe this will be a jolt in the right direction?
Last week I wrote about a federal advisory panel's recommendation to ban Vicodin and Percocet, along with several other painkillers, due to concerns about the overuse of acetaminophen. Yesterday Tara Parker-Pope's New York Times health blog ran an article seeking to calm fears about acetaminophen use. The issue, she writes, is not that it is an inherently harmful drug but that it's so ubiquitous that people are unknowingly exceeding the recommended dose. No word yet on whether or not the FDA will adopt the panel's recommendations. For now, make sure to carefully read the label whenever you take medicine.
In other news, a tentative deal has been struck to sell the Chicago Cubs. The prospective buyer is the Rickett family, whose credentials include founding the TD Ameritrade brokerage firm. The Cubs haven't won a World Series in 101 years and Wrigley Field now hosts night games, so things really can't get any worse. Maybe this will be a jolt in the right direction?
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Excited for July
July is my favorite month of the year. Not only are my birthday, Independence Day and the baseball All-Star Game all in July, but July means summer vacation, a reprieve from school and everything that comes with it. Now that I am in the perpetual summer vacation of alumnus-hood, I have equally high hopes for the 2009 edition.
I have a lot more time to read these days, which is extremely exciting. I'm currently working on Australian novelist and critic John Harwood's The Ghost Writer, which is a fascinatingly subtle ghost story. After that I'll be looking for something else, so if you've read something good recently, please let me know! My previous book was Christopher Whitcomb's Black, which was a fun action / spy book. If you're into Tom Clancy or Vince Flynn, give it a look. It's a quick read.
In other news, a federal advisory panel voted yesterday to recommend that the FDA ban Vicodin and Percocet, currently among the most frequently prescribed painkillers in the world. Interestingly, the panel was not concerned about the addictive potential of the narcotic ingredients but about the potential for liver damage from the acetaminophen in the pill. Overdoses of acetaminophen (which is the active ingredient in Tylenol) cause more than 4,000 deaths and ten times as many hospitalizations each year. Unsurprisingly, Tylenol's manufacturer "strongly disagrees" with the panel's recommendations.
I have a lot more time to read these days, which is extremely exciting. I'm currently working on Australian novelist and critic John Harwood's The Ghost Writer, which is a fascinatingly subtle ghost story. After that I'll be looking for something else, so if you've read something good recently, please let me know! My previous book was Christopher Whitcomb's Black, which was a fun action / spy book. If you're into Tom Clancy or Vince Flynn, give it a look. It's a quick read.
In other news, a federal advisory panel voted yesterday to recommend that the FDA ban Vicodin and Percocet, currently among the most frequently prescribed painkillers in the world. Interestingly, the panel was not concerned about the addictive potential of the narcotic ingredients but about the potential for liver damage from the acetaminophen in the pill. Overdoses of acetaminophen (which is the active ingredient in Tylenol) cause more than 4,000 deaths and ten times as many hospitalizations each year. Unsurprisingly, Tylenol's manufacturer "strongly disagrees" with the panel's recommendations.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Ambulance tax?
Ambulance companies in the United States are funded one of two ways: They either operate exclusively off of donations or they send the patient / his insurance a bill. Donation-based operations have an inherent degree of instability because the ambulance company is left at the mercy of the overall economic climate and the individual community's altruistic inclination. If donations go down for whatever reason, i.e. national economic woes, EMS operations will be affected, possibly severely. The need for timely and effective EMS response, however, remains the same.
A fee-for-service model (billing) isn't the cure-all either. Anyone who has received an ambulance bill knows that it is not cheap. All too often patients--especially those who have received ambulance transport in the past--balk at receiving transport in the present in order to avoid a three- or even four-figure bill. The desire to avoid incurring costs is understandable, but it should never obscure the patient's health and safety. Billing patients for procedures performed and equipment expended also tempts providers to make treatment decisions based on financial considerations instead of the patient's condition. This temptation is resisted in an overwhelming number of cases, but the door is nevertheless left open.
Fire departments on the other hand receive a large percentage of their funding from the public. Most towns levy a "fire tax" on their residents, which finances fire department operations. There is no analog of the fire tax for EMS, but I think there should be. EMS is a public service just like the fire department, the police, the library and the school system. Each of those is primarily funded by taxes no matter how much or how little citizens use those services, and EMS should be no different.
Every household pays the fire tax even if they never have to call the fire department. Every household pays school taxes whether they have no kids or have sent a dozen through the public school system. So why doesn't EMS receive tax funding? Not everyone will call for an ambulance in his lifetime, it's true. But when you do need one, you want it to show up, and after it does, you don't want a huge bill. If each household contributed a small amount of money to the local ambulance corps, the corps would be able to remain afloat without levying massive bills or reducing its operational capability to cut costs.
Ambulance companies could still bill patients, but only to recoup fuel and supply expenditures from that call only. This way the patient is only paying for what he actually consumes and expenses like vehicle maintenance, equipment purchasing and personnel salaries would be covered by the ambulance tax. After all, the knowledge that a well-equipped and -staffed ambulance will respond to an emergency offers comfort and peace of mind to the public as a whole, so it is only right that they should help foot the bill. An ambulance tax is the most reliable and evenly distributed way of funding EMS and ensuring its longevity.
What do you think?
A fee-for-service model (billing) isn't the cure-all either. Anyone who has received an ambulance bill knows that it is not cheap. All too often patients--especially those who have received ambulance transport in the past--balk at receiving transport in the present in order to avoid a three- or even four-figure bill. The desire to avoid incurring costs is understandable, but it should never obscure the patient's health and safety. Billing patients for procedures performed and equipment expended also tempts providers to make treatment decisions based on financial considerations instead of the patient's condition. This temptation is resisted in an overwhelming number of cases, but the door is nevertheless left open.
Fire departments on the other hand receive a large percentage of their funding from the public. Most towns levy a "fire tax" on their residents, which finances fire department operations. There is no analog of the fire tax for EMS, but I think there should be. EMS is a public service just like the fire department, the police, the library and the school system. Each of those is primarily funded by taxes no matter how much or how little citizens use those services, and EMS should be no different.
Every household pays the fire tax even if they never have to call the fire department. Every household pays school taxes whether they have no kids or have sent a dozen through the public school system. So why doesn't EMS receive tax funding? Not everyone will call for an ambulance in his lifetime, it's true. But when you do need one, you want it to show up, and after it does, you don't want a huge bill. If each household contributed a small amount of money to the local ambulance corps, the corps would be able to remain afloat without levying massive bills or reducing its operational capability to cut costs.
Ambulance companies could still bill patients, but only to recoup fuel and supply expenditures from that call only. This way the patient is only paying for what he actually consumes and expenses like vehicle maintenance, equipment purchasing and personnel salaries would be covered by the ambulance tax. After all, the knowledge that a well-equipped and -staffed ambulance will respond to an emergency offers comfort and peace of mind to the public as a whole, so it is only right that they should help foot the bill. An ambulance tax is the most reliable and evenly distributed way of funding EMS and ensuring its longevity.
What do you think?
Sunday, June 21, 2009
First week of work
I started work on Tuesday at a nearby ambulance company. It's a neat company; they do 911 service for nine towns as well as interfacility transfers for both adults and neonates. The veterans have been very friendly and willing to teach, and even after just three days I'm already learning a ton. And driving the ambulance is a very cool experience!
I'm back in Chappaqua for the weekend. Horace Greeley had their graduation Sunday, and while I didn't make it to the ceremony, a hearty congratulations to the HGHS class of 2009! I'm sure we'll be hearing of their accomplishments and exploits for years to come.
In other news, the Yankees just lost two out of three against the Florida Marlins, which was disappointing. There was a silver lining, though: Throughout the series there were frequent chants of "Let's go Yankees." You've gotta love the home crowd cheering for the visiting team!
I'm back in Chappaqua for the weekend. Horace Greeley had their graduation Sunday, and while I didn't make it to the ceremony, a hearty congratulations to the HGHS class of 2009! I'm sure we'll be hearing of their accomplishments and exploits for years to come.
In other news, the Yankees just lost two out of three against the Florida Marlins, which was disappointing. There was a silver lining, though: Throughout the series there were frequent chants of "Let's go Yankees." You've gotta love the home crowd cheering for the visiting team!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Graduation!
I graduated from Dartmouth College this morning. This special place has been my physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual home for the past four years and walking across the graduation stage was predictably surreal but also surprisingly natural. Absent were all feelings of trepidation and anxiety. Instead I feel energized and enthusiastic; I am so excited to see what God has in store.
Now that I'm done with college, I get one day to rest and then I begin work at a nearby ambulance service on Tuesday. It'll be nice to get some more experience under my belt this summer before paramedic school begins in August. The Upper Valley is a beautiful place to be in the summertime, and living with my pastor for a month will be a terrific experience. Add to that staying near Ellen and the summer is looking pretty good.
This blog should be updated regularly, so I encourage you to leave a comment and stay in touch!
Now that I'm done with college, I get one day to rest and then I begin work at a nearby ambulance service on Tuesday. It'll be nice to get some more experience under my belt this summer before paramedic school begins in August. The Upper Valley is a beautiful place to be in the summertime, and living with my pastor for a month will be a terrific experience. Add to that staying near Ellen and the summer is looking pretty good.
This blog should be updated regularly, so I encourage you to leave a comment and stay in touch!
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