Goodbye to my little car....

So the news about the check engine light was the worst case scenario- meaning they suggested that I replace the transmission, which would have cost me more than the car is worth at this point.... Lucky for me there was one of the mechanics at the Toyota dealership who was willing to buy it from me for parts. After checking with the Toyota used car dealership across the parking lot (and the dealer telling me they were not interested in buying my car for any price) I decided to sell the car to the mechanic and we set about trying to figure out how to get to Chicago in time for Lauren's flight back to LA. 

Lauren had the idea that we rent a car and drive to Chicago, then I could take the train the rest of the way to Rochester. After checking with the rental car companies this seemed to be the most cost efficient option. Through out today (and the whole trip really) Lauren has been really supportive and always helps me stay calm when I start to worry about....well everything! 

One of the benefits of moving via car was that not everything needed to be in suitcases. I have 4 vacuum bags of clothes that I was using as padding for the bass. In order to get ready to leave my car we had to repack everything so that it could potentially be transported on a train or bus. I bought two giant suitcases and packed everything that was loose and we tried to consolidate anything we could. It was quite a sight- all the car doors open in the "Super Target" parking lot (for those that have never seen one, a Super Target is like 5 regular targets and a Walmart put together...), with suitcases, pillows, clothes, and my bass all strewn about around it. We got some great looks. There was a really sweet couple with a baby that stopped to ask if everything was okay and if there was anything they could do for us... I guess it was obvious we were having a little bit of a rough day. 

Now we're just waiting for the mechanic to get off work so we can sell him the car, and then we'll take a cab to the airport to pick up our rental car. Hopefully it won't be too long until we're back on the road!! 

Stuck in Oklahoma

Our second day started out great, we started driving right when we planned and made good time. We drove about 680 miles before the check engine light flashed on as I pulled out of a rest stop. We got off the freeway and looked for somewhere that was open to check out the car. Unfortunately, since it was after 6, there were no repair shops open. We stopped at an auto parts store to have them check the code. 

As we walked in, the guy at the counter was saying something along the lines of "yup, this is the calm before a tornado...." through a giant wad of chewing tobacco. As if we needed anything more to stress about. After checking the code, we found out that either way- if it was an easy fix or the more involved fix- the dealer would be the only place around that carried the parts which meant we had to backtrack 40 minutes south to Tulsa. 

We're trying to stay positive, the service department opens at 7 and hopefully it'll be a quick fix and we can get back on the road. 

If there was going to be a picture for this post it would have been me standing with the hood up staring at the engine pretending that I know something about cars (the few words I could understand from the auto store clerk through his dip might have well been in another language)... Lucky for me, Lauren did not take any pictures of my confused pondering on where to find the transmission or any of the random things the auto store clerk suggested I could try to fix on my own... Ha! 

Santa Fe, NM

We drove all night and arrived in Santa Fe early this morning. The drive was a little tiring, but overall not too bad. One of the great things about driving at night was once we crossed into Arizona there were so many stars, it was beautiful!  We were able to check into our hotel early and then we headed out to find some breakfast. We ended up eating at a little family owned cafe and had some great breakfast burritos.

 

There were two main reasons we decided to stop in Santa Fe- Lauren wanted to visit the Georgia O'Keeffe museum and I wanted to take a tour of the Santa Fe opera. When we arrived, I looked online to find the tour times, but it turns out that this week there are no tours.... Quite a bummer. So after breakfast we walked to the museum only to find that they were in the middle of preparing for the summer show and they were closed...but we were able to go on a tour of the Georgia O'Keeffe research center which had a lot of her supplies, color samples, and sketches. There was one of her paintings there so it wasn't a total bust, and it was interesting to see some of the details of her process. We were also the youngest people on the tour by about 20yrs...

Before the tour we wandered around and walked through the St. Francis Cathedral which was built 400 years ago. Lauren has been taking tons of photos, this is what most of our walk consisted of...

After the research center tour we came back to the hotel and planned on taking a short nap and then heading back out to see some more of the museums and other city sights. Three hours later we woke up having slept through all the alarms we set. We both really needed to catch up on sleep after the drive, especially considering tomorrow is our longest drive of the trip.

We went to dinner at a place my friend Jessica (who used to live in Santa Fe) suggested. It was amazing- we had "sopapillas" which are light, melt-in-your-mouth thin pastries kind of like tortillas which are served with butter and honey as a starter (we both agreed that we could have just eaten those for dinner). For our main course we had stuffed sopapillas, which were also great.

We're getting ready for our big drive tomorrow, the adventure continues! 

Road Trip!!

Well the time is here for me to embark on another adventure, this time the destination is Rochester, NY! For those that don't know, I will be attending the post-bacc pre-med program at University of Rochester, which is a 14 month program that prepares students to apply to med school. This past month has been a crazy blur, I finished my online math class and started packing and clearing out my room all while working full time. Last week I resigned from my job as an EMT and became unemployed for the first time in two years. It's been a stressful month, but the time is finally here to start the road trip!

My car is packed to the brim and our route is (loosely) set- I will keep this updated with some pics and stories from the road, and then continue while I'm in school. Lauren and I are leaving tonight on a crazy fast trip across the country- our major stops will be Santa Fe, St. Louis, and then Chicago for two days before she flies back to LA. After that I will be visiting Iowa City, Madison, and Lebanon OH before moving into my new place in Rochester. I'm excited and nervous about moving across the country and studying subjects that have been tough for me in the past. This is a huge change for me and I'm really hoping I can succeed! 

Changes all around...

Many, many changes happening at the moment... First thing is that I'll be moving to Rochester, NY in a few months to attend a post-bacc premed course. I'm terrified and excited about the prospect of goodng back to school. One of the things that I had to get used to when I graduated was that I didn't have thing I HAD to do on my days off. I was able to go to work, do my job, and then go home. In my line of work, I don't take work home and besides keeping up with my continuing education, my days off are completely mine. Now I'm having to switch gears back into that academic mode with my least favorite subject- math. I'm taking an online math course in preparation for the post-bacc program. I'm still trying to get into the swing of doing school work again. Hopefully this will begin to prepare me for the insane amount of school I'll be doing for the next few years.

I'm currently in Chicago on vacation, which has been great! I really REALLY needed a break from work. I'm looking forward to not stepping foot into a hospital for the next couple days. The main reason I'm here is that my little sister Iris is auditioning for musical theater programs here. Today she had her first one and she was confident and energetic despite being really sick. I was so frustrated because I know what an amazing performer she is and I wanted the panel to see what she can do at full steam. After the audition I told her that if they didn't accept her she should tell them who her brother is and let them talk to me! I realized a little while later that this is (almost word for word- just replace "brother" with "grandpa") what our grandpa used to say to us before and after every audition. He was fiercely proud of us and was never afraid to express it- he did so every chance he got. Iris is such an amazing performer and I am just as proud of her as our gramps was- I'm glad I can carry on the support he always gave us!

When I get back to LA I will be starting a new shift, working a 24hr 911 car in LA county. My old shift, a Critical Care Transport shift, was too much for me. We were running for 22 out of our 24hr shifts, going without sleep and food for hours on end.. it was intense and exhausting. Occasionally we would have a truly critical patient (stroke, aneurysm, trauma), but the majority of our calls were for insurance reasons. I really enjoyed working with everyone in the program, but the call volume was just too high and I was really feeling run down. I'm excited to get back into running 911 calls regularly. Even though we get a lot of bs calls, we get to meet a ton of people. Also, since I'll be working in the same area every shift I can get to know the paramedics and ER staff better.

All this change has inspired me to set some new goals to work towards this month. There isn't anything that says I can't start my New Years resolutions in February right? I've been playing bass a lot more recently, which has been great. By the time I graduated from college playing and practicing felt like a chore- something I came to dread. Now I practice to relieve stress, it has become a way to escape in a focused way. It feels great now to practice a passage and work it up, it feels like I accomplished something. It also gives me a chance to focus on something in order to clear my head. My work makes it difficult to eat healthy, there have been a few shifts where dinner was eaten standing at the 7-11 counter at 3am. I would like to try and change that- make meals to take to work, cut out all fast food again, and start exercising regularly. There, now it's in writing so I have to do it, right?

This afternoon has been relaxing, I'm sitting on the couch watching the snow fall while listening to Tchaikovsky's symphony #6.... I thought it was a good time to reflect.

Doesn't Anyone Watch TV?

For the past couple weeks I've been working different 911 shifts all over my company's service area. In the process of doing this I've come to the realization that people on TV are much more judicial about using the 911 system than in real life. I admit that I have a fairly cynical view of our current educational system and I tend to think that people take their cues on how to act/how the world works- especially when it concerns aspects of society that many people know little about (in this case the EMS system)-from TV shows and movies.

On TV, when someone yells "call 911!", it's usually because someone is dead or severely injured. I've seen this type of scenario in countless movies and crime shows, but I missed the one where someone yells "call 911, it's too hot in my apartment!"..... While that may sound like an exaggeration, that was an actual chief complaint on a call I ran last week.

Even in the news, the stories about Fire/EMS are usually some traffic accident with the patient being rushed to a helicopter in full C-Spine with IVs going. You never see the calls we get in the dead of night for back pain that the patient has had for weeks, but suddenly thought 3am was a good time to call an ambulance....

With all this media exposure about what Fire/EMS does, how is it that people don't understand what constitutes an "emergency"? There seems to be a persistent notion that just because you go to the emergency room in an ambulance, you will be seen quicker. You will be seen based on the severity of your illness, just as you would if you walked into the ER. Okay, end rant.

More Than Book Smarts....

I'm realizing more and more that working in healthcare is more about people skills than anything- yes, of course there are times when you have to know all the procedures and treatments- but there is a lot to be said for being able to connect with someone who is basically putting their health and safety in your hands. We've had a lot of ride-alongs recently (EMT students seeing what it's like in the field), and the ones who are most comfortable are the ones who can easily talk with patients and build a rapport. The ones who can hold a conversation tend to also be able to apply the skills and knowledge from class- funny how that works!

There was a new EMT I worked with the other day who told me how great it was to see how I was able to connect with patients and seemed so comfortable doing the job. He said it was really helpful for him to see how I was able to talk with the patients and staff comfortably. This was one of the best compliments I've received- it really meant a lot to me that the way I do my job reflects how much I enjoy what I do.