Signature

The unfortunate proliferation of those pushy 20-something-years-old "activists" that stop people on the streets to get a signature (or maybe money) for whatever cause they're into is the biggest nuisance of the summer.

"Miss, do you have a minute for the environment? Just a minute? A few seconds??" they ask, clip boards in hands. I never stop to chat. I don't want to. I have places to be, people to see. It's not that I don't care about the environment. I do. I just don't feel like talking to these kids, they're obnoxious. But of course I feel a tiny bit guilty when I walk on, ignoring the environment.

Sometimes I reply with a firm "no" as I walk by, just to get them off my back. That makes me feel even worse. Picture this:

"Miss, do you care about missing children?"
"NO!"
or
"Miss, do you support gay rights?"
"NO!"
or
"Miss, do you want to help animals?"
"NO!"

They're slick too. They have one activist facing one way and another activist facing the other way - this way they have you completely ambushed on the sidewalk, whether you're heading uptown or downtown. Here comes the smile, the waving of the clip board and the beginning of the spiel - "Hey Miss!"

I want them to leave.

Active

I just got promoted from being a 'probie' on the ambulance to an 'active'. Wohoo. This means that I will not be stuck in the back during non-calls, and I probably won't have to sit on the milk crate in between the front seats either. Being active means I have passed the initiation period and I get to ride shot gun from now on. Unless a more senior person comes out and takes that spot. That's possible.

"10-4"

I have a police & emergency-services radio scanner at home. I love it. It's totally legal to own one, believe it or not.

My excuse for owning one is that I want to develop a "good ear" for when I'm out on the ambulance, you know, I'll learn all the codes by listening, instead of just memorizing them from a long boring list.

But truthfully, it's also just pretty awesome to listen to. I turn the radio on to see what's going on in the city before I go to sleep - robberies, fires, unlawful urination, cardiac arrests, choking kid, stolen vehicles, smoke conditions, domestic disputes - it all comes spurting out of my radio, complete with addresses, suspect descriptions, and which units are responding.

If listening to this seems a little odd, or maybe even creepy, it's not nearly as morbid as keeping the radio in your private car and driving to the scene of the crime/accident just because you want to see the drama first hand. One of my paramedics instructors said she used to do this before she got her EMT license. Now if I did something like that, I would not tell anyone about it.

At any rate, I just have my radio to learn the dispatch codes.

Hazy

You know it's time to clean the kitchen and take out the garbage when one of the cats starts scraping his paw against the floor as if trying to bury something nasty. It's just so hard to do anything in this humidity, let alone clean. aaaaah.... but I guess if the cats are starting to clean up, I should too.