As PA school quickly approaches I’ve been reflecting a lot on my job as an ED Tech over the last 2.5 years. I’ll probably end up blogging a few times on this topic.
My first official day working in the ED (as opposed to the orientation I underwent the week previous) was on October 18th, 2022. Most of the PA schools I applied to required a minimum of 1000 hours of patient care experience. Obviously more was better. I hit that in under 6 months.
I’m now at over 5,500 hours I believe. I honestly stopped counting awhile ago. In the past 2.5 years I’ve worked a LOT of extra shifts. And for the most part, I’ve loved it. Yeah, there are the shifts where I’ve been given an assignment I wasn’t keen on, or the shifts that I went home from emotionally drained. But overall it’s all been worth it.
At some point I might talk about the specific skills I’ve learned. But the most valuable thing I gained was “my voice.” Anyone who knows me, knows that in general I don’t have a problem sharing my thoughts (as this sometimes self-indulgent blog is proof of). But the difference in my confidence between that first shift and now is stark.
On my first shift, heck my first hundred or more shifts, I often followed the lead of others. There were multiple reasons for this, but basically it came down to two: they had the credentials and they had the experience. Related to this, they didn’t know me so they couldn’t necessarily trust me.
I’m proud to say, that has changed. I still don’t have the credentials, but I now have the experience, and they know me and trust me. One example is the language I’ll use at times. One night a nurse went into one of the trauma bays to grab a bag of saline. Now there are signs that tell folks not to do this, but I’ll be honest, it happens. Two years ago I might not have said anything or if I did, it would have been phrased, “Oh, you took something out of the trauma bay? I’ll make sure to restock it.” This time I said, “Oh you took something out of my trauma bay? I’ll have to make sure to restock it.” Yes, it went from “the trauma bay” to “my trauma bay.” I realized the more I worked on the trauma side of the department that I was taking ownership of things like the trauma bays. I take pride in making sure they’re ready for a trauma. This pride means that a few weeks ago, when in the middle of the trauma a nurse reached for an item and it wasn’t available, my stomach dropped. I felt like I had failed them, even though honestly this was I think the third trauma in a row in that bay and I had had no time to stock. No one blamed me or even looked askance at me. But I still felt like I had failed. So yes, when I’m working in that zone, the bays became “mine” in the sense I took pride in making sure they were setup.
Another example is my interaction with the providers and nurses. When I first started, I would always wait for their cue on what to do outside of the most basic expected skills. Now, I’m far more likely to make a suggestion or be expected to contribute. A few months ago with a patient with several severe bleeding wounds, I was the one that suggested to one of the providers to use a clotting agent we keep in the trauma bay. He wasn’t aware we had it, let alone how well it would work in this case. Fortunately between taking a Stop the Bleed class and being responsible for stocking the trauma bays, I knew it was there. Recently, one of the nurses asked me to show her and a couple of others how to set up a particular piece of equipment based on the manufacturer’s instructions. I’ve earned the trust and confidence of my coworkers. This is an amazing feeling.
I want to add one key note to this. I’ve said before and I’ll say again, one thing I really appreciate about where I work is that it’s a teaching hospital. I basically sat in on a graduate level lecture on pain meds given by one of the attendings to a med student one night (it was a slow night so I had time to stand around and listen.) The attendings, especially a few in particular I work with, encourage questions. This has been invaluable. “Hey why did you do X? Would Y have worked?” I’ve learned a lot this way.
So it turns out, not only was being an ED Tech the right thing for me, I’ve learned a lot and absolutely loved it. Who knows, maybe I’ll write a book someday about it. In the meantime, just one more shift before I head off to PA school.
And as always, my views and thoughts do not reflect those of my employer Albany Med Health System.
I’ve been counting down my final shifts for about a month ago. You’d think it would be easy, but it’s a bit harder than you think. Officially I’m what’s known as a .6 FTE (Full Time Equivalent). This means I’m scheduled for 24 hours a week (i.e. 60% of a 40 hour work week). In reality, I pick up a LOT of extra shifts. I’ve done this for three main reasons:
To get into PA School I needed a high number of Patient Contact Experience hours.
I get overtime pay
Often times the apartment is very short-staffed and well, I can help out and get the above benefits.
So, even two months ago I could easily say, “Ok, with my vacation. I have X number of shifts left.” But like how NASA countdowns don’t proceed uninterrupted or without changes, my countdown had its own changes and interruptions, including picking up more shifts.
So, I had a rough idea that when I had say 8 official, scheduled shifts left, I likely had 12-16 total shifts left.
So barring any changes, Thursday is my last shift as .6 FTE ED Tech.
Note I tossed in the .6 FTE. That’s because for a few reasons I applied for and was accepted as a “student” track tech. This means during my few breaks from PA school I’ll be able to pick up a few shifts. But I won’t be picking any up right away. Between Thursday and the start of school I’ll be finishing figuring out where I’m living, packing, finishing some projects about the house. So Thursday is it for awhile.
But honestly, I’m ready to move on. I’m excited and nervous. I’m also a bit sad. I will miss working with so many great people and having such an impact on the lives of people.
I’ll be posting a few more follow-ups to my recent road trip but for now a break from that and something else: counting down.
One month from today, on May 27th, I’ll be going through orientation for my PA program. I’ve already met a few classmates at the open house a few months ago, but this is the first time all of us will be in the same place at once.
Then the very next day classes start. Or as I like to think of it, I’ll be starting a marathon of sprints. The next two years will be very busy for me.
I think I’ve mentioned before, the first year is all didactic teaching. I’ll be spending a lot of time in the classroom, lab, study areas, and in my apartment, focusing on learning and memorization.
While I took over 40 credits of classes as prereqs in prep for this, that was spread out over the course of about two years and I never took more than 12 credits at a time. And these were undergrad level classes. My first semester I’ll be taking 18 credits. All graduate level. (Ok, I’m not sure I’m too worried about the one credit class, “Professional Practice I” but still that leaves a lot). On the other hand, I won’t be doing any IT consulting or ED teching during this time, so my primary focus will be just that, learning. But I’m still nervous. I want to do as well as possible. I can’t afford to have a repeat of my undergrad experience in terms of grades and study habits.
The second year is my clinical year. This is where I have 10 clinical rotations of 4 weeks each, with testing between them. This I’m not too worried about. For one thing, my hands on experience and observations in the ER should help me a lot here.
In fact I recently spoke to a friend of mine who is currently in a PA program. She’s had years of hands on experience as a paramedic. She mentioned it was striking how uncomfortable some of her fellow students whose medical background was basically that of “scribe” were with the hands on stuff. I mean I get it. For example, sticking a needle to draw blood in a living breathing human being is a bit daunting. For her, that was just another Monday.
In the meantime though, before I can even start classes, I have a number of things to do:
Put the BMW on the market – it needs work and I don’t have the time for it or need.
Find an apartment – I’ve got a place picked out, just need to sign the lease. Ideally I’d have a roommate to cut costs, but looks like that’s not happening.
Come up with a list of items I’m bringing with me for the apartment (clothing, cooking utensils, etc)
Acquire bigger items (like a bed, possibly a dresser).
Finish projects around the house
4 more scheduled (and I’ll probably pick up 1 or 2 other) ED Tech shifts
Work to change from a .6 FTE ED Tech to what they call the “school” track where I can work during breaks.
Get a lot of paperwork done. I’ve already authorized the background checks and other paperwork. I have to start getting my vaccination information together. One they want details on is chickenpox. Well I was born well before the varicella vaccine was even out there. So I don’t have any vaccination records for that. Fortunately they’ll accept a titer for that.
Mow the lawn!
Finish up some other projects around the house.
Attend Rebecca’s Senior Film showing (that I also happened to act in!)
Attend Rebecca’s graduation!
Run an Orientation to Cave Rescue class in two weeks
Give a talk to the local ER docs (and others) about Medicine in Cave Rescue
Write above talk!
And much more.
There’s a lot to do, and on one hand a month seems like forever, on the other hand, it seems like it’s not enough time.
I made the decision in December of 2021 to apply for PA School. At the time I had the outrageous idea that I’d be able to apply in 2022 and start in 2023. I realized very quickly that was unrealistic and impractical so I set a new goal of applying in 2023 and starting in 2024. I knew that was an outside shot, something like 70% of first time applicants don’t get in, and I had my very low undergrad GPA hampering me. So, here it is, I did a second round of applications in 2024 and am, starting in 2025. So not too far off my first realistic schedule.
Spaceflight has shown that reentry is the most dangerous part of a flight. More people have died on re-entry than during launch. And even in uncrewed flights, there have been a lot of mishaps on reentry.
My reentry to normal life didn’t really have the risk of a fiery burn-up, though, had I not gotten enough sleep, a fire and crash was distinct personality.
After leaving my friend’s house I drove for another hour or two before getting some food and then eventually some sleep. I ended up pulling over at two separate rest stops to nap. The final time I woke up around 9:00 AM. I had hoped for an earlier start since I was still about 9 hours from home. But obviously my body needed the sleep.
There’s not much to report on the rest of the drive home other than I was struck by how green things were in the Northeast. Partly this was due to it being Spring and in the weeks I was gone a lot had bloomed. But also, I had been in the desert for so long which is a lot of reds and oranges and whites and grays, but very little green. The contrast was striking.
But the danger was a bit more subtle. It’s one thing to basically spend two weeks with no schedule and no responsibilities. It’s another to return those things. Here it is Saturday, and I’m still catching up. Laundry is done and half the car is unpacked. I’ve still got more to go. That said, it’s not like I haven’t been doing things. I spent most of yesterday dealing with paperwork related to starting school in a month.
And as strange as it sounds, Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I picked up a 4 hour “princess shift” in the Emergency Department from 3:00 AM to 7:00 AM. Based on the texts requesting help and looking at schedule, there were only 3 other techs scheduled so I knew they could use the help. I figured my sleep schedule was already messed up, so another late night/early morning wouldn’t be a problem. And honestly, it sort of helped me reenter my normal life.
At this point I have four regularly scheduled shifts left before I stop working as a .6 FTE tech. I will probably pick up one or two more during that time. But the time is quickly coming when I’ll be in that transition from working to schooling. I’ll have a couple of weeks to finish up projects around the house, sign a lease on a place in Delaware, and to move enough down there to setup housekeeping. So, my reentry is just a pause before the next journey. But I think I’m ready now.
I was making good time on my all night drive and with a few catnaps and a limited amount of caffeine (which really doesn’t tend to always help me I’ve discovered) I figured I’d make the Gateway Arch by Noon.
One stop along the way was the Will Rogers rest stop on the eastern side of Oklahoma.
Will Rogers Statue
Once I was in St. Louis I started to follow the Google Maps directions until I realized it was leading me away from the Arch. I’m still not quite sure where it thought I wanted to go, but after resetting it twice and being VERY specific the final time I was headed east towards the river. I had hoped to find a free spot along the side road I had parked when heading west, but the spots were full. I knew there was at least one garage that I could get my parking validated at, but I wasn’t sure which one it was so I choose the first available one that appeared to have fair pricing. I quickly parked. My watch told me it was just after 11:00 AM. I had made it before Noon!
Now I was fighting two timelines: first, I wanted to get to the ticket kiosk as quickly as possible so I could get the first available ticket, even if it meant the ticket was much later in the day. The second was, my bladder was beyond full!
I walked quickly to the entrance and went inside and turned to the ticket counter. Or rather, I turned to where the ticket counter had been literally a week and a half ago. Now it was completely boarded up with a sign, “Ticket Counter closed for renovations”. I was in a panic. All that driving for naught? Then I spied another sign with a QR Code that explained I could use the URL to purchase my ticket or go to another counter somewhere else in the visitor center and buy a ticket. I breathed a sigh of relief.
But my bladder now was screaming so that was my first order of business! After solving that I went back to the QR Code and scanned it. Turns out, that while the Reservations.gov website couldn’t provide me tickets on line, there is in fact an online site to buy them! This means I could have bought them the night before and taken my time driving here! Oh well. Such is life. The first available tickets were at 1:00 PM. Glancing at my watch I saw I had plenty of time. I bought my ticket and also received a discount because I’m a National Park Holder (still the best $80 I’ve spent in a long time). I then headed back to the car to swap into some cleaner clothing, put in my contacts and grab my National Parks passport so I could get it stamped. Then I headed back. I got my passport stamped and then headed through security to check out the displays while I waited for 1:00 PM to arrive.
On the way down I saw a monitor that showed boarding times and it said that the 1:00 PM ticketholders could start to board in 5 minutes. I thought this was a bit soon, but figured it might be a large crowd so I hurried. Then a thought crossed my mind. I glanced at my phone. It wasn’t 11:55 as my watch said, it was 12:55. Again I had passed time zones and forgotten to update my watch. No worries, I apparently had time and got in line.
Turns out the line was far smaller than I expected. Here a little background on how one gets to the top of the Arch. As a video explains, because of the shape, a standard elevator wouldn’t work, nor would an escalator. The solution is basically 8 “cars” on a string that each sit in a ring with bearings. As the cars move up the Arch, they rotate so that the passengers are always upright. While I believe this is all done by gravity, I did notice that several times along the way up, the sound of a motor and the car righted itself a bit. I suspect there’s there’s both passive and active measures occurring.
Each car can hold 5 adults, but it’s a tight squeeze. So if you do the math, that’s 40 people per trip up. There’s one tram in each leg so that’s 80 people at a time when both are running (today only the North Tram was running). Given round-trip times, that’s 480 an hour.
Example of the car one rides to the top of the Arch.
While in line, the guide asked who was in what groups and then handed out numbered boarding passes to indicate which car to board. I was number 7. In fact, I was the only in that particular car!
My ticket to ride
Before you board, there’s a short 1960s style animated video that’s actually a lot of fun to watch. It both made me feel old and nostalgic.
Then you line up in front of your particular car. They give you a safety briefing. The main details are the doors are only 4′ tall so duck when you enter and do not try to take photos as you enter.
Once boarded and the doors close you start to move up. It’s not obvious from the photos, but first you move to what would be the left of the photos above and then up and then as you move up, to the right (technically I was in the North Tram, so first you move to the North, then up and to the South)
There’s a window in the door so you can see the structure of the Arch, including the stairs of the 1,076 step emergency evacuation staircase.
Yes, I was grinning Cheshire cat the entire way up. A dream of a lifetime was coming true.
The top did not disappoint. I knew the observation windows were only 9″ tall so I thought it would be a tight view. I also had thought the observation area would be much smaller than it actually is. From the ground you get a false sense of scale. It’s actually fairly roomy (though I suspect with two full trams working and 80 people being up there it would be a bit crowded. All told we had perhaps 30 people including employees up there).
The ride up is about 4 minutes and the ride down is about 3 minutes. This with 3 minutes of time to board at the bottom means you’re given about 10 minutes to see everything. I thought I would feel rushed, but I wasn’t. Finally it was time to head back down.
After the ride down I visited the gift shop and then started to head out. I had been texting a friend about a quick visit and wanted to get there in time.
This said friend is someone I’ve known for over two decades now and is somewhat a mentor to me in the cave rescue community. I knew he’s definitely a mentor to another close friend of mine. Sadly though, said mentor was diagnosed with cancer several years ago and it has now since metastasized to his liver. He texted back that he’d probably be up for a visit after his hospice nurse left. Home hospice… that’s where he’s at now. That said, as he reminded me when we did talk in person, Jimmy Carter was on hospice for three years, so who knows how much time is left.
After leaving the Arch I headed to his place. I hoped to make it not too late as I didn’t want to keep him up late. It seemed fate had other ideas. Immediately upon entering Indiana I hit a detour as we were routed around a traffic accident. Or rather, routed off the Interstate onto a side road with no clear directions on where to go from there, so we all followed our GPSs or Google Maps which took us back onto the same Interstate albeit one exit later. This did put me ahead of some of the vehicles which had not been detoured, but didn’t help much. So this put me behind schedule.
Finally Google maps directed me off the Interstate onto the backroads to get to my friend’s house. However, Google maps didn’t know that immediately after turning off the Interstate that the road I was supposed to take was closed and I had to follow a detour. This further put me behind schedule.
Then, not more than 3 miles from my friend’s house, the Low Oil light came on. I’ve had enough Subarus to know that inevitably this is due to burning a bit of oil, not a sudden oil leak. So I pulled over, put some spare oil I carry with me for this purpose in and continued. Honestly, I had sort of expected this and should have checked my oil earlier. I had put in over 6000 miles in the last two weeks at this point.
I finally arrived at said friend’s house and he met me at the door. We sat and talked for over an hour. I’ll admit it was a bit bittersweet. We talked a bit about his prognosis and time left, but focused mostly on the good times we’ve had. Besides both being cavers, we have an interest in train travel and have travelled extensively via Amtrak.
In most cases when we talk to folks, we expect to see them again, but we both knew, even if we didn’t exactly say it out loud, that this might be our last chance to catch up.
That said, he’s not really bitter or sad. He’s led a great life and he’s been the person I expect he’s wanted to be. There’s an outside chance I’ll see him this summer if we both make it to the NSS Convention in New York, but honestly we both know that’s unlikely.
So, while I reached a new high this day, I also have poignant and bittersweet memories. I’m glad I made the stop. Ironically, had I bought tickets online for the Gateway Arch for later in the day and gotten sleep on my drive there, instead of a marathon all night drive, I would not have had a chance to catch up. That was the other reason I had done the marathon drive, even if somehow I didn’t make the top of the Arch, I knew it gave me a chance to meet with my friend. So the lack of sleep was worth it in multiple ways.
So, I don’t want to end this on a down note as much as a happy note. I reached a life goal and I caught up with a close friend. It was as they say, a good day.
I’ve mentioned not being on a strict schedule. Which is good. Originally I was going to leave Monday the 7th, after work. But a car repair wasn’t done by then. So then it was going to be Tuesday morning. Of course it ended up being Wednesday around Noon. My original goal had me arriving at the Canyon on Thursday morning. By postponing my departure by 2 days, I figured I could still make it to the Canyon by Saturday morning.
Well here it is, Sunday night and I just arrived after dark (8:37 local time, 11:37 Eastern time). But I’m ok with that. I even managed to score a campsite in the Park itself (which meant not having to find a place along the way). But why the delay?
Well as the previous post notes, I had some car issues that slowed me down. And of course I ended up visiting and staying at Chaco Canyon. But that’s only like a 6 hour drive from the Grand Canyon and I left there around 10:00 AM MDT. So why so late?
Well for one thing I decided to do a bit of food shopping since the next few days stopping by a restaurant was less likely and I was running out and getting sick and tired of what I had packed when I left New York. While paying for the food, I started to panic since I couldn’t find one of my credit cards. I had just used it 8 miles up the road for gas, so I figured I could call to see if they found it and go back. After a frantic search of the car and my pockets multiple times, I did find it in one of my pockets. So I could breath a bit easier after that.
Back on the highway, I still was thinking I’d make the Canyon, specifically Mather Campground, well before dark. I wasn’t scared.
But soon I was petrified. Ok, no, not really. But I saw signs for the Petrified Forest National Park. My paternal grandparents had had a slice of petrified wood that always fascinated me and as such I had always wanted to check it out. A quick check of Google confused me a bit, since it looked like there was a few spots it was calling attention to. But no worry, the entrance was quite literally off the Interstate. I figured I’d pop in, check it out and 20 minutes later be on the road.
Little did I know that actually that’s the North Entrance and the road takes you about 26 miles south to the South Entrance. Along the way there are pull-offs to see the Painted Desert, Blue Mesa and much more. The ranger warned several of us that it could take a couple of hours. He was right. But it was well worth it.
A side note, at Chaco I had decided to pay $80 for an annual pass for the National Parks (in 5 years I can get a lifetime one for the same price, I guess a perk of getting older). Well Chaco is $25, Petrified is $25 and the Grand is $35. So it’s already paid for itself and I have other parks I want to visit on this trip. I also picked up a Park Passport at Petrified so I can collect stamps. Why not.
Anyway, I still had hope to make it to the Grand Canyon before sundown but another sign caught my eye: 65 miles to Winslow. Yes, THAT Winslow Arizona. Since I suppose I’m trying to take it easy on this trip, I just knew I had to stop. And I did. And of course got pictures. And I was far from the only one doing so. At least two other groups were doing the same.
At this point though, any chance of making the campground by sundown was gone. But, it was well worth it.
I’ll add one more note before ending. Several times on this trip, including in Winslow, I’ve managed to be on bits and pieces of the Mother Road, Route 66. And it’s been both cool and sad seeing some of the old hotels (most now dilapidated), restaurants (closed), and gas stations (abandoned).
Written yesterday, but no connection to post, so a day late.
Future posts may also be delayed as I get to more places with limited WiFi.
Today started off fine. I woke up, a bit confused why it was so dark but then remembered my watch is still set to Eastern Time. That was only part of it. Anyone who has spent much time travelling even with a time zone will soon realize that the sun rises earlier on the eastern edge and rises later on the western edge. Conversely sunset is reversed. So not only was I one time zone off, I was rather west in it anyway. I stayed at the Texas Welcome Center along I-40. Most states have their welcome center within a few miles of the border. Not Texas, it’s in Amarillo, about halfway through the state. I suppose that way they only have to build one. That said, it was pretty decent.
I got off an early start and hit the border of New Mexico fairly early. I stopped at their welcome center which is literally right next to the border. However, since I was off to an early start, I decided to get of at Exit 0 in Texas. No, that’s not a typo. It’s right on the border and in fact the merge ramp ends within yards of the New Mexico border. I guess I was going nowhere. (To quote Harry Chapin, “anywhere is a better place to be.”)
Soon after that though the trip hit a snag. My check-engine light came on. Fortunately in my experience with Subarus it’s almost always an O2 sensor so I wasn’t worried. I got off at the next exit with a large enough town and waited for O’Reilly’s Auto Parts to open so I could borrow their OBD2 reader (foolishly I didn’t bring one with me). Sure enough, O2 sensor readings. They claim they can’t clear the codes with theirs so I nursed it until a large town outside of Albuquerque where there was a Walmart. There I picked up a decent reader, reset the sensors and I was off. I also got some Cataclean, I product I’ve had some success with. I used it down the road when my tank was empty enough. So that problem solved.
At this point between my stops and a few “for fun” detours checking out where some frontage roads went (two dead ended, one rejoined the Interstage) I was a bit behind schedule so decided to make for Chaco Canyon National Historical Park. This was probably the first place I visited with my dad years ago. Back then we didn’t have Google. We had AAA Trip-Tiks.
Well, let me go on an aside about Google Maps. One reason I’m not a fan of online maps is because it’s hard to see the big picture, like statewide. This means it’s possible for the online map to take you a way you may want to know and you don’t realize it until too late. This happened to my wife recently in New Jersey (which seems to be particularly bad). Let’s just say in that case there was NO logical reason for Google Maps to suggest anything other than I-95. But it did.
Today, I had a similar problem and it led me to a bit of bad luck. I was following the directions when it suggested I turn off the main road I was on onto a side road. I figured this was a bit strange, but whatever. Well, I should have been thinking more about the speed limit because I got nabbed. Ayup. I suppose I can call it bad luck, but it’s my own damn fault for speeding, regardless of where the map sent me. That said, I’m not even sure if it’ll be a problem (other than the fine) because it was technically on Tribal Land. We’ll see.
But then the fun began. Google Maps continued to take me down slow backroads. I was very careful to follow the speed limit here, despite numerous cars passing me. That said, my general sense of direction was telling me, “this might be the shortest route, but is it the BEST route?” But as they say, in for a penny in for a pound.
So I was thinking right up until Google Maps told me to turn right onto a dirt road. Now, a saner, more cautious person would have continued straight until Google Maps could suggest another route. I am not that person.
Now to be fair, the Subaru of course has all-wheel drive, decent ground clearance, and while I can’t say I have lots of off-road experience, I’m pretty comfortable taking it along roads like this.
Let me just say… it was FUN… bombing along a dirt road in the desert, pausing for the one stray cow. Only a few spots had me worried because they had some rough rocks poking up, but managed those (admittedly I ended up skidding a bit over one rather than steering around.)
I will add too Google Maps said 6.3 miles of unpaved road. Google Maps is a big fat liar. It was about 12 miles.
BUT, at the end was Chaco Canyon. So it worked. And I had fun.
As I drove in, I saw the sign I was dreading. “Campsite Full”. Actually that’s not entirely true. In the spirit of little planning, I hadn’t confirmed if there even was camping. (If there weren’t there were fallback plans). So I went into the Visitors Center to get a pass (got a season pass as I’m pretty sure it’ll be cheaper in the long run) and asked about nearby camping. He asked what I had. “A car, maybe a tent.” “Well if no-one shows up to take the Accessible spot by 4:00 PM, we release that to general camping.” I checked my watch and realized that was only 45 minutes away. So I filled some water bottles (that was the only thing that really had me nervous on the dirt road, if the car had issues I only had soda for hydration) and then went back inside, watched the 25 minute video on Chaco Canyon, wandered around a bit, setup to use their wifi and then, claimed the site. It does feel a bit weird using an Accessible site, but since they run on reservations followed by first-come, first-served, I assume they figure it’s better to rent it out than not.
After parking I did a short hike up to a viewpoint (where I did get some cell access for a bit) and then came back to my campsite, made a cold dinner of PB&J and set up the tent. I’m writing this in Word to later paste into WordPress because I have no service here.
In about 30 minutes I’ll join the Ranger led talk at the campfire and relax.
That’s the journey of today. I have more thoughts, but I think I’ll end up posting those as separate side posts.
One more thing to add, my new phone apparently does do great night shots with a full Moon
This past week I visited an open house at the PA school I’ll be attending starting in late May. It definitely made things feel very real. It almost reminded me that I’ll be the oldest there by far. This gives me a feeling of cognitive dissonance.
On one hand, often when I’m at work, or when I was taking classes, I feel very young, often decades younger than my chronological age. One of the best compliments I received from a fellow tech was, “Greg, you run the techs in their 20s into the ground.” The tech saying it was herself in her 20s.
And the idea of going back to college makes me feel pretty young.
That said, the reality is, I’m entering a career that while will probably last me the rest of my working life. But I at most probably only have a decade in it or so.
I’ll be 57 when I enter school. I’ll be in the didactic phase for 12 months.
That makes me 58 when I finish the first half and start my 12 month clinical phase.
This means I’ll be 59 when I graduate and take my PANCE (the certifying exam that officially makes me a PA and allows me to practice as one.)
Many people plan on retiring at 65. I have never really had that as a goal. I figured I’d want to keep busy beyond that, even if I ended up working at a more relaxed pace.
But the real limit may come when I’m 69. PAs have to basically take an exam every 10 years. The honest truth, as I approach that date, I’ll have to give it some thought if it’ll all be worth it. Perhaps it’ll be the sign to retire. But also, working in the ED (as is my current plan) requires a certain physicality that at 70, I’m not sure I want to deal with. And while PAs can make lateral moves, I’m not sure what other specialties I’d enjoy.
So, we’ll see. Do I make it the full 10 before retiring? Do I re-up? I can guarantee I won’t be re-upping when I’m 79! (Unless someone discovers the fountain of youth!).
So if I have one regret about my approach PA career, is perhaps I should have done it decades ago.
But in the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the living hell out of the time I’ll have for it
I’m a day late on this blog, my usual day is Tuesdays. And my birthday fell on Tuesday this year. So you’d think I’d have written this yesterday, but, well I guess I just didn’t feel like it.
The honest truth, for some reason, my 57th birthday was a bit of a mixed bag, and I’m not really sure why.
It started off fairly well. My daughter continued her tradition, since attending college, of calling me just before midnight so she can be sure to say Happy Birthday at midnight. (Technically my wife wished me happy birthday before she went to bed, but that was before midnight, so my daughter wins on the “first on my actual birthday”). My son then came up to my office wish me a happy birthday. And finally the next morning my wife was the third to wish me one.
And of course all the Facebook posts that came in. I really appreciated those. Though, despite trying this year in advance to setup a charity (which in the past has worked well to raise money on my birthday) again, it just didn’t show up. I’m not sure if Facebook changed how they did birthday charities or what. I suppose that’s one reason my birthday was a mixed bag to me. I wanted to spread a bit more joy and didn’t.
But really, I think part of it is, my birthday is a bit of a reminder of something I realized several years ago: statistically I have fewer days ahead of me than I have behind me. That bothers me. I don’t fear death per se. It’s part of life. It’ll happen eventually. And I’ve certainly seen enough of it at work lately. But damn it, I’ve got so many things I want to do! I need multiple lifetimes to do even 1/2 the things I want to do.
And it’s not only lack of time, but the fact that I’m seeing my body age. Yes “age is only a number” but in this case that number is 57 and I notice it. For example, wounds, even as simple as a scratch take longer to heal. My stamina has slowed down. And well, as any guy can say, their refractory period at this age, even with drugs, isn’t like what it was 40 years prior!
There were definitely some nice upsides though.
One was an unexpected gift: an email from the PA school I’ve been accepted to with an academic calendar, so I can start to plan my life in 2025 and 2026 (hint, not much time off).
And then my wife and I joined coworkers at trivia night (and folks, while I was 100% wrong about the USS New York, I think their answer was “wrong” too (in the sense that they made an assumption based on its later historical significance)) and had a lot of fun at that.
So overall, my birthday was fun, but I don’t know. Perhaps the weather didn’t help. The thoughts of aging, who knows.
And 57 is sort of an odd number. I mean it’s not a big milestone like 60 or something.
I don’t know.
But here I sit, at 57 years and 1 day thinking about life.
But not for too long because I ended up deciding to go into work last night and picked up an 8 hour shift. And then sat in on a lecture on poisonous mushrooms given by one of our attendings. So… on my 57 and 1… I’ll spend most of the daylight hours sleeping!
Last week I was reminded of one of the few things I missed out on my IT career. A number of friends and colleagues posted about how they had achieved or been renewed for their Microsoft MVP status. It’s one achievement I never obtained.
Let me be clear, I’m not bitter or upset. The honest truth is, I never really worked hard at achieving it. So to me it’s most like seeing friends making the Olympic team and wishing I was there but also recognizing that they worked at it and earned it while I really didn’t. So this is on me. And I’m VERY excited and proud for them. They’re amazing people and they deserved it!
But, with my career change, I’m even less likely now to make it. And… I’m ok with that.
One thing that I’m finding remarkable to me about this career change is how few regrets I’m having. I’m reminded all the time it’s the right move. I was tired of IT and tired of data.
But, the one thing I never tired of was the community, aka #sqlfamily. Honestly, this is what probably what kept me going the past few years: being part of such a community. Let it be said, the #sqlfamily is an amazing group of people: they mentor, they teach, they push the state of the art forward, they make everyone better. I’m a better DBA and IT person because of them.
In fact, in a way, I’d say #sqlfamily probably gave me the inspiration and courage to move forward and change careers.
So regrets, I’ve had a few, one being perhaps not working hard enough to earn an MVP, but meeting, getting to know, and loving my #sqlfamily, I will never regret.
Green Mountain Software 