I was going through the etymology of some place-names at work today and I found out that the name 'Benton' (a surname, but still) means 'town near bent grass'.

Because of course Benton would be bent.

Is it unreasonable that I should find this so damn funny?


ETA - I've just re-read this post, and it makes my job sound really strange. I'm an archaeologist, ok? Looking up place names is a regular thing. No, really.

Argh

Why does California always hit me at 6pm on a Friday evening for documentation that has to be uploaded NOW!!!? No one's going to read it until Monday anyway. Granted, I'm the agreeable type, and had it all up by 1 a.m. Saturday. I mean, I wasn't going to miss seeing the Whirling Dervishes with ursulav Friday night, after all. It was an interesting experience. The Whirling Dervishes whirl in search of enlightenment. I have no doubt that after half an hour of spinning, you see God. Lest I make too light of it, let me state that it was hypnotic, entrancing, and beautiful. I'm glad we went. I spent Saturday running co-worker JFo down to Clemson, SC, so he could drop his car off at his parents house while he's in California indefinitely. JFo's family is lovely, and we lingered a bit before schlepping the 5 hours home. I crashed hard. Speaking of crashing, hormones seem to leveling out. Insomnia seems to be resolving nicely - only waking up once a night. I'm definitely feeling more human. Today, I ponder the anthology of shorts at the Nevermore Festival at 2pm. Anyone else interested? I think that's about all I'm up for today.

(comment on this)

EMT Stuff

So, last night was my 1st night of EMT-Basic Training and I have to say that it went very well. I was anxious and excited to get started and I must admit I was also a little tired considering that I had already worked a full day at Seton Hall Law but I feel that the class is off to a good start.

My manager let me out of work a little early so that I had plenty of time to get lost and still make it to class on time. While I admit that I did in fact get very lost (and will actually have to time the walk tomorrow now that I know where I am going) I still made it to class 90 mins early. I got to meet a couple of professor and have some questions answered before class started so this actually a blessing. I was also concerned because while I have taken and passed CPR, I have not received my card yet and that is a pre-req for the class. Once I explained the situation to the instructor though, he gave me a small grace period to get him the card.

There are 38 people in my class from various area of the state. There are also several instructors for the class, all of which we will work with throughout basic training. The class coordinator has a long list of credentials including most recently getting a position as an ER Nurse at St. Joe’s. In addition to his extensive knowledge, he is also a good speaker (which is good when you have to listen to him for 3 straight hours).

The Westfield Rescue squad building is also rather impressive. They are stationed at a large ranch house that easily takes up half the block. They also run a pretty tight operation in their town. I got to meet a few of their EMTs before class started also so I got to learn a little about their operations. They gave me an application to ride, but I think I may want to get through the class before I pick up a second squad.

The class work is going to be very intense. In addition to the 110 contact hours we have with our professor, there are also about 800 pages of reading that we need to do as well as 10 hours that we have to work in a hospitals ER dept. The class coordinator already has an arrangement with Muhlenburg Regional Medical Center so that is were we will all be doing our hours. Now maybe listed like this it is not so intense, but all of this will be completed by the second week of November. Our class will sit for the National Registry EMT-B exam in the beginning of December. We already have an exam on intro to EMT, well-being of the EMT-B and the Human Body this coming Sunday. We also have a lab on lifting and moving patients on the same day.

It is a good thing that work has been slow lately since it will give me time to study

Wish me luck since this looks to be an interesting couple of months.