Well, we are officially into the new place but far from settled. The new pad has a lot less storage so I’ve been going through and organizing stuff and making a big pile to bring to Goodwill.

Been really enjoying checking out the new hood- Linus and I have been doing hour-long walks each morning exploring. It’s only a 9 minute walk to Dolores Park and also- get this- about an 8 minute walk to an outdoor swimming pool where a masters team practices! So I am thinking of joining them… we’ll see… still in the contemplation phase of that.

One reason for this update (while I down coffees at an internet cafe) is that we will have no internet at home until JULY 9th when it gets installed!!! So I’m not going to be able to get online much- but that means I will be really productive when it comes to unpacking and getting stuff installed, hung up and whatnot.

Have a good couple of weeks!
Court

Came home yesterday after work and then the gym to find this note:

How spoiled are we? TWO WALKS? A FOUR HOUR HANG AROUND AT HER HOUSE? Plus she hangs out and plays with our cat? !!!

Linus has a very plush life. He’s with me most of the time, however the two or three days a week I go to work, he gets the royal treatment from Robin.

Our dogwalker, Robin, is the greatest. She’s such a caring and loving woman to the pets. She works with my oddball schedule that changes all the time and is extremely reliable. Linus ADORES her and they have so much fun together. A lot of the time she brings him back completely covered in mud or sand, because they play in the dirt pit at the dog park. But we don’t mind because we know he had so much fun.

If anyone’s looking for a dog walker in the Haight Ashbury area, Robin has our highest recommendations. We’ve been using her for a year now and she is stupendous. If you would like her contact info, please contact me here and I will be happy to send it to you! She doesn’t really advertise and most of her clients are found via word of mouth.

Woke up this morning to the following email blast from my SF Corgi listserve:

Some of you may have seen the news about an early morning fire at the
Berkeley Humane Society shelter. They fire destroyed a significant
portion of their facility including their cat shelter and all of their
offices.

They are heartbroken to have lost a number of cats during the fire,
but about a dozen cats and all of the dogs were saved.

They are in need of emergency assistance both in the form of
individuals who can temporarily foster animals, as well as immediate
financial donations. Once the situation is further stabilized they
will need volunteers for cleanup and recovery.

As their offices were destroyed and their utilities cut, their phones
are out and they are coordinating all efforts from their website.

www.berkeleyhumane.org

Thank you!

So sad! Heartwrenching to think of the cats that perished in the fire

I just emailed them to help volunteer with the cleanup and we may also temporarily foster (if they have a dog or cat who would get along with another dog and cat!). Perhaps you would like to help out as well? They are looking for people to help clean, temporarily foster animals and also monetary donations. I’m sure spreading the news of their situation on your website, twitter or facebook would help too. Find out more updates and how you can help here on their website: www.berkeleyhumane.org

Here is hoping they get back on their feet quickly and back to helping animals in need!

Tonight after the gym (and me waking up at 3:50am to work the 5am-5pm shift) Earl and I caught the indie movie The Good, The Bad and The Weird. It was GREAT!!

I was expecting cheesy and juvenile humor (after all, E, lover of zombieland, picked it out ) but it was surprisingly hilarious and really enjoyable! Here’s the trailer:

In addition to great action sequences, it also had an interesting plots with lots of twists and turns. Throw in some truly hilarious moments, and it was a rollicking good time of a movie. Afterwards we noshed thai at Chai Yo and took a little late evening stroll around Nob Hill.

In other news, I was offered a second job this week! Super, super excited to be teaching skills to EMT-B students right here in San Francisco. This will be a side-gig from my main EMT job at the ambulance company. I am completely thrilled to become an instructor! Starting in a few weeks.

Weekend plans are nothing all that special. Yoga, sleeping in, laundry, brushing woofer, studying, farmer’s market and probably amble on down the hill to Bay to Breakers on Sunday. Oh- I’m gonna try and attempt this Dragonfly Stir Fry Rice which combines sausage and crab (!!!!). I’ll let ya know if it comes out as stupendous as it sounds Have a good one yourself! <3, cj

Last summer when I was job hunting for an EMT position in the Bay Area, I wrote a post about my impressions on the EMT job market and how EMS seemed to be affected by the recession from the perspective of a job hunter. This post gets frequent google hits for things like “EMT Job Market San Francisco,” “How to Get a Job as an EMT in the Bay Area,” and “How hard is it to get a job as an EMT right now?” The popularity of this post inspired me to try and help out fellow EMT students and dole out some advice on getting a job.  Keep in mind that I’ve only been working as an EMT for about seven months at a small, family-run BLS/ALS operation, and also that I am NOT a hiring manager.  Ergo, these are plainly non-expert opinions. However, I love my job and genuinely enjoy helping out EMS students, particularly those who are driven and motivated to achieve their goals and advance within the profession.

With that said, here are some thoughts and advice on how to land an EMT job:

• Research!

The first thing you’re gonna have to do is hop over to google and research.  Pull up the county EMS website for whatever counties you could feasibly work in.  If you dig deep enough on their website, it *should* have a list of every single approved ambulance provider in that county.  This will give you a great list of all the companies where you can apply.  Once you have a list of all the ambulance companies close to you, research them!  Go on their websites, ask your instructors from school and friends about them.  Job hunting, like everything else, is a numbers game.  So the more places you apply, the better your chances will be of landing a position.

• Get all your certs in order BEFORE you apply.

This is another thing that county EMS website can help you with.  They should detail what you need and how to obtain your county certs.  What you need to work as an EMT will vary from state to state, however the things I had to obtain were as follows:  DM51 medical examiner form, two livescan federal background checks (you will have to find a livescan location and go and get fingerprinted for this), ambulance driver’s license, printed out personal driver history form, County EMT Certification and NREMT certification.

Yes, you technically can apply places without all of these certs in place, and some companies (if they really like you) will wait for you to have them completed, however imo why give them a reason to put you on the bottom of the pile?  Be the organized candidate that has everything done up front.  Not the one still scrambling and waiting on things to come back before he can start.

• Create an organized “portfolio” of your materials.  Put together a separate one for each company where you plan on applying.
  

This doesn’t have to be a fancy binder, it can just be a file folder with your name printed on it.  However, it should include the following:  front and back copies of all the above mentioned certs, resume and cover letter, completed application for the specific company (generally can find this on their website), front and back of your DL, list and contact info of references, letter of recommendations (if you chose), first aid cert and possibly EMT school graduation diploma.  Have it all together in a neat and organized fashion.  It also helps to have multiple copies of everything- have a few back-up copies in case more than one person at a company requests them.

• Shake a tailfeather and go apply IN PERSON

DO NOT FAX IN ALL YOUR STUFF!! DROP IT OFF IN PERSON!!  Do you know how many faxes these places get?  How do you know anyone checks the fax machine there, anyway?  I would say a fax’d in application is an instant bottom of the pile move, *if* it makes it into the pile at all.  Yes it is a pain in the butt to go in person, but will yield exponentially greater results.  You may even land an on-the-spot interview!

When you go in person, dress professionally.  Don’t wear “EMT gear” or an outfit that you would wear for a ride along.  This isn’t a ride along, you are there to convey your interest in the firm and elevator pitch yourself about why you would be a great fit.  Dress sharp and look like a professional.

• Follow up like a maniac stalker ex boyfriend

Take however many times you think you should follow up without appearing crazy and too-gung ho, then increase it twofold.  I almost lost a job offer because I didn’t follow up enough.  When they said they would call me, I really did wait for them to call me.  I should have been calling them every week to touch base.  Sometimes these companies work excruciatingly slowly with hiring.  They understandably have LOTS going on, and even if they liked you and are planning to hire you, you can fall through the cracks.  Don’t let this happen to you!  Be polite and not harassing, but persistent and keep following up.

• Do extra Ride alongs

Ride alongs are a fantastic way to not only learn about the company and see if you would like to work there, but also develop repartee and debut your talents to their firm.  You can do “extra” ride alongs after above and beyond the ones required by your EMT program to graduate.  If you haven’t done a ride along at a company where you may be interested in working, call them and set one up yourself.  Even if you’ve already graduated, chances are your school can still help you set them up as well.  Depending on the company’s particular policy, you may have to go through your school for insurance reasons.

• Bonus: Ways to be a Good Ride Along

Bring cookies to share with the crews on duty and dispatch, be curious/ask lots of questions, have good “energy,” be genuine, act interested, interact with the patients, get in there and take the vitals, hustle to open and hold doors for the EMTs and patients, help out as much as you can with everything.  If your EMTs are trying to sleep for some of the downtime, give a pause to asking questions and let them chill out

• Network!

EMS is a surprisingly small community- one that is getting even smaller with technology and social media.  Networking can help you learn about opportunities and to begin cultivating a positive word of mouth.  Start networking in school with your classmates.  It’s invaluable to have a “crew” of fellow EMT students where you guys can trade info about how your job searches are going, what companies are hiring, what places are good to work, etc.  Help each other out!  You can also network with your EMT school instructors and administration.  Volunteer to help them as a fake patient when they’re testing out other classes.  Help set up and clean up after events.  Things like that.  Other places you can network:  Professional EMS associations in your area, county EMS organizations, volunteer in a local ER, volunteer at a local firehouse, ride alongs, and EMS 2.0 meetups.

• Send handwritten thank-you notes for EVERYTHING.
  

Send them when the people you’ve networked with hook you up with a connection or a contact.  Send them to the crew you did a ride-along with.  DEFINITELY send them after an interview.

• Take extra classes to make yourself an even better EMT
  

Show them you are dedicated to this career and serious about being a fantastic EMT!  Here are some ideas of extra classes you can take:

-any FEMA NIMs class, I suggest ICS 100, 200 and 700 to get you started. These are pretty boring but you can do them online and they are free.
- Spanish for medical professionals
- any EKG or 12 lead class
- NERT training (with some research you can probably find these offered for free)
- Public speaking (will help bolster confidence when giving a verbal report in the ER and an MD, two nurses, and an ER Tech are all staring at you)

If you follow some or all of these steps, you will hopefully find a job eventually.  EMS is a fantastic and rewarding career, and I sincerely wish all of you job-hunters the best as you take the first steps in your career trajectory.  I know how tedious and arduous the process can seem when you’re just starting off.  Stay positive, stay on top of things, and persistence should yield success.  Those of you with specific questions about working in the Bay Area are more than welcome to contact me directly.

Cheers,
Ceej

Absolutely nothing, that’s what!

I was out running con woofer this am and must have ran by a house cooking breakfast because MAN did I get a whiff of something tantalizing and bacon-y. Right then and there I altered course and Linus and I jogged over to the store, bought English Muffins and eggs, and came home and made these:

Bacon egg and cheese sandwiches might be one of my favorite foods EVER. In college I dated a guy who made these on the grill whenever we were camping or tailgating and they would come out SOOO good. The key is to use the LARGE sandwich-sized english muffins, so that way you can fit on three fried eggs. Our little corner grocery store only had regular sized english muffins, so, rather sadly, I could only fit on two fried eggs.

Still used a pound of bacon, tho

We each had an extra 1/2 of an english muffin to mop up runny yolk. Runny yolk orbits in its own realm of awesomeness.


Linus even got in on some bacon action. He had to do “manners” to get it, however!

Lucy doesn’t care for bacon or eggs (lame!) but she did find a nice spot to curl up in the sunshine.

We, erm… also had some fruit to counteract the massive pile of bacon and make a tad more healthy.

I am going to go lie on my back now and let this post-bacon aura wash over me in waves of deliciousness.

A silly photo from just now, whilst E is doing some work reading about cats online and eating a CARROT!! Yum, carrots! Didja know corgis like carrots? Didya? We sure do! look at me all lonely like down here by myself, dontcha think i could sure use a carrot?

In other news, we are having GRILLED WISCONSIN BRATWURST for dinner! Um, holy cow. I am sooo excited to make these suckers. Though, when your lover hails from the badger state, there’s a tad bit of extra pressure not to screw em up. Earl already schooled me on proper beer-soaking and fork-pricking methods. Hopefully they’ll turn out okay. Also exciting is that, per most of the recipes I found, “drinking beer whilst cooking wisconsin bratwurst is a mandatory part of the process.” Sweet! At least I’ve got that part down.

I’m making these soy-sauce sesame crusted roasted radishes as a side. Not because they particularly sound like they’ll go with grilled bratwurst, but because we have radishes on hand and I’ve been wanting to try that recipe out now for a while. I’ve seen roasted radishes mentioned a LOT lately, and people are always talking about how surprisingly awesome they turn out. Radishes get such a bad rap in the vegetable world. We’ve been roasting lots of veggies lately (asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes…) and it’s just failproof. They ALWAYS turn out awesome. No huge shocker there that roasted radishes are good, too! Well… I guess we’ll see about that

Oh- one amusing anecdote from my day. I realized we had no crusty rolls to serve the brats on tonight, so I decided to run to the bakery and get some. I had to get a run in anyways, and the bakery was 3 miles away, so it was perfect. I just couldn’t decide if running to the bakery to get a bunch of hard rolls on which to nosh beer and brats is counter-intuitive, awesome, or stupid. What do ya think? The cool part is, I left at about 5:30, and the bakery was closing at 6:00, so it ended up being a bit of speedwork, too! (anything below 10:00 min/mile is certainly speedwork for me at this point.) Anyways, I made it and the rolls look awesome. I also bought a bit of shortbread at the bakery which I noshed mid-run before heading back home Couldn’t resist. Anyways, I kinda like this “running to get your errands done” deal.

While walking to the ER to volunteer the other week, I spied this GORGEOUS festival of “bottle cleaners.”

How stunning!!

Aren’t these trees super cool? They’re actually bushes that are cut into the shape of trees. They’re all over the Bay Area, but before we moved to the west coast, neither Earl nor I had ever seen them. We think they’re pretty neat. I don’t know the exact name for them, although I’ve heard them called both “Bottle Cleaner” and “Pipe Cleaner” plants… I’m sure you can see why.

My aunt, who lives in Pleasanton, told me those trees are really common out here, however she does NOT like them, because they “attract too many bees.” I think if we ever have a yard, I would totally get a couple of them, they’re just so cool looking! Bees, schmees… besides, isn’t there a major shortage of bees now anyways, so shouldn’t we encourage them to be buzzing around?

Of all the bottle cleaner trees I’ve seen in the city, this one in particular had the most and brightest blooms. I stood there in the sunshine and soaked in her beauty for a solid two minutes. A perfect 10! Don’t you agree?

UPDATE: A bit of google-ing and I found out the tree is called the Callistemon, and is native to Australia. I do declare, the Callistemon which I found here in the SF city streets is FAR more comely than the one in the wiki entry!

On this gorgeous and sunny California spring morning, my friend Amy and I met at the base of Mt. Diablo to do a 7 mile hike.  It was such a fun day!  Strenuous hike but not horribly so.  We gained about 2500 in elevation (where we started, at the Park Headquarters, is already about 2k up) total.  I was huffing but Amy, as you can see in the video, handled it like a champ.

I busted out my new flip video camera (I found it during spring cleaning yesterday) that I had won at my company Christmas Party last December.  Hope you enjoy my very first video creation!

ps- there is some surprise bonus footage at the end shot by Earl when he was testing out the camera

Oh yeah, Spring Cleaning Day.

We have all the windows open and the apartment smells fresh and, although lots of dust is flying around through the air,  is on the way towards getting cleaner.

Saw a couple hummingbirds on my 6mi run through GG Park this morning.  It feels like spring is here!

ps- Linus was surprisingly brave when the Dreaded Vacuum was near him today.  Impressive!