School started again this week and two days in, it’s already a lot of work.

The A and P class is going to be killer. I can tell already. Just the number of power point slides in the review lectures have been staggering. I can’t wait until we get into some new material. Right now it’s just memorization of the body’s regions and planes. Stuff I already knew. Still, when I look at the material, it’s daunting. And this quarter is just the Anatomy. Next quarter is Physiology. Busy, busy, busy.

The coordinated studies class is interesting. It’s half English, a quarter communications and a quarter women’s studies. Lots of seminar discussion and group work. It seems like it’ll be intense, but enjoyable. Diana Ma, my English prof for my last two classes is co-teaching, so it was nice to see a familiar face.

I’ll be heading to EMT class in a few minutes. It starts at 6pm, so I thought I’d take a couple of minutes to blog and walk the dogs and eat a sammich before heading out.

I was at the Red Cross today, exchanging Manikin faces. It’s nice that they clean faces for you, otherwise I’d be one busy guy. The whole crew there is just so nice. I’ve never meet a more accommodating and pleasant group of people in my life. I guess that’s the difference between the for profit and non-profit world. It’s not about the almighty buck, it’s all about the mission. Nice stuff. It’s good to be involved in a humanitarian organization without any secular overtones. It’s one of the things I like best about the ARC. Of course, I also appreciate the work that was put into developing pedagogical structure of the class curriculum. It makes teaching there a truly enjoyable experience.

OK. Dog walk time.

(yelling up the stairs…)

“Who want’s to go for a walk?”

I just found out that I was selected to become a Red Cross “Emergency Response” Instructor. ER is the highest level of first aid training that the Red Cross offers. It’s equivalent to the DOT First Responder curriculum, one step below EMT with many of the skills actually the same. This course is primarily for Industrial Safety folks, lifeguards, security guards, Search and Rescue members and those who need advanced first aid skills for work. Also, becoming certified as an ER instructor will allow me to teach almost every First Aid and CPR class that the Red Cross offers.

“First Responder undergoing some practical training.”

My chapter only had space for two instructors to go through the training for this course and I’m honored and thrilled to have been selected for the training. Just one more step on the path to becoming an EMS educator.

I got a call from PD Guy, the Program Director at a station I really like in Seattle, last week. He wanted to know if I would be interested in filling in for the station’s morning show host.

“Mister Host is going on vacation for 2 weeks and I really need someone to fill in.” said PD guy.

“Uhh, I’m not really a morning guy,” I replied, hoping he would hear the hesitation in my voice and realize that he was making a huge mistake in even suggesting that i get up at 4am to drive to the radio station and play DJ.

“No problem,” he said. “I don’t want a morning guy. I just want someone to, like, play a bunch of songs until Mister Host comes back. You’re perfect!”

So, here I am, sitting in the studio on the 16th floor of an office building in downtown Seattle. At this moment I’m playing “Talkin’ about a Revolution” from Tracy Chapman and drinking my 7th cup of coffee.

It hasn’t been a bad couple of days, so far. The getting up early part kind of sucks, but the morning guy’s co-host is here and she’s very cool and has been patient with all of my screw ups. It’s always hard to try and fill in for a morning show but I’m really not “doing a morning show”, I’m just like, “playing a bunch of songs”.

So far, so good.