Get fit - - -but ban sports ???

I just don't understand politicians sometimes. For the past few months all levels of government have been spending money, telling us to get fit. Get out and exercise. Doing studies on how fat society has become. Not a problem this time of year since many people put their best effort forward and attempt to keep their New Year's resolution to drop their weight by eating right and exercising more.

The kicker in all this is that proper eating habits and physical activity skills are taught from childhood. Not only has our modern society made it more challenging to interest youth in getting outdoors and enjoying sports, hiking or other activities, they are more prone to watch more TV, play on the internet or game consouls.

I remember growing up and my parents would kick us outdoors to play for the day. We'd play street hockey in the neighbourhood with the rest of the kids and have a blast. City council recently has passed a bylaw to ban this sport. As I mentioned, it's already hard enough to encourage kids to get out and enjoy some fresh air and activities. Now local politicians are bowing to pressure and are attempting to outlaw and a sport vast numbers of Canadian kids take to so readily.

All I can do is shake my head how they can send two directly opposite messages at the same time.

Entertainment takes many forms

Between 11:19am and 10:51pm I made 98 posts on one of the forums that I enjoy reading. The whole thing kinda mushroomed. I started by trying to find the right topic to post a comment about a medical presentation that mentions that overtired resident doctors are a danger to pubic health. After that, I saw some old topics from a couple years ago, that people had discussed. I found rereading these topics interesting and wanted to know if some had changed their minds, and to find out what new members had to say about these topics.

Well, Wow! The response was varied, but most people were unhappy to log on to find three pages of new topics. I'm sure that is alot of reading for people, but they do not have to open those topics that do not interest them. *sigh* So, I filled my day with making posts and having fun doing so. Others did not enjoy my type of fun. I guess they are glad it does not happen all the time. ;) I must say, I noticed one benifit of this little project produced some nice results. Four or five members of the fourm who have not posted in many months decided to respond to some of the topics that I had brought forward. So, even though some might find it frustrating to read through all those pages, IMHO I think there have been some true benifits to how the day turned out.

In compairison, today I have only posted 24 times from 7:16am to 11:50am but then I have also been getting stuff done around the house like laundry, bringing in more firewood ect...

Have a great day! Enjoy!

First Aid Training gives you the tools to respond quickly

I was not expecting to see my name in the media anytime soon. It was a nice surprise to pick up the paper on the way home and come across this story:

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By LCdr Timothy J. McDermott
Underwater Warfare / Submarine Resecue
Trident Newspaper, 23 January 2006, page 12
http://www.tridentnews.ca/Health.asp?ID=147

On a weekend drive in the country, you come across the scence of a motorcycle accident. An adult male is lying in a roadside ditch. You observe the rider is unconscious. He may have suffered a neck or spinal injury. He has a broken leg with pieces of the bone sticking out through his skin. He has a severe laceration to his face and chest and a partial amputation of one of his forearms. There is no one else around. The closest fire station and ambulance are more than 30kms away. You are on your own.

Do you know what to do? If you've undergone first aid training under the instruction of CPO1 Ken Lane, PO1 Les Adams, PO2 Dave Watts or LS Tom Beveridge, then you know what the next step is and you've practiced that scenario and many others. The Advanced Medical First Responder course is an intense 10 day course designed to train ship's casualty clearing team members to deal with medical emergencies.

Participants covered include everything from treating diabetic shock to gunshot wounds and amputations to using pressure demand oxygen delivery systems and automatic external defibrillation devices. The course combines lectures, hands-on practical demonstrations and some very realistic casualty simulations. MARLANT takes the St John Ambulance material and adds several days worth of additional training scenarios to reinforce the lessons learned. Students face a variety of medical scenarios that can leave those with weak stomachs wishing they had skipped lunch.

Students who successfully complete the course return to their ships with the knowledge, training and confidence required to become an effective member of the ship's casualty clearing organization.
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Hope you liked this item as much as I did. Enjoy!

Back to work & fun

Every time I return to work after any length of vacation, I always have the same problem. On the way into the office after 23 days off for the holidays, the two of us got into the spirit with a guessing game of, "How many emails will be waiting for me when I log on?" I lost with 17 emails to her 39. Based on our jobs, that is not so surprising.

This we I am again co-teaching with a new instructor-in-training. He has completed his 1st phase and now in phase 2, he must instruct two courses with an experienced instructor for a minimum of two courses. This is done to pass along, "hands on" experience under supervised conditions prior to their final monitoring/testing of teaching a course on their own with someone in the back of the room marking his instructional skills.

I never mind co-teaching with another instructor, but when it's an instructor-in-training, I get more nervous and cautious than normal since my name/number is the one on the certificates....should anything go wrong. In all fairness though, this week's co-teach has happily been low stress in compairison to other times. This person I am with is older, mature and on the ball. With experience I am confident he'll be a great instructor if he keeps with the program that he has set out for himself.

Anyway, things are getting back to their routine and all is well. At this point, I have 9 more courses before THE END! *LOL* My current conract ends in this March so far. If it is not extended, then I'll move on and look for another place to work. With all the f/t experience I have gained in this position, I am ensured of more simular contract work in two other places that I am aware of...so I have no worries.

Until later, Enjoy!

Holidays-are almost over

Well it's 22 days and counting, one more day and we've got to head back to work for a few more weeks.

We bought a training collar to teach the dog not to bark. He woofs at the slightest sounds and it can be quite starteling, not to mention annoying. This collar will beep a warning sound if he makes too lound a noise or shakes too hard. If he keeps it up within 30seconds of the warning beep, he gets a level 1 shock, there are 6 levels total. The shock is the same as you'd get sticking your tounge on a battery....I know because I accidentally zapped myself with the collar. If there is some type of true emergency that keeps him barking, it also has a fail safe and will automatically shut off for 3minutes. He yapped once when we 1st put the collar on him, he definatly does not like it....but he has easily shown better behavior and reduced barking since we've been using it for the past two weeks.

We spent the 1st week of our vacation with some more unpacking from the move. The 2nd week saw us travel to St John, NB for Christmas with family. The 3rd week sees us enjoying the New Year and finally getting ready to head back to work next week.

We took or vacation to Cape Breton last august, between work the move and everything it has taken us until middle December to get the photos developed finally. Not all of them did not turn out very well since they did not rewind back into their canasters properly and some of the film was exposed. Still we have some nice shots to go with the memories.

Well, my current contract goes up to the end of March and then I'm not sure what we are looking at. This means for now, I have 10 more courses to teach and then look for an extension to this contract or a new contract. Either way, we are happy to move on or stay if needed.

Enjoy!