skydiver30960

You have NO right to post this, given the avatar you currently display immediately to the left of this original post... Elvisio "PM fullsize, please" Rodriguez

We've talked about skydiving, sex, cars, sex, computers, sex, food, sex, politics, sex, naming pets, sex, haircuts, sex, shaving vs. waxing balls, sex, and just about everything else under the sun. Is there actually ANYTHING you wouldn't ask advice for on this forum? Elvisio "pardon the double prepositions in the title" Rodriguez

For reasons not important to the discussion, I was always a fan of McCrae's. When I was in school I did a little sleuthing in the library and found an original copy of the Punch where the poem was first published. I also found a book on him, a short biography and a collection of his other works. Pasted on the inside cover of the book was a response to In Flanders' Fields, by one Maud Oliver. I've never been able to find any other reference to Maud Oliver than this one (apparent) clipping from a newspaper countless years old. Although there are other responses to McCrae, this is my favorite and the only I've committed to memory: Yes, ye may sleep ye Canadian brave; For freedom's flag forever waves Where once the hun with iron tread Trampled the living and the dead. You heard the call from distant land And caught the torch from falling hand. You held it high, you carried on, 'Til victory at last was won. True: you no more see sunset glow; Nor feel the breeze of morn ablow; Nor hear the skylark's lilting note Rise up to heaven from golden throat. Yet in our home, beyond our ken, You still shall guide the hearts of men. Though crucified and torture wrung, Your deeds shall live on every tongue. Sleep softly then, in Flanders' bed, 'Neath coverlet of poppy red. The wind shall softly o'er you sigh, The birds sing soothing lullaby. -Maud Oliver Elvisio "can't type anymore" Rodriguez

If you're discussing drugs and the metric system and you're buying or selling 454 GRAMS of ANYTHING, then you da man! -or- you goin' to jail! Elvisio "take your pick" Rodriguez

Damn, iTunes just got another $0.99... Elvisio "sold" rodriguez

1.21 gigawatts? 1.21 GIGAWATTS???!!! Elvisio "ah yes, I remember it well." Rodriguez

Awright everybody: it's a great thread so far, don't let it degrade to PA's... keep up the good work! Now: Interestingly enough, a lot of my ER docs do just this very thing. It's quick, it's easy, and it covers their ass against the fabled one-in-a-million "hidden nightmare." Notice I didn't say it's cheap. I think a lot of the discussion between you two (jen and linz) boils down to "what we do" vs. "what we should do." But here's the real question we need to tackle: what changes need to be made to bring these two things together? For me, tort reform and liability reform are tops on the list. I've heard that the OB/GYNs in my area are leaving the field in DROVES because as one put it "I'm working seven months out of every year just to pay my insurance." Leave it to a skydiver to say this, but society needs to be ready to accept the results of our decisions, including who we choose for our healthcare. Lawrocket, waddaya think? What other changes do we as a group think need to be made to make what we do, what we should do? Elvisio "zebra" Rodriguez

Why? Don't get the rant started... I know I won't win anyone over... Let's just say I'm a dog person. Elvisio "a world without cats" Rodriguez

Actually, I friggin' HATE cats... ...and even I thought a couple of those were funny. Elvisio "whowouldathunkit" Rodriguez

Ha Ha, funny story 'bout that: one time after a night of festivities at a Rodriguez Brothers Boogie I retired to the hotel with my girlfriend, and in the course of foreplay began to give her, well, "digital stimulation." She immediately sat up in bed, RAN to the shower, and spent the better part of a half hour in there, cursing me at the top of her lungs with every moment. ...that was when I remembered that earlier in the evening during initiations I was the person in charge of cutting and distributing the limes to all the initiates. so apparently lime juice + hoochie = bad. Elvisio "" Rodriguez

Woo HOO! Legal pot and hookers! Nightingale for President! I'm sorry. Terrible show in such a solemn and serious forum. I'll slink back to TB now... Elvisio "smilies actually work in SC?" Rodriguez

Heh, no. At the moment I'm just a tech, about 1.5 semesters away from being an RN. I've heard that in larger hospitals (with situations MUCH more dire than my little hospital's) they are starting to put doctors out at the triage desk rather than a nurse. That way they can get an "evaluation" before they get put in a room, and sent packing if they are not an emergent case. But at my ER (60,000 patients/yr.) we just don't have the Docs available for that. So, EVERYBODY gets triaged, waits for a room, gets a room, gets assessed my the nurse, and finally gets seen by a doc. For our size I think we do pretty good: if you're really having an emergent problem, we probably have a bed available for you (might be in the hall, but it'll be someplace a doc will see you). If you have the sniffles or are in for your fourth "migraine headache" of the week, count on waiting about 2-3 hours for a bed. Only the most frequent of flyers (i.e. drug-seekers or obvious hacks) get sent out the door without anything. Benign cases might get what they need (i.e. antibiotics) or just a "let your body fight it on its own" speech. But how much time has been invested by this point? Anyone coming to the ER for just about any complaint can expect to get care above and beyond an assessment by nurse and doctor. For example, a chest pain patient will always get an EKG and bloodwork, a cough/cold patient will probably get a chest xray, and will probably get an EKG as well if the words "chest" and "pain" are used in the same sentence in any way. I don't see this as the ER docs driving up the bill; fact of the matter is so many of our patients are not planning on paying anyhow (and they know it, and we know it) that these tests just cost the hospital money, not the patient. Instead I think the docs do it simply to cover their ass: they need to do the minimum necessary to make sure that chest pain IS just a pulled muscle and not a heart attack... because the first time they send an AMI out the door with an rx for a muscle relaxer, well, you know. Elvisio "master of emesis basins and bedside commodes, not too bad with a vacutainer or 12-lead either" Rodriguez

Wow, great thread so far. TO A DEGREE, I agree with Jen: technology has found incredibly expensive ways to keep the heart beating and the lungs breathing longer than any other organ in the body, including the brain. We are spending huge amounts of money keeping alive seniors (and others of all ages) who have lost all mental faculties. I don't think we should absolutely blame the hospitals and doctors as moneygrubbers however; remember that keeping people alive is what is what is expected of them. Remember we are bound by implied consent: if a person cannot express consent, we are forced to act as if they would tell us they would want help if they could rationally ask for it. Yeah, it's a CYA measure, but imagine the lawsuits that would happen the first time they let somebody die "because they thought that's what the person would want." I also don't see Medicare/Medicaid as the cash cow you do. Cuts are coming often and deep, more and more doctors are able to do less and less. There was a time when it was porkbarrel, that time is fading fast. I think the reason we hold on to our dying loved ones for so long is that it happens one small step at a time. If one day we just woke up on a ventilator, with IV fluids running, feeding tube down our nose, unable to move or communicate, shitting our diapers every hour on the hour, and covered in bedsores then we'd all agree it was shit and "opt out." But it happens so slowly, and each step down the road is such a small one that nobody notices the direction were moving in until it's too late... My biggest beef (being an ER care provider) is that we have made one of the most expensive places to get care (the ER) the ONLY place somebody without insurance can go to get care. Uninsured/underinsured individuals flood my ER (and ER's all over) for the most benign of needs, such as a common cold or drug-seeking. They don't give a damn because they aren't paying for it anyhow: either they're on Medicare/Medicaid or they have no money anyhow so they look at it as a "blood from a turnip" kind of thing and roundfile the bill when it comes. The system (i.e. YOU) foots the bill. As more people become uninsured, this is a situation that will get worse. Example: it will get QUITE a bit worse this Jan 1, when all the pediatricians in the area won't be obligated to accept Medicaid anymore. Guess where all those kids with stuffy noses and overanxious mothers will end up? You got it. And, BY LAW, we cannot turn them away. Probably my longest SC post ever. Yep, must be a good thread. Elvisio "disregard this notice" Rodriguez

Isn't that why God invented alcohol? Elvisio "coyote morning" Rodriguez

A buddy of mine once said: if the company needs to make a warning against it, that means that at some time in the past somebody probably did it! or maybe Elvisio "no kiddies for the E-man" Rodriguez

Are they going to show any games on any station other than OLN this year? Or is my basic-cable-havin' ass out of luck again? Elvisio "no cash for the B-tier" Rodriguez

Note to self: tomorrow, check for other signs of the Apocalypse: locusts, sky black as sackcloth, rivers turning to blood... Elvisio "good things come to those who wait" Rodriguez

Boobies! Elvisio "one track mind" rodriguez

I saw "High Capacity" and "front-LOAD" and immediately thought "oh, we're talking about pre-ban stuff" and then I think to myself, "wait a minute, this isn't SC!" As far as washing machines go... I know the one metal box makes the clothes wet, then there's this other metal box that makes the clothes dry. Other than that, I'm not much help, sorry... Elvisio "washer/dryer combo with bayonet lugs" Rodriguez

Schweet! Thanx.... Elvisio "not bought yet, but definitely bookmarked..." Rodriguez

I was watching Lucky Number Slevin and totally was totally diggin' the chess set The Boss had in his office. Online, I found the company that made it and I like the attached one even better. Totally worth the $419 plus probably insane taxes and shipping costs. Problem is, they're made in the Czech republic and the website says they need a "credit card preapproval" form first that includes all my personal info, card number, three digit verification number, AND signature. So basically, I'd be unzipping my fly, financially speaking. A little too risky for me... Oh well, Elvisio "I suck at chess, but it's still AWESOME!" Rodriguez

I got my ass kicked pretty severely while hammered one time. I didn't deserve it in the sense that I wasn't being an asshole or anything like that... OTOH, I kinda deserved it because if I hadn't been so smashed I would've seen that I was walking into a BAAAAAD situation... Elvisio "took MONTHS to heal" Rodriguez

Thank God the guy on the right has a fat zoom lens... he may not have gotten a good look at the plane otherwise... Elvisio "countin' the pilot's nosehairs" Rodriguez

Different emotions will usually make me dream certain things, especially stress. I'm 32 years old (), and I STILL get that dream about being in college and having a test I didn't study for. It cracks me up that my feelings of stress still manifest this way. Elvisio "I wasn't naked in class" Rodriguez

My birthday is the 23rd of this month.... Elvisio "please make a note of it" rodriguez