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Entry # 10 Kids and breathing

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I wanted to put a PSA out about pediatrics and respiratory issues since we’re in the influenza (flu) and respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, or RSV season. Let me start with a quick disclaimer, I am not a pediatric physician and have no specialty training with pediatric pulmonology. That being said, I do work in the EMS industry and see a wide range of kids, some sicker than others. As a parent I often find myself teetering on the edge of taking my kid to the hospital or keeping them at home and monitoring them. Just know that this is normal. If you are concerned that your child is not breathing normally, super fast and shallow or super slow, just take them in. My reasoning behind that is pretty simple and based on scientific research. The cause of pediatric cardiac arrests are generally respiratory in nature. Kids typically have healthy hearts, so dysrhythmias and heart attacks aren’t usually an issue. What happens is that they “belly breath” and use every little muscle in bet...
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Entry #9 Agroecology for the Win

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I recently wrote a persuasive essay that talks about why Agroecology is needed for the future of our society. I am very passionate about sustainable living in general and especially farming. I was raised vegetarian and we farmed with nature. What I mean by that is we didn’t have chemicals to feed our chickens to make them grow and we didn’t use pesticides to keep our crops healthy. Instead, we rotated crops and use the chickens to help get rid of pests and fertilize the land. By doing things around the farm with that in mind, my family was able to grow just about everything we needed to eat for the entire year. My mother canned or dried some of the harvest for use during the harsh winter months when nothing could grow. Our crops were always producing more than we could eat. I can remember my dad would have us kids put a bunch of veggies into baskets and we would drive into town and donate them. Even when it was a rough growing season, we would always seem to have at least a few foods g...
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Entry #8 Establishing A Work/Life Balance

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  In today’s world there is a big emphasis to achieve more, do better and make more money. With all of these grandiose goals brings priority dilemmas. Sorting through and defining one’s personal and professional priorities brings stress and lots of it. Having a strong and robust work/life balance can help. Some things to take into consideration when setting priorities would include, in no particular order, your significant other and what their goals are, both professionally and personally. This is where good communication and a solid foundation of trust and respect will go a long ways. As strongly as one might feel towards something they want, their partner might feel just as strong in their opposition. Happiness is far more important than money. I know it’s easy to say and not so easy to walk that walk. This idea isn’t new and this isn’t a new concept for anyone, but really striving to value time more than money will slow life down and help people notice the little joys in life. E...
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Entry #7 More Than Food

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 Growing up on a small farm gives me a different perspective on food. One of the animals I helped raise was chickens. The first year when it came time to slaughter them, my parents thought it would be a good idea to make it a family affair, without any formal training, previous experience, or subject matter expert on site to show them how to most effectively do it. As you can imagine, it was an absolute disaster and I had a front row seat. Just to confirm, yes chickens absolutely do run around headless for way longer than one might think. None of us expected it and the very first chicken ran off into the woods without a head. It was my job to go find it and I’ll just say I was gone for quite awhile trying to catch it. Well after that nightmarish experience we started taking our chickens to a slaughterhouse. Having been in a chicken slaughterhouse, much like the one in the film “Fresh” I randomly think about it when I’m eating chicken, even now as an adult. To this day I still do no...
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Entry #6 Owning a puppy is a nightmare

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It seems like everyone I talk to wants a puppy, but let me tell you, they are a handful. Puppy’s take up a lot of your time, so if you don’t have much of it I suggest you don’t buy one. My wife insisted we get a puppy after the birth of our son so they could grow up together and be best friends. I raised two puppies before I met my wife so I knew it wouldn’t be easy and was totally against it. In fact I actually cringed at the idea, but we compromised and got one (happy wife, happy life is so true). Ever since we brought this loving menace of a puppy home, our lives have irrevocably changed. Our dog, which I do love trust me, has taken it upon herself to make sure we have all of the newest things for the house. She does this by destroying everything in sight if she’s left alone for any  amount of time. These aren’t our dogs, but the results are pretty much the same. I can say, we have experienced everything in the pictures with our pup. We were at the local grocery store for about ...
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Entry #5 Cat Mayhem

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  The creatures of this commercial are targeting anybody that has ever owned a cat or has ever known anyone who had a cat. Every action that mayhem does is re-enacting what cats stereotypically do. Chances are that most people who watch this can relate to more than one of the actions by mayhem. The creatures do a great job of making these bad behaviors funny. The re-enactments are meant to make the viewer laugh a little. This will stick in the viewer’s head and they will want to share the funny moment with someone so they have someone to laugh with, thus spreading the commercial for the company (free advertising).  Each incident that mayhem is involved in gets progressively worse, up to and including the ceiling falling down because of the water left on in the sink on the floor above. Allstate most likely pulls from real incidents where they’ve actually paid out insurance claims. The deadpan personality of mayhem plays into the comedy of the ad as well. Mayhem is even wearing ...
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Entry #4 Is Glamis A Safe Place To Ride?

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       Glamis, CA for side by sides is the equivalent of Sturgis, SD for Motorcycles. Glamis is the Mecca. Anybody that owns a SxS, will at some point in their owning career, go to this renown place. Many Generations have spent family trips at this sand filled, high octane wonderland. But, Everybody who’s been there will tell you to “keep your head on a swivel”. In fact, every single person I told that I was going, told me to be careful because it’s dangerous. After my first trip, I know why they say that.     For starters, there are thousands of SxS there. Not only SxS, but 4 wheelers and dirt bikes too. Even Sand-rails (custom built, super light cars with huge engines) and trophy trucks (trucks that have been completely customized for jumping). I saw Sand-rails doing wheelies at 100mph+. One of the craziest things that is mind boggling to me is that there is a drag strip out there and people park their SxS all along the sides of the “track”. There’s No ba...
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