Soooooooo....
I'm going to the 2011 EMS Today conference in Baltimore, MD.
I've previously done a "blogmeet" however, I'll likely not be wearing the same hat.
Who's game this year?
Email or comment. Let's do this! Bloggers of the (EMS) world: UNITE! (to eat, drink and tell stories!).
--maddog
1.17.2011
Bawlmer, here I come!
1.10.2011
Tidying up.
I've been making a few changes to my blog and there are more to come. Sorry for the boring "housekeeping." I've gone through and edited a few posts to make my blog just a tiny bit more anonymous. It might just be paranoia but I'd rather be on the safe side.
In the next week or so, I'll be making some more cosmetic changes and updating some broken links. I'm still using the same Blogger template I started with in January 2004!! Wow! I'll be looking for a newer, more functional layout that still has the same clean style.
Why all this recent activity? Well, I've "unplugged" from the biggest time-waster of all time: Facebook! Man! That thing just drained all the creative energy out of me. I'd sit down to just, "see what my friends are up to" and the next thing I know, 2 hours have passed! I'd look back and see that I had done NOTHING substantive; I hadn't had any meaningful communication with anyone, I hadn't written anything worthwhile and hadn't done a single productive thing!
That thing is like a drug! I had to put that mess down and walk away!
*Yawn!* Yes, I know. That was boring. More exciting posts are on the way. I promise.
--maddog
1.05.2011
Life in the Kingdom Part 2 of ?
Well, here's a bit of news that may affect yours truly. It appears that the Ministry of Interior intends to try to regulate all online publishing via "licensing."
Hmmm... You know, I'm squirrelly enough about getting "found out" that this is just the thing to put me into hiding.
Never fear, dear reader, I'll soldier on and post post POST!
This bit of news does open a door into another discussion. There is NO free press here. In fact, it's kind of funny, coming from the United States where, basically, the press can say ANYTHING they want to. Here, it's not so much. A lot of what I read in the local English language press, aside from grammatical and translation errors, is full of unsubstantiated facts, opinion of the author (or editor) presented as fact and a clear sense of "talking around" an issue.
I'm not media-savvy enough to discuss the issue at length but when I read the local press, I'm always left with a sense that there's an actual story looming behind the print and somehow it isn't allowed to come though. I wonder if readers here take the news for fact or if they have developed a refined ability to read between the lines. There's much that has been said about the Bedouin ability to perceive much more than what is on the surface. Does that apply to reading the news as well? I wonder. I don't have the answers. It's yet another thing to ask my hosts, colleagues and Arab friends.
For my own sake, I'll have to carefully navigate the next few months of my blogging. I know other bloggers here in the Kingdom who do not blog under a nom de plume. I wonder what it'll be like for them.
Strange times in a strange land.
--maddog
Hmmm... You know, I'm squirrelly enough about getting "found out" that this is just the thing to put me into hiding.
Never fear, dear reader, I'll soldier on and post post POST!
This bit of news does open a door into another discussion. There is NO free press here. In fact, it's kind of funny, coming from the United States where, basically, the press can say ANYTHING they want to. Here, it's not so much. A lot of what I read in the local English language press, aside from grammatical and translation errors, is full of unsubstantiated facts, opinion of the author (or editor) presented as fact and a clear sense of "talking around" an issue.
I'm not media-savvy enough to discuss the issue at length but when I read the local press, I'm always left with a sense that there's an actual story looming behind the print and somehow it isn't allowed to come though. I wonder if readers here take the news for fact or if they have developed a refined ability to read between the lines. There's much that has been said about the Bedouin ability to perceive much more than what is on the surface. Does that apply to reading the news as well? I wonder. I don't have the answers. It's yet another thing to ask my hosts, colleagues and Arab friends.
For my own sake, I'll have to carefully navigate the next few months of my blogging. I know other bloggers here in the Kingdom who do not blog under a nom de plume. I wonder what it'll be like for them.
Strange times in a strange land.
--maddog
1.04.2011
Life in the Kingdom Part 1 of ?
I see that I've just kept going on (albeit slowly) blogging about my work and antics as a paramedic as if there was no change in my life at all.
But there has been. For those of you who only occasionally visit here, I've moved to the Middle East and taken a job over here as a paramedic in a small clinic in the middle of the desert (Really!). I've posted a few things about working here and some of the differences but it's mostly been in the context of a particular call. Of course there's entries like this one that make it obvious that I'm not in the USA anymore.
My call volume is considerably less than in the USA and, honestly, I'm not as fresh-faced and filled with wonder as I used to be. These may be reasons I'm not as frequent in posting. I'm still here and I'm still having a blast. There are times when It feels less noteworthy.
I'm going to try to change that. At least I'm going to try to post more about EMS and, specifically, about my particular experiences over here in the desert. I've got a pretty cool thing going on here and, honestly, it's worth sharing.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting 2-3 times per week describing the peculiar, different and outright bizarre aspects of my life here in the Kingdom from my perspective as a paramedic. I'll discuss how the EMS system is structured differently, how we practice medicine differently (and the same) and how my attitudes towards, death, suffering and human treatment have shifted to adapt to my life here. It's pretty odd.
Please feel free to hit the comments or email me if you have any questions or if you're curious about my life over here.
More soon (I promise this time)
--maddog
But there has been. For those of you who only occasionally visit here, I've moved to the Middle East and taken a job over here as a paramedic in a small clinic in the middle of the desert (Really!). I've posted a few things about working here and some of the differences but it's mostly been in the context of a particular call. Of course there's entries like this one that make it obvious that I'm not in the USA anymore.
My call volume is considerably less than in the USA and, honestly, I'm not as fresh-faced and filled with wonder as I used to be. These may be reasons I'm not as frequent in posting. I'm still here and I'm still having a blast. There are times when It feels less noteworthy.
I'm going to try to change that. At least I'm going to try to post more about EMS and, specifically, about my particular experiences over here in the desert. I've got a pretty cool thing going on here and, honestly, it's worth sharing.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting 2-3 times per week describing the peculiar, different and outright bizarre aspects of my life here in the Kingdom from my perspective as a paramedic. I'll discuss how the EMS system is structured differently, how we practice medicine differently (and the same) and how my attitudes towards, death, suffering and human treatment have shifted to adapt to my life here. It's pretty odd.
Please feel free to hit the comments or email me if you have any questions or if you're curious about my life over here.
More soon (I promise this time)
--maddog
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