THE FIRST CALL

From:  thedownanddirty.blogspot.com


THE FIRST CALL
                  
                  From the words of a Mortician

There is a job not many know

Many sorrows we can never show

That involves just so many things

Of what the twisted fates may bring.

There is a happy season to be born

And as loves in your life are left to mourn

Comes the season to wither and fatefully die

Where the beginning of the end indeed draws nigh.

I saw my friend Jim, walking just the other day

There was something he really wanted to say

He greeted me, smiled, and tugged my sleeve

But he just turned away so quickly to leave.

I wish I had insisted and chased him a stride

He could not say any,  he had too much pride.

His eyes did not sparkle and he looked just so pale.

I turn now at night and wonder just why did he fail.

In the late night hours the death call came in

A  faltering sad voice of  some next of kin

I knew what it was as I stood up to answer

Was it a homicide, accident, some form of cancer?

   It was Jim's own son calling who lived so  far away

               He said he had many troubles until  his dying day,                      Telling the story of his hanging and details of this case.

 Soon he will be interred into his final resting place.

When I heard of this news I felt a cold chill

I cursed the Reaper for yet another friend to kill

Picturing a broken sad man hanging from the rafter

Who will never again imbibe life, love or laughter.

The FIRST CALL is the start of what was to follow

The family must plan while in grief they shall wallow

An appointment to meet and most details taken

Making plans for a man that shall never reawaken.

I then met the Coroner at the scene of Jim's death

On a clean white sheet as we noted no breath

After the rope was cut and he was lowered to the floor

His body was stiffened for he went through Death's door.

Jim was taken to the morgue then I headed for home

I left his remains there on the prep table all alone.

Crawling back to my bed on this crisp autumn night

Why in God's name did Jim give up and end his plight?

I should have seen the signs in my depressed fading friend

Could have deterred him from the planning of  his life to end

I wished I had made some time to invite him for some tea

The only help that is left to offer is of my trade professionally.

I know I will do my absolute best as to how it all should be

I will even put a smile on his face for everyone to see

Everything to be perfect, his suit, his shoes, his casket

By his feet is a token from me, a note in a flower basket.

It is a very deep and personal note between just him and I

An apology to him and a very sad and personal goodbye.

Hiding it there to go unnoticed by mourners who attend

I'll remain in good with our Maker so to see him in the end.

Good Bye My Dear Friend.

We lose our friends and family, too.

copyrighted
2014

Open Blog - Weekend

Party time is here!

How to Stay Positive While Looking for a Job

I thought I’d share something a bit different for those of us who are looking for a job.  It can be tough, after all! 

When doing so, you might apply to a lot of positions but not get as many interviews as you'd like.  Often you don't even get a response, let alone a rejection.  It can get depressing.

Here are some ideas for staying positive and productive.

Have a routine

If you're at home and looking for a job, design a routine that you can stick to.  For instance, you might decide to get to work looking for a position at 9am, go until 12, take a lunch break until 1, and then keep at for a few more hours.

Having a routine that you can stick to and that guides your day can keep you productive and focused, reducing the mental pressure you feel.

There's a common saying, after all, that looking for a job is a job itself. 

During job search hours it's a good idea to shut off Facebook and other distractions.  On the other hand, you might also want to force yourself to relax and take it easy during the off hours.

Give yourself goals

Set goals to meet like, "Apply for 2 positions a day (even if I'm not perfectly qualified)" or "Find two people a day in my industry and send them a friendly, introductory email."

Having goals can lower the frustration of not getting immediate results.  That's because you know you are making progress and achieving something.  Goals can also help keep you on task and productive.

Don't just apply online

There are a variety of ways to look for a job. 

One very popular way is to use websites like Indeed to search for openings and apply.  It's easy to do.  That said, it may not always be the most effective way as a large amount of people apply for those positions.

A good idea is to also try building contacts and using your network.  A great method I recommend is to find people in your industry who might be able to help out.  Reach out then try to set up an informational interview (here is a New York Times article on what that is) where you casually meet and ask questions about their work experience. 

If you went to college, you likely have a database of alumni which you can use. 

You can also try finding people in your field who have blogs.  You can then comment on their posts or send an email with a question about something they wrote. 

Establishing an initial connection is usually not too hard and you can then meet in person.

Work on improving your skills

You can also spend some time on improving your skills.  You might have worked with a tool or product but not know it well enough to put on your resume.  Now you can learn it a bit better so you can.

Or you can find out what skills are marketable in your field and learn the easier ones (here is a list of skills like that).  If you want to go into many business analyst positions, for instance, learning the database language SQL isn't too hard and can really improve a resume.

Make sure to socialize

Looking for a position can be isolating.  During the job hunt is a good time to reach out to friends and catch up (getting coffee is a low cost idea).

Not only can it relieve stress, it can also sometimes lead to a friend referring you to someone who might be able to help find a position.

You can also go and meet new people.

Meetup and Eventbrite are two sites which make it easy to find meetings and events to go to.  Using Meetup, for instance, I recently found a talk on data mining methods used in biology which seemed quite interesting (since I'm into biotech).

These types of meetings can be fun and you might meet interesting people.

Give yourself rewards

If you're putting in a lot of effort, every now and then reward yourself!  If you spent a week or two on top of your job search game, that can deserve doing something nice.  Even if things don't work out immediately, you're trying hard.

In short

Looking for a job isn't usually fun.  It can be time consuming and get you down.  It's important to be prepared for this possibility so that you can take action to stay positive and focused on getting a good new position.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone and welcome back! Another busy week! It's getting crazy... Hopefully I'll get a chance to slow down a bit soon. Anyways your questions....

1) What was the last national park you have been too?

2) What is your favorite gambling game?

3) Who taught you how to swim?

4) Who do you look like more, your father or your mother?

Enjoy your weekend!

"Birdly - Teaser (Fly like a bird with this VR powered, scent emitting machine)"

Published on May 8, 2014

"Birdly - Teaser"

"Current technology and human anatomy may prevent you from soaring like a bird in real life, but a team at the Zurich University of the Arts may just have the next best thing. Their Birdly machine lets you flap your way through the air much like the Red Kite it's modeled after. Motors translate your hand movements to the virtual avian's wings, and an Oculus Rift VR headset gives you an all-too-literal bird's eye view of the scenery -- you probably won't want to look down very often. 

"The design also replicates some of the subtler environmental cues you'd expect while airborne. A fan simulates headwinds depending on your speed, and you'll smell whatever's below; hopefully, it's all pleasant scents like the ground and trees. Birdly still needs some tweaks to avoid making users queasy, and it's intended as an art installation that you likely won't see outside of Zurich. Nonetheless, it's a good demonstration of just how immersive a VR simulation can get -- even if it's simulating the unfamiliar experience of another species." 

Read more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1b0WtJI9Bo


I'd like to try it.  Maybe they could tie a barf bag to my head.

If you crap your pants, does bird shit plummet down from you in the virtual world?

Open Blog - Friday

Ah, love.

May is Healthy Vision Month

Check out the website of the Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired: http://wcblind.org/

If you know someone with vision problems, you can direct them to the Council.

Their Sharper Vison Store is full of vision aids: https://wcblind.org/shopping

"THE DAY OF THE SUBGENIUS"

http://www.subgenius.com/

All hail J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, the Living Slack Master!

"Racine Unified Lays Financial Siege To The School District"

From Racine Exposed:

"Somebody needs to remind RUSD that: 

"The Power to Tax Is the Power to Destroy"
- John Marshall (1755 – 1835) 

"When does the RUSD School Board get spending and costs under control, instead of going to the same old playbook of demanding more? Why has RUSD put off maintenance and NOT taken care of the legacy infrastructure bequeathed it? Tax monies collected over the decades since RUSD was granted taxing authority were to provide for salaries, benefits AND proper school maintenance, including future investments! When will RUSD stop viewing the Community and it’s People as anything but a Cash Cow to Milk for THEIR financial benefit and demands?"

Read more: http://racineexposed.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/racine-unified-lays-financial-siege-to-the-school-district/

Best of Racine 2014 - Pizza!

Please nominate/vote for 2 categories - 

1. Best thin pizza

2. Best pan pizza

Vote now!

Alltime10s Thursdays

Racine County Heroin

Open Blog - Thursday

Are those cute or creepy?

"Heroin Summit 2014"

From Racine County Corruption:

"Crime Prevention Incident
@Burlington Wi.
Yes Folks,
it really did happen……….

"A crime prevention incident at the Burlington High School"

Read more: http://racinecountycorruption.blogspot.com/2014/05/heroin-summit-2014-crime-prevention.html

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my turtledoves!  How are you?  We’ve had some nice days recently.  At this point, temperatures in the fifties and sixties are “warm.”  I believe we’re still running colder than average, but spring is busting out all over.  The cooler temperatures might slow down growth in some species of plants, but they’re used to millions of years of this.  The grass will actually growth faster and thicker in the cool, sunny weather.  I’m sure that those of you who mow are already aware of this.  We have cool season grasses that go dormant when it gets too hot and dry, then rebound in the autumn coolness. 

Oh, also, just so you know, maintenance of grass is the most labor intensive of all groundcovers.  Plant wildflowers instead.

Oh my, the local news is still full of burglaries and robberies.   Please be vigilant, my fellow JTIs and others.  Be aware of where you are and what’s around you.  It’s terrible that we have to live this way, but such is modern life.

Who went to Pancake Day?   Señor Zanza, Junior, and I went, that’s who.  We had a great time stuffing our faces and gabbing with people we’ve never met before.  Of course, Señor Zanza stays slim no matter what he eats or how much.  He has the metabolism of a child.  Junior, on the other hand, should probably lose a few pounds.  Me, too.  Oh dear.  Well, we weren’t thinking calories when we ate a Pancake Day.  No one there was.  You go to Pancake Day to forget about calories and have a good time.  Plus, it helps the Kiwanis, who help us.

I would like to comment on BL Basketcase’s blog entry, “The Down and Dirty” -   http://www.jtirregulars.com/2014/05/thedown-and-dirty-by-barbamedic-right.html I believe it’s a wonderful piece of writing.  Really, my dear, you have a talent for the written word.  I look forward to future entries.

Finally, my sweets, I present to you a video about cats and drinking.  Please, if you recognize your cat’s behavior in any of this video, get help for him or her.  The only way to deal with alcohol abuse is to face it head on.

 

Your cat has to want to sober up in order to make it stick.

Thank you so much for reading my blog this week.  I love each and every one of you, even you “regulars.”  Tee-hee.

How many pancakes did Madame Zoltar® eat?  Ask: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com

It’s supposed to warm up as the week progresses.  Maybe even 70’s over the weekend.  Oh my.  Break out the sun block and sun glasses.  It’s time to enjoy the weather again, rather than hating the winter cold.  Ebriose!

Open Blog - Wednesday

My eyes, my ayes! I think I'm blind!

"April 2014 Property Report"

From Property Reports:

"According to the Wisconsin IPAS system, 128 documents were recorded during April of 2014 for the City of Racine. There were 23 foreclosures, and most homes sold for tens of thousands less than the assessed value. So far in 2014 there have been 120  foreclosures in the City of Racine during the first 120 days of 2014. One foreclosure per day, which is an improvement over 2013."

Read more: http://racinesales.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/april-2014-property-report/

Open Blog - Tuesday

Jump for joy!

The Down and Dirty

The Down and Dirty

By Barbamedic

The right shoulder is painful today.  Years of wear and tear on it...... pushing, pulling, turning, rolling, assisting, catching, and all the other things I do and have done to patients and "former” patients....

It has not been my intention to yank or wrestle or even FIGHT with some of them, but it has happened.

I didn't want it to become a fight for the most part... but, then again, I wished many times I could have really kicked their ass but good!!!

Not the way to get things done, though.

In that type of context in my writing I am putting it very lightly to you that some of these patients are living.

AND SOME ARE DEAD.

 I have years of stories to tell you before my own life fades. I do not intend to make this something to scare you, or cause you unrest, although the thought is amusing to me.  All of what I am about to tell you are based on true happenings with only names or  places changed to secure the ethical practices I have been sworn to in my early careers as a Funeral Director/Embalmer or in EMS (Emergency Medical Services). 

 I also cannot guarantee any certain truth about lives of people involved.  I do guarantee the practices and procedures of technical aspects are truth to the best of my knowledge... but that is also subjective as neither mortuary science nor emergency medicine is an exact science.  The years in Emergency Medicine are the flip side of the record, in which I had been partaking, while concurrently undertaking.

For years I owned a small funeral home in an ethnic melting pot of the big city. I got married. I popped out three babies. I was a social flower that bloomed. I lived pretty large and I even got large. We lived in an apartment above the funeral home. I raised my three delightful children there and went to work downstairs. I had a nice husband (at first of course...or I wouldn't have tied the knot.)  I got divorced 13 years later. (He became 'not so nice!!!') That is why 13 is such a lucky number to me! Then I moved north...like about 65 miles north. I felt that was far enough for beasts not to roam.

I also worked in a hospital as an Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic and in the field based out of a Fire and Rescue Department in a small town on the ambulance. That was the Northern Life that I choose for "fun" while going through an ugly divorce. A bit more on that later.

I guess people like me are "adrenalin junkies" . We do not run the other way when something happens. Our eyes open wide and our pupils dilate, our ears perk and we zone in to sounds as if we have bionic hearing.... then in a guttural "HUH????" comes out of our mouths.  We start to drool and run toward the scene.  Soon, as I have many times observed, the fire and rescue personnel become like buzzards, flocking over the sick or injured to get their "skills" in. They are starting IV's, immobilizing the patient on a backboard, calling in other departments for MUTUAL AID.  They are putting on oxygen and bandaging.  And all this is for a scraped elbow! 

Now I really do love helping the new firemen, because they are so cute...but eventually I say this is overkill....They really did not need to send 8 emergency vehicles to that scene.  Ahhhh wait......CHAOS ...  Chief Has Arrived On Scene....

Dead or Alive.  They are loaded on white sheets being soiled in crimson and taken away. SOMEWHERE.... is it bright lights and cold steel?  Or a cold dark room where they lie alone until their disposition is determined and next of kin are notified? 

  

Stay tuned for the next chapter....... 

Local Loyalty - thoughts

While "Thoughts" would be a cool sounding place, these are my thoughts, ponderings, and more. 

This adventure has taken me places I didn't know existed. I have met some of the most interesting people, and have gotten to spend time getting to know new friends,  learn about their lives and their businesses. I don't take any of that for granted.  It means alot to me to have them share of their precious time with me. I'm not a reporter, I'm not a journalist, I'm just an every day person, trying to help local businesses get a little boost (tho a big boost would be awesome!)

I haven't been declined many interviews. 

One, was a definite language barrier and my still struggling effort to try explaining who I am and what I'm doing.

Sadly, 3 others declined due to them retiring, or selling their businesses. 

That made me sad. I feel bad for any business that can't stay going strong.

* Common Scents on Main Street -
hoping to sell but uncertain. 

Doug is a good guy, always helpful. He hopes to try working out of a duplex, if he can work it out. I hope so, that way he can still stay in business, just relocate.

* Fired Up, also on Main Street,
retiring, hoping to sell. If these places can't sell and be bought by people hoping to continue the businesses they began, poof, gone. We can only hope whoever buys them, will be successful in whatever they venture to do.

* Megabytes Cafe - also on Main Street.
He declined, though he didn't say why. I read a little while ago, that he went out of business. Such a shame. I don't think he was open very long. Everything I heard about his place was all positive. I wish I had gotten the chance to get to know it better. 

* Burlington RV in Sturtevant.
Not sure why they declined, but I do feel the need to give them a shout out. We're not the camping kind of family that some are. Our neighbors are what I call 'fancy' campers. They have one of those big pull behind fancy 'campers'.
They go camping quite frequently when the weather is decent out. I know one of their popular camping destinations is Wisconsin Dells. 
When they had a problem with a seal, they went to the dealer that they bought it from to find out what it would take to fix it. The quote was out of this world (multiple thousands - and this is from where they bought it from!)
They went to Burlington RV and were quoted much less and the actual fix, came in even cheaper. They are very helpful and not out to gouge. My neighbor couldn't be happier.

I still have quite an extensive list of places to try getting in touch with. I just felt I needed to share this with you.
If you know someone in business in Racine, or any of the Racine counties, or know of a place you would like to see featured, please don't hesitate to let me know! I'm always open to ideas. 
As always, thanks for reading!

Open Blog - Monday

If Monday "went away," what would we replace it with?

"3rd Coast Bicycles burglarized this morning"

From RacineUncovered:

"3rd Coast Bicycles, was burglarized early this morning – ADT called the owner at 6:30 this morning and as the owner rushed down to his shop, he saw 2 male blacks between 16-18 with his (owners) BMX bike (red 20 inch BMX bike) and by the time he was able to do a U turn to track them down he lost them. They used a crow bar to gain access to his shop. They also took the cash drawer and all the money in it (there was only a very small amount of money in the drawer). Anyone with information please contact Racine County Dispatch at 262-886-2300 or you can contact Racine Crime Stoppers at (262) 636-9330, via e-mail through the website www.racine.crimestoppersweb.com, or by sending a text message to CRIMES (274637) and typing in TIP417 with your text message.”

Read more: http://racineuncovered.org/2014/05/3rd-coast-bicycles-burglarized-this-morning/


I post this because the Journal Times just featured a story on this business' success downtown and its move to expand: "Downtown bicycle shop to move, quadruple space" - http://journaltimes.com/business/local/downtown-bicycle-shop-to-move-quadruple-space/article_86e64f30-cba3-11e3-9030-001a4bcf887a.html

You can't have anything decent in this town without either the local government or criminals (often the same) ruining it.

Wildflowers 2014 Pt 1!

Yes it is Springtime and now we all know that since the wildflowers are coming up. I could not believe it myself either but believe me I am happy about it because now I know the warmer weather is coming. I hope everyone will enjoy these pictures as I post them on here just as much as I am enjoying going out and taking the pictures to share with you. Here is the start of the pictures-

                     This is a Blue-Eyed Grass the picture was taken at Trout Ponds in Caledonia Wi..

               This is a Daffodil Yellow and White the picture was taken at Grant Park in Milwaukee Wi..

                            This is a Viola Suavis the picture was taken at Colonial Park Racine Wi..

Slam the Politicians Tuesday

"Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." --George Orwell

"Riding Around Racine"

Credit. http://racinesales.wordpress.com/

From Property Reports:

"The weather has finally gotten nice and the snow is gone!

"Some photos and commentary from Racine, WI.

"Clicking on the picture will enlarge it. Some of these are big files."

Read more: http://racinesales.wordpress.com/2014/04/26/riding-around-racine/