Follow up

Yes I know.... This may win the award for the worlds most neglected blog.... I know for sure that is will win the award for the blog with the worst grammer and spelling errors.
Needles to say, since this is mostly for me to get my thoughts down I suppose it does not matter all that much.

I have not been living breathing working and exploring northidaho since the end of the summer.
So far it has been ... an entirely exciting and pain in the ass at the same time experience.

I have been working st North West for six months now.  Not too shabby, twice as long as any of my seasonal agrements, half as long as my longest stint at a job ever... I have to admit that the job drives me up the wall. It has recently improved.... some.

The biggest reason that it has gotten better is because I have been able to cut back my hours that I work there. Three months ago I was deserpate for what ever hours they could give me. This would end up looking like a lot of burn out, I was driving all over the pan handle to get back and forth  to work and home. Leslie was not bring in a lot of money, neither was I. Needless to say it was a pain in the ass and not working out at all.
Les and I decided to move to sandpoint  in November, so that when she was done with school in december we would  have a home already set up and good to go. With that being said there was still the whole part of her having to find a job.... the long and the short of it is that the day she graduated she got offered a  job with Idaho Fish and Game. So far she has been there for about a month and a half and seems to like it and be happy. It is also nice because the pressure is off me to be the one and only bread winner.

I have worked my first two courses with WMI of NOLS teaching wilderness Mediceine classes. It has been a challenging yet eye opening and rewarding developmental experience. I have another class coming up in two  weeks and one more in april and may. So by the start of the summer I will have worked five courses for them one year after I applied for the job. I hope that I can fill a lot of my time this fall being on the road and teaching as much as I can. We shall see. This relationship is still young and like anything new it needs time to florrish and thrive. So far the fun and reward outweigh the anxiety.

I really need to get off my butt and see what needs to happen  for me to re new anything other then my basic EMT.... I have mixed thoughts on the matter. I will not be working  at the ALS level any time soon, in fact I would be really stoked to be working back at the basic level  out side of teaching.... all i know is that i really have  two months to figure it out..... time will tell. I think at this point it would not be that big of a deal to take the last few ALS CEH's to but it up for another cycle, but is it the right thing to do?

in other news I am trying to work my way into doing some other part time field work this summer, and perhaps this spring.  I am not sure what sort of direction that will be going in, but I know for right now I do not have  enough to do with my self, and I need to get out of the house more, I need to be working more..... we shall see.  there are several options that are floating around.

of course in the middle of all that is great and grand in this thing called life, Les and I need to decide when we are going to get married and start planning that.... and figure out where the event is going to take place of course..... we shall see..
That is all for now
more later, hopefully not in another six months.

The next Step

Well.... My summer in wyoming has come to a close. I have to admit that while there was a lot of stress and frustration at times, I miss it greatly already. While I was at SOAR, I felt like I was part of a community. Now I feel like I am once again the new Kid  on the  Block. The thing is,  with that being said, I feel like I have grow used to that status and that at times, that is where I excel. I can not be sure about my excelence when I am in these new spots and this I think is what causes  the most anxeity in my life.

I have taken a new  job working at a boarding school in northern Idaho, well actually working in two boarding schools. Right now I am deserprate to make things work money wise while still keeping my foot in the door with the out door and more so the thearuptic industry. I have no Idea where this  Job is going to be taking me. But I think I like it. Yesterday, was my first day it involved a lot of paper work and a lot of standing around trying not  to be too awkard. Working at a Boarding school is a whole nother ball game compared to working in the wilderness setting. I knew that going into to it but it is with  out a doubt in my mind more then a little bit of culture schock.

With all of that being said. I know that I have a challange in front of my. I am working in a flex position that means I do what ever they need, where ever they need it. I told them that I would cut grass if thats what had to happen.... although part of that is that I just really like lawn moswers... I know its a problem. I spent twent min today oggling chain saws and wood splitters early on in the day....

The worst part of this whole job is something  That I have brough upon my self. The commute.
When i took this Job it was to be Closer to Leslie, so that we could work on our relationship and try and fgure out what is next for us. What that really means is that I am spending a lot  of time driving back and forth, and while I am only a few days into this process. I think that it is going to be worth the effort.... at least for Now in till I can start teaching for WMI...
cheers for now.
td

End of training, the Tetons, and WMI!

well..... its been a hot moment since I posted last.... although if i really stop and think about that statement for more then five seconds its laughable!.
since at times i go for almost a year with out posting or updating anything
the last week and half seem to me like they have been non stop. after the rest of the staff showed up it was a seres of  trips up in to the mountians and down to lander to climb, hike , canoe and over all be amazing. the group of people that i am working with seem to be all excited about being with the program and I  have to admit that is very refreshing compared to soem of the other places that I have worked for in the past.

when the main part of staff training winded down it was time for us course directors to pick and chose who was going to go where for the staff teams. I have to admit it was a bit of a process and nothing like I have every done before. my past experiences have always been, do what your told, work where  your told, get to work, and no that not going to change. soo needless to say I think that this is a wonderful chance both for my self and for the people that will be working under me  in terms of our professonal developopment

due to enrollment  numbers and being short a few staff our directors decided to go with staff teams of three, vs two staff teams of two, thats fine with me, I have to admit that while I have already been here for a month not a day goes by when I dont feel stupid or like I should know more about something then I do..... however thats all part of the learning process so I am ok with it, as long as I am making something good out of each day that I am happy.....

After we got our staff teams we all took off for four days of small team staff training, I hope that the people I will be working with are not too upset or challanged by my ways, I asked for feed back and didnt get any so who knows.....  was up front with them in explaing that this was a learning process for me and that I would be right there with them, figuring things out and learning how things work.....

We started off by exploring the town of jackson wyoming, also know as jackson hole  to some named after the famous ski resort, there is a lot crammed into this little mountain town a lot of people coming and going, and nothing is cheap.  I have to admit that it has its charm but it is with out a doubt a tourist trap from there we were off to spend two and half days tourning around Teton national park as well as the rest of the yellowstone park and over all srounding area.... it was an amazing time but there was so much to see i feel like i could have spent a month there vs two and a half days, the entire experience left me tired and wanting for a soft bed to sleep in. getting back to base I cut my staff team loose and turned around and drove the two hours back to jackson to meet up with Leslie for the first time in over a month. It was wonderful to see her from what I can tell she is enjoying her job working with the forrest service. we got to see first hand how expensive this little town is by simply finding a place to spend the night that was not on the ground

the last day that I was in yellowstone, I got a cal form WMI of NOLS, they offered me a spot on their Instructor course.... its a fancy way of saying come take this course prove your not an idiot and then work for us !.... I couldnt belive it, I am thrilled over the top excited and at the same time almost not beliving the whole thing..... this is something that I have  been eyeballing and working for and toward for several years, I feel like it is almost too good to be true, that if I think about it too hard or too long then it will be taken away form me.... I have to admit I am scared and worried and I do not know what to expect, and the thing is that this is my dream.... its been some thing that I have been working toward for a while ..... i guess i just have this huge bundle of emontions about the entire thing and some of that is stress..... will I be able to make enough money? will i get enough courses? who knows I am jsut not sure about it other then I know its what I want and It is something that I am willing to work towards and make it work!



alas we are both back to work in the am, her back to Idaho and me back to my base  to loads of paper work and get ready for the students arrival the next day. I am very excited to see them and see how my team turns out, I think that they are ready and it is time for us to learn and move forward and give these kids the best time we can....

thats all for now
cheers
td

Job Interviews and mountain sunsets

Well...
Today I had my job interview with WMI, thats the wilderness medicine institute for those of you not in the know. I had been thinking about applying and dreaming about applying and scaring the shit out of my self and then not applying for the last few years.... of course a large part of this was my own self denial.
What I mean by that of course is that I didnt feel like I was ready. I didnt think that I should be the person up there teaching people how to save lives.
I mean what it comes down to is that the people who work for WMI are simply put, the gold standard when it comes to Wilderness medicine. It dosent go any higher then this, its the top. ER doc and trauma  docs come and learn from the people that teach at this school. So..... this is it, this is  the last stop on the food chain of wilderness medicine education.

So what does that all mean ? It means that I applied about two months ago and finally  got an interview with the  head of the program this evening. I have to admit that it was more then a little bit scary, I was exhausted by the whole thing... and at the end of the day, I think that it went as good as it could go. I mean really what it comes down to is.... how many spots do they have open? or how many spots are they looking to fill? and Who else applied ? I mean I am only 23 years old, this is my dream job.... what do you do if you dont get it? what do you do if you do get it?

I dont know.  In true Tim fashion I have over analyzed the entire thing, I over preped for the interview which was more laied back then I Could have ever thought I was expecting  people to be asking things like ..... give me the signs and symptoms of decompsorty shock and what are the evac guide lines if you have been stung by this spider vs the ones for some one who broke thos bone secondary to having this heart attack .....
it was not like that
and now.... I am a nevrous wreck
and the waiting game starts
I hate that


On a lighter not the sunset this evening is breath taking, it is simply.... wonderful
I think, that if memoory serves me the way that I hope it does.... and i will be the first one to admit that it fails me on a regular bases......   anyways I am fairly sure that all of my staff members have  showed up, they are here... well what that really means is that they are at the bar... drinking on their last night of freedom,

off for now, lesson plans perhaps i shall go play with one of the horses or simply sleep.... one can never have too much sleep


td

The staff are rolling in...

So... Today was my first real day off from work here in the lovely mountains of Wyoming .... It was nice to get away from base for a bit and go into town grab some coffee etc by the time I had rolled back I last night new people had started to show uP here at the ranch of course the first part of this that I fel was not being able to find a parking spot .... I guess if that was the worse part of my night then life is pretty good eh? So las night knowing that today was my time off I went off to lander to fetch my motorcycle from storage as well as try and meet up with Clair ... My Nols instructor it was wonderful to meet up with her and talk about life, work and the iron man she just comPleated I also bumped Into brad and Sofia from second. Nature .... Slightly over whelmed by the entire experience bu that's life Cheers Td

Life guards, born to get wet trained to save lives

Welp,
I feel like I got run over by a truck, that is mostly because I spent Hours and Hours in the pool yesterday, about six to be  more to  point. I dont think I have spent that much time in the water since.... well ever.... I mean perhaps back in the day of summers spent in the pool eating ice cream and pretending to be on the swim team, but that at least fifteen yeas ago...
needless to say, I was not used to the effort I had to put in when it came to being in the water, however it was  easier then I  thought. The entire purpose of us and me being there was for us to get trained as lifeguards
the  title of todays post was a bumpersticker they had in the guard rooma t the local pool, I just had to laugh. I understand that for a lot of people lifeguarding is a big deal, for me its.... well anti clamatic
I mean these people train constantly on a very narrow skill set and if shit really hits the fan they have to do CPR, Being an EMT, Having had people die in front of my eyes, being the person that the lifeguars call when it hits the fan.... needless to say it all just felt strange to me, almost laughable
the swimming skills while a challange were not as hard as I thought it to be, and just because I am now a real deal american red cross lifeguard  dosent mean that i dont have a lot of room to imporve upon.....

I have the next few days off, although it dosent really feel like i have them off from work, I think that a lot of that is becasue of my lack of a car. I still do not have mine fixed and figured out. I am hoping that it will all be done and taken care of as of tonight, But I am not holding my breath on the account of knowing that this is a small town, and people who fix cars in small towns.... sorta do what they want, like drinking beer in their shop durning bussniess hours instead of fixing my car.... alas not a lot of options and this is a good chance for me to work on how I handle things that are out side of my control.

Later today, a few of my peers and I will be heading off to Jackson to pick up some of the fleet of vans that will be residing at SOAR for the summer. Like I said, while I do have some time of, It sure dosent always feel that way. I really dont mind, however this place feels very much like the sorta deal where you do your job and then still pitch in on time off.... Im fine with that. I have to admit that I like the work ethic of the people running this show, they seem to really bust butt to keep the ranch running as smooth as they can. I have to admit its a nice change from past employers who have not always had the same investment....


Today Leslie  moved out of her cabin up in Mccall. I have to admit, I think that i feel more sad about it then she does, i reall was in love with that little cabin in the woods by the lake. I Think it is mostly becasue it is something that represents what I want very badly. I am still working through that in my head.


thats my thoughts for now..... if off to oggle and drool over old western trucks, guns and dogs.... life is clearly hard

cheers
td

LIFE guarding, AFR, horse wranglin!

Welp,
today had its ups and downs, the up is that we finished off some of the worst educational movie clips that i have ever had to sit through, while they were good for laughs,  the lifeguarding movies were the worst!

On a lighter note, I know that some thing called an AFR exists in this strange world,  thank you lifeguarding test..... AFR stands for accidental fecal release .... I responded to that.... " ITS NEVER AND ACCIDENT!" alas I aced the written test, and tomorow morning bright and early I am off to make a fool of my self in a pool, attempting to swim laps, but thats ok, because for the rest of the time I shall have my trusty red pool TUBE. apperently it is never supposed to leave your arms... we shall see... we shall see


This evening, the cook, Ashlee and a few of the nebies that showed up today along with my self went off for a bit of a hike, ok so it wasent realy a hike I only did about a mile before turning around with the idea of perhaps doing some used car research ....  but the rest of the crew kept going on, I was pleased to see a bit more of the area around here... It was nice to strech the legs a bit, nice to breath in the crisp mountain air, it is these simple things, that I truely live for... I live in the mountains, I work with cool people, Life is good life is simple, life is how I want it...

NOW if only I could track down a good used truck with out going into debt up to my EYEballs

oh by the way, as I was innocently sitting in the office, my sensitive ears picked up some sounds outside, since i had the door open and was enjoying the tunning views of the jagged peaks of the Absorka range.
turns out two of the rance horses had kicked down part of the fence in their quest for something other then MUD to stand in. I think they really just wanted to chew on some grass... needless to say.... you spend enough time picking up horse shit in your teenage years like I did you remember a thing or two on how not to get you ass kicked by a horse and at the same time get them to do what you want...
Well it sorta worked... sorta that means they are back in their corral and it was not as easy as I wanted it to be and I may or may not have left at least one frantic voice mail for out director...

alas unlike our cook who has loads of free time to blog I need to head for bed, early start in the morning in the world of embarassment AKA me swimming

cheers for now
TD