Life – Over The Past Month
I was out of work for 31 days, from August 16 until September 17. The reason is because I had surgery on my left knee, an arthroscopy of the medial meniscus. It got damaged somehow; the cause is unknown to me. It started becoming problematic sometime around Christmas 2018, but I didn’t really pay much attention to it. I figured it had to be something fairly minor which would resolve itself. However, it didn’t. And ultimately it led to my being evaluated by an orthopedic surgeon, having to get X-Rays and Magnetic Resonance Imaging on my knee, and finally having the surgical procedure performed to fix the problem...
Source: Qui Interrogat - September 21, 2019 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The Space We Live In
Better to be a dog in a peaceful time, than to be a human in a chaotic period.–Feng Menglong (1627)
This post is going to be a little bit disjointed. I actually started writing it 8 weeks ago and never got back to it. So I had to work with multiple streams of my own level of consciousness in putting it together. For that, I apologize.
Before I go any further, I simply want to remind the reading audience of the name of this blog. It is Qui Interrogat, a Latin phrase roughly translated to mean “He Asks.” And I’m doing this because my intent with this post is not to state any opinions (although t...
Source: Qui Interrogat - September 20, 2019 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Recalling A Bad Month
The last post I put up was not quite one year ago. To be honest, it has been difficult to find time to write. Even more than that, I haven’t had the desire to write about anything. Life, to be honest, has just been too busy. Most of the activity has been normal life stuff, but there have been some things that I should have written about. Because life has a strange way of throwing curve balls at any of us…
An example of this centers around our changing domicile. My wife and I had to pack up and move this past November. It was not a voluntary move; the property management company that owned the house decided they...
Source: Qui Interrogat - March 19, 2019 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Spring
I haven’t posted anything here in a really long time. But I discovered that an Android app exists, so I loaded it on my phone. This will make it easier for me to actually get back into the swing of writing again. I’m hopeful it will make me not have excuses to express myself.
Today is April 24. We are a month into Spring and it appears to have finally shown up. As I write this it is 65 degrees Fahrenheit outside. The sun is shining. And while I am still working today, I am in a T-shirt; my uniform shirt is waiting to be put on. Plus I’m in no hurry to put it on.
New England weather is a funny thing, espec...
Source: Qui Interrogat - April 24, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The Queen of Heaven
On this Monday after Easter, sung at Compline in many religious communities and monasteries under the auspices of the Catholic Church…
Regina cæli, lætare, alleluia.
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.
Gaude et lætare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.
Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.
Oremus.
Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
mundum lætificare dignatus es:
præsta, quæsumus, ut per eius Genitricem Virginem Mariam,
perpetuæ capiamus gaudia vitæ.
Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen
In English:
Queen of Heave...
Source: Qui Interrogat - March 29, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Snow In March
Late March, at that.
The first day of spring, officially, was yesterday. You wouldn’t know it by today’s weather, though. Last night and early this morning the area where I live received probably three inches of snow. While that by itself isn’t a big deal, apparently there was a short tremor near me with the epicenter near Hopkinton, New Hampshire. I wasn’t aware of it until a few minutes before I started writing this, and apparently it lasted for 20-30 seconds.
Considering we’re talking about New England weather, this isn’t terribly aberrant. Just the same, it is a little bit annoying.
...
Source: Qui Interrogat - March 21, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
A Vicious Cycle
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
—George Santyana
The violence this past Friday night in Chicago underscores how nasty this political cycle has become. It also shows, pretty blatantly, I think, how out of control things are.
This morning, Donald Trump accused Bernie Sanders of being responsible for the protesters starting trouble at the site where the debate was to be held. Frankly, I thought that was pretty absurd; like much of what Trump says, his words are not based on anything factual. Rather, as usual, he says things that are intended to cause people to not think, but to ...
Source: Qui Interrogat - March 14, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Venues
Working in different places can be unsettling, especially if you are in a place for the first time and aren’t used to the lay of the land. For the next few hours, at least, I am finding myself in that place.
My employer – the one I work for full-time – in addition to covering a number of communities in the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts, also covers six towns in southeastern New Hampshire. By virtue of being licensed in New Hampshire as well as carrying certification in Massachusetts, I have the opportunity to work in both coverage areas. As I write this I am posted at the Hampstead Fire Departm...
Source: Qui Interrogat - March 3, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Eavesdropping
Sitting in the room that functions as a library listening to the chatter in the room. It is actually pretty interesting and a little freaky; there were multiple conversations going on but now there is only one, and the topic keeps changing. It’s like listening to a room full of people who all have Attention Deficit Disorder.
Almost funny, but not quite.
Right now the thread is related to the busy nature of Friday overnights, the hair stylings of one of our supervisors, and the different vehicles that the Massachusetts State Police utilizes for operations statewide. Now two of the folks working are playing with a tape...
Source: Qui Interrogat - March 1, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The Parking Lot
I don’t want to be indoors today. This is in spite of the light drizzle that is falling as I write this. So my partner and I are sitting in the truck, listening to music, waiting. I ate some of my lunch a little while ago as well. We are both doing our own thing while we wait. She’s on her phone, presumably texting or surfing, and I am doing this.
Last night Martha and I watched the Oscars. With all of the publicity surrounding this year’s proceedings, I was expecting the experience to be a lot more tense. Actually, it wasn’t that at all; it was reasonably well done. At least I thought so. Parts of ...
Source: Qui Interrogat - February 29, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
No Absolute Time
I haven’t written in this blog for a long time. It has been a lot longer than I had originally planned, in fact. I have simply been busy, and stressed, and otherwise occupied.
That means that I have no excuses for not writing. It’s just that I have excuses for not writing, if that makes sense.
In fact, it is where the title of this entry gets its inspiration. “No Absolute Time” is the title of an album by jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. The underlying theme of the music on this album is about the concept of time, which he gets from the great physicist Albert Einstein. The latter’s premise, wh...
Source: Qui Interrogat - February 26, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Schedules
My work schedule changed yesterday. Instead of the floating, uncertain schedule that I had for the first 5 months of working at my full-time job, I have a fixed schedule. I am now working Monday through Friday, 11AM-7PM. If yesterday is any indication of how things are going to go, I am going to be good with it.
How does an EMS provider land such a schedule, you might ask? Most of the time we work 24 hour shifts. The reason for this one is because it is what is known as an “impact” truck. What that means is that we are on the schedule for the busiest part of the day. That in itself is fine; give me two back-to...
Source: Qui Interrogat - December 1, 2015 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Conflicting Thoughts on Recent Events
Lately we all have seen the horrible carnage of terrorist attacks that have been broadcast in the media.
147 killed in Kenya in a terrorist attack on a University
43 killed in Lebanon by a suicide bomber. 239 injured
224 killed over Egypt in a Russian aircraft that was bombed while in flight
Coordinated attacks in Paris. 129 killed and hundreds more injured
I have no other word than “horrible” to describe all of this. Over 400 people – innocent people in different corners of the world – killed. This is horrible enough. But there is more.
I have done a lot of thinking about not just what has been ha...
Source: Qui Interrogat - November 17, 2015 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
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1775-2015 – 240 Years Young
Today is the 240th birthday of the United States Marine Corps.
Some people, looking at this, will likely think, “Why is he celebrating that?” If you don’t know me, and you’re asking that question, then you deserve to know. If you do know me and you’re asking that question, then slap yourself in the head with the palm of your hand, because you should already know why I am writing about this.
For those of you who don’t know, I served in the Marine Corps from June of 1980 until June of 1984, and again as a Marine Reservist from August of 1985 to ...
Source: Qui Interrogat - November 10, 2015 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The Oral Station
I imagine that some people, when they read the title of this post, will maybe have unsavory thoughts cross their mind. If you do, shame on you. But I will admit that the title can be somewhat misleading.The past two Sundays I've worked as an ALS skills evaluator at different testing sites. Both are always well-run, and the group of cadre that work as evaluators are a dedicated bunch of people. Not to mention interesting and always somewhat dysfunctional. This exam is skills - based as opposed to written; there is one of those as well, and as exams go it is among the most challenging exam I had ever taken. All t...
Source: Life in Manch Vegas - January 20, 2015 Category: Ambulance Crew Source Type: blogs
