EMS Banquet

Our last class ended at 5 p.m. today, and the awards banquet started at 6:30 p.m. Since we were staying at another hotel, we skipped our last class. This gave us plenty of time to get ready for the banquet.

I wish that I had gotten Jim or someone to get a picture of my whole dress (and red high heels), but I didn't ask anyone.

We found seats at a table with one of Jim's old coworkers. The tables were set and the desserts were already at the table. The menu was a Caeser salad, steak (medium rare), grilled chicken breast, broccoli, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, and cheese cake.

I have found that as I've been getting older, I try foods that I would have never eaten in the past. For example, two years ago I said I would never eat sushi. I have since eaten sushi many times and really like it (as an appetizer). Tonight, I ate the medium rare steak. I never liked my steak to have any pink before because it tasted like blood to me. But, I found that I really liked the steak tonight. I didn't even put any steak sauce on it. So, I am expanding my horizons

and my love of food.

I was excited about the guest speaker tonight and was looking forward to seeing him. It was John C. McGinley who plays Dr. Perry Cox on "Scrubs". That is my favorite character on that show. He was also in "Platoon", "Sweet Liberty", "Wall Street", "Talk Radio", and "Wild Hogs" to name a few.

He started out with a funny story that involved Alan Alda and the movie "Sweet Liberty". I enjoyed that story, but it was downhill from there. He would start a story and would ramble. Then he was pretty much pushing a book that he wrote about listening the rest of the time. He didn't say we should buy it, but he kept mentioning the title, and it got old after a while. After his speech, he did take questions from the audience. Just a handful of questions were asked and then he hightailed it out of the building. I had hoped he would hang around for a while.

I did hear that the previous evening he hung out in the lobby of the hotel for some time.

Usually when there is a speaker at these banquets, they try to mention the EMS providers that they came to honor, or they try to relate in some way. The only time that he mentioned EMS was when someone specifically asked him if he had any experience with EMS providers. Even when he was asked directly, he didn't give a direct answer.

But, all in all I enjoyed the evening. I had decent food and good company. Jim and I didn't stay for the dance afterwards. He is not much of a dancer. That's okay, I saved my feet from a lot of pain from dancing in heels!

Grace's birthday party

Today was my bosses' niece's daughter's 2nd birthday. (Got that?) Grace is the name of the birthday girl. Grace's Mom (Rosalie) works with me at the ambulance service. I had to work my 24 hour shift today, but my partner, Dana, and I were able to attend Grace's party just minutes from work.

Morgan came to the party courtesy of her godparents (Susanne and David).

We were the first ones at the party. It was held at a lodge that had a nice playground next to the pavilion where the party was held. What a great day for a party! It was November 1st and it was 75 degrees out! They had also rented a moon bounce. Here is Morgan eyeing that Moon bounce:

She was in it right after that picture was taken!

Here is the birthday girl, Grace:

Dave took a little nap while Susanne kept an eye on Morgan.


What a great set of slides:

They had a cotton candy machine at the party!

Morgan had not tried cotton candy before. She doesn't like to try new foods, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. She just put her tongue on it and said, "You eat it. I'm going to slide." So, she ran off to play some more and I ate the cotton candy.

Here is Grace's Mom, Rosalie:

No party is complete without the cake:

Here is my partner, Dana:

Here is my boss talking to David. They talked for quite a while. I asked David if he was negotiating a raise for me, but he wasn't. (Darn)

The party was nice. Dana and I had to leave a get a patient. When we came back Morgan was gone. I was disappointed, but at least I was there with her for over two hours. That made my work day very nice! Morgan had a blast at the party. She played and played and she even got a great gift bag when she left.

Morgan had to go so they could drop her Godfather off at work. Then Susanne took her to her buddy, Andrew's house. By the time Morgan finally made it back home she was beat. She even admitted that she was tired and she usually won't admit that!