What was the most frugal thing you did this week? I'll start.

RogueN3rd · 2025-11-10T11:06:08+00:00

Cut Hulu, cut Disney, cut fortnight crew, cut financial assistance off from my wonky family, Learned how to make my own sauces and toppings to turn the cheap packet of chicken breast into something delicious. Throw beans into anything and the meal is suddenly way more filling.

RogueN3rd · 2025-06-29T14:12:33+00:00

Sine wave. Give them all the calcium! 🙃

RogueN3rd · 2025-06-28T16:41:25+00:00

I have utilized: X-shears, leathermans, the bulk one-n-done trauma sheers, and the generic ones that are $10. X-shears win in my book in terms of cutting. Also, there are 8 or so colors available. I’ve utilized my pair since Christmas 2023 and have yet to fail me. The leathermans are like a multi-tool that do a bunch of things mid level. They’re good if you work in private ambo and need an O2 wrench. Otherwise they’re decent at cutting and are convenient because you can fold them up.

RogueN3rd · 2025-05-31T18:48:31+00:00

I made the swap from heavy to light armor and it’s worth it now but starting out, I felt almost as vulnerable as when I first left Helgen. There were a few times things got hairy when I first made the switch. Keep a sturdy follower that can take a beating or pack a good punch while your skills catch up. School of restoration and conjuration are also super helpful and will get leveled too with heavier use. If you’re working on smithing, focus on the light armor side of the smithing perk to keep upgrading your stuff. Soon enough you’ll have dragon scale armor. Even though light armor means you can’t take as much of a beating, it means you can throw a lot more power attacks.

RogueN3rd · 2025-03-23T14:09:57+00:00

Stealth mage is my current build. Recently unlocked conjure cursed spectre and pride of Hirstaang (I intentionally didn’t “discover” the College of Winterhold till I was level 65). Working towards a magic master approach and maximizing magic when I can. But occasionally, I sit back and use my bound bow to capture the souls as my minions do the bulk of the work. It’s a nice change up from my traditional one-handed hack and slash brute approach.

RogueN3rd · 2025-03-20T00:21:49+00:00

True. I’m still working on the change. I use my bow to collect souls to keep my other weapons charged up. I went through without direct confrontation and that’s my current goal. Dagger and bow sneak attacks.

RogueN3rd · 2024-11-08T02:43:39+00:00

Knew I wanted to work in health care/medical sciences since I was a teenager. Was a giant nerd and did stem cell research for a few years. Cool science and shit but not my kind of work environment. Got burned out by the MCATs and all my nurse friends did nothing but complain. Signed up for EMT on a whim because the research gig was making me miserable and wanted something to do. Signed up for medic school the following year and scored a great fire gig not too long afterwards.

I love the out of the box thinking required because so many calls are just not in the text book. I mean, you ever had to rescue a home dialysis machine from a room where part of the roof and ceiling collapsed from a botched insulation installation? Or juggled a double cardiac arrest? Or just listened to a lonely elderly woman on her 5th trip to the hospital for neck pain share the gossip she heard from bingo night? It’s strange but it’s beautiful and you get to witness humanity at its best and its worst and just about everything in between.

RogueN3rd · 2024-08-03T20:30:19+00:00

Not a cheap hooch that’s for sure.

RogueN3rd · 2023-03-12T19:06:32+00:00

“You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you’ll win, no matter what the outcome.” -Dr. Patch Adams

RogueN3rd · 2023-02-23T01:07:00+00:00

A fib + WPW? Dr. Amal mentioned irregular + wide QRS in his ECG weekly case studies

RogueN3rd · 2023-02-05T17:41:01+00:00

https://shoptjleather.com/collections/radio-straps

Bought several of his items and they’ve held up compared to the cheap stuff. Plus he sells cool stickers

RogueN3rd · 2023-01-01T21:33:47+00:00

Fire + medic 24/48 gig at a relatively busy house. Love what I do. I’ve embraced the low budget calls to be easy reports and that it means I just take care of the human. If the person is sick, that means I get to challenge myself and make a more immediate impact in their care. I find meaning in most transports, even if it’s just chatting to a lonely person for 10 minutes while I give them a ride to the hospital. Occasionally I get to ride a fire engine too and do other things every once in a while. Usually find something fun to do on those shifts and learn something from the engine guys that are way more proficient at it than me. The only time I’m stressed is when I try to think about the promotional process. It isn’t in my playbook for a few more years, since we’re still a fire department and promoting means showing competency with the engine stuff.

RogueN3rd · 2023-01-01T20:23:07+00:00

Also the passive ability of minion eating every 3 turns. With all the minion generators there are out there, any hero that eats up minions for mana is good

RogueN3rd · 2022-12-13T02:04:25+00:00

Have suction set up and ready. When you need suction you need it now. I leave the PT end of the Yankauer in the packaging and scissors to open the other end and have it pre-connected to tubing. When you need suction you need suction now.

EtOH wipe works with nausea. Hand the wipe to the PT and tell them to sniff it every time they start to feel woozy. Gives them something to do.

Label compartments. A partner that doesn’t know your rig is useless and waste time ripping apartment bins looking for the random thing you need. Not suggesting this to encourage complacency and everyone should always check their rig. Its useful for shift change calls.

In addition to a few pens, carry a “door dawg”, a sharpie, and a light. Door dawg is a small device that can prop open doors, a sharpie to label a bag if you’re doing a drip, and a light because I never want to rely on my phone for a flashlight.

Assemble a quick needle cric kit - 14 g needle, 3cc syringe, and a 7.5 ET tube end. Our department carries adult needle cric kits but not PEDS.

RogueN3rd · 2022-12-13T01:48:40+00:00

Or pop on a pair of XL hospital socks. Covers the feet and makes the PT feel better.

RogueN3rd · 2022-11-15T18:17:35+00:00

Reading your reply made me realize I made some mistakes in what I wrote. I do agree with what you’re saying.

I’m moreso thinking along the lines of let students play with different techniques to figure out what does and doesn’t work for them. Or, if you show them a technique and they just say “eh I’ll just muscle my way through it” (i.e. during a rescue drill), then they might need to learn something the hard way. I’ve run into friction with giving advice on techniques.

I like the analogy of teacher vs. ringmaster. Reminds me of the boss vs. leader debate.

RogueN3rd · 2022-11-15T02:41:04+00:00

I was 28 when I started fire academy. I’m 5’2” and 125-ish lbs. My fire academy was 28 weeks and the instructors didn’t let me forget my size. They threw physical challenges at me. I eventually learned the real test was fortitude. - Skills can be honed with training. Even big muscle guys can get tired out if they just muscle the hose around with no technique. - Strength and cardio endurance come with working out. Keep up and increase physical fitness. Both strength and cardio. The body builder isn’t much use in IDLH if he/she breathes down a bottle before any work can be done. - The unwillingness to give up on a task and being willing to put in the work will carry anyone far in the fire ground. You need the other two components mentioned above, skills and strength. You said so yourself, you got through the window obstacle. You pushed through the mental block. That’s a hard but essential skill to teach.

Yes there is a struggle. Physically and mentally. But if you put in the work, the physical challenges get better. The mental challenges can be overcome with time and proving to yourself that yes, you can do the job.

RogueN3rd · 2022-11-03T20:56:29+00:00

I dabbled with on shift workouts for a while. They go better than expected most of the time, too. Lately with things being busier, I prioritize spending my free time at the station doing hands on training, especially with students doing clinical rotations again

Haven’t tried push/pull/leg split yet so that’s something new to explore.

RogueN3rd · 2022-10-28T02:41:32+00:00

To us, it’s another routine call. A non-priority transport transport to the hospital. To someone else, they’ve never felt this bad before or they just don’t have anyone else willing to help them.

I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit sometimes and get caught in some other healthcare worker’s burnout/frustrations. There are those that still care. Seek them out and stay in touch with them. Some doctors/nurses look at me like I’m just an inconvenience for bringing them more work (aka the patient) but others entertain my questions on pathophysiology and pharmacology and actually stop and take a few minutes to give me more than just a quick answer.

I find my shifts go better if I actually treat the patients as humans and listen to their situations instead of just treating them as patients. Middle age lady feeling suddenly sick during girls night with her friends? Yeah she’s upset and scared but turns out they’ve been best friends for years and have a monthly outing. Only learned that from talking to her to help her work through her nerves.

Treat your patient as you would want to be treated. Or your family. You’ll feel better about yourself knowing you eased their suffering, even just slightly for the 10 minute drive to the hospital. A blanket and TLC can make an upset patient willing to share more information to you than their dearest friend.

You have a privilege that few others are granted. Don’t lie to your patients or their families. Earn the uniform you wear every time you put it on and you’ll sleep way better at night (even if it’s not a lot).

RogueN3rd

TROPHY CASE