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[QUOTE]Originally posted by smitty195: [QB] Hi Vicki, palmland, and George. Vicki: A burn unit. Oh my God. In 1985 we had a very odd call in the middle of the night. To make a long story short, it was foggy and there was only one caller who was high up in the Saratoga foothills (the name of the street is "On Orbit Drive" (that's not a typo--that is the actual name). He said he could see a glow and thought a house was on fire, but could not pinpoint it. I was working vacation relief, and I was on Engine 114 and the Captain was on Engine 115. I was driving, and the Captain told us to head down Saratoga Avenue towards Fruitvale, and they would take Engine 115 up Saratoga-Los Gatos Road towards Fruitvale, and that way we would do a huge, circular sweep and hopefully find the fire. Well, they found it first. It was on Horseshoe Drive and was fully involved. My friend, the firefighter on Engine 115, was in the wrong place at the wrong time-----a split second in either direction and he would have been just fine. I won't describe it, but he had something happen to him that gave him third degree burns over 80% of his body. He lived in the Burn Unit at Valley Medical Center in San Jose for close to two years It was so hard to visit. SO HARD. Sometimes I would step off the elevator and hear the screams as he was being washed down every day before applying new/clean bandages. I couldn't take it, and would sometimes get right back on the elevator and go home. Burns are the worst injuries in the world. If, God forbid, I ever get burned like that, I hope I die first. Nobody should have to go through that. And if I recall correctly, the nurses who worked that floor were only allowed to work it for six months at a time---then they had to have a year off working somewhere less stressful. They do a job that is beyond description. Vicki, you know what I'm talking about. And you know why I'm not describing anything. It really had an effect on me. That night, I drove up in Engine 114 to the fire hydrant to do a reverse-lay to the Engine that was already there (they were using tank water). I heard the call over the radio of "Firefighter down!". That is why I stopped my firefighter/EMT career. That night ended it all. I couldn't do it any more after that. palmland: Uber is definitely an "interesting" company to work for. But as far as the official tipping policy goes, tips are not allowed. If a passenger wishes to give me a cash tip, I simply tell them that they are not required to tip and the app will take care of payment in full. If they say that they know, but they still want me to have it---then I take it. I'm not going to get into an argument over something that someone wants to do. I give people first and foremost a very safe ride. If they want to know my experience, I tell them. I used to be a driving instructor at our EVOC course and I can do evasive driving from being followed, high speed driving, and all sorts of other certificates that hang on my wall. After the first priority of a safe ride, I make it a comfy ride. I tell everyone that they have their own temp and air controls in the back in the center console. It's an Infiniti SUV so it's pretty fancy. The seats are heated and cooled as well. And I also let them know if they have an iOS device that takes a Lightning plug, I have an auxiliary "in" ready to go. I just hand them the cable, and they can charge their iPhone or iPad. If they want to listen to THEIR music, I just push one button and they can control the music from their own device. I also have a rotation I use now of 2 hour railroad videos. When people get in the car, I have jazz music playing at a low volume, and both TVs are on and are playing something train related. Right now I switch back and forth between 2 two-hour movies: 1) Tehachapi, and 2) SP. People really seem to like it because it's different. My star rating is a solid 5 right now. George: Are you certain that your Rx is for 100mg of Lorazepam? Honestly, I've never heard of a dose that high before. I have 1mg tablets, and I've seen 2mg tablets and a truckload of Lorazepam can be as small as 6mg per day. I can't imagine what 100mg would do to a person. If you self-inject, it could be 100 micrograms perhaps? Vicki---am I right? 100mg would kill an elephant wouldn't it? Forgot to mention for Vicki: You will like Uber I'm guessing. Make sure you have checked to an app update before you need to use it, so you're not sitting there waiting for the update to download. Uber is CONSTANTLY updating their app. Drivers do not use the app that you have. I use one called, "Uber Partner". The stuff that is built into that app is amazing. Once I accept a ride, it gives the person my ETA, shows them a picture of me, a picture of my car including license plate number, and they can see right there on their Uber app where I am and they can watch me getting closer and closer. The app gives you a "one minute away" warning, as well as notifying you once your driver arrives. I don't know how many people will be in your group and/or how much luggage you might have with you, but know this: If you go for the cheapest ride (which is available on the app with the slider switch at the bottom of the app's screen), you can request the basic "Uber X" could easily be a Toyota Prius, Honda Civic, Kia something, or whatever a small four door car is---that is Uber X. If you want something larger, then change your option to Uber XL. That gets you an SUV. Because of Uber's very odd and strange setup, my luxury SUV (Infiniti JX35) can only fit in the Uber X or Uber XL categories. I can NOT be part of the Uber Black SUV (even though my SUV is black) because those people are commercial drivers with a TCP license number on their bumper, commercial insurance, and a commercial driver's license. It's hard to explain all of the rules, but if I were you, I would go for Uber XL to make sure you have plenty of room for you and your luggage. Uber X cars are very small, and the price difference between X and XL is nominal. As you slide your car choices around at the bottom of the app, you will instantly see how many minutes away that category is. If an Uber X is 3 minuets away, and an Uber XL is 30 minutes away, well, then you might want to just get Uber X. Keep in mind that you can also get a regular taxi through Uber. Just use the slider at the bottom to get a taxi (if you don't see Taxi appear, then they do not have any in that specific area). One thing that everyone should know about rating your driver. Drivers also rate YOU. So be fair and honest. The thing I really hate with a passion is that Uber does NOT tell passengers what their star rating means. If most people give me 5 stars, but a few give me 4 stars, my average could drop down to 4.6 stars. And guess what? In the Uber system, a driver with 4.6 stars is FAILING and they will delete you from the system. I think that's rotten, because if you don't receive a five star rating---even though you did everything right----Uber can still remove you from their system and you're out. Drivers also rate passengers, and I automatically give everyone 5 stars unless someone is drunk and pukes in my car or something (but I don't drive at night for that very reason----I've had enough young drunk guys puke in my patrol car and those days are over!). Anyway, I hope that info was somewhat helpful. As far as services go for my friends, the one for Mike I believe has already been held. I would not have been able to go. But for Robin, there is a memorial mass coming up, with a reception afterwards a few blocks away from the church. I've just been looking over some pictures of her and I in dispatch when she was new. She had an "oops, I'm pregnant" son who came out to her as gay at the age of 12, and she loved him so much and made sure he was okay. He's been with his partner for several years now, and they adopted two kids. She loved being a grandmother. Robin was just full of life and love. She would roll her eyes whenever I started talking trains, and whenever anything railroad related would come into the dispatch center, she'd turn her chair around and go, "Do you want to call Omaha or should I?" with a smile on her face. I always said, "I'll do it! I'll do it! Rank has its privileges". :) She knew I was a foamer and she tolerated it nicely. I still can't believe how many people are gone. It's mind boggling to me. I hope you guys are all doing well. I am putt-putting along, trying to make sense of things. Not really understanding it all yet, but my psychological plate is very full right now. I would love a #14 trip but can't go yet....my parents I just don't know what to do about or how to set boundaries. They live in a place that does everything for them, so I'm very mixed up as far as what to do and not do. My five older siblings....I tried getting them to help, but that will never happen. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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