National Public Saftey Telecommunications Week

Today is the last day of National Public Safety Telecommunications week. I had originally wanted to post about this on Monday...

Marathon Monday.

But something caught me off guard, being that I work as an emergency dispatcher, I follow many feeds online for Police/Fire/EMS and when I saw a post come through about a bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, I thought, no way... that can't be true!

The last time I felt that way, was September 11th.

And just like then, this too would turn out to be no joke.

Thursday and Friday I was attending classes at the NH Fire Academy. As I was getting ready Friday morning, I had the news on to hear about the shootout and the officials placing Watertown, MA and surrounding communities on lock down. Driving up to the Fire Academy, there were signs on the highway, saying to avoid Boston area, check media.

All through the class, I kept my phone on and checked periodically at breaks for updates, hoping that they would find the suspect and this chapter would be over. But they wouldn't find the suspect until Friday evening, Ben and I were glued to the news broadcast. I was hoping that no other lives would be lost to this tragedy.

Well the subject has been apprehended, and I think Boston and most of New England breathed a sigh of relief. I had several friends in the lockdown area (as well as several who participated in the Boston Marathon) and I was so thankful that none of my friends were impacted (at least physically).

On top of all this, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas caught fire and exploded, decimating neighborhoods, and killing several people, mostly first responders.

A week were we are supposed to acknowledge dispatchers/call takers/telecommunicators for all the hard work they do, is marred by several tragedies.

I don't do this job for the recognition, I do this job, because I wanted to help people. This profession is not for all, it takes someone with the right mix.

I am thankful for the first responders who worked quickly to identify and apprehend the suspects. I can only imagine how stressful and tense those situations must have been. I mourn for the loss of the innocents, and the MIT police officer. May they rest in peace knowing that the first responders worked diligently to get the job done.

We are Boston Strong.

I would also like to take a moment to say thank you to my dispatcher friends for the jobs that you do. It's not easy work, you don't get paid nearly enough for the amount of stuff (crap) you have to deal with, but you do make a difference, and know that no matter what, you are the calm voice in the dark.

Too busy to post?

Is it possible to be too busy to blog? But then feel like you've gotten nothing accomplished?

In an effort to give my challenge with Steve an honest try, I've been walking a lot more and logging some serious time. What I've realized, is that I've done all the "in shape" I was prior to the wedding. I get winded quite easily now even at a walk. I mean, I slogged a 5k not too long ago. I had to stop the C25K (now called E25K) program due to my knee pain/issues. But I was still walking a fairly fast/consistent pace. Those days are long gone! My pace is no where near what I was at, but that just gives me something to strive for. I know consistency is the key to me getting back into my routine. I've been walking at least 5 days out of 7 the last 2 weeks, for at least 30 minutes, usually longer.

We completed our first time home buyers seminar, our next step is to find a mortgage broker and crunch some hard numbers to see what we are eligible for and what we can afford. Ben and I have an idea of what we think we can afford, and then it's just going to be a matter of seeing what's out there on the market. In the meantime, we are trying to save our pennies to help with our down payment and all the other costs associated with buying a home.

Ben started another round of a weight loss challenge, I opted out of it since we are trying. I still am trying to lose weight, become a healthier person. I just didn't want to be in a weight loss competition and then get pregnant.

Work is going well. It's our "slow" season, I work for a resort seacoast community, so summer is our busy season. But with the snow storms we tend to get busy. Weird how much snow we DON'T have this year. Usually we have a lot by now, and we just had a storm yesterday. Out where I live, we got maybe an inch or two, which since the ground isn't frozen, will most likely melt. And at the Seacoast where I work, it was all rain yesterday.

During our "slow" season, I try to knock out some educational classes for my job. I signed up for the statewide dispatcher conference in April. This is a great networking opportunity, but also, I can learn some really incredible things. I also am signed up to take a HAM class, as in ham radio... not ham the pig meat. Part of my job is assisting in times of need to operate the town's emergency operations center. HAM radio is a backup form of communication, should our primary radios go down. You need to have your own license to talk on a HAM frequency and hopefully this class will assist me in passing the test to being a HAM.

I took about a 6 day hiatus from facebook after the New Year, my daily routine had become very engrossed with checking facebook, that I was really concerned about it. What I've realized, that I can take a step back from it, but that facebook is sometimes the only method of contact I have with a fair amount of my friends.

So that's about it! How's your winter going?

Not the rule

For anyone who is new to my blog, my job is a huge roadblock to my healthy living. In my first 2 years of employment, I gained 50 pounds. Still to this day, I am fighting to lose that 50 pounds (and then some; from before).


I am an emergency dispatcher for a local fire/rescue agency. Overtime is mandatory, and I know I shouldn't "complain" about having overtime, especially in this economy, I am more so trying to explain my situation. I work shift work, my hours vary. My typical week is 2 ten hour days, 2 fourteen hour nights and 4 days off. So I have an 8 day work week, so my "days" at work are constantly shifting. It took me about 6 months to get accustomed to my schedule. I don't mind it so much now. 


My job, is basically to sit at a desk and answer the phones and dispatch on the radio. Heck, I even have a phone in the bathroom with me. It's a high stress job, there have been many links to indicate that this type of work leads to an increased chance in diabetes type 2. That scares me...


Well over this past weekend, I was at work on a very long shift, and my eating choices were not all that great. I did a lot of snacking. When trying to stay awake when most of the world is asleep is hard, I used to snack a lot, I've gotten into some good habits of walking (pacing) back and forth in my little office, or drinking water. This weekend, was not one of those stellar times, I didn't track my food, and ate everything without any regard for if I was actually hungry. 


I ate this weekend with reckless abandon, and I needed a wake up call to remind myself of why I don't want to be the weight I am for the rest of my life, I want more. I don't want to be a statistic, I want to beat the statistics. 


Don't get me wrong, I love my job, my work is very rewarding and I am helping people who are having an emergency.


So yesterday, I tracked all my food, and I was WAY over on my calories, but I didn't care, I tracked it all. Because that is what I need to keep myself in line. If I see that I am going over in my calories, then I will be able to make smarter choices and pay more attention to how my body is feeling (hungry), and choose water to start off with. 


I want to be the exception, not the rule... 

Work in Progress

Tony from The Anti-Jared posed a question today that got me thinking about my journey. He simply asked, what do you do for a living?

I simply answered: I'm a fire/EMS emergency dispatcher.

But then it got me thinking about my job and my weight struggle. So let me give you all a little back story.

My dad was a firefighter. I grew up in the town that he worked in, my dad was (and still is) my hero. He helped many people. He was an ultimate example for my brother and I growing up. Everyone in town respected him. I also couldn't get away with ANYTHING without him knowing. But my brother can attest to that better than I.

The fire service was in my blood. I enjoyed helping people. I went to college and got a degree in business administration, I went to work in the hotel industry in human resources. I loved helping people, but the hotel/hospitality industry wasn't for me. I then went to work in healthcare, working as a front line employee for HCA, which is a large business with locations all over the country. I figured it was a step in the right direction and I was still helping people with something very important to them; their health.

I then got the call from the fire chief, a position had opened up to serve as a Fire Alarm Operator (fancy job title, basically Fire/EMS emergency dispatcher) I had tested previously and was at the top of the list now. I thought about it, was it what I wanted? Could I be happy with my career there? I wasn't going to make fistfuls of money, but the potential to make a difference was great. My dad, having retired from the force only a few years before, was thrilled to hear about the opportunity, I didn't want to let him down, but it had to be my decision.

I obviously, accepted the position, and in September it will be 4 years that I've been with the department. I love my job, I love helping people, especially in their most dire time of need. I've been introduced into a world I never would have imagined I would have been in, but I'm enjoying my time here. My dad is thrilled that I work for the same department/town that he did. I work with several guys who worked with my dad, they all remember me as a little girl.

I still work for HCA, per diem, they were so good to me, and in this economy, the extra money helps.

So that is a little ditty about my employment history. My weight problems grew out of control my first two years of being employed at the fire department. I gained 50 pounds in the first two years. I was so embarrassed that I let it get so out of control. I went from a doctor's office setting where I was running around looking for charts and talking to patients/doctors; to sitting at a desk and answering a phone and talking on a radio. The long shifts didn't help either it took me about two years to get used to the schedule of shift work (days and nights).

Last year at my yearly physical my doctor and I had a heart to heart, and she didn't sugar coat it at all, 50 pounds in 2 years is a lot of weight to gain and puts a lot of stress on your body that was already taxed from being obese my whole life. Thankfully, I was young(er) and if I could work hard and take the weight off, my body should recover.

I joined Weight Watchers with some friends in October and although I am still trying to loose that 50+ pounds, I am more aware of what I am doing and the changes I need to make in my job environment.

I work some long shifts, up to 38 hours straight, which can be quite a strain on your body alone, but complicate that with trying to plan for food and exercise, is tough. When I'm working a long stretch, I tend to focus more on the food aspect rather than the exercise. I can't really work out, since I am in a uniform and I still have to be able to do my job. But I can walk laps around the apparatus bay, it's better than just sitting on my ass all day. Instead of bringing water bottles to work, I can walk up the stairs to the kitchen and refill my water bottle throughout the day.

Food wise I try to plan as best as I can. However working in a field were emergencies are a way of life, it's hard to plan accordingly (ummm, can you have your house fire at 3:00pm so I can have my snack before hand?) it just doesn't work like that. I've always been told, eat and pee when you can, you don't know when you'll get the chance to do it again. So you're eating not when your hungry, but out of a time constraint. Thankfully in my office we have a small dorm fridge and a microwave, so I do have the ability to store and heat food up here. And I do have some stashes in my locker for the occasions that I get stuck at work.

Pre-planning really helps out and a lot of what I do now, I learned from trial and error, learning from my successes and failures.

I'm pretty thrilled with the changes I've made so far, I knew that my work environment was going to be one of the hardest to change in my quest for a healthy lifestyle, I spend a large majority of my time/life there. But it's a work in progress, just like me.

What environment are you most concerned about when it comes to your weight loss journey?

No Excuses (part two)

I'm a little late to the game, but hey, life is busy... but I wanted to share Carla's second installment about No Excuses! in her post she talkes about some general excuses and her answers to those said excuses. What a great post, I suggest you go read it.

In No Excuses part one, Carla created a t-shirt with all of the excuses she had given written on it, I too created one. This has been huge, it helps me to visualize what my self-inflicted setbacks are and work to develop a plan of action.

My BIGGEST excuse has been work.

My schedule is a bit wonky at best. I work an 8 day rotating work week that has an 8 week cycle (sounds like a bad menstral cycle if you ask me!). It took some getting used to. It helped that my dad worked for the same fire department that I do, so I grew up with the schedule.

I work 48 hours a week. 2 ten hour days and 2 fourteen hour nights; then 4 days off. When I tried working out with Curves, it was difficult because I couldn't get on a good schedule. I would work out after work and that was it. I didn't feel like driving over on my days off just to go workout. So I quit...

Now, I belong to a gym that is smack in the middle of my commute. Halfway to work and halfway to home, it works perfectly. Curves was located in the town that I work in, so to drive over, put me in a work mindset, which just didn't work well for me. My current gym also is open 24 hours during the week which gives me a lot of flexibility since I work long shifts.

I've got a good rhythm now, as of late my problem has been my co-workers taking time off and no one else is willing to step up and take some overtime. You think with the economy being that it is, that my co-workers and I would be fighting over extra money. That is not the case, and typically falls back to me. Today is a good example, a co-worker called out and no one else wanted to work so here I am, at work. I was planning on going to the gym today, but it is just not in the cards (with the overtime shift today I am here on a 24 hr shift) so I will be going tomorrow. So for me, lately the problem has been more a timing thing. I schedule the time, but then something will come up last minute. I am very thankful that I have a fairly flexible schedule, but I do believe at times it can be a hinderance.

I really should look into finding some workplace workouts or even just stretches that I could do at work just to have something to make me a bit more accountable.

What is your biggest excuse to your weight loss goal? Do you have a plan to combat it?

Welcome to the bloggie world! It's cheaper than therapy! (And a weigh in)

Ashley over at Fattitude directed me to a new MALE (shock face!) weight loss blogger, Benny! Check out his page and welcome him to the world of weight loss blogging! (Disclaimer: my DBF's name is Ben, occasionally Benny, so I may be partial to his name! LOL)

For me, blogging is cheaper than therapy... it's free. I can rant about whatever I feel like it. If you lovely people don't want to read it, then don't but for me, it's out there. I like that I can look back on my victories when I am feeling down and when I am feeling down, you people really come through with some support. It's really fantastic.

Thank you all for always being there. I love the challenges and I love the virtual community. Twitter has really made a difference as well, makes everything immediate.

And now on with the show....

Start Weight: 313.8
Last Week's Weight: 283
This Week's Weight: 287.2
Loss/Gain: +4.2
Total Loss: -26.6

To be honest, I was anticipating this gain. With the gain, I still managed to loose about 2 pounds a week for the past 2 weeks which is right where I want to be. I am still on track for my 10% goal of 282.2; 5 pounds to go by the end of May.

I went to the doctor's on Monday and was given an antibotic for my sinus infection. It's a strong 10 day course. I am grateful that there is (hopefully) an end in sight to being sick. It's been two weeks as of yesterday and still no fun.

If you don't know, my job is a Fire/EMS emergency dispatcher. I talk for a living, basically. So being sick really sucks at work. Like yesterday, my lieutenant asked me if I had taken up smoking, because my voice had changed. I assured him that I was sick and not smoking (gross!). Thankfully I wasn't working in a few towns over where this incident was occuring. Although we did send an ambulance to help with other calls while units were tied up on scene. (If you follow me on twitter you may have seen me tweet a bunch with the #03801bomb hash tag yesterday)

So with said sinus infection, I haven't been able to run. See, when I ran and my feet would impact on the ground the top of my jaw/teeth would hurt. the infection of my sinus cavities is putting pressure on my jaw, and when jarring motions happen, pain is the result. Let's just say the Couch to 5K progress has turned into a Cough to 5K. However, once I am feeling better, I plan on resuming my plan. Which better hurry up! My 5K is less than a one away!

Progress

This week has been so screwed up, not being able to weigh in on my usual day (Tuesday) due to have to work and then making plans to do it yesterday or later on today and ended up getting called into work early. Don't get me wrong, I love the overtime (and so do my bills!) but really, the job is what hinders my efforts.

I had also wanted to get a couch to 5k session in today, but that didn't happen. I just ran out of time... or just out of time, since I didn't get to run. (Bad attempt at a joke!)

Regardless, I did manage to weigh in this morning, granted I wasn't really prepared for it, but I went and did it. Since starting this journey I have never missed a weigh in week. I've missed meetings, but I ALWAYS weigh in. Anywho, I had no idea what to expect at the scale. I haven't really been present with my eating habits and my exercise has been screwy again due to work. Imagine my surprise when I was down .2 pounds. FINALLY, the scale is moving in the right direction! I still have a lot of ground to make up from my massive gains - but I think that even this little .2 loss is going to be the kick start that I needed to regain some focus.

This weekend is the NH Emergency Dispatcher Association Conference, in beautiful Laconia, right on the lake, this conference makes my job sound professional! LOL. I am really excited about learning new techniques and hot button topics, I am really looking forward to learning more about becoming a tactical dispatcher. Eventually sign up for the state TERT program and FEMA to assist in times of great need / disasters. I am hoping to at least get a walk in while attending the conference!

Any plans for the weekend?

Fitness Plan / Work Update

So I figured it all out. Those of you who know me, know my schedule rotates. I work 4 "days" and have 4 days off. One of the other dispatchers had to call out, she threw her back out. So I started my work week last Saturday night at 5:30 pm. I will end it tomorrow morning (Saturday) at 7:30am. In that seven day time period I will have worked 96 hours...WTF... I must be crazy. Today (Friday) I am working a 24 hour shift, on my day off. The day dispatcher is still out with her back issues and the night dispatcher took the night off. The other dispatcher is in Connecticut. So that leaves, yours truly.

No matter what, I am getting my weekend.... at least most of it. Lots of plans and birthday parties for Saturday and Sunday.

Well since my original fitness plan was to get a horseback ride in today, and I am at work, so that didn't happen. Bonus, it is raining in New Hampshire today, so I probably wouldn't have been able to go anyways. However, Saturday was supposed to be my rest day. Since today was my rest day, I guess that means I'll have to get some fitness in tomorrow. Not sure what I'll do. Either my c25k w1d3 session or something else. I guess its going to depend on time.

It just sucks, this is the second week I've had to cancel horseback riding due to something coming up last minute.

On top of that I haven't been tracking my foods and watching what I eat. I eat out of boredom and in my job you eat and use the bathroom whenever you can, because you don't know the next time you are going to get the chance to. Case in point, Thursday morning at O'dark thirty (ok so 4:30am) we had a fire down the beach. Which ended up "catching on fire again..." about a half hour after we left. (usage of quotes is due to the fact that the fire is still under investigation)

If you'd like to read about my fire you can go here: Two fires hours apart destroy beach house And by the way... who dresses like a gorilla on a fire scene? Like for realz? Only on Hampton Beach, I swear!

96 hours....


**I'd just like to say welcome to my new followers! I hope you like what you see and stay for awhile!**

Weigh-In

With all the craziness this week with my work, I really anticipated a gain at the scale. Since Thursday and Friday were a washout, I made sure I went to the gym on Sunday (and on Monday). I am close to being able to cross of an item on my 101 things in a 1001 days list... the dreaded gym 3 times a week for 2 months... I am one gym date away from completing that task, and I have a gym date tonight.... so excited to be crossing things off my list!

Well we had a large fire at work, it even made national news... (crazy) A block of Hampton Beach burned down, including my beloved Happy Hampton Arcade. That arcade was my first real job, I loved working there. I met so many wonderful people and obviously I've stayed in touch with the owner (who lived above the arcade), thankfully he made it out safely, but not only is his business gone, but his home as well.

This summer won't be the same without the arcade, but several other businesses were also lost in the fire. With the hurricane force winds the nasty weather really helped this fire grow and quickly. The whole night was just crazy. My station lost power, the generator that is nearly twice my age failed (shocker) so I had to leave the station and go to our Station 2 to run dispatch. So all my safe food was left at my office in the station. I went to Station 2 with nothing and was stuck there for about 20 hours. So I had to eat what was brought to me... so donuts and pizza. Ugh! I thought for sure I was going to be up at the scale. But when I got home, I focused on my goal, and my goal for the week became to have a small gain, but ideally maintain for the week.

To my suprise, I had lost .4!  It really goes to show you what daily recommitment can do for you. Don't focus on the daunting task of weight loss as a whole. Focus on the day to day... Recommit each morning to make the best choices for you possible. I am down to 288 pounds and a total loss of 25.8 pounds since starting Weight Watchers in mid October.

Why I parked out front...

I usually don't post about my work, but this was too funny...


With last week's astronomical high tide combined with the winter storm, produced Coastal Flood Warnings for the Hampton, NH area. Here is a picture of the back parking lot behind the fire station. This is why I parked out front. See that fenced in area just above the telephone lines in the picture. That is where they want to build our new fire station... obviously, they would have to fix some drainage issues.

Original Story from the Hampton Union