The #Coronavirus chronicles, part 26: The evolution of emergency services — #EMS #EMT #Paramedic #Television #COVID19

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been spending a lot of time — probably too much time — at home. As such, one of the pitfalls is that I’m probably watching way too much TV. Yes, I know, I really need to get out of the house more.

With that, one of my more recent addictions is old Emergency! reruns on COZI TV. I have childhood memories of this being one of my favorite shows; I remember riding around on my bike as a kid, making a siren noise and pretending I was a paramedic. Outside of watching sports, I seem to have a thing for medical dramas — I’ve been watching shows like Transplant and the Chicago series, and I’ve also been a fan of M*A*S*H for many years.

Watching these old Emergency! reruns and comparing them against current Chicago Fire episodes makes me think about how much EMT, EMS, and paramedic services have evolved throughout the years. I think that evolution is fascinating — enough to the point that I’m writing a ‘blog article about it.

First, let me start with a little background information. Emergency! is largely credited with raising awareness of emergency medical services. The show also traces its roots to a report titled Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society (a.k.a. “the white paper”). The show takes place in the 1970s, and it’s a far cry from the EMS and EMT services with which we’re familiar today.

The pilot episode talks about the Wedsworth-Townsend Act (which is also the name of the episode). The episode largely focuses on the origins of the paramedic program in LA. In the episode, Dr. Brackett (played by Robert Fuller) makes a plea for passage of the bill to allow paramedics to provide emergency services. In the same episode, Firefigher John Gage (Randolph Mantooth) expresses his frustration after losing a patient largely due to not being able to get him the help he needed in time.

Emergency services changed all that. Before those days, an ambulance was nothing more than a station wagon with a stretcher; the idea was to get an injured person to medical help as fast as possible. Unfortunately, many people died before they could get the help they needed.

(I should note that the idea of getting medical help before transport was actually depicted in M*A*S*H — injured personnel often went to a battalion aid station before being sent to a M*A*S*H unit.)

In the show, the idea was to provide medical assistance — more than basic first aid, but less than a doctor’s services — to make the patient stable enough to transport him or her to the hospital. Johnny and Roy, the paramedics, were trained to apply those services, but in order to do so, they needed to contact the hospital (using the famous biophone) to obtain both instructions and authorization to administer medical services. Additionally, the paramedics served a dual role; while they were licensed to provide medical assistance, they were (I’m guessing first and foremost) firefighters whose primary role was search and rescue. They drove a truck mostly designed for search and rescue operations; it was not capable of patient transport. They had to call for an ambulance separately in order to get the patient to the hospital.

These days, these roles are different (Chicago Fire does a good job of depicting this — I should also note that, as far as I understand, Chicago Fire and Emergency! are actually technically accurate; they aren’t just medical gobbledygook). In many locales (it may differ in different jurisdictions — I’m mostly generalizing this description), fire department paramedics are themselves medical professionals; they no longer require instructions or authorization from doctors (again, to my knowledge, this depends on the jurisdiction). They themselves drive the ambulances, and the ambulances themselves are often emergency rooms on wheels, a far cry from the vehicles where their only function was to transport patients as fast as possible. And the roles of paramedic and search/rescue personnel are mostly different, not combined as in Emergency! (in Chicago Fire, these different roles are depicted by Ambulance 61 and Squad 3, respectively).

A couple of personal thoughts about the comparison between Emergency! and Chicago Fire: first, although I haven’t been able to find any citations to support this, I don’t think there’s any coincidence in that Chicago Firehouse 51 shares a unit number with LA County Fire Station 51 (which would support the influence that Emergency! had). Second, I would love to see an episode of Chicago Fire in which the characters of John Gage and Roy DeSoto make at least a cameo appearance. (Dick Wolf, if you’re reading this, can you make that happen???)

I hope you had as much fun reading this impromptu history of emergency services as much as I did writing about it (and I apologize for any inaccuracies I might have written — please feel free to correct them in the comments if I did). Funny what pops into your head while you’re watching TV…

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What are you proud of? Tooting your own horn on your #resume — #JobHunt

Yesterday, a good friend of mine texted me, asking me to send him my resume. This particular friend works for a major nationwide consulting firm. I won’t say which firm, but I will say that it’s a household name. In his position, he is often in a position to hire, and he is well-connected.

After reviewing my resume, he texted me back again, saying “let’s talk. I have some ideas that might make your resume even better, and I want to make sure those changes are implemented before I pass your resume along. Do you have time to talk tomorrow?”

I got off the phone with him a little while ago, and what he had to say was eye-opening — and in our conversation, I managed to improve my resume even more.

His advice (and I’m paraphrasing here): “what projects are you the most proud of? As a hiring manager, that’s something that stands out to me. Your work experience looks good, but everything you mention is general day-to-day activities. You don’t really list much in terms of a specific project you worked on. For example, something like ‘I designed such-and-such app that helped people do their work more efficiently by whatever-it-did-to-help-them, saving the company millions of dollars’ is something that would stand out to me. What are you the most proud of? Make sure you highlight that in your resume.”

I did raise a concern. I told him, yes, there is a project that immediately pops into my head, but it goes back many years; in fact, it’s a project I worked on for a company that goes outside of the past ten years. He told me, “that doesn’t matter” (he also relayed to me a project that he was proud of that took place over twenty years ago). “I’m proud of that, and I still include that in my profile.”

I had my resume file open in front of me during our conversation. While we were talking, editing ideas started forming in the back of my head.

His suggestion was to include these projects in my work experience, but I decided to leave that section alone. Instead, I decided to rewrite the Career Summary section of my resume. I wanted to do it this way for a couple of reasons: one, this appears at the top of my resume and would be the first thing that prospective employers read, and two, rewriting the Work Experience listings would have been a lot of work, and could have potentially resulted in document restructuring issues.

In terms of projects in which I take pride, I immediately wanted to mention a server inventory database that I built years ago; whenever anyone asks me about a professional project of which I am the most proud, this is the one that I always think of immediately. I also wanted to mention my involvement with recovery efforts after 9/11 (my Disaster Documents presentation is based on this experience), so I included that on the list as well. I also wanted to include a project that was much more recent, so I included a user guide that I wrote from scratch, including developing the Word template for it (additionally, I wanted to highlight that it was for a SaaS application). Finally, I also wanted to make mention of a project in which I learned about MVC concepts (unlike the other projects, this one does appear in my Work Experience section).

There were also a few other things I wanted to do with my Career Summary section. A while back, I came up with my own personal tagline, but it did not appear in my resume. I wanted to make sure it was included. Additionally, whenever I submitted my resume, I was finding that I was experiencing confusion on the part of prospective employers. I was (and still am) targeting primarily technical writer positions, and I was often questioned, “with all this technical experience, why are you targeting tech writing jobs?” I wanted to restructure it in such a way to explain that I was drawing upon tech writing as a strength, without sacrificing the fact that I had a technical background.

Before I made my edits, the Career Summary section of my resume looked like this.

(The Career Summary section of my resume — before)

When all was said and done, this is how it came out.

(The Career Summary section of my resume — after)

Additionally, I had to make changes to other sections of my resume, entirely for formatting purposes. I wanted to ensure that it would fit on two pages. I consolidated a few sections of information that, while helpful, I didn’t think would be as important.

I made the changes, updated my resume files (Word and PDF), and resent it to my friend. As of this article, I’m still waiting to get his feedback (he texted me to say he was busy, but would look when he had the chance), but personally, I like the way these changes came out.

(Edit: I heard back from my friend; his advice was to keep the accomplishments to one line each. In his words, “make it punchier.”)

You don’t necessarily have to do this within your Career Summary section; this was how I decided to approach it. If you can incorporate these highlights into your work experience listings, then by all means, do so.

I want to mention one thing when adding “proud accomplishments” to your resume. There is a fine line between talking about accomplishments you’re proud of and bragging about things to stroke your ego. Keep in mind that the purpose of a resume is to get you a job interview. Talking about projects you did that made a difference can help with that effort. Bragging about things you did (or didn’t do) will not. Nobody cares about your ego; they care about what value you can bring to their organization.

So what are your thoughts on these changes? Feel free to comment on them, especially if you’re a recruiter or a hiring manager.

The #Coronavirus chronicles, part 25: Taking the “distancing” out of “social distancing” #COVID19

Before I get into this article, I want to make one thing extremely clear. This article has NOTHING to do with circumventing pandemic protocols or ignoring the advice of Dr. Fauci, the CDC, the WHO, or any other medical professionals. That is NOT what I’m about to write. Please, please, PLEASE keep wearing your mask, get your COVID shots, and maintain physical social distancing. Above all, be safe.

Now that that’s out of the way, let me get into what prompted this article.

Earlier today, this random thought popped into my head. I posted it to my Facebook, and I want to share it with all of you as well.

I’m sitting here thinking that possibly the thing I miss most during the pandemic is simply the ability to go out and have a drink with a friend.

Granted, the part about “having a drink” is irrelevant. I say that as a catch-all for going out for a beer, wine, coffee, soda, lunch, dinner, dessert, watching a ballgame, going to a movie, and so on. (I could also say “hanging out in your friend’s living room;” it’s within the same spirit of what I’m writing about, but it’s in a private, not public setting, which people are likely doing, anyway — hopefully, COVID-safely. But I digress.)

I don’t know whether the fact that today is St. Patrick’s Day had anything to do with this thought, but what did prompt it was an urge — and a basic desire — to pick up the phone, call a friend, and tell him or her, “let’s meet up at (some favorite local hangout) this Friday night*.”

(*Before any of my local friends take me up on this, be advised that Syracuse plays San Diego State on Friday night, so my attention will likely be focused on the TV.)

Raise your hand if you miss getting together with friends — and I’m not talking about virtually over Zoom. Yeah, me too. The last in-person social event I remember attending was the after-party for SQL Saturday out in Rochester in February of last year. Since the pandemic began, I’ve had almost no in-person interaction with any of my friends, other than my wife (I’ve had a few, but they’re few and far-between). I would love to get together with friends to talk hours on end about world events, music, sports, family, or even about absolutely nothing. Don’t get me wrong; I love my wife, but there’s something to be said for sharing your thoughts, news, and feelings with someone whom you’re not sharing your lockdown experience 24-7 over a forum other than Zoom. Humans are mostly social animals, and interaction with other humans is therapeutic, even if you’re introverted.

(And if you do consider yourself to be introverted, don’t feel obligated to talk. Just being there is very helpful, too.)

Every now and then, I’ll get on the phone with a friend of mine, and we’ll talk for hours — sometimes, about nothing more than random thoughts that pop into our heads (if he’s reading this, you know who you are). We’re the kind of guys who can spend hours talking about “absolutely nothing.” Regardless of what we talk about, I find our conversations to be therapeutic, and I feel like a lot of stress has dissipated, even if I do have something on my mind.

So, if you’re able to do so COVID-safely, take time to hook up with your BFF. You might find the experience to be rewarding and stress-relieving, especially during this time of pandemic and social distancing.

The Value of Paper vs Convenience of Digital

I wrote a while back that, while digital documentation dominates the world today, paper isn’t necessarily dead. That said, my friend, Greg Moore, notes an issue with printed material that didn’t occur to me, and it has to do with data security. Read on for more.

greenmountainsoftware

About 35 years ago in the fall, a housemate of mine got a phone call, “hey, I’m a caver who’s passing through your area this weekend and found your name in the NSS Members’ Manual, I was hoping maybe you could hook me up with a caving trip.” Well it just so turns out that the RPI Outing Club traditionally does Friday night caving. (Why night you might ask? Well it’s always dark in the caves, so going at night leaves time on Saturday and Sunday to hike, rock-climbing, canoe, etc.) My housemate invited the guy along and he joined us caving (I think in Knox Cave).

I mention this story because it’s an example of how the NSS Members’ Manual has often been used over the years. Talk to enough old-time caves (especially those who recognize the smell of carbide in the morning) and many will mention how they’ve…

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What the NCAA tournament teaches us about decision bias

It’s that time of year again — when die-hard sports fans (and even some non-sports fans) start filling out their bracket picks as they make their predictions for the NCAA tournament, a.k.a. “March Madness.”

I am an alumnus of a major NCAA Division I basketball school — Syracuse University. Syracuse alumni are well-known for their school spirit and love of their alma mater. As such, SU alums regularly wear their school spirit on their sleeve — often, literally. As an alum, I can relate; much of my wardrobe is orange. Anyone who knows me knows that I bleed Syracuse Orange.

Of course, I am the first to admit that my devotion to my alma mater often influences my decisions when I make my NCAA tournament picks. If I filled out my bracket completely with my heart, I would have Syracuse winning it all every single year (and who cares about the remainder of my picks). As such, each year when I fill out my bracket, my bias toward my beloved Orange often influences my picks. Each year, a part of me starts rationalizing how the Orange will defeat (fill in name of opponent here). I’ll often have thoughts such as, “so-and-so has a hot shooting streak going,” or “our opponent usually struggles against the 2-3 zone,” and so on. More often than not, my heart overrides my head when I pick my Orange to upset their higher-ranked opponent. Of course, I usually end up disappointed as my Orange are sent back home to Syracuse.

The bias works in reverse as well. Anyone who follows college basketball knows about Syracuse’s heated rivalry against the hated Georgetown Hoyas. As such, we Syracuse fans are likely to pick against Georgetown in their part of the bracket. (That said, I watched Georgetown play in this year’s Big East tournament final, and they looked like world-beaters. They’re seeded #12 vs. #5 Colorado in this year’s tournament. I wouldn’t bet against them. If you’re looking for a #12 to upset a #5, you could do worse than this one.)

I believe that there’s a professional lesson to be gleaned from this: our biases often get in the way.

We all have biases of some sort. They come from our worldview, our culture, how we were raised, what we’ve learned, and our belief systems. Everyone has a perspective on how they see the world, and everyone tends to be biased against anything that doesn’t align with that perspective. We’ve seen extreme examples of this throughout the world over the past few years (don’t worry, I will not talk about politics here). At the professional level, our worldview often affects decisions that we make. These biases often establish themselves as blind spots, so no matter how much we claim to be “unbiased,” we often don’t know that they’re there. Probably one of the biggest oxymorons is “unbiased decision.” Realistically, there is no such thing. This isn’t necessarily a deficiency; rather, this is part of what makes us human.

So what can we do to reduce (not eliminate — that is unlikely) bias? For one thing, keep an open mind — no matter what you think, realize that there might be another way. To rattle off a couple of clichés, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat*,” and “minds are like parachutes — they only work when they’re open.” Empathy often goes a long way as well. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes — what would this person think if you were in his or her position? I’ve often found that this approach makes me more successful professionally; it improves my work quality, and it brings projects to a better conclusion. Effective communication (another topic for another time) is crucial here; it adjusts your thought process and helps you to achieve that end.

(*I like cats — I have two of my own — so I tend to not like this saying.)

I would also think about what could happen with a decision. There are some decisions that are okay to make with your heart — proposing to your significant other, for example — but there’s also something to be said about listing the pros and cons of a decision. Do the benefits outweigh the issues? Can you live with the consequences if something goes wrong? And so on it goes.

Making decisions is hard to do — this is why managers often get paid the big bucks. If you’re able to minimize the amount of bias that goes into your decision-making, chances are you’ll do alright.

(And by the way… GO ORANGE!!!)

#SQL101: Raising awareness of SQL injection

(Image credit: XKCD.com)

I don’t think there’s an experienced web developer or DBA who isn’t familiar with the classic “Bobby Tables” XKCD cartoon above. Just about any time you mention “Bobby Tables” to most experienced IT people, (s)he will immediately know to whom you are referring. Most experienced web developers and DBAs are aware of SQL injection and will take steps to ensure that it’s addressed. Grant Fritchey has a presentation about SQL injection (you can view and download his slide deck here) in which he’s not shy about his desire to “kill Bobby Tables.” I’ve seen him present it at SQL Saturday, and I highly recommend it.

Of course, the keyword here is “experienced.” For people who don’t have that experience, and who build websites that connect to databases, I think it should be lesson #1. Today, I had an experience that reminded me of that.

Earlier today, my sister texted me, asking for help with editing SQL code. She asked me what I use to edit SQL. I told her I generally use SSMS, although you can edit SQL code with a straight-up text editor, if necessary (she is not a DBA, so I felt somewhat comfortable telling her this). She told me she had to clean up spam comments in her data.

That last comment immediately grabbed my attention. I then asked her, how are your security settings, and do you have data backups.

She told me: that IS her data backup.

If her earlier comment had gotten my attention, this one immediately set off alarm klaxons in my head.

I started thinking about what could have corrupted her data to this extent. I started asking questions about her admin setup (I should’ve asked her to make sure she wasn’t using “sa” or “admin” as her admin login — Sis, if you’re reading this, make sure you check this!), including her passwords. Her admin password was pretty secure (thankfully).

She then mentioned her website. I asked if her website was accessing her data. She said yes.

I asked her about Bobby Tables (admittedly, in my advancing age, the term “SQL injection” didn’t immediately come to my mind). Her response: “who?”

At this point, I was convinced that I had my answer. Her database had been corrupted through SQL injection attacks. I told her to make sure you address your SQL injection issue before you even think about your data backups. Worrying about your data backups before addressing your SQL injection issue is like trying to rebuild your house before you’ve put out the fire.

I’ve been talking about SQL injection all throughout this article. For a brand-new web or database developer who has no idea what SQL injection is, here’s a quick primer: it’s a data security attack in which a hacker breaches your database by sending SQL commands through your web interface. I won’t get too much into how it works; instead, here are a few links that explain what it is.

• SQL injection (Wikipedia)
• SQL injection (OWasp)
• Running an SQL Injection Attack – Computerphile (YouTube video)

And make no mistake: SQL injection attacks can cause major damage.

So consider this a warning to any fledgling developers who are interested in web or data development: data security issues, such as SQL injection (and there are many others) are a big deal and need to be considered when building your setup; it’s not as simple as just setting up your website and connecting it to a database. By not considering this when you first assemble your system, you might be setting yourself up for major issues down the road.

The #Coronavirus chronicles, part 24: Coping with the stress #COVID19

I’m not going to lie. The mental stress of being out of a job (ten months, and counting) is affecting me in many ways. I’ll talk about the mental stress (which is what this article is mostly about) in a minute, but before I get into that, let me talk about something that has been affecting me physically.

Last year, gyms were closed down due to the pandemic. As a result, I wasn’t able to attend CrossFit classes. For me, one of the biggest benefits of CrossFit classes was that it created a routine. I tend to be a creature of habit, and as long as I stick to a routine, I’m generally okay. With the gyms closed due to the pandemic, that routine was broken. I didn’t stay active at home as I would’ve liked (although I did attempt a Couch to 5K program). I started developing issues with my back and my shoulder (which continue even as I write this), enough to require physical therapy. Now, the gyms are back open, but I’ve been dealing with physical issues that prevent me from working out as I’d like. Thankfully, PT seems to be alleviating these issues, and I’m hoping to become active again soon.

That said, the past year has affected me mentally and psychologically, and I’ve fallen into some bad habits. I haven’t been as active with my business as I should be. I’ve been moody, and I seem to have mood swings easily. The constant battle of looking for employment has been extremely taxing and frustrating. A lot of activities that I normally enjoy haven’t been giving me much pleasure as of late.

I could keep going, but the last thing I want to do is write a woe-is-me article where I feel like I’m trying to solicit sympathy. I’m not (at least I don’t think I am, anyway — maybe some of you might disagree, but I digress). Rather, I’m laying out the scenario so that I can write about coping strategies (and I’m writing this for myself as much as any of you who might be in the same boat). In my job hunt presentation, I talk about making sure that you take care of yourself. This article is about practicing what I preach.

Before I started this article, I sat in my home office, thinking about “what should I do to get back on track.” I thought about a number of things, and I’d like to share them with you.

First of all, I revisited one of my hobbies: songwriting. I’ve been working on an idea for a new song, and I opened my notation app to revisit it. I’m finding that doing so is pleasantly distracting; it gets my brain working on something productive. Doing this makes an adjustment to my mental activity which, I believe, will improve my mental and psychological state over the long run.

I was also fortunate enough to be contacted by a friend of mine who said he might have a project for me. We spoke, and I told him I’d look at it. It’s not gainful employment per se, but it’s another productive distraction to get me going again. On that same topic, I also have other projects for my clients that I need to revisit as well.

Other friends have other coping ideas as well. I highly recommend Steve Jones‘ series of articles about daily coping. His suggestions make a lot of sense, and I find that they improve my mood (I’ve even told him as such).

I need to do something physical as well. My doctor recommended that I do a minimum of five minutes of physical activity per day. At the time of the recommendation, I was in serious pain (directly related to the conditions I mentioned at the top of this article) so I wasn’t able to do this right away, but now that they’re somewhat better, I feel like I can partake. I do have an exercise bike; I will be making use of it. Additionally, I will be investing in some resistance bands and PVC pipes (to do pass-throughs).

And, if nothing else, I’m also trying to come up with ideas for ‘blog articles.

You need to take care of yourself before you can take on your responsibilities. These might sound like small moves, but small moves add up. Things like this can reinvigorate yourself and get you back on track. And once they do, you can be productive again.

March CASSUG Monthly Meeting

Our March meeting will again be online. NOTE: you MUST RSVP to this Meetup at https://www.meetup.com/Capital-Area-SQL…/events/276698548/ to view the Zoom URL!

Our March guest speaker is David Klee!

Topic: Modern CPU Architecture and SQL Server Performance

Modern CPU architectures are complex and misunderstood, especially as they relate to SQL Server instance configuration and database usage patterns. Default values in virtualization and the SQL Server instance can cause misalignments and improper balance in the way the SQL Server lines up with the CPUs and memory, which results in an immediate (and silent) performance penalty. Come learn as we discuss topics such as physical and virtual NUMA, hyperthreading, query parallelism, and instance settings, and show you how to validate your SQL Server architecture and improve the performance of your critical SQL Servers for both on-prem and cloud-based SQL Servers.

Our online meeting schedule is as follows:
6:00: General chat, discussion, and announcements
6:30: Presentation
We usually wrap up between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM.

Please RSVP to this Meetup, then use the online event URL to join (note: you MUST RSVP for the URL to be visible). We will send out a meeting password as we get closer to the event.

Thanks to our sponsor, Datto, for making this event possible!