A few of my necessary things....

There really are things that you should never, ever leave home without.

I thought for fun I'd make a list of all the things I can't live without while on the job.

1. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, all in an acceptable sized food bag. You never ever know when you are getting back home. And chances are always high that you could spend your day up in the boonies, where you could not purchase food if you tried.

2. Game boy. Must have. For all those long hours waiting for A) the weather to get better, or the more common B) ambulance delays.

3. A good book. Eventually you get sick of game boy, so you need something else to do.

4. Overnight bag. I cannot stress this enough. And one of the reasons I cannot stress it enough is that I have been caught without one more times than I have dutied out with one. Seriously. And every damn time it sucks soooooooo bad. And every time I SWEAR I will never, ever forget my overnight bag ever again. Yet, somehow I still manage to leave it behind on occasion. I must say I have gotten a bit better at that.

5. Thermos. This is especially critical during the winter months. You might be stuck sitting at a reserve for hours, waiting for the medics to get back from the nursing station. And nothing, I mean nothing is better than something warm. Soup, coffee, tea, hot chocolate. It matters not. What matters is that there is a heat source you can steal from before you lose a finger or two.

6. Long johns. As many pairs as you can accumulate. And the warmer the better. I usually start wearing them end of October, and keep them on until the end of April or so. Nothing worse than the wind blowing through those lovely polyester work pants, onto freezing skin.

7. Bug spray. Or a fly swatter. Something to beat back those massive black flies in early summer. Dear god, they are unrelenting. And huge!!!!!

8. Lip balm. Seriously. It is dry in there, with the pressurized air. And depending on how bad the weather is that day you might be licking your lips more than usual. And nothing worse than cold/wind/chapped lips. Just icky.

9. Hand lotion. Yeah. Girlie, I know. But guess what? You are washing your hands more times in a day than a freaking surgeon. Every leg you wash whatever imaginary germs the last patient left on you. Every time you get the plane fueled you get your hands covered with JetA while checking tip tank caps. So wash again. Add winter to that, and you have very, very unhappy skin. And if you don't want your hands to make it look like you are 85, well I recommend Neutragena myself. ;)

10. Tylenol. Nothing worse than getting a headache half way through the day and having nothing to get rid of it. Seriously.

And of course, really good hats, and gloves. For winter. In the summer, it is still good to have some gloves handy, especially if you have to pull some cowls while at a reserve to get at something.

So that is my boring list of what I feel is important to make it through the day. Hey, it's the small things.....LOL