NSC Certified in First Aid and CPR

I recently was asked to get certified in First Aid and CPR and be a company first responders. First Aid and CPR are vital first steps people can use when faced with a life threatening situation. These skills when properly learned can have life saving results. It seemed logical for me to get certified because accidents happen everywhere not just at the office. Being properly trained could allow me to help save the life of stranger or even a family member. Nothing could be worse than watching someone who has been injured and feeling helpless to do anything about it.

Our instructor Rick was following the National Safety Council (NSC) course which meets ECC Guidelines and OSHA standards for first aid in the workplace. Training took place over the course of two days and was roughly 3 hours in length each day.

 On the first day we learned everything from how do act during an emergency, how to check on the victim’s condition, when to call for help, how to prevent further injury and stabilize the victim. We practiced how to properly use rubber gloves to avoid disease transmission and how to use the Haines Recovery Position to stabilize an unconscious person.

Day two was the most interactive with the use of dummies to practice CPR on. While we didn’t name them each seemed to have their own personality. When CPR is properly done the dummies click to indicate that you are providing the necessary compression in the proper position. My first dummy didn’t seem to want to cooperate and we discovered that it had a broken diaphragm which makes the noise. We also grabbed one of the AED’s from the building and got comfortable with the machine and its use. 

Once the course was completed I will admit I did feel better prepared to act in an emergency and more confident in my abilities to really assist and provide life saving care until a professional arrives. It is important to know that while trained in First Aid and CPR it is vital that you only help and provide assistance if you have been trained and never provide assistance outside of the scope of your training.

  

Task 24 – Increase my 401(k) contribution to 10%

Working part time at Sur La Table definitely has its perks. Not only do I really enjoy working with the people but it is a great opportunity to cover some of the expenses that dipped into my savings over the last year.  Another benefit of a part time job like this is that they offer their seasonal & part time employees the option of enrolling in their 401(k) plan. They also offer 50% match on the first 4% which is better than my full time job. Given that the income I receive from this job is purely gravy I thought I might as well contribute as much as possible to my retirement and at the very least enough to get the match.  To start I am going to contribute 10% of my Sur La Table income to my 401(k) but as soon as I have re-filled my savings account with the money I spent over the year I am going to up my contribution to max pre-tax allowed.

Hopefully like a money tree some of the money I sow today will yield a retirement where I don’t have to worry about money. That is after all the purpose of a 401(k) plan. My plan is to contribute the max allowed. If I did that this year it would be $17,000 pre-tax dollars. I won’t come close to that unfortunately.

Task 15 - Create a Murphy Fund (25$ per Pay Check)

You no doubt know about Murphy’s Law, the suggestion that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And of course there are the corollaries that go along with it like the one that says that when something does go wrong it will be at the very worst time. Lately I have felt cursed and have watched my savings account dwindle while attempting to stay ahead of all my troubles. We all go through rough patches and all have felt a certain amount of despair where we feel like we can't catch a break and this is sadly my time to feel this way.

First it was the car. After putting nearly 3000$ into general repairs and preventative maintenance (brakes, timing belt, etc), I was not prepared to have to come up with 3000$ more to replace the motor as a result of a poorly installed timing belt. Thankfully the silver lining here is that I found a very capable and honest mechanic who replace my motor and did so with out me feeling taken advantage of. Hopefully I can get the mechanic who replaced the timing belt to cover some of the costs related to the motor repair.

Next came my roof rack. Everyone knows that I love to be active in the summer and often have my lime green mtn bike or kayaks on my roof. Especially on the weekends when I'm on search for the perfect place to launch or ride. Sadly those days have come to an end both as a result of the weather and the theft of my roof rack. Last Sunday or maybe Monday morning someone pilfered the fairing and rear half of my roof rack right off my car. I guess the statement that if a thief wants something he will find a way to take it. It was locked down but 400$ worth of rack is now gone. The silver lining with this one is that no damage was done to the car. I do not plan to replace the rack however since the lock's on the rack clearly failed and I am not willing to risk another one being stolen. Until Thule can make a lock that can't just be ripped off the car I will avoid putting a new unit on my car. Additionally my car is getting older and it will likely be replaced in the next year or two.

The same night my roof rack was discovered partly missing I found myself increasingly frustrated as I was doing laundry. I filled the washer with towels and right before bed it was time to put them in the dryer. Well sadly my condo looked like a hobo village that night with towels laid out all over drying. The dryer was not cooperating and wouldn't turn on. It is finally fixed but 200$ later.

With all of this going wrong I thought what better time to have had an emergency "Murphy" fund setup to cover the expenses without feeling like I was collecting all my quarter's to cover these costs. Anyone who is a saver can tell you its hard to save and very frustrating to watch money go out the door unnecessarily. Hopeful that things will improve and I won't be faced with more nightmare expenses but I must be a realist and plan for the worst. I have made an adjustment to my direct deposit to put 25$ a pay cycle into an account that I plan to use for nothing more then unexpected costs like car repairs. Being paid by weekly that means it should generate a Murphy Fund of  $650 a year. That isn't much but hopefully it will compound over time and I'll have a few years where I don't have to dip into it.