Texas EMS Conference - The Day Before

We drove up to Fort Worth this afternoon to get ready for the Texas EMS Conference which begins tomorrow at 8:30am. The trip itself was uneventful, other than the unusually high traffic volume compared to other Sundays I've made the trip north. We made our obligatory stop at the Czech Stop in West to get some poppy seed kolache (yes, that the way it's spelled in Tex-Czech and I know it's not a "real" kolac if it has stuff other than fruit on it - but they are so good).

After we checked into the hotel, we headed over to the convention center to check out the exhibition hall. There were a lot of EMS services actively recruiting - I guess showing that medical care is a real recession

-proof field. No matter what the economy is like, people get sick and hurt and need assistance.

I took some pictures of a few interesting vehicles. Harris County EMS had some new vehicles on

 display. I like the new Dodge Charger, though I think it would have been excellent in red or yellow (the Charger being one of the only cars I think looks good in yellow). The

 ambulance looks good in the same color scheme.

There was another, smaller, vehicle on display which I can only describe as a Segway on steroids. there were two models, one which looked pretty basic and the same basic setup, but with plastic motorcycle saddle bags.

We had dinner at Razzoo's, which is a chain restaurant featuring Cajun style food. I hadn't eaten at one before, but we went on the recommendation of one of our group. He did not disappoint, either. The food was excellent and I ate way too much. There is a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse connected to the hotel. I've never eaten at Ruth's Chris and have wanted to try one. Although we are limited in what we can claim on an expense report, we might eat there tomorrow and "eat" the cost over the limit ourselves.

I heard someone call on 146.52 a while ago, but didn't respond when I called back. I'm beginning to think the antenna which came with my Yaesu VX-3 is very limited. The higher gain antenna I purchased separately is rather long and somewhat inconvenient to carry, but it seems to make a huge difference in my transmission strength. I might just switch to it permanently. I'm also thinking a telescoping whip might work well, too. With that I can collapse it for monitoring and extend it when necessary.

I'll write up some thoughts about the sessions I attend tomorrow. I'm looking forward to some good instruction.