Just picked this up. Came with original grips and 2 extended mags. Didn't come with the short mag unfortunately but I'm okay with that. The extendo fits my hand perfectly. All praise CZ. For my next purchase the Shadow 2.
I'm a 26-year-old firefighter/EMT in southeastern Michigan. I'm trying to figure out what I want to pursue as a second career. I have a schedule that gives me a lot of time off, and I'd like to take advantage of it rather than just picking up overtime for the rest of my career.
My schedule is:
24 hours on → 24 hours off → 24 hours on → 5 consecutive days off, then repeat.
It's important to note that the days I work every are on a revolving schedule due to the 5 days off,
For example, if I work Monday and Wednesday this week. Next week I will be working Tuesday and Thursday.
I want to remain a firefighter, so I'm specifically looking for a second career that can coexist with that schedule. I'm willing to go to college and get a bachelor's degree or potentially continue beyond that if the career is worth it. Whatever schooling I pursue would also need to be possible while I'm working my current schedule.
The biggest thing is that I don't want a second career just for the money. I already have a stable career. I want something genuinely interesting that I'd look forward to doing on my days off.
Some things that appeal to me:
- Traveling
- Nature/wildlife
- Mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, and remote areas
- Oceans/marine environments
- Photography (although I'd rather keep photography as a hobby)
- Science and learning about the natural world
- Being outdoors and active
- Going somewhere different rather than sitting in the same office every day
I'm enjoy hiking and working outside. I wouldn't mind carrying equipment or getting dirty. I just don't want to spend my days off doing construction/manual trade work. ( I was a carpenter for 5 years, have exceptional skills just lost the desire for the work )
My dream scenario would be having a specialized skill/degree where I could accept assignments or contract work during my blocks off. I'm not opposed to having being an employee either.
It would be especially cool if those assignments involved being sent to interesting or beautiful locations, with work travel/lodging covered, doing the job for a few days and then coming home.
I'm not expecting someone to pay me to vacation. I'd be there to actually work. I just love the idea of having a career where the work itself occasionally takes me to places I'd otherwise be paying to visit.
I've considered things like environmental science, wildlife biology, geology/geoscience and GIS, but I'm very open to completely different suggestions.
That's actually why I'm posting—I don't want to spend four years getting a degree and then realize the career can't realistically coexist with firefighting.
For people who work unusual schedules, travel for work, do contract/project-based work, or work in field sciences:
What careers should I be looking into?
And if you had a guaranteed five-day block off every eight days and could go back to school for almost anything, what would you choose?
Edit: Thank you all so much for the replies. I'd like to add that I'm currently working 72 or 84 hour weeks. My fire department has one of the highest run volumes in the country and severely understaffed on the EMS side (I'm sure you can guess). There is unlimited overtime. It's not about the money or not having enough work.
With that being said. I would really like to build a second career in a totally different field so I can get a bit of a break from the mental abuse. I'm not looking for a job or a hobby.
In my free time I currently go on hikes and photograph landscapes but I really just feel like I need something more fulfilling.
Going to college is not an issue. In fact I would love to go to school and learn. I just don't want to start a degree that I won't be able to use.
So I just went on got my ablation done today. No complications. I didn't realize how much this costs! Holy crap!
Although I was relatively asymptomatic, I do frequently run EKG's on myself as an EMT. My EKG's werent looking too good. Like constant arrhythmias. Occasional chest discomfort. After very intense exercise I went in to svt beating at 240bpm like 8 months ago causing me to faint 3 times. Was extremely drained for a few days afterwards. That's when I decided to move forward on this and see a cardiologist. I'm also going to be a firefighter/EMT in a major city so thats my other motivator to do this. Would be terrible fainting in a structure fire. My department is very aggressive and goes interior on my fires and we get 3-5 fires a night.
Overall the experience wasn't that bad. Show up, get a bunch of electrodes on me, IV, get talked to by like 10 different doctors asking similar questions, then a shot of versed and rolled to operating room, then it all went black lol. They said they intubated me because it can be a lengthy procedure. The surgeon later came and spoke with me and said the second they got in there with the catheters the wpw was showing up like "I'm right here, I'm right here" in her words. After the surgery they place you in what's called a recovery room. You lay flat for 1-2 hours, then they sit up up for 1 hour, then they had me walk and lay back down, after another hour had me walk again. They check the catheter sites frequently for bleeding and if you're not bleeding they let you go home!
Just wanted to share my experience in case anyone is scared to go through with the procedure. It sounds scary but really it was not bad at all! If you have wpw especially symptomatic wpw. JUST DO IT!
Can anyone tell me what kind of changes I'm going to experience having this procedure done? Aside from the symptoms of wpw being gone I mean. Perhaps more energy or stamina? How beneficial is it long-term for me to have had this done?
Little update for you Cadillac enthusiasts.
So after going to see it. Without hesitation.. I bought the DTS. Fucking immaculate inside and out. 0 rust. Drives wonderful. Better than I ever imagined. The guy I bought it from was a straight forward very nice fella.
Gonna give it a wax, wash, and spot in my garage!
Rode down in my dad's El Dorado to buy it and had to take some pictures at the meetup location.
Here's some of the pictures. 97 El Dorado and the 2007 DTS Luxury II side by side 😎
Link to my original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cadillac/s/iX3c2JjE0e
Tomorrow I have a deal lined up to purchase a 07 DTS, 95k miles, $5,500, seems garage kept. I'm nervous because Ive read all of the issues these things can have. Car fax looks good on it (except for 4 owners, but one owner owned from 2014 to 2024) I'll add some pictures. Car is immaculate but I haven't seen it in person yet to verify. What are your thoughts? Buy or don't buy? I really am only in the market to drive a car for a few months because my daily is in the shop and my mechanic has been in the hospital for a few weeks. So instead of rushing to find a mechanic that I've never used before, I just want to buy a short term vehicle. I work 7 days a week to add to the stress lol.
The car does look so clean I'm tempted to just keep it in the garage for a weekend car. Just iffy because the model.
Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you
**Note: I couldn't include all of the car fax because I'm limited to 20 photos so I tried to include the screenshots showing maintenance preformed. There is consistent oil changes and inspections throughout the life the of the vehicle**
*Edited the years for how long the second owner had the vehicle