Hill Country Blogger

Ceeeerap!

2012-01-31T21:20:00.001-06:00

My little daughter went flying past me, with not just one fly-swatter I could not find but both of them, saying "god damn bugs".

I guess.......yeah......*sigh*

2012-01-28T22:53:00.000-06:00

Anyone hear of the 4 year old that brought some pot to lunch?

Capitalize on the event, start teaching economics

El linko

I really had more to say on this but I totally lost track and ate a box of cookies

Fuckin' Tea

2012-01-16T18:09:00.001-06:00

2012-01-04T11:22:00.004-06:00

I'm not one to make New Years resolutions, however I've been "out of pocket" for a year or so with getting on to a fire department and then paramedic school. Now that I am done I have a huuuuuuge "to do" list that has been building up. I figure with my new found "free" time and a new year starting, I can work off the synenergy here. Please note that in typical HCB fasion I proply broke a resolution.

Fix the lawn mower
Fix the leaky roof
Build a garage
Finish the fence
Obey the wishes and whims of Mrs. HCB
Blog everyday

Chain of Obedience

2011-12-05T13:34:00.001-06:00

We can think better

2011-11-20T10:30:00.001-06:00

Who can think better than you? The government! The EU has apparently banned the claim that drinking water can prevent dehydration - El linko: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8897662/EU-bans-claim-that-water-can-prevent-dehydration.html

hy·drate
[hahy-dreyt] Show IPA noun, verb, -drat·ed, -drat·ing.
noun
1.any of a class of compounds containing chemically combined water. In the case of some hydrates, as washing soda, Na ₂CO ₃⋅10H ₂O, the water is loosely held and is easily lost on heating; in others, as sulfuric acid, SO ₃⋅H ₂O, or H ₂SO ₄, it is strongly held as water of constitution.

This is hand in hand with my claim that we should be allowed to consume alcohol on duty as it prevents stress. I see a shift towards my way of thinking. Bravo EU!

Friday 11-18-2011 Music Video

2011-11-17T19:39:00.001-06:00

I'm on shift tomorrow so you get it a few hours early

Tele-pycho

2011-11-02T22:21:00.000-06:00

The suspect insisted to investigators that Pierce had been "telepathically threatening" himself and his wife, and claimed his neighbor "had telepathically raped his wife on many occasions," police told The Tribune.

Read the rest of the story on this jackass. Dude is a baby raper too! Things like this really do deserve a death penalty or some island where these maniacs can hash it out. Just get them out of society

ROCK!

2011-10-28T10:23:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday!

Friday video

2011-10-21T22:17:00.002-05:00

Enjoy! :0)

Acuity

2011-10-21T22:08:00.003-05:00

It's a unique view...night paints the world into discontinuance and only the flashing lights bring you into focus. You're standing at the edge of cold pavement, your arms drawn up as you try and keep yourself from bursting. You're watching a slide show of the one that brought it all to you. Knowing you are losing something that cannot be replaced. Even if you tried it would just make you want it back even more. The wound is being cut... you are realizing that it is lost.

2011-10-10T10:30:00.002-05:00

Snatched this from youtube. Know you have heard this before but give it another listen. GB is one of my all time favorite artists.

Finger nails

2011-10-10T00:45:00.000-05:00

Anyone else hate finger nails? I hate how they grow ten times faster than toe nails. I prefer toe nails over finger nails. Less maintenance ..... I hate sneezing as well. What a waste of my time!

Paramedic

2011-09-19T12:25:00.000-05:00

I don't know where I left off and I really don't care to read hundreds of my own blog posts to find out. I got hired on to the Fire Department ( I think that part was obvious) and within the last couple of months I finished paramedic school and passed my test. I am now a Fire Fighter / Paramedic or FireMedic.

School was a major drain. It was intense and very stressful. I had no life for well over a year and it feels like all I did was read medical books and take test every other day.

Here I am now, blogging before your very eyes, a FireMedic. It's done! I've come out the other side with the "red patch" and a new found respect for Amiodarone

Outsourcing

2011-09-19T11:51:00.002-05:00

Please wait. An EA Expert will be with you soon.

*5 Minutes Later*
All EA Experts are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An EA Expert will be with you shortly.
*5 Minutes Later*
All EA Experts are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An EA Expert will be with you shortly.
*5 Minutes Later*
All EA Experts are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An EA Expert will be with you shortly.
*5 Minutes Later*
All EA Experts are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An EA Expert will be with you shortly.
*5 Minutes Later*
All EA Experts are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An EA Expert will be with you shortly.
*5 Minutes Later*
All EA Experts are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An EA Expert will be with you shortly.
*5 Minutes Later*
All EA Experts are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An EA Expert will be with you shortly.
*5 Minutes Later*
All EA Experts are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An EA Expert will be with you shortly.
*5 Minutes Later*
All EA Experts are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An EA Expert will be with you shortly.
*5 Minutes Later*
All EA Experts are currently assisting others. Thanks for your patience. An EA Expert will be with you shortly.
*3 Minutes 22 seconds later*

You are now ready to chat with Desiree.

"Desiree": Thank you for contacting Origin Help. My name is Desiree. How may I assist you today?

HCB: Hi Desiree, my download of Mass Effect is stuck at 99.99% conplete

"Desiree": Just a moment

HCB: It has been that way for at least 10 hours

"Desiree": It can take up to 12 hours mine did

HCB: for 00.01% ?

"Desiree": Are you on a adesktop ?

HCB: Yes

"Desiree": Can we do a dxdiag to see if your computer supports the game ?

HCB: k, ready

"Desiree": press the windows key +R and this will bring up the run window,type in dxdiag and then hit enter

HCB: k, ready

"Desiree": This will bring up the diagnostic tool

"Desiree": I will need the operating system , processor ,and memory

HCB: XP, AMD Phenom 9950 Quad-core, 3328 MB Ram

HCB: 4GB I have installed

"Desiree": thank you

"Desiree": Now I will need you to click the display tab and I will need the device name , driver date , and approximate total memory

HCB: ATI Radeon HD 3200, 6/11/2011, 700 MB

HCB: Does all this really effect the last 00.01% of the download?

"Desiree": You may want to upgrade your ram

HCB: System RAM or Video card RAM?

"Desiree": Both

HCB: mmm-kay

HCB: But back to the problem with downloading. What is causing the hang up?

"Desiree": Is there anything else I can assist you with ?

"Desiree": There might mot be enough memory

"Desiree": o hold the game

"Desiree": To*

HCB: I've got over 40GB of free space on my HDD

HCB: is that not enough?

"Desiree": Everything else looks good

"Desiree": If anything you can uninstall then reninstall origin

HCB: Yeah but I still have this question about the download. I have plenty of space for it to download

HCB: The download client worked fine. Now it is stuck at the last 00.01%

"Desiree": There may be a corrupt file somewhere

"Desiree": try to uninstall then reinstall origin

HCB: I'll run a scan on my PEBKAC driver. Thanks for your help.... I think

*Chat session closed by customer*

To the drunk driver

2011-01-28T21:26:00.003-06:00

Darkness pushed away by the red and white lights of my ambulance emergency strobe. The quite country side called to attention by with the ambulance siren. "Medic 21, launch med-evac and have P.D. close down the intersection". I had just fallen asleep to Pawn Stars 5 minutes earlier. I was dead tired as well as my partner. We had been running since 1100 hrs and here it is 0250 the next day. The only time I have had to rest is between runs while enroute to the next 911 call.

"Med-evac accepted and ETA 17 minutes" the radio called as it snapped my attention back to the call and away from the recliner that was sitting empty back at the station. "Received dispatch, Medic 21 is 5 minutes out". "Received" droned dispatch.

"What do you think?" Asked my partner. "Drunk, female, small car, and out in this part of the county....most likely a meth head. My partner, the paramedic, trusts my intuition. My partner is also the best damn mentor I have ever had. She begins to draw out an action plan for the "unconscious person in the road" call we just received.

"I want you to get initial impression and I'll get the back setup. If the local F.D. is there, establish vitals and make sure they stay on the airway maintenance." She says as she looks over at me and smiles. "Yeah, yeah, yeah....big dumb fire fighter. Me distracted by bright lights". It's good for a early morning laugh.

When we roll up on scene we are no loner laughing. Flipped on its top is a small car off the road side with a female pt. impaled on a fence post. Beer cans litter the grassy road side. The pt. is drunk, pissed, high on something (suspect meth), and fighting us like a coked out spider monkey. The only time we can subdue her is when she stops breathing and we can finally cut her down.

We have to entubate her and manage her respirations for her. As I am working this scene, a police officer come over and hand me some of her medication.

"While using this medication, do not consume alcohol and
operate a motor vehicle results may cause harm or injury"

You know, I bet if she had read this then none of this would have happened.

First in

2011-01-23T21:29:00.003-06:00

I love being first in to a fire. Maybe its the rookie in me or maybe this excitement never goes away. crawling on my hands and knees dragging 100+ of charged hose line with the walls and ceiling on fire and shit exploding around me.

To think that just a few years ago I was just another office rat sitting being a computer dying slowly.

Mr. Bad A

2011-01-20T08:44:00.004-06:00

I kind of like John Travolta. He's not a bad actor and some of the sly cool type movies he plays in are some of my favorites. But...uh...was any one else creeped out when they saw this magazine cover at the grocery store.

He went from Mr. Cool to creep dude. Like L. Ron Hubberd creepy.

Paramedic

2011-01-17T14:28:00.002-06:00

Did I mention that I was in paramedic school? Yeah, I am about half way in the school... well maybe 1/4. It's a long and very detailed career. Almost like drinking from a fire hydrant. You'll get the water, just not the way you wanted it. Same with school.

Holy guacamole! Just the drugs alone are mind numbing. I have to recall several dozen drugs, their class, actions, indications, contraindications, precautions, side effects, dosage, onset, peak effects, route, pediatric dosage, and other special notes. I have to know all of this and recall it all like it is second nature or I get knocked points.

So I mention all this so you folks now why I am not posting very much.

BTW, January Jones is a mega-babe!

Being watched?

2011-01-02T10:17:00.002-06:00

In my last post I discussed how I am done with New Years resolutions. Now everywhere I turn the media is talking about it. On the radio they are talking about it. In the Newspapers there are articles about people not doing it.

Am I Trend setter? I like to think so..... :P

No, facebook

2010-12-29T19:09:00.003-06:00

Some of you have asked if I will be making a facebook page in hopes that I will post more. Since I view this as the same as tweeting and I adore having a following of twits... no facebook in the time being. I will also not promise to post more. We all know that I vow to do it and promptly fail to execute it as with all my new years vows.

While we are at it. I am fine the way I am and damn with vowing to make major changes at the beginning of the year. I plan to drink, play video games, and start construction projects in which they will remain unfinished.

Good day and this next beer is in your honor Mr.-whine-my-ear-off-in-email.

xoxoxoxo

Frogger

2010-12-29T11:04:00.002-06:00

The AP is reporting that a man playing a real life version of Frogger has been hospitalized. I hate to correct them but I do believe he was playing a real life version of Darwin's theory. It's a shame.... he almost won.

48's

2010-10-19T12:04:00.002-05:00

Saying "48" is a bitter sweet word with fire fighters/EMS. On one hand we hear "CHA-CHING" and on the other hand we know we are in for a grueling double shift that spans 48 hours.

Running calls almost all day and night long is hard enough. Doing that for two days straight is a test of endurance. It does come with a few perks. The Captain let's you crash in the crew quarters after truck check in the morning. So the mid-day nap is a life saver! But you have to deal with missing your family for two days, trying to find something to eat, sleep deprivation, cranky attitudes, MAYBE getting a shower, and if your lucky enough to remember to bring several pairs of socks! If you forget the socks you are bound to get "trench foot". Major sucko!

Some how, some way, I signed up for two 48's back-to-back with a one day spacer. I guess I wasn't paying attention or something.... something I am going to remedy from now on! But I am back in the bloggers seat and the calender is free of 48's.

Tesla forever!

2010-10-08T21:26:00.001-05:00

On this day...

2010-10-02T12:02:00.002-05:00

Ireland ratified their constitution on this day. For better or worse? I see my family's home county voted against this resolution and like true Irish tradition is a pain in the royal arse!

Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland.

Read, discuss, drink a pint!

Civilization 5

2010-09-23T11:38:00.002-05:00

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

Civ5 came out this week! *Squeals like a school girl*

Downloading the manual now. Maybe one day I can afford to buy it and lock myself in my office for a week.

OMG!

*Running around in circles*

Things I think about...

2010-09-22T12:27:00.003-05:00

I have a list of reoccurring thing I think about when I am inside a burning building fighting fire.

Yay! Residents made it out ok! Time to dance!
Please don't puke! Please don't puke! Please don't puke!
What did he say?
I REALLY need to stop smoking!
What did he say?
URG! I need more cardio work. Need to hit the treadmill more.
God there are a lot of freaking beer bottles in here..... I could go for a beer
Freaking hell its hot in here...sure wish they would hurry up and ventilate the roof already!
Hmmm, way to much coffee. Please don't puke! Please don't puke! Please don't puke!
Please don't be the first to run out of air. I don't want to be first out.

Mudslide

2010-09-20T21:06:00.003-05:00

Do you ever think what something means to you, means something totally different to someone else?

For example, mudslide to us is a drink. To a prison inmate.......

Need coffeeeeeee

2010-09-18T05:27:00.001-05:00

working a 48...tired

Swimming

2010-09-16T20:33:00.002-05:00

back in the day, I was a semi-professional swimmer. I constantly placed first and, tooting my own horn, had a kick ass body. A decade or so later and I am sporting a pretty sweet beer gut.

As of today I am back in the pool..... and then immediately back out. Holy crap am I out of shape! One lap and I was huffing air.

What made matters worse was the JV team pounding out 30 laps right next to me. They probably put a school bus on their shoulders and jogged back to their school.

This is going to take a long time........ *sigh*

Dragon Age

2010-09-16T20:30:00.002-05:00

Anyone play this game? I'm giving it a go and I am impressed! Pretty smoking graphics, totally awesome story and I love some of these new concepts in game mechanics. Right now I am trying to get the wilderness witch to ride my mage staff.

Peppers

2010-09-14T09:45:00.002-05:00

Had a special garden request come in from a long time friend. The request is how to grow peppers. That's really all I have to go on so I'll just reply in a generic "growing peppers" type protocol.

You plant peppers in the winter/spring, when the last of your frost has thawed and your soil is about 65(ish) degrees (if transplanting). So you still have a few months to plan things out and get your garden pad prepped.

Also till your soil 1' and check for a potential for Hydrogen of 5.5 to 6.9. You can go to your local garden or home improvement store for a pH tester. Depending on the results you may have to buy several dozen pounds of compost and till it into your soil.

ALSO, make sure your site drains well. If not, then its time for raised beds.

As for growing... anything can grow. Getting it to grow to the desired outcome takes a goal and planning. For peppers its even soil moisture AND *critical* even temperatures. If its going to be a cold night, cover them and maybe a warming lamp. If its going to be a blazer of a day....partially cover them.

When you go to harvest your peppers you get them while they are still green (they ripen quick once removed from the plant). Cut the middle of the stem and you should be good to go.

Also, the best tip I can give you is "Think tomatoes". They are almost identical right up to the end.

Moments

2010-09-12T20:28:00.002-05:00

There are moments in your life when you are knee deep in snhit and you have nothing else to say but "F*%k"

n00b killer rock band

2010-09-12T14:23:00.001-05:00

Still rollin'

2010-09-12T14:07:00.002-05:00

Yeah....damn. It's been a while since I last posted anything. Almost shameful for a blog writer not to vomit mental garbage every half hour and here I am going on three or four months! To be honest I think I blogged so much in the past as I had no outlet for myself. The mindless droning of the corporate life fueled that desire. 1 1/2 years since I was laid off from the borg and I have very satisfying career as a fire fighter / EMS. I feel in terms that are more complete and am truely happy with what I do and where I am at in life, for the most part.

I still intend to post. I am going to try and get this machine pumping again. I hear that if you *try* and post once a day that it gets easier. I'll shoot for that! Tammy once told me that you should post once a day, links even, or something out of wiki facts for the day. It helps for days when you are just not feeling creative.

So there you go folks, my post for the day. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a vegetable garden that needs a little TLC.

The big A-hole

2010-07-08T13:47:00.001-05:00

Threw away a bible today. When g-d decides to stop acting like a dick then maybe we can get on speaking terms again.

Typical Thursday

2010-05-20T23:18:00.002-05:00

"What is my typical day" a reader once asked...which to be perfectly honest was really just me talking to myself. I don't really have typical days. One day might be dead silent! I will sleep all day or play video games or what not. Other days can just be balls to the walls crazy. No stopping, no lunch, just whatever I can grab from the ER "medic" room (a small room where the hospital gives us free food and drinks).

I thought it might be best to describe what I did today to give you an average idea on what I do on an ambulance. Remember that today was an average day.

Morning: I worked a roll over wreck. The patient managed to roll his/her vehicle several time before parking it upside down. We did a "Load and go" *means we check out the patient very quickly, load the patient into the ambulance, and start treating on the way there. 90% of what we do is "stay and play" which is the opposite.*

Morning and afternoon: Ate breakfast, went to Starbucks, played Soduku for several hours, took a nap.

Afternoon: Ran a psych patient from methadone clinic to the E.R because he/she developed a pretty gnarly infection in his/her private regions that was putting the patient into risk of sepsis shock.

Afternoon: Death of a cancer patient, at home, with his/her family about (including the little girls). It was the posters of "Mom/Dad you can beat this" that made me break down in the ambulance after the call was over.

Late after noon: Took some old fella to the hospital for an emergency CAT scan. I don't know, whatever. I just drove and ate ice cream in the medic room while my partner did the paper work.

Now, here I am, drinking a beer at 2330 and blogging.

OH! Finished Torchwood (The TV series on BBC). Yes, its good. Sad I watched it all already. I did read that they are going to make a season four of it! Hizaah!

Wednesday......eff'ing Wednesday

2010-05-13T13:07:00.002-05:00

Oye! Three twelve hour shift in a row is a bit brutal! Plus add in the fire shifts I been pulling!

I spent all of yesterday running to emergency rooms. The ER nurses and I theorize that the sun flares from last weekend have turn everyone a bit Daffy. Hangings, old people falling over, people running into bulldozers, and a string of elderly heat strokes.

My last patient was a real peach of a lady. She had dementia pretty bad but she was absolutely adorable. She keep talking about how I need to study for my arithmetic test coming up so I can grow up to be smart. She talked about random things that just made you realize how much this little old lady experienced. Like an encyclopedia of Americana.

Then she looked over at me and said "I'm going to fucking kill you" got wide eyed and started a sick evil laugh. I spent the rest of the trip in the little window hole between the cab and the patient box curled into a ball with a bottle of alcohol and a lighter stretched out in front of me.

Not long ago...

2010-05-11T22:10:00.002-05:00

Not long ago I would have been sitting in a 5' x 5' grey prison cell with two LCD monitors, A small super computer by my knees, and 20 people asking me questions on how to do something better, cheaper, and fast. All the while making big bucks for someone else while getting paid 1/3 of the market average of what I did.

I would look out the window and watch ..... well just watch. Planes, clouds, birds, people, cars and such. There I was... stuck! From 6am to 4 something. Then go home to connect into work via the laptop and work some more. I was laid off from that job.

Today I sat on the tarmac and watched a jet land just 100' from me. The jet was there to meet with ... ME! I loaded the patient from the jet to MY stretcher and into MY ambulance and off to my destination.

I wonder if anyone watches me from their office window?

Netflixing it

2010-05-10T21:47:00.002-05:00

Got the Wii hooked up to Netflix.... just dangerous.

Watched the first season of "Arrested development". Have to say its a like

Watched the first season of "Farscape". Have to say that I do not like it

Watching the first season of "Torchwood". Jury is still out

Bank of America

2010-05-04T21:30:00.001-05:00

Before things went to shit, my wife and I bought a house. A cheap house in a cheap area, us being the responsible type, we didn't want to live "above our means". Instead we picked a place that was below our means. Which is, simply, not some ritzy 3,000 sqft house for 300k.

The recession hit and I get laid off from the borg in favor of some Chinese kid for 1/100 of the pay. Fast foward to today! I'm desperately trying to get my mortgage lowered through the Obama "Hope" plan.... quite frankly its a crock of shit. They do nothing. They'll sit there and get your total income from you through a series of 20 phone calls all lasting three hours each. At the end of this exhausting accomplishment they tell you that you spend to much on food. Which, in itself is horse shit. Then they transfer you to your mortgage lender to see if they can "help".

I'll stop you there. If your mortgage lender is Bank of America you are totally screwed. Just foreclose and save yourself the six month exercise in spiraling depression. Walk away from the house and let Bank of America fucking choke on it. Go rent a cheap cheap apartment somewhere and rebuild your finances.

Sound off if you have Bank of America and they are playing dumb

Still here...

2010-03-29T21:04:00.001-06:00

Just tired mentally, somewhat physically, and emotionally.

Soon as my schedule tames down I'll start writing on all the drama that has been brewing!

Yeah....good freaking luck

2010-03-22T21:03:00.002-06:00

I've been living under a rock the last few months. I've missed a lot in the news.

Today someone asked me about the new health care that passed today. I had no freaking clue what he was talking about, which totally made me feel awkward and a little dirty. Well I felt dirty cause my fly was open. Don't read into that, it is what it is.

I come home and my wife starts chatting me up about it. Then on the social media chains I start getting pinged for comments. So to be honest, I have no clue about this until I had someone shoot me the summary.

USA.... you're screwed. I don't know if you know the sheer volume of free loaders that burden the system with unpaid charges. In the fire service alone, it is not uncommon for me to respond to a "patient" that just needs to make their doctors visit. That, USA, is just my tiny intsy bitsy part of the world. I was hearing on the radio, that Austin (The capital of Texas), 4 people alone racked up 10 million dollars in medical bills. 4 people....4 homeless people that, to my knowledge are not effected by the 1% tax for lack medical insurance. Maybe I am reading this wrong and honestly I haven't put a great deal of reading time into this but on the surface I'm thinking "OUCH".

Can small town, USA afford the extra tax your emergency service districts are going to be forced to charge? Where a great deal of the poor people in question move? I don't know, just my thoughts. It seems like it was a rush job to me. I'm going to bed after this beer and shaking my head the entire time.

Standards on wine consumption

2010-02-14T20:09:00.005-06:00

So I grab a tumbler to pour some wine in. The wife comments "You're going to drink out of that"?

"Well yeah" I reply "Our daughter sucked from your boobs, at least I'm setting a standard".

Should I worry?

Best shower EVER!

2010-02-14T20:09:00.001-06:00

Happy VD everyone!

Another day on the box

2010-02-08T21:52:00.002-06:00

Mark my first day on my new shift, on a new box, with a new partner. Hospital after hospital, I go tossing grannies around and still managed to find room for dinner. That is... only after I started shaking and showing the first signs of a diabetic breakdown, not that I have diabetes. Just takes a medical emergency to get a lunch break when you drive a box. Still, this beats the hell out of my old job with the evil mongoloid computer company. At least when I go home I don't have to work for another four to six hours. I also have weekends off :)

Still working on the fire house job. Another slot, another chance... we shall see!

Funny people, the movie

2010-02-07T09:01:00.003-06:00

Not so funny, more depressing than funny. Then again if you start watching the movie with "Drama" in mind then its a great movie. Moral of the story, don't judge a book by its cover. Instead accuse it of anti-nationalism and burn it.

The hits just keep on coming

2010-02-05T21:52:00.004-06:00

General suck going on at the moment but I did manage to get a ambulance job. Not exactly the fire house but it pays.

I also noticed that I am not getting e-mail notifications when people comment. Suppose its more of the 2010 karma that seems to hangs on me tighter than a drunk prostitute.

Side note, I did fix my water pump by my self. Saved something like $800 and only spent $200 in total, much of which I could have not spent if I planned ahead a little more. I'm such a good planner... don't know what went wrong there.

Oh! I think I might write a book. I have all these ideas that I write down on post it notes and stuff. I don't know why I do it or when I started. I just always had this feeling that I had to write my thoughts when they come to me. I think maybe I wrote them down because I felt like a part of me was dy9ing forever if I did not but this was a way to remember it before it left me. Sounds weird, maybe something like "A thought not remembered is like a love not expressed". Well maybe perhaps "Lasagna not eaten" which underscores a basic point, wasting.

Anyhow, I shall write. Just as soon as I finish this Scotch and fall asleep :P

People of Wal-Mart

2010-01-16T19:19:00.002-06:00

I used to think that the great clash of philosophic ideology between Platonism and Aristotelian ideas would determine and steer the course of this nation. Statism vs. Individualism in a life and death struggle and the people of the United States goes the victor.

My opinion, quite different now, is a dismal realization that America is already in a death spiral as we suffocate ourselves when we stick our heads in the Wal-Mart shopping bag looking for the last bag of Twinkies. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you our future: www.peopleofwalmart.com

Tonight

2010-01-16T01:01:00.003-06:00

$35 meal paid paid by the hands of a C.E.O
$40 of booze just by my lips paid by the hands of a C.E.O.
$18 Whiskey for the evening at home
$1.08 Inglorious Bastards

Tonight = Priceless

This year sucks

2010-01-14T21:03:00.003-06:00

ok...so far

My ex is flipping out and trying to keep me from seeing my son.
Water went out for half a week
Water pump failed on my car
Dish washing machine died
I did NOT get the fire department job even though I was in the top position. *politics*
Wife is totally stressing over money

2010 blows

Texas Department of Public Safety

2010-01-04T14:10:00.003-06:00

Fuck you! Fuck you Tx DPS!

Fuck you for closing your office to getting your drivers history

Fuck you for making a web site that does not accept your information

Fuck you for making this one of two bullshit ways of getting your driving history

Fuck you for making the other one a month long mail-in application where you DO NOT accept checks.

Fuck you for having a busy signal for six fucking hours to your customer service center. Even Dell answers their phone when their customers call.

Fuck you for being bitches on the phone about it

FUCK YOU DPS

So far so good

2010-01-01T12:31:00.002-06:00

This year is already pretty freaking sweet! My daughter and I spent the morning on the couch watching cartoons. She was so quiet that I was able to sleep for most of it.

Then, as I am typing this blog, my wife brings me a sandwich. Maybe my Fire Department will call today and say that I get the slot that just opened! Here's to 2010!

Happy New Years

2010-01-01T00:09:00.003-06:00

In 2010 I :

1) Resolve to get dressed 2/3 of the year. The 1/3 of the year I reserve as optional dress days
2) Resolve to eat a meal once a day. Some days I might even eat several times
3) Resolve to drink more beer. The wife brews beer and I am the official quality control officer.
4) Resolve to eat more red meat and invite PETA over for dinner each night I do. Sometimes even lunch
5) Resolve to abuse the planet and write Al Gore in a photo blog
6) Resolve to shop at Wal-Mart and support the Chinese government as I do
7) Resolve to sign up for the Obama Citizen Block Leader program
8) Resolve to start drinking when the British do...which I figure is 6am my time
9) Resolve to stop procrastinating
10) Resolve to

A lttie something for the rough times

2009-12-08T15:31:00.000-06:00

Day Five, Six, Seven, and Eight

2009-11-27T19:01:00.004-06:00

Day Five, Six, Seven, and Eight

We did fire steams on day five, and the rest are a blur. I finally got permission to go off campus to get some medicine. I don't know what I've been doing but somehow I got special recognition.

I guess the instructors knew I was sick as a dying dog but I still kept up with the class making sure I kept pushing until I came seconds away from passing out. Had it not been for my captain making me stop I would have. I had no water in me, I puked but nothing came out. My body was hot but my skin running cool. No sweat....all bad signs. But I finished. I know that if feces hits the thermal osculator I'm able to pull my weight under some pretty gnarly conditions.

So for the entire day I was treated with honors. I know they meant well but I didn't feel great getting recognized for almost not finishing. But I just need to accept how they wanted to credit my commitment and not my performance.

But seriously, the rest of the days are a blur. I didn't write in my blog those days and I was so doped up that I remember bits and pieces. I *KNOW* I had Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast one day. After that....... all a blur

Day Four

2009-11-27T18:57:00.003-06:00

Day Four

Holy crap I feel like crap! Craptasitc! Heading is pounding, snot running out my nose, tired as hell..... mold. It's been raining like a mother at the academy and it stopped today. To add to my fun we did hose loads all day.

First we loaded the bed and then the cross-lays (the side hoses). Then we practiced deployments which means loading back into the beds. Not bitching much but geeeez.

Everyone is telling me I look like shit. They ain't much better, they look like Canadians. :P

Day four

2009-11-27T18:51:00.002-06:00

Day Four

We got our rookie ropes and PPE today! A rookie rope is a symbol, a responsibility, and a tool. It must be around our waist at all times (expect for showering and when in *PPE). It shows a fire fighters commitment to preparedness and readiness. It also means we have to keep track of it. If it is lost then we have to earn it back. Either as a class or as an individual.

It didn't take long for us to learn the importance of having the rope available at all times. We had several "60 Seconds", a drill on which you have to don your PPE in ...you guessed it, 60 seconds. A few of us left the ropes around our waist and thus unable to get the rope when our PPE is on.

Push-ups!

*PPE: Personal Protective Equipment, aka Bunker gear, aka turn out gear, aka the hot smelly suit, aka what fire fighters wear

Day Three

2009-11-27T10:17:00.002-06:00

Day Three

Haz-mat...............haz-mat

Wow....talk about a dry subject. Eight hours of facts, facts, and more facts. We had a great instructor that was funny and helpful. He is also about as old as g-d, probably could pass for his younger brother. Talks and looks just like Sam Elliot... kid you not!

We also picked our class Captains and Lieutenants. Freaking last thing I want to do is be a baby sitter in the academy. A few people nominated me and I got a chance to quickly decline the nomination. My attitute of it is that I have been leading people for a long time. Its something I know better than fire fighting. I am in the fire academy to learn fire fighting, not leadership. So..... I'd rather just be a regular Joe. Nothing snobby about it, just a time and place for it and now is not it.

On another note, our cook is a strange dude. He sounds like that creepy old man off of Family guy. He keeps walking into the commons and talking to us. We have no clue what he is saying and I fear that we just agreed to come over to his house to watch "Rainman".

Day two

2009-11-27T10:05:00.001-06:00

Day Two

Aced this mornings test! Yay

Today, in class, we are going over response and size-up, incident command, and building structures. Interesting stuff and I am picking up a lot of details. Still, overall, eight hours of class is pretty rough on my back side.

I am still getting used to this dorm type sleeping arrangement. At the fire house its just me and the guys. Here is me and 20 ~ 30 people sleeping in a dorm. There has been some pranks but mostly just amateur stuff. Stacking someones stuff on them while they sleep and taking pictures. Shaving cream on the hand, etc.

The computers here are a bit of a challnage. The connection is slow and the web browser keeps crashing. Its frustrating but I am still thankful for what we have.

Day One

2009-11-05T10:50:00.003-06:00

Day One

Uuurg, almost no sleep.

We are going to have a test every morning that covers 2~4 chapter of the basic fire instructional book. Its one of those "Prove what you know" type of things. I can already tell that all my free time of going to be studying for the test the next day.

aced the test by the way

Tomorrow I have fire communication, basic safety, and some other introductory level testing

Pre Day One

2009-11-05T10:14:00.003-06:00

Pre Day One

I left my home in the Texas Hill Country so that I can arrive an hour before the Fire Academy starts in Crowley, Texas. Home of Training Divisions two week boot camp. Something that TD does that no other fire school does (to my knowledge) is the dorm living for two solid weeks. You leave, eat, breath, and sleep "Fire House". From 6am (most often earlier) to 8pm (most often later) you are full on Fire House mode. Even when we sleep we have to be ready for fire drills.

So anyways, I made a quick introduction with the fire instructors and then slipped up to the dorm room to pick out a kick arse bunk. Which I did, thanks to the advice of previous students. I got setup and then came the Canadians....wow, holy crap! My class is 3/4 Canuk!

They look normal enough... no 6th finger or webbed toes. Although they did dress like they just finished a Hollywood western marathon. But every freaking word out of their mouth is "Eh" or pronounced "A". I worked with Canadians before and they never said "Eh" this much.

The instructors got us gathered up and assembled in the class room. Gave us our orientation, and then dismissed us for dinner. This is were I met Mr. Glenn, the food preparer. The poor guy is pushing 60, can't understand a damn word he says, and cooks everything in the microwave on the nuclear hot setting for 30 minutes. I swear he actually made green beans hard and turned our dinner rolls into solid state ammunition for the Army's new mass rail gun. He tries and that's what matters I suppose. I like him but not the food so much, two weeks to go!

Later that night..... k, no one has done their chores. I proceed to mop, scrub the toilets, wipe the mirrors and counters, etc etc. Its about 11:30 pm now I am all geared up. Can't sleep.

1:20 am - Just finish my third episode of DEA enforcement on TruTV. I am going to try and sleep

*All academy posts have been published after the academy due to technical problems with the academy computers.

By the way

2009-10-04T12:20:00.002-05:00

Hey, by the way, I will get back to my normal insightful posting and ground breaking research into matters of no measurable significance here soon. I am SO very close to finishing the fire academy and it has all my time at the moment. Give me about another week and I'll be back to talking with you folks again

Rain, Rain, please stay!

2009-10-04T12:13:00.002-05:00

Well shoot! We went about two years under a heavy drought down here in Texas. Its a dry heat so its bearable but dang! I haven't been able to burn any brush for just about two years straight now. So long that I totally forgot that I have brush to burn. It just sits there at the back of my property breeding mosquitoes and what not.

Its been so dry that I hear lakes like Lake Travis, Inks Lake, and the such are so low that boat ramps are being closed and houses there were once lake front property are now distant lake view houses. Freaky.

Well, now for just about the last three weeks or so its been rain just about every other day. Grass that I never knew I had is growing so fast that its knee high now. My dead garden is popping out tomatoes, zucchini, chard, beans, peas, etc. Also found out that my shed has a major leak in the roof.

Plus my entire district is lighting up like crazy. It was a slow summer with maybe one or two tones a day. Now its like seven or eight. Its fun! I love the rain!

Regret

2009-10-03T19:40:00.002-05:00

My two biggest regrets are marrying my ex-wife and upgrading to Internet Explorer 8

Gourd news!

2009-09-28T11:40:00.002-05:00

I took my National Registry exam for my EMT-B[asic] license and passed on the first try! So far, and I do call out so far, emergency medical care is coming quickly to me. I accredit some of that to my past life as a high level computer solutions agent for a big mongoloid computer company.

What I mean is that differential "trouble shooting" is a transferable skill. Now computers and people are the same as night and day but the method of find a problem with the two is the same. So maybe that is the reason why it is so easy..... so far.

Anywho! I passed on the first try! Now its on to my counties operational guidelines test so I can become approved by my counties medical director. I am also finishing my fire academy!

UT vs TT

2009-09-19T17:43:00.002-05:00

Been slow smoking four racks of ribs for the last six hours, wife made some home made tater' salad, got a big case of shiner in the fridge, daughter is in her little UT cheerleader costume ... bring on the game!

Dooms day scenarios

2009-09-15T13:32:00.002-05:00

My instructors at my EMT school called our Thursday class, the stress class. The mentioned that they would place in hard situation and see how we reacted.

The scenarios consisted of

An EMT screw with one student as the incident commander, aka head EMT.
The stages of responding to an incident
The patient
Care of the patient
Packaging and transport

The details are particularly boring unless you are an EMT nerd and love to debate the virtues of 10 code over plain English at a non-alcoholic mixer. The short of it was that I rocked. The time I have put into my F.D. showed. My stress level was down, my train of thought was right in line with what the patient needed, and I was able to manage my crew like a champ. In the morning that is....

That after noon the instructors decided to give us "the worst of the worst" with yours truly being elected by the class to go first.

When we arrived at the incident location, 4 workers had fallen through the rafters of a housing construction work site. No sooner had I set a staging zone for my crew that they took off in four different directions. As I tried my quickest to triage the patients (2 two red, one yellow, and one green) I was also trying to get them to focus on what I was saying. I would get them collected on a red patient and as soon as I turned my head they would head straight to the patient making the most noise (my green patient, last priority).

To make matters worse, I radioed into our mock medical command asking for and getting approved for a mass causality incident but NO back up resources available except for medivac. No Police, Fire Department, or additional EMS. I'll take what I can get and frankly two choppers would be a big help getting my patients out since I am short a method of transport here.

So there are my people, back on the green patient. I look back to my two reds and notice that they are missing. That's when the instructor tells me they died falling through the roof and are now lying on the bottom of the building. K, screw'em. Can't save a dead person

So I instruct my people to work on our yellow patient. Problem is that they are spending ten minutes just trying to get my last priority patient on a back board. Which is right about the time my yellow patient goes into neurogenic shock. After several commands to get the green patient off the back board and have him walk out (cause he can) my guys are still freaking out and working on the back board. I am holding c-spine on my yellow patient because my crew got tunnel vision and neglected him. Another ten minutes of commands to get the g-d damn back board over to our now red (high priority patient) and the instructor tells me that he is also dead.

Faaaaaawk!. ok. So they still have not put the straps on the now only living patient. I walk over, strap him up and get him out of the rafters all in 30 seconds time. Finally something going somewhat right. I then notice that all of our gear is missing. The instructors are laughing saying that our gear was stolen. F'ers

We get the patient to our ambulance when medical command radio's for medivac arrival. Yes! We get a quick landing zone setup and signal for a landing. We then give the briefing and load the patient onto our make believe chopper.

The pilot asks for an all clear to take-off. I look around for any loose debris and noticed that our medical gear has show back up. I whip around to give a negative on an all clear when I see one of my screw giving a thumbs up. I could only close my eyes as the instructor took a blanket laying on the ground and threw it into the rotors and notified us that the pilot, co-pilot, crew, patient, by-standards, me and my crew had all died in a horrible crash.

my mind was numb

The only good news is that they told me that this scenario is specifically setup to have an 80% causality rate. It's basically a doomsday scenario to see how we handle the stress of something like this. I don't think they have managed to ever see an incident commander manage to get everyone killed though.......... I can still hear them screaming *shutter*

9/11

2009-09-11T20:05:00.004-05:00

I just got back from Dallas (see last post) but I did make time, like I had to had my arm twisted or something, to visit my fire family.

Its a normal day for fire fighters. A normal day to remember our pledge and a normal day to remember the standard of bravery set by those eight years ago.

Every fire fighter was at work, just like normal. We are there rain or shine, ready to save your life by risking ours.

I hear some law makers declared this a state holiday for fire fighters. They say we can legitimately take off. I think everyone can appreciate that, its a nice sentiment. I guess if they knew us better they would know that we would never dream of taking off.

Back!

2009-09-11T19:50:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone! I am back from EMT school! I went to go get my EMT-B, aka Basic.

A basic EMT, here in Texas, is trained to aid in basic type rescue stuff. Things like eye injuries, open wounds, partial to full avulsion, evisceration, giving birth, special needs patients, CPR, and other stuff. I make it sound kind of easy, and it is, but the topics are not so generalized and of course they are more detailed.

I went to a school called Training Division. Its basically an on-line school with a one week "boot camp". I normally loath such "easy routes" in the fire service. Do keep in mind that I have been "doing" the job for six months now. Most of this stuff I learned in the field and up close and personal. Other wise I would strongly recommend that an individual attend a traditional education center for their EMT-B.

So anywho this fits my needs to just pass the damn national test and get on with my life. Its jumping through hoops and any FF can understand that.

So did I pass my school? G-d damn right I did! Now I just need to take my national exam on Monday, wait until they tell me I passed, then give the State of Texas their blood money to get my Texas certification, and then study and pass my counties S.O.G.'s

I'll be done long before September ends.

Anyways, I'm back!

Ted Kennedy

2009-08-26T13:59:00.002-05:00

Ted Kennedy died...

I heard his last move "Malibu's Most Wanted" was a flop so maybe that is suspect into his sudden and untimely death. I did like his candid camera show though....

Its was spider-man in the end

2009-08-24T19:38:00.003-05:00

I haven't been blogging lately because my ex-wife is pulling even more crap with me. Its not bad enough that she cheated on me, screws me out of child support, and keeps me from seeing my son. As of lately she no longer wants to meet "half way" which was actually 3/4 to her house. Now she is demanding I meet her at her house 56 miles away all because I didn't say "hi" to her one day and I don't call to see how she is doing.

Weird bizarre shit...like I give a fuck how she is doing. I just care that my son is ok. She could have a knife in her skull and I wouldn't be phased by that. Well, I mean I might if I had medical gloves on me thus making me obligated under Texas law to render aid as a first responder.

So she is using the law to punish me because she got her feelings hurt, or something. I don't know what to make of this but I have spent the last week calling lawyers and getting legal advise. Much to say, I've been bummed out. I've been dragging as around the house, dishes are pilling up, wife is wondering when I am going to get off my ass and clean, and I am sitting here wishing that I could fast forward to my sons 18th birthday.

So I am shifting through my e-mail when I see this. Yeah.... it cheered me up. I laughed..... I snorted a little. I even laughed out loud. Yes, truly... I LOL'ed :P

In the end, it was Spider-man that made me laugh.

You mother F'er

2009-08-14T17:50:00.000-05:00

I had a totally different post in mind. I had it written and had some of the finishing edits coming into place when my wife told me about the fire chief at the Sam Bass Fire Department.

Cuse' me chief but little kids look up to us as heros. Little kids, my children even, hop on to my engine and have their minds tickled with energy and imagination I can only be in awe of. And you...someone I take orders from would do this....THIS... of all things! The red line will not cover you here. You, sir, are ....... *sigh*

I need to hold back and wait for a jury.

The Hill Country Blogger is *Fuming fucking mad*

Justified!

2009-08-11T13:25:00.004-05:00

Remember me bitching about turning 30? That it is death?

"At age 30, patients begin to loose 1% every year of their organ function" - from my EMT-B study guide.

Death, long slow death, starts at 30! I freaking told you! I got it, I have old peoples disease! Now I am going to smell funny and shit my pants every other day.

BAH!

Now if you excuse me I need to go to my comfy chair and throw a blanket over my legs as I review the T.V. guide and yell at the kids through the window.

Big ba da BOOM!

2009-08-11T12:12:00.003-05:00

Word has it that the guy on top uses a lighter to look down into the baffle to check the level of the gasoline. Just so you know, gasoline in its liquid form is not combustible. Gasoline in its gas form IS combustible. If you didn't know that or some reason work for the SHELL GASOLINE company then now you know.

Testie

2009-08-11T11:49:00.002-05:00

I think I mentioned this before, I am finishing my tests for my EMT-B license. I seem to do very well when it comes to special age groups (children and old people). I also seemed to do surprisingly well on the Obstetric and Gynecologic emergencies.

Maybe I do know my way around a vagina..... who knew?

My other truck is a ...

2009-08-10T14:58:00.006-05:00

I have the pleasure of driving my little convertible. I also have a truck for hauling. These long and uncluttered country roads are great for taking the top down and just having some "me" time. And of course, being in the country, a truck is a must.

However, the third vehicle I drive is big, red, shiny, and makes lots of g-d damn noise. Yup, my other truck is a fire truck!

I visited the department of public [not] safety a few weeks ago and took my written exam in about ten minutes. PASSED with a 100%. You don't get anything special for that...maybe bragging rights but in the face of everything else I am learning or have to learn its pretty darn insignificant.

A month later my asst. chief pushed my ass into the tanker and took me back for my driving. I got to say, I really like my asst. chief. I got to talk to him more than I usually get to do. He spent the ENTIRE time talking about tanker safety and how to pass the test the first time.

A hour later and the inspector hands me my results (which is against policy I later find out). I passed with flying colors. I am all snithz and wiggles and have a big silly grin for my NEW class B licsense photo.

So if you ever see some Texas boy driving a fire engine with a big grin on his face then that's probablly me.

Butt its a martini

2009-08-08T18:49:00.002-05:00

Today is freaking exhausting! I am preparing for my EMT-B class, most fire fighters are also first responders. I am cramming in all my tests that I should have done a month ago.

Cheers to procrastination!

My mind is numb and for the first time in months I am hitting the hard liqueur. Wait, wait...I should preface that by saying I took a shower a few minutes ago. Its summer, my home office is at the corner of the house that gets the most sun light. Goes to figure, I feel like a greased up ass hole at rodeo night.

So yeah, there I am with a towel wrapped around me walking into the kitchen.

"Four parts gin, two parts vermouth, one part olive juice, add some ice....and shake"

3..2..1..exposure! I managed to catch the towel before more than my martini was shaking in the kitchen. However my son managed to get a view of my rear

"Oh gross! I could have done with out that!"

I was a little stunned. He is growing up so fast and his sense of sarcasm is maturing so fast.....that little son of a bitch.

Bright side: I won't care in about ten minutes

Horrible Day

2009-08-06T19:16:00.004-05:00

"I AM YOUR MOTHERFUCKING JESUS!" I screamed.

It's 104, my car is sitting in some super hot ass parking lot, people are looking at me and I am hungry. Why might you ask? A quick errand. natch!

My printer ran out of ink and I need to run by a government office to get my immunization records. On my way out my wife asks if I can get her meds from the clinic. Ok, be back in an hour....tops.

five hours later its boiling ass hot and my car is over heating. I am having to let my car cool down for half and hour before I can drive. I can get maybe a mile before I have to pull over and let my car cool down. But I do manage to get to a parts store.

One thermostat later and an hour cool down and I am at a mechanic shop. All I need is for him to drain my radiator and let me (or him) put in the new thermostat.

clack.....clack....clack... ok sir, that will be $98 for labor.

No. The words I had for him were not nice. I can summarize by saying that centered around him being a crook and a dirty bastard for taking advantage of someone else's emergency. Well...and that I can rent a car dolly for 1/3 of that price, take it home, and actually do a good job as apposed to what he wanted to do.

[Oh, by the way, he had a "labor breakdown" sheet right behind him. One hours work is $8.91]

I'mmmmmmm fairly certain we will never be friends. And I think one lady followed me out the door and when somewhere else for her state inspection. And for you readers, it was a Meinakie shop.

Flash forward two hours and my wife is at the U-Haul place with the truck.

For a day that was suppose to be a quick errand I ended up shelling out way more money then I should have. Have got a super swell sun burn. AND have a nice bit of auto work to do tomorrow.

Sum dude

2009-08-05T22:37:00.004-05:00

Odd things happen at night. Usually its the meth heads OD'ing and we have to cart them off to the county freezer while their "friends" have an acute emotional attack. Proceeded by complete denial when L.E.O starts asking them questions. Now I totally see where Law Dog and A.D. get their "Some Dude" statement.

LEO: So your friend just died of an OD of methamphetamine. Care to tell me why you have meth.

Suspect: Naw naw, Off-sa. Itant my mephem....merth...met...meth!

LEO: This is your house, its on your table, you reek of it, your breath reeks of it, and your showing all the signs of being under the influence.

Suspect: Naw naw, tats justb a cawntact high.

LEO: Your friend just died from it. Sure you don't want to come clean?

Suspect: Tant mine, I dawnt know tat bitch. She tust showed up and sarted usen! I hate tat bitch, shes ta one tat broke up with me. Iant never been cheaten!

LEO: k, wtf, but ok. put your hands behind your head and face the wall

And you can figure out what happens when a 60 pound hill billy runs out the door right into the 250 pound sheriff that is just arriving. Then attending to said hillbilly who is now covered with 13 day old body grease, dirt, sweat, and blood is not my ideal call.......at 3:30 in the morning.

LODD 8/5/2009

2009-08-05T12:31:00.001-05:00

Shawn Blazer
Scott Charlson
Edrik Gomez
Matthew Hammer
James Ramage
Steven Renno
Bryan Rich
Roark Schwanenberg
David Steele

Remember these heros

Mydixadrill

2009-08-05T11:33:00.001-05:00

Tylenol is acetaminophen, Aleve is naproxen, Amoxil is amoxicillin, Advil is ibuprofen, and so on.

The FDA has been looking for a generic name for Viagra, and announced today that they have settled on mycoxafailin.

Names also considered were: mycoxafloppin, mydixadrupin and mydixarizin and my personal favorite, mydixadrill.

Internet Exlorer

2009-08-05T00:29:00.002-05:00

Internet Explorer fucking sucks. I mean is reeeeeeeally fucking sucks. So fucking bad that 1 out of 2 times is fucking locks up hard than a tranny getting kicked in the nuts. Seriously! What the fuck?!

By the way, I am posting from FIREFOX. Cause it doesn't crash every fucking half second.

Stupid volly probie shit

2009-08-05T00:06:00.003-05:00

Still a volly, still a probie. more to come on that.

So everyone one wonders where I have been. Well, not at the office cause I got laid off so some VP could keep his private jet and some dick sucker could keep his job by making me look bad. No worries, I mean the company I worked at start to suck. Everyone was saying it... I just got laid off and got a nice severance packing in the process. Doesn't mean the Vp is not a selfish asshole or the former boss is an ass kissing fuck tard. We all have our place in this world, mine just isn't on my knees. I choose to hire American, let's just say that. ;)

Anywho, speaking of saving Americans I did just that. Still brand new...got my new leather smell on and everything. We get toned out to a Geri (geriatric) with cardiac, aka heart attack. It was an amazing experience. blood cuffs, pulse, questions, stretchers, a 12 lead cardio monitor and what did I do......went next door and ordered a hamburger for lunch.

To my credit I am not certified to touch patients (pt) yet so I took lunch orders.

No sooner did I get lunch then we get toned for anaphylactic shock. Woo-woo all the way to the other freaking side of our district, nice drive and all just so hard to eat when you are bouncing around. And where to put your drink in a fire engine with no cup holders...

Turns out out PT got stung by a scorpion......an hour ago. I know...I know, those of your with allergies are snorting...MAYBE even chortling. Still, a scorpion is scary.... ok fuck it, we were laughing when we got back into the engine. I mean I might feel bad but I mean, jeez, hit the internet and look it up or call a clinic and see if they want you to call 911. I don't know, I hate to desensitize someone to recognizing a true emergency but them.....how about actually recognizing one?

The hamburger was yummy by the way

Some new blong links

2009-08-02T22:45:00.004-05:00

I added some new blog links. Mostly female fire fighters.

I have a great deal of respect for the true female FF's. They work their asses off to match or exceed the abilities of their male counterparts, don't ask for "special" treatment, and don't ask to change the rules just for them....well other than their own bathroom. Not only do they have that but they also have old timers and jackasses that just plain don't want them in the service.

So you have that.... THEN you also have females that come in and make it harder on the ones that work hard and play hard. You got the femi-nazies who want to bust balls and get their NOW girlscout badge. The whiners who want a whole different play book just for them....like dying in a fire is somehow gender bias? And then the Firehouse fucks who joined just so they can fuck every fire fighter in the house.

These ladies of the Maltese cross have everything a man has to face, plus the BS politics, and even some of their own gender ready to screw their game. They take it like a man and then some....

My helmet is tipped to you ladies and your blog link is added to the blog list. I hope everyone gets to check their blogs out. Good stuff!

Raaaawr

2009-07-29T00:40:00.003-05:00

I just caught some pics of Jessica Biel in a strip dance her up coming movie "Powder blue" or something. Yes, I got to see JB boobies!

Is it possible to have a pre-mature for a pre-release? I think I just did....

beep

2009-07-28T16:40:00.000-05:00

Mmmmm.... Bacon wrapped- Oreo stuffed - Hot dogs!

La Bomba

2009-05-03T12:56:00.001-05:00

Second day on the job

2009-05-03T12:15:00.002-05:00

We had a slew of medical calls, nothing I can talk about of course. We also had a grass fire that turned out to be a false alarm. I'm not sure what I can talk about when we get a tone but I'll get that all sorted.

Back at the station we did some landscaping. Mowing, putting rock circles around the trees, clearing brush. Eventually we want to get some compost and cedar mulch to build around the trees. A few benches wouldn't hurt either as our tree clusters make for perfect shade areas. I brought up the idea of putting a park on the nine acres the FD has. The LT. very much liked that idea.

Best part of my day was the bon-fire! A crew full of fire fighters, 5 gallons of fuel, and two tries and they cannot get a fire going. Mind you we have had two solid weeks of rain and only a day and a half of sunshine. So to their credit the wood was still damp as well as the ground.

I walk up and boyscout a roaring bon-fire. All with a hand full of cedar bark, some twigs, and a lighter. Score one for the probie!

I also introduced Disc Golf to the guys. Bunch of grown men having a great time throwing the disc around. Score two!

Good day and the Lt. wants me on his shift. :)

The freemarket does work!

2009-05-02T10:50:00.000-05:00

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.

Swine Flu

2009-05-01T15:18:00.002-05:00

It's the latest thing ... mmmmmm-kaaay!

While the BBC is hitting the funnies over the zombies strains of the swine flu (Thanks for the link AD), you would be good to remember a nice variant of facts about the swine flu.

1) It's the flu, influenza, the same stuff you get every year after you flu shot and vow never to get the flue shot again but you do anyways because you cave into the hysteria of the press *deep breath* ... those run on sentences get me every time.

2) It's a respiratory transmitted virus. I might be wrong about this but the life span of the virus once it leaves its temperature range is 1 and 1/2 seconds. Meaning you pretty much have to be breathing the same air as the infected.

3) "The flu" or the flu season we all forget about until the press starts the hype machine kills *36,000 people on average a year ... which goes largely unreported. So far I think A person has died in the United States... thank you proper hygiene!

If you want some preventive care during this "outbreak". Try this: wash your hands, don't pick your nose, don't rub yours eyes without washing your hands first. And stop licking people...that has sh*t has GOT to stop. It's f'ing gross and I am tired of it. I swear if another person comes up and says "Hey, your the Hill Country Blogger" and licks me....I'm going to snap. I swear to g-d I am going to snap.

OH, one last thing. If you have 1) Ear and eye aches, Fever, Vomiting, Sore throat, and an uncontrollable desire to roll around in the mud then you have the swine flu.

"Questions and Answers Regarding Estimating Deaths from Influenza in the United States", CDC Website March 12th 2009, http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm

First semi-full shift on the job

2009-05-01T08:50:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was my "first" day responding to calls as a Fire Fighter! The guys at the house are great! So far none of them have given me any crap for being the new guy and they spend a great amount of their time answering all of my questions, trying to find new questions for me, giving me repeated runs downs of the apparatus and much more.

Another cool thing was the Lt. had me perform repeated exercises in getting into my bunker gear, the fire fighter suits you see on T.V.. The average for an experienced Fire Fighter is just under one minute (Pants and boots, cowl, jacket, SCBA mask, SCBA tank, helmet, and gloves). There is a certain way it all goes on and this stuff is like putting on several thick quilts. Arm reach is significantly reduced! When I was done I had it down to a minute and 30 seconds and now I am much more confident in my ability to at least get going on the truck.

I'm a Fire Fighter

2009-04-29T22:45:00.002-05:00

I y'am I y'am a fire fighter Sam I am...

That is kind of the reason for my lack of posting. Been kind of busy learning the hooks and ladders. Today was getting my CPR cert. and learning about the trucks and such. In the mean time, check out this cute little video

Economics in the nude

2009-04-28T08:42:00.002-05:00

Here's a good 30 minute run down of current economics. For those of you that know me personally and talk to me about this stuff...this is a good primer of what I ramble about. Odds are you tune out anyways and this is a total waste of my time :P

Beating the speed traps

2009-04-23T15:48:00.001-05:00

*snicker* Interesting reversal in the traffic cam crap.

ABCDEFG.....

2009-04-23T10:00:00.001-05:00

I'm still here. Had computer problems and just now getting back up. I'll start putting up the updates today and stuff

Anyone miss me?

2009-04-06T12:37:00.002-05:00

Hey I got laid off...

I won't identify who I worked for, the reason (other than it was do to company down-sizing due to the economic environment), and when. For those of you that know me personally, please keep this information private.

That is all....I am back to writing blogs :)

The playhouse project part five

2009-02-26T10:46:00.003-06:00

So I didn't go to my Wednesday Level One class because of my bum foot. I decided to work on the playhouse after work yesterday. This is the north facing side all fixed up and ready to be painted sometime soon. Puuuurdy!

The window looks a little uneven but that is because I made a rough cut and have not finished my trim cutting. All in time....all in time

This little piggy went... "OH F@#k"

2009-02-25T10:08:00.001-06:00

[POST for Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 posted on Thursday, Feb. 26th]

K, so I fractured my wrist back in October. It was broken by one of the female students, now an instructor getting too aggressive and not following instructions. Its ok, she is female and is allowed to do that. It's just the males that are not allowed too. Or so I thought.

So here we are, doing a groin kick defense. Simple.... attacker give a groin kick and defender does the block (with slight redirect). My partner didn't understand "I'm gonna kick you and you do the defend". I went to kick and well.....heh....so did he. I tend to pull back my kicks since this is class... my partner did not. I took the brunt of the kick right in my toes.

For pretty much the entire class my right foot was numb. The last 15 minutes it started throbbing in pain. Let's also add in that my healing fractured wrist was twisted in a choke break practice while right in front of both the owner and the head instructor. Both know my wrist was fractured and both didn't even flinch.

Meh....just venting. I sense that my self-control "issue" is more subjectively evaluated rather than objectively.

ANYWHO! Yeah, my toe is hurting. I going to take tonight off from practice and see if it gets better by Friday.

Stabbed

2009-02-18T16:12:00.001-06:00

[POST for Wednesday, February 18, 2009 posted on Tuesday, Feb. 24th]

I got stabbed last night... over and over and over....and I enjoyed every minute of it. Last night was our last night of knife class at the Krav studio. The lady (meets my policy standard) kicked my butt and stabbed me with the training knife several dozen times. Today I have little black and blue marks all over my abdomen.

Still, I did very well and I know that I would be "above average" in a knife fight. I might want to look into getting a training knife for the house. Would be nice to practice there too.