…..I’m burning for you

   I haven’t blogged in a few days, because I’ve been really busy with work. Since I haven’t written much about my job I thought this would be a good week to start. As most of you know who follow my blog (read: all 4 of you) I am a firefighter in central Florida. One thing I have noticed since starting my career is that; firefighters (for most people) fall under the “out of sight, out of mind” paradox. There is a simple reason for this, firefighters are assosiated with the worst days of your life. You wreck your car, have a death in the family, or your small fury friend gets stuck up a tree. These are not things you want to remember, and as a result we get pushed back with them. Thats why I thought it would be great for you to see what we do during the week, when were not running calls. 

    This week we trained on RIT (Rapid Intervention Team). This is not a spinoff of a popular A&E program, it’s a two man team, whose sole  responsbility at a fire scene, is locating and rescuing/removing an injured or entraped firefighter from a burning building. This is an extremely stressful postition to fill. Not only do you have to prepare yourself mentally, to see a close friend hurt or possibly dead, but the physical demands are overwhelming. A downed firefighter is approximatley 300lbs of dead weight. Now consider draging or carrying that weight across carpet, over furniture, up stairs, all in 500-800 degree temperatures. This is what it looks like.                                                               (BTW Im the victim)                  

   It’s hard to tell from the picture but the two firefighters on either side of me have there masks covered with saran wrap, to simulate smoke conditions. The only thing you can see is bright colors in a 12-18 inch proximity. Before locating the downed firefighter the RIT team had navigate a maze. They followed a wall squeezing through small holes to simulate breeched walls and debris.

As you can see in one of the pictures, some holes are so small, you have to remove your air pack and push it in front of you to get through. In another you can see the wires that are used to slow us down and teach us self survival techniques. So that is one of the training exersises we worked on this week.

   Now don’t think for one minute that it is all work and no play. The building we were given to train in was elementary school that was set to be torn down. This gave us a great opportunity to practice every firefighters two favorite tasks, emergency escape and ventilation. This includes breeching walls, pulling ceiling, and breaking windows. These are done so we can totally destroy stuff escape quickly, or prevent the fire from spreading. Enjoy the gallery below.

B-shift demo eastside elementery training

Bonus I got a video of a couple of the guys breeching a wall and going through. Really cool stuff.

 

This is apparently not my blog anymore

For the last hour I have been trying to write an awesome post about the economy and how I have saved money by changing light bulbs and such. I even had a great header for it. However my new Editor: (read God) thought that idea was crap. He literally invaded my writing, getting me off subject every time. Instead he wanted me to tell you that one year ago this month my wife and I started doing our finances God’s way. The first year we were married we made unwise decisions with our money. We tithed only when we had extra , and definitely didn’t listen to God about what we should and shouldn’t buy. In fact the only time we talked to God about money was to ask if we could have some more. And so for the next 2 or 3 years we reaped what we sowed. We got debt and late fees and even a house (right before the bubble busted). Then last October this guy made us a bet. If we gave 10% of what we brought home back to God for one year, and didn’t think God kept his promise, he would give every penny back to us.  Now we were both raised as  church brats and never expected to ask for our money back no matter what happened, but the message that the bet was contained in hit home. It convicted us to be obedient. God had kept us floating despite every bucket of water we tried to throw in the boat. Now it was our turn to be faithful. One year later and things are definitely different. Our money has stretched further, there have been no expensive breakdowns, and we are starting to reap new crops from a “God planted field”. But the most significant change has been to my attitude about giving. I want to give, I want Him to have control. There is still a long way to go, we want to eliminate most of our debt, and save more money, but there’s nothing to worry about doing, when you give up control.

Andre-isims

I would like to introduce you to someone who I would consider a friend. His name is Andre and He has been coming to the Fire department I work for, every day for over 12 years. According to Andre, He is the “fire department mascot”. (His words not mine) Andre is developmentally challenged, but as you will find out, it is only physical. Mentally Andre is sharp as a tack, and funny too. Andre has told me many times that if it wasn’t for his physical disabilities he would have become a firefighter. If he had started his career when he began visiting the the station he would be half way to retirement. When not hanging out at the station, Andre spends his time at disney where he works as security to the disney characters. He is also a devoted Michigan fan, no matter what the sport Andre is routing for Michigan. As i told you Andre is funny, and part of my daily routine at the fire department is waiting for Andre to visit and asking him a question, just to hear his thoughts on the subject. So it was only natural that I should start publishing these conversations. Here is the first of a weekly segment called Andre-isims. 

Me: Andre, What is your most Memorable Halloween costume. 

Andre: “He-Man the master of the Universe”

Me: hysterical laughter. (he answered almost immediately without even having to think about it)

 

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Grace

I am broken. I am dysfunctional, disgruntled, disassembled. I am defeated and defected. I am being recalled. I accidently got put through the wash. I need to be returned, re-thought, repurposed. I have sprung a leak, I am cracked, scratched up, I skip. I am in disrepair. I am in shambles. I am the blue screen of death. I just wont start. I am too far gone. I am a lemon. I am just not worth the trouble. I am spiteful, impatient, prideful. I am the green eyed monster. I am angry, I am silver tongued.I am two faced. I have disrespected, disheartened, disappointed, distracted, discouraged, destroyed. 

I am Wanted. I am sought after. I am a prized possession. I am untouchable. I am thought about, planned for, provided for, protected.

I am forgiven for no good reason.

Caption contest

The girls have commendeered my laptop,to look at possible Halloween costumes. So I’m forced to write tonight blog on the iPhone. This in turn leaves me with little motivation to write anything deep or thought provoking (like you would get it anyway). On the bright side it gives me the opertunity to do one of my favorite type of posts in the bloging world. So go ahead and give it your best shot.

Russian Roulette

Yesterday at work we decided to have a seafood extravaganza, (i just realized that word looks…never mind) The week prior, when we came up with the idea, I suggested we have oysters. FYI oysters just so happen to be one of my favorite foods. My suggestion was met with almost 100% approval, except from one guy who described eating oysters as “playing russian roulette”. Just so you know he was just being disagreeable, he actually ate quite a few oysters yesterday. This in turn led to a heated, yet completely facetious debate on the safety of consuming oysters, specifically raw ones. Now I’ve been eating oysters for some time now, and have always abided by the rule of only eating them raw in months that have an r in them (ie. febuaRy, maRch). However more recently I have broke the rule based on the logic that  ”times have changed”. With advancements in refrigeration, and shorter transport times, does the rule still apply? So i ask you, reader. What are your thoughts on oysters? If you like oysters, how do you enjoy them (raw, steamed, fried, all of the above),(saltine, cocktail sauce,..)? Do you follow the “rule”? If you hate them, why don’t you describe the first expirence you had with them. 

 

Ps I ate approximately 100 oysters yesterday and have suffered no ill affects as of yet.

If you can’t beat’em…

Today I decided to start a blog. Not for a certain girl, (who has been telling me to for almost a year), not to try to enlighten anyone, not so I can rant and rave about everything I don’t understand or dislike. I decided to start a blog so I can get these thoughts, these obsessive all-consuming, distracting contemplations out of my head. I don’t expect it to be as creative as this guy, or as well written as this girl. Reader, please don’t come here hoping to find the wisdom of this guy, or even the insight of this one. It wont be as funny as his, or hers for that matter.  Hopefully I will post more often then him.  But if you do decided to visit more than once maybe you will get to see me change, watch me grow as a father, a husband, a firefighter, a christ-follower, and maybe even a writer.