#75

Ever since I resigned from my job with Aurora Fire Rescue, I’ve been trying to get back on to a fire department. My latest endeavor is West Metro Fire Rescue. 

Starting earlier this year they opened up their applications for entry level firefighter. I tried to get on with this department when I first moved out to Colorado, but never got anywhere with it. They have the most difficult physical test of all the departments I’ve tested with. Their test isn’t difficult in the elements that you have to do, but your score is weighted based on your time. This means you have to go as hard as you can to get as low of a time as possible to get a better score. I got a 90% on the test, which is much better than the last time I did it.  I was really happy with that score. Last time I did it I barely passed somewhere in the low 70’s.  This time I had really trained hard to try to get a good score. The written test, I scored a 79. Not as good as I had hoped because I thought I knew almost all of the questions that I answered. Careless mistakes is all I can figure. The oral boards I had never done with this department. When I finished the oral board, I felt really good. I never feel good coming out of my oral boards.

This week I got my score for the oral boards and I scored somewhere in the low 70’s. This puts me #75 on the hiring list. I’m sad that this is my ranking. I want to leave my current job and get on with a fire department really bad. West Metro is a great department, and I would love to work for them. The hiring list is good for 2 years. Normally, I would think OK, I have a chance. But with the economy in the tank like it is now I don’t really think I have a good chance of getting hired. I don’t know how much hiring is going to go on if departmetns are not hiring to expand, but just to replace retirees.

I think what disapoints me the most is that once again, my life is still going to be on hold. Driving an ambulance, I don’t get paid much of anything. Basically all I can afford to pay for is food, rent, gas, and my car payment. There’s really not much I can do with my life. I rent a room in a house from a friend of mine. I really want my own home so I can have a dog and do what I want with my house. I have nothing to show for what I’ve done so far. I’m 32 years old and still living like a college student. Its very depressing to think that this is the best I can do when I know I’m capable of much more. My girlfriend lives in Salt Lake. She enjoys where she is living and I enjoy where I am living. She has more to keep her in Salt Lake than I have keeping me in Denver. She enjoys her job and I am sick of mine. If I can’t ever have a fire department job here, then there is nothing that can really hold me here. Getting a fire job for me is more than just getting a job, its about being able to start living my life the way I want to.

Interesting calls

Well the week started out kind of different. Its nice to get some variety as my job is boring me to death.

My regular partner wasn’t able to get into work for the first day of the week as he was stuck at an airport from bad weather. So that left me without a partner for the day. I manged to keep my self entertained. I went on a blood draw for a DUI. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was the person who had hit one of our ambulances that evening. My old partner was on a scene when this guy hit the side of her ambulance. Cops were already on the scene and saw it happen. The crazy thing, is the guy who hit the ambulance tried to drive off. The Cops ran him down on foot and pulled him out of his car to put him in custody. Thankfully no one was seriously injured, but my old partner had some pretty bad back pain as a result.

The next day, thankfully,  my partner was back. We had one call that was interesting. Our patient had had recent knee replacement surgery and had fallen. When we got there, his artificial knee was sticking out of his skin. It looked as if the stitch had ripped open. It reminded me of that scene from the Terminator when Arnold cuts open his hand to show the guy that he is a cyborg. We used the KED to stabilize the injury. Its a shame that we don’t have anything really good for stabilizing this kind of an injury.

On another note, I was talking to a friend of mine this week that works for one of the other agencies. He was transporting a non emergent patient. They stopped at a stop light when two guys opened up the back doors to their ambulance and they threw a guy in who had been stabbed. My friend told his driver to go emergent to their trauma center. The guy who was stabbed was a big guy who was sweaty and bloody, so he was difficult to get up on the bench seat. His driver was driving like a mad man throwing him around the back of the ambulance. Come to find out the guy who had done the stabbing was trying to run the ambulance off the road to finish the job. They finally got the hospital. Lesson learned, lock your doors.

Google Chrome

Today, Google announced that they have taken their web browser, Chrome, out of Beta. I know there are concerns about privacy and whatnot, but I still really like Chrome. It has been my default browser for a while now. Its much faster to load the program and then to load pages than the other browsers out there.

Before I was using Chrome, I was using Opera, as it loaded the fastest. Before that it was Mozilla Firefox, and I was using that back when it was called Phoenix and Firebird. I had become a big fan of Mozilla there for a while, but my tastes have changed. I was using Thunderbird for my email client. Now I am using Gmail. I was using Mozilla’s Sunbird/Lightning for my calendar. Now I use Google Calendar. I’m just not the fan of Internet Explorer. My company makes us use it to interact with our scheduling software. That is the only time I use it now.

Baseball Hall of Fame

Once again, Ron Santo was denied entry into the Hall of Fame. I’m not quite the die hard fan of Santo, but as a Cubs fan, I still think he was a great player and would be deserving of a spot in the Hall of Fame. There certainly is a following of people who are wanting to see Santo inducted in. He was the Cubs’ 3B from 1960-1973. His career numbers are:

  • .277 BA
  • 342 HR
  • 1331 RBI
  • 1138 R
  • .826 OPS
  • 9 All star appearances
  • 5 Gold gloves

I imagine the majority of the people who are pulling for him to get in are Cub fans. His numbers are good, but they aren’t astounding. Maybe that’s why he isn’t getting voted in.

Another player that I would really like to see get in from the Cubs is Andre Dawson. Also known as “The Hawk”. Dawson spent most of his career between the Montreal Expos and the Chicago Cubs. His last years were with the Florida Marlins and the Boston Red Sox. Dawson was old school. When Ryne Sandberg was elected into the HoF, he mentioned Dawson in his induction speech saying how he believes Dawson should be in the HoF as well.

Andre Dawson, the Hawk. No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson. He’s the best I’ve ever seen. Stand up Hawk. The Hawk. I watched him win MVP for a last place team in 1987 and it was the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen in baseball. He did it the right way, the natural way and he did it in the field and on the bases and in every way, and I hope he will stand up here someday. We didn’t get to a World Series together but we almost got there, Hawk.

Dawson had a quirky batting stance where he placed all his weight on his back foot and then pushed off with it as he swung. He struck out a lot, but he was a power hitter. His defense was outstanding. Unfortunately, his knees were shot from the years of playing on the turf in Montreal. This slowed him down in the second half of his career limiting his range in RF. But his arm was unmatched. The Hawk would routinely take away singles from guys who didn’t hustle to first base when the ball was hit in front of him. Plays at the plate, I saw numerous times when he’d throw out a runner at home plate from RF on the fly. Ryno made a great point about him in his induction speech, Dawson won an MVP for a last place team one year. That says a lot about how much he contributed to the team.

A future Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux, retired this week as well. He started his career with the Cubs where he won his first Cy Young award. He was then let go and went to Atlanta where he had the best years of his career. The Cubs’s GM Larry Himes, an idiot, was responsible for letting him go. Maddux wanted to come back to the Cubs after getting a deal from the Braves, asking the Cubs to match it. Himes told him the money was already spent. Himes was eventually run out of town.

Maddux was a brilliant pitcher. He knew more about pitching, location, and how hitters think than anyone. He didn’t have overpowering stuff, but he could put the ball exactly where he wanted it and make the player hit his pitches. There’s even a story where a bet was made that Maddux’s catcher had the easiest job. They blindfolded his catcher one day in the bullpen to test a theory. All he had to do was hold his glove up there and Maddux would hit it. It happened. Maddux will be voted in his first year for sure. He’ll be an invaluable asset to any club who wants a pitching coach.

There is talk of the triumvirate of Maddux, Smotlz, and Glavine all retiring and all being voted in on the same day for the Hall of Fame. Those three were solid pitchers for several years in the Braves organization. When they left Atlanta, it was definitely an end of an era.

Calvin and Hobbes Make Snow People

Calvin and Hobbes has always been one of my favorite cartoon strips of all times. Its a shame Bill Watterson only did it for 10 years. The official site is now at gocomics.com. I use Google Reader so I can see a new strip every day.

My mom has always said that she thinks the author of Calvin and Hobbes is really a friend of mine named Ford. It is kind of scarry how similar Ford’s childhood was to Calvin’s, I must admit.

A few years ago, someone sent me a seires of Calvin cartoons depicting Calivn and Hobbes making snow people. I always find it really funny and like to recirculate it around Christmas time (yes that’s right I say Christmas, not holiday). So I’m inclucing that series here. Hope you laugh as much as I do everytime I see it.

Buy Calvin and Hobbes Books at Amazon.com

 

Protecting our country

Bill O’reilly had some interesting points to say last night during his talking points. He was talking about President Elect Barack Obama’s plans to control our intelligence gathering capabilities. Here’s what he had to say.

Tension is rising between India and Pakistan because it looks like the killers who attacked Mumbai were based inside Pakistani territory. If shooting breaks out between these two countries, the world will have yet another crisis created by Muslim terrorists.

It is obvious to sane people that the American intelligence agencies must continue to stay ahead of the terror-killers and disrupt plots like Mumbai should they be directed here. To do that, information from captured terror suspects becomes vital.

But President-elect Obama has committed himself to an undefined no torture policy and is also having some difficulty finding someone to head up the CIA. Former CIA Chief of Staff John Brennan has taken himself out of the running because some far-left loons criticized him for taking an aggressive anti-terror stance after 9/11.

This is very disturbing. The far-left wants the CIA to go by the Army Field Manual when interrogating suspects. If that happens, all of us will be in danger.

Why? Well, here’s what the manual says: “Prisoners of war who refuse to answer (questions) may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.”

Now — and this is important — that is fine for the military. It is not their job to break down terror suspects. It’s their job to kill or capture them on the battlefield. The CIA should interrogate high-value targets.

But if Obama orders the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies not to employ any tough interrogation methods, trust me, many people will die. The terrorists are not going to stop, and only very aggressive action against them has kept us safe since 9/11.

But these far-left loons, these despicable people who blame America for worldwide terrorism, now have far more power in this country than they did just one month ago.

I believe Barack Obama understands the danger the Muslim terrorists pose to the world. I believe Mr. Obama will not destroy the CIA’s ability to break down terror suspects. He has to know that hardcore terrorists are not going to give up information easily.

But still some people don’t get it, and these people are foolish and dangerous, so crazed by their far-left ideology they’d allow innocent people to die for it.

The USA should never torture, but coerced interrogation at the direction of the president is vital when lives are on the line. Of course, the loons will never acknowledge that. They don’t want to do anything “unpleasant” to terror suspects.

And that’s “The Memo.”

I have to say I am in complete agreement with him. I am also very concerned about what is going to happen when Obama closes (read bottom of page 5) down Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo). Something many people don’t seem to understand about the prisoners being held at Gitmo is that they are not protected by the Geneva Convention. They are not even prisoners of war. Anytime anyone decides to take up arms against another country and does not wear a uniform identifying themselves as a member of a fighting army for a soverign nation, they are just terrorists and criminals. If you have an official picture of Al Qaeda’s uniform (and by that I mean more than a turban, beard, and some raggy clothing) I’d like to see it. That is because these people are not representing any sovereign nation. These people are being kept at Gitmo because they are not Prisoners of War (POW’s). Therefore they are not afforded the rights of a POW. Gitmo is outside of the USA and therefor not bound by having to give prisoners the same rights that prisoners who are caught in the USA have such as a speedy trial. Once Gitmo is closed, those prisoners will be brought to the USA where the ACLU and every scum sucking lawyer will have a field day on giving these people rights and forcing them to be released. Many of these prisoners have no official charges that they are capable of being tried for. But make no doubt about it. They are enemies of the USA. They hate the USA. As soon as they are released, because of the ACLU taking the federal government to court over their wrongful imprisonment, these terrorists would have no hesitation in walking into a daycare and blowing it up. These people hate the USA, and the best thing for our safety is to keep them locked up and throw away the key. By keeping them in Gitmo, they can stay there and be out of reach of left wing bleeding heart liberals who want to set them free. As long as they are there, they can’t ever hurt us. Unfortunately, while bleeding hearts mean well, they are naive. Their little ideal world does not exist and reality is not something they understand. There are people out there that hate the USA and want to see it and everything it stands for destroyed. Don’t believe me, think about what happened on 9/11. Jihadists around the world would love to see that happen to all of America if they knew how to make it happen. 

In addition to keeping these terrorists behind bars, Gitmo allows us to have a place to interrogate these people without human rights activists breathing down our necks. There is nothing right about pulling out people’s fingernails, beatings, or any kind of physically debilitating torture. Things such as sleep deprivation, with holding food, playing loud heavy metal music, or The Barney Song played over and over are humane interrogation methods. It is methods that break people down so we can get them to tell us information.  Remember Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? 

He was the architect of 9/11. He was captured in Pakistan in 2003. He was eventually sent to Gitmo where he squealed because we turned the screws on him. What did he tell us? He gave us names and descriptions of other terrorists as well as plans that Al Qaeda had in the works towards hurting the USA. This information has been instrumental in deterring terrorist attacks on our country.

It boggles my mind that people value the well being of terrorists who are hell bent on killing us more than ensuring that America stays safe. I gauran-damn-tee you that terrorist will not EVER return the favor for of us being nice to them. Want proof (more, more, more, more) ?

It is absolutely imperative that we do not ever let up on fighting the war on terrorists. The longer it is since 9/11, the less people seem to think that anything will ever happen to us. Terrorists are resigned to killing us even if it means their own death. It appears to me, there are many terrorists who are more dedicated to this cause than many Americans who instead want to make sure that we are nice to terrorists.

I know there are many people that believe that we can’t become like them because we have to be different. I agree. Here’s an idea, we let the military and CIA do what they need to do to win. I’m sure the majority of the people in charge of defending our freedom can be held accountable for their actions without getting the ACLU involved. When did terrorist ever get rights in our country anyway?

Post Thanksgiving Celebration

Yesterday I flew to Salt Lake City, UT to visit with my girlfriend who lives there. Neither of us had a proper Thanksgiving celebration on Thanksgiving Day. Thankfully, we were able to prepare a feast for ourselves here. Unfortunately, we didn’t start cooking until late in the afternoon. We both worked on cooking the meal together. Thankfully, she had already thawed the turkey, but the entire meal was not ready for us to sit down and eat until 10PM. I’d have to say this was by far the latest Thanksgiving dinner I had ever eaten, but it was one of the most satisfying. Neither of us had ever cooked a full turkey, nor made all the sides associated with a full Thanksgiving dinner. Surprisingly, the entire meal was really good. The turkey was one of the best I had ever tasted. Maybe it was just because it was the fruit of our labors, but it was all really tasty.

The most important thing for me for Thanksgiving has always been getting a chance to spend time with family. My girlfriend is not family, yet, but she is the closest thing to family that I get to see. My Thanksgiving was disappointing back on the acutal day, but celebrating Thanksgiving doesn’t have to happen on the day everyone else does. Just getting to celebrate it with someone else that I love is what was important to me. That and I finally got to have some turkey.

The Airport

When I began planning my visit to Salt Lake City to see my girlfriend, the only time she and I had time off was the weekend following Thanksgiving. As I began looking for flights, I found that the prices were unreasonably high because of how many people are returning from Thanksgiving that weekend. There was over a $100 difference between flying on Sunday and flying on Monday. My girlfriend was working all day that Sunday, so we decided it wasn’t worth it to pay extra and not get to visit for that time.

I thought this would be a great idea, as also the typical Thanksgiving airport traffic would be done. Hoping everyone would have returned by Sunday. Much to my surprise, this was not the case. Apparently, people don’t always return home on Sunday for the workday on Monday. That or there were just a lot of people out for business travel at 5AM on a Monday  morning.

Oh, and if you’ve never heard Henry Rollins go on his rant about his experience at the Airport, you need to listen to it sometime here.

Ordinarily I fly Frontier Airlines when I go out to see my GF. But they have recently caused me to stop making them my preferred carrier. More on that at another time. Today as I cleared baggage check in with Delta, I proceeded down towards security. Check in at DIA is one level above the security lines. After leaving check in, you can see above the security area from the level above. I could see that the lines were much longer than I remembered in all the other times I’ve flown. Especially at 5AM in the morning. One of the TSA employees told me that the lines at the other end of the building were shorter, so I went down there. Well, I don’t think she was well informed because they were just as long. I had checked the DIA website before I left home and it said the security wait times were only 5 minutes. I don’t think that ever gets updated. Check it now, I bet it still says 5 minutes. Curious, I decided to call the phone number for DIA security wait times, while I was standing in line and it told me 10 minutes. It too was no accurate. I don’t know how long I was in that stupid line, but I can tell you this. My flight left at 615AM and that was the time I finally made it to the gate, with about 10 other people on my flight as well.

The most frustrating part of the ordeal was that they only had 3 scanning lines open. There were about 3 left unopen and then there was another one that was open, but only for the people who have paid for the flyclear program so they can zoom through security. Of course they had Speedy Gonzalez checking your boarding pass before you could get to the scanning area, and this guy is wanting to make conversation with everyone. For once, someone was actually taking his job seriously and actually reading boarding passes and comparing them closely with your ID. I guess I should be grateful for that, but today, I was in a hurry.

The wait for security was wrapped zig zagging around all the little turn styles that they had setup in the area. I couldn’t believe that they didn’t think to open up more lines or call in for more workers or something. I mean, wait time was ridiculously long. Somehow, a guy wearing what looked like a pilot’s uniform jumped in front of me as I had my stuff in the tubs to be scanned. How does this work? I mean, yeah, you are a pilot and its important that you get to your airplane, but why are you given preferential treatment to getting through security? Its not like the plane is going to leave without YOU. However, it will leave without ME! Tell me how that makes sense?

Well, as I said earlier, I get to my gate AT the departure time. Delta had already closed the door to leave the gate, but the door to the plane was still open. Lots of folks here trying to get through, but they won’t let them on, and all of us were victims of the folks at security. Thankfully, Delta was willing to let us reschedule without having to pay more. I was the 3rd guy in line to get there to reschedule. The next confirmed flight was around 2PM, but they put us on standby for the next flight leaving at 730. I was hoping that others for the next flight would be caught in the same issue I had with security. Thankfully, there were 3 people who didn’t make it for the flight and got out. My time in Salt Lake was going to be short to begin with, and the longer I had to wait to catch a flight was going to make it that much shorter.

The flight out was crammed pack with people. I arrived a couple hours later than planned, but it was still an acceptable time period.

MSU Head Football Coach

My Alma Mater, Mississippi State University, has had a pathetic excuse for a football team since the turn of this century. The loss in the egg bowl, against our biggest rivals, the Ole Miss Rebels, had to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Losing 45-0 is an embarrassment that can’t go unnoticed.

Today, Sylvester Croom, head football coach for MSU resigned. Its about time. He has only had 1 winning season in his 5 years compiling a 21-38 record. Considering MSU is in the SEC, considered by many the strongest conference in the NCAA, there is no excuse to not be able to recruit talent and field a good team. Croom went 4-8 this season, making $1.7 million. I’d have to say, after seeing the computer labs that we were given to work with while I was a student there, there are a lot better places that kind of money could have been spent.