I must have taken a sharp blow to the head at some point recently....because after running three half marathons for Team in Training, I'm doing it again. Surely I have better things to do with my time than get up every Saturday morning at 6 am to meet a pack of other runners so that we can run mile after mile in the dark and cold.

I'm stepping away from the Chronicles of the FNG(irl) for a moment, because I want to write about my participation in Team in Training.

Team in…

First things first....I passed. (a barely stifled YIPPEEE!!)

Received my Class A certification card which will accompany me to my swearing-in.

There were some aspects to the physical and fit test that I found.....disconcerting:

1.) The eye test: after a rather frustrating several minutes with my face jammed up against what appeared to be a Fisher-Price Movie Viewer, and telling the examiner that I couldn't SEE "A-1" because it was…

Well, props to my chief, he didn't want me to have to wait another week or so to get the arson check back and then have to wait for the letter from the department, so.....drumroll.........

I'm unofficially officially IN !!!

I'll be getting sworn in at the next department business meeting (first Tuesday in February), that is, of course, as long as my arson background check comes back clean.

They can't count that time my sisters and I set the garage on fire when I…

Tell you what, I'll save all of you the trouble and say it myself....

I'm a jackass.

There. Everyone happy?

I spent the better part of the day yesterday semi-obsessing, stressing and second-guessing about my interview. I changed clothes twice after work (I didn't want to come across as too business-like, but I didn't want to be sloppy or look too girly) and spent ten minutes alternately putting my hair up and then taking it back down again (who does this??? Oh, only…

My name is Mary Ellen. Those that know me fairly well call me Mel. The short story behind my nickname is that I used to cook professionally at one point in my life (among other occupations) and had a nasty habit of burning the bacon I was charged with cooking off on a weekly basis. As this was becoming an expensive habit, the chef in charge of the kitchen decided he needed to shorten my name; the thought process was that he had at least a shot at saving a couple of trays of porcine fatback…

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

-I Corinthians

There are hundreds upon hundreds of charities out there competing for your time, attention, energy, and your cash. I know I get solicited by every imaginable cause out there; some I donate to, others I "back burner" because I'm committed elsewhere, some I just shake my head at ("Save the Donkeys in the Holy Land" is my newest source of fodder…

This was in my email this morning from a very good friend, and I thought there were too many truisms in this not to share with my friends on here.

George Carlin's Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we…

This is a short one...the linked story is the real story; keep your wits about you while on the road, because while you might be able to account for YOUR actions while driving, you can't account for the other drivers' actions, particularly when alcohol is involved.

The 1st Asst. Chief of Wilton Fire Department (Upstate NY) was involved in a head-on collision with a drunk driver while pulling out of his station. He'll recover, but we all know that this outcome is sadly not often the…