We just ran a fire-out call a few shifts ago. When we got on scene, we found a burned out night stand smoldering on the front lawn. The father, a retired Navy vet , and donned a respirator and drug the burning mess outside. Props to the Navy, the world's largest fire department.

Anyway, we hung out on scene and waited for the fire investigator to arrive on scene and do his thing. My initial thought was that the kid had thrown a lit cigarette into the drawer to hid it because…

I started my five shift mentorship last night. Its part of the process for me to clear as a riding out of class lieutenant. Even though I've spent the last year going to class and learning all the things that I have, I still wasn't ready for the moment when I had to put my gear in the front right seat of the truck.

As I stood outside, the truck grew about ten feet taller. I guess I felt the same way when I first started riding out of class as an engineer. It was that moment when it…

Despite getting a flat tire and having a nearly flat spare, I made it to my FOI test (ok, it was 5 minutes late). The test center personnel were extremely nice and after getting settled in, I finished the test in just under thirty minutes.

This caused me some panic, because I was certain that I had bombed it. However, I passed and got a really nifty and official looking piece of paper with my photo on it. So, I can now go through my department's clearing process (as soon as they write…

I finally got off my butt and registered for my Fire Officer I examination. It doesn't really mean much yet at work, except that I should be able to ride out of class as a lieutenant after I finish a clearing process at work. I still have one more Fire Officer II class and I have to complete a Business Communications and Macrocomputer Application class to finish out my Fire Officer II AND THEN I'll be eligable to promote to lieutenant.

In other exciting news, I still haven't…

Here is a link to the September 11th Rememberance slide show from the Daytona Beach News Journal. It shows pictures from several area agencies, including mine.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/media/video/911remember/

In Honor

Brother when you weep for me

Remember that it was meant to be

Lay me down and when you leave

Remember I'll be at your sleeve

In every dark and choking hall

I'll be there as you slowly crawl

On every roof in driving snow

I'll hold your coat and you will know

In cellars hot with searing heat

At windows where a gate you…

For what its worth, someone sent this to me and guess what!?!?!? I decided to share.

1. Do you still talk to the person you lost your virginity to?

NO, NOT JUST NO...HELL, NO!!

2. Is it harder to be rejected or to reject someone else?

REJECT SOMEONE ELSE, I HATE BEING THE BAD GUY.

3. What famous person are you most attracted to?

ANGELINA JOLIE CIRCA TOMB RAIDER

4. What did you do yesterday?

DROVE TARA TO THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE THEN ENDED UP LAYING…

I don't know how supersticious everyone is, but I have a few core things that I think incur bad luck. This may be silly to some, but, heck the sailors won't mention the word 'drown' on boats. I'm not the only one out there. Anyway, here is my short list of what not to do/say when on duty at the old fire station.

1) Never say: Quiet, sleep, bed, or bathroom (this always results in a call at a bad time)

2) Never tell the off going shift 'Oh, we didn't run ANY calls, so you can…

I just read that if you put corn meal next to fire ant piles, the ants carry the meal into the mound. When they eat it, they can't digest it and therefore the ants DIE!!!!!!!!!

I'm off to the store to do some ant slayin'!!!

Being the wise soul that I am, I decided to wait until dusk to venture out into the yard and do some body weight exercises. Things were going great, I was sweating, all was right with the world. And then.......

A freakin' fire ant bit the ever lovin' crap out of my neck. I have a big welt ( I think its the size of Nebraska) AND its too far down for me to cover with my hair AND too far up to be covered by the collar of my uniform shirt. In short, I'm going to look like a got a…

Hey there everyone, I heard about this from a friend of mine and thought I'd give it a try. I have a MySpace account, but sadly my profile page seems to have disappeared into the great void of cyberspace. So, if you visit and get a big blank page...thats why. Hopefully, it can be recovered and I won't have to spend decades redoing all the stuff I had on there.

Anyway, I'm into writing fiction and I've finally gotten off my butt and started working out- got a pretty good plan…