'Tis the season...

26,088 done.

173,912 to go.

January 19, 2008. 7pm Next...

(Kimmy sent me this...he he...GO HAWKS!!!)

It's very fragile...this life we have.
Cherish it and never take it for granted.
Spend time with those you love and tell them often.
Don't waste time on the things you have no control over.
Live, Laugh, Love...just like all those sappy signs say.

(and pray a little for a good friend of mine who is facing something life changing and also for my fire brother Mike and his family. Mike died suddenly Wednesday morning.)

Happy Turkey Day!!

Realize how lucky we are and be thankful for our friends, families and this amazing beautiful world we live in.

(recycle a little tomorrow)

China Free?

So, I started the Christmas shopping yesterday. Just a few hours.

I have these crazy, wonderful, little people in my life and most of my efforts seem to be to find something great for them.

And we all know that every day they are recalling some new toy, made in China, that does some awful, harmful thing to kids.

So I thought, 'okay, no toys...I'll get 'em books. Books are good...educational, yada, yada, yada.'

Every book I picked up WAS MADE IN CHINA!!!!!!

Now what do I do?

('nuff said)

Happy Veteran's Day

To all the men and women who have served in our military, keeping us safe, here at home and overseas.

All of my grandfathers, the ones I knew and the ones I didn't, GGpa's Johnson and Bradley, Gpa's Johnson and Petty.

And to Mud and Ed and Glenn and Chad and Janet and Kris W and Charlie and Steve H and the other Steve H and to all the others I missed.

And especially Tim who is over there now. Come home safe.

So What Exactly Do I Do?

(This is not a picture of me but a picture of the guys I work with. The FF in the red helmet is a captain and the FF in the yellow helmet is a driver or a firefighter. Note that his helmet is a dirty yellow not bright yellow. This tells us that he is not a brand new FF)

Mud has requested an explanation of what exactly it is that I do...

On our department there are three grades of FF in the station and several grades of chiefs in administration.

Firefighter-in the first year (or longer if you annoy someone) you are referred to as a 'rookie'. After that you are called a 'backend guy'. This grade is the FF who rides on the back of the fire truck, is responsible for catching the plug (hooking the hose up to the fire hydrant) and then going in to attack the fire with the Captain. On average one will spend 6-8 years in this position however there are FF who choose not to promote and will spend an entire career on the backend. Often you will hear this grade referred to as 'the best grade on the job'. You have no real responsibilities, the chiefs don't yell at you and you get to see a lot of fire. Experienced backend guys will 'ride out of title' meaning if the driver or captain is off they will fill that job for the shift.

Driver-some departments call this grade an 'engineer' or a 'lieutenant'. It is just what it sounds like. As a driver this FF responsibilities are to get the crew to the call safely and maintain and operate anything on the firetruck and in the captain's absence fill the role of captain.

Captain-this grade is the highest ranking grade in the station. He is ultimately responsible for everything his crew does. Some captains will move up and fill the Battalion chiefs position when needed.

I am a driver. I spent 10 years as a backend firefighter and really wasn't sure I wanted to move up. I loved my station. I was the highest seniority backend 'guy' so I very rarely rode the backend as there is always a need for an experience FF to ride out of title.

I tested almost two years ago and was promoted to driver about 4 months ago. I spent the last 4 months 'roving', not assigned anywhere and just filling in where needed.

I have just been assigned to station #20. 78th and Kansas Ave. Just south of I-70 on 78th. It is a very small station with guys I enjoy working with. My goal is to return to Station #10 in about a year when the driver of pumper #10 retires. It will be a job I will have to bid and there is not a guarantee that I'll be able to return but...only time will tell.

A Five Star Day

Really...that's what it said today.

So...I've been pooped on, insulted by a rowing club member (who, at one point, I thought was a friend), finally received a station assignment (yeah!), had a maintenance guy expect us to fix the hardwired alarm system in his 4 plex (can you say "get an electrician!"), been sniped at by the same guy I had trouble with last shift, gotten into it with the dispatcher just because I can't understand her...and to top it off just taken care of a young man whose family is completely and totally nuts. (Mom used more foul language trying to explain to us what a great Mom she's been and when grandma tripped over a stick in the yard and fell down...she yelled at her! Sometimes you run these calls and think "Geesh, my family is so sane")

Hope you had a five star day too....

Firestation #20

I have a home!

Ramblings From A Happy and Amazed (or maybe dazed) Jayhawk

so...seriously...9-0?

In football!

Ummm. I'd be pretty psyched if it wasn't so totally,

completely un freaking believable!

Go HAWKS!!!

I'm pretty sure that my entire circle of friends, athletes and coworkers is sick. Including me. Tis the season I guess. Get well my peeps!

I'm going to work backwards through the last week or so.

1. This morning after a struggle over whether or not to call in sick to work (I got my snotty nosed self dressed and came in) we got a call for a car accident.

The accident was very minor with no injuries and we headed south down the highway, turned around and were headed back north towards the station. A car pulls up next to us and begins honking. Looking in the side mirrors we see 3000 (yes 3000) feet of hose laid nicely out on the highway.

The strong north wind had caught the edge of the hose and it just laid out.

Nice.

45 minutes later with the help of an off duty guy from OP Fire (thanks OP Fire guy!) and some snarling between me and one of my guys we were loaded up and again headed north on the highway.

You guessed it...north wind, no hose bed cover, highway speed...this time we caught it before we laid the whole hose bed out.

We now have a very torn and tattered hose bed cover held on to the hose bed with bungee cords we bought at the hardware store. The cover wasn't staying on because of it's condition so the other shift removed it.

We 'un' removed it.

It wasn't even 9am....

2. KCRC traveled to the Frostbite Regatta this past weekend in Wichita Kansas. Contrary to the name the weather was glorious, the racing fun and competitive, the parents, juniors and masters fab as always!

I'll have pics later this week.

3. My good friend Major Ed (Hubby of the Ronneblogger) won a Heart of Health Care nursing award. What a neat event and a great celebration of the nurses that work so hard and take such good care of us.

4. On my birthday (Wednesday) I flew to LA to attend the promotional ceremony for my good friend Glenn as he was promoted to Colonel in the Air Force.

Wow.

As I sat and listened to the introductory speech I realized that my very unassuming, low key buddy was a total Air Force stud. He has held some very important jobs in some areas that are critical to keep us and our military safe. And he will continue to work hard as he commands 'his' units and I expect he will continue to surprise me.

Thanks to Glenn, Becky and the Martin and O'Connor families who welcomed me into their celebration and made me feel like I was part of the family.

Again, pics to come...