Wednesday, October 24, 2007

How much?!?!


This just in...
According to the USAToday, the cost to support both wars (Iraq & Afganistan) could reach astronomical levels. Lets put it this way...no way our current generation would pay for this which brings me to this point...how the hell are we going to pay for this? So far, we've spent $604 Billion dollars! 604! That's crazy. And the expected number for the cost of both wars...$2.4 Trillion dollars...TRILLION! Honestly, I don't know what else to say. I just can't believe that this much is being spent on a war that no one really supports. I'll leave my personal opinion out of this, but as one of the troops, all I ask is that the American public to please support the troops. It's their hard work, and determination that allows us to wake up every morning to be free. Oh, and one more request, please pay proper respect to the American Flag. God Bless America!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

About time for a review!


Recently, I broke down and bought another mountain bike with the intention to ride several miles a day, but never really go to the riding part so much. I'd say I have about 100 miles logged into it so far, no where near what I wanted on it yet. Anyhow, I figured I would do a short review on the bike just incase someone else is shopping around.
All in all, the Cannondale F6 with CO2 Frame Technology is pretty good. It's my first mountian bike with the Rapid Fire shifters, and it's taken some time getting used to them. My previous bike (which I stupidly sold to a friend in Alaska!) was a Cannondale Super V-500. Yellow in color, this full suspension was a great bike. I should've never sold it. But I did, and time to move on. This year, I finally bought another Cannondale but decided to go with a hardtail this time...the F6. For what I was using it for, and since I'm in need of some conditioning for riding again, I started off in the middle-lower range. But it's almost a sin to call this a mid-lower range bike. It's got a lot to offer, at a "not a lot" price. With the front suspension traveling in harmony with the roads, its smooth. The shifting is flawless, and the braking is appropriate. Although there could be some more bells and whistle's to it, I certainly can't complain. Later on down the road, I wouldn't mind upgrading some of the components since those are kinda "entry level." As far as looks, there is the "Race Red" pictured above, then there is the "Lightning White" color which is what I have. At first I wasn't a fan of the "Lightning White", but it grew on me. In summary, if you're looking to get back into riding and plan on upgrading after some time...this is the bike. I'm a firm believer in the quote, "You get what you pay for." After a few weeks of shopping around, this was a wise choice. Now if I could just get the time and motivation to get back on the thing, and log in some miles!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Am I hooked?


...I would have to say yes. I'm hooked on blogs. I don't know what is was, but since about two months ago, I've been on this blog kick and I can't seem to knock this habit free. Wait, not a habit, but an addiction. Of course it started off reading one of my friends (Bluey) blogs and was fascinated with all the sorts of things you could do. From that moment on (a little over a year ago) I started Seawall Times. Since then, I'm also a part of 2 different private blogs, and now just recently started my 2nd personal blog dedicated to nothing but all firefighting. Another hunger I've been starving for is reading other people's blogs. If I saved everyone I've enjoyed reading, my favorites list would probably be maxed out(if it could do that). Anyhow, I have a few select saved to my favorites, and I'm just addicted to reading what other people have to say. Am I becoming obsessed with this? Is it just a phase? Is it possible that I'm becoming educated in some way? Who know's, but I actually enjoy hoping onto the computer and reading as many posts as I can. Then I try to post something myself about something that has happened in that day or my life and I throw it all out there. Regardless, I think it's a no-brainer decision that I'm "hooked like a fish." Thanks to all that developed Blogger.com, and all of those who take the time to write. Ain't technology great?!?

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Personal Tug of War


Sure there are millions of decisions we all make each day. Some are for the good, and some are for the bad. But what about career changing decisions? Now, granted my decision isn't necessarily a career changing, but it's about as close as you can get. I'm talking about my career in the Air Force Reserves. I just reached my 10 year mark about 2 months ago, and I've pretty much made my decision to stick it out for another 10, and retire. Now, just in case you didn't know, I'm a firefighter both civilian side, and reserve side, and have been for all 10 years of service. I love my job, and would never trade it for the world...civilian side. Now, reserve side, I'm weighing my options about what I should do, because to be honest, I don't think I can take much more the of B.S. anymore. It used to be fun, it used to be educational. Not the case anymore. So I begin thinking, maybe I'm just burning myself out with all this firefighting. Maybe I need to learn another trade to kinda balance myself out. And lets face it, learning another trade is nothing but beneficial to anyone. As far as my options? Well, there are a few jobs that I'm real interested in that have vacancies. Public Affairs(PA) being one. I want to learn more about photography, and I like writing stories...could you tell? I'm not necessarily good at it, mainly because I'm not exactly "politically correct." You see, my bluntness hurts me in that department. Another job prospective is a Historian. I love, LOVE history, but this job will only be base specific and it's one of those jobs that aren't in the spot light(which is ok by me). Another catch is I'll never make more than E-7 (more than likely). And the last job I'm seriously interested about is one that I found out about today. It's called Readiness. It's kinda like being a firefighter, but not. Did I lose you? Well, from what I understand they are closely related, but I don't have to put on all the gear that military (Air Force) firefighters have to put on. They respond to HazMat incidents, and in war time scenarios, they check for damage, UXO's, chemicals in the air, etc. It seems like a pretty good deal, and the more I think about it, the more I wouldn't mind persuing it. BUT, here's the catch. Will I let my guilt and pride get in the way of perhaps bettering myself? What I mean by this, I'm proud to wear the Fire Protection badge on my uniform. I worked my tail off getting to the point I'm at now. I tend to think that I'll feel guilt after (and if) I leave the fire service...but technically I'm not leaving it since I do it civilian side. Just as the title of this post says, I'm really in a personal tug of war. It's been on my mind for about 3 years now...actually 4 if you count when I was active duty. Is it time for me to just swallow my pride, and move on? Hundreds, if not thousands have already and are completely glad they moved away from the fire service. But is it for me? I guess I could argue with myself endlessly. Do I want to??? What do you think. I got better things to do than sit and ponder what to do. I suppose I should make out a "Pro's/Con's" sheet, and decide from there. But, I think I should follow my heart on this one. The only thing I can really say now, is stay tuned...(to be continued).

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Oh Canada...(insert their national anthem melody)



I just watched a video from Military.com and I gotta tell you...it doesn't get any closer than this! The sounds of bullets whizzing by, the tone in their voice shouting commands like "Let's go Bravo!", the battle gets intense. But thanks to our Canadian counterparts, they get the job done. End result, Taliban compund was raided, and by the looks of things, terminated. Best quote of the clip is the final words..."Right on boys, their definately going to wonder who the Canadians are from here on out, thats for sure!! Does it get any better than this???

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Every dog has it's day


Lets just set the mood, shall we?!
You just cut the grass, edge the grass on the sidewalk, and sweep up all the clippings. You yard looks great. Next thing you know, hours later, there lies a huge pile of something foreign, sometime foul, something brown and lumpy...yes it's fresh dog crap. 5 occasions later, you start to fued and get filled with anger, thinking a walker-by let their dog do their business in your yard, and not cleaning up afterwards. Bloody savages.
It's 8 o'clock in the morning, and everything is usually quiet. You throw some breakfast down, and your quiet morning suddenly comes to an end from hearing a dog barking. Apparently, this dog has bit a child, and took off running. The next day it runs down someone who was jogging by. And the next day, it gets into another fight...this time with a passer-by walking their own dog.
In a span of 2 weeks, there has been 7 huge piles of dog crap, 1 kid bit, 1 runner run down, 1 dog-walker incident, countless livid neighbors...it's almost starting to sound like a chirstmas song. Well, oddly enough I talked to the police about it, and apparently the owner has been fined for her dog running loose 5 TIMES! Now, for what I'm about to say, do not take out of context. Not only do I own a dog, but I love them dearly. I've had my fair share of getting bit by dogs, and I'm not talking about a minor flesh wounds...I'm talking a gaping puncture wound and being able to see tendons, and bone and lots of blood loss. I mentioned to the police officer that the next time, I wasn't going to be so nice and "shoo" him off to the horizon. I'm not going to use my own hands, nor a broom stick...but I have a non-lethal way of hopefully taking care of this myself...a paintball gun. Come'on Fido, bring it on, cause I got several paintballs with your name on it! No more snarling or snapping at me, no more biting kids (especially mine) and no more crapping in my yard. You ass is history!

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

I'm hooked!


For most of you that know me, I'm not usually a health nut when it comes to food. But lately, I kept hearing that green tea is so good for you, blah, blah, blah. So, I decided to see what all the hype was and bought some Diet Lipton Green Tea. I actually bought the diet accidentally, not looking at the bottle. After about half way through drinking this, I was really enjoying it...until I looked at the label again, noticing "DIET." I blurted out "Damnit! Why did I buy diet!" But I finished the drink with mild disgust and went on with my day. Well, a few days later, I bought another bottle making sure it wasn't the diet. After cracking the cap, and taking a swig, I wasn't as impressed. I thought to myself, "You know, the diet was actually better tasting than the regular...odd." So before I left the gas station, I ran back in and bought the diet...just for instant assurance that I did like the diet. Sure enough, I did. So now I'm on this big Diet Green Tea kick, buying cases from Sams Club. I'm so addicted to this stuff, it's not funny. And maybe it's a mental trick, but my body does actually feel better. And it's the little stuff too, like I always had sinus blockage...I just never seemed to breathe a fresh breath of air. I don't notice it much anymore. Day-to-day energy seems better. And surprisingly I tend to keep better focus on things. It's really weird how this actually makes me feel better. Hell, usually it was the Jim Beam that made everything better! Not that some green tea drink could ever replace my bourban/whiskey! What kinda Scotsman would I be if I gave that up! But long story short, this stuff rocks and I'm totally hooked. And for only $10.88 for a 24 pack of this stuff, it's a steal! That's about .45 cents per bottle! Sure beats the $1.29 I was paying at the gas station...crooked bastards!!

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Mission Complete!

It's been one of those chores I kept saying, "I'll do it next weekend." Trying to decide if I wanted to drop $500 on a professional spray-in bedliner or just a do-it-yourself kit for my truck wasn't easy. After going through the pro's and con's about it, I just decided to do the "Do-it-yourself" kit, which turned out to be a ball buster. I'll set up the sequence of events. I have a 99 Toyota Tacoma which is my daily runner and it's a great little truck. Keeping in mind that it's about 8 years old, I wanted to protect it for many more years to come (that is, if I decide to keep it). I don't really do that much towing/hauling with it, mostly just to get me back and forth to fire calls, and reserve weekend. Occasionally, I'll head to Lowes or Home Depot and pick up some wood/plywood for various projects. If you know me, then you know how anal I can be sometimes about things, and how organized I try to be. I guess I could be diagnosed with OCD...no kidding. Anyhow, I decided to attempt the Herculiner kit but I had to go 110% with it...no half-ass job for me. So, of course the prep work was the hardest part about this chore. Again, since I'm anal about stuff, I removed everything from the bed of the truck...the tie downs, the brake light assemblies, the tailgate, the tailgate latches, EVERYTHING! And of course, things didn't go as planned (as is in any project). A total of almost 4 hours of drilling out 2 bolts, this was beginning to be one big headache. To make a long story short, through hard work and determination my brother got the bolt out finally, without destroying the threads too...a big plus if you ask me! After finally getting all the hardware out, I washed the bed of the truck, used a chemical cleaner called Prep-All, and got it nice and clean. Finally we could start applying the Herculiner. After several hours, and 2 coats later...we were done. It looked great. It was so good, if you ran your arm across the bed, you would probably cut yourself! A special thanks to my brother who helped me out, big time...and a big warning to all who decide to do this. Wear long sleeve and don't wear something you like. Once this crap hits your skin, unless you wipe it off right away using Prep-All (or some sort of Acetone based cleaner) it will be stuck to you for at a minimum of one week. Again, since I'm anal, all the hardware I had to either get new stuff or burn a little elbow grease to get the old stuff looking good. I did a combination of the both. I bought all new screws for the tie downs (to include one new tie down). And sanded everything else. After sanding, I primered it, and painted it with several coats. Then I used some grease so these new parts didn't get rusted into place like they once were. Oh, and good luck finding tailgate bolts for an older Toyota. Dealership supposedly didn't care them, local hardware stores don't really carry metric sizes, and auto stores were hit and miss. I finally found something identical at Auto Zone (thanks guys) and it worked out just fine. In summary, if you decide to do this project on your own, then make sure you have A.)Plenty of time B.)Are able to get spare parts C.)Patience!! D.)A place to park the truck inside a clean garage and finally E.)Plenty of time. Thank god its over with. I think next time I'll go pay the extra cash to have it done.