Long Line Training

Last week I did a long line training class for firefighting. It teaches the proper way to hook things up to a helicopter. On monday we got to perform the skill by hooking things up to the helicopter. Actually it was a two part thing, one person talked to the pilot and guided him in and the other person hooked up the load, and everyone had to do both things. It always fun dealing with the helicopters.

Out of gas...

This morning as I was getting ready to go to school I decided to take my motorcycle because I knew that it was going to be a nice day. I knew that I was low on gas because my odometer was a 115 and thats about the time that I need fill up so I checked the gas tank and saw that it was pretty low but I thought that I shouldn't have a problem getting to school, and I would fill up after school. Well all was going well. I was happy in my little world singing songs to myself on the freeway. Just at the peak of my contentment thats when it hit... A sudden loss of power and immediately I knew what that meant (from a previous experience that I had). I quickly got over to the shoulder and slowly came to a stop. After many failed attempts to revive my starving motorcycle I was forced to push my bike the 1/2 mile to the next exit. Between the half and 3/4 mark to the exit some one stopped to offer a ride to the gas station but since I was so close I opted to just push, but I thanked him for the offer and he went on his way. Well to make a short story shorter the end result was a very tired Geoff. But it wasn't all bad, I did learn pretty much when my bike is out of gas, and I was a little cold on the ride. As well, when I got to school they did have a free BBQ. So it wasn't all bad, besides I needed the exercise.

UFRA plaque.

This is the plaque that a few of the members of the UFRA crew made this year to commemorate the 07 fire season. The whole project was spearheaded by Aaron Gee (a rookie crew member), the computer mock up of the bar was done by Jasen Kennington (an LCM on the crew) who also provided a print of the crew photo, and I (LCM/Squad boss on the crew)  provided some creative input and some financial support for the project. The top is a 28" chainsaw bar with pieces of aluminum glued on. On the aluminum is printed some pictures from the season (I'm in 2) and beside them are the letters UFRA, each letter made up of the names of the fires we were on some other stats. The bottom is the actual plaque with a crew photo and the names of the crew members and detailers to the crew. The picture doesn't do it justice since I took it with my phone but it looks good, the best one made yet (total 6 or 7 plaques).  

This is our plaque from last year. Not too bad. Just a drip torch with the crew members on it and the crew photo underneath it. I didn't have anything to do with this one. One guy (Ryan Prestwich) from our crew took the initiative and did it all himself. So I can't complain because I didn't do anything with that one. 

Global warming proven

I found this on Digg today  and thought that it was funny.

I was in Logan today and we had some extra time to kill while we were out, so we stopped by Best Buy. As I was walking in I saw this sign. Kinder Parking, a parking space reserved for expecting mothers and parents with toddlers. Ok first of all, how many expecting mothers do they get in this store to actually merit a parking spot designated specifically for them? Also this is an electronics store in Logan, UT not freakin'  Walmart, is two spaces closer going to really make a difference? A mother is starting to have labor pains so she runs to her car and is not going to be thinking "damn I wish I had a spot reserved two spots closer." Along with that, woman if you are going into labor the last thing you need to be doing is recklessly driving to the hospital. Just stay there and call 911. You don't know how fast that baby is going to come, better to call the EMT's who are trained to deliver babies in an emergency than to have some stranger on the side of the road who watched a baby delivery in health class. Do your baby a favor and stay put. Parents with toddlers, its not like you're going to need to whip out a stroller to walk into the store. You don't need a spot two spaces closer at Best Buy. But since you already have them why not have spots for people with a history of heart attacks or strokes. Makes just as much sense to me as having them for expecting women.

Winter Wonderland

This winter we have seen more snow than any winter that I have seen in several years. This is a photo that I took from my front window today. Just today I think it snowed like 4". Not bad and I have been trying to keep up with all the ski resorts on the snow base and most are at 100+". Most people think of how inconvenient snow is but I welcome it. This stuff comes only one season a year so you might as well enjoy it. Besides complaining isn't going to make it go away. As well for the guys that read my blog, there are endless free date or fun things to do with girls ideas from snow. You have sledding/tubing, making a snow man, snowball fights, snow sports (like football, ultimate, or soccer. I played snow soccer last year with some girls, and guys too but nobody cares about them, and it was really fun.), snow angels, snow shoeing and many other things. You just have to change the way you think about it. If the world gives lemons make lemonade. Personally I think snow is one of the greatest things God has given us. It helps me to slow down and take a look at everything and realize how pretty things look covered in snow. Another thing too, people are all concerned with droughts in the summer, well the more snow we get now the more water we'll have in the summer. Funny how that works. People don't really care about anything they just don't want to be inconvenienced. I'm curious as well, how does all this snow play into that global warming stuff?