31 July 2007

Restlessness

I'm almost done. By the end of this week, I'll have completed all of my medical examinations, all of my dental examinations (and corrections), and I'll be back firefighting. I can't fucking wait! Today, I'm virtually in no pain. I'm slightly worried because I'm starting to get a pink hue in my spit again but hopefully I won't get the dreaded dry socket. I'm a little punk when it comes to pain in my mouth or as Gabbi so accurately and eloquently put it, "Jaw Trauma." I'm spending these next few days getting stuff done that I otherwise would have to cram into a day or two in between the 14 I'd be working. I got my digital camera fixed. I mailed off my expense reports from Salt Lake City. I got envelopes and stamps. I need to get some laundry done...badly. I need to change the oil in my car. It's actually nice staying productive. I'm starting to feel the same way sitting around the house here in Boise as I did when I was sitting around my house in V.A. I'd get mad and or depressed. I'd get really restless and just have to do something. Most of the time I just went to the firehouse. Here I've channeled that restlessness into reading or learning something. Despite everyone's laughter, I'm still planning on buying an airstream trailer...especially after thinking about all of the shit I've bought since I first arrived here. If you think the picture in my post I wrote on the day I left was bad, imagine what my car would look like if I tried to cram all of the books and other stuff I've bought in it.

One hell of an idea....

You know, getting my wisdom teeth extracted wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The pain is almost non existant...now. That needle hurts like a bitch. God bless the man who discovered laughing gas as a means of reducing anxiety. Haha, when you're that high, you don't care if you get shot let a lone having a needle jammed into your cheek. The worst part of it all is the persistent numbness after its all said and done and the bleeding that occurs for hours after the teeth have been pulled. Now, I'm sure its the Vicodin that was prescribed tome talking but right now, I can't complain. There's the constant feeling that my jaw is out of alignment and the constant hint of blood in my mouth, but those are mere annoyances. The tetanus shot I received before I got my teeth taken out hurt worse. All in the name of exploration. After I go back to the doctor's on Wednesday to have my TB test read and I go back to the Dentist thursday for a final teeth cleaning, I should be all set as far as my medical paperwork is concerned. Thank god. I can't even begin to tell you how much of a pain in the ass this all has become. While I sat here drowsy off Vicadin, I came across a company who does guided mountaineering treks in Morocco. After further investigation, I found out that they have a trip which is scheduled from March 16th to the 23rd which means if I left from Christchurch to Marrakech, Morocco that would give me around 12 days to tool around in Christchurch before I'd have to fly to Morocco. The flight over isn't pretty however. 41 hours worth of traveling. 13,000 miles. Actually, it seems pretty cool. I'd fly from Christchurch to Sydney to Bangkok to London to Cassablanca to Marrakech with a Friday and Saturday night to hit the clubs and Saturday all day to do some exploring before I hit the Atlas mountains that following Sunday. The trip home takes me from Marrakech to Madrid with a night spent in Madrid. I'd wake up the next morning to fly out that afternoon on an 8 hour flight to Dulles. So all in all, going from Dulles to Antarctica to Morocco and back home would have me visiting the following places I've never been:

Colorado
California
Australia
New Zealand
Antarctica!!!
Thailand
England
Morocco
Spain

If I can scrounge up the money at the end of the season....that would make for a hell of a trip!

29 July 2007

One more week...

As I spend more and more time dreading tomorrow's upcoming events, I can't help but wondering where I want to go in the spring. I'm actually looking forward to just living out the rest of this entire year. Hopefully, Friday, I'll be joining the rest of my crew in McCall or wherever they may be. Even though it seems like it's far away, September 15th will probably creep up on me pretty fast. After tomorrow, the only thing I need to do before I'm completely ready to get deployed down to Antarctica is I need to give Raytheon my passport information. I was hoping to have more time at home but it's looking like I'll only have 10 days or so between the time I'll get back into D.C. and the time I head out for the winter. Over the week I got a better idea of what/where to expect from the trip over there:

Start at Dulles Airport
Fly from Dulles to Denver
Spend a day or so in Denver for an orientation to Antarctica
Fly from Denver to L.A. (Layover)
Fly from L.A. to possibly Sydney, Australia (Layover)
Fly from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand (Or straight to Auckland if I don't go to Sydney)
Fly from Auckland to Christchurch, New Zealand
Spend a couple of days in Christchurch going through a few more orientations, picking up my cold weather gear
Fly from Christchurch to Antarctica

Now, I leave from the ice on February 28th. From there I'm looking to do one or a combination of the following:

Stay in Christchurch for a while
Travel to Thailand
Travel to Christmas Island
Travel to Morocco
Travel around New Zealand
Travel to Iceland

I dunno, I have a lot of reseaching to do...but then again, I have a lot of time in between now and the end of February. Between being out on fires and being in Salt Lake, I forgot how much I hate sitting around this house. Oh well. One more week....

Life is good

What an awesome week. I can definitely say I learned a lot through my time in SLC. More importantly, I had time to bond with the people I'll be working with in Antarctica and I got more question that I had answered. I definitely can't wait for the fire season to be over. Well, to be honest with you, I can't wait to get back on to the fireline and work as many fires as I can between now and the 14th of Sept but I really can't wait to get down to Antarctica. This Monday, I have my physical and right after that, I get to spend a fun-filled few hours getting my wisdom teeth pulled and a few cavities filled. Hopefully, I'll heal up fast and be back out with my crew by Friday. Out of all of this excitement, I'm still pretty bummed out that I won't have enough time to hit the Tetons before I head home. With that being one of the main things I wanted to do while I was out here, I'll definitely have to make it back through that part of the Rockies to do some climbing. I'm starting to look at a few trailers people are selling around here. Hopefully I'll have one to sleep in and store some of the crap I've accumulated over the past few months. All in all, life is pretty good right now...

22 July 2007

SLC and Antarctica

I'm having the time of my life. My flight to Salt Lake City was fast...less than 45 minutes. I met some of the firefighters I'll be working with for the first time at dinner that night. It's pretty cool to be working with people from all over the country and the world as is the case for the two Kiwi's that will be working with us. So far, everyone I'll be working with is pretty cool. Thursday was spent familiarizing ourselves with the LC-130 we'll be working with down on the ice. We went out that night to a bar called Port O Call which actually turned out to be a pretty cool place not to mention a big ass bar with 3 floors. One thing I can say is that so far, I'm really not that big a fan of Salt Lake City. I've come across a lot of sketchy people...more than I've seen in the same amount of time in D.C. Friday, we hit the ground running. We were burning within 2 hours of starting class. It really didn't dawn on me earlier but this is it: this is where we're building teamwork as well as professional and personal relationships with each other. Down on the ice, there's only two shifts: A and B. We'll be working together for 5 months straight, for some even longer. It was pretty cool to see us all come together and make drastic improvements on how we operate by the end of the day. One thing that really dawned on me was that this was really happening. I'm an employee of Raytheon. I work for the Antarctic Fire Department. A lot of the guys that had been down there before had so many stories and information to share with the majority of us that hadn't. It makes you more and more excited to get down there as you listen on. Friday and Saturday nights were both spent back at Port O Call. Surprisingly, I behaved myself and didn't drink too much. Some of my coworkers got plastered however. We all are bonding friendships which was pretty cool to be a part of those nights we were at the bar together. This goes back to show the importance of building friendships, relationships, and connections through everything I do. I now know and work with people from Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Alaska, New Hampshire, Texas, Georgia, and New Zealand. I know people that are dying to come visit me in D.C. to experience the city and do some fishing and backpacking with me. It's a great feeling being a part of all this. A few of the hours out of the two days we've been in class so far was spent going over administrative stuff regarding Raytheon. We handing in our uniform information sheet and I'm planning on ordering about $120 worth of extra uniform stuff. The possibility also exists that I could get rotated down to the South Pole Station to staff their crash trucks down there for a month or so and then get rotated back to Mcmurdo. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited for October..

19 July 2007

First Fire(s) and SLC

I got back from the Black Pine 2 fire Monday afternoon. I can definitely say that I learned a lot in the 10 days I was gone and I can definitely attribute most of what I learned to Jason, my engine boss. All though I definitely don't see eye to eye with the way he leads or manages a crew, the man definitely knows his shit...which I don't, and I definitely don't have any right to question his authority. I learned a lot about myself last week. It's fucking hard after being in a leadership role for over 2 years to step back and be a pion again...especially when your leader is just starting to lead. Jason is a damned good firefighter and a great Engine Boss. I have so much I'd like to share with him about leading and managing crews of people from what I've learned the hard way over the past 2 years but its not my place to do so. The Black Pine 2 fire threw stuff my way that I could only dream of. Plume-dominated fires, crown fires, long-range spotting, etc. I learned so much last week I don't even know where to begin. Today, I spent most of the morning doing stuff for Antarctica. I started off by going to the dentist to do my exam. I was dreading going to the dentist for the pure fact that I haven't been to one since my freshman year in high school. I can tolerate pain...but not in my mouth and every time I went to the dentist...that's all I experienced. It amazed me today, however, how much technology has advanced in the past 8 years. There wasn't a a whole lot of prodding done which I was very happy about. However, my worst fears came true: I have to get 3 of my wisdom teeth pulled and a bunch of cavities filled that I didn't even know existed. I left the dentist's office $98 shorter and went to this place to have my lab work done. The nurse drew my blood and had me pee in a cup all within 10 minutes. I was in and out like that. The rest of today was spent packing for my trip to Salt Lake City. I finally met Andre and a few of my shift mates. They all seem like great people. Between the stories and the genuine niceness of everyone I met to night, I really can't wait to get down to the ice. Anyways, I have to get some sleep before tomorrow. Take care and be safe.

07 July 2007

First Fire (Possibly) and Reflections on the Past Week

I've been slacking ass...I know. There was a lot I would've liked to talk about in the past 7 days but for some reason I never took the time to sit down and put it to the keyboard. My engine boss just called me 45 minutes ago and told me to possibly expect a call from him or my other boss to tell me to beat feet over to the shop so we can head out to our first fire of the season. Despite my excitement, I've been spending most of the time since he called (about 45 minutes ago) tying up some loose ends. I just faxed off my employment offer letter and terms of agreement to Raytheon's human resources department. I gotta fill my I-9 out sometime before I head down to SLC. This week has been pretty uneventful with the exception of a camping trip I went on...if you can call it that. I had planned to backpack in a few miles, fish the next day, and backpack out. Well due too poor logistical planning on my part, I neglected to plan the trip a little better or pack any insect repellent. I got eaten alive. At one point in time, while I'm actively swatting these bastards away, I looked down and saw 5 of them lined up on my upper arm just sucking away. The one thing that was really cool about the trip was around 3 AM I woke up to a light wind rustling the trees under which I was sleeping. Man the night was so beautiful. The moon was the brightest I had ever seen it in my life and the sky was indescribably clear. There was a lake only 20 feet away and being deep in the Boise National Forest, the backdrop which the moon had lit up was just amazing. Despite a lot of things going wrong and a treacherous 2 hour 30 mile drive, those few hours before I left at 5 made it all worth while. I definitely plan on going back when I've planned it out a lot better. Anyways, I need to get ready to head out. Be safe all of you.