Air show

Today there was an air show at Lackland AFB, not too far from the fire academy. There had been jets practicing for the past few days while we were out playing with hand and power tools practicing forcible entry. I think they were using our tower as a landmark for because they'd loop around it and head back to the base a lot. The stars of the show were the F-16 Thunderbirds, which are the Air Force's show team. They did some really cool stuff that my pictures and video didn't do justice to.

Anyways, we were given permission to go to the academy and sit in the bleachers and watch the show. We were also given permission to bring our families, but on short notice I couldn't get Jenn to drive out here :)

The kids would have loved it, the planes got close enough that you could actually see the pilots as they flew over us upside down. It's a free show, maybe they'll be able to join me at the airfield next year.

I wonder what might have happened to my car

Last night around 11 a pretty crazy hailstorm happened.



It was loud, the video doesn't do justice to the sound of the hailstones hitting my front door and my glass sliding door. I was just hoping I didn't end up with cracked glass.

I grabbed the camera and took the above video until the battery ran out. Then I charged it up for a few minutes to have enough juice to take a few pictures of the stones on my front landing.

Gigantic Burrito

There is a burrito chain down here called Freebirds. Their biggest burrito is called the Super Monster. I guess it's about a foot long, and probably about 5 inches thick. Here's a picture as I was starting it.



It was really good. Steak, guacamole, pico de gallo, cheese, rice, black beans, red onions, cilantro, and hot sauce. I powered through half of it just because it tasted so good. It started tasting less good after my body started telling me to stop eating. By the end, it was really salty, and my stomach was pissed and hoarse from screaming at me. I did finish it in one sitting, which sort of amazed some of my classmates. (I say sort of, because some of them already watched me plow through 3 slices of pizza at Big Lou's).

I'd definitely eat there again, just not the same quantity.

Big Lou's

Today was our National Registry EMT-B test. A few of us in the class thought it would be fun to go to Big Lou's (as seen on Man V. Food) for a hopefully celebratory lunch. I took my test at about 9:30 this morning, and finished in about an hour. I didn't feel great about it, but knowing that the majority of students pass it on the first try, I liked my chances. A lot of the questions were pretty vague, and I was narrowing the multiple choice question format down to the last 2 options without a clear winner more often than I would have liked.

I got home and got on the NREMT website, refreshed my page a few times, and left for Big Lou's without knowing if I had passed. This is what we ordered.







We had invited a few more than just 5 to try to take down the biggest pizza they made, but we made a valiant effort on it, coming up just short. The pizza was very good, at least the first slice was. It became less and less appealing the more I ate. I ate 3 slices, tops by about a half slice. If the other guys had pulled their weight, I might have been able to eat a little more to polish it off, but we ended up about 3 slices short. It was all pretty fun.

As we were leaving, one of the guys checked his phone and saw that he had passed the exam. I borrowed an iphone and found that I had as well, and it's a good thing, because bad news could have caused some explosive vomiting, which would have probably been frowned upon. It's one more hurdle cleared on my way to a great job.

Time Flies

I just spent the fastest week of my life with Jenn and Joelle. It was over way too soon.

I just got back from dropping them off at the airport, and shortly I'll be needing to get ready for work. It seems like just half an hour ago, I was in the cell phone waiting parking lot at the airport, listening to my new Guster CD, anxiously waiting for Jenn to call me, telling me she was ready. We got to do some fun things in the little free time I had, but it was really nice just to have someone to come home to, and someone to talk to.

I miss you already Jenn. If you weren't so awesome, maybe our week would have slowed down a bit.

Why I stick with Geico

The gecko makes housecalls! If I ever have a claim, I know he'll be here for me :)




I was on the phone taking care of some errands when I looked over and saw a lizard on my balcony screen door. I remembered Dad's lizard picture from his computer and it reminded me of that. So I grabbed the camera and tried to get a good picture. I think they turned out pretty detailed. Thanks to Dad for sending me his camera!

I went out for a run tonight after having taken 3 days off due to ambulance ride-alongs and hospital clinical work. I finished 1.5 miles in 9:45, which is pretty darned amazing considering where I was last year, or even 3 months ago. It's 25 seconds faster than my best time so far. I continued running up to 3 miles in 21:40. I'm getting closer to sniffing times that I might have been able to run in high school. I'm building endurance for faster runs pretty quickly, as I've changed from running lots of mileage to focusing on speed at shorter distances. Dropping 10 pounds since the academy has started has surely helped. Now when I run, I feel like I'm actually running rather than just jogging, pushing rather than just falling forward. I also saw 2 bucks on my run today. One of them scared me, it was right at the start of my run and I was focusing on keeping up a good pace rather than my surroundings. I guess I snuck up on him too, because he startled and leaped off the trail into the bushes as I passed.

Moving the bald guy down the screen

Nothing interesting has happened over the past 2 weeks, at least nothing that I should be writing about. My hair has grown back in a bit, and luckily, it all came back, at least everything I had before. So to get my bald pictures off the top of the screen, I'll fill you in on all the mundane things that are happening.

We started clinical work on Friday. I went out with one of our paramedic companies. We ran on 6 calls, and got to meet some interesting people. I had a good time. Some of the other cadets had much more interesting calls than I had. I'm going to be in a hospital ER on Tuesday, and 2 more days of Ambulances on Wednesday and Thursday.

I ran 5 miles today. Inspired by not wanting to lose to Brie (5 in 42 minutes), I ran them in 41:47. I think she beats me though because of the difference in altitude, but I bet she didn't suck a mosquito down her windpipe during mile 3. I finished my 1.5 mile run in 10:20, then continued running 3.5 miles at about a 9:00 mile pace. I've got the benefit of much longer legs, so Brie, I bow to your level of health.

I'm doing much better on pullups now, before and after my run I did a set of 12. 2 months ago I could only do 5 or maybe 6 in a row.

When I was fitted for my uniforms, the guy asked me what size belt I needed, I told him 38. He gave me a 40, I guess because I would be using the middle holes rather than the end ones of the 38. I've now shrunk to the point that the last notch of the 40 isn't quite tight enough, and have borrowed a 38 from a cadet that went down from a 38 to a 36. I figure I'm down about 3 inches, and I still have some more of that spare tire that needs to come off.

Fruit has been really cheap here lately. I just picked up a bunch of nectarines for 60 cents a pound, and some peaches for 35. Bananas have been 25 cents a pound here for a month. I'll probably freeze whatever peaches and nectarines I don't eat when they ripen.