Corridor 9

I don’t honestly know where to start!

I’ve been so out of the posting habit the past month that I’ve lost a bit of my edge. I have tried the past few days to start a post, but just can’t seem to get my thoughts organized.

As I noted in my last post, I’ve got my laptop back up and running. It was a hectic time, especially not having access to my banking records. Kristie and I were going nutz, and once again she was riding me hard because she thinks our account information should be done completely on paper. Everything worked out in the end though as I was able to get the new video card installed and get the bills out before they were late.

I received my Six Moon Designs Gatewood Cape earlier in the month. I will post the article to C9 later in the week.

Kendall is doing much better with her allergies and cold. We bought her a bike, and she’s doing really well. She can ride without her training wheels, but only straight so far. She can’t turn, and her idea of getting off is to jump off the bike into the grass. I wish we could get Kristie a bike soon, but I think that is going to have to wait a while.

The car is back in the shop again. This time the transmission is being completely rebuilt. It was getting so bad that I was driving it to work because Kristie was afraid to drive it. After driving a day I can’t say I blamed her. There was almost no pickup in first gear at all. If she would have pulled out in front of someone or, or had to accelerate quickly to evade an accident, she would have been toast. I’m glad that it’s getting fixed now though. We really need to have a car back that doesn’t use $50 of gas a week!!!!

I’ll keep updating this more regularly now, so stay tuned!!!!

After weeks worth of crying, I’ve finally found a replacement part for my laptop that was cheaper than I originally thought. I’ve been back online for the past 3 days, but ended up having to reformat my system to take care of some space issues. I had a bunch of rogue programs floating around on the hard drive that I needed to get rid of in order to have enough space for the things I use frequently.

It’s been a long road, but I’ll be posting more often now that I can.

PEACE!

Well…. it seems that my server upgrades may be on hold afterall. Kristie made me drive the car to work yesterday because she was afraid the transmission was falling out. It turns out, the transmisison will probably have to be rebuilt due to a part that isn’t functioning correctly.

In addition, I may be posting very sporadically in the next few weeks and, unfortunately, months. My laptop just died. I think the video card finally went kaput, but am unable to test this out due to the fact that I don’t have another video card. I called Dell to find out about purchasing another card. Luckily, I can get another card still to replace the one that is broken. However, I’d have to shell out $180 to get it, and right now I just don’t have that kind of money.

In the hopes that I can get back online relatively quickly: See ya soon!
In the reality that it will probably be a while before I upgrade this: I will miss you all!

I’ve begun looking at new computer specifications for Corridor9. I simply can’t wait any longer to upgrade. I haven’t decided on which direction I would like to take though. Should I just get something to get me by for a few years, or should I build something that I won’t need to upgrade for another 10 years? I’d like to get something that will last another 10 years as this one has, but I’m not sure that is the way to go. I’ll keep you informed!

I finally got around to uploading Dad’s pics from the Grand Canyon Trip.
Click the pic below to view.

At approximately 9:40 am, the Madisonville Fire Department received a tone to respond to a structure fire at Harrah’s Hose and Hydraulics, located at 4430 Hanson Road. Truck crews housed at Station 4, approximately 1 mile north of the business, weren’t even on HWY 41 before they saw the smoke and radioed back to dispatch notifying them that this was a working structure fire. Fire crews pulled up, positioned their apparatus, dropped the hose, and made an interior attack to the building. It wasn’t long before the decision was made to retreat and setup a defensive stance due to the hazardous materials that are stored inside the building and the lack of control the interior crews were able to sustain. It was also noted that the roof fell in shortly after the interior team was pulled out

While positioning for a defensive attack, the ladder truck was called for because of it’s ability to provide large quantities of water from outside the building. Hose streams were setup to “surround and drown” the structure in an event to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible. In the end, even with the ladder truck there, it still took approximately 6 hours for the department to fully extinguish the fire.

The problem lies in the lack of understanding that the building occupants had with fire department operations. Their position was that it was taking entirely too long to get water on the fire. This may have seemed the case, but one must realize that while fire crews are inside the building, you simply can not spray water from the outside. This creates an enormous amount of steam that endangers the crews inside. In addition, there is a strong possibility that applying water from the outside may actually push the fire on the crew inside. The possibility of having burned firefighters is extremely high in this case. We do our best to control and extinguish hazardous and out of control situations, however there is only an acceptable level of risk that any firefighter is willing to take. We will do the best job we can, but we also plan on making it home to our wives and children afterwards.

Because of the occupants lack of understanding, there was quite a bit of tension that developed between them and the firefighters. Attempts were made to bring the tension under control, but this was impossible due to the escalating anxiety shared by everyone. It can be a painful time when your business, workplace, and the home of your second family burns around you while you are unable to do anything about it; Tension is understandable. With people not knowing when their next paycheck will come or if their business will survive; Fear is understandable.

However, heckling the firefighters while they are trying to do their job, throwing around racial slurs directed toward various fire crews, and attempting to start fistfights is simply unacceptable. I am appalled that the business owner let his people express themselves in such a negative manner like that. To be doing your best to help someone out of a painful situation while receiving the brunt of their anger is humiliating. To be criticized, verbally abused, and assaulted while trying to help those attacking you is simply degrading.

I pray for those whose only wish is to help others, yet received one of the most painful attacks yesterday.
God be with you guys.

Well… I’ve completed the updates to the webserver, but the system is so bogged down now. I’m not sure it’s worth it. Click the picture below and see if the wait is worth it to you.
Upgrades seem no longer an option. They’ve been moved from the want list to the need list.

I’m still configuring a few things with the new site. I’ve updated both Wordpress and Gallery to version 2 for both. This has allowed me greater flexibility in posting, but has also slowed the site down a bit. I’m hoping that this isn’t too much of a burden on the server, but there isn’t really much I can do.

Hit the Donation button to help the site speed up. Thanks

It’s looking good this time, but is taking a while… sorry.

Well….. some idiot here at the firestation got the bright idea to try and send me on a detail to station 4 today. I told them that we had new guys to do that and he didn’t like that answer. Unfortunately, word got back to my shift commander and he called me in the office earlier this evening. I told him the situation, told him I didn’t think it was my place to run details out at station 4 when there are 4 people under me in seniority for that.

He didn’t like that answer either, and we got into a bit of a heated discussion. Fact of the matter is, I shouldn’t be sent. It’s a seniority issue, it’s always been a seniority issue, and always will be. In the end I was told that starting monday I’ve been suspended for 7 days. This will mean I don’t work monday, next saturday, or next monday.

Nice little vacation for me, but unfortunately it’s without pay. I think I’m going to have to take this up with the Chief later this week. I hate going over my Shift Commander’s head, but I don’t think I should have been suspended.

I’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE: Take a look at the date