RIT School that is. As promised, here's a continuation of my little adventure down in Tuscaloosa. It was a 3 day class, so I think I'll break it down into a post a day. Here's the post for the first day. Before that though, I don't remember if I specified what makes RIT so important. When people need help, you send in the firefighters. When firefighters need help, you send in RIT. It starts with learning how to rescue yourself, and then proceeds into how to rescue your buddies.
To start off I got into town Sunday evening about 9pm, and I was feeling a little down when I checked into the hotel. I had a bit of a stomach bug, but I figured that since the first day would be in the classroom, I'd be fine. I stopped on the way to class and picked up a little Pepto, and that started to help out some. Class started at 8am, and by 8:15 I found out that we would be in full turnout gear by 10 am. Well, so much for starting slow!
The first thing we did was what they called the 'consumption course'. It was designed to make you use all the air in your bottle and see how you react when you are tired. I think it was really to consume all your energy for the day! The stomach bug didn't make things any easier, and I really thought hard about quitting. I made it through, but it was not my best performance. Things would have been tough even if I was feeling good, and there were a few touch and go moments with my stomach, but I survived. I was pretty drained for the rest of the day as a result though, and we still had more to go!
The consumption course (as they called their obstacle course) was laid out as a lap around the drill field. You started out by crawling across simulated attic rafters. From there you picked up a sledge hammer and hit a 6X6 they had laying on the ground for 2 minutes straight. Next up you unrolled and re-rolled 50 feet of hose. The next stage was raising a tire on a rope from the ground to a height equivalent of the second floor 3 times. Go on to the tractor tire and drag it about 20 feet, around a cone, then back to the start, then climb through a prop that is designed to simulate going between the studs in a wall. Climb up and down 4 flights of stairs, then climb through a 30' length of pipe that is only 36" in diameter. Pick up 100' of hose, toss it over your shoulder, then climb up and down 2 flights of stairs. Pick up a 24' tall ladder and move it 20' to another window. That was one lap. They wanted 2!
It was every bit as difficult and draining as it sounds. I ran out of air halfway through the second lap, which was acceptable, but I had to stop at the top of the 4th floor stairs and cool down. I got really hot and my stomach was not doing well. The instructor asked if I was ok, and I was afraid they were going to drop me from the class. When we finished that, they let us go to lunch. I hadn't eaten much the night before (we had an early dinner before I left home) and no breakfast at all. I wasn't hungry but I needed the energy from some food.
After lunch they had us doing some cool stuff that the average person would never get to do. We bailed out of a 2nd story window onto a ladder head first, then spun around and slid down the ladder. We got to lower ourselves out of a third story window with nothing but a rope looped under our arms (you go out head first and flip yourself over before lowering down. VERY unnatural feeling!). We finished off by sliding out of a third story window on a hose like a fireman's pole (hang out the window from the waist down, grab the hose with your feet, move one hand to the hose, then quickly move the other because you are heading down as soon as you let go of the window). That was pretty cool. However, if you've ever wondered what kind of a bruises you get when you depart the third story window and strike the first story window sill with your elbow, I can tell ya, they are U-G-L-Y!
The funny thing about all the bailouts is that you end up so focused on the task at hand that you don't realize how high up in the air you are. If you asked me right now to sit on a 3rd story window sill and hang a leg out or just hang my legs out while laying on my chest, I'd tell you that you were crazy. But by having a task you don't realize how high up you are until after you're on the ground. It's actually kind of neat how it works. Plus, with a line of guys waiting to go, you don't want to be the one to chicken out haha!
By the time I got home from the first day, all I wanted was a shower and a quick dinner, then into bed. I had to ice my elbow from where I struck the window sill, but the worst bruises were yet to come! I later learned that the first day, especially the first half of the first day, is just a gut check. They want to make sure you really want to be there, and that you are able to think and function when you are well past the point of exhaustion.
Stay tuned for day 2.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
They chewed me up...
and spit me out!
I told everyone that I was going to pump school, but I had another class I was signed up for that kinda snuck up on me.
I was down in Tuscaloosa, AL at the Alabama Fire College Sunday night through yesterday afternoon for a class on Rapid Intervention Teams, or R.I.T. Basically it is an advanced search and rescue class focused on finding injured or lost firefighters.
It's a class I was excited to take, but I was not at all prepared for what I was getting myself into. I called the instructor before I signed up for it to find out about it, and he told me that the first day would be in the classroom, the second would be some hands on, and the third day would be a few evolutions to practice what you had learned.
Apparently they've switched instructors or changed the curriculum, because this class was pretty much all hands on the whole time! It was a great class, I learned a ton of stuff, and I am glad that I took it, but I wish I had been more mentally ready for how challenging it was going to be.
That's all I'm going to write about today, I'll try and spread this blog out some instead of making one huge wall of text for you to sort through. I didn't think to take a camera with me, and I really wish I had since we got to do some cool things. I'll be at work tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll get to blog or not, but I'll try to update soon enough.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I did go eat at Dreamland BBQ one night, but I got it to go so they didn't get a good crack at my license plate haha. I also missed the chance to go see the NCAA Football National Championship Trophy on display in downtown Tuscaloosa, I never even thought about it until someone mentioned it the last day of class. Oh well!
I told everyone that I was going to pump school, but I had another class I was signed up for that kinda snuck up on me.
I was down in Tuscaloosa, AL at the Alabama Fire College Sunday night through yesterday afternoon for a class on Rapid Intervention Teams, or R.I.T. Basically it is an advanced search and rescue class focused on finding injured or lost firefighters.
It's a class I was excited to take, but I was not at all prepared for what I was getting myself into. I called the instructor before I signed up for it to find out about it, and he told me that the first day would be in the classroom, the second would be some hands on, and the third day would be a few evolutions to practice what you had learned.
Apparently they've switched instructors or changed the curriculum, because this class was pretty much all hands on the whole time! It was a great class, I learned a ton of stuff, and I am glad that I took it, but I wish I had been more mentally ready for how challenging it was going to be.
That's all I'm going to write about today, I'll try and spread this blog out some instead of making one huge wall of text for you to sort through. I didn't think to take a camera with me, and I really wish I had since we got to do some cool things. I'll be at work tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll get to blog or not, but I'll try to update soon enough.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I did go eat at Dreamland BBQ one night, but I got it to go so they didn't get a good crack at my license plate haha. I also missed the chance to go see the NCAA Football National Championship Trophy on display in downtown Tuscaloosa, I never even thought about it until someone mentioned it the last day of class. Oh well!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
God Bless Al Gore
No, not for Global Warming. For the other thing he made up. The Internet.
We had a minor tragedy in our house the other day. Our much beloved XBOX died. Well, not dead exactly, but near enough. We use our XBOX for watching movies, listening to music, and playing the occasional video game. The other day it stopped showing video, only giving us audio.
A quick call to the manufacturer left me fuming. The polite woman in Bangladesh (who started off on the wrong foot with me by lying and telling me her name was 'Mia') informed me that the 3 year warranty did not cover this particular failure, that the 1 year warranty was up, and that I could pay them $120 and they'd be happy to fix it. A new one is $200. Of course, she pointed out, they would be happy to pay shipping both ways as a courtesy for me paying to get it fixed. Previous research told me that instead of fixing mine and shipping it back, they'd be shipping me another broken one they had already repaired, then foisting my broken unit off on someone else. Yeah, not so much, thanks. Even the 'Escalation Expert' (who introduced herself as Janet, which I'm pretty sure wasn't her real name either) I was transferred to was unable to help. I guess I got a little fired up on the phone. Go figure. You buy electronics these days, you expect more than 14 months of life out of them. To top it off, this was my 3rd one in 4 years, the first two having been replaced under warranty.
Luckily for me I live in a world where Al Gore singlehandedly jump started the mother of all technological advances. A few hours of research yielded that this was a very common problem, directly resulted to poor design choices and cheap materials. The short version is that when the electronics inside get hot (as they are prone to do)the inferior solder weakens, resulting in loose connections on the microchips. There is a 'clamp' in there that is supposed to keep everything tight. This is the poor design choice. It flat out does not work. It is made of metal. Metal tends to expand when it gets hot. So if metal stretches when hot, how effective is a metal clamp in a hot environment?
For $30 I was able to buy a kit that replaced the clamps with screws. I spent a nerve wracking afternoon gutting the XBOX and performing minor surgery at the kitchen table. I am happy to say that so far so good, it is working. I am actually pretty amazed how easy the whole thing was, and that something as simple as a few screws and washers could have been utilized in the first place to solve this problem.
Al Gore, you're my hero!
We had a minor tragedy in our house the other day. Our much beloved XBOX died. Well, not dead exactly, but near enough. We use our XBOX for watching movies, listening to music, and playing the occasional video game. The other day it stopped showing video, only giving us audio.
A quick call to the manufacturer left me fuming. The polite woman in Bangladesh (who started off on the wrong foot with me by lying and telling me her name was 'Mia') informed me that the 3 year warranty did not cover this particular failure, that the 1 year warranty was up, and that I could pay them $120 and they'd be happy to fix it. A new one is $200. Of course, she pointed out, they would be happy to pay shipping both ways as a courtesy for me paying to get it fixed. Previous research told me that instead of fixing mine and shipping it back, they'd be shipping me another broken one they had already repaired, then foisting my broken unit off on someone else. Yeah, not so much, thanks. Even the 'Escalation Expert' (who introduced herself as Janet, which I'm pretty sure wasn't her real name either) I was transferred to was unable to help. I guess I got a little fired up on the phone. Go figure. You buy electronics these days, you expect more than 14 months of life out of them. To top it off, this was my 3rd one in 4 years, the first two having been replaced under warranty.
Luckily for me I live in a world where Al Gore singlehandedly jump started the mother of all technological advances. A few hours of research yielded that this was a very common problem, directly resulted to poor design choices and cheap materials. The short version is that when the electronics inside get hot (as they are prone to do)the inferior solder weakens, resulting in loose connections on the microchips. There is a 'clamp' in there that is supposed to keep everything tight. This is the poor design choice. It flat out does not work. It is made of metal. Metal tends to expand when it gets hot. So if metal stretches when hot, how effective is a metal clamp in a hot environment?
For $30 I was able to buy a kit that replaced the clamps with screws. I spent a nerve wracking afternoon gutting the XBOX and performing minor surgery at the kitchen table. I am happy to say that so far so good, it is working. I am actually pretty amazed how easy the whole thing was, and that something as simple as a few screws and washers could have been utilized in the first place to solve this problem.
Al Gore, you're my hero!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Twofer
I feel like Katie, with two blogs in one day!
Mom asked about the floors, they are done with two small exceptions. I still have 1 guest bedroom (about 10X12) and it's closet to floor. It is the room that has been stuffed to the gills with stuff including the remaining boxes of flooring, so we wanted to get the rest of the house put together first. That included installing some custom closets in our bedroom (I need to get some pictures and tell the story of why they were on clearance :-X ) as well as painting the rooms we have not painted yet (our bedroom, which is painted now, and the two other bedrooms).
But the long story short is that we want to get the rest of the house put together before we go any further. We are tripping over stuff and pretty miserable with everything in flux constantly. It has actually slowed us way down having to dodge stuff, and we have put some small (think spider webs) scratches in some places from moving things around. Enough is enough and we'll get the rest of the house painted and situated before tackling the last room.
The other little spot I have missed is the pantry in the kitchen. That won't take long either, and I'll knock it out real fast before finishing the last bedroom.
We are hanging baseboards back up, and I'm waiting to do the quarter round until I finish all the flooring. I'll return some and use that money to pay for it. Most of it has been put up and I need to go back in and caulk it, then it will be done. We are in the home stretch for sure.
Hopefully you are still reading this, because I have some important info to share with anyone wanting to go with me to the TN Classic this year. If you are scratching your head, that was the deal where I went and built my own bow. I had a real blast and would love it is some of you can join me. Consider this an open invitation. We can stay at my house and drive back and forth (it is about an hour or so north of me) or we can try and rent a hotel or something up there. Camping is also an option, but it is notoriously wet and rainy at this thing (last year was so bad I packed it up and came home after the first day and just commuted instead).
Anyhow, here are the preliminaries:
*******************************************************************
Twin Oaks Bowhunters
13th annual
***Tennessee Classic***
Clarksville,TN.
Traditional Archery shoot
April 30th May 1st 2nd 2010
41 Targets--Entry Fee $20.00
Custom Trophies awarded
Shoot Classes
Recurve Bow * Long Bow * Self Bow * Ultimate Self Bow Challenge (Make a Self Bow with Gary Davis and shoot it for score Thursday-Sunday. Contact Mark Baggett
931-362-3717 for more info.)
markbaggett@detdist.com
Vendors
* Primitive Camping available onsite *
Practice range open to all who register for the main shoot
*Pot luck Supper on Saturday Night*
For additional information, contact Mark Baggett @931-362-3717/615-313-4639
markbaggett@detdist.com [Pappy]
directions: from Nashville Take I-24 west towards Clarksville, exit onto maxey rd. (exit 19), turn left, go to the end of maxey road, and turn right onto 41-a (north), go approximately 5 miles, turn left onto oak plains road (look for twin oaks sign and smith auto salvage sign), turn left onto Knox road, turn right on Ashley road. Watch for the twin oaks signs!!!
It is between Nashville and Clarksville/Fort Campbell off I 24 w at exit 19. The address if you want to map quest it is
1079 Ashley Rd. Chapmansboro,TN.37035.
Hope you can make it,I feel sure you will have a good time.It is 3 days,and yes it is a shoot with much more going on.
Pappy
************************************************************************
I went last year with 0 experience or knowledge of making or even shooting a bow, and I came away with a hickory longbow that is definitely shootable. I also got a steal on a recurve, so if this is something you think you may be interested in, this is a great place to go to learn more about it and get a start. It runs from Friday - Sunday, and last year by the time I got up there Friday afternoon it was slim pickings on the bow staves (for making a bow) but I would be happy to try and get up there a few days early to put names on some for anyone interested. Don't worry if you can't make it up on Friday, you'll be able to finish it on Saturday and Sunday easily. It really is a ton of fun and you get a great sense of accomplishment from completing it.
Anyhow, let me know what you guys think...
EDIT: Well shoot, I just realized I agreed to work for someone on Friday April 30th, and my normal shift is Sat. If anyone is interested in coming up Friday, let me know, and I'll see if the guy will let me off the hook. I'll definitely be trying to get Saturday off though, so I should be available then.
Mom asked about the floors, they are done with two small exceptions. I still have 1 guest bedroom (about 10X12) and it's closet to floor. It is the room that has been stuffed to the gills with stuff including the remaining boxes of flooring, so we wanted to get the rest of the house put together first. That included installing some custom closets in our bedroom (I need to get some pictures and tell the story of why they were on clearance :-X ) as well as painting the rooms we have not painted yet (our bedroom, which is painted now, and the two other bedrooms).
But the long story short is that we want to get the rest of the house put together before we go any further. We are tripping over stuff and pretty miserable with everything in flux constantly. It has actually slowed us way down having to dodge stuff, and we have put some small (think spider webs) scratches in some places from moving things around. Enough is enough and we'll get the rest of the house painted and situated before tackling the last room.
The other little spot I have missed is the pantry in the kitchen. That won't take long either, and I'll knock it out real fast before finishing the last bedroom.
We are hanging baseboards back up, and I'm waiting to do the quarter round until I finish all the flooring. I'll return some and use that money to pay for it. Most of it has been put up and I need to go back in and caulk it, then it will be done. We are in the home stretch for sure.
Hopefully you are still reading this, because I have some important info to share with anyone wanting to go with me to the TN Classic this year. If you are scratching your head, that was the deal where I went and built my own bow. I had a real blast and would love it is some of you can join me. Consider this an open invitation. We can stay at my house and drive back and forth (it is about an hour or so north of me) or we can try and rent a hotel or something up there. Camping is also an option, but it is notoriously wet and rainy at this thing (last year was so bad I packed it up and came home after the first day and just commuted instead).
Anyhow, here are the preliminaries:
*******************************************************************
Twin Oaks Bowhunters
13th annual
***Tennessee Classic***
Clarksville,TN.
Traditional Archery shoot
April 30th May 1st 2nd 2010
41 Targets--Entry Fee $20.00
Custom Trophies awarded
Shoot Classes
Recurve Bow * Long Bow * Self Bow * Ultimate Self Bow Challenge (Make a Self Bow with Gary Davis and shoot it for score Thursday-Sunday. Contact Mark Baggett
931-362-3717 for more info.)
markbaggett@detdist.com
Vendors
* Primitive Camping available onsite *
Practice range open to all who register for the main shoot
*Pot luck Supper on Saturday Night*
For additional information, contact Mark Baggett @931-362-3717/615-313-4639
markbaggett@detdist.com [Pappy]
directions: from Nashville Take I-24 west towards Clarksville, exit onto maxey rd. (exit 19), turn left, go to the end of maxey road, and turn right onto 41-a (north), go approximately 5 miles, turn left onto oak plains road (look for twin oaks sign and smith auto salvage sign), turn left onto Knox road, turn right on Ashley road. Watch for the twin oaks signs!!!
It is between Nashville and Clarksville/Fort Campbell off I 24 w at exit 19. The address if you want to map quest it is
1079 Ashley Rd. Chapmansboro,TN.37035.
Hope you can make it,I feel sure you will have a good time.It is 3 days,and yes it is a shoot with much more going on.
Pappy
************************************************************************
I went last year with 0 experience or knowledge of making or even shooting a bow, and I came away with a hickory longbow that is definitely shootable. I also got a steal on a recurve, so if this is something you think you may be interested in, this is a great place to go to learn more about it and get a start. It runs from Friday - Sunday, and last year by the time I got up there Friday afternoon it was slim pickings on the bow staves (for making a bow) but I would be happy to try and get up there a few days early to put names on some for anyone interested. Don't worry if you can't make it up on Friday, you'll be able to finish it on Saturday and Sunday easily. It really is a ton of fun and you get a great sense of accomplishment from completing it.
Anyhow, let me know what you guys think...
EDIT: Well shoot, I just realized I agreed to work for someone on Friday April 30th, and my normal shift is Sat. If anyone is interested in coming up Friday, let me know, and I'll see if the guy will let me off the hook. I'll definitely be trying to get Saturday off though, so I should be available then.
Here we snow again...
Ok, you know you were all thinking it, I was just the bravest to write it down haha.
We've been getting snow all day here again, but nothing like the last time. April and I had a busy weekend working on getting the house straightened out, but that didn't leave much time for valentine's day. Oh well, there's always next year!
Not much to report just now, but I wanted to apologize to all the bloggers I didn't get to comment on. I did read them, but I didn't have time to comment.
Here's a funny little note to end on:
Yesterday morning April slept in a little, and I got up about 0730. It had snowed a little overnight, but not too much. It was still drifting some little tiny flakes when I got up. By the time she woke up, it had upgraded to big fat flakes and was coming down pretty good! We already had planned to go grocery shopping for the week yesterday, so we accelerated our plans. I felt silly running out to the store like everyone else, but we literally had nothing to eat; the cupboard was bare! Everyone was still at church so the store wasn't too crowded. To make me feel even sillier, it stopped snowing altogether while we were in the store. I am happy to report, however, that we saved the French Toast ingredients for when it snows again haha.
Take care and keep warm. I think ya'll are gonna get it worse than us this go round.
We've been getting snow all day here again, but nothing like the last time. April and I had a busy weekend working on getting the house straightened out, but that didn't leave much time for valentine's day. Oh well, there's always next year!
Not much to report just now, but I wanted to apologize to all the bloggers I didn't get to comment on. I did read them, but I didn't have time to comment.
Here's a funny little note to end on:
Yesterday morning April slept in a little, and I got up about 0730. It had snowed a little overnight, but not too much. It was still drifting some little tiny flakes when I got up. By the time she woke up, it had upgraded to big fat flakes and was coming down pretty good! We already had planned to go grocery shopping for the week yesterday, so we accelerated our plans. I felt silly running out to the store like everyone else, but we literally had nothing to eat; the cupboard was bare! Everyone was still at church so the store wasn't too crowded. To make me feel even sillier, it stopped snowing altogether while we were in the store. I am happy to report, however, that we saved the French Toast ingredients for when it snows again haha.
Take care and keep warm. I think ya'll are gonna get it worse than us this go round.
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