Overdue update before I leave the country...

It's been quite some time since I last posted on here, so I figured I should at least throw an update up. Frankly, I've been busy with everything that's been going on, and have had, (like Linda) a brainfreeze when it comes to writing about something. Granted, I occasionally throw up a cellphone picture on twitpic, but I have to say that it's tough to think of interesting things to post, but I shall give it a go!

As of right now, 04:36 a.m., Thursday morning, I'm down to one shift left(tonight), and 6 days before my best friend Rene drives me to Logan International Airport in Boston, for my '09 "Homecoming". I'll have Hayleigh this weekend, and then a few extra days to get things ready before flying out Wednesday night. I spent many nights doing research on multiple websites for the best flight, and found Boston to be the more direct, and least expensive flight. I could have settled for T.F. Green in Providence for commute purposes, but the connecting flight would have taken me to Philadelphia or New York City, before a direct flight to Glasgow. To me, that seems a little assinine, like taking one step back/two steps ahead, while Logan is one giant step forward, then a baby step ahead, haha. So I'll just make Rene have to deal with Boston traffic and tolls, so I can go from Logan to Heathrow, and THEN catch a connecting flight to Glasgow. I tried to make an attempt to get a flight to Prestwick airport, which is much closer for the family coming from Cumnock, but unfortunately Prestwick only deals with smaller airports in the UK and Europe.

The family is just as excited as me about coming over, and I'll finally get to meet my cousin Stewart, who I haven't seen since I was a child, and is finally home from "Oz", as he was a professional rugby player there for several years, while also attending college for Civil Engineering. He's since retired from rugby and is now back in Cumnock, bartending at my Aunt Sadie's Inn, while trying to find work in the UK. I'll also get to see my wee cousin Katie, who is getting ready to go off to the University of Dundee in a few months.

I was hoping to take a trip up to Stirling to check out Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument, but as usual, unexpected bills had popped up, and the funds are a little low. I'm fine with that, as I'll just spend some time with the family, play a round of golf in Muirkirk with Uncle Stewart and cousin Stewart, do some hiking around Cairn Table(possibly with Claire), and spend the evenings winding down at the Mercat with the locals and some McEwan Lite draughts. Aunt Sadie had threatened to throw me behind the bar for a wee bit, to pour some pints, so that could be quite interesting. There also may be a slight possibility of me taking a journey to Edinburgh next weekend, to attend a gathering of Scotster.com members in a local pub. I'm also thinking about putting some information, videos, and pictures together to promote my Aunt's place, as there isn't much information about the Mercat Inn on cyberspace. I'm bringing my camera, along with a digital camcorder that Rene is letting me borrow on the trip, and will have plenty of stuff to post about when I get back. Till then, stay safe and enjoy the next few weeks while I'm gone! LOL

"My boys" shunned from All-star team....

3b/1b Brian Gardner



P/Shortstop Tyler Gaudreau


As some of you know, during the spring I was the assistant coach of my alma-mater Putnam High School baseball team. Those of you who are friends on Facebook probably know how much I enjoyed my first year coaching for high school and got a slight idea of how much we get attached to the kids. I was surprised myself, as to how I gradually went from my quiet, shy self, to a yelling and screaming fan/coach.

If anyone could of seen me at our last game, that was an emotional rollercoaster, marathon, where we were down 5-0 in the first couple of innings, but our pitcher settled down and we came back to tied the game going into the bottom of the 7th inning(high school only plays 7 innings compared to 9 innings in professional baseball).

Our starting senior pitcher, Artie Scott(who pitched his heart out for one hell of a game), and our junior catcher, John "Waldo" Waldron.



We had our two best hitters to lead off the inning, and we just knew this was gonna be our inning.

Brian Gardner, one of our best hitters, and one hell of a 3rd baseman who played most the year with a shoulder problem(to the point where we had to move him to 1st base to limit his throwing) was leading off to start our last at bats. Everyone had that feeling that we were headed for a walk-off win!

Brian in a game, earlier in the season





The third pitch to our best hitting senior was a fastball that tailed in and hit him square in the face! He went down on the ground with blood pouring out of his face for about 10 minutes, with us trying to get the bleeding to stop from an obvious broken nose. We eventually got it to slow down, and as his mom drove off to the hospital, with him holding a towel to his face, he yelled out the window "LET's GO BLUE, WIN THIS!!!" Now emotions were extreme, and it felt even more like our inning. We eventually had a play go down at home plate with two outs, where thought we had won the game, but the umpire made a completely wrong call, and the inning ended without us scoring. We fought all the way to the tenth inning before losing the game, 6-5. Our last team meeting on the field after the game took place near 2nd base, away from the parents and fans, where the coach and I became emotional, and we thanked the kids for a great season(although our record didn't reflect it).

Brian, two days after the game. Doesn't even look like him!



We had a great group of seniors, including two team captains that were not only field generals, but great defensive players, and our two best hitters. Throughout the season, we had opposing coach, after coach tell us how impressed they were with them, and how they'd love to have them as players. Yet when it came time for the All-star votes, one of them got honorable mention, and the other recieved a sportsmanship award. It's sad to see how hard they worked, how great they performed, only to get snubbed by those coaches that praised them so much. The coach and myself could say we almost feel like a parent would feel, if their kid didn't get to play in a little league game! Needless to say, we were very pissed off when we found out they didn't get enough votes! LOL

I'm not sure, however, if the school, our athletic director, and the coaches' voicing their concerns about our league had anything to do with it. We're a Class "S" (small school) with a limited amount of students to pick from, playing Class "M" (medium) and Class "L" (large) schools that could field two or three teams. So the school has decided to start the process of leaving the league, and going to a smaller "tech" school league, where most of our competion went several years ago when the "Quinebaug Valley Conference" disbanded.

Our point is, we have less talent to pick from being a smaller school. The larger schools tend to beat the smaller schools on a regular basis, which discourages students from playing team sports like baseball, football, soccer, and basketball. They tend to play more individual sports such as track or golf. Losing six starting seniors to graduation this year had the coach and myself concerned about next year, but apparently the underclassmen have talked to other kids, and gave us good reviews, so that we should have the numbers come next year. But the league change won't take effect till the next year, so we'll most likely suffer through another year in the ECC before making the switch to the CSC, so we'll see...

A picture of our graduating 2009 seniors...



L-R: P/IF Art Scott, P/SS Tyler Gaudreau, 1B/3B Brian Gardner, CF Matt Wilson, and 2B Bryant Skopek

Anyways, I'm sitting here at work, thinking about the seniors and thought I should post something. After all it's been a while since my last post.

Putnam High School "Clippers" Baseball 2009

Just a few pics and a video from a few games so far. I also took a couple cellphone pictures from the 1st base coach's box during a game against Waterford High that came out blurry. I've wanted to get some nice pictures of the guys and a few of us coaches, but I'm quite the anal stickler as far as the scorer's book is concerned. Therefore, I haven't had my hands free to take many pictures, because I'm busy keeping track of all the action in the books. Hopefully one of these games I'll be able to free myself from controlling said scorer's book, and get some great pictures of the guys. Enjoy....

These two were from 04/17/09 vs. Wheeler (North Stonington, CT)






A quick video from our dugout before today's game vs. St. Bernard's, while they did infield practice...

Celtic Women on "Dancing with the Stars" tonight...!!

The Celtic Women will be performing on tonight's elimination show of "Dancing with the Stars." I'm hoping to catch a glimps of my favorite, Lisa Kelly(for obvious reasons), lol.




Also, good news. My July vacation has been approved by my supervisor. All I have left to do is to save the money for the plane tickets and some spending money, and on July 20th, I'll be flying over to Glasgow! Yeah me!!!

Long overdue post...

Haven't posted in a while, not sure whether it's because I've been busy with work and assistant coaching the high school baseball team, or it's because my life is just that boring. Well, I'm thinking it's the later, because I can't think of anything interesting to post about right now, other than a few pictures I've taken over the past few months. I'm always trying to get that priceless picture, and I never seem to like the ones that I take. I'd still like to upgrade the camera I use, but bills have taken up a lot lately.

Anyways, there are two photos that I've taken lately of my Asst. Chief Abe Walker, that I'm pretty surprised how they came out. The first one was at a live burn several months ago, where I was helping out as an instructor, and Abe was tending a smoldering fire to smoke up the burn building. Luckily, my camera withstood the high temperatures.... LOL





This picture is from this month's drill night where we drafted from a local pond and feed two trucks, two deck guns, a blitzfire automatic nozzle, and the forestry. The truck is rated for 1,250 gallons a minute pump, but we were flowing about 1,350 gpms.





This is a close up of Abe, and I thought it was pretty funny. This was also at the burn we had several months ago, bright and early in the morning. As some people say, "at the ass crack of dawn." LOL





Finally, here's two pictures from a training we had two Sundays ago. There was a farm house out by the parkade/shopping center on Hawkins Rd. The land was bought from the owner so CVS could build a store, and the house was offered to us, so we could train. We vented windows, cut vent holes in the roof, and breeched walls for "safety and survival practice." It's actually one of the few, better pictures of me, because you can't see my face...LMAO

Me sounding the roof to make sure it was safe for my fat arse to walk on...LOL




Me using the K-12 circular saw to make a vent hole...

I rather funny video a friend sent me...

Walk On The Wild Side Sure animals are funny, but with a little editing and voice overs, the entertainment value triples.

6 more days till "Celtic Women"....

Lisa Kelly from Celtic Women...

A post for Linda...

Bored once again at work, as we're waiting for the morning influx of 911 calls, with all this snow falling. I was browsing youtube.com videos for this "Homecoming 2009", and this one made me think of you Linda. Not because of Scotland, or golf, but because Sean Connery narrated it, LOL. Enjoy...

Good news! I received an email reply from Aunt Sadie, who had talked to Aunt Irene at the Mercat yesterday. They have no plans or vacations scheduled for the end of July, so I can go back to Scotland to visit. I had suggested that I "hire" a car from Glasgow Airport and rent a room at the Mercat for my stay, but they had none of that. In her words, "We will pick you up at the airport. There is no need to hire a car for your stay, unless you feel the need to. I talked to Irene, and you have the choice of staying with her and uncle Stewart like you did last time, or if you feel you need more privacy, you can stay at the Mercat for free, as it's not allowed for family to pay. If the rooms are booked, you can just stay with Irene." I'm in shock. These people have met me twice in my life, once when I was a child and again when I went over in 2007, yet they treat me like I've spent my life, growing up with them. How do you pay them back, and better yet, how do you put a price on that?! All because of my Grandma. Without a doubt, Scots are the most friendly people I've ever dealt with. So the "Scotland Homecoming 2009" countdown has officially begun. July 20th to be exact...

On another note, this weekend will be interesting, as I have Hayleigh this Valentine's Day weekend for an extended duration. She has no school next week, and the ex-wife can't get the time off from work, so my newly retired mom offered to watch her on Monday and Tuesday while I'm off at work. Needless to say I don't think I'll be getting much sleep till Tuesday night, which I have off, because Wednesday I have to go to Middletown for an AT&T 911 admin class. This evening I was awake and figured it was pretty nice out, and should go take some pictures at Rotary Park, testing out my night-time photography skills. Unfortunately my camera skills with my relatively cheap Fuji digital camera, is not that good as I couldn't get the settings right, but here's some shots. Some of them I "doctored", while a couple I left alone. I still want a better quality camera so I can get clearer, more attractive shots. Hopefully, someday, I will be like Linda!!


The Riverwalk, just south of Bridge Street.


A not-so-clear shot of Gilman's Funeral Home from across the Quinebaug River. I've always loved the way it's lit up at night, as it looks absolutely stunning to the naked eye. I just can't get a clear shot of it yet with my p.o.s. camera...


The Grandstand in the forefront, with Gilman Funeral Home, located across the river on lower Church Street in the background(to the left).


The Grandstand, which I added a blue hue for an effect. The lights in the original shot made the photo way too blurry...


This one is my favorite. It's a shot of an old tree in Rotary Park, back lighted by all the lights from the falls, mill, and street lights...


Taken from the top of "Cargill Falls"


The rapids, which are to the side of the falls, closest to Kennedy Drive...


This is a funky picture of the American Flag at the State Courthouse on Church Street. I wanted to get the State Flag there also, as it was lighted beautifully, but all the pics came out like a blue blob...LOL


A shot from the courthouse looking up Church St. The flag pole on the left is in front of the PD, the one on the right is in front of the FD, and the one barely noticeable in the middle, is in front of Putnam EMS.

I also tried many shots, with many different settings, trying to get a great shot of geese floating in the river. The lights from the "Riverfront Landing" shopping center were reflecting in the water, and the geese and/or ducks looked like shadows floating in the water. None of the pictures came out well, but I took video, and it came out decent...

Some oldies, but goodies.....(okay, not that old)

Having a tough time thinking about something to write tonight. Had two shifts with the newbie this week, and to be considerate I'll keep my mouth shut(or should I say stop typing) in order not to cause grief...LOL

Anyways, for some reason tonight, I'm in the mood for some classic "oldies". Here's just a few I could think of...







and one of my favorite artists....


I'd love to see him in concert....

Nice end to the weekend...

Hayleigh with her "Hannah Montana" prescription glasses and three loose teeth! LOL


So this weekend was spent doing the usual with Hayleigh. Friday we hit the Bates' and hung out. We snagged take out, Burger King for the kids, Golden Greek for Rene and Jess, and I took in some J.D. Coopers take out. Saturday, Hayleigh and myself did the usual trip back down to Norwich for her ballet class. We then came back home for a bit, and then headed back over to the Bates'. I promised them I would cook dinner for the group that evening, so Rene tagged along as I went shopping. Funny thing is we were heading back into town to go shopping, and I needed to get some fuel for the truck when our pagers went off for the gas station we were headed to. It came in as an "injured person" as result of an assault. We showed up just after the ambulance, and stood around as the State trooper took statements and photos. I actually went over to the pump and filled my truck up while we waited for him to get out of the cruiser. He walked right over to the ambulance and gave the "my neck hurts, and they threw me to the ground twice." Come to find out the guy filled up on gas, and his credit cards were denied, so the clerks called the CSP. He tried to leave and they clerks tackled the guy. The girls from the ambulance collared and back boarded the "fine, outstanding citizen" while I brought out the stretcher, and away they went.

We continued on our merry way, grocery shopping for my special Shepards Pie, which ended up including a spare Wii remote, steering wheel, and game purchase for Rene's. We spent the night playing Nintendo Wii and had a blast. Sunday we slept in, and then headed over to Rene's so I could help him get a spare ATV that he sold, into the back of his truck before we headed over to a friend's house tonight for a Super Bowl party. In order to get the spare ATV out of his shed, he had to start and bring out his new ATV. Well who could resist with the untouched snow in his backyard?!! We could help it and took a turn a piece, then ran in to get the kids. They each had two rides until we put it back in the shed.

The kids lining up for a ride...


Rene taking Megan for a ride...


The Peanut and yours truely...



Hayleigh and I left around 4:30 to bring her home, and on the highway heading down, we passed a farm in Griswold just north of Exit 86 where the sun was shining brightly over the horizon, and it made the sky a vibrant orange/red. I wasn't about to slam on the brakes in the middle of the highway, so I tried to find a nice spot, but the sun was setting fast. I took a quick shot while getting off Exit 85, and pulled over at a golf course, but the pictures obviously didn't do the color justice. I think I'll just have to save up some money and get a new toy like Linda has... ;0D

Getting off the highway in Griswold


Looking out over the golf course on Route 164

Opportunity arises...

I can't seem to remember if I had any posts last year about me coaching baseball last spring, then again, I can barely remember what I did last week. Anyways, last year, one of my good friends Shawn, was approached to coach the Pomfret Middle School's baseball team. Shawn and I were opponents in high school baseball(Shawn-Ellis Tech, Me-Putnam), joined the fire department together, took many classes together, and we both work as dispatchers on 3rd shift(Shawn-UConn Storrs, Me-QV). He took the job, but he needed some help so he asked me to be his assistant coach.

We had a good season last year with the Middle School kids, and ended up tied for 2nd place in the division. I then decided to concentrate more on getting enough sleep during the day or working overtime, and Shawn ended up continuing his season coaching American Legion for Tri-town(Woodstock, Thompson, Putnam). Well, he has just informed me that he is one of two finalist for the head coach position at Putnam High School, my alma mater! He will be finding out either tomorrow or sometime next week if he has the job, and has asked me if I'd like to continue to be his assistant coach. I told him of course, but seeing that I still need to take the coaching class to get my certificate, I can only help out with practice and book keeping. But I'm hoping to find an upcoming class, and who knows, I may possibly be coaching a Junior Varsity squad. I was really looking forward to spring, but now I'm REALLY looking forward, and of course I will update this situation as it happens...

"Let it freeze so we have our own hockey rink..!!"

I'll try and paint the picture here. Over the past month or so, we've had lots of snow and very cold, if not freezing temperatures here in Connecticut. Looking at our firehouse, our apron and left side of the parking lot is paved, including a small driveway that goes to the rear of the station. To the right side, once it gets past the Tanker's bay it turns to dirt, and goes about two and a half car lengths until it meets the woods. Years ago, there weren't as many members as there are today, so the area gets used frequently now. In fact during meetings and trainings, we sometimes have to double park in the dirt section.

Well, the town highway department has been plowing the dirt section as best they can over the past few months, but obviously they can't drop the plow all the way down because it's dirt, of course! So the snow and ice, has become even more ice(walk-able but it's still ice). Well with yesterday's storm bringing lots of snow, then lots of sleet, then lots of rain, it's all been plowed into even larger snowbanks. Of course with all the rain, and the dirt section being on a lower grade than the rest of the parking lot, all the water drained onto the dirt section, and the ice "floor" and snowbanks acted as a dam.

The water had built up to where it was quite impressive amount, running the entire length of the dirt parking section(approximately a foot of standing water). While we were outside the station tonight after playing cards(pitch to be exact), we were debating whether we should let it freeze over or un-dam it. I made the suggestion that we let it freeze, as there were two trees to the back of the snowbanks that would make an excellent hockey goal. But to my dismay, everyone else thought it would be better to drain the "pool" so members who were unaware of said puddle/ice rink, wouldn't slide across it and crash into the snowbanks. DARN I SAY!!

So one of our younger members, "Jacko", donned a pair of bunker boots and a shovel. Sorry, technically they were the second pair he grabbed, as the first pair he grabbed were out of service "utility" boots, with a leak in them! HAHAHA, "How's the water Jacko??!!" Anyways, he knocked out a hole in the back of the snowbank and it was like the Colorado River Rapids! The water had receded back several feet towards the woods within a few minutes by the time I was leaving the station. I luckily had my camera in my truck tonight, so I snapped some pictures. I apologize for the poor quality of the photos. It was a rather tough shot, with it still raining the flash was ineffective, along with it being night, and the glare from the street light at the edge of the road. Sorry, but enjoy some laughs...

Our pond...


Jacko in the background digging a trench into the woods...


Assistant Chief Manis checkin out the situation...

Power and Back Pain....

Honestly I haven't had anything relevant to post lately. I've just been working, and sleeping, maybe an occasional call with the fire department here or there, but mostly uneventful. Tonight for training, we were supposed to have a CL&P(Connecticut Light & Power) representative come out to the station and put on a class about how their system works when an incident comes in, how they are handled by the call center in Berlin, and then the dispatch center somewhere else in the state. It was supposed to be a presentation like the one I heard a week or two ago from the New England Regional Supervisor, at the local Quinebaug Valley Chief's meeting. That's when some chiefs and line officers "ripped the guy a new one." Well, this time it was supposed to be a more local supervisor, and my Chief, Dave, decided to invite Thompson Hill, Attawaugan, and some members from all the way down in Gales Ferry to attend this CL&P class/meeting.

Local fire departments in the area have a big beef with CL&P, because there is an established policy for emergency responders to use for downed wires/telephone poles. Priority 3 is non-life threatening(tree and wires down), Priority 2 is possibly a life threatening event and/or hazardous situation(wires down and arching with fire, or working structure), and Priority 1 is immediate life threatening situation(any fire with entrapment, or an MVA with pole and energized wires down over vehicle, etc). CL&P is supposed to give dispatch and estimated E.T.A. for all incidents other than Priority 3. But even for Priority 2, they've been rather shady, as far as giving e.t.a.'s! Well, my chief should have pushed this CL&P manager or supervisor for an E.T.A., because the guy never showed up!

So, we had a little training/discussion for a half and hour, and then went home. Nothing strenuous was done, yet I have no idea what the heck I did tonight, because it feels like I have a slipped disc in my back under my right shoulder blade, and it hurts whenever I move or during inspiration. Could someone please take the serrated steak knife out from behind my shoulder blade! THANKS!!! I'm hoping that a nice days rest during this snow storm today will do the trick, and I'll wake up feeling great and ready to go... I'll keep ya posted...

What to do, what to do??!!

So last week when the extreme cold weather hit CT, my Durango started having a noticeable vibration between 60-70mph on the highway, along with the creeks and pops from my suspension and leaf springs when getting into a frozen car. The vibration wasn't enough to shake the truck or pull to one side when I let go of the steering wheel, but it was enough to make me notice it. It seemed like it was coming from the front passenger side, and seeing that I haven't had any problems at all with it, I took it to Kelly's Tire in Putnam. Kelly's Tire is an old "mom and pop" garage in town that's been open for many decades and the family has used since I can remember.

In talking with Dennis Kelly, and describing the vibration as best I could, he suggested starting with the less invasive treatment with getting the front tires balanced seeing that that's where I said the vibration was coming from. After having the work done, the vibration was less noticeable over the next few days, but increasingly got worse over the course of the week. Well, this past morning I took it in to get the rear tires balanced, after I had noticed there were no tire weights on the right rear tire a few days ago. Thinking I would be good to go, I waited till the drive to work tonight to take it on the highway again, and again, the vibration is less noticeable, but still there!




The engine and transmission is purring like a kitten, and I haven't had any problems at all with it since I purchased it some two and 1/2 years ago. I'm at a loss, and can only guess that either there's something wrong with my suspension, or my rear end is starting to let go. My dispatch partner Travis, also has a Durango, although it's a few years older than mine, there is a difference between them. His Durango is 2WD with a 4WD switch, while my Durango is constantly in All Wheel Drive with a 4WD selector switch. Maybe there is something minor wrong with my vehicle but I'm thinking the worse, and started debating whether or not I should look into getting a new vehicle. Don't get me wrong, I love my Durango with it's third row seating and all it's options (minus a sunroof), but I can't help but worry about getting stuck with it until it's depreciated in value to where I lose money.

I've made all payments consistently on time, over the past year and a half and I'm wondering if I would be able to get financed for a new truck at a decent price. Considering the way the economy is, and with the auto maker's bail out, I would think it's a buyer's market, and maybe they'd be willing to work something out. The only problem is that I want a new Dodge Ram, and back in 2002 when Hayleigh was born, my ex-wife and I had a combined payment for our vehicles over $1,000. I had a brand new Jeep Wrangler Sport 4X4, and we managed to get rid of her sports car, but we tried to keep my Jeep, and due to her pregnancy I was the only one working at the time. We couldn't afford everything, so I voluntarily repossessed my car, which was financed through Diamlyer-Chrysler, who is the main Dodge finance company. I'm not sure if they will be able to work anything out for me, and I'm thinking I may be denied, but I figure it's worth a shot. Wish me luck, I'm gonna go shopping on-line right now, dreaming and drooling...LOL

Yesterday was past history, today is new history...

Weekend update...

So this weekend started off with the usual getting out of work Friday morning and taking a nap before picking Hayleigh up after school, for the weekend. We hit the Lisbon McDonald's on the way home for a snack, and so Hayleigh could play on the playscape. We then headed up to Putnam, and went over Rene's house. We hung out for a bit and then piled back into our cars and went out to dinner at the Golden Greek before hitting the Killingly Cinemas to see Paul Bart, Mall Cop. The combination of a heated theatre, dark lighting, and my warm coat did me in, as I ended up dozing off for a bit. Granted there were a few funny parts, but all in all, it was a boring movie, and not as funny as I thought it would be. We then called it a night and went our separate ways, and I got Hayleigh home and into bed.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as lucky as she was, as I had promised the Bates' that I'd drive them to the airport for their early morning flight to Tampa, FL. to visit family and go to Disney. They had been planning the trip since summer, and Hayleigh and I were supposed to go with them, but I ended up backing out due to expenses. So, me being used to working the midnight shift, I had tried to nap several times, but kept waking up in fear of being late. I woke up at 00:30, 01:30, 2:15, and then decided at 03:00am to just stay awake, and headed over to their house at 04:15. We packed up my car and headed off to T.F. Green airport in Warwick, R.I. and got there with plenty of time to spare despite the flurries and 15 below temperatures. I then drove back home and stayed awake, got Hayleigh up and ready for dance class and drove to Norwich around 10:45. Class got over around 12:45 and we drove back to Putnam for lunch.

We then headed back out to Warwick, as Hayleigh has gotten 100's on every single spelling test during the school year. So I surprised her with a trip to "Kids Anarchy on Kool-aid", better known as Chucky Cheese. We spent a few hours there, and then drove up to North Smithfield, RI to eat at Papa Gino's, and then went to see "Hotel for Dogs." She had a blast and we got home around 9:30p.m. and proceeded to pass out from exhaustion. Well, at least I did...LOL

We then woke up this morning and went through all of her toys, organizing and throwing out what she didn't want anymore. I dropped her off at 2pm so she could go with her Mom to a birthday party, and went home to pass out some more before coming into work tonight for an overtime/holiday shift. So far, it's been a crazy shift, with an unexpected large snowfall in the area, which left our CAD screen with so many calls we had a scroll down bar to look at some of the calls. Normally, I've only seen that type of screen when either a large damaging storm hits, a large fire, or, at times, during busy day shifts...

On a side note, I missed a double fatal, head on crash in my district because I slept through the page, along with a mutual aid structure fire to Thompson, and a flooded nursing home ("533" for Linda's notes..LOL) due to a broken sprinkler head.

Also, remember my last post where I stated I was getting to be forgetful? Well, this recent extreme cold spell had caused a picturesque scene at the Cargill Falls in town. Every night I drove by the intersection of Pomfret Street and Kennedy Drive, I kept thinking to myself, "I need to grab my camera and take a picture of that, it looks awesome." The falls were causing a huge mist cloud, and with the below zero temperatures, everything had a frosty white-like film that covered everything, as if it was frozen whipped cream. The normal ambiance lighting that the town set up years ago was highlighting everything, beautifully. Yep, I kept forgetting my camera, and tonight it was gone!!! I almost wish the freezing cold weather would come back, but who knows...

"A new year.... new fire officers." Great, JUST great!!

I would have to say 95% of the fire departments in Eastern Connecticut is volunteer. Some of those volunteer fire departments have chiefs appointed by town officials or board members, and stay chief until they either retire, die, or just step down. Line officers such as Captains or Lieutenants are then appointed by the chief and his assistant chiefs, etc.

Now, the other half of the departments have elections. Some annually, some every two or three years, but either way, they have elections. This way to me, seems to be a hindrance, because in my mind, in order to move a department forward and being pro-active takes more than a year, or two, or three to see the progress. To me, voting would be a popularity contest at times, and in some departments there is a maximum amount of years that you can serve as chief. Granted, you'd be bringing new ideas and new ways of thinking into the department by elections, but you'd also possibly have differing opinions between administrations(much like politics).

So, most departments that have elections have theirs in January, figuring "it's a new year, let's have new officers." So we in dispatch now have to look forward to dealing with some brand new, "green" fire officers on the radio. It tends to provide many entertaining shifts, where these new officers wouldn't like the "ribbing" or "poking fun" of them at dispatch when the microphone is not keyed...

And on a side note, one thing that has really annoyed me, is a certain department which will remain un-named who establishes incident command for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! Most departments will only establish command for certain calls, such as fires or moderate/severe car accidents, but this department will establish command for a nose bleed! If I was ever to become a member there, and get elected by votes to be their chief, that's the first policy I would change after my inauguration, DAY 1 of my term! But then again, some of their members wouldn't like that and vote me out of office the next year. LMAO...

Flight of the Conchords.....Accappella??!!

I believe I've mentioned it in previous posts, but one of my favorite acts lately, has be the New Zealand Folk-Comedy duo called Flight of the Conchords, otherwise known as FOTC's. They were even given their own show on HBO. Well, being bored at work again, I was surfing youtube and found many coverbands, and several high school students performing many of their songs at their talent shows...

This is one of the origionals...


and this is a version performed by a Duke University accappella group...


I thought it was pretty good...

Mumbling 101...

Just a few thoughts, seeing that I really can't think of anything major to blog about...

1. Why is it that during the day, I'll hear songs or see something and think to myself, "I need to look that up online when I get to work tonight." Yet, I get to work and forget what I wanted to look up! Apparently I need to start keeping a list...

2. When you start thinking to yourself, that you need to keep a list of something, is that Alzheimer's Disease starting to kick in? And is there any evidence of long term exposure to radio waves and radio frequencies, contributing to forget-full-ness, cause I could definitely take that to the bank!! LOL...

3. Hayleigh called me this evening while I was half awake, before she went to bed. She's so smart and normally talks like a 10 year old, but everytime she calls me on the phone, she talks like a 3 year old. "Hi da-da, I luv you and misssssss you! I can't wait to seeee you Fwi-day!" and it melts my heart...

4. Funny how the years go by and kids grow up fast, and they start to think of you as a secretary... "Daddy, tell Memere when she get's back from the store to call me! BYE!!!"

5. I have several friends that work at the Mohegan Sun Casino, either in dispatch or on the Fire Department. Apparently, due to hard economic times even the Casino has to make changes, and all employees are taking a pay cut! I feel bad for all my friends about the paycuts, but I'm also thankful that they're not getting laid off like the rest of the country...

6. The best job security is to be employed in the Public Safety fields. We're open 24/7/365, and we'll never go out of business...

7. The Powerball drawing on Wednesday is up over $100,000,000 with a payout of over $85,000,000 after taxes. Why do they list it as a $100 million jackpot, when technically you'd only get 85? Why don't they just say $85 million dollar drawing?!!

8. I bought my winning $100,000,000.....sorry, $85,000,000 ticket yesterday. I have already figured out everything that I want to do, and there's a lot of money left over. Obviously I need to think of more things to do and buy! LMAO

9. When you are having a boring and extremely slow night shift at work, make sure to be-friend a fellow dispatcher/blogger/southern belle on Facebook, so you can chat the shift away and entertain each other...

10. People really can have super powers!! Superman breath is pretty cool, but X-ray vision would be much better... (Inside joke)

11. In watching "The Bachelor", I'm wondering if they, or BBC would make a show for me over in the UK? They could call it "The American Bachelor." I can see it now, 6 weeks in the UK, 26-30 Brittish and Scottish lassies to choose from! Of course, this would be after I won my $100,000,000 Powerball jackpot, got into shape, and finally got a tan! HA!!! In my dreams...... I'll never tan!

12. I'm dying to get more tattoos, but of course an unexpected expense has come up! My Durango needs a major servicing, and now there's a vibration in the front end at highway speeds...

13. Not that I watch Leno a lot, but I was wondering tonight what's going to happen to Kevin Eubank and John Melendez when Leno retires, and Conan takes over. I can't picture Max Weinberg and his band working with either of them...


14. I'm the type of person that hates confrontation, so I'm not sure whether to give criticism, or to keep my mouth shut and let someone learn from their mistakes. I normally do not do it teaching firefighting classes, but at the firehouse and at work, I feel it's not my place to say anything...

15. Try listening to 8 hours of Minnie Mouse and tell me how you feel afterwards...LOL

It's as good as done...

So I've decided that I'm most likely going back to Scotland in July. 2009 is being called "Scotland Homecoming" by the entire country, where they are having nation-wide events happening throughout the year, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth. Robbie Burns is the famous poet, and national bard, and is probably the first, if not the second most popular person from Scotland, along with William Wallace of Braveheart fame.

Thanks to Claire, she had forwarded me a website listing all the posted events going on during the year, and amazingly enough, there is an event going on at the end of July in Mauchline, which is a stones throw(okay, maybe a bit further) away from Cumnock. I'm hoping to save up enough money for the flight, a rent-a-car, and a weeks stay at the family inn/pub. I know that if I tell the family that I'm coming back over, they'll insist that I stay at Aunt Irene's and Uncle Stewart's again, but me being my typical self, I wouldn't want to inconvenience them. I still feel that I owe them for my last trip where they would barely let me pay for anything, so I almost wish I had a ton of money so I could pay them back. I'm sure that the plane tickets from Prestwick to Heathrow wasn't cheap for my Aunt Sadie, and paying for lunch did not make up for that!!

So barring any unforeseen expenses, I'm hoping to make a video diary of my 2nd ever overseas trip, to Bonnie Scotland!!

Dispatch Part Deux...

Again, a quiet night at QV leads to boring post about work. Last post I partially described our dispatch center that we commonly refer to as "the closet." Closet, meaning the small office on the 2nd floor that was transformed into our dispatch center, several years ago when the CT State Police decided to enlarge the Troop D dispatch center, and moved us upstairs. So here's some pics...

This is a pic of Position #2, which I normally inhabit on the Mid shift. The top two screens are the 911 system, the bottom two screens are the CAD, the third one from the left is the Orbicom/radio system, and the last one on the right is just my laptop. Notice my container of "life-blood"(Dunkin Donuts coffee) next to the keyboard. LOL


This is a shot towards Position #1 which is on the right, and Position #3 to the left of the window.


This is a shot of the "Main Tower" Orbicom screen. Each module is a radio frequency, and we can either use the touch screen, the mouse, or below the monitor is a normal push-to-talk button "base."


Some of our radio towers use microwave links, rather than telephone lines to communicate between dispatch and the towers. These tower modules have the four little boxes on them, where we can select frequencies from a scroll down list.


This is the cross-band tower screen, which other dispatch centers share with us. They have to be changed by DTMF, meaning we have to punch in a code to change the frequency of those towers.


A shot of the Med Patch screen, which controls the med radio for our regional hospital, Day Kimball, in Putnam.


One of our toning screens, which have the fire department and ambulance tones sorted by regions. North, Northwest, South, Plainfield/Canterbury, Killingly, Brooklyn, and Southwest.


Our CAD mapping system...


This is our "Snack Shack" which is about 5 feet behind me...


This is our management office, lol. Also below that is "Position #4" which is the only one company computer that has internet, used for company related business. It is always on, used for the VOIP system with Rhode Island, and www.iamresponding.com. It allows first responders to call in "responding", which has eliminated third party answering services for ambulance corps, and has reduced retones for the fire departments and ambulance corps...


AND FINALLY!! Here's Shayne, who is my partner tonight, seeing that it's an overtime shift for me. This is pretty much what we do on third shift, grab a spare chair, use it as a hammock, and either watch tv or surf the web on our laptops...


Hope you enjoyed this post...

"So what does Erik do at work?" you may ask...LOL

I'm having one of those nights where I'm wide awake, mope-ing around the internet because my life is rather boring, and I can't think about anything to write about. It's tough to think of something to write about that will entertain or keep someone else interested in reading it. Lately I've had a few other bloggers that are employed in my line of work(other than Linda), read some posts and send comments, so I figure, maybe post about my job.

Taken from QVEC website...
Who We Are

Quinebaug Valley Emergency Communications, Inc.(QV), is a non-profit corporation that was founded in 1974, to establish and administer an improved emergency notification and dispatch system in Northeastern Connecticut. We receive 911 emergency calls, dispatch the appropriate agency (fire and/or ambulance organization), transfer calls to State and local police departments, and provide continuous radio communications throughout our 17 town area.

The QV dispatch area: 519 square miles , includes 99,700 permanent residents and contains 37 fire departments, 14 ambulance agencies, 2 municipal police departments and 2 State Police agencies.

In large measure, our responsibility is the management of communication. Our office at the State Police Troop ‘D’ Barracks includes sophisticated radio communications equipment which links us to local, regional and State-wide fire networks and hospital emergency rooms and even to the National Defense Warning System.

I think JDF(our manager) did a good job briefly summing up what we do.

I'll give you just a quick list of departments and radios that we deal with here at QV...

(12) Radio towers: Thompson, Union, Brooklyn, South Killingly(MAIN), Griswold, Voluntown(Ekonk Hill), Hampton, Mansfield, Tolland, Plain Hill, Franklin, and our small back up tower behind the State Police Barracks here.

Each tower has a variety of radio frequencies on them depending on the area departments, ranging from Low Band, (VHF) High Band, and (UHF)Ultra High Band.

Toning Frequency: 33.80

Operating Frequencies: 33.44, 33.64, 33.72, 33.74, 33.76, 33.78, 33.88, 33.90, Danielson Highband, Putnam Highband(back up for WA), Statewide Mednet frequency, Statewide dispatch-to-dispatch, Rhode Island Inter-city(their form of statewide), and (VOIP)Voice Over Internet Protocol system, which is an online radio system with the State of RI. Our UHF system uses two main frequencies, and is "trunk-based" to have 16 different radio channels with different (PL's)private lines, branched off the two main frequencies. Basically, the whole system uses two frequencies, but with different PL's programmed, so that there is basically 16 frequencies that the responders can use, but either way they all are received here at QV on the two channels. We manage the med-patch radio to Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam for all incoming ambulances, and have a radio link to the State Police console downstairs, which is nice because we don't even have to pick up the phone to talk to them. We also have an I-TAC base radio, a MED-SAT(satelite) phone, and the NAWAS phone(North Atlantic Weather Alert System). Oh, and we also have a bendix mobile radio in our computer tower with several hundred other frequencies programmed in, just in case for back up.

Agencies we dispatch for:

Station 9 (Chaplin)

Station 12 (Hampton Fire, Hampton/Chaplin Ambulance)

Station 16 (Scotland Fire and Ambulance)

Station 24 (Baltic Fire and Ambulance)

Station 53 (Voluntown Fire and Ambulance)

Station 54 (Lisbon Fire and Ambulance)

Town of Griswold
Station 55 (Griswold Fire)
Station 56 (Jewett City Fire)
Griswold Ambulance

Town of Killingly
Station 60 (Williamsville Fire)
Station 61 (Danielson Fire)
Station 62 (Attawaugan Fire)
Station 63 (Dayville Fire)
Station 64 (East Killingly)
Station 65 (South Killingly)
K-B Ambulance

Station 67 (Sterling Fire)

Station 68 (Oneco Fire)

Station 70 (Pomfret Fire and Ambulance)

Station 71 (Eastford Fire)

Town of Woodstock
Station 75 (Muddy Brook Fire)
Station 76 (Woodstock Hill Fire and Ambulance)
Station 77 (Bungay Fire Brigade)

Station 79 (East Putnam Fire)

Town of Thompson
Station 81 (Community Fire and Ambulance)
Station 82 (West Thompson Fire)
Station 83 (Quinebaug Fire)
Station 84 (Thompson Hill Fire)
Station 85 (East Thompson)

Town of Brooklyn
Station 90 (Mort Lake Fire and Ambulance)
Station 92 (East Brooklyn)

Station 93 (Canterbury Fire and Ambulance)

Town of Plainfield
Station 94 (Moosup)
Station 95 (Plainfield)
Station 96 (Atwood Hose)
Station 97 (Central Village)
Moosup/Plainfield Ambulance

and finally the AMR paramedics that serve our 17 towns
QV Medic 1(24hr coverage), QV Medic 2(0800-2000), and QV Medic 3(1700-0100)...

Whhhhhheeeeeewwwww........and believe it or not, I typed that all off memory! LOL

I think the next one I do on dispatch, I will take some pictures...

Not a good start already...

So far I've managed to oversleep, and be 15 minutes late to work for my overtime shift. This is probably the third time over the past year that I've done it to the Shanyne, whom I was supposed to relieve at 4:30pm. I told him that to make up for it, to come in next Monday morning at 9:30-10:00, as that's the next shift he is supposed to relieve me, but he keeps saying to forget about it.

Interesting note from my last post. Work did end up being a doozie last night, as around 5 am., a house blew up in Griswold, which we took like 20-30 calls on, and dispatched Griswold, Jewett City, Voluntown, Lisbon, and the Taftville FAST team, along with Griswold Ambulance for standby. We'll that opened a can of worms, as a brief rain shower had gone through the state about an hour before that, causing severe ice conditions in the area. So, on the way to the fire, Griswold Ambulance decides to slide head-on into a tree. This must have been the back breaker, as we then recieved several medical calls in that area for slip n' falls, and your usual medicals. This caused us to use Lisbon's ambulance twice, and a bunch of American Ambulance BLS and ALS units. Jewett City's ET-156 was held back to cover Griswold's fire house during the fire, and ended up flying back and forth across the town of Griswold as the lone First Responder medical coverage. Next thing we know, they sign off at a slip n' fall in Jewett City, and the officer starts screaming over the radio. Apparently when they got out and started treating the patient, the truck continued to slide down the road past them and crashed into, and over a stone wall!!

Eventually the town highway department got out and started to sand the trouble spots, and Jewett City was able to get their truck off the stone wall. The wrecker had a tough time getting the ambulance out of the woods, but was later successful after a few passes of a sand truck. All in all, it was a crazy end to a shift, things worked out okay, and we managed to get through the big "C-F", (cluster f@@@). No wonder why I overslept this afternoon...LOL

Start of the week, not sure if it's good....or bad?

Well, apparenty we're starting off the first full week of 2009 with a bang tonight, as an hour into my shift, I took a call from a gentleman in Moosup. It went a little something like this:

Erik: "911, what's your emergency?"

Gentleman: "Yes, I live on Snake Meadow Hill Rd. in Moosup. I just heard a vehicle go past my house at a very fast rate of speed, proceeded by a huge bang. I'd like to talk to the Plainfield Police." Obviously he couldn't see or confirm an accident, so calls like that get transferred to the appropriate police department to investigate.

So I transferred the call to PPD for them to check it out, and waited for the callback from the police requesting services. In the meantime, my partner, who is familliar with the town of Plainfield said calmly, "Someone went down the hill, blew the stop sign and went into the huge stone wall that the guy across the street put up to protect his house."

Two minutes later, sure enough, "We need an ambulance to...", so we dispatch Moosup Fire and Moosup/Plainfield ambulance and sure enough, "Car 294 to QV, we have one car into a stone wall, one patient for transport, minor injuries."

Luckily, it wasn't a serious call, and it's been a decent start to the shift. I also found out when I came in, about my overtime shifts. Our supervisor would email out the schedule in microsoft excel format with open shifts highlighted. The old way they they distributed the overtime was by emails and alpha-numeric pages sent to the part-timers throughout the month, and any leftovers were given to full-timers by seniority rotation. Our supervisor finally realized it was taking a lot of effort to fill shifts, so he finally switched it to "everyone email in their availability for the open shifts with any preferences before the 1st of the month."

So I email all of the shifts I'm available for back to him, minus the weekends I have Hayleigh, and just wait to see what I get. I figured I wouldn't get that many this month, because of the overtime and holidays I've worked the past two months. Well, I was mistaken. Four overtime shifts including eve's tomorrow for a double, and a "holiday worked" shift on Martin Luther King Day! I'm honestly worried about tax time, as I'm not sure if I'll get a big tax refund check, or who knows, I may need to pay into the government seeing that I've probably worked enough overtime this past year to put me into another tax bracket... LMAO

Happy 2009 everyone!!

I recognized this as one of the video presentations at the Tam O'Shanter Experience, near the Robbie Burns Cottage in Alloway. I think it's pretty cool that everyone sings a Scottish song, every New Year's Eve...LOL



May you all have a great year, 10 times better than the last....