The word for today is "sunshine."  It seems like I've forgot what it looked like.  The weather here is terrible.  "Oh, it's beautiful here....sunny and 75!"  Yes April, I'm jealous :-)   On a different note, I've decided to break out the rollers and start up my indoor training sessions on my Cannondale.  Over the past month or so, I've been developing quite a gut.  Plus, I am having a bit of trouble keeping up with the kids during my indoor soccer games.  Hopefully, by the new year, I will be back to normal.  I'm still working on the Atlanta pictures.  Due to the fact that I have a horrible digital camera, I only have about 3 postable pictures.  Oh well.

Oh yea, if you're bored, I posted a new web cam picture.  Thanks for reminding me, A.

Sunday, November 25:

As of 8:00 p.m., I am currently somewhere on Route 71 just north of Cincinnati.  Yes, we are on our way back from Atlanta.  The trek home has gone pretty well so far with the exception of the many delays around Knoxville, TN.  We went out again last night.  And again, we were out at the bars until 4.  The evening started out with a nice dinner at Copland's.  After that, we headed over to April's friend Al's apartment.  All of us then traveled to Buckhead to go bar hopping.  The first bar we went to was Mako's (of course).  The place was packed.  After a bit, we walked over to "The Bar."  For some reason, the bathroom attendant there took a liking to me (not in the gay sense of course).  We ended up shooting the breeze for a while.  It was pretty cool.  Shortly after the conversation with the attendant, Paul, Al, Matt, and I witnessed a drunk kid take a nasty fall down the steps.  It was all we could do, not to fall over laughing.  Finally, we ended up at the Chaos.  This bar didn't impress me much; just another normal bar.  We stayed there until the bar closed.  Finally, we made the trek back to our cars and headed home.  I had a lot of fun, but I'm glad to be coming home.  Oh yes, as always, the pictures will be posted.

Saturday, November 24:

I'm having a great time down here in Atlanta.  We went out to eat at this great place called Joe's Crab Shack.  The servers danced through the isles.  Later we traveled to Buckhead.  I reveled in the sight of twenty bars on one strip!  We started at a 70's-80's bar called Bellbottoms.  The music was cool.  April got us in for free.  She also got the first round of drinks for free.  That's pretty cool considering that the going rate for mixed drinks is $5.00!  After our stay at Bellbottoms, we walked over to Mako's.  Talk about eye candy.  They had television screens set up that were showing girls dancing at a club in Florida.  Girls were flashing the camera just about every five minutes or so. Towards the end, the cute lady bartender hopped up on to the bar, laid down and poured a trail of salt from her belly button all the way up to her mouth, then stuck a lemon in her mouth.  The (shirtless) male bartender crawled on top of her, grabbed the bottle of Tequila, took a shot, then proceeded to "follow the salt trail."  You know where it goes from here!  Another amazing thing is that the bars stay open 24 hours.  It's kind of cool ordering drinks at 4am and knowing you still have a while to go.  Well, time for breakfast.  Maybe that will help my hangover :-)

Thursday, November 22:

Greetings from Atlanta!  The trip wasn't too bad; pretty uneventful.  It was quite long, though.  I am lounging around and watching the parades.  Mmmm, warm weather is nice!!!!  I'll let you know how it's going later.  Time to enjoy the holiday.  I hope you do the same!  HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

Sunday, November 18:

The pictures of the Orangeville Burn Down can be found here.

Guess what everybody, I'm taking a trip to Atlanta.  My departure is set for Wednesday afternoon.  I'm going to come back Sunday.  During my stay down there, I hope to get a good few days of sunshine and job searching.  We (Paul, Carlie and I) are going to be staying at my friend April's apartment.   Time to get my clothes, resume, and charm ready!  You know I'll be taking some pictures.  Once again, I will post them as soon as possible.  Geesh, it seems like all I do now is post pictures!

Wednesday, November 14:

Happy birthday to.......me.

Monday, November 12:

Talk about a bitchin' fire!  Yesterday, myself and firefighter Kieltsch took Hartford's engine to a practice burn in Orangeville.  Somebody donated an old house for the local departments to practice on.  The morning consisted of search-and-rescue practice.  Then, we broke for lunch and talked about the upcoming fires.  On my first interior attack, I was second behind the nozzle man.  We went into the burning room and were then told to wait.  So we waited.....and the fire got hotter....and bigger.  Soon, I could feel the sweat start to steam up under my gear.  Then they shouted for us to knock the fire down.  After we knocked it down, they told us to advance past the fire and put out the smaller fire in the bathroom.  When we came out, people started gathering around us and pointing at our helmets.  I removed my helmet to find that my visor (as well as my partner's visor) was completely melted!  After that, the head chief decided to "cool" it down a bit.  We did a few more attacks before burning the house to the ground.  I took a bunch of pictures and video clips.  They will be posted soon!

Friday, November 9:

The word for today is "old."  After limping around for the past few days with an obvious lack of skin on my knees, I've come to the conclusion that I am indeed getting old.  Also, I'm finding it hard to stay out late every night and be up for work the next day.  Actually, I'm still in denial.  You're only as young as you perceive yourself to be, right?  Anyways, our department is burning down a house Sunday morning.  We plan to use the house as practice for interior attacks and search-and-rescue.  I'm looking forward to it.  Trust me, there will be pictures posted of the fire.

COINMONSTER TONITE!!  Don't forget about Wednesday the 14th.

Sunday, November 4:

Friday night was a good night.  I headed out to the Cellar for a concert including my cousin's band Arsenic, Shonuff, and Sponge (the headliners).  The show was great.  Arsenic started off a little after 10:00, followed by Shonuff, then Sponge.  During one of the breaks, I won a free CD from the Wolf 93.3 DJ by producing a movie stub from my wallet.  What fun, I never win anything!  Also, my good friend Amber was there to see Miller (Arsenic's front man) perform.  I haven't talked to her in years.  Good friends, good music, what more could you ask for?

Also, My birthday is coming up on Wednesday, November 14.  Be sure to come out to Visa's Wednesday night and have a beer with the birthday boy!