After a few requests and because I keep hearing that chicks dig firefighters, here is a photo of me (on the right) and my friend Mo during last month's live smoke/SCBA training session. Notice he's got the brand-spanking-new bunker gear and helmet while I'm stuck with hand-me-downs... It's been an eye-opening switch from police officer to firefighter to say the least. It's only volunteer and part time, but I'm still enjoying it.
And speaking of live smoke, I'm not sure if it's that I'm getting older and less tolerant of it or what, but I haven't been smoking nearly as much as I have been and have cut down on it greatly since Christmas. I've been meaning to quit for a while and I am slowly weaning myself off of cigarettes. I'm not going to go cold-turkey like the last time though. Ranger Tom was not a very pleasant person to be around, and lets face it. Nicotine is a drug and I'm addicted. I am going to switch over to a pipe for a while and slowly wean myself off that way. At least pipe tobacco smells nice and won't stink up my apartment.
And speaking of stinking apartments...
I've said before how small my place is, so although I'm by no means a neat freak, I keep up with it because if I don't it gets cluttered fast. If I let it go for more than a few days it looks like it's been ransacked by the FBI serving a warrant. So I keep up with things, especially the garbage. It would be the height of laziness that I didn't take the garbage out every other day. The complex's dumpster (skip to my readers in the UK and Oz) is only about twenty feet from my front door and I have to walk right by it every night on my way to work so it's no big deal to take the trash out.
So I'm baffled by and odor I'm assaulted with the other morning when I walked in from work. It's not really overpowering, just under the threshold of annoyance really. I smell it as soon as I'm through my front door and in a moment it's gone. I have no garbage piling up and no dishes piled up in the sink so I'm basically clueless on the origins of this smell. It' s definitely a garbagey smell... It's not the dumpster because that never has time to pile up because it's emptied three times a week. The only other thing that I can think of is the apartment next door to me. It's used by the local rescue squad as a 911 substation for this part of the county but it's not been used in well over two months.
The only thing I can think of at this point is the last ambulance crew who used it never took the trash out and something is festering in there... I left a voicemail on another friend's cell phone to let him know about it because he's a supervisor for the squad. Hopefully that'll take care of it because I don't want people coming over thinking it's my place. Not that I have a shitload of visitors now. Until my friend gets back to me I'll continue to burn vanilla scented candles. I know it's not real bad, but I know it's there and it'll drive me nuts until it's taken care of.
On to dental work...
I've finally found a decent dental plan through of all places the American Legion. I've been a Legionare for over eleven years now and have never taken them up on any of the benefits they offer us veterans. I lost my dental coverage two years ago in my divorce and frankly I couldn't afford it until now. God knows I need it. I have this hole in one of my molars slightly smaller than Brice Canyon and I've been eating ibuprofin like it's candy for the last month. I've got to do something fast or my teeth are going to start falling out of my head, and then all I'll need to do is get my hair cut into a mullet and I'll really fit in here in West Virginia. Moral of this story is twofold. Take care of your chompers, and two, if you're a veteran, take a few moments and join the American Legion and take advantage of some of their benefits.
And another word or two about my planned trip to the UK. I've been doing a little research on that, and if I play my cards right and nothing catastrophic happens, I might be able to do that sooner than summer of 07'! The thought of taking a rail tour of Britain and Scotland has me excited! An adventure in the making and I can't wait!
Until tomorrow!
Copyright 2006 Thomas J Wolfenden
5 comments:
Yikes! I can't stand bad smells. That would drive me insane!
The thought of taking a rail tour of Britain and Scotland has me excited
Sounds absolutely fabulous... can't think of a better way to see Europe than by rail. Took a train from Brindisi to Rome one time... saw a wild fire out the window, and a good part of Italy which I was surprised to see looked similar to any rundown outer city suburbs. Train didn't have any food or snacks so be prepared by bringing your own.
Oh, and BTW, chicks DO dig firemen. :-D
U go fireman, will you be on the next fireman beef cake calander?
You friend Mo has the funniest little evil grin going there :-D
I hope all goes to plan on your trip. I so need a vacation myself.
Lucky for me I can turn off my sense of smell at a moments notice. But bad garbage smell would drive me insane.
Yes. Good to hear you're getting your teeth taken care of. And hope that smell gets taken care of soon too....
Sherri: The worst is dead guy smell.
Tsduff: The 15 day Britrail pass for first class is only slightly more than coach, so I'll most likely get that. With it you can get on and off unlimited times where ever you want, so if the train I might be riding is doesn't have a club car or food it's be easy to hop off at a station grab a pint and a bite and get the next train...
Honkeie: There's a better chance of the Second Coming than me winding up in a fireman 'beefcake' calendar... And didn't you just get back from a cruise?
Lisa: Just got to set the appointment. And the smell has been taken care of.
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