Friday, September 22, 2006

Honoring Thy Tenant, Landlord, and Diversions of Drama

It's that day again... time to pay respect and honors to my tenant and landlords. First a big thanks to Cail Marlo. He was kind enough to organize my recipie card file while he was here. Granted, I have all of two cards (Alpo and Purina) but it still was nice of him. In his place we now find the one... the only... The Chad. Check out his movie insights, his DVD reviews, but most importantly check out the picture of him with his dogs. He'll also give you a peak into his cranium but most importantly, he's all about Peace. Go so The Chad... and prepare to be more enlightened than a senior citizen voting in a Presidential Election in Florida. By the time he leaves here... he'll be fluent in Love as well.

I'm crashing this week at Maldita, Bratinella which is written by Brat, a loud and talkative graduate of Electronics and Engineering. There are certain things that are cosmically meant to be... and this is one of them. I'll give you a hint... she's 5'4" and her birthday is this weekend... remind you of anyone? No? Well... she reminds me of someone... and since this is my blog I'm all that matters! Pretty bratty of me huh? Well she considers herself a brat too! See what I was saying about cosmic connections and stuff. So go see Brat and thank her for giving me a home this week... and then sympathize with her because she actually read through all my archives to check my references... of course I think she thinks I'm her... but I assure you I'm not (probably from a little hacking incident that occurred). I'm me... really... I promise.


Thus we turn to the drama... or lack thereof. This Sunday is The Steff's birthday. The flowers and bear are enroute... and her signed Kelly Clarkson photo is in hand. The Nick's birthday is also next week... but I'm not sure what to get her. I know The Steff's likes and dislikes a lot better.

Thus far the plan is to go out Saturday night for her birthday. Last year, I wasn't around for her birthday, although the flowers and bear made it. I plan on making up for it this year though... at least in the area of alcohol consumption. Perhaps you haven't been around for awhile and am wondering where exactly I was?

One year ago tonight, at mile marker 156 of I-81 in Virginia at 5:27am, I smashed into a deer at 75 miles per hour with my ambulance... which affectionately became known as DeerSlayer afterwards. We pulled over, all 9 ambulances in the convoy... our emergency lights illuminating the road and pushing back the curtain of black. The damage to the ambulance was minor... but the deer was terminal. We got back into our vehicles and continued on our way to Texas... with Hurricane Rita bearing down and estimated less than 24 hours away from landfall.

When I left New York for Texas, I had only been back for 3 days from New Orleans. I was pretty downtrodden after that experience... having been limited to what we could do and doing more "hurry up and wait" than "making it happen". I had the incident in New Orleans that broke a few teeth as well, and really needed to see my dentist.

Once we got down there and into the thick of it I flipped into auto mode. We fell into a high paced rhythymn from the Mississippi border on. The adrenaline was in my veins, and I set a pace I thought would break the others. A few did... but the rest went above and beyond and at times I was the one trying to keep up. Granted for 17 nights I slept in a two man tent, food was always a concern, and since there was no cell service in Hemphill contact with the outside world was next to nil (which really wasn't necessarily a bad thing). We were a motley team, but a team none the less. With mission priorities set, the elements and variables mounted against us, we made it happen... the impossible became possible.

I was doubly blessed in that during the second half of the tour down there I was able to bring my crew from the Baton Rouge Tasking Office down. The four of us were together in a disaster zone once again... runnin' hot during the day... and cooling off with the PBR at night. I got to experience things I may never have, like real Texas barbecue, see a real Texan High School football game, riding a real Texas mechanical bull, and driving 70 miles per hour down a two lane road. We got to help people who needed it. We were able to make a difference and see the difference we made. It was everything New Orleans could of been had we been deployed sooner rather than later. It was for all intense purposes... euphoric.

We were gone for 24 days. We didn't see our homes again until October 16. I'll admit, that night hugging The Steff hello was the absolute greatest feeling in the world. To be home and sleeping on a futon under a real roof was a pleasure. To be able to watch television and drink a bottle of Merlot was divine. It's a shame that didn't last. It took until November 1, 17 days, for me to feel the itch. The nagging feeling that life sucks and I needed to be away. I needed to be doing something... anything... other than what I was doing. One day... one day... that feeling and urge will go away... I hope.

I started this blog November 8 after spending 5 days of staring at a blank screen trying to write about what I had seen and done. There are still nights I stare at the screen, blocked by some brick in the wall... but never here... never here. I often wonder why that is... but I'm sure one day I'll figure it out. This really isn't my first blog... my first one was... well... that's a story for a different time... and maybe a different blog.

On that note... go see B at All-Night.Org... she's had her's for two years and is looking to hit the fifty comment mark. Make it happen.
Posted by New York City's Watchdog :: 9/22/2006 12:44:00 AM :: Permalink :: 4 Bones Added to the Pile

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