UN 2977

Sorry, been a little busy.  I have had the chance to drive again for the last two work days.  I really feel like I am getting better with this giant truck of ours, at least in the manuverability aspect of it.  Still have a lot to learn about placement and just the FEO job in general.  But I am told I’m doing a great job, especially for someone with as little experience as I have driving.

     Tutoring at the HS has been going well.  The kids that I end up helping are putting up really good test scores, so that makes me happy.

     Last night was the last marching competition of the year for SGH.  It was put on over at Providence Grove HS, which is just down the road from here.  It was really cold out.  November band competitions here in NC are a little different than ones in FL. (But that should go without saying).  All season, the band has had poor music scores.  General Effect, Visiual, Color Guard, Marching: all had been really good, but it was the music score that was keeping them down.  We have worked on it for weeks now, trying to get more emotion out of them, more distinction between articulation, and just overall better support and sound. Here are the results from last nights competition:

Class AA: Four bands in this class, including SGH.  They took:

- 2nd Place: Drum Major

-2nd Place: General Effect

-2nd Place: Visual Effect

-1st Place: MUSIC!

Overall: 2nd Place in class!

They only lost to the winner by 3.2 points.  So close, but what an amazing run for these kids yesterday.  To go from dead last to first in the music caption was amazing!

Cheers,

~UN2977

Awards from the NW Guilford Band Competition won by Southern Guilford HS!

Lets see if I can recap all the stuff thats been going on…

     SGH Band had their second competition last weekend at NW Guilford High.  This was my first competition with them and I have had a chance to work with them now for something about 2 weeks.  We have started some new warm-ups and some fun chord progressions that are nearly identical to some DCI warm-ups.  They have really started to like that.  Plus it helps with their tone and blend.  They are a class AAA band according to these rules, which only count the number of wind players in the band for class ranking.  There were 5 schools total in their class.  From their website:

“The SG Storm Marching Band won 1^st place in marching, 2^nd place in general effect, 2^nd place color guard, 2^ndplace Drum Major- Holly Gamble, and 3^rd place overall in AAA Band Caption Saturday at the Northwest Guilford HS Band Competition,  This is the first time we were considered AAA and we are very proud of them!”

Needless to say, I am quite pleased at this!  Especially the 1st place marching award. All they really need to work on now is the ‘Music’ caption and they could be winning their class!

Last work day I was in charge of driving the beast again.  We got a little action but nothing too major.  Fire alarm that turned into a cooking fire, that turned into a CPR in progress. Also on the Fire front, I am about to become a vol. for the Pinecroft-Sedgefield FD.  I should have all that squared away by next week sometime. Woo!

Kids at the HS are doing well and enjoying the chem. tutoring and I can tell that is really helping them out.  BF3 is great, going to try and play some more this evening when I get back from band practice.

Thanks for taking the time to read all this crap! Hope you are all well.

Cheers,

UN 2977

We started the day off by having a couple classes of Kindergarten kids come visit us at the station.  We did a station tour, talked about turn-out gear, showed them the ladder truck, and even let them spray water from the engine at a mock fire set-up.  

     The rest of the day went by without much issue, until around 0100 hrs on Sat. morning.  We got toned out to a structure fire.  This was my second full day as acting FEO for the ladder at the new station. Driving this beast is still coming to me, and this was my first working house fire as an FEO.  The mindset is so different than what it is when I’m on the back of the truck.

     We pull into the driveway to a little one story home, heavy fire showing on the A side and on the roof division.  Its determined that the survivability for anyone in there is zero, so we go defensive fire attack.  I grab lights and the junction box from our truck and go up to the house and light up the area.  I also help the engine company connect to the hydrant and get some water flowing.

     The first 10 or 15 minutes on a fire scene as an FEO are hectic as hell.  You have a lot of things to go over; Do I need ventilation?  Are Ladders required?  Lights? Position to set up the aerial if needed? Help force doors and search/rescue? Tools needed? Saws cranked up?  Needless to say, I was a bit flustered and probably looked like a chicken with his head cut off as I ran around getting stuff done.

     But ultimatly, stuff got done, the fire went out, no one was hurt.  We all got back home safely…at 0530 hrs after a lot of overhaul work.  I like it, but I really think I need some more time on the back of the truck before I can enjoy the time driving the truck.

Also, keep on voting for Southern Guilford H.S. Band!  You can vote once every day! (or twice if you use your smart phone and then your home computer!) THANKS for all your support!

I help instruct a marching band in my area.  I have just found out that they are in a contest sponsored through Glee.  Its a contest to get the most votes to help them get money for new insturments.  If they get first place, they will receive $50,000 to help replace many of their old insturments.

     The school band is growing each year and with that, their ability to keep using their old insturments is becoming more difficult.  All you have to do is click on the link and vote for them once a day on the website!  

 All it takes is just two clicks of your mouse to maybe help a great group of kids get some assitance to keep playing music!

http://www.gleegiveanote.com/vote_details.php?id=6

I know it says the band is from AR, but its a lie. 

Hanging Rock St. Park, April 4, 2011

Good morning!

     I have been quite productive, well, busy, today.  Started off with a good Cross-Fit workout this morning at 0600 hrs.  Then I wandered over to the local community college to help out a friend trying to get on with the city fire department.  We went over some of the tips and techniques that really help out with performance and time on the agility course.

     Before we started, though, the fire academy class was out using the course as well.  Let me just say, I was a little disappointed in some of the people out there.  It’s not that they couldn’t do the work, it was that they didn’t WANT to do the work.  I understand, this is a college class.  You are paying to be there and the last thing you want is to work yourself to the point of throwing up or having someone yell at you as if you were in boot camp.  But, to simply give up on something half-way through, or not work at all on what you were assigned is just poor.  If I were looking to hire someone for my department out of that lot…I would have been hard pressed to find someone.  

     But like I said, they are not hired anywhere yet, they are there to get the certifications, but if that is their work ethic, it does not bode well for them.  Guess what, cadets? Being a firefighter is hard work, period.  Maybe not all the time, but when its time to work, it is no joke.  Buck up, shut up, and do the work.

~2977

So, Tumblr staff!  I need some help here.  I can’t seem to save any kind of customization.  I just sits on the page and says ‘saving’ but it doesn’t do anything.

Help a guy out!

So, yeah.  Going to try and get this up and running here.  Forgive me if it takes a little bit, but tumblr doesn’t seem to want to save my customization selections.  

     While this shouldn’t stop me from posting, it just kinda bugs me that it won’t work right.

Argh,

~2977