Busy-ness

Well, I apologize because I've been slacking in keeping my posts up to date. For all of you who check it regularly (my friends in P-cola, family back home, the scattered east coast friends, and someone in Allen Texas...not sure who that is) I'll try to do better so you have something to read when you check my page!! :) Some exciting developments that have been going on lately. We'll start with work. Keeping busy on that front. Trying to get my head back above the surface when it comes to all the paperwork and planning things that will happen late this year or even half way through next year (I know, I never would have guessed someone would start planning an event over a year in advance!!). Then on top of that stuff I'm out flying when I need to. Had a couple of cases lately, nothing that turned into anything spectacular, but it was still fun to go out and try to help people. Oh, and before I forget, one of the cable channels (I think its A&E but I could be wrong) is planning on doing an 11 week "reality" show about the Coast Guard in the Astoria Area. They are going to bring out the cameras starting in November and they'll be here until around April trying to catch all the good SAR cases and kinda following along with specific people at the air station and boat stations. Sadly enough, yours truly (me), didn't get chosen to be a main character, but who knows, you might be able to catch a glimpse of me during some of the shows. And if not, then hopefully you'll still watch and learn lots about what we do up here in the NW. On the community side of things, I just started my training as a volunteer fire fighter for the city of Warrenton. I'm pretty psyched about it. I got to play with fire a little bit when I was on my ship a few years ago and its a thrilling experience. So I have to go through a 6 month probationary period and then I get to start responding to calls and helping even more people out. I think the other perk is that I'm getting to know people in the community. I've never really gotten involved in a town before like this, and I'm excited for the possibilities. I'm already getting to know people and make friends in the department. Hopefully my friend base will continue to grow and I'll find people to hang out with on weekends and to go do crazy stuff with on my off time. (cause right now it can be kinda boring without anybody to hang out with). As for the personal side of things. I'm really up in the air right now. Obviously its best to move on when things don't work out, and that's what I'm up to now. I've gotten back into dating (albeit long distance again). Nothing serious at the moment, but promising (aren't they all). But I am definitely going slow on this one. No rushing into things. Not sure exactly why I want to go slow. Maybe still getting over the last, maybe just a knee jerk reaction or a subconscious protective feature. Either way, we'll see where things lead and we'll go from there. (I think I'm also too busy in the present to even really look to far in the future when it comes to a girl). That about covers it, I believe. Nothing too knew has come up for that big exercise next month other than the fact that I'll be in Portland for about 4 days to participate. I will be going to Arizona next month though to visit my new friend for a few days, and then at the end of the month, my "brother" from home will be coming out to visit me for a weekend. Sounds like an exciting and busy month. As always, stay safe, and don't forget to tell your friends and family that you love them!!

Missing Home

Hmm...lets see. I think the tally comes down to being home a total of 6 and a half days out of 42 days. Now, don't get me wrong, I love travelling and seeing the country (and world when I can), but give me a break!! No, it really hasn't been all that bad. I exagerate. Even though I haven't been able to sleep in my comfy bed all that often, or watch my cat chase a lazer pointer like the silly thing that she is, I've still had some fun times. (maybe I'm repeating myself from an earlier post, but here I am again, away from home doing the king's business). Alright, enough rambling. Just as an update, life is going farely well for me even if I am busy and never home. I've been able to catch up with a few old friends (one of which I hope to have dinner with tomorrow) and make a few new ones (one of which I am definately looking forward to seeing again). Coming up in the near future I am looking forward to starting my training at the Warrenton Fire Department. I turned in my paperwork and even though I will miss the first training day this Thursday, I'm sure I'll be able to catch back up and start learning a ton of new stuff. After that, the month of October is gong to be pretty packed with a nationally run exercise that I'm going to be part of called TOPOFF. Should be pretty cool (even if it does take up a lot of time and energy). TOPOFF is being held in Portland and Guam and Pheonix. Speaking of Pheonix, I'm hoping to head down there sometime in October too, if the timing works out with the whole exercise thing. I also had the chance to hit up a huge private holoween party in Miami, but it just didn't work out, so that kinda sucks. Oh yeah, and one of my good friends from home is thinking of visiting at the end of October too...hopefully that can get all figured out cause I haven't seen him in quite a while. And then, after all that craziness...I hope to take a trip down to Costa Rica for a week with a friend so as to just relax and enjoy the sun and amazing beaches that I keep hearing about. Well, I'm going to get off my soapbox for now and try to get some studying done so I can pass my yearly instrument check (and if you don't know what that is, feel free to ask!)