Tired but Felt Like Typing

Hey there crew...

The day started off with a medical call for a guy who had a piece of piping fall and puncture his arm. Ouch! Luckily he toughed it out and was one of our better patients. It's always nice to get patients who know how to control themselves even when they're truly wounded or sick. My hat is off to these kinds of people. They actually make it so we can concentrate on getting the job done more efficiently and faster. I'm not saying I don't like other types of patients (well, minus the one's who should just pick themselves up and take care of the minor issue they're dealing with rather than waste an emergency vehicle). There are just people who handle themselves better when things happen.

So...time is coming for me to move to a new station. It is exciting, but change is NOT my deal. I'm one of those types that likes to get into a nice rhythm and just ride it out like that. Yes, some change here and there is fun and cool, but major changes like the one that is coming stress me out. I'm not sure why. It also seems that the older I get, the less I like change. I guess that is just another sign of aging, but it's just strange how I used to "do things" and never thought much about it. Now, I pause, ponder, worry, think, drag out, and generally try my best not to deal with things. What the heck??

On the other side, if I find something of interest, I dive in so deeply that I tend to lose track of other things around me. My current "obsession" is solar power . I love the idea of it. The technology is decent, but quite inefficient at this time. Panels are only about 15-18% efficient at transferring the power of the sun. You lose more going through the wires and systems. If you're going "off-grid", you get into batteries. What a jumble of information there is in that. Those too are inefficient. You send the "juice" into the battery, fighting the resistance and other chemical bonds, then just when you think you're good to go, the battery "sulfates" on you and it's life is cut short. My new way of thinking about batteries is that they are like friends. You need to nurture them or they'll leave you. A fully charged (appropriately) battery is a happy battery. Do NOT leave them to sit and discharge. If you let a battery get past it's 50% level, you have now just decreased the life and output of the battery forever. Of course I have to point out that these are the "deep cycle" types of batteries (AGM, marine, gel). I've found so much information about each piece of the solar puzzle that I'm still a bit overwhelmed. It's exciting for sure but it is not something you just say one day, "I'm going to be a solar expert" and never put in some time studying and playing with all the pieces.

Time to get moving on my other projects for the day. My mind is tired but always wanting to get things done. I hope everyone is having a great start to your weekend! Keep it real and always shoot for your dreams. The good stuff is always worth the extra effort.

Sitting Here at the Computer

Hey There Crowd... Hope life is going great for everyone! It's not too bad for me except feeling a bit crumby the last couple of days. I'm not quite sure what it is, but my stomach has been giving me all kinds of trouble. It started the other day after riding some "spin" type rides at Belmont Park in Mission Beach. My son and I had a really great time at the beach that day, but afterwards, I just didn't feel right. The following day, I felt nausea for most of the day and was quite tired. After some solid rest, the day after that (today), I've been feeling a bit better, but still not 100%. It's a bit weird and I'm not sure what is going on. I did have stuffy sinus' on the first day at the park and did soak up a good portion of ocean water in my nose while playing around in the surf. I did suffer from this, Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) or positional vertigo, not too long ago but seemed to have moved on from it with the exercises my doctor gave me. I'm guessing this had a little bit to do with it, but also the swelling of my nasal cavities. It's funny how easy it is to mess up the human body and suddenly be facing some pretty crumby situations from it. Of course, the answer lately is "you're just getting older". That is probably one of the worst things I've ever had to hear and deal with. I'm right at a point where I can still be pretty active and do most of the things I "think" I can do, but now-a-days, it seems to hurt more and for longer when things don't work out. And, it seems that just keeping things going has become a necessity and a chore. I have a whole new respect for people who make it to their 70's and beyond. Anyway...Hopefully things'll get better and I can move on from this weird event without too much drama. The weekend should be wonderful. It's fun time! Yay! Catch ya'll later.

A Test

What is the best way to create something profitable, that takes the least amount of effort but produces the largest profits? I don't have the answer. I would like to hear your ideas. I'm still working on it but still come back to the good ol' J O B that takes a lot of time and doesn't pay spectacularly. However...it is real and (at least for now), secure. Click here for a great example: The Million Dollar idea.

Days of Memoria

Well... it has been one hell of a week. It all began with a L O N G day on Wednesday. I worked my job as the pest control guy. I had to start in Vista (North of San Diego) with 1 job, then, pack up and drive all the way to National City (South of San Diego). Then, hip hop around Imperial Beach and Coronado. The homes were all beautiful and the neighborhoods were definitely "upper class". I didn't mind that part. I did mind all the driving and the couple of "needy" customers. I ended up taking so long that I gave my final job to my fellow pest pro. I didn't get any complaints from the boss thankfully, but I was exhausted and a bit grumpy by the time I finished. Then, came Thursday and Friday. Back to the fire house for my standard 48 hours... but these were far from the standard days. Each day we were jumping around, taking care of everything from ants in the station to new flooring. My 2nd Captain had taken off the weekend so I ended up having to crew for Friday. THEN... because he wasn't going to be around, I got stuck on mandatory overtime on Friday. Ugh! My family and I had already had some nice plans to take the motorhome out to go camping for the weekend...starting FRIDAY! To make these even more interesting, I had a call at 2 am on Thursday night, and then another on my mando day, also at 2 am. This second one was sad. A young man somehow fell from a 7 story barracks and was unresponsive when we got there. The tone out happened at 1:57am and I didn't get to sleep until around 9am after I had gotten home. I was done! After a good rest (around 2 hours), I awoke in a much better mood and spirit. We got all the final things packed up and headed to the camp ground. It was exactly what I needed. Sun, pool, family. Ahhhh! At this point, I'm back at home, getting ready for another round of days. I really hope these are just the standard, boring ol' days. I suppose you'll hear about it if it isn't.

What It's Like to Watch Something Awesome

I'm currently watching Hawking on Netflix.  This has been a very interesting look into Stephen Hawking's life.  I always knew he was a very smart person, but to see the challenges he has gone through and continue to strive, makes me feel that I am in need of questioning my laziness.  I'm going to buy his book "A Brief History of Time" so I can actually learn about physics and get a glimpse into the brain of Mr. Hawking.

Well... this is it for now.  Onward!