Live Fire Training

Headed to Astoria, Oregon today for our final live fire training. We're headed to MERTS (Marine and Environmental Research and Training Station) and will be doing ground floor evolutions, multi-story fires, and below-ground (basement) fires, as well as RIT (Rapid Intervention Team) search and rescue. Promises to be a fun, but tiring day. I'll try to get some pictures, but since we're dealing with real fire (and therefore real heat, real steam, and lots of water) I'm not sure how well my camera will hold up. But I'll give it my best shot. More later!

Oh, by the way...

Been meaning to mention a few things:

1) Passed my firefighter practical tests on Saturday. When I was being timed for putting on gear, I realized I'd left my coat outside the classroom instead of bringing it into the bay with me. So when I reached for my coat, it was nowhere to be found. After a few seconds of panic, I just took off for the classroom, found my coat, pulled it on while I ran back to the bay, put on my air pack, mask, helmet, gloves, etc., and finished in 1:44 - well under the two minute mark, despite having no coat. Pretty excited about that!

2) I scored 100% on the written final - 175 out of 175 questions correct. Interestingly, I pulled 100% on every test I took - something I've never done in any class in my life. Pretty happy about that too. :)

3) I got my letter of acceptance to the RN program from the college. I start first week of January.

Finally, a year of 16 hour days is paying off. I'm taking December off, if anyone cares to know.

No, really.

Cellular Metabolism, Glycolysis, Kreb's Cycle... Call it What You Will

I promised my A&P students I post some pictures of the white board from one of the Supplemental Instruction sessions regarding the metabolism of glucose. So, if you're into that sort of thing, take a look. If not, just move along... nothing to see here.

Note that for clarity sake these images are still kind of big. The "full image" is larger than most screens, but easily readible. The 1024 x 768 should still be clear, but may be larger than some people's screen size. Pick whichever suits you:

Glycolysis and Intermediate Step (Full Image)
Glycolysis and Intermediate Step (1024 x 768)
Kreb's Cycle and ATP Calculations (Full Image)
Kreb's Cycle and ATP Calculations (1024 x 768)
ATP Calculation Closeup

Another Set of Pictures

I haven't posted much in the last week or so. Haven't had a lot to say. I got very beat up doing Search and Rescue - strained both shoulders and bruised the entire front of my left shin from knee to ankle. The swelling's gone down in my shin, but it's still discolored and painful. My shoulders still hurt, but I can move them without grimacing these days. Usually.

On an unrelated note, my back's been screwed up for two weeks and since I can't shut down everything and let it heal, it's still giving me fits. So... I've been taking it easy as best I can, including cutting back on evolutions. I put in a half day today and spent the remainder flat on my back hoping I'm in shape for next weeks skills tests. The written final was this morning; think I did fine. But the practical tests are next week. Here's hoping I'm fully healed by then.

Anyway, enough rambling. Here's a link to the newest pictures. Most of them are from the ladder work we did last Saturday.