Firehouse Life - Insanity!

Right off the bat, the day started out with some excitement. At a little after 7:30a, as I'm right in the middle of doing the morning check of the fire engine (I was driving it for the first part of the day), we get a call for a working code (someone who is not breathing and has no pulse). We get to the scene and discover an elderly man, face down in his bed, dead. He and his wife slept in separate beds, and apparently when she woke up and went to check on him, she found him. She was crying hysterically, as most people would be in her situation. He had died several hours ago in his sleep, so there was nothing we could do. At this point in my career, I'm somewhat used to encountering dead people while responding to calls, but seeing reactions like this man's wife had reminds me of all that goes along with someone dying suddenly...the pain, the agony, the emotional trauma, the questioning, the preparations...as of late it hits especially close to home, because of Dan Coverston's murder. While death may be another part of life, it remains one of the most painful parts for those left behind to deal with it.

About an hour or two later, we got another call for a working code. The medic unit got on-scene first and discovered the man was conscious and breathing, but he still wasn't looking too good. He got taken to the hospital, and I hope he managed to recover.

In the afternoon, we were going to take our most recent rookie (who's last name is also Miles, by the way, but there's no relation) out to practice pulling some hose lines off the engine, but we had a slight interruption. Our previous rookie, DW, missed about a month's worth of work because he contracted a case of MRSA (click here for more info about MRSA). Well, it turned out that another guy from our shift cought MRSA too. So we spent the first part of the afternoon totally decontaminating the firehouse...we took all the mattresses outside, sprayed them with bleach and let them air dry, we cleaned off every surface that most people in the firehouse put their hands on, we sprayed bleach everywhere...we CLEANED this firehouse! We cleaned so much, we had to open up all the windows and doors we could, because a bleach haze was forming in the firehouse. We were sure we'd all wake up high on cleaning fumes, if we woke up at all!

After 5p, DF, who's the usual fire engine driver, came in to work (he had taken the first part of the day off). That bumped me off the engine put me on the ambulance with DW riding with me. I had no problem with that...until a few hours later when the engine and truck went to a 2-alarm (2 alarm = pretty significant) fire in neighboring P.G. County. Story of my fire department life...ah well, God must be keeping me from fire for some reason.

While the engine and truck were gone, we ran a couple calls...one for an elderly lady with abdominal pains and another for a little girl who fell and cut her wrist. On the first call, the lady's grandson came with us to the hospital. When we got there and as we waited to be assigned a hospital bed, he asked me if I was saved. I said I was and we had a nice conversation about faith. Turned out he was a minister at his church (he was a fairly young guy). He asked if DW was saved, and I told him he wasn't too interested in religion. He said that's why God had us working together. Sure enough, God revealed how he was working in DW's life: As he and I left the hospital, DW reminded me of a book I had brought up to him last shift (More Than A Carpenter...I had suggested it to him, but he said he wasn't much of a reader, nor much of a religious person). He said if I still had it, he'd like to read it. Woohoo! I told him I'd bring it on Sunday. Talk about God working!

At around 9:45p, DW and I got called to stand by at a police substation in Burtonsville. We had no idea what was going on as we made our way up there, but as we approached the substation, we knew something BIG was going down...MCPD had all of Castle Blvd. blocked off, and about 50 police cars were in the substation parking lot. We pulled up, parked the ambo and asked what was going on. Here's what we were told: Apparently, a cop had made a routine traffic stop on Castle Blvd. He had asked the driver of the car to get out so he could talk to him, leaving a man still inside the car, sitting in the front passenger seat. As the cop and driver were talking, the passenger jumped into the driver seat and started to drive away! As he did, he dragged the cop a little bit. The cop shot at the driver, striking and wounding him, but the driver got away. The cop was shaken loose and the original driver ran away. When the cop called for backup, he must have called for every available cop in Montgomery County to come help, because that's who was there. Cops were in the substation parking lot, putting on tactical gear and pulling out large guns from their trunks. A police command bus even showed up! DW commented that we would be there for awhile, and sure enough, we stayed at that substation until about 1:45am. We didn't do anything; we were just standing by in case something big happened. Well, nothing did. I don't think they ended up finding him that night.

After getting back to the firehouse and crawling into bed, it was about 2am. I prayed we wouldn't get any more calls that night, and we didn't. I promptly went home and went back to sleep, trying to process the craziness of the shift. That's why I love coming to work...you never know what's gonna happen.

Elementary School Wisdom

The following is taken from an actual conversation I had with two of my GDS kids today:

Boy 1: "Do you have a wife?"

Me: "Nope, no wife."

Boy 1: "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Me: "No, no girlfriend either."

Boy 2: "How old are you?"

Me: "I'm 27, almost 28."

Boy 2: "Ok. If you were any older, I'd tell you to get a hobby."



Thanks guys.

Tragedy

Amidst the happiness of being at home today, waiting at my parent's house to see my two uncles from New York, I found out some terrible news. An old friend of mine from my former church, Daniel Coverston, was shot and killed either yesterday or Friday. From the news article I read, Dan had recently had eye surgery and had asked a friend to check in on him every now and then. When the friend came to Dan's apartment, there was no answer to the door. The friend made his way in and found Dan...shot, and already dead. No evidence as to who would do this...nothing. Just a terrible tragedy. I had not spoken to Dan in quite a long time...not since we found each other on facebook, and that was probably a couple years ago. Still, I mourn for him and can't help but feel sad and helpless.

In the face of such a terrible thing, I wonder what God's motive was for taking Dan. I have no idea, but I can rest assured that God knows and his reasons always make sense, even when I can't understand them.

May you rest in peace, Dan. I hope to see you again in heaven.

Mike's Big Break

Today I returned to one of my favorite places to see a concert...a place I had not been to since about 2000...the 9:30 club. For those of you who have never heard of it, the 9:30 club is a fairly small place that hosts all types of bands...ranging from up-and-coming acts to already established superstars. Tonight we went to see a (hopefully) up-and-coming star...our very own Mike Mallick! That's right, he was making his big stage debut. His brother Greg plays in a band called Trustfall (who also was scheduled to perform tonight), and Greg got Mike to open up for them. All in all, there were four acts on the bill: Mike Mallick, Adam Swink, Trustfall and Emmet Swimming. I had never heard of any of these other acts, but I'm usually up for experiencing new things. Bring it on!

Mike performed about five or six songs, including "Carry On," one that's familiar to many of us who have heard him sing before. For some of his songs, he only performed about half of them, like he was teasing us or something. As you can see from the picture, it was him playing and singing solo. All in all, he did a great job!





The next singer was Adam Swink, a high school senior who was also making his debut performance at the 930 club. His songs were sort of in the same style as Mike's, but he definitely had his own unique sound. His voice had a nasal quality to it, but it still sounded good. If he keeps developing and working on his craft, we could be hearing his nasal pipes on the radio someday.



Next up was Trustfall. They apparently have a pretty large following, because by the time they took the stage, the club had filled up considerably. Trustfall consisted of Greg Mallick and three guitar players, all of whom, I was told, were each about 19 years old. To hear them play though, you'd think they were seasoned vetrans. They were great! I was definitely impressed. Remember the name Trustfall...I would not be surprised at all if we see them being interviewed on MTV or VH1 sometime soon.





Emmet Swimming was the closing act. They by far drew the largest crowd, but I liked them the least. Nothing about their sound appealed to me. Ah well...I still wish them the best of luck, and if they ever blow up big, I can always say I've seen them live.

After about four or five of their songs, we all decided to get out of there and catch some dinner at one of DC's most popular hole-in-the-wall joints, Ben's Chili Bowl. I had heard about this place a lot, but never eaten there. It has been in the community since 1958 and many celebrities have passed through there, as was evidenced by the numbeous celebrity pictures on their walls. Even President Obama stopped through for a chili dog. So we came in and shortened our life span by a few days by eating chili dogs, chili burgers, chili fries and cheese fries. And I tell ya, they were GOOD. I won't really miss those few days anyway...

A week of wisdom

"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."
- Proverbs 15:22

This past week has been very educational for me. I haven't been in a traditional classroom though...I've been getting educated from the school of life experience and Godly wisdom, and my teachers have been brothers and sisters who have been there... some of them have been on this earth for almost twice as long as myself...some have raised or are currently raising multiple children...some have been married longer than I've been walking on two feet...and it's been GREAT.

They've been giving me great advice on things between Jessie and I and helping me figure out some import actions that need to be taken, as well as helping me understand that I need to know what I want, what direction I want my life to go in, and what I am and am not willing to put up with. To say that it's been refreshing would be like saying standing in front of an open fire hydrant got me wet: an understatement.

I will be meeting with some more wise older brothers in Christ later this week, and no doubt God will continue answering my prayers by providing clarity for my future. Please keep praying for myself and Jessie. I know I will be.

A Great Day with Dad

Today was one of those days that you wish you could have recorded, so when you're feeling down, you could watch the tape of this day and feel great.

I started things off by going to Panera Bread for some time to read the Bible. I had brought my computer along, which has all kinds of stickers on it, including a UM one. As I was reading, a guy sitting next to me asked if I was a UM student. I said I used to be. He then asked me if I was currently in AmeriCorps (I was wearing my AmeriCorps hoodie). I said I used to be. His wife had been in AmeriCorps, and that launched our conversation. His name was John and he was an engineer at NASA. We talked about a bunch of things, but one thing that stood out to me was his mentioning of how there really weren't too many places in the neighborhood for people to just casually meet; Panera was one of the few. He said that people in most neighborhoods don't interact that much anymore, and that leads to a reduced sense of community. Interactions almost always seemed to have to be planned for neighbors to interact anymore. Of course, it was a generalization, but I had to agree with him. It is rare that I see many of my own neighbors just out and about. Although, I must admit I rarely spend time just walking around my own neighborhood. Although, now that I have my bike, I plan on doing a lot more of that. In any case, John gave me a lot to think about in terms of building community.

Earlier this week, my dad had made a request for me to stop by Northwestern (the high school where he works) in my fire department dress uniform so he could "show me off" to many of his coworkers, to whom he had told many stories about me over the years. He wanted them to finally meet me and to see how I had progressed as a man. I was more than happy to do this. When I got there, we spent a couple hours walking around the school, meeting various teachers, administrators and other Northwestern staff, talking, shaking hands and having a good time. Two things about all this made me feel great: 1) the entire time we were speaking to people, my dad was just glowing with pride. 2) Every person we talked to had great things to say about my dad. It was obvious that he was well liked, well loved and well respected throughout the Northwestern staff. I had never felt more proud to be my father's son.

Also, as we walked around the building to meet various folks, my dad and I got to talk about the ins and outs of marriage. He told me how marriage involves merging your work life and your home life...merging them, but also trying to keep them separate. We talked about how communication between husband and wife is critical, and how each person had to find a way to meet the other's needs, even when meeting those needs may mean some sacrificing. It was great for me to hear all this, because my view of marriage had been so clouded by the physical aspect of marriage, that I had never given the appropriate thought to the every day workings of what makes a marriage really "work." My dad gave me a lot to think about, and I came away with a better appreciation of how much labor goes into a successful marriage.






After leaving Northwestern, I came back home and spent some time with my mom, dad and grandma. My grandma also gave me her take on what makes a successful marriage (she should know, after being together with my grandpa for 72 years!), and my dad and I continued our conversation. It was great...exactly what I needed and wanted.

In the evening, I went over to Brian and Desrene Sesay's place in Rockville, and we all got to talk about Jessie and I's relationship...where it's been, where it is and where it's going. This was also a great time; the Sesay's listened patiently and gave me some great advice as well. It was great not only getting some more Godly perspective on Jessie and I's situation, but getting to know Brian and Desrene better. They are a very open couple, and invited me to spend more time with them. I will definitely take them up on that.

Like I said...today was just one of those days I wish I could have DVR'd and saved for repeat viewing.

Firehouse Life - Medic Unit

So I'm walking in the firehouse and I look up at the riding assignment board...I rode the engine last shift, so I expected to be driving the medic unit or the ambulance today. Sure enough, I'm driving the ambulance. JO, who's driving the medic unit, asks me if I want to switch. "Sure," I said. I like driving the medic unit because you usually go to all the good calls. Not 30 seconds after I said sure, the ambulance gets a call. I thought I dodged a bullet, 'cause I at least like eating breakfast before running my first call of the day. Little did I know, there were plenty of bullets left for me. Here is a recap of my day...

6:57a - Trouble breathing. An elderly man appeared to be running a fever and coughing, and apparently his wife interpreted this as him having trouble breathing. No problem...we ran him down to Holy Cross Hospital.

8:45a - Trouble breathing. We got cancelled enroute, so we returned to the firehouse.

10:19a - Trouble breathing. Fortunately I had just finished my workout. Again, we got cancelled enroute. Back to the firehouse we went. So this is what a boomerang feels like...go out, come back, go out, come back...

11:46a - We had just picked up lunch and were getting ready to head back to eat, when we got the call for a working code (when someone isn't breathing and has no pulse. Basically, they are clinically dead). We got there along with the engine and ambulance from station 24. Upon entering the room, the supposed dead man is alive and breathing on his own. According to the nursing home staff, the man started shaking and then stopped breathing. Turns out he had a seizure and that apparently caused him to stop breathing for a sec. We ran him down to Holy Cross to get checked out. After the call was done, we stayed at the hospital and ate our lunch. I don't mind running calls, but running calls on an empty stomach is bad medicine.

1:11p - As we were leaving the hospital from the above call and going through Four Corners, we encountered a car accident that had just happened. The state police were on the scene with a two car rear-end collision. One lady was sitting in the median with a bloody rag covering her face, and another lady, who was in the car that was rear-ended, was just sitting in her car, in pain. We evaluated the patients, called for extra resources (a fire engine and another ambulance) and packaged up the lady who was sitting in her car (she was complaining of neck and back pain). Back to Holy Cross we went!

4:48p - Car crash, mutual aide to P.G. County. A two-car collision on Cherry Hill Road had vehicle debris, busted up cars and fire apparatus spread all over the place. Only one lady was hurt, and the ambulance from PG took her. With nothing for us to do, we went in service. A strange thing though...as we arrived on the scene, I thought I saw Marques B. blocking off traffic and waving us in. I'll have to ask him about that...

5:55p - Another mutual aide call to PG. Another time cancelled enroute.

6:20p - Unconscious person, mutual aide to PG. We arrived on the scene and was in the process of getting our stuff to take inside, when this SUV comes flying around the medic unit and comes within feet of hitting me. The driver slows down, but still manuevers his way around me, parks and runs inside. Myself and my partner yell at him, but then we figured he's probably related to the person we're about to go help. We figure because of that, we could cut him a little slack. Sure enough, he was the patient's son. A lady was eating and apparently gotten dizzy and passed out. After evaluating her with a couple crews from PG, the son, who had power of attorney, decided his mom was well enough to not go to the hospital. Hopefully she will recover and the son can chill out.

7:01 - We had literally just sat down to eat our dinner, when we got this call for a lady who had been choking. We arrived at the nursing home, and it turned out the lady wasn't really choking at all...she had just been spitting out her food. She seemed fairly out of it, but that didn't seem to have anything to do with what she ate. We ran her down to the hospital, and in the process she called my partner "mean, evil" and something else because he didn't have a tissue to give her. Ouch. Think of what she called the people who gave her the food she spit out...

The Saga Continues

Jessie and I got to talk today. What's so special about that, you say? To tell you that, I'd have to get into the whole long story, and that's just not gonna happen right now. Let's just say I made a decision that hurt her deeply and I wanted to speak with her about that decision.

I won't get into the whole thing here, but we talked for a while (at least two hours). We shared a lot about the situation and where we hoped to go from here. We are both going to seek God and seek advice regarding our respective issues, as well as seek advice about how she and I should proceed in terms of a future together. I've realized that singles can only provide limited help in this regard; the council of older, wiser married folk is what's most needed. So starting tonight, that's what I'll be seeking. The Chisholm's will be my first stop, and many more couples will follow. As we seek God and the wisdom of more Godly and mature Christians, Jessie and I have decided not to speak for a period of 40 days. She will send me an email on my birthday, but that's it. The end of the 40 days will be March 15 (The Ides of March, baby!)

As I sit back and think about where Jessie and I have been and where we're going, a slight smile comes to my face and I can't help but think, "Hollywood would KILL for a story like ours!" Say, that's not a bad idea...we ARE in an economic crisis after all...

Firehouse Life

So I'm trying to write more on this thing, and I figure what better what to write on a fairly consistent basis than to record the antics, shenanigans and other goings on at the firehouse? Unlike "Ladder 49" and "Backdraft," some days at the firehouse are just not that exciting. However, there are some days where I'm left thinking, "you can't make this stuff up." So hopefully I'll be able to tell some stories filled with humore, entertainment, tragedy and adventure. Stay tuned!

So far the day has been fairly uneventful. DF is back from vacation. To picture DF, imagine a man a little taller than me, with a big gut and an ever bigger mustache (you can't even see his mouth). He's very loud and every other word out of his mouth is a derivitive of a four-letter word. But at heart, he's a nice guy who will help you out, if he likes you. Well he was off for about a week, but he's back now, so our days will be a lot more interesting with his, shall we say, color commantary.

Since today is the first monday of the month, we have to do our monthly maintenance on all the apparatus. This usually takes awhile, but we hopped on it right away. I started to do an inventory of all the equipment on the fire engine. It was a little challenging finding everything, since the inventory list was from 2003. A lot of the things remained the same, but many things were in different places or removed all together. We'll be getting new a new fire engine in a few months, so this inventory doesn't have to be incredibly meticulous. As long as everyone who's riding the fire engine knows where everything is, it's ok if the inventory sheet is a little off.

Around 0930, we had a call for an automatic fire alarm at a church on the corner of Powder Mill Rd. and NH Ave. Nothing much to it...just a broken water pipe that was letting off some steam.

Just before 1100, we had a call for a lady who had apparently passed out. We got there, talked to her and according to her, she ate some pizza that she doesn't usually eat and got a bit faint. Aside from being a bit pale, she seemed fine, but we convinced her to go to the hospital.

DF and Lenny had to go up to our medical section and get their annual work-related physicals at noon, so that left me driving the fire engine. I was glad to get more time behind the wheel...my apprehension towards driving that thing is definitely going away as I get more and more experience. Around 3:45ish, we got a call for a house fire in Burtonsville. Woohoo! Did I mention I love driving fast in fire trucks? Fast but safe, of course. So anyway, we're flying down the road (safely) and enroute, Burtonsville gets onscene and reports a working fire. That means everyone sits up and gets their game faces on. We ended up getting there before a couple other fire engines that should have gotten there before us and pulled one of our hose lines and got ready to go to work. Unfortunately by that time, there wasn't any (fun) work left to be done. Ah well...maybe on the next one.

Just after dinner, we got a call for a car crash several blocks south of the firehouse. The engine, truck and ambulance all responded, and we found a two-car collision with one person complaining of neck and back pain. We quickly secured his vehicle, packaged him up on a backboard and transported him to the hospital. It wasn't a major crash...looked like a rear-end collision with some damage to both cars. People need to be careful out there...

A good Sunday

This past week has been an extremely high drama week, all because of things I've done. I've made mistakes and am doing my best to correct them. However, that's not what this post is about. This post will be a summary of my Sunday, which was slightly filled with drama...good drama.

A sister from Jacksonville named Serena has been in town for the past few days, and I was giving her a ride to church this morning. I picked her up from the metro and I thought she looked familiar. I think we actually met down in Dallas, during the singles conference. I didn't bring it up, but I'm pretty sure I met her there.

Service was amazing...Ruben threw down, as he is known to do each Sunday. We continued with our theme of maturity. I'm gonna have to review that sermon again online, as it was incredible. I think Serena was really impressed to, as she asked me, "Is this your regular minister? He's cool."

After service, we had a brief leader's meeting. Afterwords, I got to talk to Steve Brown and Brian and Desree Sesay. I want to seek their advice about relationships, as they will be able to give me a perspective that I haven't been able to get recently...that of couples that have been married for several years and can give me advice on the overall situation involving myself and Jessie, not just the specifics. I am really looking forward to those conversations.

After the meeting, I dropped of Serena at the metro and met Kiki at Performance Bikes in Rockville. We are both doing a triathlon in May, and had both decided it was time to get our bikes. I didn't have a clue what I was looking for, as the last bike I owned was given to me about 15 years ago. But AJ, the salesman and manager of the store, was great and helped me through the entire process...from fitting me to the proper bike, picking out good bikes within my price range and helping me get the equipment I'll need. After taking a few test rides, trying on some clothes and picking out some equipment, I walked away with a brand new Scatante SixSixty. I'm very happy with this bike, and can't wait to break it in around the neighborhood. I bought those fancy pedals with the shoes that attach by clicking together...I foresee some falls in the future. Ah well...skin grows back, right?

Then in the evening, I headed over to the Wheaton Household to watch the Super Bowl! I really didn't care who would win the game, but I ended up rooting for the Steelers. I mean, come on, what are the Cardinals doing in the Super Bowl? That's like seeing Nigeria win a gold medal in swimming (love you Nigeria, but swimming ain't your thing). I wasn't expecting too much out of this game, but after an AMAZING 100-yard interception return for a touchdown by one of the Steelers, a last minute touchdown catch by Larry Fitzgerald, and a last second touchdown by another one of the Steelers, it ended up being on of the best Super Bowls I've ever seen! A bunch of us were there watching the game, and it was incredible!

All in all, a very good day. I really needed one of those.