Go 24 hours without being online.
Big deal, right? It is for me, who checks email several times during the day and, I have to admit, check facebook just as often. I was working at a firehouse that I normally don't work in, and because of the activity that we were scheduled to do all day (which I'll get to in a minute), I didn't think I'd have time to be on my computer. So I left it at home. When I got to the station, there were three computers that personnel normally could use. One was out of service because it was infected with a virus, another one the station captain used all day, and the third was having problems connecting to the Internet. So there you have it...the makings of an Internet-free day!
It ended up not being that big of a deal, because I wouldn't have had that much time to be online anyway.
Yesterday was the first day of our annual "Fill The Boot" drive. Fill The Boot is a fundraiser the IAFF (International Association of Firefighters...our union) puts on every year all across the country to support "Jerry's Kids" (kids who have muscular dystrophy). Fire departments with career firefighters in them take a few days to stand out on street corners with fire department boots in their hands, asking people driving to work to donate some money to the cause, "filling the boot" with money to support Jerry's Kids. The IAFF is the largest supporter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association because of the Fill the Boot drive, which raises millions of dollars every year. In fact, my department raised the fourth largest amount of money nation-wide last year.
So in the morning, right after we finished checking out our apparatus, we grabbed some boots, donned some traffic safety vest, and hit the streets. Now anyone who's ever put on any type of fundraiser knows that asking people for money for anything is a precarious exercise; it tests your belief in the good-heartedness (is that a word?) of our fellow man, and it exposes what people really care about (that's often what they give their money to). Convictions about participating in Fill the Boot vary throughout the fire service...some love it and some hate. But whatever your personal feelings about doing it, people support it. Some people give $20s, $10s and $5s. The majority of people give dollar bills. Some people who are caught unaware empty out their change purses. Some people give nothing at all and don't even look at us as we walk by. By the end of that morning, we had collected almost $2,000!
After the morning rush subsided, we went back inside the fire house and resumed our day. I was on the ambulance with a guy from my recruit class. He and I are as different as can be, but we still get along very well. We ran some calls here and there, but the real excitement didn't begin until the early afternoon. A man decided to go into the Discovery Building in downtown Silver Spring with a gun and an explosive device strapped to his chest, take some hostages and make some demands. The building was evacuated, the police were called, and downtown Silver Spring was virtually shut down. Tons of police officers were there, the SWAT team was there, many fire department units were there...it was chaos! In fact, during the course of the event, every unit from my entire battalion except for the ambulance I was on, the fire engine at that station and the fire trucks from one other station were called down to the scene. We ended up watching most of the events unfold on TV with the rest of the county, and we listened to the action over our portable radios. After several hours, the suspect was shot and killed. One of his devices went off, but no one was hurt. Late into the night, the police were still holding fire department units on the scene as they swept the building for other bombs.
Who would have thought that this would happen? I rarely think of Montgomery County as a target for such actions, but when I get to thinking, the heads of MANY major corporations and businesses are here. It turned out that this made had major issues with the Discovery Channel. Well, he had a lot of issues with a LOT of people. But his issues with the Discovery Channel finally prompted him to act. Granted, his actions were totally wrong and got him killed, but you can't say he wasn't passionate about his cause. It left me thinking, "what am I so passionate about that I would give my life supporting it?"
How about you?
FOOD
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B: Hard-boiled eggs, strawberries, blueberries
L: Pastrami, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, banana peppers, hot peppers
S: Orange, almonds
D: Peruvian chicken, little bit of coleslaw, fried plantains (in retrospect, pretty sure they're not paleo)
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