I'm Still Alive!

So I'm still alive! I found some of my old Xanga posts today and I think that I will be re-posting them over a stretch of time to give insight into my 2006-2007 self. Haha

We'll see how it goes. Really, I just want to delete my Xanga but there are some posts that I still enjoy looking back at, so I'll just re-post them here.

Independence Day!

I had to work on this Independence Day.

I went into work knowing that today wouldn't be a "normal" day. And I was right. We were the designated "parade unit". So what does that mean? We had to wash out ambo real good, then de-bug it. How do you de-bug? Well, you take a special chemical (which I inhaled copious amounts of today) and apply it to the infested ara, then scrub with all your might to release the carcass from the paint.

After we cleaned our ambo, we had to go down to Kingsville and stage for that parade. We get to where we need to be, its 930AM and we hang out for a while, I think the parade started at 11AM. We awkwardly drive down the parade route, lights flashing (no siren though, this is a "silent" parade) and wave at people who are gathered on the streets. After we complete the circuit, we clear and get some Five Guys. It is such a BEAUTIFUL day outside, that me and by partner, Brittney, decide to eat our burgers outback of the Corporate Office on the grassy knoll. It was nice! Brit, having worked the previous day AND overnight, decides to go in and take a little nap. I go and do some SERIOUS de-bugging of the ambo and spend about an hour making that thing shine! So we have 2 hours till we need to be at our next parade, so I go inside and watch The Fantastic Four on tv.

4PM rolls around and we head to Bel Air to get ready for the next parade. We get to where Dispatch tells us to go, but thats not the correct place. Dispatch told us to go to the place the parade starts...but that isn't where we "stage" before hand. So we drive to a location, they check us off a list and we wait for about a half our. We then realize that we're not with the other fire apparatus, we're with the classic cars. So we key up Dispatch and are like, "uhh, we're where we're supposed to be, but we don't think this is right." So after some research, Dispatch tells us that we're supposed to be at the fire department. So we do a 3 point turn in a narrow street b/c we can't go forward since the road is shut down (the other ambo with us lost a mudflap in the process). We get to the fire department and they're getting ready to leave, we follow them to another location to find out that they don't have us on the list. So I'll spare you the details, but after many phone calls and conversations with officials, we decide to just join the end of the fire apparatus. Great.

So 7PM rolls around (we got here at 430PM mind you) and we line up, lights flashing) at the start of the parade. 8PM and we FINALLY get our turn to go down the parade route. It was ridiculous. The kids were really excited for the ambulance and the lights and many hollered "turn on your siren!" so of course I did! However, the siren has many different different sounds, depending on which position the switch is in. It also has a button called "Man" for manual mode for quick "yelps" of the siren and a "horn" button for the air horn. Well, my "Man" button got stuck in the down position and my quick "yelp" turned into an ear-splitting wail. I quickly fumbled with the siren and just cut off the power to it all together. Oops! But over all, it was good once we got moving. The time leading up to it was killer. 930PM rolls around and I finally get to clock out and go home. 13.5 hours worked. Unfortunately, my employer only recognizes 4 holidays...and the 4th of July isn't one of them. So 13.5 hours of straight pay is what I earned today for basically sitting in "traffic" for many hours.

It was fun though!

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Yesterday we explored the island. 

We drove from all 22 miles of it.

Laid by the pool for a bit. 

Took some pictures.

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2 dives this morning. Saw and touched a turtle just living his life : ) Came back and laid by the pool for a couple hours, got some sun! 

Dinner and family drama.

Watching tv for the past few hours.

Chill day tomorrow.

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We didn't dive today, so I woke up at 1130 which was nice. I woke up fully expecting today to be a wash, they were calling for rain and cloudy skys all day. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the sun was shining! So I hurried and got my bathing suit on and headed down to the beach, popped my iPod on and laid around in the sun for a couple hours. Then we had lunch and went to Hell.

Hell is a tourist trap with it's own post office! Its based around these 1.5 million year old iron/rocky things that look like spikes in the ground...it basically looks like you'd imagine Hell to look like. So we hung out there for a bit, mailed some postcards from Hell (check the postmark!) and then headed to Dolphin Cove, where, duh, we saw dolphins! They were cool. 

Headed back to the condo and chilled until dinner. Watched Uncle Buck on tv and now I'm heading to bed. 2 dives in the AM.

Night!

Grand Cayman- Day 2

Today was a wash.

Woke up at 630 to go diving, the sun was out for about 10 minutes before it starting to pour. We get to the boat and it lets up, do 2 dives and make it back home. It rains again. It stops and we head into Georgetown and walked around the shops with the other tourists who came off the cruise ship that day. 

Nothing too exciting. 

I watched Up! It was good!

Hopefully tomorrow will be sunny! I doubt it though, its supposed to be crappy all week : (

Grand Cayman- Day 1

So I've decided to do daily journal entries while here in beautiful Grand Cayman. They'll all be about one day off, b/c I'll live the day, then blog about it. I don't want to leave anything out by blogging during the day and have something cool happen later! That wouldn't be fair to you! 

Day 1:

We (Mom and Dad) awake at 1Am after a few hours of sleep (I didn't sleep at all) and groggily make our way to Reagan International Airport in DC. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get there and by the time we unload and park the car, its around 5AM. We strip, go through security, and then wait for a few minutes for our 6AM flight to Philadelphia. We get on a little rinky-dink commuter jet and 22 minutes later we're in Philly. We have 3 hours to kill until our next plane leaves, so we get some breakfast. 

Fast-forward to 1230 Cayman time (130 east coast time) and we step off the plane into 88 degree, 70% humidity Grand Cayman. We go through Immigration and Customs, have a bit of a fiasco with the rental car, and eventually get to our condo on Seven Mile Beach. I don't really remember what we did, b/c I had been up for 24 hours at this point, and it's all a blur. I know that my parents went out for a walk, and I was laying on the couch watching Dirty Jobs, it was around 730. The next thing I know, its 4Am and I'm fully clothed, in my bed. I change, and sleep until 830. Apparently, my parents went for their walk, I fall asleep and when they got back, I was passed out in my bed. I don't remember getting into bed. 

So that was Day 1! 

I'll blog about today, tomorrow!