I have noticed that you all have upped your posting output. I will post also.
So I have started a full-on workout schedule to lose all the weight I gained while sitting on the couch with my broken ankle. Seriously, I have puffed out like a tick. When I went back to work, I had to struggle to get my workout pants on. Ouch.
On the work front, I havn't seen fire since the middle of December. Next week I work 6 out of 8 days and the first week of July I work 5 days in a row. It will be interesting.
After the Parkersburg tornado the USAR team had it's first full deployment. This is exactly why I want to join the team. How cool would it have been to be up there right after it happened and help all those people right away.
Im getting ready for RAGBRAI. I bike about 40 miles a week but it's so damn windy! Since I still can't run because of my ankle, I bike a crap-ton at work and at the gym.
That's mostly it. I need to get my day going.

Old Man and the Sea

So this past weekend I went fishing on Lake Michigan with a bunch of guys and I have to say, for hardly ever fishing in my life I had the best time. We were at Winthrup Harbor which is about 20 min north of Chicago, right on the Illinois/Wisconsin border. We went up Saturday afternoon and stay in Milwaukee with a guy someone knew. Sunday we drove to the harbor and went out to catch some Koho Salmon. We spent a lot of the time fishing next to a decommisioned nuclear power plant, but failed to pull in any three eyed fish made popular on The Simpsons. It was a beautiful day, the fish were bitting and I wasn't in a cast. That night we went out to eat and then crashed around 9:30, since the next morning would start around 4 am. We headed out about 4 miles the next day and tried to catch a few King Salmon as well as Koho. I, being the least experienced, caught the only one. It was about 10 lbs. (as seen above).

We caught our limit each day (5) and before we left they cut them all up so John and I have about 20 fillets of salmon in my freezer each.

This is me hugging my King Salmon. Right before is lept up at my ear and tried to rip it off. I had the last laugh when I threw it in a dark cooler with about 14 of his dead relatives.

Me, my roommate John, and Paul. Paul was hired with John the year before me.

Ok, I don't have a lot to update, since I have been sitting on the couch for the past 3 weeks, but according to Mom I need to update this for my sisters. Recently I have read 21:Bringing Down the House, the true story about the MIT students that took a crap-ton of money from Vegas. Awesome book. Online I ordered 3 more books. Last Man Out (about an FDNY captain that was trapped in a stairwell of the World Trade Center with the crew of Ladder 7), Again to Carthage (the sequal book to Once A Runner, the best book written about running), and Texas City 1947 (about the massive explosion in Texas City, Texas in 1947). Yes, I am a nerd and love to read about the disasters in America in the 20th century.
Im still up for the job for an open USAR position, which is awesome.
I got out of my big black boot and was given an air splint. I can atleast walk around again now, with a noticable limp.
I may be going to a Cubs game (11-7) this next week. It should be great.
That is all.

Ankle Update

Alright, so this is NOT a picture of my ankle, I actually got it off of Google.com images.

I went to Dr. Fabiano today at PCI and he took even more X-rays of my ankle. The prognosis looks good. He said it is in fact a non-displaced fracture of my right fibia (which is actually the very lower part of of lower leg bone). I did not tear any ligaments, a fact he learned of by doing an extreamly painful Stress X-Ray and said it should heal perfectly. He said that as soon as I can walk on it, I would be able to. With that said, Im still going to take some time and make sure it heals right.

I have another appointment on April 15th to take some more x-rays and make sure everything is alright in there. I will let you guys know as soon as possible as to what is going on there.

A date and an ankle

Alright, enough with the questions and mean spirited comments left on my blog. Here she goes.

The date with Noelle went pretty well. She is a teacher at Prairie High School and she had to teach the next day so toward the end of the night she was getting pretty tired. She usually goes to bed around 9:30 and I took her home around 10:45, so I hope her yawning was because of that and not because I am boring. I took her to Leonardo's, it's a cool resturant/bar with old red leathered booths and 70's style decorating. Then we went to the Piano Bar because they had dueling pianos which were awesome. Overall it went well.

As all of you well know I broke my ankle on St. Paddy's Day. It's a non-displaced fracture of my right tibia/fibia. Yes, I was slightly intoxicated and my roommate John and I were walking from downtown to his truck. He showed up late and was going to give me a ride home. I slipped on a patch of ice and went down. I didnt think it was bad until the next morning when I couldnt put any weight on it. I am going to see a specialist on the 25th and find out what the damage is. I should have enough sick time to get through it all but Im going crazy sitting at home.

Im tired and a little dopped up on codine so I think I will go to bed.

I suppose I have been doing something somewhat productive with all my free time. My roommates and I finished Band of Brothers, all 10 hours. Amazing! I just finished the book Fast Food Nation. Yes, I know Im about 6 years too late but I am a great procrastinator. Im about half-way through Catch 22 and after that I think I will start, yes I'm a loser, The DeVinci Code. We also went out and saw No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood, both excellent movies. I think I prefer No Country. Now I just have to see Juno and I will be content. Other movies I've watched recently: Gone Baby Gone, Goodfellas, Braveheart, the first Lord of the Rings. (It pays to have so much friggen free time) Also, John and I got Strange Brew and we are going to have a "Canada Night". We are going to drink Molson, eat beans and toast, and watch Strange Brew. Remember that movie? The one with Rick Moranis and that other guy?

Now here are the movies I have on my list to Netflix and watch:

Rambo

Juno

Strange wilderness

Cloverfield

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Michael Clayton

Charlie Wilson's War

We Own the night

The Dewey Cox Story

Blow

Dan in Real Life

One flew over the cukoo's nest

The Shinning

I LOVE my job! I have all the free time in the world. Best part? If we are slow, awesome. If we are busy, awesome. It should be a crime to live like I do!

you want to know what Ive been up to recently? Mostly this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jezSeQnfCg .
I have also started to play an uneasy amount of Guitar Hero with John. But all is not lost on me yet, I think I have a date Thursday. Her name is Noelle and she is a teacher. I realized that I hadn't been on a 'date' for roughly...3 years? That is just rediculous.
Otherwise, nothin new is really going on. Im still getting guilted into working at Linn Co. EMA, Still love waking up and going to work, the regular.
Everyone take care.