Friday, October 29, 2010

Various and Sundries

Good news! You can call your kids from Mount Everest now. That's exciting, but I have one teensy, weensy issue: I still can't call my dispatcher on the long, dead stretch of highway between Raith and Upsala. Or the longer, deader stretch between Upsala and English River. Somehow, life just isn't fair.

Not only does Mount Everest have cell service, it has 3G cell service. That's incredibly and amazingly wonderful, awesome, and inspiring . . . except that I have no clue what 3G cell service is, or at least I didn't until I went to Wikipedia and found out that it's third generation cell service . . . which I guess means that my grand kids should use it . . . except I don't have any grand kids. Um, yeah, anyway, congrats to all you 1400 annual hikers, and sorry to all you 2500 folks that drive through Upsala every day.

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If a trip to the Dominican Republic appeals to you, check out Dave Carroll's site (you remember . . . the United Breaks Guitars, and Everyday Heroes guy). More accurately, if you know an emergency responder that would enjoy a trip to Dominican, go to Dave's site and write a story about them. They might win the trip, not you.

Speaking of Dave, I had this brilliant idea that he could do a witty music video about volunteer firefighters. You know, something about calendar fundraisers where people toss toonies at you in the Canadian Tire foyer like you're a street beggar, or firefighters trying to phone their dispatcher on that dead stretch between Raith and Upsala . . . while some over-funded rich kid talks to his mom from the tippy top of Mount Everest (do I detect a little bitterness here?).

I waxed bold and sent Dave an email, and was pleasantly flattered that he emailed back right away. Being a nice person, he said the idea would be fun. Being a realistic person, he also said that he was very busy with the Everyday Heroes project, but would keep it in mind for the future.

My brothers and I like to jam around on guitars and banjos and mandolins . . . maybe we could do the video ourselves . . . . except that it might be hard to fit Raith and street beggars and dead spots and Mount Everest all into the lyrics of a song about volunteer firefighters. And the clincher . . . we don't know how to make a music video that anyone would want to listen to. I guess we'll just have to hold out for Dave.

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The BC economy is facing a possible crisis: California will hold a vote in a few days on legalizing marijuana. If it passes, it could cost BC 20,000 jobs. Hmmmm. Legalizing an illegal drug in the US will severely impact a legitimate Canadian province because this illegal drug is BC's biggest cash crop. I'm not sure why, but this seems as odd as the rich kid phoning his mom from the top of Mount Everest while volunteer firefighters play street beggar at Canadian Tire. I'd almost say lets grow pot as a fundraiser, except that the bottom is going to fall out of the market.

I'm just kidding. Don't call the cops.

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Paul Combs has a new cartoon out. I'd like to be addicted to federal grants, but money has to be injected into the bloodstream of the fire service for the narcotic to take hold . . . and so far they are shooting up everyone else under the sun, like the Mount Everest cell phone brats . . . not that rant again.

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Pittgirl from That's Church tried out firefighting for an evening. You can check out the story here and here.

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I love it when talented people do stuff that draws attention to the fire service.

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Another recipe: Roast Greek Tomato Chicken
  • Ponder your dislike for dry white meat. If you like dry white meat, find another recipe.
  • Find three chickens in the freezer and decide that's two too many.
  • Thaw the one of chickens. Alternately, you can just use a fresh whole chicken.
  • Separate the skin from the breast. Don't tear the skin.
  • Chop a plum tomato and mix it with a couple tablespoons of Greek and feta dressing (any oil and vinegar dressing should work . . . but then it won't be Greek tomato chicken).
  • Stuff the tomato/dressing mixture between the skin and the chicken breast.
  • Pin the skin back together with toothpicks because you didn't follow step 3 very well.
  • Rewind to step one and set the oven to 475 degrees.
  • Put salt, pepper, and garlic on the chicken.
  • Put the chicken in a roaster pan and roast for ten minutes without a lid.
  • Keep an eye on the chicken. If the top of the breast looks like it's burning, it probably is.
  • Side note: at this point your smoke alarm may go off. If it does, push the hush button. If it doesn't, check the battery. If the battery is dead change it (this is a firefighting blog, not a cooking blog, you know).
  • After ten minutes (sooner if it's burning) cool the oven to 325 and put the lid on the roaster.
  • Roast the chicken until it's done.
  • Carve the legs, then the breasts. If you carve the breasts carefully, the tomato stays in place.

Erinn said it was the moistest white meat ever.

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I love blogging. Where else can you write a whole disjointed page of oddities and get away with it?

2 comments:

  1. Um, are you serious about the pot thing? I never know when you Canadians are kidding :)

    The Prop 19 thing is a big topic of discussion, even in the fire station.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm not always sure myself when I'm kidding.

    This was the first I had heard about Prop 19. It confused me so much that this post was full of misprints and typos . . . which I have fxied so pepole don't thnik I'm on pot . . .

    ReplyDelete

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