potomuss.com

Yeah… time just seems to roll on by these days! Since it’s been about a year since my last update, here it goes:

• Passed all firefighter II tests and practicals and have been certified by the state of Illinois as such. Also passed HAZMAT awareness (9hours) and Technical Rescue Awareness (9hours). Since then, have completed several other trainings such as grain bin rescue, fire college, tactical smoke reading. Will be taking HAZMAT Operations in January. Yay! Once step away from being a glow-stick!
• Purchased a new ham radio for the truck and have been playing some pretty cool ham games. I’ve got it dialed in now so I can tap into every spotter net in the area when bad weather comes. In addition, several of my fellow firefighters have stepped up and taken the spotter class. Dana never had this kind of storm spotter prowess before.
• Haven’t been on the bike all summer. Too busy I guess.
• Got divorced.
• Still playing with the shake.
• Working on getting a class B drivers license so I can legally drive fire apparatus.
• Lost some old friends to the reaper.
• Gained some new friends.
• Still hate myspace.

Well, there you go! The year in review!

Man! It seems like time just goes right by these days! I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to update the site or write much, but here’s what’s been going on in a nutshell:

• Passed Firefighter II mod A test. State tests suck for those who don’t know. I didn’t do as well as I wanted, but I did pass with a pretty solid grade so I guess that will have to do. I’m too old to actually use firefighter II certification to get a job anyway. I’m really just doing it for my own self and the quality of service of my local department. Although when I finish this and have the certification… I will frame it and hang it on the wall. Oh yes… I will. Starting mod B on Monday and I believe we don’t take another break until we’re done. That means Mod B, Mod C, and Hazmat awareness. Will keep you posted!
• Used the ham radio to do some storm spotting. We got really lucky this year and had almost no severe weather. Good news for the general public, but pretty boring for a storm spotter. Either way I had fun and did storm watch duty several times this year. Looking forward to next season!
• Burned down a house and had a mass casualty drill. Great training at the house and the drill involved a four car accident with hazardous materials on scene. Of course, I got contaminated so I never got to really finish the game. In case you were wondering, Andi is the one who put the organophosphate on the scene, so it looks like my own wife tried to kill me. Heh! Oh well, nothing new I guess. I did learn alot and I’m sure the experience will be with me for many years to come. Check out some photos in the gallery. (will get drill pics up as soon as I get them)
• Still playing lots of shows with the Shake. Always a good time. I won’t put details up here about what happens though… you’ll just have to come out and see for yourself. You can find out where we are when at the Shake website.
• Started shooting a movie with my friend Kenny. Working on the editing right now. Very cool stuff there. Will give you links to more information once there’s someplace to go.
• Did fire prevention week for the kids. Had a smoke house maze, video, demonstration of gear and free hot dogs and drinks. I figure we educated about 50 kids in one afternoon. Got some good support from my fellow firefighters on that project which was really cool.

Well, I’m sure there’s more, but I’m about out of brain for now. Hope to see you all out at a show sometime! Peace out!

I’ve added an image gallery so I can share some photo’s online. It doesn’t work inside my wordpress script yet, but it’s functional as a separate entity. View here.

The FCC has seen fit to grant my amature radio license! After passing my test on June 3rd, it was just a week wait until my call sign showed up on the FCC database. June 12th was the grant date and the call sign is KC9JQE.

I’ve started working on the general class material and Morse code. Once that’s done there’s only one more level to go to and I don’t really think I need to be there. But then again, who knows. I sometimes get a little ramped up with things like this and tend to take them all the way.

So, now that I have the legal right to get on the band I’ve been searching for my first radio. I think I’ll probably go with something hand held for starters since the reason for doing this was to get involved with SKYWARN and other public service functions. Oh yeah, and I just have to get a big antenna for the car!

Well, it’s been a long month. True to the title of this site, here’s what’s been going on in my life:

Server failure. This was really the only thing that wasn’t much fun. After a supposed hard drive failure, spent weeks getting everyone’s site back up and running. Some still have wierd problems that need to be figured out. That marks the end of that web host’s time with me.

Lots of Giging. And I do mean lots. It seems like about twice a week, every week. I’m having a blast doing it though. The first few rounds just about killed me. Going from a year off to full speed was a little tough, but the stamina is back and I’m starting to get comfortable with the songs. Soon I’ll be able to get back to the business of being the potomuss live.

Storm Spotter. I finally did something I’ve always wanted to do. Mid May I attended a NWS (National Weather Service) storm spotter class. I love that kind of stuff. Now I’m one of those “trained” spotters that you hear about on the TV and radio. Sweet.

Amature Radio. I’ve been a student of Ham radio for the last month. Planning on taking the test June 3rd for my amature radio license.

Fighting Fires. Well, not really. Most of them seem to be out by the time I get there. Do have a few pics from a house burn we did at my myspace page though. Check it out when you get a chance.

Cycling. Well, not much of that yet either. Been so busy with everything else that I haven’t gotten going on the road. Did pick up a cheap-o mountain bike and went to the woods though. That was a riot.

Well, that’s really about it for now. More to come I’m sure!

Cheers!

Wow! Spammers sure do find every way to take advantage of people! Just deleted 50 pingbacks to this blog… all contained advertisements for some phone company or adult friend site. Sorry for the mess folks… all cleaned up and secure now!

It’s been a long road back from the difficulties of the past, but I am now officially returning to the music business. I have accepted the position of bassist for the Peoria based band the Shake. The Shake plays just about every weekend in the central Illinois area so if you get a wild hair and want to come out I would love to see you. You can get more info at the Shake’s website.

Any of you that know the Shake’s music will probably be wondering if there will be any changes in the song list. The answer is yes. This isn’t because I demanded it. It would be more fair to say that they wanted to and will now have the ability to do so. At the same time, I like that they play stuff people dance to and in no way want to see that go away. I’m sure we will be able to come up with a list that will satisfy most of the people some of the time. Let’s face it, you can’t please everyone!

Some of you may be wondering if there will ever be another Braille show. The answer is “probably”. We’re working right now to nail down a date at the end of the summer or early fall. I will post more when I have answers.

Other than that, I’m working on my business, training to be a good volunteer firefighter here in Dana and spending as much time as I can with my family. Cycling season starts soon so I’m looking forward to getting back in the saddle and dropping my winter weight off. Only gained back 5 pounds so that should take about two weeks. I hope to reach my final target weight of 155 by the end of June.

A special announcement to come on April 2nd.

I’ve been hooking up with lots of old friends on Myspace lately. The only problem is… Myspace totally sucks! It’s a fact. I have an idea… let’s start up a website community with a viral method of growth and put it on REALLY SLOW SERVERS. I mean come on already. I can log in, go to the kitchen and make a sandwich, watch an episode of CSI and the damn thing still isn’t logged in! Here’s the best part: MYSPACE IS OWNED BY Fox Interactive Media! Like they don’t have the money to do better than this!

Well, I guess it’s cool that I can at least get on there and connect with people. But I guarantee you I will not use it as a main center of communication. It’s just too damn buggy for an IT fella like me. I have one word for you… Email. If it fails, I know it. If it was received, I know it. And the best part is, it’s 100 times faster than the myspace’s message system will EVER be.

Other than that, life’s been good to me. I’ve become a member of my local volunteer fire department and have even been voted into an officer position as secretary. It’s cool though, I’m good like that. I’ve just about made it through my backlog of work and am looking forward to lots of new business in 2006. This should be a good year.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season too. I’ve been a little behind on updates here but as the backlog goes away, it gets easier to think about other things than work.

Till next time….
Cheers!

The MN data is from October.
The YTD data includes the first three days of November.

Totals
YTD Dist: 1,005.40 mi
MN Dist: 81.01 mi
YTD Time: 70:44:15
MN Time: 05:07:04
YTD # Rides: 64
MN # Rides: 5
Averages
YTD Dist: 15.71 mi
MN Dist: 16.20 mi
YTD Speed: 14.21 mi/hr
MN Speed: 15.83 mi/hr
YTD Time: 01:06:19
MN Time: 01:01:25

Some other stats:
Riding Since 6/21/2005
1,005.40 miles logged
64 rides logged
Longest Ride: 62.42 mi
Maximum Speed: 36.40 mph
Total Ridetime: 70:44:14
Starting weight: 185 lbs.
Current weight: 166 lbs.
Lowest weight: 159.3 lbs.

Slow month, but I still managed to reach my goal of 1,000 miles.
As soon as I hit the mark, I was able to think much more clearly about my goals for the winter and next season.

Winter will be all about maintaining the base I’ve build, as well as building muscle and working on other parts of the body. I have no desire to be a body builder, but I would really like to tone up all the way around.

My milage goal for next year is 2,500 miles. That works out to around 15 miles a day, five days a week for 7 months (April thru October). I’ll have to be much more consistant next year to reach this goal. Looking forward to it!

In addition, I have a bonus goal to ride three centuries. A century is a group ride of 100+ miles. Usually sponsored by a bicycle club, it’s a one day event that starts in the early morning and usually finishes up around dinner time. You generally pay a small fee to do it which covers food and drink during and after the ride. I will do at least one in this area, probably one up by Chicago, and may go out of state for the third. A change of scenery would be nice. I mean I like corn, beans and cows just as much as the next guy, but I think I could use a change!

The last thing that I would like to try is the ride across Iowa. I’m going to enter the lottery for placement no matter what. If I get in, so be it. That trip is about 50 miles a day over the course of a week. It’s a real multi-day event! You camp at night with 10,000 of your closest two wheeling friends. Sounds like a blasty blast to me!

More later!