So I suppose I should probably get a post put up before I hit the one year anniversary of my last post. 'Twould be nice, yes?
Lots and lots has happened since July, '07. The pictures I took at the aforementioned Cascade Complex can be seen here. The experience was wonderful and frustrating, just like almost every other fire. Sadly I didn't get to go anywhere after that as my former boss took another job and I kinda got stuck at the helm back home.
In August I bought a Toyota Prius. Is this news? It is the first and perhaps only 'brand new' car which I will ever buy, but I am very happy with it. Someday I may even take a picture and post it.
Then in October I interviewed for a position with Rocky Mountain Fire, a fire department in Boulder county, Colorado. Sadly I ranked 5th on their list and they were hiring 4. Just the same they appear to be the best fit for me and my intention is to try and get a seasonal wildland fire job with them in the summer of '08. I haven't heard anything from them at this time but hope to soon.
The Holiday Season was fairly low key.
Then the big news of the year (for us) came at the end of February: Kimberly is pregnant. She'd due at the end of October, close enough to Halloween for us to go ahead and claim it as the date (I think it might actually be the 28th). So far she's doing very well and I am increasingly excited. We have picked names but are referring to it as 'Chaz' for the time being.
This spring has been rolling along well as well. I got a new boss at the end of January and he seems like a good fit for the program at the Dunes. In addition to introducing him to as many of the local Chiefs as we can schedule, I have started negotiations for automatic aid agreements with the seven Porter County departments which overlap the park. If this is successful we will finally be on the 911 system, a major win for us.
My second swan song has been negotiating to exchange one of our stations with the Park's auto shop building. I have mentioned it to many folk but it bears repeating here: our two fire stations are literally two hundred feet apart and are both at the HQ which is more or less centrally located. The auto shop is 8 miles to the west, which is coincidentally where the overwhelming majority of our fires occur. This would also be a coup.
But I'm not particularly optimistic about seeing all of these projects completed since we are still seriously pursuing a move to Colorado. As mentioned above I am looking to hire on with RMF as a seasonal. OR... the Arapahoe / Roosevelt National Forest recently flew a job announcement for an AFMO position in Fort Collins, which would work well as well. I would still prefer RMF in the long run but I haven't heard a whole lot from them lately. Kimberly, on the other hand, got some good news last week in the same vein. The Denver office of her company expressed a great of interest in getting her out there, the sooner the better.
After our employment issues are settled, all that remains is to sell the condo. We have had a lot of work done on it through the winter and it's looking pretty sharp. We should be listing here in the next couple of weeks. Woot!
