Again, the cable modem at home is down. Grr. Harumph.
So, Important Announcement -- Happy Birthday Ex from Northern Ireland! He's 32 today, and apparently a bit sensative about it, poor wee thing. Birthdays are fun. They're a good thing. I'm sorry your car chose this day to die -- crappy birthday present. But otherwise, all is well, right?
(By the way, am I being paranoid in no longer refering to you by name? Let me know what you prefer.)
So, other stuff: As if we needed any more evidence, I can definitivly state that Firefighters kick serious butt. My <Yuppiescum alert> trainer </Yuppiesum alert> at the gym is a Chicago firefighter, and he and a bunch of his fellow firefolks took their vacation time to fly out to New York to help at the World Trade site. He was helping to get rid of debris and recover bodies. He said fires are still burning all over the site, and the focus has moved to clearing the site as quickly as possible to ward off the possibility of disease. He described pulling away rubble to find something he knew was human remains, but not being able to tell even what part of the body it was from. This is what countless firefighters and police officers and rescue workers are doing in their off time -- on vacation. Jesus.
But what really struck me was what he said about the New York firefighters. I was afraid that since all the firefighters were at the World Trade site, if anything in, say, upper Manhatten or Brooklyn caught fire, no one would be around to respond to it. That's not how it works. What has happened is the NYFD has moved to a 24-hours-on/48-hours-off schedule. So these guys are working 24-hour-days, and, instead of going home and seeing their families or resting or whatever, on their two days off, they're going down to the World Trade site and doing relief work. They're moving bits of building, taking remains to the morgue, surrounding themselves with the death and destruction and horror for two days straight, sleeping at the site so they can do as much work as possible ... then going beack to the firehouse to fight fires that may occur anywhere else in the city. Damn. I'm in awe of them.
So, to the NYFD and to Brian Stack of the Chicago fire department and all the other rescue workers and doctors and firefighters and.... everyone... Thank you. You're amazing, and the fact that you exist helps restore my faith in humanity.
So, Important Announcement -- Happy Birthday Ex from Northern Ireland! He's 32 today, and apparently a bit sensative about it, poor wee thing. Birthdays are fun. They're a good thing. I'm sorry your car chose this day to die -- crappy birthday present. But otherwise, all is well, right?
(By the way, am I being paranoid in no longer refering to you by name? Let me know what you prefer.)
So, other stuff: As if we needed any more evidence, I can definitivly state that Firefighters kick serious butt. My <Yuppiescum alert> trainer </Yuppiesum alert> at the gym is a Chicago firefighter, and he and a bunch of his fellow firefolks took their vacation time to fly out to New York to help at the World Trade site. He was helping to get rid of debris and recover bodies. He said fires are still burning all over the site, and the focus has moved to clearing the site as quickly as possible to ward off the possibility of disease. He described pulling away rubble to find something he knew was human remains, but not being able to tell even what part of the body it was from. This is what countless firefighters and police officers and rescue workers are doing in their off time -- on vacation. Jesus.
But what really struck me was what he said about the New York firefighters. I was afraid that since all the firefighters were at the World Trade site, if anything in, say, upper Manhatten or Brooklyn caught fire, no one would be around to respond to it. That's not how it works. What has happened is the NYFD has moved to a 24-hours-on/48-hours-off schedule. So these guys are working 24-hour-days, and, instead of going home and seeing their families or resting or whatever, on their two days off, they're going down to the World Trade site and doing relief work. They're moving bits of building, taking remains to the morgue, surrounding themselves with the death and destruction and horror for two days straight, sleeping at the site so they can do as much work as possible ... then going beack to the firehouse to fight fires that may occur anywhere else in the city. Damn. I'm in awe of them.
So, to the NYFD and to Brian Stack of the Chicago fire department and all the other rescue workers and doctors and firefighters and.... everyone... Thank you. You're amazing, and the fact that you exist helps restore my faith in humanity.
posted by SAJ at
11:46 AM
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