On the baseball scene, it looks as if it was fun while it lasted for the Cleveland Indians’ fans.  Maybe they’ll make it in 2008.  Being a New Yorker, I did not really want the Red Sox in the Series, but they are going to be there.  I am not a Colorado Rockies fan, either. Maybe it’s time to really follow football, until Spring Training opens

Tonight we had training at the firehouse, and the topic was putting down hoses and hooking them up to the hydrant and to the engine’s suction or discharge connections.  I just watched while the probies and newer members did the dirty work.  After the class the instructor, who just retired from the New York City Fire Department, told us that next month one of our new probies will be a woman.  He warned us to watch our language from now on, and start to act like gentlemen.  He cited a sexual harassment case at FDNY with a female member, and the chiefs and officers there were penalized for what the firefighters did.  Our chiefs warned us that they are not going to hang for what a member does or says.   From what I see when I am having coffee and watching television there, some guys are going to be in big trouble.  Since I have worked in an office most of my life, with both men and women, I have learned to watch what I say. 

I am migrating to http://www.multiply.com/ from Yahoo 360 due to problems there, and it seems that Yahoo is phasing its pages out.  You can reach me on Multiply at this URL:

http://ironmen8.multiply.com

This has been a typical weekend for me.  Yesterday it rained and it was warm and humid enough to run the air conditioner.  In the evening I was able to watch Game 3 of the World Series, and it looks as if the Red Sox own the Series.

Today autumn finally arrived as it was clear and cool.  In the morning I was woken up by my fire department pager announcing an ambulance call in the western part of town.  Only 3 members showed up, and once we got there the patient only wanted us to check her vitals, and the heart problems seemed to have gone away.  We tired to get her to go to the hospital, but she steadfastly refused.  As she was over 50 years old, she was of age and we could not drag here there, unless we wanted to be arrested for kidnapping.  So after she signed the release form, we were on our way back to the firehouse.

Later in the morning, around 9:45, the pager goes off again for a motor vehicle accident at one of Islip’s major intersections.  One car was totaled, and the other went into a yard and rested against a tree.  Our engine was detailed to put speedy dry on the road next to the totaled car, and then we helped the ambulance crew get the people out of the car in the yard and onto stretchers.  Luckily there were no life threatening injuries.  The last thing we had to do was remove a bent street sign.  We took the Hurst toll and were going to cut it, when a member (who is also with the NYC Fire Department) said that we can probably pull it out of the ground, since it was weakened enough.  So that is what a “probie” and I ended up doing, without any tools (besides our hands). 

Since the call came about the time we would leave for the West Islip Soccer Club’s practice and scrimmage, I told Ellen to go without me and I would meet them there which I did.  Eileen was working with two other young ladies and I joined Ellen on the sidelines.  When I drove home, and was putting my car into the garage, I ended up scraping the passenger side mirror against the garage door, and there now is no mirror on the passenger side!  I have the assembly in the trunk, and will see if I can somehow re-attach it.

Since my birthday was on Friday, this afternoon we went to visit my mom & dad, and go out to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.  Before we went to the restaurant, my dad and I watched American football history in London, as the New York Giants beat the Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium.  Of course, on the baseball scene, the Red Son are leading the Rockies by a score of 2-0, in the 5^th inning.  As the game is not over for another 4 innings, I will not pronounce the Series winner until someone wins 4 games, because as one of the baseball Ironmen said, “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over”.

With some rumors of Yahoo 360 shutting down, I have also opened a site on multiply.com, with the URL of http://ironmen8.mulitply.com/.  There will be a blog there, with entries almost identical to what is here.