Ferg's Friday Five

Top 5 foods I would like to learn to eat.
1. Fish not battered and fried
2. Lobster
3. Salad without drowning it in ranch
4. Deviled eggs (seem to be the only one in the family who doesn't eat them)
5. Onions (least likely to happen)

Ferg's Friday Five

Top 5 Places I would like to go in the US. (No certain order)
1. Hawaii
2. Chicago
3. Miami and the Keys
4. Disney World
5. Yellowstone N.P.

HELLO????

As I was sitting on the couch this afternoon it hit me. I had just walked in from work and changed clothes, then went and sat down beside Jonah on the couch. "Hey buddy did you have fun today?" No answer and he starred at the TV. "JONAH, did you have fun today" still locked on Wow Wow Wubbzy. So what do I do pick up the control and pause the show "Jonah did you have a good day today" and with a slight turn of the head still looking at the TV "yea." You kidding me that's all I get a "yea". Then I realize aahh crap, he takes after his daddy, gets locked on something and then zones out. While I still claim I can watch something still answer when asked a question or listen while they are talking, I have tried to work on this problem and looks like we will be enrolling a new student very quickly.

First Blog

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Was sitting here with Glory in my lap while she was reaching for the keyboard so I set it up and let her go and above is Glory's first blog. I think mommy should be very proud of her.

Ferg's Friday Five

Top 5 favorite candy (non chocolate)



1. Nerds



2. Starburst



3. Wild Berry Skittles (purple pack)



4. Gummy Savers



5. Cherry Sours

Where's Fergie

Next Friday the 22nd is my last day with my current employer and I won't start with Plano FD until June 22nd so good luck finding me over the next month. Just in case it's an emergency and you need me a couple hints, look either at a golf course, middle of a river with a fly rod, or Vegas. Ok I'm dreaming now you'll probably find me at home with Keelie and the kids (not a bad thing) or on a lawnmower unfortunately with the way the grass is growing. But anyways a whole month off without work and not forced to get up at 5:45 am is a little thing I like to call AWESOMENESS. It's been a long long time since I've had that long with nothing I have to do, guessing in the neighborhood of 10 years or so. Only things planned is a weekend at TMS with the family and a guys trip to Oklahoma that's going to be wait for it...wait for it...LEGENDARY (name the show and get a cookie). I will keep you updated through out the next month with "Where's Fergie".

Ferg's Friday Five

Top 5 Meals For a Week.



1.Juicy chunk of cow cooked medium (steak)

2.Hamburger helper (Beef Stroganoff)

3.Big ole bacon cheeseburger with homemade fries

4.Tacos

5.Chicken fried steak and gravy

Luck?

I'm stepping out of character on this post, it's a bit more on the serious side than my usual important stories I pass on so stick with me.


Some might call it luck, some might call it fortunate, but I call it..... I received the news this week I've been waiting to hear for over a year starting last April, that I would be a firefighter for the City of Plano. When I set out on this little life changing adventure I had an idea and a goal of how I would like it to turn out. When asked where I would like to work the two places came to mind Plano or McKinney. I knew people at both places that loved it and they are two of the most sought after jobs in the state. I completed my Firefighting and EMT training last year starting in April and taking my final test in December. While working at my current job 40 hours a week I was going to school at night from 5pm-10pm Monday through Thursday and every Saturday from 7am-3-pm. I wouldn't see my family these days at all (kudos to Keelie for holding down the fort and being the mother and father for 8 months).


Now I'm certified and it's January a time when most departments aren't testing, and I have missed most of the cities in the metroplex because most test in the fall or spring. Everyone we talked to said we need to test every city we can to increase our chances, with the economy the way it is the departments are cutting back, and jobs are not plentiful like they were a couple years ago. I had found out Plano and McKinney were suppose to be testing in late winter early spring and Plano had come up first. So I signed up and the first of many steps in the process was the written exam around the 8th of February. Then on my birthday (Feb 3rd) I went to the hospital at 10pm and ended up having a emergency appendectomy. Awesome timing right? I took the written test the next weekend and out of roughly 100 candidates I was #8 on the list and they were hiring 6 spots. So the top 25 went on to the next step, the physical agility part, which in normal circumstances I would have not worried as much about, but I was about 3-4 weeks out of a surgery and had been 1 week earlier released to go back to normal day functions. So I went and passed it but collapsed at the finish line after I had finished. Half way through I was hurting so bad I could have easy have quit, I basically stumbled down the last flight of stairs holding the rails and fell across the finish line saying the whole way don't help or touch me because I didn't want to jeopardise my chances or results. Ended up being taking to the hospital by ambulance for dehydration and precautionary reasons (thanks appendectomy my chance was all most gone). Ended up passing and going on to the next step of interviews with a 8 man panel and the chief, a polygraph, psychological test, and a full physical/stress test.


It was a long stressful process. There were guys I talked to at the written exam that were in my fire academy that had already tested 9-10 cities and no job. I get hired the only test I take, the city I set my sights on since the beginning, and after all that I went through you can call it luck, you can call it fortunate, but I call it a GOD THING!!! The surgery, the cutting of positions hiring from the initial 6 at the beginning of February down to 3 of us now, to having to pass 5 candidates along the way to get in the top 3, you can only say it's bigger than anything anybody did, but it wasn't bigger than The MAN himself (he wrote the book on big).


P.S. I want to thank everybody along the way for your support, faith, and prayers. I am truly blessed to have so many caring people in my corner.

Weekend in Broken Bow: Good Bad and Ugly

First, let's start off on a good note it was the weekend and I was heading up to Oklahoma to eat good food and to do some fly-fishing for trout. Friday afternoon I drove up and met Dave, Mary, and Jonah at a local restaurant in Hochatown, OK called Abendigo's (great food a little $) I highly recommend if you are ever in the neighborhood. I knew what my quest was for the night it was the chicken fried steak and fries, Dave had told me it was great. When the plate was set in front of me I knew I was going to have to step up my game to win this fight, it was hanging off the plate, smothered in cream gravy, and covered in fries. Put your tongue back in your mouth and quit drooling. So I pick up the knife and fork and I was off, mixing a few fries in between bites of the steak (real CFS not off the Sysco truck). After a few burps and seconds to gather myself every now and then I drove in the dagger and finished everything on my plate including 3 rolls with butter, while sipping on 4 glasses of sweet tea. I had won the battle, but lost the war I was miserable all night long and the next morning but it was worth it.

The Bad goes like this: what do you get when you mix rain and storms all weekend with a crowded river? You guessed it bad fishing. I'll take a bad day of fishing any day over no fishing at all. Even though we didn't have the fishing we would have liked, we still still caught a few and enjoyed fishing in the rain.

The ugly was a no brainer. I was thinking going into the weekend I'm taking Jonah with me and Keelie was staying home with Glory, awesome trade off right? I'll get the sleep and Keelie will get the night feedings sounds great. WRONG!!!! Dave and Mary had gone to bed and Jonah had already been in bed for a hour or so, when I decided to turn in about 11pm. That's when the snowball was heading down hill full steam ahead. I scooted Jonah over in bed and got in then woke up about 30 minutes later to a foot in the face, so I straighten him up and about 30 minutes later woke up to a kick in the back.......that's how the night went all night I had been woken up about 10-12 times during the time frame of 11pm to 7 am the next morning. I had been kicked in the head, back, stomach, and awfully close to other places. Night #2 wasn't much better and he woke up about 0630 that morning. I don't know what the deal was this weekend but let's just say my plan had not only backfired but blew up into unidentifiable pieces. Then to rub salt in the wound, I had talked to Keelie and she said Glory had gone to sleep Saturday night at 8pm and didn't wake up till about 6:30 Sunday morning.

What did we learn from this experience not a freaking thing, just needed to vent a little and I'm feeling better now. Who's ready to go back to Oklahoma? Even after all this my bags are packed waiting for another free weekend.

Ferg's Friday Five

Top 5 Favorite Current TV Shows (no particular order).



1. House M.D.

2. Criminal Minds

3. CBS Monday Night Lineup

4. Deadliest Catch

5. Law & Order S.V.U.