CruizerBlog

New beginnings

Christina and I went to the Sprint store last night and hooked ourselves up. I have been a long standing Sprint customer (5+ years). Christina tried them once, and hated them, she had lots of billing and refund problems. I talked her into geving them a change again, especially since the account won't be in her name this time. We got the Fair and Flexible Family Plan. Got two phones with the buy one get one free, she got free activation for being a new customer, and I got a $25 instant rebate for my old phone, plus $150 mail-in rebate for being an outstanding long time customer, plus some other $25 rebate for some other thing that I don't remember, plus we get an 18% monthly discount off our bill because of the company I work for, plus we got 50% off any accessory we wanted. We got the Sprint PCS VisionSM Picture Phone PM-A740 by Samsung®. It's not bad. It's the first new phone I've had in almost 4 years. I liked my old phone. And this all was prompted because for the third month in a row I went over my monthly minutes. I guess this means for the third month in a row, in my life, I have become increasingly more popular?

You know you're a...

If you go to the county fair to watch th Combine Demolition Derby....you might be a redneck.

If you go to the countyfair just to eat supper....you might be a redneck.

If you go to the county fair to eat a deep fried snickers bar....you might be a redneck.

If you go to the county fair to feel better about yourself....well, you're probably normal....

I hold these truths to be self evident...
I love the fair (as if you haven't figured that one out yet). Went last night to eat supper, watch the combine demo derby, and have a deep fried snickers bar. Talk about one of the most unhealty items you could ever eat, and they are sooooooooooooooooo good! We walked through the commercial tent, and dreamed of the big stuff we wish we could buy. The derby was OK. It wasn't as good as last year though. One guy got ejected for "unsportsmanlike conduct" I think him and another guy should have been ejected for teaming up. These two guys beat the crap out of one this one machine! I was getting upset and yelling. I know in the regular demo derby, that's not allowed.

WWII Bombers

Last night, Christina and I stopped by the local airport to see a piece of flying history: one of 8 working B-17 Flying Fortress, and the only woking Consolidated B-24 Liberator. We got there just in time to tour the B-17 and watch the B-24 take off. For a $400 donation, you could take a 45 minute ride. It was an incredible to see it actually lift off in flight. Christina and I had taken both our cameras with us, but something happened with hers. With her camera, I made a video of the take off, and I also took some pics of the B-17 flying over the County Fair. But when I got home, nothing was there! But at least we got alot of still on my camera.

I was a bit upset though, when we left the airport. I saw a man I knew there, who is head of the EMA (of which I used to be a volunteer) who is also a volunteer for the group that brought the planes there. I mention to him I wished I had $400 for a ride. He asks mke "Are you working for the next couple of days?"
"Yeah, unfortunately."
"Well too bad, if you volunteered here all day tomorrow, I could get you a free ride to Tulsa on Wednesday."
"You're kidding?!"
"Nope, I can pull that off."
My heart sank, I don't have any unscheduled vacation days, and if I take anymore sick days withing the next couple months, I'll end up in HR...
"Well next year, when you read in the paper about them comming back, give me a call, you can volunteer, and we'll get you a ride."
Sweetttt....

Muncie

This weekend, I went to visit a friend downstate, as well as take him a couch he bought. We had a good time. Didn't really do a whole lot, but you don't always need to. I got there late friday, so all we did was went out to supper and hun gout at the house. Saturday we decided to go to the horse track in the next town over, only to get there and find out there was no live racing at that track that day. There were old men all over staring at TV's betting on races elsewhere, this wasn't out cup of tea. We went shopping for window air conditiong units. His new apartment won't have A/C, and neither does the place he rents now. We set up Halo (the PC version) on a few computers, got together a LAN game, and there was 4 of us who playes it for damn near 12 hours, I think. It was alot of fun.

Sunday I packed up and came home in the blistering heat. The temp was supposed to reach just over 100, but thankk to the humidity, it had a heat index of 115. I drove all the way home with my A/C on, listening to Harry potter and the Chamber of Secrets audio CD. I hate reading, as I don't have the attention span for it. Not to mention it bores me and makes me tired. So Christina started buying me Harry Potter on CD, and I have been captivated! Much better than the movie!

So with yesterdays heat, which sucked even to go outside and breathe, we cleaned out the pool and went swimming, at night of course.

And when I got up this morning, it was already 85, and very sticky....

Fair Thursday

Wow, alot happened yesterday!

We got hit by a huge storm yesterday afternoon. One town I drive through on the way home, Chesterton, lost all electricity. I got stuck in a major traffic jam on the highway because none of the traffic lights worked. I managed to get off andf backroad it the rest of the way home. When I got home, there was a large part of a tree in my driveway, which narrowly missed my neighbors house. I called the landlord and he's supposed to have to removed. Later on that night the neighbor and his 3 workers barely picked it up and moved it out of the way. I couldn't do it myself.

Last night was also the first day fo the Porter County Fair. We had trackside tickets to see Bill Engvall. Well the track there is all dirt, so after the rain it was all mud. So we got to tromp through mud to get to our folding chair seats which sank as you sat. But it was worht it, Bill was funny as hell. We were supposed to see fireworks too, but they were cancelled becuase of the weather. Fortunately it didn't rain on us. I ate deep fried oreo's for the first time. Let me tell you, YUMMAY!!!

Tonight after work, I will go home, load up a couch in the truck, and head downstate to my friend Matt's in Muncie for the weekend. I hope you all (the three of you) have a great weekend!

I know

I know I am a boring person, but that's just me. So live with it.

I have been really busy as of late. Something I have been working on alot, but haven't mentiond is my new Powdercoating venture. Tuesday night, I powdercoated my first pieces ever!! You can click this link to check out my "workshop" and pieces. They didn't turn out too bad for a first time. And go figure, I do one set of tools, and I've already got people asking me to do their stuff! Hurray!!

Speaking of tuesay, it was NICE! IT was still 95 degrees, but there was NO HUMIDITY!! First time in like 3 months! IT fell like a cool summer day! I envy people with heat and no humidity, I really do. They also have warmer feeling winters too. I have a friend who moved to Minnesota a few years ago. He says 0 degrees in a non humit climate feels like 40 degrees around here. He says it's uncanny how much better no humidity makes things. I can't say I disagree.

Weekend

Hmm, I need to et around to changing my blog image. I think i have had this for about a year....

Anyways, THe weekend was pretty good:
Friday:
Went with some friends to US 41 Dragway to watch Street Car Chaos. There were some pretty cool and fast cars there. We made fun of all the rice burners. Highlight of the night was tyhe 1978 Chevy Nova wheel stand. The front end came up and he never let off the gas, let it come down on it's own. We didn't think you coulkd top that, but he did. His second time up he scraped the rear bumper it went so high. The car held the wheelie for prety much half track. Both times he beat hsi opponent. Hot car is naturally aspirated too. No blower, no turbo, no nitrous, just alll motor.

Oh, and they took the helicopter off the roof.

Saturday:
Slept in while Christina went to Get Harry Potter; Book 6. Got up when she made breakfast, and went back to sleep. Finally we got up around 12:30, and went to a graduation party. Then after being there for an house, went to a birthday/pool party. That was alot of fun. Then went home and changed into some dry clothes, and Christina stayed home for reasons unknown. She told me like 5 different reasons through out the night. I know she just wanted to read, but didn't want to tell me that. I headed out to another friends birthday party until about midnight. After that, went back to the graduation party for a bit before heading home to bed.

Sunday:
Tony and Lindsey was moving some big stuff, and they asked up to help. SO we went over there, and proceeded to sweat alot, because it was min 90's and humid as hell. But got all their big stuff in. It's a nice house, nice sized lot. The house is a bit small for my taste, but I have a big imagination. It'll suit them nicely. We did rios some drywall work truing to get the queen sized bixspring upstairs. Why do architects design houses to you can't even get average furnature upstairs?? We had no choice, if they wanted a box spring on their bed, we had to do it the way we did. It's not bad though. Easily fixable.

Then we went home and took a nap before going to the neighbors daughters birthday party. Hung out with them for a bit, and then got back in the house in time to watch the Family Guy!

Just an update

See Last Night's entry for pictures!

Helicopter crashes at hospital

VALPARAISO: Three crew members, patient unharmed

BY MATTHEW VAN DUSEN
mvandusen@nwitimes.com
219.462.5151

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Friday, July 15, 2005 12:57 AM CDT

VALPARAISO | A University of Chicago Hospitals helicopter crashed on the roof of Porter Valparaiso Hospital Campus moments after takeoff about 3:45 p.m. Thursday, but three crew and an intensive care patient were unharmed, hospital officials said.

A pilot, doctor and nurse on the University of Chicago Aeromedical Network helicopter pulled themselves out of the wreckage within minutes, Porter spokeswoman Jeni Bell said. Hospital personnel and emergency responders had to free the female patient, who had been sedated for the travel, and took her to the emergency room and then the intensive care unit.

"It does not look as though she had any additional injuries after the crash," Bell said.

The patient's family appeared shaken after the accident and were led by hospital officials to the family room of the ICU. Police would not identify the patient, a Valparaiso resident.

University of Chicago Hospitals spokesman John Easton identified pilot Ed Ban, an employee of CJ Systems Aviation Group, flight Dr. Todd Ellingson, and flight nurse Mary Rey, both of the university hospitals.

Pieces of foam from the hospital building were strewn about the roof 45 minutes after the crash as about 20 emergency personnel struggled to secure the helicopter with ropes. It lost its top rotor and was resting on its right side, half off of the helipad.

There was no word on what caused the crash as of Thursday evening.

Hospital Security Director Jim McClanahan said he was standing on a sidewalk when the helicopter took off. He saw the tail catch a stairwell tower, which rises about 6 feet just west of the helipad. The helicopter then flipped on its side.

Hospital employees reported hearing a bang and said the building rumbled.

"My whole office shook, (and there was) a sound like something grinding across the cement floor," said Bell, whose office is just beneath the helipad.

The helicopter, which was transferring the patient to the University of Chicago Hospitals, did not do any significant damage to the building and was not a risk to people below as of Thursday night, Vice President of System Resources Bill Cummins said.

A security person is always on the roof when a helicopter is present but that person was also unharmed, Cummins said.

No patients were evacuated. The fifth floor immediately below the helipad houses information services workers, patient schedulers and public relations and physical rehabilitation staff who usually leave between 4 and 5 p.m., Bell said.

Indiana State Police and Federal Aviation Administration officials took over the scene by about 5 p.m.

The aeromedical network has been operating since 1983 and has never had a crash, Easton said. The network's helicopter has been in for regularly scheduled maintenance for about six weeks, and the helicopter that crashed was a replacement.

National Transportation Safety Board officials arrived at the hospital late Thursday night to begin their investigation. Personnel were monitoring the scene for possible fuel leaks, although none were reported.

The twin-engine Aerospatiale Dauphin helicopter was issued its certificate in 1990 and has a valid status, according to the FAA.

When Helecopters Go Awry

This afternoon, my cousin calls me: "Have you heard yet?" "Heard what?" "The helecopter crashed on top of the hospital!" "Really?" "Yeah, the streets all the way up to my house are blocked off!" "I'm on my way!"
My cousin lives about a block from the hospital, my friend Shawn lives right behind him, with an unobstructed view of the landing pad. I called Shawn on my way over to see if he was there. He was. We hang out in front of his house for a bit, and I took pictures. Shawn says he was getting in the shower when he heard a loud boom. Then he heard a bag right above him. He gets dressed and runs outside to see the helecopter on it's side. Looking around his house, he finds a piece of the rotor in his driveway. It apparently hit his roof and slid off. Reports on scene were that they found debris as far as three blocks away. All the streets for about three blocks surrounding the hospital were roped off. When I left (I had to go do an appraisal) they were starting to number the debris.

Helicopter crashes on roof of hospital

No patients were evacuated and the fifth floor immediately below the helipad houses information services workers, patient schedulers, public relations and physical rehabilitation staff who usually leave at around 4:30 or 5 p.m., said hospital spokeswoman Jeni Bell.

Camping

Spent the last 4 days camping at Clifty Falls State Park with 4 of my bestest friends. We had a great time! Stayed up late every night staring at the fire, hiked, played UNO, tossed the football, and RELAXED. We hiked 3.5 miles on Friday, and 5 miles on Saturday!