Howdy people!

I survived my drunken sailing adventure in Central America and made it back to the states for my coast guard (merchant marine) training.

I fought my first real fire today with the St Louis fire department and wow.. what a blast! It was a pretty nasty alpha fire that engulfed most of the bottom floor of the building. Crawling on the floor, the temperature was around 200 degrees and rose to 800+ degrees in a standing position, though I didn't stand up obviously.

I'll be certified soon and heading back to my ship. We're sailing the east coast for awhile on our way to Canada/Greenland, so look for me in Nova Scotia soon.

Your drunken Guatemalan prostitute loving,

Captain Asshat


PS: When I ran into the inferno, I was thinking murder suicide the whole time.

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
PS: When I ran into the inferno, I was thinking murder suicide the whole time.

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re-assuring.

don't ever save me.

good for you defending our country against terrorism

That's so cool man.

It's been a while since your last update.

I still remember the going away thread.
So what are you going to do now?
{DA}

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
Howdy people!

I survived my drunken sailing adventure in Central America and made it back to the states for my coast guard (merchant marine) training.

I fought my first real fire today with the St Louis fire department and wow.. what a blast! It was a pretty nasty alpha fire that engulfed most of the bottom floor of the building. Crawling on the floor, the temperature was around 200 degrees and rose to 800+ degrees in a standing position, though I didn't stand up obviously.

I'll be certified soon and heading back to my ship. We're sailing the east coast for awhile on our way to Canada/Greenland, so look for me in Nova Scotia soon.

Your drunken Guatemalan prostitute loving,

Captain Asshat


PS: When I ran into the inferno, I was thinking murder suicide the whole time.

---

Hey, sounds like you have fun.

So, what's you doing now these days..

Good job, man! Welcome to the fire service!

quote:

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Originally posted by DA:
That's so cool man.

It's been a while since your last update.

I still remember the going away thread.
So what are you going to do now?
{DA}

---

I'm trying to relax a bit. They're gonna work my ass off when I get back to the ship, so I'm trying to get my kicks in now with some drinks and some Taco Bell. There was plenty of mexican-ish food in central america.. but I stupidly ate some chicken cooked on the street in Guatemala and got all fucked up for like 9 days.

The craziest thing I've seen so far is when a dumb ass got drunk and went swimming off of our stern when we were anchored off of Tortola in the BVI. The genius tried to climb our anchor chain and as the ship changed position, his hand was pinned against the hull. I walked onto the stern on my security round and heard the most horrible screaming coming from underneath the ship.

Lucky for him, I threw off the brake and let the chain fly. If I had been 2 minutes later, his hand would have been gone and he'd have been called Stumpy for the rest of his life.

All in all it's been a good couple of months. 10 months left and I'll be done with this ship. Then, I'm gonna try to get on some scientific research vessels and hopefully check out Antarctica or count microplankton in the South Pacific.. who knows.

What's been going on with totse lately?

quote:

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Originally posted by MomentaryLapseOfReason:
Good job, man! Welcome to the fire service!

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Yeah Dude, Great Work!

My dad is a firefight in Melbourne, been at 25 years.

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
I'm trying to relax a bit. They're gonna work my ass off when I get back to the ship, so I'm trying to get my kicks in now with some drinks and some Taco Bell. There was plenty of mexican-ish food in central america.. but I stupidly ate some chicken cooked on the street in Guatemala and got all fucked up for like 9 days.

The craziest thing I've seen so far is when a dumb ass got drunk and went swimming off of our stern when we were anchored off of Tortola in the BVI. The genius tried to climb our anchor chain and as the ship changed position, his hand was pinned against the hull. I walked onto the stern on my security round and heard the most horrible screaming coming from underneath the ship.

Lucky for him, I threw off the brake and let the chain fly. If I had been 2 minutes later, his hand would have been gone and he'd have been called Stumpy for the rest of his life.

All in all it's been a good couple of months. 10 months left and I'll be done with this ship. Then, I'm gonna try to get on some scientific research vessels and hopefully check out Antarctica or count microplankton in the South Pacific.. who knows.

What's been going on with totse lately?

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Man, you put out a fire, saved a man's hand (which he'll thank you for when his girlfriend dumps him ) and now you're going to go out and study and do science and shit!

Fucking amazing man.

Totse's been good. Really just the same ol' same ol'.

New mods. I'm not really the one to ask about things like this.
{DA}

Do you know just how hard it is to start fires?

quote:

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Originally posted by MomentaryLapseOfReason:
Good job, man! Welcome to the fire service!

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Thanks man!

I've definitely gained more respect for firefolk everywhere. It takes more than most people realize.

What a rush, though

Registration re-opened, a bunch of newbs came to &Totse, SG was full of spam threads...and still is...Were now undergoing a drawball mission, And totse was down for a while.

Origanlly posted by Zinquaff:

quote:

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Do you know just how hard it is to start fires?

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It is?

[This message has been edited by ExplodingTeeth (edited 03-17-2006).]

quote:

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Originally posted by Zinquaff:
Do you know just how hard it is to start fires?

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Too easy

quote:

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Originally posted by Zinquaff:
Do you know just how hard it is to start fires?

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Not very hard at all, judging by how many fires are started by pure ignorance.

Whats an Alpha fire?

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Originally posted by DonnieDelinko:
Whats an Alpha fire?

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Ordinary combustibles such as wood, paper, plastic, etc.

So how do you like the Merchant Marines?

Good so far?

quote:

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Originally posted by DA:
Man, you put out a fire, saved a man's hand (which he'll thank you for when his girlfriend dumps him ) and now you're going to go out and study and do science and shit!

Fucking amazing man.

Totse's been good. Really just the same ol' same ol'.

New mods. I'm not really the one to ask about things like this.
{DA}

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Glad to hear it man.

What's cool is that all of this started for me by posting a topic in SG asking how I could go to sea. Thanks to a particular totse member's advice, I'm getting salty as shit and loving every minute of it.

I am glad you asked. And I am glad to hear you like your new career. I hope for good sailing for you

[This message has been edited by SomethingSimple (edited 03-17-2006).]

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Originally posted by SomethingSimple:
So how do you like the Merchant Marines?

Good so far?

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Well, I'm a merchant mariner but I'm not an officer or anything. It's my first time at sea. Assuming everything continues to go well, I'll likely get a mate's license and go from there.

I'm liking it so far. It's damn hard work though. I pull 12-14 hour days, six days a week. I'm learning lots of neat stuff though.. line handling and knots, astronomy/navigation.. I work with radar and gps, cranes, marine engines, ect. I also do a hell of alot of grinding and chipping.

There's nothing better than sailing through rough seas though, especially when you're chilling on the bridge at night. Kick off the lighting, put your feet up, and watch the bow crash through the waves.

BTW, I'll give you a dollar if you take a giant whiff of some protein-base AFFF concentrate.

[This message has been edited by MomentaryLapseOfReason (edited 03-17-2006).]

quote:

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Originally posted by MomentaryLapseOfReason:
BTW, I'll give you a dollar if you atke a giant whiff of some protein-base AFFF concentrate.

---

Keep the dollar and I'll whip up some halon milkshakes.

yum!

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
Keep the dollar and I'll whip up some halon milkshakes.

yum!

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Hahaha, no thanks!

Cool, mate's class! Up up to officer and I heard you can earn major dough. Like 100,000 a day for being captain.

What rate are you in? AB seaman, Engineering, Steward, cabin boy? From the sounds of it, you are in the deck division.

Did you recieve any weapon's training or endorsment on you MMD? (Heard pirates are a problem in the Central/Carribben area.)

How the pay working out for you, and most of all , how was the food on board the ship treating you?


[This message has been edited by SomethingSimple (edited 03-17-2006).]

quote:

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Originally posted by SomethingSimple:
How the pay working out for you, and most of all , wow was the food on board the ship?

All I did was the river and the Great Lakes Region. Food was good on it (Richard Ress), but I still to this day, wonder how did a garden hoe landed up inside one of the ballest tanks..

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The pay is working out quite nicely. I get a little bit of cash to play with and the rest goes to my bank. Everything is provided on board, so I'm saving a nice chunk of money.

Our food depends on the chef. We had a really good chef that was dishing up steak and lobster, rack of lamb, ect almost every night, but we hit some really bad seas in the gulf of honduras and he spilled several gallons of boiling water on his legs. We've got a new guy now, but he's still learning so it's hot dogs and beanie weenies some nights.

We'll be heading into the Great Lakes region later on in the year. How is it up there?

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
We'll be heading into the Great Lakes region later on in the year...

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Are you going to be anywhere near St. Joseph/Benton Harbor?

That's cool man.
I have a friend from hs that went into the Navy and became a fire-fighter on one of those there ships. Your name isn't Matt by any chance, is it?

quote:

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Originally posted by SomethingSimple:
Cool, mate's class! Up up to officer and I heard you can earn major dough. Like 100,000 a day for being captain.

What rate are you in? AB seaman, Engineering, Steward, cabin boy? From the sounds of it, you are in the deck division.

Did you recieve any weapon's training or endorsment on you MMD? (Heard pirates are a problem in the Central/Carribben area.)

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I'm working my way towards AB seaman. I'll be able to get that no problem by the end of this hitch. After that I might get some more time under my belt or I might go to school to get licensed. Time will tell I guess.

I don't have any official weapons training, though I do have experience with firearms as a personal hobby. We were on pirate watch through central america, especially around jamaica. Unfortunately, my only official defense was a charged firehose, though I had an axe handy.

I'd much prefer my Sig 229, though.

quote:

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Originally posted by MomentaryLapseOfReason:
Are you going to be anywhere near St. Joseph/Benton Harbor?

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I'm not familiar with the area, but I know we'll be in that area. We'll spend at least 2 or 3 weeks there in fact, and I know we're in Chicago a good bit.

Is that pretty close?

[This message has been edited by Captain Asshat (edited 03-17-2006).]

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
Howdy people!

I survived my drunken sailing adventure in Central America and made it back to the states for my coast guard (merchant marine) training.

I fought my first real fire today with the St Louis fire department and wow.. what a blast! It was a pretty nasty alpha fire that engulfed most of the bottom floor of the building. Crawling on the floor, the temperature was around 200 degrees and rose to 800+ degrees in a standing position, though I didn't stand up obviously.

I'll be certified soon and heading back to my ship. We're sailing the east coast for awhile on our way to Canada/Greenland, so look for me in Nova Scotia soon.

Your drunken Guatemalan prostitute loving,

Captain Asshat


PS: When I ran into the inferno, I was thinking murder suicide the whole time.

---

Sweet, out of all the time I have been sitting here at 17 and no clue on what to do with my life I have considered being a fireman besides the fact I love fire and whatnot. Whats the training like/how long is it?

That is great to hear that you'll be an AB after this trip, but still, go to school for an Unlimted Class!

And pick a rate that will give you the skills to work on land or at sea. I heard that engineering is the best rate for achiving that.

If you are up to it and want to be treated better, go to a college, officer's training school (like King's Point) or the Coast
Guard/Naval acadamy to become an Officer. Heard that the Coast Guard academy is one of the best one's around without Congressail appointment.

Use that money wisely to learn something else (like scuba diving, truck driver or some pilot) in case you get tired of working on the ships or get hurt like Stumpy.

For the cook who had his legs burned, you must of heard him "cuss like a sailor" thoughout the whole ship!

As for Toledo, OH. Lake Erie is okay for now. Chicgo is west of here, a few states over. Heard that the lakes are closed for the season though.

I can hear the boats that come in. because I live in the Point here in Toledo, at the mouth of the Maumee river.


The lakes are different to sail, especially coming into port at the coal dock in Green Bay. I don't know about the time on the Lakes served on a ocean-going freighter.

The best job to get on the Lakes is a ballist tank cleaner. Great job.. Ask about it..

If it happens, see if you can get a chance to see the locks in action.

Good sail for ya, and I am glad to help you out.

I hope and will pray for the best for you.

[This message has been edited by SomethingSimple (edited 03-17-2006).]

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
PS: When I ran into the inferno, I was thinking murder suicide the whole time.

---

lol

its great to see a totsean actually doing some good out there. better than Folding@home!

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
Howdy people!

I survived my drunken sailing adventure in Central America and made it back to the states for my coast guard (merchant marine) training.

I fought my first real fire today with the St Louis fire department and wow.. what a blast! It was a pretty nasty alpha fire that engulfed most of the bottom floor of the building. Crawling on the floor, the temperature was around 200 degrees and rose to 800+ degrees in a standing position, though I didn't stand up obviously.

I'll be certified soon and heading back to my ship. We're sailing the east coast for awhile on our way to Canada/Greenland, so look for me in Nova Scotia soon.

Your drunken Guatemalan prostitute loving,

Captain Asshat


PS: When I ran into the inferno, I was thinking murder suicide the whole time.

---

isn't it funny, how when most people run OUT of a burning building, we run IN? i love my job

quote:

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Originally posted by DonnieDelinko:
Whats an Alpha fire?

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think of extinguishers. a,b,c,d.

quote:

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Originally posted by D.E.A-D:
Sweet, out of all the time I have been sitting here at 17 and no clue on what to do with my life I have considered being a fireman besides the fact I love fire and whatnot. Whats the training like/how long is it?

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I'm not quite sure, as I've only experienced a small bit of it here in St. Louis. Here, you're recruited into the academy and given 10 weeks of intensive training and upon successful graduation, a steady paying job.

Since I'll only be fighting fire in emergencies at sea, I had the shorter crash course to fulfill my requirements.

From what I've seen and done, training is pretty close to being in the military. The training is tough and very physical. Lots of class time, lots of running, lots of ladderwork, ect.

It's pretty cool though. MomentaryLapse might be able to give you more detailed information.

quote:

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Originally posted by SomethingSimple:
If it happens, see if you can get a chance to see the locks in action.

Good sail for ya, I hope for the best for you.

---

thanks man

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
I'm trying to relax a bit. They're gonna work my ass off when I get back to the ship, so I'm trying to get my kicks in now with some drinks and some Taco Bell. There was plenty of mexican-ish food in central america.. but I stupidly ate some chicken cooked on the street in Guatemala and got all fucked up for like 9 days.

The craziest thing I've seen so far is when a dumb ass got drunk and went swimming off of our stern when we were anchored off of Tortola in the BVI. The genius tried to climb our anchor chain and as the ship changed position, his hand was pinned against the hull. I walked onto the stern on my security round and heard the most horrible screaming coming from underneath the ship.

Lucky for him, I threw off the brake and let the chain fly. If I had been 2 minutes later, his hand would have been gone and he'd have been called Stumpy for the rest of his life.

All in all it's been a good couple of months. 10 months left and I'll be done with this ship. Then, I'm gonna try to get on some scientific research vessels and hopefully check out Antarctica or count microplankton in the South Pacific.. who knows.

What's been going on with totse lately?

---

Reasearch is your best bet. You may find a bactrium that naturally produces tetrahydracannibinol-9 as a bi product of eating water. This bacterium could also be harmless to humans!

Imagine the fame you'd gain.

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
I'm not familiar with the area, but I know we'll be in that area. We'll spend at least 2 or 3 weeks there in fact, and I know we're in Chicago a good bit.

Is that pretty close?

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Awesome, you're probably going to sail into/near Navy Pier. If so tell me when and I'll visit ya haha! I live pretty close to Chicago.

Good luck in all your adventures man, its great to see you find something that fits.

that is the shit! i want to be a travelling man, and a sailor seems like a great way to do it, but id rather visit a lot of places farther inland... anyways does anybody know if you can do this kind of shit with hemophilia? I cant join the armed services because of it, but i would love to get a job on a merchant ship... ideas?

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
Keep the dollar and I'll whip up some halon milkshakes.

yum!

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Fuck that noise, I DARE you to do a line of PKP!

Anyway, do they make you don Scott Air Packs for fire fighting? Or are there any EAB manifolds on a merch marine boat?

Navy fire drills are so exciting...
"OMFGZ FIRE IN TEH ALPHA CHILLER; MUSTER TEH CASUALTY ASSISTANCE TEAM!! LOLOLOLOL!!"
Damn I fucking hate Scott Air Packs. "Here, fight this fire with a bigass tank of oxygen on your back." Great fucking idea...

Captain.
Yarrrr!

Welcome back. Bet you saw some cool storms at sea. Take any photographs?

quote:

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Originally posted by D.E.A-D:
Sweet, out of all the time I have been sitting here at 17 and no clue on what to do with my life I have considered being a fireman besides the fact I love fire and whatnot. Whats the training like/how long is it?

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Well, training for me was one school year in length. 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. It's not too intensive for us, then again, we're a volunteer department, not a full-time department like St. Louis. I enjoy the job quite a bit.

And Capt. Asshat, it sounds like you'll be very close to my area. Within a few miles.

[This message has been edited by MomentaryLapseOfReason (edited 03-17-2006).]

quote:

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Originally posted by psychotikan:
Damn I fucking hate Scott Air Packs. "Here, fight this fire with a bigass tank of oxygen on your back." Great fucking idea...

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Our department is using the new Scott NXG2. It's super-light, with a composite bottle. It's also 4500 psi instead of 2216, so we can get 45 minutes to an hour of air. It's a big improvement over the Scott 2.2.

quote:

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Originally posted by samurai_steve:
that is the shit! i want to be a travelling man, and a sailor seems like a great way to do it, but id rather visit a lot of places farther inland... anyways does anybody know if you can do this kind of shit with hemophilia? I cant join the armed services because of it, but i would love to get a job on a merchant ship... ideas?

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I'm not extremely familiar with hemophilia. Is there a way to control is medically with injections or medicines? I can say that you bleed a lot when you work at sea because you're always nicking this and banging that against something.

quote:

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Welcome back. Bet you saw some cool storms at sea. Take any photographs?

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Oh yeah! We got some 50 knot winds in the gulf of honduras. The pressure snapped the lines securing our starboard crane which swung around enough to knock our top zodiac (inflatable, fiberglass bottomed landing craft) off it's cradle and nearly overboard. Nothing like hanging off the side of the ship in that kind of weather trying to secure that mess

quote:

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Our department is using the new Scott NXG2. It's super-light, with a composite bottle. It's also 4500 psi instead of 2216, so we can get 45 minutes to an hour of air. It's a big improvement over the Scott 2.2.

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We used those as well. They're really not bad at all, especially if you control your breathing.

I'll hop on here when we come to your area MLoR. Drink beer?

Good to see you, Captain Asshat.

Peggy's Cove is beautiful. Take pics.

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
We used those as well. They're really not bad at all, especially if you control your breathing.

I'll hop on here when we come to your area MLoR. Drink beer?

---

Heh, I can hold my liquor...

quote:

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Originally posted by Captain Asshat:
Howdy people!

I survived my drunken sailing adventure in Central America and made it back to the states for my coast guard (merchant marine) training.

I fought my first real fire today with the St Louis fire department and wow.. what a blast! It was a pretty nasty alpha fire that engulfed most of the bottom floor of the building. Crawling on the floor, the temperature was around 200 degrees and rose to 800+ degrees in a standing position, though I didn't stand up obviously.

I'll be certified soon and heading back to my ship. We're sailing the east coast for awhile on our way to Canada/Greenland, so look for me in Nova Scotia soon.

Your drunken Guatemalan prostitute loving,

Captain Asshat


PS: When I ran into the inferno, I was thinking murder suicide the whole time.

---

just make sure you dont stand up, eh?

quote:

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Originally posted by MomentaryLapseOfReason:
Heh, I can hold my liquor...

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Good deal.

I'll be back on here to let you know where we're pulling into. If it's nearby, we should get some drinks man.

I'm drunk as all shit for St Paddy's and flying back to my ship tomorrow. Thanks for the good words all and I'll be back when I can.

quote:

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Originally posted by psychotikan:
Damn I fucking hate Scott Air Packs. "Here, fight this fire with a bigass tank of oxygen on your back." Great fucking idea...

---

It's not pure oxgen it's only compressed air. Besides the fact that without it you would die of smoke inhalation. I'm a volunteer in a suburban CT town and we have shitty wicked old heavy ass Interspiro packs. I got to try one of those new Scott packs they are fucking sweet. A guy who lives near me is an officer in the Army fire fighting service (i don't know the official title) and he was showing it to me one night at drill.