Find your passion early

[Mikebits]

For some people, they wonder aimlessly through life never being happy. For others it takes awhile to find a job you love. For me it took quite some time to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up. Sure I worked as an engineer and the pay was quite good but I was just not really that happy. It was just a job for me, not a passion.After half a century I began a quest, to find my passion. I spent 3 years taking a myriad of classes in college in hopes of finding something that sparked an interest. Well some 70 semester units later I think I managed to find my calling. I took an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) class and now I am in the US forest service wildland fire academy. I have lost 20 pounds, my arm size has increased and I feel great. I love this stuff. Everyone in my academy is dedicated and a great bunch of guys, each guy looks out for the guy next to him, kinda like the military. All I can say is I wish I had done this 30 years ago. Bottom line, find a job you love when you are young. I thought I would share a few pics from my academy. Oh! by the way, the backpacks have 25 pounds of sand in them.

 

[ericgibbs]

Nicely done Mike.

On the press ups pix, are you the 4th guy from the left....

Ref your earlier PM.

Regards

 

[bryan1]

Good one Mike,
Yea hopefully I'm also in for a big career change in the next week too. Can't say too much yet but my take home pay will be X4 what I normally earn.

Cheers Bryan

 

[Mikebits]

Nicely done Mike.

On the press ups pix, are you the 4th guy from the left....

Ref your earlier PM.

Regards

Hehe, nah that was another squad who got in trouble, I was not there. I am in the last pic behind the nozzle man, we had to run with the hose in front of the fire truck as it was moving. Really back breaking work, no brains involved but I love it....

 

[Mikebits]

Good one Mike,
Yea hopefully I'm also in for a big career change in the next week too. Can't say too much yet but my take home pay will be X4 what I normally earn.

Cheers Bryan

For me, this job will be a big pay cut, but I think I will look forward to work more than before. Congrats on the new job.

 

[BrownOut]

Nicely done Mike.

On the press ups pix, are you the 4th guy from the left....

Regards

He's the guy hiding behind the truck

 

[Sceadwian]

Pay doesn't mean anything if you're unhappy at your job. Glad things are working out for ya Mike, must be nice getting paid for something you like doing. I don't have the body type that would allow me to do that kind of work. I have a good power to weight ratio, the weight is just REALLY low =) I haven't quiet found my passion as far as what I'm doing for work, but I learn something new every day, machine shops can be a very dynamic workplace and still physically demanding enough (I like actually performing WORK) I don't think I could ever handle a pure desk job.

 

[tcmtech]

Nice! If I ever need a parking lot watered down by guys with sand in their pockets I definitely know who to call!

On the more serious side I have a lot of respect for the people who do the EMT and other rescue service jobs. Nice going!


I found my passions early in life too. Unfortunately they are sitting around and doing nothing so I had to fall back on the #3 and 4 things. Fixing things and designing stuff.

 

[Mikebits]

Well, just thought I would update you on my academy progress, we just completed week 9 of 12 so almost made it, whew... 3 weeks to go but next weekend is being called hell week, I guess we are in for a real ball buster. Anyways, this last weekend we had our training in the actual terrain we will be working in, it was an overnight camp out followed by 8 hours of intensive drills, boy was I tired at the end of the day. Packing around 20 pounds of sand plus water really starts to hurt the back after a full day of work. I thought I would share some photos from my weekend of fun.

The first 3 photos are what we call a progressive hose lay it may look easy but running up steep terrain with 900 feet of hose filled with water is quite challenging.

The next photo with the green bags is a simulated fire shelter drill, actual fire shelters are made of aluminum foil to reflect heat, they are used as a last resort if you are overrun by fire. We had to boogie up a hill, exhausted we had to deploy our shelters and get inside.May sound easy but try breathing your own air in hot weather for 20 mins.

Final pic is what we call a mobile attack, probably the toughest of all our drills thus far, we have to run in front of the engine laying down water all on tough terrain.
It was a grueling weekend but hell week is supposed to make this one seem like a picnic. Almost done...

Almost forgot to mention, in the fire shelter drill, the guy in the red helmet is one of the instructors, a real impressive fellow, he is like a ninja jedi Navy seal of firefighters. He is a member of the helitack crew. What they do is repel out of helicopters into the fire, very dangerous and you have to be the best of the best.

 

[InventionUnlimited]

Pay doesn't mean anything if you're unhappy at your job.

That is so true. I am in my early 30's , and just starting to find what im really interested in. Wed/Thu this week I find out if I have my 'Ideal' job. Big pay cut, but oh the new toys I will get to play with

 

[Sceadwian]

Mike, I dunno what you're talking about! Nothing you're doing there looks even slightly easy =)

 

[Mikebits]

Mike, I dunno what you're talking about! Nothing you're doing there looks even slightly easy =)

Thanks for noticing and your right, none of it has been easy, on the hose lay drill I was nozzle man for the first 2 runs of hose up the hill, after that I had to tell the instructor to switch me out as I was spent. Oh, and about your comment about body build, I am a small guy I was 160 pounds now down to 140, and we have a female in our class who is very petite and she is hangin in there... So size is not an issue, it is the willingness to push oneself beyond pain.

 

[Sceadwian]

I've been working out on my house, I've lost and inch and a half off my waste, and I went from 140 to 125 or so, I know where you're coming from => Between knocking down some trees renovating the entire first floors floor's patching and painting the entire place, I got my weekends full for the next 6 months or so.

 

[Mikebits]

I've been working out on my house, I've lost and inch and a half off my waste, and I went from 140 to 125 or so, I know where you're coming from => Between knocking down some trees renovating the entire first floors floor's patching and painting the entire place, I got my weekends full for the next 6 months or so.

Congrats on the new house, I am sure that is a great feeling getting new place. I would like to get a new place but housing market here sucks right now and selling a condo is a bit of a task so I will most likely be in my current residence for awhile.

 

[Sceadwian]

It's definitely a buyers market Mike. If the housing market weren't in the weird state it's in now we probably wouldn't have been able to afford the house we got. But we're in the door and that's what we needed.

 

[BrownOut]

Just bought my 3rd house. It's a major fixer-upper. So y'all know what I'm going to be doing all year.

 

[Sceadwian]

Ours isn't a major fixer upper, just a lot of minor fixing upping =) And then there will be the 'home improvement' list that will start as soon as the 'home need to get it done before we move in' list runs out =)

 

[Mikebits]

Ours isn't a major fixer upper, just a lot of minor fixing upping =) And then there will be the 'home improvement' list that will start as soon as the 'home need to get it done before we move in' list runs out =)

Home Depot is your friend

 

[Sceadwian]

Just NEVER listen to their advice, a 'that'll work fine' recommendation cost me a day and a half of bust my ass work. I'll never trust anything anyone at HD says again at face value. It's just a store to buy stuff at now.

 

[ben7]

For some people, they wonder aimlessly through life never being happy. For others it takes awhile to find a job you love. For me it took quite some time to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up. Sure I worked as an engineer and the pay was quite good but I was just not really that happy. It was just a job for me, not a passion.After half a century I began a quest, to find my passion. I spent 3 years taking a myriad of classes in college in hopes of finding something that sparked an interest. Well some 70 semester units later I think I managed to find my calling. I took an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) class and now I am in the US forest service wildland fire academy. I have lost 20 pounds, my arm size has increased and I feel great. I love this stuff. Everyone in my academy is dedicated and a great bunch of guys, each guy looks out for the guy next to him, kinda like the military. All I can say is I wish I had done this 30 years ago. Bottom line, find a job you love when you are young. I thought I would share a few pics from my academy. Oh! by the way, the backpacks have 25 pounds of sand in them.

Ah cool so you are a firefighter sort-of?

My dad is a firefighter so I get to see all the equipment, etc...
Of course the darn township is low on money so they closed down the almost 100 year old firehouse that he worked at, but luckily he was moved to a different one. He will be retiring soon too.

I already have some ideas as to what I would like to do

-Ben