A different sort of alarm clock

25Jul04 20:30

It was bad enough getting my lunch interrupted the other day, but waking me up at 5AM was a little rude.  Dead asleep to wide awake and reaching for my pants before I realized what had even woken me up.  I realized as I was pulling on my pants that what had woken me up was an explosion in the distance.  Don't ask me how I came to this conclusion, I don't really know, but I knew that it wasn't a hit on the base.  Figuring the bad guys had once again decided to blow something up in Tikrit, I decided to go back to sleep.  About fifteen minutes later there was a second explosion, this one louder, but still off base.  The military came over the radio and confirmed that the explosions were off site and that we didn't have to go to the bunkers. 

Well I'm awake so I might as well get dressed in case they decide to do something else.  I've always believed in keeping clothes near the bed in case I had to run out in the middle of the night, but this is a little different.  A little history here- one of the things that I've noticed on almost every night time fire call I've been on is that the people who fled the building did so without their clothes; they ran out with whatever they were wearing while they were sleeping.  While this is only an embarrassment when it 's warm weather, it's much more critical when it's cold outside.  For that reason, I've always tried to keep a pair of pants and a weather appropriate shirt near my bed along with some type of shoes (and a fire extinguisher).  Back to how this relates to our story: I keep my pants from the day before on my desk chair, I sleep with at least a T shirt on, and my socks sit on the toes of my unzipped boots.  My pants have my ID and important papers in the pockets along with my omnipresent bandana; my Benchmade folder is clipped to the right pocket; the belt holds a pouch with my Leatherman Wave, flashlight (with red filter), and a Sharpie pen; a second pouch holds a Gerber folding Applegate Fairbairn knife (a large folder). 

I finish reading my Cycle World magazine and then take a shower and redress.  More studying, a few coughing patients, drive around looking for safety concerns, another successful day.  We had a band play tonight at the D-Fac.  They're a military group that played rock covers.  We sat through a few numbers while eating our dinner, but it really wasn't anything we wanted to hear.  We feel bad about leaving when they took the time to come play, but they're active duty and stationed in Iraq. 

Talked to Tim for a half hour last night.
Talked to Cindy today- the house is finally closed. 
Talked to Sean and Christie- hey guys.  
I got a package from Amazon.com today- Physician Assistant's Clinical Companion, Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine, and Corporate Warriors.  Light reading.
E-mailed Hotdog Rob
E-mailed Pipedreams
E-mailed Sean
E-mailed Eric
E-mailed Kirsten

Wow, what a full day.