"Ohmygod, what is that?"
"Ewwwww.... gross! I thought I got away from those!"
"It looks like a centipede! ... Do you mind if I kill it?"
"By all means, kill it. I don't care."
Such was the conversation one of my suitmates and I held at 08:45 this morning, after she made an all too gross discovery. Apparently, our dorm has become a home to house centipedes... nasty little creatures with way too many legs and a creepy-crawly walk. The strange thing about it is, despite the fact that yes, we do have a lot of stuff in a small area, we're actually very clean. It's not like any of us live in pig sties or something like that.
As my suitmate danced around in the area right in front of the bathroom, I couldn't help but to be slightly amused once more. We used to get those all the time at the pool, and I kid you not, I did the exact same thing, only on a guard stand. It usually started with Jimmy putting umbrella's up behind me, the bug falling on my stand and me screaming the ever typical comment.
"Ohmygod, gross!!! Jimmy, kill it!!"
Thus, Jimmy would walk over, laugh at my hysterical reaction to the small creature and proceed to flick it off the stand. Unfortunately, Jimmy was over 200 miles away from this creature, so he couldn't flick it away for my suitemate and I. Instead, my suitemate put on a brave face, grabbed a flip-flop and proceeded to crush the creature with it.
I think my suitemate said it best as we looked at the now dead but still gross creature post-mortem.
"I swear to God, if one of those things crawls on me when I'm sleeping, I'm going to scream fucking bloody murder."
Me too, Chica. Me too.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Did They Have These Problems????
Even though I'm back to school it seems like I can't get away from the pool. This time, though, my inability to leave it isn't work-related. Instead, it deals with where my class is located.
James Madison University was originally founded as an all-women college called The State Normal and Industrial School for Women in 1908. It was a small campus located in the Shenandoah Valley, tiny compared to what it is now. There were only roughly 13 buildings, all of which are still in use today (though all with renovations, while still keeping their original charm). Wilson Hall is the centerpiece of what is known today as The Quad, and if you look at it from there, you'll see Keezell Hall branching off to the right, and Maury Hall to the right. The hall we'll be focusing on today is Keezell.
Back when it first opened, Keezell Hall was the gym, complete with a large pool in the ground floor. Today, the gym is known as UREC, is located across campus (and across the interstate), and yes, it does have a pool. Keezell Hall has been renovated, and now serves as the home of the English and Foreign Language departments. My American Literature Post 1865 class is located in what was originally the well of the pool.
Upon hearing this, I was a little surprised; I'd never known there was a gym here before. However, upon surveying the room once more, it became all too evident to me that indeed this had been a swimming pool. Thus, I resigned myself to "another five months at the pool." As the teacher began her lecture, though, I found my thoughts drifting into a rather interesting direction... a direction I know all to well... a lifeguarding direction. I began thinking about pool chemistry, chlorine and pH. How did they regulate that back then? Did they have chlorine pumps like we have now? If so, how did they work?
While thinking about all of this, I couldn't help but to remember all the chlorine mishaps at Foxcroft. Did the pool here have the same problems as us? Or, maybe I should consider elaborating on what exactly a chlorine mishap is...
Commence Lifeguarding Flashback
It was a June morning when one of my guards, Melissa, and I were cleaning the hairstrainer. Everything had been going well- the pool was clean, the pressure wasn't too high and pool chemistry was perfect. Remaining optimistic, I put the basket in the hairstrainer, primed it, shut it and turned it on as Melissa walked out of the pump room. All of a sudden, a clear liquid starts shooting out of our return valve, and catches Melissa on her leg. She yelps, I yelp and we turn the pump off. Thus, I get the job of calling my supervisor and telling her what's going on.
Me: Hey, we've got a problem over here.
Supervisor: What's going on?
Me: Well, our return valve is shooting clear liquid at us everytime we turn the system on. It wasn't doing this until after we cleaned the hairstrainer.
My supervisor assures me that she'll be at the pool ASAP; leave the system off and run things as normal. Twenty minutes later, she shows up, and I show her what's going on. As soon as I turn off the pump, she gives me a look.
Supervisor: You don't smell that?
Me: Smell what?
Supervisor: That's chlorine spraying out of the tube.
As a lifeguard (and a history major with an interest in WWI) I'm well aware of the dangers of chlorine. It can give you a headache in small doses, knock you out with a large whiff, burn the lining of the lungs and your skin, and yes, it can kill you. All things considered, though, it's not nearly as dangerous as another chemical we have at the pool, muriatic acid, better known as hydrochloric acid (but that's another story for another day).
Immediately, the supervisor set to fixing out problem- the cracked feed tube. I left, and went through rotation. As I was sitting at the gate, my supervisor let me know she got the problem fixed. She leaves, and we continued running the pool. All day, though, we keep smelling chlorine near the pump room. Even I'm smelling it, and that's saying something. Finally, with a shirt over my nose, I go into the pump room and am astonished at what I see.
Chlorine bubbling from the same tube that was fixed earlier, just in a different spot. Sighing, I got and get my cellphone, once again calling my supervisor and letting her know what's up. She comes out and patches it with an all-mighty tool- duct tape. The seal holds (and has held since that day), and we leave at 8 when the pool closes.
Fast Forward 2 Months
I was running off of fumes when I unlocked the gate to the pool on a Friday morning, after attending a manager meeting at the other end of the county. The first thing I'm greeted with as I unlocked the snack shack was a large puddle of chocolate on the floor with ants all over it.
Me: Great. Shit.
Now, not only did I have to open the pool but I had to solve this mystery too. Somedays I hated my job.
Melissa came in, and we opened the pool, with both of us noticing a strong smell of chlorine again. This was weird. I checked all the barrels, the tube and the feed, and nothing was leaking. I decided it was from where I'd refilled the baby pool chlorinator with skimmer sticks earlier.
Two hours later, I finally discovered the source of the chocolate mystery. Our freezer hadn't been shut the entire way, and had slowly defrosted during the night, leaving all ice cream sandwiches to melt. Lovely. I got to clean it all up and move everything to the other freezer. As I was cleaning, I still noticed this chlorine smell. Once again, I checked the tubing, and found nothing wrong. Certainly I wasn't going insane- other lifeguards had mentioned it too. So, why couldn't I find the problem?
6 o'clock rolls around, and I happened to meander into the pump room to look for something. The overwhelming smell of chlorine hits me, and I look down to see the tubing that feeds into the return valve bubbling. Well, good to know that problem's solved. Now, how the hell do we fix it? We'd already cut the tubing once before when it decided to spew chlorine every where.
In the end, our other supervisor had to come fix it. It was patched quickly, though, and everything was Ok.
End Lifeguarding Flashback
So, now I find myself in yet another pool, albeit an emptied and renovated one for academic instead of professional reasons. It's a new place, and eventually, I'll get used to it (and the lack of windows). I don't like the room, and I don't really like the class. Despite it all, I know one thing. At least I won't have to worry about leaking chlorine tubes. :)
James Madison University was originally founded as an all-women college called The State Normal and Industrial School for Women in 1908. It was a small campus located in the Shenandoah Valley, tiny compared to what it is now. There were only roughly 13 buildings, all of which are still in use today (though all with renovations, while still keeping their original charm). Wilson Hall is the centerpiece of what is known today as The Quad, and if you look at it from there, you'll see Keezell Hall branching off to the right, and Maury Hall to the right. The hall we'll be focusing on today is Keezell.
Back when it first opened, Keezell Hall was the gym, complete with a large pool in the ground floor. Today, the gym is known as UREC, is located across campus (and across the interstate), and yes, it does have a pool. Keezell Hall has been renovated, and now serves as the home of the English and Foreign Language departments. My American Literature Post 1865 class is located in what was originally the well of the pool.
Upon hearing this, I was a little surprised; I'd never known there was a gym here before. However, upon surveying the room once more, it became all too evident to me that indeed this had been a swimming pool. Thus, I resigned myself to "another five months at the pool." As the teacher began her lecture, though, I found my thoughts drifting into a rather interesting direction... a direction I know all to well... a lifeguarding direction. I began thinking about pool chemistry, chlorine and pH. How did they regulate that back then? Did they have chlorine pumps like we have now? If so, how did they work?
While thinking about all of this, I couldn't help but to remember all the chlorine mishaps at Foxcroft. Did the pool here have the same problems as us? Or, maybe I should consider elaborating on what exactly a chlorine mishap is...
Commence Lifeguarding Flashback
It was a June morning when one of my guards, Melissa, and I were cleaning the hairstrainer. Everything had been going well- the pool was clean, the pressure wasn't too high and pool chemistry was perfect. Remaining optimistic, I put the basket in the hairstrainer, primed it, shut it and turned it on as Melissa walked out of the pump room. All of a sudden, a clear liquid starts shooting out of our return valve, and catches Melissa on her leg. She yelps, I yelp and we turn the pump off. Thus, I get the job of calling my supervisor and telling her what's going on.
Me: Hey, we've got a problem over here.
Supervisor: What's going on?
Me: Well, our return valve is shooting clear liquid at us everytime we turn the system on. It wasn't doing this until after we cleaned the hairstrainer.
My supervisor assures me that she'll be at the pool ASAP; leave the system off and run things as normal. Twenty minutes later, she shows up, and I show her what's going on. As soon as I turn off the pump, she gives me a look.
Supervisor: You don't smell that?
Me: Smell what?
Supervisor: That's chlorine spraying out of the tube.
As a lifeguard (and a history major with an interest in WWI) I'm well aware of the dangers of chlorine. It can give you a headache in small doses, knock you out with a large whiff, burn the lining of the lungs and your skin, and yes, it can kill you. All things considered, though, it's not nearly as dangerous as another chemical we have at the pool, muriatic acid, better known as hydrochloric acid (but that's another story for another day).
Immediately, the supervisor set to fixing out problem- the cracked feed tube. I left, and went through rotation. As I was sitting at the gate, my supervisor let me know she got the problem fixed. She leaves, and we continued running the pool. All day, though, we keep smelling chlorine near the pump room. Even I'm smelling it, and that's saying something. Finally, with a shirt over my nose, I go into the pump room and am astonished at what I see.
Chlorine bubbling from the same tube that was fixed earlier, just in a different spot. Sighing, I got and get my cellphone, once again calling my supervisor and letting her know what's up. She comes out and patches it with an all-mighty tool- duct tape. The seal holds (and has held since that day), and we leave at 8 when the pool closes.
Fast Forward 2 Months
I was running off of fumes when I unlocked the gate to the pool on a Friday morning, after attending a manager meeting at the other end of the county. The first thing I'm greeted with as I unlocked the snack shack was a large puddle of chocolate on the floor with ants all over it.
Me: Great. Shit.
Now, not only did I have to open the pool but I had to solve this mystery too. Somedays I hated my job.
Melissa came in, and we opened the pool, with both of us noticing a strong smell of chlorine again. This was weird. I checked all the barrels, the tube and the feed, and nothing was leaking. I decided it was from where I'd refilled the baby pool chlorinator with skimmer sticks earlier.
Two hours later, I finally discovered the source of the chocolate mystery. Our freezer hadn't been shut the entire way, and had slowly defrosted during the night, leaving all ice cream sandwiches to melt. Lovely. I got to clean it all up and move everything to the other freezer. As I was cleaning, I still noticed this chlorine smell. Once again, I checked the tubing, and found nothing wrong. Certainly I wasn't going insane- other lifeguards had mentioned it too. So, why couldn't I find the problem?
6 o'clock rolls around, and I happened to meander into the pump room to look for something. The overwhelming smell of chlorine hits me, and I look down to see the tubing that feeds into the return valve bubbling. Well, good to know that problem's solved. Now, how the hell do we fix it? We'd already cut the tubing once before when it decided to spew chlorine every where.
In the end, our other supervisor had to come fix it. It was patched quickly, though, and everything was Ok.
End Lifeguarding Flashback
So, now I find myself in yet another pool, albeit an emptied and renovated one for academic instead of professional reasons. It's a new place, and eventually, I'll get used to it (and the lack of windows). I don't like the room, and I don't really like the class. Despite it all, I know one thing. At least I won't have to worry about leaking chlorine tubes. :)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Politcal Heatwave
Thunderstorms have been rolling across the nation recently, and I'm not talking about the weather. It seems that like the temperatures down here in the South, the heat around politics has been rising, and not for the better. With all the debating that's been going on, it seems like now's yet another point in time where it's important to know where you stand in regards to your beliefs. With that thought in mind, I'm going to attempt to do so... to state my political beliefs on a a few topics that I personally think are important (in no particular order).
Universal Health Care
No. No no no no no. My parents work hard, and they deserve the benefits that their companies offer them. They don't take advantage of them, and in my opinion, considering how long they've both been with their respective employers, they deserve their health care benefits. And I plan to work hard and also get a job that offers benefits as well. Why should I have to lower my health care standards for someone else who's unwilling to work and earn health care benefits? Even more, why should the average citizens like my family and I be forced to give up our health care for something substandard while all the government officials get to keep theirs? That's not right, and we all know that. Listen to the people- we don't want this. Don't you government officials dare force us into something that we've spoken out against. And don't you dare attempt to make a hasty decision in regards to this.
Illegal Immigration
How can we afford to offer all these corporate bailouts and stimulus checks but not afford to build a fence across our southern border and keep it maintained and patrolled? Stop the amnesties. Send the illegal immigrants back to wherever they came from. I'm not being racist- when they obtain the proper documents, can effectively communicate in English and actually legally cross the borders, then we can let them stay. Until then, though, they need to stay in their own countries, and we need to keep them there. Close the borders, fill in all the holes. With our economic state right now, we cannot afford to have them here.
Education
Federal government: butt out. Let the states decide how they want to run their education systems. And stop blackmailing the state education systems with this No Child Left Behind bullshit. From what I've seen, it's not really helping anyone. If anything, it's probably hindering more schools. Federal funding for test scores? What the hell kind of system is that? There've already been cases of school districts sending in fraudulent test scores- do you really think that's going to stop? No. It's not. So get your greasy paws off the education systems.
Redistribution of Wealth
Get rid of it. Right now. Personally, this is a crime in and of itself, and I call it stealing. I work hard for my money. I went out and found a steady job. Why should I have to give up my hard-earned cash to some Joe Schmoe who's unwilling to get up off his butt and get a job? You didn't work for this cash, therefore you don't deserve it. Want your share? Get a job. Then we can talk.
US Troops in Iraq
Don't get me wrong- I'm all for bringing our boys home. I've got plenty of family and friends in the military, and I'd hate to see any of them get killed. The fact of the matter is we helped instigate this current situation in Iraq. Therefore, we should help resolve it. It's our responsibility. We cannot leave that country hanging. If anything, that'll make even more nations dislike us. We've got enough enemies out there as it is. We don't need anymore.
Corporate Bailouts
Stop them. Why are you giving money to the companies that put us in our current economic problems? They don't deserve the bail outs. Why don't you focus on putting that money to better uses, like paying off the huge deficit that we have instead of creating even more of one?
Those are just some brief beliefs and observations that I've come up with. Those are my opinions. While they probably aren't thought out as well as they could be, they're better than some beliefs I've heard. Please don't bash or flame them.
I really do urge everyone to sit down and think for a little bit. Figure out your political beliefs. Perhaps it could help cool this political heat wave down some.
Universal Health Care
No. No no no no no. My parents work hard, and they deserve the benefits that their companies offer them. They don't take advantage of them, and in my opinion, considering how long they've both been with their respective employers, they deserve their health care benefits. And I plan to work hard and also get a job that offers benefits as well. Why should I have to lower my health care standards for someone else who's unwilling to work and earn health care benefits? Even more, why should the average citizens like my family and I be forced to give up our health care for something substandard while all the government officials get to keep theirs? That's not right, and we all know that. Listen to the people- we don't want this. Don't you government officials dare force us into something that we've spoken out against. And don't you dare attempt to make a hasty decision in regards to this.
Illegal Immigration
How can we afford to offer all these corporate bailouts and stimulus checks but not afford to build a fence across our southern border and keep it maintained and patrolled? Stop the amnesties. Send the illegal immigrants back to wherever they came from. I'm not being racist- when they obtain the proper documents, can effectively communicate in English and actually legally cross the borders, then we can let them stay. Until then, though, they need to stay in their own countries, and we need to keep them there. Close the borders, fill in all the holes. With our economic state right now, we cannot afford to have them here.
Education
Federal government: butt out. Let the states decide how they want to run their education systems. And stop blackmailing the state education systems with this No Child Left Behind bullshit. From what I've seen, it's not really helping anyone. If anything, it's probably hindering more schools. Federal funding for test scores? What the hell kind of system is that? There've already been cases of school districts sending in fraudulent test scores- do you really think that's going to stop? No. It's not. So get your greasy paws off the education systems.
Redistribution of Wealth
Get rid of it. Right now. Personally, this is a crime in and of itself, and I call it stealing. I work hard for my money. I went out and found a steady job. Why should I have to give up my hard-earned cash to some Joe Schmoe who's unwilling to get up off his butt and get a job? You didn't work for this cash, therefore you don't deserve it. Want your share? Get a job. Then we can talk.
US Troops in Iraq
Don't get me wrong- I'm all for bringing our boys home. I've got plenty of family and friends in the military, and I'd hate to see any of them get killed. The fact of the matter is we helped instigate this current situation in Iraq. Therefore, we should help resolve it. It's our responsibility. We cannot leave that country hanging. If anything, that'll make even more nations dislike us. We've got enough enemies out there as it is. We don't need anymore.
Corporate Bailouts
Stop them. Why are you giving money to the companies that put us in our current economic problems? They don't deserve the bail outs. Why don't you focus on putting that money to better uses, like paying off the huge deficit that we have instead of creating even more of one?
Those are just some brief beliefs and observations that I've come up with. Those are my opinions. While they probably aren't thought out as well as they could be, they're better than some beliefs I've heard. Please don't bash or flame them.
I really do urge everyone to sit down and think for a little bit. Figure out your political beliefs. Perhaps it could help cool this political heat wave down some.
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