My blog roster

I prefer to write about things that are funny or absurd, and the earthquake in Haiti is neither of those . . . but it happened and I can't ignore it. Scientists have apparently been warning for years that an earthquake was coming to that area, but being warned is useless unless you have the resources to prepare. Kind of like being tied to the railroad tracks then being told, "There's a train coming!" The Red Cross is among those sending aid. You can click here for information on helping out.

When I started this blogging escapade in April (yes, I'm still a rookie blogger) I began hunting for other blogs that turn my crank. With all the gazillions of bloggers orbiting in cyberspace, I thought it should be easy to ride the Google spaceship to other galaxies and find lots of nutty firefighters that liked to laugh at the world and at themselves, but it didn't prove to be so. I had to widen my horizon, but even then, it has taken me this long to add a half a dozen sites to my blog roster. Here they are, along with my opinion about each, for what it's worth.

Gerry's Oakville Blog
If you like a tangled hockey/humour mix, you might enjoy this one. Gerry isn't slapstick hilarious, but offers plenty of honest, homegrown Canadian wit. The only relation this blogger has to firefighting is that he is my Fire and EMS Quarterly editor's husband. Gerry gets first mention because he was the first blog that I started following, and he is very consistent. He also took the time to share some helpful hints to help me get started.

Switch 2 Plan B
If you've been reading my stuff, you know that this is my most recent addition to the blog roster. Brian is a firefighter (much more than I'll likely ever be), is not too wordy, and definitely likes to laugh at the world and himself. My kind of blogger for sure.


That's Church
I stumbled across Virginia Montanez's blog last summer when she made headline news by losing her job because of her blog. She had been writing incognito as Pittgirl, and taking sarcastic aim at pigeons, politicians, and anyone else caught in the crossfire. When she went public, she was fired from her day job. That's Church quickly became my favourite blog, even though I don't understand half of what she's talking about because her theme is Pittsburgh, which is light years away from hillbilly Upsala. If you are afraid of raucous irreverence, this is not the blog for you. She is passionate, nutty, and often hilariously funny. May you write on for many years Virginia.

Note: Virginia is working right now to get help for some friends that run an orphanage in Haiti and are in a desperate, life-threatening situation. One advantage to being a hugely successful blogger, is that you can get a personal message out to thousands of people, and possibly move immovable mountains. She's moved more than one in the past, and I hope and pray she can move this one too. That's Church.

Generation Y
My following Yoani Sanchez's blog is proof that I'm not a total, superficial goof. She's a Cuban on a mission to tell the world about the darker side of repression in her island paradise. Humour and tyranny both capture my attention, in a yin/yang kind of way. Generation Y is the dark side of the equation. Yoani has been beaten, harassed, threatened, and banned from travelling . . . all for speaking her mind.

Dave's Political Satire
There should be lots of good satire out there with all the goofy politics that deluge the world daily, but this is the only one I've found so far that I like. Again, not slapstick funny, but definitely a good read. He doesn't post often, but it's usually good when he does.

Woppy Jawed
Retired Chief Richard Gasaway is the first firefighter blog that I found. His first post was a little funny, so I started following him. Subsequent posts were thoughtful, if not humourous, and I've kept him on the list. He doesn't post very often either.

So that's it. I'm still on the lookout for more, but as you may have gathered, I am fussy about my reading.

I have another Mutual Aid meeting tomorrow. You can read my views on Mutual Aid meetings here and here.