E- Not exactly the requisite F 150

I have had a little over a week since getting my offer of employment to adapt to my new status. After a couple of years of the same thing, it's kind of weird to not be constantly thinking "what next?". Well actually, there will always be a part of me that thinks this way........but now I now have some freedom to focus on something other than the ever-frustrating fire department hiring process.

For 15 years I had one pretty strong goal that I focused on every day- to become the best basketball player I could be. While not claiming to be the best player in the world, I am proud of where I ended up considering where I started at the end of high school. Before the basketball goal even ended, I had moved on to the next one- to get hired as a fire fighter. Obviously I will now move much of this focus into being the best fire fighter I can. However, I am guessing that I will still have more time and energy left for other things than I did the last couple of years, and I am excited by that.

I have no doubt that my job as a fire fighter will be great for the family. After 2 day shifts followed by two nights, I will have 4 days off. Also, for the first time, probably ever in my life, I will have paid holidays. Having worked in lower paying, no benefit, temporary positions over the last couple of years, I really appreciate how lucky I am to have this time off. I am excited about getting to do some trips with the family as well as taking some time to hang out and do nothing.

Knowing me though, I won't be doing nothing too long. I would like to get back into teaching/coaching basketball again if the right opportunity becomes available. I have a few financial/investing goals I would like to devote more time to as well. For now however, I am happy to finish up my current job and get ready to get my ass kicked on the fire training ground. I expect a particularly tough initial few weeks of work.

Part of my preparation involves getting a new car. The only thing I felt was a real downside to taking the Delta job will be the commute. We definitely need a second car on which I will put a decent number of kilometres per year. It bothers me a little that I can't go to work without spewing a bunch of CO2 into the atmosphere, so I am looking for ways to reduce my impact. An electric car would be perfect but that won't happen for a few years. I have been looking at the option to get a diesel car that has been converted to run on waste oil. This basically makes the car carbon neutral...which I feel good about....but involves a lot of unknowns and potential problems for the car....not so good given my knowledge of engines. I have been looking at making an offer on this Mercedes but feel the price is a bit high and I don't know enough about conversions to spend this type of money. If anyone reading this blog knows anything about this, or has any good car suggestions, please let me know.