I spent the weekend down in the Guadalupe Mountains participating in a cave rescue class taught by Tom Bemis of the NPS. I really enjoy cave rescue; rigging a haul system is a great logistical problem and it reaffirms my love of rope. You can do anything with rope.

My old roommate Alex got me interested in rope. He was a sailor and knew the value of knowing how to manipulate "line" to achieve... anything while at sea. He introduced me to the Ashley Book of Knots and taught me how to tie the monkey's fist. I taught a few people at the cave rescue the monkey's fist and it was a hit.

Let's see... what else is new. I got my AED certification, so now I am licensed to use an automatic defribulator on lab property. This, combined with my CPR recertification a few weeks ago should make me ready for going along as third-rider in an ambulence. My friend Mark is an EMT and invited me to come along on some calls sometime soon. It seems exciting to me. I feel like I don't have time to be a real EMT like Mark, but I'd like to have the skills in case I'm the first-responder in an accident.

Speaking of which, last night there was a freak sandstorm near Roswell as Carrie and I were driving back from the cave. The winds were, I estimate, above 100mph and there was no visibility as the air was absolutely full of orange sand. It was blowing signs down and ripping trees apart in town as we drove through. About 10 miles north of Roswell we came across a very fresh accident involving two cars and a semi. Had we not stopped at DQ in Roswell, we probably would have been right there as it happened. However, as we arrived about 10 minutes after the fact, there were already plenty of emergency personnel on site. I sat around talking to a guy who was an ER doctor at the Roswell hospital who also drove out when he heard about the accident but was not needed.

Doctors, by the way, are such cool people. They're pretty much guaranteed to be smart and have a genuine interest in being nice and helping people. I really enjoyed talking to this guy. I did not, however, enjoy the fact that they closed the highway for a couple hours while we had to wait. We just sat there in the middle of the highway and chatted while the firemen in their nomex pants and the EMTs went about removing the injured from the scene.