Domes or Sometimes I feel like Noah
Hurricane Andrew
My Dad moved us to Miami (Coral Gables) in 1953 from Dayton Ohio. Back then South Florida was a completely different world or it seemed that was to a 5 yr old. Dad had the idea of opening an ice cream store and did so in West Miami just west of the football stadium and drive in movie, Coral Way and 72nd Ave as I remember. Our house was on 22nd Street 7439 SW I do believe. Dad was a man of vision and was always thinking of ways to support his family. Once Royal Castle moved into the area with 5 cent birch beer and 15 cent hamburgers plus ice cream his ice cream business went bad.
I start this hub from back to 1953 because all the little incidental fragments of life at some point came together and like a puzzle I began to see the Big Picture of what the rest of my life would be, a goal.
As I said my Dad was a innovative man but when he should have considered investing with Harry Huizenga he didn't and life went on. I should have a sky box at Miami Dolphin stadium. So everything happens for a reason, most likely if Dad had invested in Waste Management the path I am on would never had been found. Instead of becoming a Firefighter I wouid have become the Bad Boy of Miami, that was my persona in those days. I remember drinking and dancing at the Happy Hour Big Daddys in Coral Gables until 3 am then my buddy Hector and I would drive to North Miami where a band played until 9 am or so and this was all done with little to no money. I can only imagine what my life would be like if Dad had made us into Millionares.
Fast Forward to being discharged from the Air Force and getting Back to Miami as the old Miami Rocker song goes. After spending several years on the GI bill for education I applied to the Metro Dade Fire Dept. At Dad's dump firefighters would come in and look for stuff to recycle 2X4 s were a hot item, they all had second jobs such as contruction. They would tell me that working 24 hours off 48 hours allowed a person to still maintain a second endeavor. So Miami Dade was hiring 150 recruits I took the test and place 54 out of 500 that took the test and PARTIED! Then came the news of minority hiring and that people placing 200 or more on this list would be hired the rest of us were out, Life goes on.
So now back to college FAU on the GI bill thinking Mass Communication is the life for me. What I found was that the campus had a Ratskeller and drinking beer between classes did not mix. But then a notice that Miami Dade by a suit being filed was going to allow all the test takers that took the test I did to go through Fire College, I jumped at the opportunity. Now one of the first test an applicant must accomplish back then in 1976 was to perform some physical activities to see if you have the body to be a firefighter. One such activity was the high jump of 3 feet. For me this did not seem like much and went with the scissor jump technique. What I did not take in consideration was the dew on the grass we would be landing on. Once I cleared the bar my left knee slipped on that slippery grass and dislocated the knee from its socket. So here I lay with a bunch of guys looking down at my distorted leg ready to call an ambulance, there were no rescue units back then, somehow I felt the guidance to pop my knee back into place and a couple of the recruits were discharged Viet Nam vets and got an ace bandage to tightly wrap the knee. The very next task was standing broad jump then came the picking up of a golf ball while standing upright. Guess the pain and swelling hadn't set in yet because I finished all the task. Did get hired but the mile run on a swollen knee was extreme and since I ofter could not do it within the time limit had to do the run again after class.
So now I did get hired and for 18 years it was the normal routine of Firefighting and Rescues until Hurricane Andrew struck. Will continue this Hub and how Hurricane Andrew was the catalyst to me developing the SafeDome, the 8 ton transportable monolithic concrete dome shed capable of saving your life. Where will you go when the wind blows?
Let me know if I should keep writing or not and visit my YouTube buck3647
and my web site www.SafeDomes.com
This is the site that will bring you up to speed on my goal of saving the Planet Earth one persona at a time. Thanks to Hurricane Andrew
