WAY TO GO BIG "C" !!!!!!

[Lt 46]

Congratulations Tom on your new promotion/job. Thats quite an accomplishment to go from GS-6 to a GS-13 ! Be proud that your are a self made man, that you earned it, and nothing was handed to you. Your motivation and dedication has paid off. Never forget us here in Annapolis.

Good luck !

LT 46.

[PUMPER 46]

Hey Tom, didn't know the National Zoo was so hard up. You gonna be a GS13
sanitation engineer? Policing after the animals.

Just Kidding Tom. If we all didn't have a sense of humor in the fire service, we would all be doomed. On a serious note Tom, I wish you the best of luck in your new job.

Just remember, you need to ask Eddie if he just wants cream, or both cream and sugar in his coffee!

See Ya big man, don't be no stranger!

Stay safe,

Pumper 46!

[firestrike]

"Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen Part 1”[I]

Well it has been a long, sometimes rewarding, sometimes disappointing and sometimes a strange 16 year journey for me at the “YARD.” But it is time for me to move onward and hopefully in time further upward. I am going to miss being around the station and I will especially miss “Da Guyz,” but as you already know my life is moving in other directions that have been overdue for quite some time. To say I am going to miss everyone that has worked here is an understatement, but for most of you I will (especially Owen also known as Stroker Tres, LOL.) It is a real shame to see this place going downhill as badly as it has since the CNI consolidation. When we went down to the briefing about the CNI at Alumni Hall and that idiot Kelm put up that nuclear matrix we should have realized then that regionalization was going to be as F’ed up as that matrix was. Now in forethought that was the actual model that they were basing this regionalization on and it has gone exactly the way they pictured it. Never having a clue about what is happening now or what is next can be very disturbing and is not conducive to a good work environment. Working under the direction of the CNI and NDWFD is like being part off a dysfunctional family who has an (odd) uncle who takes pleasure in sexually abusing you every Christmas.

Another thought concerning this fire department is that there is a “dark cloud” over this place, it always had, and may always will. It wasn’t too great prior to the CNI, but it has truly turned for the worst. The truly sad part is that I do not see it getting any better, and in the past I have been right or numerous occasions about the future direction of this FD. Remember one important thing, money makes the world go around and this place is barely rotating on its axis. A word to you younger guys, get your certifications, education and anything else that you can put onto a resume and start looking elsewhere. Sooner than later they are coming to yank that back engine at No. #1 station. Wait till they get the 0081 upgrade salary figures and the cost that the upgrades are going to require and watch what happens.

In the past here I have worked with some great people which I will name in later post. And as great as these people have been I have also worked for and with some of the slimiest, no-good, scumbag, chickensh!ts I have ever seen in my time in the fire service or the workforce. This includes my military, police, volly and career fire service time. I will address these folks later as well. I would like to personally thank some of those who have helped me along the way to the DIA. They are A/C Darrel Jackson, A/C Douglas Howard, Captains Mark Montgomery and Robert Utz. To you all I say “Thanks” to a bunch of great guys and fellow firefighters who will be greatly missed by me.

I would also like to thank A/C William Holzberger who worked with me to make this a smooth transition period.

[firestrike]

Hey Tom, didn't know the National Zoo was so hard up. You gonna be a GS13
sanitation engineer? Policing after the animals.

I would scoop up gorilla sh!t for a GG 13 salary. Where is that pooper scooper and get outta my way.

Just remember, you need to ask Eddie if he just wants cream, or both cream and sugar in his coffee!

And your point is? As the new Director for Continuity of Operations and Emeregency Management, I take both cream and sugar, thank you.

[Lt 46]

Pumper 46 tells us if you can get him an 8 or 9, that he'll come uptown to be your personal office boy (page). He will bring your coffee, your slippers, fetch your newspaper, or do whatever the pages usually do! Do us all a favor here at Annapolis and take this guy with you!

Live Large my man!

Lt 46

[firestrike]

I would like to say to LT.46 thanks for the compliment in your post. You are correct about me and what it took... I can take immense pride in saying that I never had to stab someone in the back or walk all over other firefighters to get to where I have been and where I am going which is more than a lot of others can say. While things (promotions) never went my way I was never pissed off at the guy who made the promo, instead I took it out on the one’s making the selection. Why slam the guy who got promoted, should he remove his name from the cert or turn down the promotion? Some of you never realized that I put up the long good fight and have prevailed against overwhelming odds. Prevailed against what I refer to as the dark side of the force (management) who never supported me on anything especially promotions which I was 1 for 19 (and Fenni is crying over 1 for 9, someone get the guy a towel for that spilled milk, please…) and basically F’ed me at every angle and at every chance that they got. Why? Don’t really know that answer, maybe I wasn’t a member of the right volley company or that I didn’t deliver home heating oil for SMO?. You are correct when you say I earned it because nothing was ever given to me. The figure I came up with was something like $15.00 a year they spent on the training that I received after nearly 17 years of employment. Then they came up with the excuse of not having enough budget money once I proved that I was entitled funding for college level studies. Lame, lame, lame…

I have always felt it is better to carve my own path through the muck than to have someone else do it for me. In this case I carved myself out of the muck. It is true that I was highly motivated towards getting my certs and education as were some others within the department. I remember the comments about me wasting my time and what was I doing that for. Well now you know. My primary reason for this was to shove it in their faces every chance that I could get and I did with varying degrees of success. Secondly, either to advance within the department or to impress someone outside the department. The later prevailed. The four musketeers hated to see another cert or a diploma get “posted” on that board or handed to them for filing. And yes they were intimidated by it as well as they should have been. It’s pretty bad when a big, ugly, fat, (and not so dumb) guy kicks your butt.

The funniest thing about the four musketeers was the summit they held at the wedding (I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that one). I would have bet money on the fact that they never once realized what a nightmare there lives and the memories of their fire service careers would turn out to be in the end. They sat there at that reception in all their glory and talked about what they would do and how they would do it. And they looked up to gaze into the future with rose colored glasses on. Problem was two birds named Bruce and Russell would fly over and take a dump on those glasses. LOL.

As many of you are surprised you now realize another very true quality about me, and that is that I keep my word. Many of you said “Big C” you are never leaving here and you’re not going anywhere. Well now you know the truth that I am a man of my word. I always said that if the right job and money came along that I was out of here, and it finally did. For years I felt as though I was just spinning my wheels and actuality I was. But in the end I spun them right out of gate 8.

Tonight I leave you with some thoughtful and inspirational lyrics from the group Skid Row about life:

The noose gets tighter around my throat
But I ain’t at the end of my rope cause
I won’t be the one left behind
Can’t be king of the world
If you’re slave to the grind

[PUMPER 46]

Hey Tom, We hear your office is a windowless, 6 x 6 refurbished janitors closet and bathroom combination located in the bowels of your building. Also was told you have a solid door with a slit in it where they feed you your meals like in prison or the zoo. Any truth to this ?

Congratulations, we were informed that you drafted your first emergency management plan: "What the government will do when we run out of toilet paper or coffee".

Just Kidding!

Stay safe, keep in touch, let us know how your doing. When you left, you created a big void in this department.

Pumper 46

[firestrike]

LOL, Pumper 46 you make my day. Just the opposite, everything is glass and if you don’t want people looking into your office you flip a switch and the windows fog up and they cannot see in if walking by. The truth is if you saw my new office space you would not believe it. I am on the top floor with the head honchos and I am telling you that this is beyond my wildest expectations. After the experience this week I am thankful to The Lord God above for shining down upon me the way that he has. If only the 3 stooges and Shemp could see me now. Thank God they decided to hold me back and never promoted me or I may have stayed and missed out on this. Now I know why all the B.S. happened down there, I was serving time in hell to really appreciate what I now have. It’s like I hit the Lotto. I have to pinch myself every once in a while to make sure it is real.

The floor I am on is completing refurbishment at the cost of 7mil. It is an unbelievable site. They call the floor “IKEA” because all the furniture looks exactly like the stuff you would find in the store. You guys would stare in amazement at the chair that I have at my desk. When I look at the name on the chair I will post it. There is not a better workspace on the yard, not even close. I have never seen a better looking workspace than this, ever. You guys would not believe your eyes, in fact I am still in a daze trying to take this whole experience in. Today I saw the red KME drive past and could have cared less. Everyday that passes I miss the USNAFD less. My wife’s been joking that I am like a kid in a candy store, I have not been able to get the smile off my face and I don’t think I will for a while. At 5am in the morning I cannot wait to get into work! Does that surprise you? After years of dragging my ass into Annapolis now when I get in I am ready Freddy. Hey and the best part I have my own reserved parking space…

You guys take care, got meetings and planning sessions to attend to. See ya.

[firestrike]

This will be the chair that I am going to sit my big fat @ss in. Starting price is $700.00
click on the link:
http://www.officedesigns.com/officedesigns/hermilaercha.html