Category Archives: Blog

Save the puppies!

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Got your attention?

On Saturday, 2/11 I will be spinning with a team from my gym in the MSPCA’s 9th Annual Tour de Pooch.  All money raised will go to support the operation of MSPCA’s Nevins Farm in Methuen, MA.  Nevins is a major local animal shelter and the only one in Massachusetts capable of handling large animals.  When you say ‘animal shelter’ everyone thinks of dogs and cats.  Nevins handles everything from hamsters to horses.  (The economy has been especially hard on horses – they’re not exactly inexpensive to keep properly.)

Please click this link and donate to support our team.  If each of my Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and blog readers donated just $1 we would be pushing the $500 mark.  Please send them a buck or two.

And by the way, these guys are just cool.

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Moving on to usual business:

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2/6 – Good morning, Witch City!  Heading home after a long night.

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2/7 – Good morning, Newburyport.  Merrimac River on the way to the gym this morning.

Censored

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This blog is joining thousands of other sites across the Internet today in urging you to call your congressmen and senators.  SOPA/PIPA as currently proposed would be a serious threat to your rights as an Internet user.  It would allow the government to shut down any website without due process and with very little recourse.

Do the First and Fourth Amendments mean much to you?  Freedom of speech, due process, unreasonable search and seizure; you know, little things like that?

SOPA/PIPA also has the potential to make YOU into a criminal by holding websites responsible for the content of sites to which they link.  Do you have me in your blogroll?  If I violate SOPA/PIPA, you could be going down with me.

Freedom of association –  there’s another one of those pesky rights again.

 

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

I don’t often do politics here at NFMH, but I feel this one’s important.  If you enjoy the Internet the way it is and think Washington should keep its hands off, call you congressmen and senators TODAY!

For more information, simply Google SOPA and/or PIPA.

Professional strength?!

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I’ve mentioned in these pages before that I am an inveterate reader. I read books and magazines like a normal person. I also read elevator permits, cereal boxes, and the backs of menus. I read fine print. 
 
You would be amazed at the obscure things I learn. 
 
Today I had occasion to do some maintenance on one of my trucks. I rolled over while bleeding a wheel cylinder and came face to face with the brake fluid bottle. 
 
Professional Strength. 
 
Interesting marketing phrase, that. Who stops for a living? Are my stops more important if I’m being paid to make them? 
 
Why would I prefer professional strength? My stops are arguably more important to me when I’m driving my family around. Can I get personal strength brake fluid? Or perhaps a Family Size? 
 
Does no one else notice these things?

Ducking my responsibilities

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I had a great post planned for tonight, but then life intervened. I’ve been entertaining relatives from out of town, cleaning the attic, and eBaying stuff. A quality post needs more time and energy than I have this evening.

NaBloPoMo has run for 29 of 30 days, so this placeholder will have to do for today. Stay safe out there.

NaBloPoMo

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Things have been a bit slow here at NfMH of late. Life has been busy, and my heart hasn’t been in writing. I want it to be, though. Spurred on by The Social Medic, I’ve taken on the National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) challenge. I intend to post something here every day for the month of November.

I’ve tried to revive Project 365 twice without success, but perhaps a 30 day challenge is more likely to succeed. Stay tuned for more stories, rants, photos, and Haiku.

Let the Random Musings begin. . .

Situation Ready

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Many years ago I watched a volunteer firefighter climb down from the cab of his ladder truck in nothing but shorts, boots, and a helmet. He took a portable radio and went to investigate a box alarm. I was embarrassed — for him, for his agency, for the fire service in general and myself by extension. I don’t know what he intended to do if he actually found a problem.

Yesterday at the firehouse I was thumbing through the latest edition of Fire Chief magazine. There is a Pierce ad inside the front cover. It shows their newest shiny model Photoshopped into a Detroit fire scene. It’s a pretty truck, and it has some interesting engineering features. The mechanical engineer and apparatus buff in me is intrigued.

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS TOO PREPARED. BE SITUATION READY blares the tagline. And directly below the ad copy is this guy:

T-shirt. Some kind of vest which looks like fleece. Orange fireball gloves(?!). And untied duty boots.

BE SITUATION READY. Hey, at least he is wearing a helmet.

I can only hope he’s an actor. He’s not SITUATION READY for anything more than fueling the truck on the way back to quarters.

I could philosophize about the stereotype that this encourages, or about how some city managers value shiny fire trucks over having sufficient numbers of skilled staff. I could rant about how someone at Pierce and someone at Fire Chief magazine should have caught this. (ORANGE RUBBER GLOVES!) I could note that Pierce has a major social media campaign on Facebook and YouTube for product engagement.

But I’m too embarrassed.

Around the Blogosphere – September 22

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Presented for your enjoyment and/or enlightenment, a random assortment of things I’ve found interesting recently. Like everything else at NfMH, AtB will run irregularly at my whim.

For openers, Peter at Bayou Renaissance Man presents the ultimate collection of playground FAIL. Peter runs a very enlightening blog and was the inspiration for Around the Blogosphere.

Michael Morse is finding his compassion and saving lives in Providence. Nice job, Lieutenant.

Kal over at Trauma Queen is having a teachable moment.

The Grumpy Dispatcher has started a new job, and he’s getting back in touch with the personal side. It’s great, and it isn’t.

Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire has a two-part series on constructing your ‘end of the world’ first aid kit. Once you’ve read that, slide over to Happy Medic’s place for his important personal Disaster Plan series. (It’s not new, but it is always relevant and important.)

Speaking of Happy, he and Motorcop have been running an awareness campaign for male-specific cancers this month called Kilted to Kick Cancer. Ambulance Driver is running a fundraising challenge with cool prizes and some fun side bets. Drop by, pick a favorite, and make a difference. And get checked!

Finally tonight, CKEMTP chimes in with a UK police blog I’d never read before. Minimum Cover writes of every police officer and medic’s nightmare. It’s very well written but not for the faint of heart.

That’s all for now. Stay safe!