Brad's (now retired!) Firefighter/Paramedic...and Other Misc Info..

So our city election is over and a new mayor in. Phew!!! It's been a long 4 years putting our progressive fire department back to about 1992. So it's time to restart. Our department went through the years with 4 different chiefs including the one from out of the area that just quit after 3 months. The old mayor made him take down the tribute to 9-11 on our sign outside our station. We do have a good bye to our past mayor, Dan Klein...a hidden message in our next sign: B uckle Y ourselves E very D ay A nd N ight ...you think we'll get into trouble with this one? Were just saying farewell to a .....ummmm.....friend....... And I guess my pathetic attempt to gain readers by using sex,etc failed miserably showing that the readers out there, are way above this. Good job!! It was just a test and you guys passed with flying colors!!!!! ...no really...it was a test.... Anyway..hope everyone had a great holiday season...hope to hear from you soon...

Sooooo...I've tried dirty, low down tricks before to get readers...let's see if this improves it at all..... ...

So what the heck...let's get controversial...kinda... Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll...I like 2 of the 3 and I'm not telling which 2......though you can probably guess 1....he,he. What's everyone's feelings on the state of all of the above? No one cares? Attitudes have eased. People becoming more religious? Babling, am I? YES! ...Just getting a feel on these topics. So until the election in a couple of weeks to see who is going to be our new mayor....oh yeah .... and all the other elections...he,he...let me know!!!

...So I added a widget on the site for discounted stuff.....do I make money if you buy something? Well duh!!! But you can too...just check on the info in the widget. So did I gloss over that I haven't posted for a (long) while? If I had any dedicated readers I'm sure they're bored with waiting for my exciting prose. Well...the only update..kinda...is the mayoral elections are coming up. Who do we want? I would like to see Gayle in but either candidate would be just fine...compared to what we had! Ok..enough excitement for you, huh....Hopefully I'll be posting a bit more frequently...but don't hold your collective breaths!!!

No, I'm not dead....just lazy busy....yes, that's it....busy. Anyway, I'm going to a conference in Michigan this weekend and, as always, am looking forward to the information and meeting up with my mentors and team mates. The status at the fire department is about the same...no worse though, which is a good thing. ...And our softball team ruined it's perfect record of 0-34 and won the last 2 out of 4 games.... WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

Loved Bejeweled2 from Astraware.com for a long time..I have a palm and is the only game I use. They have like a zillion other games for a lot of platforms...check it out!!! Is this a shameless ad-like post for some type of gain? Well, yes it is (I gather points that go towards discounts on software) but this post is sincere in that they have great programs...Check it out!!

So it looks like the Fire Department was instrumental in the ousting of the incumbent mayor Dan Klein......so...not since 1920 has an incumbent mayor been ousted, the city has never had a female mayoral candidate...and a bunch of other records....So a big sign of relief is in order. Also our fire volunteer and business owner won by a large amount. So now all we have to do is wait 6-7 months to see the revenge this mayor will bestow on us...But we can handle it...we have a light at the end of the tunnel!!!! Oh and we were promised not to water flowers this year but surprisingly (lol) are doing it again after the elections.

We've been excited and depressed alternatively after hearing rumors, people backing Klein for stupid reasons, others backing VanSesson for true reasons....both of which we, as firefighters, know. However the public may or may not know. For example...the mayor was upset, and stopped us from sending 2 ambulances for serious patients.....saying it was a waste of resources (the 2nd unit was always available for other calls). Or when the mayor came to a police traffic stop and said it also was a waste of resources for more then 1 police unit to be at the scene.. Most people don't care about these posts but if you happen to live in Crown Point, Indiana.....you should.

So the primary is approaching and Gayle VanSesson is our choice at the fire department. Not to mention Mark Schweitzer for council, one of our own firefighters . If we don't get the current mayor out, we're in for a long hard ride (see previous posts about our chief quitting because the mayor did not like what was posted on our sign in front of the station...honoring those who died on 9/11!). And if I get enough comments, I'll post some of the things the mayor has done so far to let you, the reader, decide if waht he is doing is in the best interest of the city. In the meantime, go to this YouTube link to see 1 of our music videos on a typical day at or fire department....produced totally by some of our firefighters: Crown point Music Video 2006

At the bottom of the page (besides my weather info) is a chat program I've been using for a long time called Trillian. Trillian combines all chat services into 1 so you no longer have to have Yahoo, Aim, Icq, etc running. There are several programs like this out there but I've found this to be the best. Now they've given me the privilege to be a beta tester of there newest update, Trillian Astra. I will post info as I play with it but it looks great! It will even integrate Gmail chat... Of course, do I have that many friends to chat with? I may if anyone is interested in talking to me while online...let me know...and comment often! Thanks

Go to the bottom of all the links to see my weather station live....I know...only technogeeks like myself will be interested but hey, what the heck... It's from my station on top my house through Wunderground ....The best weather site out there!!!

It's a win-win proposition living where I do. Close enough to Chicago but in the state of Indiana. I am a Bear's fan but who cares who wins....We win no matter what! So now I should be getting some hate mail from both side....oh well... better then no mail!!

Ok...my choice for the best Antivirus package is... Avast . This program seems to take the least hit on my resources and doesn't seem to slow down my computer. Trying it bot on my laptop and home computer yielded the same results. Ok...this is a very unscientific test but this is what I'm using now. And it's not like I have been doing extensive testing and that's why it has been so long since my last post...just been busy...lazy...etc..... powered by performancing firefox

Experimenting with the new blogger...looks good so far but a few things I need to figure out...like adding a hit counter for instance. Also, it doesn't seem to display correctly on Firefox 2.0.

Just go to this link for a humorous take on the fire chief (or lack there of) situation in Crown Point, IN James - Post-Tribune (Northwest Indiana) And to Cpfire.com for the editorial from the ex-chief....er...the newest ex-chief , I guess.....

As of this morning our chief quit after 3 months on the job....why you ask? The mayor did not give "permission" to put this sign out in front of our Crown Point Fire Rescue station. This is the 3rd Chief in 2 years that was either demoted or quit because of disagreements with the mayor. We have a problem....I don't normally editorialize on things that happen at work...well maybe a little...but this needs to stop. We have a great group of guys on the fire and police department that will do anything for the public...as would any FD or PD... these are not the places to micro manage. Ok...I'm done....you can google Crown Point, In news and read more if you're interested. The outcome due to this sign is a ridiculous indicator on what is going on behind the scenes in Crown Point politics. I'm done....

My wife is now traveling 4 days a week for a company called McKesson. She's always wanted to do consulting in the nursing field and this was a perfect fit....Maybe I'll blog more now!!!!!! She'll be going to Atlanta this time and then we go to Atlanta in July for a business seminar!!! She said she didn't mind traveling!!. ....and 1 last plug for the business....we now have a system to save important data on the Internet which is then mirrored to a second undisclosed location....comment for more info...

...So we have a federal grant for the fire department that we've been working on and had a few things to get for our department (of the approved things that were listed). The Mayor decided he could use the $26,000 and use it to put 2 fences around our water towers. I guess this was on the list under homeland security....Oh well....primary in 1 year. He also informed us that we have to start watering the flowers on the sqare again this year...I'm glad we've been trained in water usage and tactics......LOL powered by performancing firefox

We got back from New Mexico a few weeks ago. It was great!! Not only was the area beautiful but the learning and mentoring that went on was even better. Mark and Jill (my support team for the business) was great and we learned a lot. Also we found out that coming June 1st we'll have a product called Medic Vault, a web based medical info system where a card that is carried with you has all the medical information the hospital needs. With that, a data vault system with 256 bit encryption will be offered...where you can upload sensitive or important data to a secure site that gets mirrored to an undisclosed site and then have access to it from anywhere. I'll report more as I find out more. Let me know if there is any interest. Our fire department softball games got rained out last week...more to come this week (I'm the pitcher!!!!)

One more experiment....sorry I'm using you, the readers, as Guinea pigs....I' activated some tag with my posts.... powered by performancing firefox