2012 - The Year of Change?

Well here's to hoping.  I've been trying to get on a paid fire department since 2010, a little earlier then that if you count the fact I started down this path in early 2009 when I started my EMT-B cert.  While I am currently in great position (listed as number 13) for the department I want so desperately to work for, it's never a done deal especially in these tough economic times.  While I am grateful for what I currently have, an amazing wife and son, great family and friends, a job (as an engineer...but not what I want to do anymore), and good health I constantly yearn for more...I demand more out of life and after volunteering at a great fire department for the past two years I know what professional path I want to take. 

Along those lines, with a new year comes a fresh batch of faces at the fire department.  Young and seasoned, big and small, guys and girls, it's a diverse group of people at the academy this year so I can only assume it's going to be a good one.  I will be chronicling the academy in this blog as well.  Stay tuned and here's to a year of hard work, good changes, and a little luck! 

Father's Day 2011

So a little tip I learned over the father's day weekend, if you lay your child down for a nap wearing only a diaper and t-shirt expect the unexpected.  On Saturday Suz and I put Dominic down for his nap in only his diaper and t-shirt and we started to work on cleaning out the garage and other outside yard work.  After about an hour of him talking to himself things got quite, about 15 minutes later he was up and at it again...then he began crying.  Suz went in to check on him and then I hear, "Oh my God, LEO!".  I walked over and the stench was heavy...my son decided to try his hand at being an artist, using poop as his medium..  The first thing I see is a diaper sitting in the middle of his bed, then smudges of 'art' on the wall, floor, and finally my son's arms and face.  I just laughed...

We immediately divided an concurred.  I took the newly anointed "Poop Painter" and Suz worked the bleach and water in the room.  It was about 30 minutes in total to get his room decontaminated and another 6 hours for the smell of baby turd to be gone from the house...or maybe 6 hours for us to get use to the smell.  Ahhhh parenting!  Needless to say he will be wearing a pair of shorts for every nap this summer.

On the work front I started my first week as the systems engineer lead for a large program at work.  It's  a pretty daunting task given the fact that I am now in charge of several small sub projects that come with the program and the financials of our team (well making sure our charging is meeting what we claimed it needed and that we are actually producing work while spending said money).  I can easily say that I never gave much thought to my career track and find it a bit comical that now after I find what I really want to do with my life, work throws me head first into 'management'.

While I don't really relish the idea of being a lead in this particular field I am looking at it as a real growth opportunity.  One that will allow me to really focus on my time management skills and as my boss says, allow me to be stern when I need to be.  I generally am the guy that speaks his mind but does so in a way that is very 'take it or leave it', I guess being a lead I'm going to have to turn that more into a 'take it or shove it' type mantra.  I'll keep you all updated on how that goes.

Hello...again!

So this is my re-entry into the bloggosphere. I gave it a go when Suzanne was pregnant with Dominic, primarily to update the interweb about her progress and eventually his birth and growth. This time I plan on focusing more on my growth. I am in the middle of trying to establish a career change as a fireman. I say try because I have been at it for almost two years now, it's pretty damn competitive and it probably doesn't help that I am attempting this career change in probably the hardest economic situations that I have ever lived through.

I wanted to use this blog to capture a bit of my struggle with my goal of becoming a career fireman, along with the other things going on in my life...such as being a father of an incredible two year old, husband of an amazing wife (since 2004), career cubicle jockey (since 2003), and volunteer firefighter (since 2010). No real format to this, just plan on going at it ad-hoc and hope to learn something and capture some incites.

Jump in and tell me anything, like suck it up and grow a pair...hope you all enjoy!