Great Quote for Today

 "The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you DO. And what you have to do to get where you want to be may not be pretty or may not come easy." Bill Phillips

Federal Firefighter Furloughs

As many of you may know, our Federal Government is in a financial mess. To solve this problem, all federal employees are facing a furlough. What does that mean to you? Probably not much, other than there will be a lot less money being spent in the local economy, which will effect sales and income taxes for local and state government. We Federal employees are staring at a 20% reduction in pay for the 6 months, maybe more.

I am appealing to you for help. If you know a federal firefighter with a part time business, please support them. I have a business and would really appreciate your consideration in supporting my family during this difficult time. Please check out AMSOIL for your full synthetic lubricant needs.

Go to the AMSOIL Application guide for a recommendation of the products for your vehicle. You can purchase at wholesale by following this link and signing up as a Preferred Customer. If your retail order is more than $100 you will save more than the price of the Preferred Customer membership.

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Sharing the Sequestration Pay Cuts w/Congress and the President

Federal Civilian Firefighters on military installations worldwide are serving to protect the military members, families, and your tax payer assets everyday. We agree there is tremendous government waste in the federal budget. We believe that there are several opportunities to save money in the budget without forcing your firefighters and other employees to take a 20% pay cut through furloughs that will run from April to October. These furloughs will cause severely reduced staffing, which will make interior firefighting unsafe in both structure fires and aircraft fires. Not to mention our inability to provide Hazardous Material response and Confined Space Rescue responses. We will not be able to provide mutual aid responses to our neighbors because of our severely reduced staffing.

If federal employees are required to take furloughs and suffer 20% pay cuts, Congress (Senate and House) members and President Obama (the people who are responsible for the sequester and the resulting furloughing of federal employees) will "share the pain" by taking 20% pay cuts themselves.
Members of Congress and the President (due to their inaction) will take responsibility and in a show of solidarity and unity with the 800,000+ employees - who through no fault of their own will be forced to accept 20% pay reductions - will share equally in the pain and suffering that they themselves are responsible for.

Follow this link to sign the petition so the Presdient and Congress are forced to take a 20% pay  cut also. It only seems like the right thing to do.  https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/sharing-sequestration-pay-cuts-wcongress-and-president/LLQCqKJb

Which "E" Word Describes You?

I saw this the other day and got me to thinking. I'm sure we have all used each of these at one time or another.

Excuses: The words we use to fill the gap between wanting something and achieving something.
Exceptions: The excuses we make to explain why other people succeed.
Excellence: What is achieved just because you kept showing up anyway.

I have often said that setting and working toward goals is the most important thing a person can do. If you don't achieve the goal, you know that you have worked toward that goal. That is more than most people do anyway.

UPDATE:  After seeing a Facebook comment from Chief Jim Duffy, I decided to add one more "E" word.

ENTHUSIASM: Because being enthusiastic about showing up and working toward achievement makes it a whole lot more fun. When things are fun, it makes it easier to achieve.

Remember, there are thousands upon thousands of people that would love to have our jobs. If you aren't working toward continued improvement in all phases of your career/calling, move on and find something else, or find that passion again.

Another Update:
EXTRA: Taking the extra step to succeed. When we stop making excuses and exceptions, excellence will come through with enthusiasm and the extra step will be easy to take to work for success.

Yet another Update: Thanks to Chief Duffy for giving me another word. Engaged!
ENGAGED: When you are paying attention and learning. This is the enhancement to the word excellence from above. I think showing up is important, but by being engaged you are taking it to a higher level.
I must admit that I heard Chief Pete Van Dorpe from Chicago speak a couple of years ago at the Brunacini Leadership Conference and something he said hit home. He said that he went through part of his career where he was not engaged. I had never heard anyone admit it out loud. It made me re-evaluate my career and it made me relize that I had dis-engaged a few times. Thankfully, when he said it and still today I am engaged. Being engaged makes being a firefighter fun and challenging.