Just this week, not only on our relatively quiet haven of Hilton Head Island, but right here in the community in which I live (Palmetto Dunes), comes a story which has become national news.  Before I knew it would be on CNN and everywhere else, I read in our Island Packet this article on a […]

I’ve been very busy working on my wife’s company’s website and unable to really spend any time blogging lately.  That’s probably a good thing as I really have wanted to learn a little more about creating sites from scratch (or close enough, using Dreamweaver) but found it to be much harder at first than I […]

For the past year or so, our department has been building a training facility of our own.  We officially dedicated it on the 29th and christened some of the props with a little demonstration burn to wow the VIPs who came out to celebrate with us.  It's a nice facility and was designed with more […]

  If you didn't know, that's a quote from Steve Jobs (I didn't).  I was sitting in the office of our Deputy Chief/Ops, reading a magazine while he finished up a meeting, and I saw that quote.  I liked it a lot and wanted to share it with you. The quote was being used by […]

  I know that I am one of the chief purveyors of snarkiness as a means of combating the less-than-professional element in our midst.  I guess that just because I have a personal vision of what I'd like to see the fire service evolve into, there are those out there who also have a vision […]

  Elvis has left the building, in the literal sense.  Elvis Presley came to mind today because of the Facebook vote we are taking for a colleague as to whether or not he and his fiancee should elope to Vegas and get married by an Elvis impersonator.  But as happens with many ideas of mine, […]

  It wasn't really by design, but the last time I was in Atlanta, I found that I had some problems getting my e-mail on my fancy smart phone.  Likewise, on this occasion when I spent a few days in "The City Too Busy To Hate", my "missing" status this week evolved into a few […]

  Ken Bell, a friend and the other Deputy Director of the South Carolina US&R Task Force, announced this week that he is retiring from the program to spend more time with his family and his other pursuits.  In a reply I sent that was meant to pay homage to his contributions to the program (which were […]

I'm Mick, and I yell.  I think this is the part where you all are supposed to say, "Hi Mick."  Why do we yell?  I started to say, "I'm a yeller", but that doesn't sound right.  And I don't scream.  Screaming to me indicates panic or total loss of personal control.  But anyone who knows […]