Professional Fire Fighters and MDA

 I promised a while ago to write about the partnership Professional Fire Fighters have with MDA or “Jerrys Kids.”  I took the paragraphs below from the IAFF website.  Tommorow is kick off day for this years campaign….the goal for my local is $20,000.00 I will keep everyone posted on our progress. 

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is the largest national sponsor of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). More than 280,000 members of the IAFF in the United States and Canada are pledged to saving lives, both as fire fighters and paramedics and as the strongest campaigners for the worldwide research efforts of MDA to eradicate 40 neuromuscular diseases. The contributions of the fire fighters also go towards MDA’s summer camps for children, professional and public health education, and other programs. As the greatest contributor to MDA, fire fighters are everywhere in the efforts of MDA to raise money. The IAFF is the biggest sponsor of MDA’s Labor Day Telethon and it contributed a record breaking $23.5 million in year 2006 as a consequence of the overwhelming enthusiasm and contribution of tens and thousands of fire fighters and paramedics across the US and Canada. IAFF members have donated nearly $275 million to MDA since 1954.

The IAFF raised millions of dollars throughout the entire year through their passionate Fill the Boot campaigns, in which fire fighters greet motorists, shoppers and others and ask them to donate money to MDA. This year’s upcoming IAFF-MDA events are expected to raise even more to cure these crushing illnesses.

The marriage between the devotion of fire fighters with the cause of MDA has emerged as one of the strongest example of selflessness in the history of charity, and IAFF General President Harold A. Schaitberger is committed to elevating this tradition to even higher levels. The IAFF is designing a plan to further expand and enhance the IAFF’s relationship and role with MDA.

Over the ensuing decades, the commitment of the professional fire fighters to the cause of MDA has further elevated their status as extraordinary professionals who not only put their lives at stake to save citizens from ruthless flames, but also give their time to save the lives of the innocent from equally merciless neuromuscular diseases. The devotion of IAFF members has not only helped MDA, but also united fire fighters in a community where they share their team strength and brotherhood to give better meaning to lives and hope for the future.

HOOLIGAN Rebuttal to Internet News Headlines

HEADLINE: “Britney Behaved Badly at Photo Shoot”

HOOLIGAN SAYS: One question was she in a photo shoot for “Trailer trash, washed up teen pop whore? If she was there really is no thing as acting badly for that magazine.

HEADLINE: “Lindsay in Safe Place Now”

HOOLIGAN SAYS: Other than the shower rape and the constant threat of getting Shived in the yard whilst breaking rocks Jail is a pretty safe place. None of those annoying Paparazzi to run from, no annoying coke snorting parties.

HEADLINE: “Lindsay Nailed Again”

HOOLIGAN SAYS: This one is just too easy but I am going to take it. Second only Paris as the human penis test subject this should come as no surprise that she is getting nailed by damn near every schlong in North America….oh wait you were talking about getting arrested again….sorry my statement still stands.

HEADLINE: “Paula Abdul Looses It”

HOOLIGAN SAYS: Did she ever really have it? From what I have seen she lost it a LOOOOOOONNNG time ago and should no longer require a breaking news alert please move her into the news spot behind Danny Bon-a-douche-bag.

HEADLINE: “Oprah Reflects on Loss of Dog”

HOOLIGAN SAYS: HOLY GOD IN HEAVEN!!!! Shut down the Library, stop the mail, release government workers for a national day of mourning….seriously…..who gives a shit?

HEADLINE: “Reality Stars in Vicious Brawl on TV”

HOOLIGAN SAYS: We are talking about the two Corey’s here…you remember them??? Yeah, you know those two guys one liked to pretend he was Michael Jackson the other one acted mostly retarded??? I saw the footage and this so called VICIOUS fight was more like a pre-teen shove and tickle fight. Honestly I thought those two guys were dead. I know they had fallen off of the face of the earth until some crack head producer resurrected them from the annals of bad 80’s teen stars.

Top People I Would Gladly Pay For The Ring Time If I Could Muay Thai Kick Them In Their Heads

1.  I would kick the coke habit right out of her.  Come spend some quality time eating my knees and elbows and you forget you want coke.

2.  Seriously when you put out a video with Keanu and that was the pinnacle of your career you need to shut the F&*K up and go away like all of the rest of the one hit wonders.

3.  I am so sick of these nutballs obsessing over this little turd and his band of pseudo-dorks.  Standing in line all day and night to get the new book worried that someone will send them a spoiler via e-mail have you all lost your minds?  Here is the HOOLIGAN spoiler…..He probably does not get laid!!!  There you have it!

The Busy Weekend

Usually weekends in the Hooligan Family are busy this past weekend was just plain crazy.

We started out Friday night in Clarkston at Depot Park listening to the Big Chief Chorus.  My dad sings with the group and it was the first time in a very long time I got the opportunity to listen.  I took the Hooligan children with me and we sat in the park enjoying the beautiful Michigan night and listening to the music.

Saturday I got up early for a bike ride and ended up with a flat at mile 8 which caused me to curse quite loudly and for a very long time since I neglected to replace my spare tube in the saddle pouch I had to ride back on the flat front tire.  The whole Hooligan family headed to Ottisville (yes there is such a place) to watch my nephew play in a baseball tournament.  After the game we headed into Frankenmuth for one of their famous chicken dinners (never been a big fan) and a walk through downtown.  We left the Hooligan kids with grandparents and wife and I headed to the annual “Buffet Party” in Waterford.  We talked with friends, we drank adult beverages and essentially acted like idiots got home late smelling of beer and frozen Daiquiris.

Sunday I woke up early and went on another bike ride and to my astonishment another flat tire, round two of cursing that again found me with no spare tube another long ride home on a flat.  The whole Hooligan family loaded up the cooler and chairs and headed to Lake Lapeer to a relatives house for a day of lake fun.  Boating, swimming, water balloons, dunking children under water….tons of fun.  We left around 8 waterlogged and sunned-out for the drive back to Casa-De-Hooligan.  We were driving down a back road when we were surprised to see this swooping across the road:

We decided that bed times can wait for a little while and followed them for a few miles down some dirt roads.  We would pull over and pile out of the car to take pictures and the people would wave and talk to the kids.  The whole time they were barely above the trees.

We abandoned the chase after they crossed a swamp and started to head home again when we happened upon this scene in Clarkston:

Hidden away on private property were about 30 deer right next to the road.  Again we stop and take pictures.  Essentially we added an hour to our trip home but the cool stuff kept presenting on the drive home and sometimes you just got to pull the car over and enjoy the view. 

Greatest Piece Of Art EVER

I have this picture of a person crowd surfing that was taken at a concert I was at and published in Rollingstone back in the late 80’s.  Ever since I framed it I have been shoving ticket stubs in between the glass and the frame its one of my most cherished possessions.  Some of the tickets are for: Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Megadeth, Pantera, Helmet, Fugazi, White Zombie, Dropkick Murphys, Street Dogs, Suicidal Tendencies just to mention a few.

I Love A Good Shirt

 For some reason I found these shirts to be hysterical.

              

   

 

 

L.A. INK On TLC Starts August 7

Kat Von D has come home to Los Angeles to fulfill her dream of opening  up her own tattoo shop.  The news has spread and celebrities,  rising starlets, punk rockers, musicians and tattoo collectors alike are lining up for some of Kat’s famous black and grey ink.   In a city known for its tattoo culture, LA Ink is sure to stand out — drawing clients from all over the world and from all walks of life.  But with popularity comes headaches, drama and a lot of hard work.

Playing by her own rules, Kat lives a fast-paced, rebel lifestyle.  Hers is a life of freedom: she sets her own schedule, picks her clients, sleeps late,and parties all night.  For her shop to be a success, Kat will need to learn how to balance her lifestyle and her business while managing a colorful staff of renowned artists.  LA Ink will offer a rare glimpse into an LA that is seldom seen, through the eyes of a true insider. 

I Just Saw This And I Had An Accident In My Pants

 I heard the rumors…..I waited with baited breath…….its a reality……..New DROPKICK MURPHYS Album coming out.

 

“The Meanest Of Times” will be available from September 18th on DKM’s own record label, Born & Bred Records which will be distributed by Warner Music’s Independent Label Group.“The Meanest Of Times” is a collection of tales about family, loyalty and remembering where you came from. It contains what we hope are all the best elements of the DKM sound: classic punk rock, Celtic folk and American rock’n'roll. The album also features guest appearances by Spider Stacy of The Pogues and Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners as a special treat.

ONLY 62 DAYS TO GO!!!!

A Letter To My Blog Stalker

Dear Blog Stalker,

I don’t think I can tell you how excited I was to find out my site was getting over 200 hits a day.  To think that possibly 200 people were reading what I had to say gave my ego quite a boost.  After further review, however, I soon realized that you have been looking at my site  over 100 times a day which equates to you having an insane amount of free time on your hands which to be honest frightens me more than a little.  If we subtract the time you should be sleeping you are visiting my site over 5 times an hour that’s a little more than once every 15 minutes!!!!!  I only post once a day sometimes once every few days, to think that I am posting every 15 minutes is, in my opinion, lunacy!!!!  You should probably give it a rest don’t you think?  I would hate to see you end up with a nasty case of Carpel Tunnel.  Best of luck to you, please don’t try to kill me. 

Hooligan

The Realization I Need A More Diverse Collection Of Friends.

So I am doing research yesterday, because I was bored and when I’m bored I look things up.  I come to the sudden realization that in today’s soft cushy social culture of Tit-Babies I perhaps am not diverse enough in my selection of friends.  Here is what I have come up with cross referenced with my current friends list:

A.  I have to cut two of my white friends out of my life, 47.67% of the population of the US is white and according to my research I have 2 too many white friends.

B.  My black friend ratio is spot on although I am not sure how to come up with a 2.45% friend.  The black population of the US is 12.45% if anyone has any ideas where I can find a person who is black and represents only 2.45% of a human I am all ears.  I sleep better at night knowing that Jackson and Sharpton won’t be knocking on my door asking why I don’t have the appropriate number of black friends.

C.  I am confused about my American Indian and Eskimo friends, to my knowledge I don’t have any and again if any one can point me toward a .37% American Indian or Eskimo person I would be forever in your debt. 

D.  I need to have a total of 2 Hispanic friends.  I don’t have any currently I used to have 3 Hispanic friends but we have not spoken since high school.  I think I can replace two of my white friends with the two Hispanic friends its win-win from where I am sitting.

E.  I need to befriend 2 people of Asian descent.  I used to work with a guy who was from the Philippines I am going to have to get a ruling on if people from the Philippines count toward my Asian quota if the answer is in the affirmative I will have to give him a call and see if he can be my friend which will leave me with only a deficit of one Asian friend.

F.  The most troubling number yet is I have no Pacific Islander friends.  How could this be I wonder????  Anyway I need to find 1/2 of a Pacific Islander I will be scouring the Carnival Midways in the hopes I can find 1/2 of a person of Pacific Island descent.  Since they only represent .49% of the population of the US I am going to go on a limb here and round it up to .50% and hope that Al and Jesse don’t call foul on this one.

So there you have it I figure the best way to lose two of my white friends is to have some sort of lottery perhaps base the whole thing on seniority and drop the two lowest seniority white friends.

Its Official…..They Will Put Anything On ESPN

A while ago I wrote about what an abomination it was that sports channels the like of ESPN, ESPN2, Outdoor, FSN and -VS- have sunk to showing Poker and have accepted such a thing as a actual sport.  I feel I made a good argument that fat assed bloated chain smokers are not athletes and poker is far from a sport. 

I now present Case Number 2:

I was looking for the Tigers game yesterday when I flipped to ESPN.  What I saw was the straw that broke the camels back.  It took me about three minutes to realize that I wasn’t watching a spoof commercial or one of ESPN famous funny commercials.  What Hooligan…What is it you saw on ESPN that has you posting at 9:04am on a Sunday morning????  I will tell you…Rock-Paper-Scissors World Championships.  That’s right faithful readers they televised an actual World Rock-Paper-Scissors Championship.  The only thing more disturbing than the fact that there is a World Championship is the fact it was televised.  This, a mere 10 days after they televised a gluttonous Nathans Hot Dog Eating Competition?

The Heart Of A Seven Year Old

 Recently my daughter donated a good portion of her hair to Locks of Love.  For some time now she has been growing her hair so she could get to the required length for the donation.  She refused to back down from it and never,  not even once, did she waiver from her decision.  We gave her ample opportunity to change her mind but she would have no part of it.

      

The Death Rattle of Customer Service

Somehow, and I still don’t know how, the center console of the Hooligan Trailblazer has a broken latch. This broken latch causes the lid to pop up annoyingly so you either have to rest your elbow on it constantly or strap it down with the greatest invention known to man “Duct Tape”. I went into the service department of a local dealership a little over three weeks ago to get it fixed when I got the standard reply of “We have to order that part” ………fine……. whatever. On the promise that one of the evil minions of the service department would call the moment the part arrived I left, annoying magical pop up lid and all. Growing sick of waiting I call the service department to see what the hold up was and was told the part has been in for weeks. Sorry, I must have missed the call since Chevrolet dealerships are absolutely perfect in every way…they can do no wrong. So I drive in yesterday to have the new latch assembly put on. The friendly service softball team reject told me it would not be that long. Off the Trailblazer goes into the back section of the garage where lowly uneducated civilians are not allowed.

So I sit, and I wait, I read crappy “O” magazines since apparently women are the only people that drop vehicles off for repair. I wait some more and I try to ignore the fact that the only television channel that comes in on the monstrous 13 inch television is CMT……go figure. I wait some more whilst a badly misbehaved child who smells like a fart runs amok in the waiting room I have now dubbed “The Gateway to Hell”. Finally after waiting for over an hour I am told to visit the nice (not really) lady in the cashiers office. I sign the papers and go to fetch my ride. I notice the lid is up as is its normal position when not latched……I feel my face turn red……..I shut the lid………nothing……..I am having visions of kicking people into unconsciousness …..no latch…….it pops back up!!!! I stand up and see the softball team reject across the bay here is an outline of the conversation had.

Hooligan: (yelling) Its not fixed!!

Service Minion: Huh?

Hooligan: You had it for an hour and you didn’t fix a God Damn thing!?!?!

Service Minion: Its not fixed?

Hooligan: No, its the same as when I brought it in!

Service Minion: (Now looking and playing with the lid as if it will magically latch and I will go away) I’m sorry man I wrote it up wrong.

Hooligan: Man???? I believe in this particular instance I am most certainly a Sir. What do you mean you wrote it up wrong?

Service Minion: I wrote it up that the hinge need to be replaced.

Hooligan: The hinge? I specifically told you 3 weeks ago that the latch was broke you even looked at it and saw the crack in the latch and that the key component for latching success was missing therefore and thereby causing this annoying pop up action. (I flick the lid down and it pops back up) see here!!!!!

Service Minion: Let me see if we have that part.

Hooligan: I betcha five bucks you don’t.

Service Minion: Now at his cubicle furiously typing on his computer

Hooligan: Now looking at service minion and all I can see is red.

Service Minion: Sorry Sir we are going to have to order that part.

Hooligan: You honestly mean to tell me I have to come back?

Service Minion: Yes

Hooligan: I have to come back and waste another hour of my life in here?

Service Minion: Yes

Hooligan: You mean to tell me that one of your ham fisted neaderthal mechanics replaced the hinge and failed to notice that the latch was broken?

Service Minion: (shakes head yes)

Hooligan: Whats the square root of 64?

Service Minion: Huh?

Hooligan: The square root of 64?

Service Minion: (now looking at me like I am green with two heads)

Hooligan: Well you have wasted my time today and now I am going to waste your fucking time…..so whats the answer?

Service Minion: I dont know

Hooligan: So your going to call me when that part comes in or do I have to waste cell minutes on this joint and call you myself…AGAIN?

Service Minion: We will call I promise

Great Leaders……Born or Made?

I wrote the other day about a book that had a severe and deep impact on me. I quoted the author twice with two outstanding statements one specifically dealt with leadership. I have been thinking a lot about that book written by someone that some would consider the last person on earth who would dispense leadership advice. I purposefully left out the authors name on the hope that the readers of this site would take the statements at face value and not attach a face or a persona to the sentences. I suspected that if indeed you did not know who wrote it somehow it would have a greater impact. I think it did.

I am in a profession that prides itself on being a so called “Para-Military” organization, we have leaders (no matter how inept they may be) we have a rank structure (which is most of the time misguided). Most of the time my profession reminds me of a Zippo my dad had carried through Viet-Nam which had the inscription “The unwilling led by the unknowing” no better phrase can describe my career. I once had an evaluation in another department that stated “you are impervious to being led, you buck the system at every turn, you challenge the leadership of this department, you are indeed un-leadable.” I disagreed wholeheartedly with this statement. Although most of the time I am a complete and total bastard……… I can be led, and I have been on many an occasion. I sat down and discussed with that particular officer that I was capable of being led he however was incapable of leading.

He like so many I know are not leaders. They are driven by machismo, vanity and monetary gain to become a leader, a leader based on these principals is no leader at all he is a danger to me and those around me.

The greatest officer that I ever worked for was a leader to the very core. If the choice was the right thing and the wrong thing he always went with the right thing no matter the cost. He had a mantra that I think I have written about before “If your the leader….LEAD!” He begrudgingly took a promotion not driven by selfish personal gain. He was forced because he was a great leader one who could take a handful of people and inspire them to do great things in the face of danger. He never demanded respect, he however was highly respected because the way he could lead people. Unfortunately instead of putting his thoughts on paper and traveling the country lecturing piss poor fire officers, which we are overrun with, he retired early because of inept and dangerous leaders that were above him in the antiquated rank structure. The perfect example of “punishing the good and rewarding the mediocre” which is another staple in the diet of the modern fire service.

Don’t think you have heard the last of these little tirades, unless something really juicy comes along I have placed a one week personal moratorium on posting videos on this site in the hopes to flush out of my head the things that have been basically annoying me for the last few weeks. So tape up your fists put your mouth guard in this one could go to the ground.

“FREEDOM-Credos From The Road”

I snagged a book from The Scolai the other day, the kind of book you don’t want to put down.  I was shocked by the fact it was so well written and included real life philosophy that nearly everyone could adopt into their lives.  Rarely does a book have such a profound impact on me that instead of just reading it I begin to almost study the words looking for the perfect application in my own life trying to eek every last syllable into some recess of my mind.  I have already read the book three times since I borrowed it.

I am going to give a taste of two of my many favorite passages.

“When you break new earth, you’ll instantly be considered an outsider.  You’re bound to meet lots of resistance from the old guard.  When you create something new and unique, its harder for the old guys to dismiss and judge you by the same old unreliable standards.”

“Running an organization with an iron fist and by instilling the fear of failure just doesn’t work.  To be productive and creative, your people need room to move, air to breathe, space to expand, and, most important, the opportunity and luxury to plain mess up once in a while.  If you run your ship in a climate of fear, it breeds distrust, backstabbing, disharmony, and, worse, mutiny.”

If I didn’t know any better I would swear that the author had spent considerable time in the fire service with all of our twisted and contrary management philosophy.