Christmas in Kentucky

It was a fun, old-fashioned Griswold family Christmas this year. My Mom was in from Lexington, her parents came from Colorado, her brother came from San Jose and Santa Claus made it from the North Pole to round out the fun. Although they might not agree, the kids got more than enough stuff to last them some time, and we got to spend some great time with family. At least I was able to show the kids that the true meaning of Christmas is being with family and of course, mustache contests.

A Birthday Miracle

Conor turned 8 on the 16th, and the picture you see is his gift from Mother Nature - nearly 4 inches of snow that closed school for the day. He got to open his gifts that morning, and we all got to spend plenty of time playing in the snow and pelting each other with snowballs. I unfortunately missed a big chunk of the middle of the day as I had to go take a final at UofL, but still had a great time with the kids and am now done with the semester. An all around great day for our big man's 8th birthday.

CHRISTMUSTACHE!!

Yes, the mayor has hit us with a sizable pay cut. Yes, he wants to take even more of our pay and cut back our department. And yes, he is trying to demonize us in the media by laying the blame of any layoffs to non-union people on us. But like the Whos in Whoville, we are not to be deterred by his grinchiness, because we know that Christmas means something more. The true meaning of the yuletide holiday is of course -- a mustache contest. Quite simply, everyone had to shave when we worked the day before Thanksgiving and then has until our duty day on Dec. 23rd to grow the best possible mustache. Points will be given not just for fullness and thickness, but also on over all style, and difficulty points are factored in since people have holiday pictures and parties where they must be seen with these atrocious lip sweaters. We feel that if all are honest, a clear winner will be easily agreed upon. Of the 11 members in our house, 9 are in on it. Of the other 2: one has his testicles kept in his wife's purse and either did not receive or would not even ask permission, and the other chooses to self-ostracize himself at all times so this is no exception. 9 is pretty good though, and we have already attracted much attention around the department. We are hoping that this will become a department wide holiday tradition in years to come.

The Mayor that Stole Christmas

Just one week after ramming through legislation to give (yes, give) a development company over $30 million to build yet another downtown attraction (shops and restaurants), Louisville's mayor suddenly discovered a $20 million budget shortfall that has to be fixed yesterday. He is demanding that all city unions, primarily the fire and police departments, take a 2% pay cut. The metro council says that the city's operating budget is hurting, but not to the tune of $20 million, and that the capital budget is flush and can be used to shore up operations. Our unions have asked the mayor to disclose all the city's financial records to us so that an outside accounting firm (at our expense) can take a look at the figures. His response is that there is no time for that, we need to act now! And what does he do since we are trying to make an informed assessment of the situation? He has chosen to no longer act as a conduit for the $3100 in incentive pay that professional firefighters receive from the state, cutting our bi-weekly paychecks by $120. The state gives the money to the city and pays our pension contribution on those funds, and now it is gone because Louisville's mayor is a petulant child. The only thing saving this holiday season at the firehouse is our Christmustache contest - more to follow on that.

Portrait Time

Our church is making a new directory, so they got all the families to come in for a picture with the promise of a free 8x10. Of course this came along with the hard sell from a very rude photographer with exorbitant prices. I tried to politely refuse, yet he kept pushing, so I told him that I am a fireman trying to support a family of 5. He came back that he is a photographer trying to support his kids, so I told him that if he gets people to actually pay his prices he should have no trouble. I'm amazed that our free picture did not have us in half smiles with eyes closed, and a healthy bit of photo shopping. Oh well, he should have been a fireman because I still get paid even when I am a jackass.

Where was Boss Tweed when I needed him?

The election results are in, the people have spoken, and I will not be serving my union as a top officer. I, and many others, had been expecting a close race, but rather than a Kennedy/Nixon squeaker I was on the wrong end of a Reagan/Mondale beat down. With just under 8 years on the job, the old guard is still keeping the status quo so perhaps my time is yet to come. That, and the fact that a full half of the department didn't even vote. A friend consoled me with the fact that my candidate got into the White House, so at least I won the big election of this past week (I was a lonely Obama supporter at work). I prefer to be consoled with the words of Winston Churchill posted on the wall of my office, "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

Autumn beauty

My brother and his wife were able to stop by and see us this past weekend. A great visit, and nice just to spend some time together and catch up a bit. Of particular fun was our trip to a haunted corn maze. The kids were insistent on going, and although they held up well they did not exit with the same enthusiasm that they had going in. The highlight of the night was as we were leaving. A group of giggling teenage girls were waiting to go in, and one stops to tell her friends as we go past, "Hey, it's Finn!" Only 5 and already popular with the ladies. The picture is the view from our dining room. Although I sometimes miss the excitement and variety that a big city offers, there is little that can match the beauty and serenity here.

A New Hope

And so I enter into the world of blogging. Primarily this is a vehicle to better stay in touch with friends and family with less effort on my part (not that I have been putting forth sufficient effort in the past). So I'll post updates about what is going on in our lives, some pictures, the occasional rant, etc. I hope that the people over at brendonesq do not decide to sue me for any type of infringement (I hear they know some good attorneys), but seeing as that is the extent of the blogs I have read this one is likely to resemble that far superior product until I get a feel for what I'm doing. All our best to all of you.
Brian