Our Team!

Here is our 2008 team!!

Except for Jack, (next to me), he left to dispatch in he Smokey Mt's.

Forest HCM

I usually do not talk about work here, but this has got to take the cake....

As everyone knows, I took this job because of the automatic promotion, the great experience I am getting, they paid for my move, and because I wanted to be where the action is. And I got the action!

Anyway, the Forest Service has this new thing called Human Capital Management. They took all of the HR people out of each forest, and moved them to Albuquerque, Nm.

This of course happened right before I moved from the Park Service to the Forest Service.

My first interaction with HCM went very well, they processed my advance, hooked me up with a great moving company.

I really thought it was gonna be a welcome change from the usual...

BOY WAS I WRONG!

Bonnie Kennedy was the lady that called and offered me the job here. After accepting the job, she no longer took my phone calls. In fact, I could not get any help from anyone at the Sparks, Nevada HQ of the forest I work for.....I thought this was very peculiar..I later found out that she was told that if she answered any questions about HR to any employee, she would be terminated. WOW again!

Now, a little geography......I work for the Humboldt-Toiyabe Forest. It is the biggest forest in the USFS. We are spread out all over Nevada, and part of California.....

Lauren Reynolds is supposed to be the HR person for the entire forest. Getting her to take a call is like calling the White House and asking for the President. He/She is just not gonna take your call.

The Sparks office is 130 miles away. Albuquerque is 1400 miles away. Do you think they care about us employees out in the Desert?

Okay, back to when I got here. When I got here, even though the District Office I work for was part of the process of hiring me, when I walked into the door, they said "who are you? What are you doing here?".

I should have known to just turn around right there!

So, in the interest of shortness, I am already a Federal Employee when I arrived. In my other jobs as a federal employee, I never missed a pay check when I went from one agency to the next.

It took over a month of being here before I got paid. (Thank goodness for the South Eastern Hockey Officials Association and the funds I earned).

Then there was the Health Insurance fiasco.......I came on board the USFS June 10th, 2007. I had no usable health insurance until the first week of November 2007. The USFS still took the premiums out of my pay, but do you think they would pay me back? NOOOOOOOOO!

Now lets talk about RIT.

It seems that the Federal Government taxes its employees twice when they pay for your move.

First when they pay you, then a year later, they want to know how much money you made so they can tax you again! So, being someone that thinks we pay to much in taxes anyway, questioned this. I asked: "What business is it of the USFS how much money I make as a Hockey Referee? Why do you have to know how much I report on my federal taxes?" I asked these questions to HCM in Albuquerque, because the response from Lauren Reynolds was "you need to call HCM". After making several calls, sending in several e-tickets, I finally got to talk to a person at HCM. His response: "its the IRS's policy, not ours. You have to report it or we garnish your wages!" So, after going round and round with this person, we arrived at the answer to the original question.......Only W-2 info is required, not 1099 info.

Now comes the automatic promotion. The week of June 10th of this year, I was to be automatically promoted to the next grade. It was part of the job. I had asked one of my bosses at the District office if this was automatic. He said he thought so, but he called Albuquerque to confirm. They too said it was automatic. But, he put in a request to make sure that the promotion went through.

Well, it was not! The HCM never put in for the promotion, never acted on the request by my district office. So now I am furious about this and with everything else that has happened, got really rude in my correspondence with HCM. Never swearing, just calling them worthless and such....

So, today, I get this email from Kirk D Powell, Customer Service Supervisor
ASC/HCM Contact Center, MS-211. He says that he is not going to let me talk to his employees like I did, harass them and so on.

So, instead of helping resolve the problem, his way of helping a fellow employee is to tell me I am not allowed to put in any requests nor talk to his employees.

I have now reached the end of my rope with HCM.

My District Ranger, and my boss here at dispatch have asked me to curb my emotions (which I keep in check, ask my center manager).

So I will, but bet your last dollar, every chance I get, I am going to post that guys name so everyone knows what a horrible problem solver he is!

Okay, I feel much better! Oh, and the 61 hours of overtime this pay period helps a little!

My New Fixation

So, living in the State of Nevada is really neat. For the most part, people live their lives by the "Golden Rule".

Except for the areas around Reno/Carson/Tahoe and Las Vegas where the California infestation has started, people are very conservative and believe in all of the rights that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution provide.

Oh yeah, lest we forget Wal-Mart, that is bowing down to liberal left wing do-gooders about the sale of weapons and ammo....But, our "Wally World" still sells ammo, but no weapons....They also do not have a sign on the front door declaring the store a "free killing" zone, ah, I mean a "No guns allowed" zone....Kinda like our schools and shopping malls....

Oh yeah, and my sister will hate me, but Disney is also a "Free Killing Zone" too. They just fired a guy in Florida because he brought his gun to work, but kept it in his vehicle (as Florida state law allows), illegally searched his car for the gun then fired him.

None of that here!

Anyway, for the most part, those kinds of people do not live in Nevada yet.......

Which brings me to my new fixation with weapons.....I have always been a gun lover. I had only owned a 357 pistol with my x-wife when we lived in Alaska.

I now have a Mossberg 500 tactical 12 gauge shotgun, a CZ 100 40 S&W and a just acquired Taurus Tracker 44 magnum with a 4" barrel. Dirty Harry's 44 magnum had a six inch barrel.

My newest addition will be a M-16! It is being built by "My Dealer" (What I call my gun dealer down the road) (oh, and did I mention that he is a Mormon????!!) and should be ready for pick up no later than August 11th. That will be my real "Fix" from the dealer!

My concealed weapons permit arrived a couple weeks ago, and I should see my Utah "non-resident" permit soon also. (Who would have thought, Utah, having reciprocity with the most states in the country!)

I think what is really neat, is when I pass people on I-80 with California plates while on my motorcycle.....My holster sits on my right side....the Californians have this "deer in the headlights look"! I smile and keep passing them....

Once the Utah permit arrives, I will be licensed to carry concealed in 34 states!!!!!!!!! So, when I visit my daughter in PA, my family in Oh, my family in MI, I can take my self defense weapons with me!!

When I visit Lisa, I have to put them away, because Maryland is a "Rights Denied" state...Oh well! Yes, in Maryland, the only way you can obtain a permit to carry concealed is to have been threatened with violence! Thats right, in order to prevent violence and protect yourself in Maryland, you have to have had violence projected on you......Hmmmm

The picture with the bullets shows the 40 S&W for my CZ, the middle one is the 44 magnum and the last one is the 5.56mm M-16 bullet!

The first picture is of the new pistol, and the second is of both my pistols together.....

Even with my "fixation", I realize these are not toys. I have taken classes on the laws governing the use of force, and defense. I have also been doing a lot of reading on the subject. The main purpose for owning my weapons is for self defense and the defense of those in my charge. I will protect those that stay in my home, my property and those that live near me in times of trouble. (I hope I do not sound like some crazed cult figure!)

Oh yeah, its also nice to have the "right" to purchase any kind of weapon I want too, when I want too (up until 6pm each night, cause thats when the background check people close), where ever I want too (Yes, even drug stores sell guns in Nevada!)!

Toodles!

My Daughter!

As most of you know, Charlee and I were not introduced to each other until she was 7 years old....

I have cherished every moment we have spent together since the day her mother let the two of us get together........

Charlee was here for a week, a few weeks ago....WHAT A BLAST!!

She called me at work the other day....Told me about her worries, her concerns, her needs and such.

She even helped her old dad figure out the new ipod that he has coming.....WOW!

At the end of the conversation,
she said something to me that not only put a smile on my face, but made me realize that even though I have not been there for the things a father should be there for, she loves me, respects me, and needs me as much as I need her....

She said "I am glad that we are talking again, I need that in my life"......To most, that would not seem like much.....To me, it means that my daughter listens to my opinions (not preaching) and uses her own decision making process to come to conclusions....

I love her more than she knows, and even though I take jobs that benefit me, and travel all over the country, I think (and hope) she knows that she can ask me anything, anywhere, anytime and that I will give her my best educated guess.....

What Next?

Okay...

When I took this job, I thought "WOW, Nevada, Vegas, Reno, the desert, no rain, no snow and so on!

WELL!

We had what appeared to be a "dry thunderstorm" come over top of dispatch. Shortly thereafter, we had several fires break out north of here.

Thats cool, cause that is to be expected....WELL!

About two hours later, we get another storm....This one had precipitation.....LOTS! Then, the hail came!!! LOTS OF HAIL!!! I thought Pearl was gonna get plastered! She is okay...

Then, about 6:30 pm, one of our fires in the Austin area was getting hammered by a storm.....The Assistant Chief of that area called us on the phone to tell us that a Tornado Warning was issued to that area......I called the weather service, and all they could say about not notifying us was "sorry"...AHHHHH! We contacted the incident commander to let him know what was going on, and he said "ah, yeah, its over top of our position right now, we are digging in!" I wont tell you his exact words.

So, in summary, always expect the unexpected, even if you live in the desert!

BTW, this kind of stuff has followed me all of my life! Where ever I go, big events happen!

X-Files

So, here we are on Saturday night, I have been called in because of a fire....I have a few short minutes so I decided to write about something I saw on TV several weeks ago....

The new X-Files Movie!

Does Scully look great or what??!!

I would have been her slave forever, if the chance came up....

Not sure if anyone knew, but she is blonde naturally...My dad would be proud...He always told me I was a blonde type of guy....

I think its the long hair....Could be the legs, those lips...I could go on all night, but that would be really for another type of log....

I have been an X-Files junkie since '94. I missed the first season, but made up for it...And now that I live so close to Area 51, this was an un-expected pleasure, to have this movie come out!!

Okay, back to work....

Hollister Let Down!

450 miles one way! Wind in my face the whole way! Smoke in the air (But I like that!), temperatures went from 113 down to 40 degrees.....I was all hopped up, nothing was gonna get me down!

The temps were hot, until I arrived on the west side of Sacremento! Then, the temps dropped to around 40 degrees.....I started freezing my ass off....Stopped to dress for the weather.....

Until Friday morning......

I had a GREAT hotel room at Executive Inns in Morgan Hill, Ca.....

Left at 8am....I took a wrong turn in Gilroy (The Garlic Capital of the World!)...It could have been the excitement, it could have been the smell of raw garlic on the vine, it could have been that I was pissed I was in California, it was cloudy, and cold and add to that, I was lost, and on a road never traveled.......

I was in an "S" turn stretch, so I slowed down.....this was supposed to go for about 2 miles....after three miles, I kicked it up a notch as I approached a railroad crossing....Mind you, I was only doing about 50 when I went up the hill to the crossing.....OH SHIT! Theres a 90 degree turn on the other side of the tracks........Quickly, I down shifted, and applied pressure to the brakes....I felt the rear end lock up, and immediatly let go and put on more pressure to the front......I was not worried about the stone shoulder, or the drop off, I was worried if there was a vehicle on the other side of that turn.....AHHH, there was!!!.....He saw me, and moved left of center (not hard for those from California) and I think he called me a few names, which he was entitled.....I was under control, and pulled over to catch my thoughts and let the adrenalen (SP) settle.....

There was a bike behind me, Mark, who stopped to see if I was okay....I was, told him I just neede to catch my thoughts and go.....He sped off..

I got back under way, thinking that I am glad that I am not in the headlines for this run as the first biker casualty!

I caught up with Mark, and he showed me to Hollister.....

We chatted, and he said, "let me show you around" so we walked around together, he showed me the history places, the Legion and so on....He made the statement that it seemed pretty tame compared to other years....

So, we had a couple beers at the World Famous "Johnnys", and he said "lets go to a neat place".

So off we went to San Juan Batista......WOW!!! Nice little town....It was one of the mission towns from days past....Very quaint, LOTS OF BIKERS and two little bars.....

We spent most of the rest of the day there.....We were talking to the owner of "Mom and Pops" one of the local watering spots, and she said that the sheriff in Hollister dislikes bikers, and they tried to turn it into a family event, but as we saw, it was not working...She said to go over to Los Banos, there was a rally there too......So after exchanging emails and phone numbers, Mark had to go home to his wife....

I rode around Gilroy some, attained my supply of garlic products and went back to my room....

Got up in the morning, and had a beautiful ride over to Los Banos.....Over several mountains, and around San Luis Obispo resivoir! Very nice....

Well, another disappointment when I got to this rally. $10 to get in, and only five vendors!!!!

I was on the road to Winnemucca by 11am, and back into town at 7pm, watching the Miller Lite Dodge lose a cylinder.....AHHH....

So, it was a BIG disappointing weekend....But hey, I rode over 1200 miles......and met a really neat guy!