In these days between Christmas and New Years, nothing ever seems to get done. The day after Christmas in Canada (and Ireland and England, I think) is St. Stephen's Day or Boxing Day and I have heard it's the day on which everyone boxes up the stuff they got and tries to find a home for it somewhere among the already cluttered existence they already enjoy. I had to work on St. Stephen's/Boxing Day this year, and in anticipation of the changes coming up for me in a shift transfer associated…

Just wanted to wish everyone on the Nation a Merry Christmas and hope your holiday is blessed and peaceful. Although I worked the Christmas shift each year for the first part of my career, thanks to the grace of good planning and seniority, I get to spend the holidays with my favorite Christmas presents these days: my beautiful wife and daughters.…

In a moment of weakness, a non-firefighting blog entry, or at least it's not pure firefighting stuff in the sense of the word. But I digress- I'm standing in my kitchen, watching Caroline and Honora share Shepherd's Pie back and forth across the table (definitely not desired behavior) and glaring at the Christmas lights I have strung from the kitchen to the dining room and across to the living room.

I'm not one to ascribe to conspiracy theories, but it definitely seems as if each of…

Or at least that's what I'm hoping for. It is, after all, the off-season around these parts and subject to the occasional night with no calls. I chose to work a double for the last minute overtime, because there's nothing like 24 more hours of time-and-a-half on a Captain/Paramedic salary to make Christmas bill paying that much more cheery this year. And since this now officially appears to be my last year of OT eligibility, it's a little bittersweet. Because, for those of you who actually…