MasterofDisaster's blog: "Life"

Being in a relationship is like walking in a mine field, one wrong move and it could be over! Most would say that the aftermath of it all is the destructive force to kill it, but the one thing people don't grasp is that 9 times out of 10 it was'nt the actual move made that ended the relationship but the contents with in. The contents spoken of is the pain, the grief, and the fucking bullshit our last relationship caused! Some of us hold on to that pain, the grief, and the bullshit to keep us sane and safe in our new relationship, but forget that depending on how we use it, it is also the one thing that can ruin, has ruined, and will ruin every and any new relationship we get into. Eventually our partner will feel as if he/she is and has to walk on egg shells to keep from setting off the mine field, not knowing why he/she is put in such a position, and it well take its toll on them, you, and in the relationship! We all keep one eye open to the normal signs we have grown to know and love(sarcasm inserted) when our partner has other itineraries we should be aware of, but at the same time, those same signs mean nothing to and in the new relationship you are in simply because not everything can remain the same as it started. Every one stays on their toes in the begining of a relationship to ensure their partner stays interested and focused on them and with time the routine changes, and with those changes comes the red flags......red flags that should not be there without proper proof other then " well that's what my last partner did when I found out they were cheating"! Whatever happened to innocent till proven guilty?!?! How can we move forward freely in a relationship when any little thing could ruin it simply because we don't let go of the past! How can our partner truly make us happy if never given a true chance to do so because the past lingers so closely? How can we truly love if the past has become our shadow? We tend to pay such close attention to anything out of what we call the norm in the relationship we are in that we forget that our partner may be doing the same to us, and looking to see if the trust you claim to have is truly there. In the end if you can so not let go of the past, that means your ex/ex's, you should live by your fucking self and avoid causing that much fucking grief to yourself and someone who does not deserve it! Learn to live and love free, without restrictions and give not your pathetic ex that much control over you!!! P.S. Remember this....they are your ex for a reason and punish not the new for something they had nothing to do with!

Whe you take the time to rate someone after looking at their profiles but they can't for you. I do know that ratings are ratings but it is cool here so it doesnt matter but there is such a thing as common couresty.

Well being single or being alone all of it sucks big time. I'm not single by choice. I do know that there are those that say they love being single but we werent put here as man or woman to be single and alone God did not intend for that to be. He put us here to love each other. We all have our choices of who we want to love whether it is woman to woman or vice versa. This will probably get me in trouble for stating it that way. But things are that way in life and I'm not gay so dont think that but I see nothing wrong if that is what a person so chooses they still love. I know that I have serious issues with trusting and do have some walls. Hopefully that will change. I know not all women are the same just as not all men are the same. Most women won't look twice at me because I'm only 5'-3" well I'm short so what there is more to me then height. I know I could go on and on but it would be like beating a dead horse lol Well we need that love after all we are all only human.

Disaster deployment = helping people by James. C. Janicek (JJ) Project Coordinator My first experience with disaster duty took place back in 1992 for Hurricane Andrew support. I spent four months assisting. I thought that volunteering would look good on my record. I was surprised when I found out I really enjoyed helping people and working on disaster duty. I guess that is why I have signed up to support so many disasters. To some, deploying to support 12 disasters might not seem like much, but it is significant to me. The standing joke around the district is that I have a permanently packed bag. My most recent disaster deployment assignment took place in Louisiana, following Hurricane Katrina. I spent 93 days there. I have served in many capacities while deployed—everything from a Quality Assurance Inspector for debris removal to a Quality Assurance Team Leader for demolition. During my latest assignment, I was a Quality Assurance Supervisor handling over 150 QA inspectors for the blue roof program. Federal Emergency Management Association provides the blue roof program through the Corps. The Corps installs plastic sheeting over damaged areas of a home to prevent further damage. Each of these assignments I encountered was indeed a chore, especially with all of the different personalities involved. There are always two things that I tell my subordinate inspectors—first, be safe; my two favorite words. Second, if they are out doing a home estimate and encounter the homeowner, I expect them to talk with that person. Even though it takes a few more minutes, these homeowners have been through a lot; in most cases we are the first help they see. During disaster deployment, I have always come across unusual circumstances. One example took place in West Virginia. One of my inspectors called me when I was at the other end of the county to tell me that one of the dump trucks fell through a bridge. Four empty trucks had crossed the bridge to get the debris. Three trucks came back across full, weakening the bridge. It was weakened so much that when the last one came across with only about two cubic yards full of debris inside, it fell through. Luckily, the driver wasn't hurt. We had to have two big tow trucks pull him out. Another peculiar situation I experienced during disaster deployment took place when I was at the county seat’s Emergency Operations Center. I got caught in the renewed flooding. I get through most of these small tragedies by trying to find the comedy in it all. For instance, I once accidentally locked my keys in my rental car. After finishing the day working at the Kendall Area Office, I swore to my coworkers that I would sleep on top of the car before I left it in the middle of nowhere; I had gifts for my ex-wife and kids in there. But, I digress. The very best feeling of disaster deployment is when someone sees you in your Corps shirt and they approach you in the store or on a corner and tell you how much they appreciate the fact that you are there. Down in Louisiana, one of my inspectors ran across a needy family whose daughter had undergone open heart surgery, with numerous operations to follow. Hurricane Katrina badly damaged their home. The problem the house had a metal roof. The blue roof program excludes metal roofs. As we pondered a way to help, we secured them a motel room. I called the contractor and told him that I could not in any capacity, except as one human being to another, ask him to put up the blue roof. He did it, however, knowing he would not be paid. I and five other Corps personnel took up a collection for the family. Then, we had a cookout for them at their motel. We took up another collection at Thanksgiving to make sure they had a good one. A few of us even gave them gifts at Christmas. We still keep track of the family. The little girl just had a brain shunt put in. She got through that. In May, she underwent her second open heart surgery. Through it all, we were able to get a new FEMA trailer for them. I will always treasure the thank you card the family gave me afterwards. In addition to being able to help people, the most rewarding part of disaster deployment is the appreciation and thank yous. Yes, it is nice to receive the recognition from the commander and the reverence from coworkers, but the thank yous are what count the most for me. They mean more to me than any certificate or award I could ever receive.

JJ’s Roof Jumpers Courtesy of Emergency Field Office West Covering damaged roofs with blue tarps in the wake of Hurricane Rita is rewarding work, not only for the security it brings to the homeowners but for the bonds that develop among the workers. Jim “J.J.” Janicek, roofing team leader at the Emergency Field Office-West in Lake Charles, La., says, “Each of my inspectors has taught me new things every single day with their unique personalities.” Janicek is a rather unique personality in his own right. With his feather earring and arms covered with tattoos, he’s called “biker dude” by homeowners. According to him, “This is one of the best crews I have had the pleasure to work with. Our time together as a team has been an experience I will never forget.” Most of JJ’s team started out as “newbies” in Slidell, where they were thrown into an already well-functioning group. They got their feet wet estimating damage to roofs and completing final inspections. “We also enjoyed the great “housekeeping” at the motel, but didn’t complain because we were glad we didn’t have to drive back and forth to Baton Rouge,” he said. The team jelled when they were sent to the Emergency Field Office-West to oversee the installation of blue roofs in southwestern Louisiana parishes devastated by the hurricane. “By the time we arrived in Lake Charles, we were considered seasoned estimators. Operations were just starting up, so we have been able to see things from the beginning,” he said. Life in a disaster area is not your normal life but it certainly leads to forming bonds. “Most of us have found solace each night at Comfort Inn or ‘Fort Comfort’ as we like to call it,” said Janicek. “Having roommates has really brought us closer. Each day, we share our funny, frustrating, and heartwarming stories.” The team realizes that the reason they’re here is to help the people in Louisiana. Janicek said, “Everyone that we talk to is so appreciative of our work and that makes being away from our families worth it.” By mid October, teams working the FEMA- assigned Blue Roof mission had installed more than 33,000 temporary blue roofs in Louisiana.

James Janicek is commended for serving as QA Team Leader Supervisor for the Louisiana Recovery Field Office in support and recovery effort for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In this position, he supervised four separate QA team leaders responsible for 60 government QA roofing team members and over 60 Contracted civilian employees During the Period from 01 September through 30 November 2005, he provided invaluable experience and leadership to establish “Blue Roof” operations in St. Tammany Parrish and Calcasieu Parrish. Jim trained and supervised over 60 personnel as “Blue Roof” estimators and quality assurance inspectors. His positive “Can Do” attitude was adopted by both his team members and the civilian contract work force. Under his direct leadership over 35,000 temporary roofs were installed by contractors hired by the Corps of Engineers providing direct hurricane relief for many distressed homeowners. Jim has had a direct major impact on the hurricane recovery efforts in Southern Louisiana. His contribution and teamwork reflect selfless devotion to duty and bring great credit upon him, the LA-RFO and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mr. Smutny, I would like to take this opportunity to commend one of your employees whom was instrumental in the overwhelming success of the Blue Roof Program for the recovery efforts from Hurricane Rita at the Emergency Field Office – West in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Mr. James “JJ” Janicek proved to be an extremely valuable asset to the project, the team of over 150 employees and to the Corps of Engineers. JJ served as a Quality Assurance Supervisor while I was one of the Resident Engineers at the EFO-West. However, JJ was much more than that. When I arrived in mid-October, the RE that I was replacing told me that the QA Supervisors had everything running smooth and the best thing I could do was to not get in the way and mess things up. I soon learned after taking over that he was correct. JJ and Michael Welch (NWO) had a good handle on the entire Blue Roof Program and were able to distribute the workload on a daily basis to over 150 QA personnel and also keep our customers satisfied. JJ was instrumental in assigning the daily work for over 150 QA personnel and keeping up with the progress of the work that they were doing. JJ handled numerous customer complaints in a very professional manner and he even learned to do it in love (ask JJ about this). On several occasions JJ went above and beyond the scope of our mission to help people that fell through the cracks of the government bureaucracy. These are the characteristics of JJ that stand out to me more than anything. His desire to help the less fortunate in our society and his ability to get things done that were not necessarily in our mission but needed to be done anyway. Although he appears to be a little rough around the edges, I learned over the course of six weeks that he has a soft spot for folks that need help the most and does whatever necessary to help them. I am sure that you are aware of JJ’s talents and skills but I just wanted to emphasize to you the importance of his performance in helping us to accomplish the Blue Roof Program in a very successful and timely manner. Mark Harris, P.G. Resident Engineer – EFO-West

March 3, 2007 - What is love . This is a question I do think has been around since the dawn of time. Everyone has their own preception of what is love.

February 24, 2007; Is no place sacred from the fakes, the scams and the people who have no maturity and the ones that play games. It seems that they show up everywhere. You can tell the ones like they will say I screw like a slut. Now that is a bad one. The ones that have no maturity. They can't even acknowledge that you were nice enough to send an email or post a comment about whether their profile or a picture that was especially nice or they had something unique on their profile but we live in a world where no one wants to be right. Don't get me wrong there are good people out there. But even they won't respond. I'm not perfect and of course no one is perfect not this I'm god's gift to woman or man. That is bs I don’t care how great you think you are. Gods gift to us is to love one another and to treat one another with respect. trust, decency and to be true to ourselves. We should not treat anyone bad no matter their race creed or color. God did not intend for us to be alone if that is the case God would have just created Adam or just Eve. We have man and woman here for a reason to love one another. Well be safe be good and above all else love someone.

March 1, 2007 Well I really like doing these blogs. Nice way to put down your thoughts. One of the things I have found out since the divorce is that I'm glad that I can be back to being myself and not being controlled and manipulated like I was. But according to her everything really was my fault and she had no blame. How is for you we were at the marriage consuelor and when he told her to shut off her cell she decided she diednt need to be there but that I needed to be there. How is that for you. I was told by the conseulor that no matter what I did it would not be good enough for her. How is that hitting it on the head in just one session. LOL I have gotten a few tattoos because I like them and have bought some things for myself. Repiecred my ear and even did a second one. Don't much like being alone because I know that God did not mean for us to be alone. I guess that I really dont like it but that is the way it is for now. I have meet some from some of these sites here online but when you go for coffee and they start to talk about their bills it makes you feel like a paycheck sitting there. It is like wow I went through that once won't go through it again. If I do meet someone she will have to like affection and not mind if I call her sweetheart or baby or if I send her cards or get her flowers. And not tell me that flowers are a waste of money because they die but that is not the idea on sending flowers now is it. Boy we are really getting a snow storm here today. Thank God for vacation time. When the Boss turned around and went home so did I. It was a chore getting home but made it. I have looked out the door and it is shit all of this now LOL And it is suppose to keep up till 6 tonight. I know that I have some life stories and things I can say but it is all water under the bridge now. There really is no use into bringing it up. Maybe someone that doesn't mind sleeping in the nude or doesn't mind sex. I have found out that I really like it more now then I did then with her. And at least I work, the guy she married doesn't and won't work. Now that is something I can't figure out how could you go from haviing everything to going to have nothing. Never made sense to me but I have tried to quit trying to figure that one out. I probably never will. I have found out that I don't know that much on sex but I'm willing to try. I have heard some horror stories out there and more from women then men. Just can't figure that one out. Then there are those men and women who portray themselves as something they are not or they use someone elses pictures. Don't they think that sooner or later if they do meet that it will be obvious that the other won't notice. Some times I think that I expect to much but I don't really think so. And I found out a new term that I didn't even know about. It was when I was down in Louisiana for hurricane duty and someone said friends with benefits and I looked at them and said what does that mean either I'm naive or to old. I dont consider myself that old but I never heard that imagine my surprise when I found out what it meant LOL But there isnt to many of my friends that I would considered that with not that there isn't a couple that I would like to do that with LOL I don't know have I turned into a horn dog LOL But there is something said about laying naked next to someone. To touch and to love nothing like it for sure. Wow the blizzard warning is now till 6AM in the morning Shit alot of snow LOL Glad I didnt wait to come home. Well I do have everything here and dont need to go get anything. The only thing is no one here to cuddle with. This is good weather to do this for sure. Thank God for electric blankets LOL They do work in a pinch. I hope all will be safe out there. It is really nasty. I guess I could get into my sweats but will do that later. Maybe watch a movie as I do have a few DVDs. Listening to the radio they are having a teleathon for children's hospital and hearing these stories makes me realize that I don't really have it that bad. Glad that I do donate to the agencies that I do. I know it helps. It is not much but every little bit helps. Life can be amazing if you let it. One thing I do wish if I could change and that is to have my oldest child back. Boy is it really blowing out there. Well with this it makes it nice to have vacation time and I can work on blogs. Life is to short not to enjoy it. I have found out that I like myspace and glad a friend of mine my bro talked me into it. I like the blogs and it is nice looking at profiles and reading other people's blogs and making a comment if you can or a comment on the pictures that they share with all of us on here. Not many my age for sure. I have looked at alot of profiles and most of them seem to be in there teens or twentys , thirtys And a few older and I mean a few. LOL Even if they dont resond to a comment I have made that is perfectly okay by me. But if someone comments on mine I try to respond back with at least a thank you. I know that I'm looking but if I can get just some friends to talk to via email on line that is perfectly okay by me. And if it is someone younger then me if I can help with some advice or with a shoulder that is also okay by me. I have been thrrough alot and if anything I have been through and can offer advice to help them get through it okay then I know that I did something good. Well I think that some people will think I'm rambling but just talking with whatever comes to mind. It is bad out and I know my work place never closes no matter how bad it gets. But I have realized that it is nice to be myself again. I have gotten a few tattoos now I have 18 always knew that I like tattoos. And I did have my ear piecred but she didnt like it so I didnt wear it she said if I did that she would rip it out ouch. So repiecred it and even got it piecred a second time. Great being me again. I will give her one thing and she got me in to dressing up for work and now I just love it. I have taken it to a level which is great I love color coordinating my dress shirts with a matching tie. My closet looks like a rainbow. LOL I finally was able to get a family picture of me and my kids and granddaughters except for my oldest child and my newest granddaughter. So that is cool. And I never thought that I would be where I am with my career. I have recieved awards and even had a newspaper article done on me. Which was really cool I thought that it would be a one paragraph but it turned out to be a whole page article. An outstanding surprise for sure. I think I just might be getting to long to where I could possibly be putting people to sleep LOL I guess more maybe later. Be good be careful and please be safe.

Well I'm beginning to wonder what this is. I hear about it but I think I'm a monk now celibate LOL Can't seem to find someone as a friend with benefits. I have been through the relationship idea and have gotten shit on a few times. Well now this is suppose to be my time to enjoy things but hell we still need sex. it has been so long. Well I even think there has to be a trust issue for this as well. For after all we are human.