Hey guys, I'm sorry about this but I have to cancel today's stream. I got a call last night after the stream that my Grandmother passed away. I don't think I'd be very entertaining today. Streams should be back next week but I'll keep you posted. Thank you for understanding🧡
@stlouiswings The Louis Garlic sticks and deep fried pickles were ELITE. Best pickles around! The new pickle coins don't hit nearly as good! Not to mention the batter doesn't cover them well. And the Mozza sticks! A staple at any bar and grill! The coin curd combo was not it. 🥺
@stlouiswings why did you take away the good starters off your menus? 🥺 So disappointed to learn that all of our fave starters were taken off the menu for less appealing replacements. I mean, Beer battered cheese curds? Really my guys? 💔
Was super excited to tell my Boyfriend I got an interview to the really good job I applied for, and he couldn't even bother to muster a, "That's so great, I'm so proud of you!" Got a blowoff, "you'll do fine." Excitement over.
Good morning all:
Effective immediately, I have decided to take a break from the day to day operations of HRMFireNews. For most of a decade now, the operations of this fire news outlet have been an all-consuming every day commitment. One cannot do such things forever.
Despite the occasional rant/troll/dust up, this has been a tremendously positive experience. That said, quite frankly, I am tired out.
The time required to do this correctly, in the way I want, is substantial. It is an every day thing, and it times, it completely takes over life. To operate that way has been a choice of mine and a fulfilling one, but I’ve also found myself looking ahead and somewhat dreading continuing to be glued to my keyboard. This is new and has caused me to re-evaluate.
Half-assing it isn’t an appealing option. I’ve always felt I would only do this as long as I could give 100% commitment.
While many things have changed for the better and I feel this project has accomplished lots, I am fatigued. I can’t tackle advocating on certain issues with the same enthusiasm I used to and while keeping the public informed during emergencies is a privilege, like I said, it’s hard to maintain that pace forever as a hobby. I've basically been giving the fire gods a free claim on all my spare time for most of a decade, which is tough to maintain.
I will be honest, I do not know if this is a temporary or permanent break. Since starting the page, I have not spent any serious amount of time away from the page, so this will be new. I’m going to simply put things on hold for now and give thought to next steps.
To the members who are pushing for positive change: keep pushing. HRFE has an amazing number of incredibly capable, talented, and knowledgeable people who have made things better and will continue to. Much change is needed but the public is in good hands.
I need some time to think about what, if anything, I want to do next, and in order to do that, I need to get away from all of this.
To head off any questions that may follow, I should note there is nothing personally wrong. Also, nobody has forced or pushed me into doing this in any way, shape, or form. I simply have decided to think about the future.
To be honest, I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while but given the Tantallon Fire and the floods that followed last year I felt a responsibility to try to keep people informed through the full unfolding of those events from end to end, including the PIA.
I appreciate everybody’s tremendous support, including the public who follow and the many members who provide information/insight etc. Thank you. There are too many people to thank individually, but seriously, thank you.
In other news, I'm really, really, really looking forward to going hours or weeks or days or months without addressing "what's going on near so and so" or the latest problem.
After today, I will not be posting, responding to DMs, or writing the Sunday update during this hiatus. I will make a further announcement later on once I’ve finished reflecting on the future of the page.
Thank you all and enjoy your long weekends.
This is Ben’s partner, Sara.
I’m heartbroken to tell you that Ben died on Saturday, June 1 after a brief illness. He loved his family, being a journalist, rooting for the Yankees and the Commanders and so much more. He’ll forever be in my heart and will be missed by so many. 💔