I have not written much in the last two weeks. Strangely, I typically write at work. I write while my probationary officer is writing. As you would expect, it takes a probationary officer longer to write a report since they are new to report writing. During this time I take a few minutes and punch out my thoughts. Today I am back at the extra job, so you are subjected to more of my ramblings. Jen and I have been home with the kids enjoying Christmas vacation. Wednesday was day number 12. It was the first day that had nothing on our schedule. So, Wednesday morning over breakfast we decided to take the kids to the Children's Museum (CM). During previous vacations, this idea has been brought up and quickly shot down. If our kids are on vacation, so are everyone else's. Couple that with a rainy day where outside activities are not an option, and you have the makings for a busy day at the CM. So, we got ready and were off like a herd of turtles.
The drive in was smooth and there was very little traffic on the freeways. That is until we reached the area around the CM. It seems that every other parent in the surrounding area had the same idea. There were cars, pedestrians, and strollers everywhere and they all streaming toward the big yellow building. If I did not know any better, I would have thought they were giving away free H1N1 vaccines or iPods or steak or crack inside the building. I dropped off Jen and the kids and looked for parking. The new parking structure next to the museum appeared to be full. The traffic leading toward it was in gridlock. So, I went in the opposite direction and found a spot on the street. I met the family inside and A led the way into the maelstrom of little people and soccer moms. The first stop was the Tower of Power. This was not here on our last visit a few years ago. The T of P is an approximately 40 foot tall series of discs that are surrounded by a stainless steel mesh. The discs are arranged so that kids can climb up and down the tower inside the mesh. There are at least three different towers. They start in the basement and go to the top of the museum. There is a stairway in the middle that has landings where the kids can either get into or out of the towers. Parents can follow the little ones up and down using the stairs. Parents are also able to climb with their children. The Towers looked strong, but I did not want to put them to the test. A found a way in and started climbing. He did not really like the T of P. He was worried about losing us. I told him that I was following him on the stairs and that reassured him. A2 was too little for the T of P, so she played on the Dance Mania floor. The floor is made up of small squares that light up and the light moves to the music. A2 was still in crowd shock I think because she just stood there and watched the other kids. A found an obstacle course. Jen gave A2 a boost up to the starting platform, and they were off. A did a good job of looking out for his sister and she had a ball following him around and doing the exact same things that he did. They must have done the course 10 times. From there, I led us through a restricted access door into an exhibit area. A2 wandered around and A found a wall that had two baskets of blocks in front of it. The idea was to fill up the wall with the strange shaped blocks. It looked like Tetris in reverse to me. The blocks were even the same shapes. My Dad would have enjoyed that wall. Then we decided it was time for lunch. We wandered our way through the multitudes to the Kid's Cafe. The line for the Cafe was out the door and halfway down the main hallway of the CM. No thank you. We pressed on and eventually made our way outside to the water exhibits. This was the kids favorite part of the CM. A and I were using pipes to direct water and A2 was pouring water, everywhere. A got a little wet while A2's shirt and pants were soaked. Jen was a trooper. She took a few pictures and watched us play. Inside I am sure she was screaming, "It is cold outside, our kids are getting wet, and my husband is playing right along. I hope no one gets sick." We took a few wet "after" pictures and walked to the car. As we were leaving, the line to get into the CM was halfway down the block. Jen who is always prepared, had an extra outfit for A2 since hers was drenched. We changed her and drove to Chuy's for a great lunch.
The kids had a great time at the CM. It is a difficult environment for those that are worried about sickness and germs, like we are. The CM is interactive and our kids are touching the same things that every other kid has touched. YUCK. We used hand sanitizer frequently. I think that our next trip to the CM will be on a sunny day when everyone else's kids are in school right after the entire place has been sanitized. I have no idea how we will arrange that, but it sounds nice.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
The family as Elves doing a Hip-Hop dance
Terry did one of these last year. Courtney sent me a link this morning to the site. Jen and the kids make very cute elves, I do not. So, without further ado.... http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/OsSGVkDsgsBDfotY
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Trying to get A2 to eat
Jen and I were spoiled with A. He would eat almost anything we put in front of him. Vegtables, salad, fruit, and whatever else we tried. We did not realize at the time just how lucky we were. Along came A2, and as you know, every child is different. Where A would eat anything, our biggest struggle with A2 is getting her to eat. Anything.
This past weekend, we were at my parent's house. They had family and friends over to watch a Christmas boat parade. The boats are decorated with Christmas lights. The people on the boats throw candy to kids as they pass by. In the middle of dinner, the boats started passing by. The kids ran downstairs and were rewarded with quite a haul of candy. They came back upstairs and divided up the booty.
A2 decided that she wanted an orange tootsie roll pop, TRP for short. She brought it out to the dinner table and asked for it to be opened. A battle of wills ensued. On one side, Jen who wanted A2 to eat her dinner first. On the other side, A2 who wanted the orange TRP and nothing else. After some back and forth between the mom and the three year old, Jen compromised with A2. The deal was 3 bites of hotdog, or no TRP. A2 thought that was absurd. Jen and everyone else at the table tried to reason with her. Everyone tried little games or tricks to get her to eat. Nothing worked. It was a stalemate. A2 did not realize just how stubborn her mother can be. Eventually, and I do mean eventually, A2 got three bites down and earned her TRP. I must give A2 a little credit. She cried a little, but did not throw a fit or tantrum. She knows that gets her no where with us.
The next morning, a Sunday, Jen made our usual Sunday breakfast, a coffee cake. A2 usually eats the coffee cake, or at least some of it. Not on this day. I tried to get her to eat. No luck. A came to the rescue.
Jen got an "Elf (A named him Shorty) on the Shelf" last year. It is a little magic elf that reports back to Santa how the kids are behaving. Jen writes letters to the kids from the elf that describe what the elf observed the day before. The kids find the notes every morning. The letter on this morning told A2 to eat the food that was given to her. This is where A came to the rescue. After A2 told me that she was finished and had not eaten anything, A said, "A2, do you want the kitchen and baby doll from Santa? If so, you better eat your cake." That did the trick, bribery from an imaginary elf through her brother. A2 proceeded to eat her breakfast. We have the elf for 10 more days before he goes back to the North Pole, after that I do not know what we are going to do.
This past weekend, we were at my parent's house. They had family and friends over to watch a Christmas boat parade. The boats are decorated with Christmas lights. The people on the boats throw candy to kids as they pass by. In the middle of dinner, the boats started passing by. The kids ran downstairs and were rewarded with quite a haul of candy. They came back upstairs and divided up the booty.
A2 decided that she wanted an orange tootsie roll pop, TRP for short. She brought it out to the dinner table and asked for it to be opened. A battle of wills ensued. On one side, Jen who wanted A2 to eat her dinner first. On the other side, A2 who wanted the orange TRP and nothing else. After some back and forth between the mom and the three year old, Jen compromised with A2. The deal was 3 bites of hotdog, or no TRP. A2 thought that was absurd. Jen and everyone else at the table tried to reason with her. Everyone tried little games or tricks to get her to eat. Nothing worked. It was a stalemate. A2 did not realize just how stubborn her mother can be. Eventually, and I do mean eventually, A2 got three bites down and earned her TRP. I must give A2 a little credit. She cried a little, but did not throw a fit or tantrum. She knows that gets her no where with us.
The next morning, a Sunday, Jen made our usual Sunday breakfast, a coffee cake. A2 usually eats the coffee cake, or at least some of it. Not on this day. I tried to get her to eat. No luck. A came to the rescue.
Jen got an "Elf (A named him Shorty) on the Shelf" last year. It is a little magic elf that reports back to Santa how the kids are behaving. Jen writes letters to the kids from the elf that describe what the elf observed the day before. The kids find the notes every morning. The letter on this morning told A2 to eat the food that was given to her. This is where A came to the rescue. After A2 told me that she was finished and had not eaten anything, A said, "A2, do you want the kitchen and baby doll from Santa? If so, you better eat your cake." That did the trick, bribery from an imaginary elf through her brother. A2 proceeded to eat her breakfast. We have the elf for 10 more days before he goes back to the North Pole, after that I do not know what we are going to do.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Has not a clue where he is going
Things have been rather uneventful at work lately. A few traffic stops and a few reports, none of them very memorable. JS is on his final day of evaluation. He is doing well and is going to pass. He does a great job with safety, traffic stops, driving, reports, and just about every other aspect of the job. However, he is having difficulty with Key mapping. To put it bluntly, he can't find his behind with both hands. To his credit, he has only lived in Houston since January of this year and he has spent the majority of his training time north of the bayou. The first four days of evaluation, I really did not notice the severity of the issue. I am not sure if all of our calls were on major streets or if I was just a little too helpful. Sometimes it is difficult for me to sit in the passenger seat and let the driver turn the wrong direction. I did start noticing early on that he had some difficulty finding the regular places. What I mean by regular places are those location that we go to every shift. I typically eat at the same restaurant, get a drink at the same convenience store, write reports in the same parking lot, run traffic at the same intersection every single shift. I do not expect the rookie to be able to find those locations without help on the first day. By day two and then day three, they should have some idea. By day five, I should not have to tell you where to turn to find a place that we have been to each of the last 4 days. I noticed on day three that I still had to tell him where to turn to find my convenience store and report writing location. So, today at the beginning of the shift I told him that it was sink or swim time. I was not going to help him find any of our locations. He found the convenience store and we got a drink and then we were dispatched to a loud noise that was about a mile away from the store. He looked at the Key map for 10 minutes and then turned west out of the parking lot. Our destination was to the east. Amazingly enough, I did not correct him. We drove west looking for a street that was behind us. He drove about three miles and decided to stop and look at the map again. We turned around and then slowed at every street so that he could read the street sign. After we made it back to the starting place, I told him to pull into a parking lot. It was teaching time. In the call slip which comes up on the MDT (the computer in our patrol vehicle), three streets are named for every destination. The actual location of the call, and then the two cross streets and their block numbers that the actual location sits in between. JS knew the information was there, but was not sure how to use it. Our call was in the 200 block of a street and the cross streets had the block number of 3700. I asked him what was the block number of our current location, 1000. I then asked what was the block number of our closest cross street. He looked and discovered it was 3800. I asked which direction our current street ran, and he replied correctly, east and west. I told him that the block numbers get smaller as you go east and north in our area, for the most part. With that information, I then asked him if our target street was an east west street or a north south street? He said east west. Correct. I asked which way did we need to go to reach the cross streets? He correctly replied east and we were on our way. Armed with his new found understanding of block numbers in our area and how to use them, JS vastly improved his ability to find location throughout the rest of the shift. I also gave him a few other pointers to help him find his way around the area. It will take him a little time, but at least now he will not drive miles in the wrong direction.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Password security and the system that works for me
A very good friend recently sent me a text message saying that his Facebook account had been hacked. Someone broke into his account and started sending messages to his contacts that contained pornography. That sucked on a few different levels. First, anytime that an account gets hacked and a password is compromised, that blows. Even worse, if you use the same password at multiple sites, the damage can grow quickly. Adding insult to injury, you now have to send messages to your contacts stating that you are not a deranged freak that likes to send porn to his friends. You explain that some wacko that lives in his mom's basement paused his World of Warcraft game for a few minutes and hacked my account. He then sent you the porn, my bad. You go on to explain that you did not make it very difficult for the WOW freak to guess your password since you use the same password all across the web, and it your dog's name, CoCo. Not good.
A few years ago, that could have been me. I used the same password. It was easy for me to remember. I did not want to try and remember 100 different passwords. I had tried a software solution that stored passwords and even generated very strong passwords for me. I lost them all when I had a system crash and had not backed up my data (another topic for another time). So, I decided to take the easy way out and used the same 7 character password everywhere. There are numerous problems with that solution. Chiefly, if your password is compromised at just one site, it is compromised everywhere. It seems like every week we hear about another company that had a data breach and the Russian mob now has the passwords and logins for 2 million people that used a certain Web site. It might not even be a bank Web site. But they know that people take the easy way out and use the same password everywhere. So, they got your login at ESPN.com, no big deal. But now if they find out where you do your banking, they have that password as well. That could pose a problem.
The solution that I found was on Lifehacker.com and was written by Gina Tripani. She recommended using a password system. You start out with a 6 or 8 or 10 character core that you will remember. Whatever works for you is fine. A combination of letters and numbers is preferred. Even a word followed by numbers that mean something to you is fine. So, say 1234qwer is your 8 character core. (I know it looks random, but look at your keyboard to find where I got that character core) That core will be used everywhere. But what will make it unique, is adding letters at every different Web site. Take the first two vowels in the domain name of the Web site and add them to the beginning of your core and take the first two consonants and add them to the end of your core. For example, I will use Amazon.com, a fairly popular online retailer. With this system, your password for Amazon.com would become aa1234qwermz. I took the first two vowels in Amazon.com, aa, added the core in the middle, 1234qwer, and the first two consonants in Amazon.com, mz, to the end. That left me with aa1234qwermz, a strong password and a very easy system to remember at every Web site. You can change the system to whatever works best for you. If you want to use the first three consonants and the last vowel or last two consonants and first three vowels, that is fine. Just pick a system and a core and you are good to go. There will be some exceptions. Some Web sites require a certain number of characters and that may not conform to your system. Or they may require just numbers, but the vast majority of Web sites will work with this system.
Another potential source for hackers is the security question. Most Web sites allow you to have your password sent to the email on file or have the password reset if you correctly answer the security question. Most of these questions are benign questions about your past. Where did you go to high school? What is your mother's maiden name? What was the make of your first car? It is very easy to look at those questions and answer them honestly so that you will remember the answer. The problem comes from the proliferation of social media sites. They make it very easy to find out data about your past. So, I hack your email account because the password is CoCo, and then I find out where you went to high school, and now I own your online identity. So, what to do with the security questions? Pick an answer, and use it for every single security question. Pick your favorite band, football team, brand of shoes, whatever and use it for them all. What is your mother's maiden name? Soundgarden. Where did you go to high school? Soundgarden. What is the make of your first car? Soundgarden. It will not make sense, and that is the goal. You will know the answer, but the hacker in the basement can't easily figure it out.
If you need a password system, try it out and let me know what you think.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The disadvantages of a flipped schedule and Single parents, how do they do it?
Just a few days ago I extolled on the advantages of Jen and I working opposite schedules. Well, I was treated to a disadvantage on Wednesday. Last night, at 12:45, I received a text message from Jen. She had already called me to tell me good night, so I knew that this was a bad sign. It was. She was not feeling well and was not sure what Wednesday morning would bring. This Wednesday was going to be different from a regular Wednesday in our house. My parents usually watch A2 on Wednesdays so that I can sleep. However, my parents are currently on a 5 day cruise. So, Jen's parents were kind enough to agree to watch A2 on Wednesday. Jen had planned on dropping off A2 at her parents house on her way to work. When I got home Wednesday morning, Jen was still in bed. Not good. It was time for a new plan for the day. I decided to take a nap until 7:25 AM. At that point, I woke up A so that he could get ready to go to school. A2 woke up a short time later, asking for her mom like she does every day that it is not mom that greets her in the morning. Pam picked up A and took him to school, thank you. So, it was A2 and I for the day. When A was this age, I was used to getting home from work and having to take care of him for the day. I am no longer used to that. A2 and I watched a movie or two and played with a Playskool Christmas train and a Playskool house. Big fun. I chased A2 around the house and A2 used me as a jungle gym. Numerous times, A2 said, "It is time to get dressed". Every time, I replied, "Today is a jammy day." A2 ate lunch and went down for a nap at 1:30 PM. I have never been so grateful that she is still a nap taker. I passed out on the couch immediately. In the past when I was watching A, once he went down for his nap, I could sleep until the evening. Jen would get home before A woke up from his nap. Today, I was not so lucky. A got home from school at 3:30 PM. He found me comatose on the couch, and somehow was able to wake me from the dead. It was time for homework. We did homework for an hour and then A2 woke up. No more sleep for me. Jen was still not feeling well and decided that she would stay home on Thursday as well. She called her parents who agreed to let A2 spend the night at their house (thank you) so that they could take her to school on Thursday. I fed the kids dinner, got them bathed, and then with detailed instructions from Jen, got everything ready for Thursday. I put A to bed, then took A2 over to my in-laws house. Then I got to go back to work. Due to work obligations, the next window for sleep is Thursday afternoon. How do single parents do it? I have no idea. I spent one day as a single dad and I was ready for a padded room. I am sure some of that was from sleep deprivation. Hopefully. Quick side note, I am starting to understand why sleep depravation is an excellent interrogation technique. What my experience today really brought home was my wife is an amazing woman. I already knew that. But, by trying to fill her tiny heels for one day, I better understand all that she does. She is the stick that stirs the drink for our family. The foundation, the glue, what makes our family go. Without her, it was chaos. Sure, I got the kids fed and to school and cleaned, but that is it. Jen gets all that done, and 50 other things, and looks absolutely gorgeous while doing it. She does it with grace and style and never asks for anything in return. Thank you Jen, you are the best. Now hurry up and get back on your feet, I am not sure how much longer I can be you.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Girlfriends, attorneys, and copious amounts of alcohol do not mix well
We volunteered to check by with a unit that had been dispatched to an assault in progress. The location was a nice steakhouse on Westheimer. When we arrived, there were quite a few people standing in the parking lot. The primary unit was escorting one of the participants across the parking lot to his patrol vehicle. She was carrying two purses and was having difficulty walking. Once she realized that she was going to sit in the backseat, she began sobbing. His partner found the other participant in the assault, and was escorting her across the parking lot as well. She was also having difficulty walking. As they were walking, the officer smoothly took out his handcuffs and had her restrained before she knew what was happening. Once she realized, she started thrashing about and yelling. She was placed in the backseat of a different patrol vehicle. Since this sounded a little interesting, two training units decided to take over, B & me. Our two rookies interviewed the valet, the steakhouse managers, and the two females. This is what they think happened. The two women went out to have dinner and drinks at the steakhouse. They both arrived in the same vehicle. Sometime during the course of dinner, but definitely after quite a few drinks, the round female stared getting vulgar and belligerent. The thin female heard enough and the two females began fighting inside the steakhouse. The staff broke up the fight, and asked them to pay their bill and leave. The females (I will refer to them as "10" from now on because they looked like the number 10 standing next to each other) decided that sounded reasonable. 10 paid their bill and went outside to the valet. The valet, who makes his money on tips, noticed how intoxicated 10 appeared and refused to give them their keys. 10 reacted by yelling at the valet. The valet got the steakhouse manager, which turned out to be three different people, how many people does it take to manage a steakhouse? So now it was 10 on 3. Sometime during the course of the argument with the managers, 10 turned on each other. The fight was on and the managers had to separate 1 from 0. 0 told my rookie, JS, that she used to be in the House of Representatives, and that she is currently in law school. 1 told the other rookie that she recently retired from being a flight attendant and is currently a practicing attorney. She said that 0 is an attorney and her girlfriend, not that kind of girlfriend, but her girlfriend. Clear as mud. Usually that means 1 and 0 are a couple, but not yet ready for primetime. We transported 0 to jail and she was silent all the way there. B and his rookie transported 1 and she asked questions incessantly. "Where are we going? When will I get out? Why am I going to jail? How long do I have to stay? etc..." 1 was processed first. As we were waiting for 0 to be processed, we noticed a commotion through the glass. We looked over to see 1 being "handled" by a female jailer. 1 did not want to go where she was supposed to go, so she was put there by the jailer. Once she stood back up, 1 started yelling. "I am an attorney. I am going to sue HPD. I want out of here. Open the door. Let me out." Then she looked through the glass at us. She thought that we had the ability to open the door and let her out of jail. Hello 1, we put you in jail, why would we let you out now? Obviously from your recent actions, you not in control of your mental and physical faculties. In other words, you are smashed, blitzed, tanked, inebriated, intoxicated, loaded, soused, ripped, tipsy, befuddled, stupefied, dissipated, plastered, bombed, slammed, or just plain drunk. There is rarely a dull night, and always plenty of things to make me laugh.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Me and the mommies
For the last ten years of our marriage, Jen and I have worked opposite schedules. Due to these schedules, I have had the opportunity to take care of A and A2 during the day. I have had a lot of help along the way from friends and family. Thank you. Since A was two years old, Jen has encouraged me to get the kids out of the house when I am watching them. She knows that I am content to hang out inside. I started by taking A to a gymnastics class. It was a parent and child class, so I got to participate with him. I also would take A to the library. We would find a few seasonal books to check out and always looked through a Where's Waldo book at the library. Flash forward a few years and I have the opportunity to do the same activities with A2. We enrolled A2 in a gymnastics class at the Little Gym. It was another parent and child class. I took her for two semesters and then it was time for her to graduate to a child only class. The Little Gym that she was attending closed unexpectedly around Thanksgiving. Today was A2's first day at another Little Gym location. When she woke up this morning, I told her that we were going to gymnastics. She smiled and said, "Miss Becky?" That was her favorite teacher at the now closed location. When I answered her, I was non-commital. I did not want to upset her right after waking her up.
It was time to go and we loaded up in the family truckster. When we pulled into the parking lot of the new location, A2 said, "What's this?" We parked in front of the gym, and I said, "Let's go to gymnastics." A2 replied, "You go, I will stay in the truck." So, I started my run around the truck game (I am thankful there is no video of that) to make her smile and I coaxed her into the gym. A2 was a trooper. She went in and the new teacher had her smiling and participating immediately. She ended up having a great time, in spite of one of the boys in the class trying out cage fighting moves on any child that slowed down near him. While A2 was in the gym, I was sitting in the lobby behind the glass with all of the mommies. Over the years that I have sat in many of these lobbies watching A or A2. I am almost always the only father. Today was no exception. It was me and 5 mommies. The conversations that take place are always interesting. Most of the time, the conversation carries on like I am not even in the room. It is amazing how these women talk about their husbands. All of the talk is not negative, but a majority of the talk falls that direction. Today, one of the mommies was commenting that if her husband has something to do at home, he expects her to watch the kids. She said, "How does he think I get all of the housework done while I am watching the children? Why can't he do both?" She was further lamenting that she was going to be a single mom for the week while her husband travelled. Another mom chimed in that when her husband watches the kids, her clean up job is much worse than when it is just the kids playing. When her husband bathes the kids, the bathroom ends up in a disaster. For most of the hour, the moms were complaining. No sleep, always tired, no time, no help, lonely, kids don't behave and on and on. I always find listening in on these conversations interesting on two fronts:
1. These women sound very unhappy with their lives. That would suck. 2. And I have never understood complaining about your spouse. After all, it was your choice to get married. Life and marriage are hard enough without undermining each other by complaining about your spouse to other people. Why not surprise the other person and actually compliment your spouse? I enjoy bragging about my wife. She deserves it!
It was time to go and we loaded up in the family truckster. When we pulled into the parking lot of the new location, A2 said, "What's this?" We parked in front of the gym, and I said, "Let's go to gymnastics." A2 replied, "You go, I will stay in the truck." So, I started my run around the truck game (I am thankful there is no video of that) to make her smile and I coaxed her into the gym. A2 was a trooper. She went in and the new teacher had her smiling and participating immediately. She ended up having a great time, in spite of one of the boys in the class trying out cage fighting moves on any child that slowed down near him. While A2 was in the gym, I was sitting in the lobby behind the glass with all of the mommies. Over the years that I have sat in many of these lobbies watching A or A2. I am almost always the only father. Today was no exception. It was me and 5 mommies. The conversations that take place are always interesting. Most of the time, the conversation carries on like I am not even in the room. It is amazing how these women talk about their husbands. All of the talk is not negative, but a majority of the talk falls that direction. Today, one of the mommies was commenting that if her husband has something to do at home, he expects her to watch the kids. She said, "How does he think I get all of the housework done while I am watching the children? Why can't he do both?" She was further lamenting that she was going to be a single mom for the week while her husband travelled. Another mom chimed in that when her husband watches the kids, her clean up job is much worse than when it is just the kids playing. When her husband bathes the kids, the bathroom ends up in a disaster. For most of the hour, the moms were complaining. No sleep, always tired, no time, no help, lonely, kids don't behave and on and on. I always find listening in on these conversations interesting on two fronts:
1. These women sound very unhappy with their lives. That would suck. 2. And I have never understood complaining about your spouse. After all, it was your choice to get married. Life and marriage are hard enough without undermining each other by complaining about your spouse to other people. Why not surprise the other person and actually compliment your spouse? I enjoy bragging about my wife. She deserves it!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Another rookie, bitter cold, and bumper cars
I started evaluating another rookie tonight. My previous rookie passed and starts her second week of evaluation tomorrow afternoon. My current rookie, JS, has lived all over the US and proudly served in the military. Thankfully he does not like to be a passenger either, so he has been driving nice and slow and smooth for me. It is a nice change from my two previous female rookies who were speed demons.
Currently, the Houston area is in the middle of some unseasonably cold temperatures. It is currently 30 degrees, with the wind blowing 10 mph, and humidity at 88%. The temperature is forecast to drop even further into the mid 20s. We also had moisture with the cold temperatures. That equals snow and/or ice. Houston had its earliest recorded snowfall on Friday. So far this year, Houston has had more snow than Chicago. That just does not sound right, but it is. Some parts of town experienced some accumulation, but we did not at our house. After the thrill of some snow, concerns turned to the roadways and the possibility of ice. I can tell you that the possibility became a reality. Our first call out of roll call was a one vehicle major accident on the Southwest Freeway at Kirby. Since JS has lived all over the country, with quite a bit of time spent up north, I decided to let him drive. We arrived at our accident scene to find a fire truck, three other police cars, and 6 vehicles that had been involved in accidents. Not good. From what we could figure out, this is what happened. A Toyota Truck came up an entrance ramp which was wet, but not frozen. The Toyota somehow lost control, spun, hit the wall, and came to a stop in the right lane of the freeway. No other vehicle was involved at this point. The driver took out his phone and called for emergency services. While he was doing that, a PT Cruiser filled with nuns (at least they looked like nuns, without the habits of course) was coming up the same entrance ramp behind another vehicle. The other vehicle suddenly swerved. The PT Cruiser did not. The Cruiser slammed on the brakes and amazingly stopped before hitting the Toyota truck. Unfortunately for the PT Cruiser, a black Honda Element could not stop and plowed into the back of the PT Cruiser. They sat there for a few seconds until a small red Geo driven by a European soccer fan came up over the hill and smashed into the Honda Element which then hit the PT Cruiser again. Getting the idea here? An Infiniti G37 was next. The driver was either not drunk, not on a cell phone, not texting, or maybe just actually paying attention, because he was able to stop before hitting the red Geo. However, the tan Nissan Maxima being driven by a reclining Snoop Dogg wanna be could not stop and just destroyed the back of the Infiniti. Luckily for everyone, a big red fire truck arrived right after that and was able to get everyone else on the freeway to move over a lane or three and avoid the pile.
So, we were dispatched to a one car accident, and we found three separate accidents involving 6 different vehicles. Let me tell you, that is a bad call to get on evaluation. Luckily for JS, other units were on the scene. One unit took the original one vehicle accident. Amazingly, no one else had hit the truck. Another unit took the Infiniti and Snoop Dogg accident. That left JS with the middle three car major accident. Piece of cake, even though it took him 4 hours to complete the report. While JS was completing the report, 5 other accident occurred at the same location. They finally stopped hitting each other after the sand trucks went through the area and dropped a little traction on the road.
Later we were sent to a person down call at a nearby apartment complex. We arrived to find a Seal look-alike in the driver seat of a Pontiac. He was fine. His passenger was not. They had gone out drinking and she had about 10 too many. She was passed out in the passenger seat. Seal did not know what to do with her. She lives in Galveston. He was worried about taking her inside of his apartment. He was afraid that when she came out of the alcohol induced coma, and find herself in his apartment, that she would claim that he had raped her. I told him that as long as she did not wake up naked and sore, he was probably ok. I told JS to wake up the female so that she could walk into the apartment complex. JS was not sure how to wake her up. I told him to grab his flashlight and then to give her a sternum rub with the flashlight. Luckily for her, just as he was about to bruise her sternum, the contents of her stomach made an appearance. JS was kind enough to hold her hair out of the way for her. However, in his zeal to help her, she threw up on him. Thankfully, she only hit his hands which were easy enough to wash. Once we had her up and awake, Seal walked her inside. That call left me with a few questions. First, the bars close at 2 AM. It was now 4 AM. What was Seal doing with her for the last 2 hours? Just driving around hoping that she would wake up? Feeding her dinner at the House of Pies? Second, what did Seal expect the police or fire department to do with his drunk friend? He is not the ideal designated driver. You go out with him, and have a few beers expecting Seal to take care of you, and he calls the police to come take care of you. That is not the kind of friend I want to hang out with. Lastly, when it is 28 degrees outside and the roads are dangerous and icy, why go out and get drunk? Why not just buy a bottle of wine and hang out inside? So many questions, so little time.
Currently, the Houston area is in the middle of some unseasonably cold temperatures. It is currently 30 degrees, with the wind blowing 10 mph, and humidity at 88%. The temperature is forecast to drop even further into the mid 20s. We also had moisture with the cold temperatures. That equals snow and/or ice. Houston had its earliest recorded snowfall on Friday. So far this year, Houston has had more snow than Chicago. That just does not sound right, but it is. Some parts of town experienced some accumulation, but we did not at our house. After the thrill of some snow, concerns turned to the roadways and the possibility of ice. I can tell you that the possibility became a reality. Our first call out of roll call was a one vehicle major accident on the Southwest Freeway at Kirby. Since JS has lived all over the country, with quite a bit of time spent up north, I decided to let him drive. We arrived at our accident scene to find a fire truck, three other police cars, and 6 vehicles that had been involved in accidents. Not good. From what we could figure out, this is what happened. A Toyota Truck came up an entrance ramp which was wet, but not frozen. The Toyota somehow lost control, spun, hit the wall, and came to a stop in the right lane of the freeway. No other vehicle was involved at this point. The driver took out his phone and called for emergency services. While he was doing that, a PT Cruiser filled with nuns (at least they looked like nuns, without the habits of course) was coming up the same entrance ramp behind another vehicle. The other vehicle suddenly swerved. The PT Cruiser did not. The Cruiser slammed on the brakes and amazingly stopped before hitting the Toyota truck. Unfortunately for the PT Cruiser, a black Honda Element could not stop and plowed into the back of the PT Cruiser. They sat there for a few seconds until a small red Geo driven by a European soccer fan came up over the hill and smashed into the Honda Element which then hit the PT Cruiser again. Getting the idea here? An Infiniti G37 was next. The driver was either not drunk, not on a cell phone, not texting, or maybe just actually paying attention, because he was able to stop before hitting the red Geo. However, the tan Nissan Maxima being driven by a reclining Snoop Dogg wanna be could not stop and just destroyed the back of the Infiniti. Luckily for everyone, a big red fire truck arrived right after that and was able to get everyone else on the freeway to move over a lane or three and avoid the pile.
So, we were dispatched to a one car accident, and we found three separate accidents involving 6 different vehicles. Let me tell you, that is a bad call to get on evaluation. Luckily for JS, other units were on the scene. One unit took the original one vehicle accident. Amazingly, no one else had hit the truck. Another unit took the Infiniti and Snoop Dogg accident. That left JS with the middle three car major accident. Piece of cake, even though it took him 4 hours to complete the report. While JS was completing the report, 5 other accident occurred at the same location. They finally stopped hitting each other after the sand trucks went through the area and dropped a little traction on the road.
Later we were sent to a person down call at a nearby apartment complex. We arrived to find a Seal look-alike in the driver seat of a Pontiac. He was fine. His passenger was not. They had gone out drinking and she had about 10 too many. She was passed out in the passenger seat. Seal did not know what to do with her. She lives in Galveston. He was worried about taking her inside of his apartment. He was afraid that when she came out of the alcohol induced coma, and find herself in his apartment, that she would claim that he had raped her. I told him that as long as she did not wake up naked and sore, he was probably ok. I told JS to wake up the female so that she could walk into the apartment complex. JS was not sure how to wake her up. I told him to grab his flashlight and then to give her a sternum rub with the flashlight. Luckily for her, just as he was about to bruise her sternum, the contents of her stomach made an appearance. JS was kind enough to hold her hair out of the way for her. However, in his zeal to help her, she threw up on him. Thankfully, she only hit his hands which were easy enough to wash. Once we had her up and awake, Seal walked her inside. That call left me with a few questions. First, the bars close at 2 AM. It was now 4 AM. What was Seal doing with her for the last 2 hours? Just driving around hoping that she would wake up? Feeding her dinner at the House of Pies? Second, what did Seal expect the police or fire department to do with his drunk friend? He is not the ideal designated driver. You go out with him, and have a few beers expecting Seal to take care of you, and he calls the police to come take care of you. That is not the kind of friend I want to hang out with. Lastly, when it is 28 degrees outside and the roads are dangerous and icy, why go out and get drunk? Why not just buy a bottle of wine and hang out inside? So many questions, so little time.
Friday, December 4, 2009
I just can not help myself, thoughts on Tiger
For the past week, the tabloid media has been swirling around Tiger, Elin, his Escalade, an unidentified golf club, and numerous "party girls". The world's most recognizable athlete has been reduced to a punch line. I have followed the story with some interest and it just keeps getting stranger. Here are my thoughts so far on the saga.
First, the "accident." I am by no means as expert in the field, but I have a lot of experience with domestic violence. Before anyone wonders about my home life, let me clarify. At work, I have responded to probably hundreds of domestic violence calls. I have seen everything from homeless couples, homosexual couples, "normal" couples, and extremely wealthy couples experience domestic violence. In my experience, there have been two main causes of domestic violence in these situations, infidelity and alcohol. In Tiger's case, infidelity seems to have been rampant. With all of the women coming forward and all of the stories of people seeing him with other women, his wife had to know what was going on behind her back. I do not know if the National Enquirer story was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back, but it sounds like she snapped. It happens. We really have no idea what we will personally do in a situation until we are in the middle of that situation. It is very easy to say I would do this or I would remain rational and in control, but often that is not what really happens. I have no idea if Elin slapped him or hit him or pushed him, but it appears that she beat the crap out of his truck with a golf club. You just can't make this stuff up. Incidentally, that is not illegal. You are within your rights to destroy your own property. Since they are married, what belongs to him, belongs to her. Tiger actually tried to do the smart thing by leaving. When things seem to be turning violent, the best course of action is to leave until things calm down and Elin puts down the 3 iron.
Second, skipping his tournament. Tiger was scheduled to host and to play in a tournament benefitting his charities in Southern California this week. At first he said that the injuries were minor and that he was fine, and then he pulled out of the event due to those same injuries. Convenient. He could have played golf with his "injuries". He won a US Open on one leg in 2008. Bumps and bruises would not have fazed his golfing ability. But the media circus that would have taken place, especially in light of the other allegations coming out this week, would have really tested him. Tiger does not normally back down from a test, but this week has been anything but normal for Tiger. Under the same situation, I would have skipped the event as well. I understand that he has an obligation to the sponsors, but I would argue that staying home this week actually is better for the sponsors in the long run. It is all about damage control at this point. I do not see the up side to sitting in front of hundreds of cameras with scratches on your face answering questions about your private life.
Third, Tiger and technology. There was an entertaining article on Gizmodo.com that discussed how technology brought down Tiger and what he could have done differently. The article discussed using a prepaid phone and whatever you do, DO NOT leave your name on a voicemail. Chances are, if you are having an affair with this person, she is going to recognize your voice.
Finally, all of the money. From the sound of the reports, Tiger is paying Elin to stay married to him. Their prenuptial agreement (20 million after 10 years of marriage) is being re-negotiated. The numbers being reported are 5 million up front and an additional 55 million after two years. I am guessing Elin will stay Mrs. Tiger for at least the next two years. It is not a good sign that a marriage is stable when (swinging golf clubs aside) monetary negotiations are necessary to extend the marriage. Then there was the "unforeseen circumstances" that stopped the "tell all" press conference that was scheduled by Rachel, one of the women with whom he allegedly had an affair. One million dollars worth of "unforeseen circumstances" seem to have changed her mind. From the sound of things, Tiger is trying to use vast amounts of money to keep things quiet. I hope that he has saved some of the 1 billion that he has earned, because women will be coming out of the woodwork for this payday.
Sadly, it is not a surprising story, but it is like a train wreck, you just can't turn away from it.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
I am getting too old for mosh pits
I have always enjoyed concerts. There is just something cool about live music. Even a Neil Diamond show with my parents while I was in high school was fun (that was hard to admit). This past Monday night, Mike and I attended the Breaking Benjamin show at the Verizon Theater. We had a good time, but we realized a few things as well.
The evening started off great. We had dinner at Chuy's, the home of excellent mexican food and margaritas. Our table was next to a group of 8 people all dressed in dark business suits. I did not really pay any attention to them when we sat down. When they got up to leave, two of them came over to the table to say hello. We attended the academy together and they are now homicide investigators. I had not seen them since the academy, over 10 years ago. Mike was glad to realize that they were all officers since he had noticed them wearing pistols.
We left and headed downtown for the concert. We parked at my station and walked a few blocks to the venue. Inside we noticed a long line at the merchandise table. They were selling a few cool t-shirts, but they wanted $30 for them. I did not want a concert T that badly. Mike and I had decided a little late to attend the concert. All of the floor tickets were sold out and they only had 8 seats left upstairs and none of the seats were next to each other. I ordered tickets for two of those seats and figured that we would enjoy the concert from the standing room only floor area. We walked up to the entrance to the floor area and were told that we had to sit in our seats upstairs. Suck. So, we went around to the other floor entrance and with a little "persuasion" were allowed into the floor area.
The banner behind the stage said Sick Puppies. We deduced that they were the opening act. Mike had downloaded a couple of their songs, but I was not familiar with their music. The house lights dimmed and a band came out and played a few songs. I thought they were the Sick Puppies, until the lead singer said, "We are Adelitas Way." Okay, I guess there will be three bands playing tonight. Before every song thereafter, the lead singer said, "We are Adelitas Way." He wanted us to remember the name of his band. During the set, the drummer did lots of one-handed twirls with his drum sticks while playing. I told Mike that I needed to learn how to do that so that I could look cool while playing Rock Band.
Next up, the Sick Puppies from Australia. They consisted of a lead singer / guitarist, a drummer, and a female on bass guitar. The female had two tone hair, black and blonde. She also had an incredible amount of energy. I am not sure if she was just really into the music or on meth, but she got an "A" for effort. The lead singer announced the last song of the set, and it was a song that I recognized. Even better, it was a song that I really liked with one of the best lines of lyrics. "Don't cry like a bitch when you feel the pain." Absolute poetry.
The name of that song is "You're Going Down." As soon as they started playing that song, a mosh pit formed right next to where Mike and I were standing. Two sickly thin white dudes decided to start slamming into each other. Back in the day, I enjoyed mosh pits. I did not jump in and slam around too much, but I loved being right on the edge of the pit. On the edge you get to hit dudes as they run at you. They come towards you and you push/hit/elbow/slam them back into the middle of the pit. What is not to like about that? As fate would have it, here I was right on the edge of the pit again. The adrenaline started flowing and I was ready.
Then a medium sized dude in the pit moshed our way and slammed into the guy in front of me. Just blindsided him. It looked like Sergio Kindle vs Taylor Potts (UT vs Tech). However, the guy that got blindsided was not pleased. He jumped up and went after the other guy. They ended up in a tangle on the beer covered floor. It was at that point that I realized that I am getting too old for this stuff. With a wife, kids, and a career, it is not really worth getting into a fight in a mosh pit. But, right after that little melee, I did get in one good shot. One of the little guys that started the pit jumped my way. I deposited him Urlacher style to the other side of the pit. At least my last shot in a pit was a good one.
Breaking Benjamin came out a short time later. They had great energy and played a great set. The lead singer kept saying how much they enjoyed playing in Houston, right after saying that they had not been in town since 2001. How much do you really like something that you only do once every 8 years? They ended their set, and strangely enough, did not come back out for an encore. I have only been to one other show where there was not an encore. And just like after that show, I felt a little cheated. Oh well, they still put on a great show. On the walk back to the car, after the thrill of the live show started to wear off, Mike and I started to complain. We did not mind the walk, but our backs were killing us. Our ears were ringing, our heads hurt, and our legs were sore. From a concert! Getting older is not for sissies.
The evening started off great. We had dinner at Chuy's, the home of excellent mexican food and margaritas. Our table was next to a group of 8 people all dressed in dark business suits. I did not really pay any attention to them when we sat down. When they got up to leave, two of them came over to the table to say hello. We attended the academy together and they are now homicide investigators. I had not seen them since the academy, over 10 years ago. Mike was glad to realize that they were all officers since he had noticed them wearing pistols.
We left and headed downtown for the concert. We parked at my station and walked a few blocks to the venue. Inside we noticed a long line at the merchandise table. They were selling a few cool t-shirts, but they wanted $30 for them. I did not want a concert T that badly. Mike and I had decided a little late to attend the concert. All of the floor tickets were sold out and they only had 8 seats left upstairs and none of the seats were next to each other. I ordered tickets for two of those seats and figured that we would enjoy the concert from the standing room only floor area. We walked up to the entrance to the floor area and were told that we had to sit in our seats upstairs. Suck. So, we went around to the other floor entrance and with a little "persuasion" were allowed into the floor area.
The banner behind the stage said Sick Puppies. We deduced that they were the opening act. Mike had downloaded a couple of their songs, but I was not familiar with their music. The house lights dimmed and a band came out and played a few songs. I thought they were the Sick Puppies, until the lead singer said, "We are Adelitas Way." Okay, I guess there will be three bands playing tonight. Before every song thereafter, the lead singer said, "We are Adelitas Way." He wanted us to remember the name of his band. During the set, the drummer did lots of one-handed twirls with his drum sticks while playing. I told Mike that I needed to learn how to do that so that I could look cool while playing Rock Band.
Next up, the Sick Puppies from Australia. They consisted of a lead singer / guitarist, a drummer, and a female on bass guitar. The female had two tone hair, black and blonde. She also had an incredible amount of energy. I am not sure if she was just really into the music or on meth, but she got an "A" for effort. The lead singer announced the last song of the set, and it was a song that I recognized. Even better, it was a song that I really liked with one of the best lines of lyrics. "Don't cry like a bitch when you feel the pain." Absolute poetry.
The name of that song is "You're Going Down." As soon as they started playing that song, a mosh pit formed right next to where Mike and I were standing. Two sickly thin white dudes decided to start slamming into each other. Back in the day, I enjoyed mosh pits. I did not jump in and slam around too much, but I loved being right on the edge of the pit. On the edge you get to hit dudes as they run at you. They come towards you and you push/hit/elbow/slam them back into the middle of the pit. What is not to like about that? As fate would have it, here I was right on the edge of the pit again. The adrenaline started flowing and I was ready.
Then a medium sized dude in the pit moshed our way and slammed into the guy in front of me. Just blindsided him. It looked like Sergio Kindle vs Taylor Potts (UT vs Tech). However, the guy that got blindsided was not pleased. He jumped up and went after the other guy. They ended up in a tangle on the beer covered floor. It was at that point that I realized that I am getting too old for this stuff. With a wife, kids, and a career, it is not really worth getting into a fight in a mosh pit. But, right after that little melee, I did get in one good shot. One of the little guys that started the pit jumped my way. I deposited him Urlacher style to the other side of the pit. At least my last shot in a pit was a good one.
Breaking Benjamin came out a short time later. They had great energy and played a great set. The lead singer kept saying how much they enjoyed playing in Houston, right after saying that they had not been in town since 2001. How much do you really like something that you only do once every 8 years? They ended their set, and strangely enough, did not come back out for an encore. I have only been to one other show where there was not an encore. And just like after that show, I felt a little cheated. Oh well, they still put on a great show. On the walk back to the car, after the thrill of the live show started to wear off, Mike and I started to complain. We did not mind the walk, but our backs were killing us. Our ears were ringing, our heads hurt, and our legs were sore. From a concert! Getting older is not for sissies.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Thoughts from Thanksgiving vacation
After a nice 10 day vacation for the Thanksgiving holiday, I am back at work. Jocelyn is on day three of evaluation. The first thing she said to me tonight was "you got a haircut." She is extremely perceptive. I replied "what happened to your hair"? Her hair is now curly. Quick side note, women do not seem to like that question. She is doing fine on evaluation, but she did earn a laugh from me tonight. We stopped a vehicle on traffic. The passenger in the vehicle had 11 city warrants. Jocelyn then arrests the passenger and returns to have the driver sign the ticket. She returns and starts her paperwork on the passenger. About 10 minutes goes by and she says, "crap, you are going to laugh at me." I asked her what she had done. She said that after the driver signed the ticket, she gave both copies of the ticket to the driver. Usually, the pink copy goes to the driver and the white copy gets turned in for processing. Jocelyn was in possession of neither copy. I asked the arrested passenger in the backseat if he knew the driver's phone number. He said it was in his phone. Jocelyn went around to the backseat and fished the cell phone out of the handcuffed guy's pants. She then used the phone to call the driver. He was kind enough to bring the white copy of the ticket back to us. She thanked the driver and just like she thought, I laughed at her.
Back to the highlights of my Thanksgiving vacation.
We celebrated Jen's birthday at Perry's Italian. It is a nice place that takes a leisurely approach to dining. We have eaten there many times. We had a table of 13, so that is going to slow things down a little as well. I made the reservations for 5 PM hoping that we would be home in time for the Longhorns kickoff at 7 PM. No such luck. Dinner took over two hours without dessert. The manager was kind enough to comp some of our food. We will be back, but that took forever. At least the Horns crushed Kansas.
A was baptized the following morning at our church. He was baptized with two of his best friends by the same Pastor that baptized me. It was a very well documented baptism. I set up the big camera on a tripod on the front row of the balcony and Mike used a remote control to snap an endless stream of pictures. Courtney videotaped the event from the balcony. The mother of the other boys videotaped from the side of the baptistry and I took photos from the same spot. Right after the pastor asked A if he wanted to follow Christ in believer's baptism and A responded "yes sir," A immediately grabbed his nose. He did not want to be surprised by the pastor and get a nose full of water. So, he got to stand there for a few seconds holding his nose while the pastor said his thing. It made us all smile, just typical A. On Monday we went to Bass Pro Shops for their Santa's Wonderland. They are supposed to have Santa, crafts, games, and other fun things for kids. The small print says that all of that fun stuff takes place on the weekends, not Mondays. However, the kids did get to play with what you would expect to find at Bass Pro Shops, guns, fishing rods, a bow, NASCAR slot racers, and a remote controlled Monster Truck. The kids and adults made the best of it. Nanny even snagged some of the crafts for the kids to do later. On Thanksgiving, the family started arriving at our house at around 11:30 AM. After the usual food, football, pies, more food, and the Longhorns beating the Aggies, the family left our humble abode around 11 PM. It was a great day.
Friday and Saturday was spent decorating the house for Christmas. That is what Jen did anyway. I am responsible for putting up the tree and then making sure Jen does not fall off of the ladder while decorating the top of the tree. The rest of the time I tried to entertain the kids to keep them out of Jen's way. I did not really succeed. I am easily distracted by football and computers. After dinner on Saturday, A and A2 decided that they wanted to help put ornaments on the tree. Jen had been decorating for two days straight. She was wiped out and ready to be finished. But, first and foremost, Jen is a great mother. She showed the patience of Job and enjoyed the kids helping her finish trimming the tree. It was a neat moment for her and the kids that I captured in photos.
Back to the highlights of my Thanksgiving vacation.
We celebrated Jen's birthday at Perry's Italian. It is a nice place that takes a leisurely approach to dining. We have eaten there many times. We had a table of 13, so that is going to slow things down a little as well. I made the reservations for 5 PM hoping that we would be home in time for the Longhorns kickoff at 7 PM. No such luck. Dinner took over two hours without dessert. The manager was kind enough to comp some of our food. We will be back, but that took forever. At least the Horns crushed Kansas.
A was baptized the following morning at our church. He was baptized with two of his best friends by the same Pastor that baptized me. It was a very well documented baptism. I set up the big camera on a tripod on the front row of the balcony and Mike used a remote control to snap an endless stream of pictures. Courtney videotaped the event from the balcony. The mother of the other boys videotaped from the side of the baptistry and I took photos from the same spot. Right after the pastor asked A if he wanted to follow Christ in believer's baptism and A responded "yes sir," A immediately grabbed his nose. He did not want to be surprised by the pastor and get a nose full of water. So, he got to stand there for a few seconds holding his nose while the pastor said his thing. It made us all smile, just typical A. On Monday we went to Bass Pro Shops for their Santa's Wonderland. They are supposed to have Santa, crafts, games, and other fun things for kids. The small print says that all of that fun stuff takes place on the weekends, not Mondays. However, the kids did get to play with what you would expect to find at Bass Pro Shops, guns, fishing rods, a bow, NASCAR slot racers, and a remote controlled Monster Truck. The kids and adults made the best of it. Nanny even snagged some of the crafts for the kids to do later. On Thanksgiving, the family started arriving at our house at around 11:30 AM. After the usual food, football, pies, more food, and the Longhorns beating the Aggies, the family left our humble abode around 11 PM. It was a great day.
Friday and Saturday was spent decorating the house for Christmas. That is what Jen did anyway. I am responsible for putting up the tree and then making sure Jen does not fall off of the ladder while decorating the top of the tree. The rest of the time I tried to entertain the kids to keep them out of Jen's way. I did not really succeed. I am easily distracted by football and computers. After dinner on Saturday, A and A2 decided that they wanted to help put ornaments on the tree. Jen had been decorating for two days straight. She was wiped out and ready to be finished. But, first and foremost, Jen is a great mother. She showed the patience of Job and enjoyed the kids helping her finish trimming the tree. It was a neat moment for her and the kids that I captured in photos.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Speak As If Your Next Word Will Be Your Last & Family Stories
Inspiration Prompt – Speak As Your Next Word Will Be Your Last
November 16th, 2009 by AvitalCharles de Lint had suggested an interesting notion:
“Here’s a weird thought: What if everyone only has so many words inside of them? Then sooner or later you’d run out of words, wouldn’t you? And you’d never know when it was going to happen because everybody would have a different allotment, it would be different for everyone – the way hair colour varies, or fingerprints. I could be in the middle of a story, and then run out of words, and it’d never be finished.”
Play with this idea, what if your next word will by your last?
What if you only manage to insult but not to ask for forgiveness?
What if you only manage to receive but not to give thanks?
What if you only manage to think of an idea but not to share out loud?
What if you only manage to remember but not to tell?“These are thought provoking questions but I will never overextend my word-quota”, you may think.
Well, think again.
Let me share a story with you.
A story about an independent woman who had survived major hardships in her life but kept moving forward. Had started a new family after her fiance perished in the holocaust. Had built a successful business. Had always made sure her hair is flawless, her lipstick is meticulously applied and her suit is perfectly ironed. Always a suit, even on a trip to the supermarket or when picking up her granddaughter from kindergarten.
This woman had a million stories to tell. Every day, at lunch time, after picking up her granddaughter and making sure she clears up her plate, she would open the big sofa bed in the guest room and tell her stories. Such wonderful stories. Books she had read. Adventures she had gone through and her granddaughter would listen with glistening eyes, asking: “please, grandma, tell me one more story”, and she did.
The years had passed and the granddaughter grew up. She didn’t need a babysitter anymore and forgot all the stories that had been told before and abandoned the stories that has not yet been told.
One day, in the spring time, the woman came by to visit her granddaughter and brought her some sweets. The granddaughter enjoyed the break and the sweets but quickly said her goodbyes, as she was busy studying for her finals.
An hour later the woman came back. Sweets in her pocket and the granddaughter thanked her and said goodbye again.
An hour later and she came back again. Sweets in her pocket again and the granddaughter started to worry and to understand.
Not long afterward Alzheimer disease was diagnosed.
Soon after that all the stories has been forgotten and lost forever.
The hasty granddaughter, if you haven’t realized by now – is me!
The word quota may be over extended and if it happens, it will take you by surprise.
So make sure you tell all the stories (and write them down). Articulate your idea in words and don’t shy away. Verbalize your gratitude. Speak with a positive note and always start with the compliment before moving on to a constructive criticism. Speak as your next word will be your last.
Share
Please share your thoughts about the idea of a finite word quota and leave a comment on this post. I love to hear your mental voice and to keep the discussion going whenever it’s possible.
I frequently think about why I am writing. I came across the above post and it spoke to me. The post seems to be talking about two concepts. The concept of speak as if your next word will be your last sounds like "if you can't say something nice, do not say anything at all." I see that as an extension of the Golden Rule, treat others like you want to be treated. That is a concept that I wish I had embraced while I was growing up, especially in high school. As a father, I am constantly reminding A to treat his friends and his sister like he wants to be treated. This world would be a much better place if we all put this into practice.
Don't worry, I am not going to break out into a rendition of Kumbaya.
I really appreciate the second concept from the post. One of the driving factors to my writing is to have a written record of my stories. Unlike my wife, I am not blessed with a great memory. I have to write/type things or I will not remember them. By writing, I have a record of what was going on in my life and the lives of those around me. I would like to encourage those who read this to write down their stories as well. I would really like to have a central depository of Sumner/Smith/Culbertson/McAllister stories. It bothers me that I do not really know very much about my Grandparents, let alone those that came before them. I need to make more of an effort to learn, and then to write it down, otherwise it will vanish again. So, write down your families story, and then share it with those whom you love.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
New rookie and a Meth robbery
Tonight was day one of evaluation with Jocelyn. So far she is doing fine. She is nervous and shows it in the same way as Adrian. Speed. Like 50 in a 30 type speed, which is fine if I am driving. Before I let them drive, I gave both rookies the same speech, I am a bad passenger and prone to getting car sick. Please drive slowly and obey all traffic laws. The thing is, I think that Jocelyn is actually trying to drive slowly and smoothly. Oh well, she gets an A for effort at least.
We volunteered to run a robbery call out in 50's beat, close to Newcastle and US 59. We arrived to find the complainant (victim) trying to climb over a fence and onto the patio of his apartment. Jocelyn stopped him and asked him what happened tonight. I will call him Roy and here is his version of the events. Roy and a "friend," they had known each other for three days, ate dinner at La Mexicana. Then they got into Roy's Infiniti and started driving around the Montrose area. Roy said that they ended up at a CVS. When Roy stopped the car, the friend punched him in the face and told him to leave the keys and to get out of the vehicle. Roy, in fear for his life, complied. The friend then drove off in Roy's vehicle. Roy was worried that since the friend knew where Roy lived, the friend would drive to his apartment and steal Roy's "priceless antiques". You see, Roy is an antique's dealer that also happens to be a narcotics informant for DPS. So, Roy called another friend who picked him up and drove him home where we found him.
While we were talking to Roy, another friend called him. This friend said that he was following Roy's vehicle in the Montrose area. I took Roy's phone and spoke with the friend. I asked the friend to describe the vehicle and to tell me where they were turning. Once I was able to make sure that the friend was following the correct vehicle and giving me good directions, I got on the radio and asked for other officers to look for the vehicle. I continued relaying the directions from the friend until officers were able to find the vehicle. The suspect jumped out of the vehicle and tried to run. He was not successful. Officers took him into custody. Jocelyn and I then took Roy to where his vehicle was located. After arriving, I spoke with the suspect. I will call him Dave and this is his version of the story. Dave said that he was a "hustler" and that he provided "services" for money. He met Roy a few days ago and they had seen each other every day since. Roy gave Dave money and Dave did things to and for Roy. After dinner, Dave shot up with methamphetamine. Roy drove to an adult bookstore and they went inside. Once inside, Dave started feeling weird and asked Roy for the keys. Roy gave him the keys and then Dave drove off in Roy's Infiniti.
We often get different versions of the same story from those involved. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle. We have to decide which parts of everyone's story to believe. In this case, Dave ended up getting charged with robbery. Roy had a small cut on his lip from where Roy said Dave had hit him and Dave admitted to taking Roy's Infiniti. That fits the classic definition of robbery, taking someone's stuff by force. It would not surprise me if Roy provides the money to get Dave out of jail. Roy appeared upset that his new "friend" was going to jail. Now he will have to find another "friend." Unfortunately, there is not a shortage of those willing to take care of Roy's "needs" for a few dollars.
We volunteered to run a robbery call out in 50's beat, close to Newcastle and US 59. We arrived to find the complainant (victim) trying to climb over a fence and onto the patio of his apartment. Jocelyn stopped him and asked him what happened tonight. I will call him Roy and here is his version of the events. Roy and a "friend," they had known each other for three days, ate dinner at La Mexicana. Then they got into Roy's Infiniti and started driving around the Montrose area. Roy said that they ended up at a CVS. When Roy stopped the car, the friend punched him in the face and told him to leave the keys and to get out of the vehicle. Roy, in fear for his life, complied. The friend then drove off in Roy's vehicle. Roy was worried that since the friend knew where Roy lived, the friend would drive to his apartment and steal Roy's "priceless antiques". You see, Roy is an antique's dealer that also happens to be a narcotics informant for DPS. So, Roy called another friend who picked him up and drove him home where we found him.
While we were talking to Roy, another friend called him. This friend said that he was following Roy's vehicle in the Montrose area. I took Roy's phone and spoke with the friend. I asked the friend to describe the vehicle and to tell me where they were turning. Once I was able to make sure that the friend was following the correct vehicle and giving me good directions, I got on the radio and asked for other officers to look for the vehicle. I continued relaying the directions from the friend until officers were able to find the vehicle. The suspect jumped out of the vehicle and tried to run. He was not successful. Officers took him into custody. Jocelyn and I then took Roy to where his vehicle was located. After arriving, I spoke with the suspect. I will call him Dave and this is his version of the story. Dave said that he was a "hustler" and that he provided "services" for money. He met Roy a few days ago and they had seen each other every day since. Roy gave Dave money and Dave did things to and for Roy. After dinner, Dave shot up with methamphetamine. Roy drove to an adult bookstore and they went inside. Once inside, Dave started feeling weird and asked Roy for the keys. Roy gave him the keys and then Dave drove off in Roy's Infiniti.
We often get different versions of the same story from those involved. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle. We have to decide which parts of everyone's story to believe. In this case, Dave ended up getting charged with robbery. Roy had a small cut on his lip from where Roy said Dave had hit him and Dave admitted to taking Roy's Infiniti. That fits the classic definition of robbery, taking someone's stuff by force. It would not surprise me if Roy provides the money to get Dave out of jail. Roy appeared upset that his new "friend" was going to jail. Now he will have to find another "friend." Unfortunately, there is not a shortage of those willing to take care of Roy's "needs" for a few dollars.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Craig sex and How old do I look?
Adrian finished evaluating last Saturday. I was supposed to start evaluating Jocelyn tonight, but she took the night off. Since I did not start with Jocelyn, Adrian was my partner. The desk sergeant will usually leave a rookie with their evaluator after they are finished with evaluation unless the evaluator has a new rookie or requests a break. Sometimes it is nice to ride solo for a night or two.
Early in the shift we were asked to go north up into two district to check by with another unit. That unit had a female in custody and he needed a female officer to check by and search his female prisoner. We arrived at the small seedy motel on the North Freeway and found the other unit. The first thing that I noticed about the motel was the office. Most motels have a nice, well lit office that you walk into and talk to the clerk. Not this place. This office was protected by bullet proof glass and had a sliding drawer to pass payment and keys through. High class. They probably had an hourly rate, but I did not inquire. Adrian spoke to the other officer and then searched the female prisoner. We decided to transport her to jail, so Adrian put her in the backseat of our shop. About that time, the vice officers that arrested her came over to talk to us. Not surprisingly based on the motel, the female had been arrested for prostitution. The vice officers had found her through Craig's List. It is nice of Craig's List to allow you to sell your car, furniture, and booty, all in one place. I wonder what her ad in Craig's List was like? 1995 Honda Accord in good shape for $2000, 32 inch Sony TV like new for $200, and sex with nasty 28 year old me for $200? By the way, her first name was Gwensheca. No comment. The vice officers contacted her and set up a meet and greet. The first officer went into the room in plain clothes. He told her that he had a party of 6 males that were all ready for action and willing to pay. She said, "That sounds fine and I will do whatever for $200 per guy". The vice officer said that sounds great and then called his boys. The female decided to pose in a provocative fashion on the bed to greet the arriving customers. The next male into the room was another vice officer, but he was wearing his raid vest that said POLICE across the chest. The female screamed "NO" and started crying. Poor girl, she was thinking that she was about to make a quick $1200, not go to jail for solicitation. A short time later, Adrian searched her purse. Surprisingly, the only drug Adrian found was Vivarin, the caffeine pill alertness aid. I am guessing that 6 guys who were paying $200 each would have kept her alert, but who knows? Adrian also found condoms in her purse. But she only had 2. I guess she was going to risk it with the other 4 guys. Later as we were driving around, Adrian asked me "How old are you?" I was completely honest and said, "31". Not really, I told her the truth, 39. She responded, "Wow, I would not have guessed that you were that old." How exactly was I supposed to take that? That I look good for my age, or that I act younger than my age, or that I am old and she was just being polite because I was her evaluator? Anyway, it made me laugh, and that is always a good thing.
Early in the shift we were asked to go north up into two district to check by with another unit. That unit had a female in custody and he needed a female officer to check by and search his female prisoner. We arrived at the small seedy motel on the North Freeway and found the other unit. The first thing that I noticed about the motel was the office. Most motels have a nice, well lit office that you walk into and talk to the clerk. Not this place. This office was protected by bullet proof glass and had a sliding drawer to pass payment and keys through. High class. They probably had an hourly rate, but I did not inquire. Adrian spoke to the other officer and then searched the female prisoner. We decided to transport her to jail, so Adrian put her in the backseat of our shop. About that time, the vice officers that arrested her came over to talk to us. Not surprisingly based on the motel, the female had been arrested for prostitution. The vice officers had found her through Craig's List. It is nice of Craig's List to allow you to sell your car, furniture, and booty, all in one place. I wonder what her ad in Craig's List was like? 1995 Honda Accord in good shape for $2000, 32 inch Sony TV like new for $200, and sex with nasty 28 year old me for $200? By the way, her first name was Gwensheca. No comment. The vice officers contacted her and set up a meet and greet. The first officer went into the room in plain clothes. He told her that he had a party of 6 males that were all ready for action and willing to pay. She said, "That sounds fine and I will do whatever for $200 per guy". The vice officer said that sounds great and then called his boys. The female decided to pose in a provocative fashion on the bed to greet the arriving customers. The next male into the room was another vice officer, but he was wearing his raid vest that said POLICE across the chest. The female screamed "NO" and started crying. Poor girl, she was thinking that she was about to make a quick $1200, not go to jail for solicitation. A short time later, Adrian searched her purse. Surprisingly, the only drug Adrian found was Vivarin, the caffeine pill alertness aid. I am guessing that 6 guys who were paying $200 each would have kept her alert, but who knows? Adrian also found condoms in her purse. But she only had 2. I guess she was going to risk it with the other 4 guys. Later as we were driving around, Adrian asked me "How old are you?" I was completely honest and said, "31". Not really, I told her the truth, 39. She responded, "Wow, I would not have guessed that you were that old." How exactly was I supposed to take that? That I look good for my age, or that I act younger than my age, or that I am old and she was just being polite because I was her evaluator? Anyway, it made me laugh, and that is always a good thing.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Getting my point across to a child
After A finished his homework, he asked to go outside and play with some neighborhood children. I said fine, and he put on his jacket and raced outside. He came back a short time later, grabbed some gloves because his hands were cold and his scooter. Just as I was about to call him in for dinner, I saw him riding his scooter up the driveway towards the garage. There was another child, C, trailing behind A. I opened the backdoor and A asked if they could play the Wii. I said sure. They came inside and I set the Wii up for them. They decided to play Super Smash Brothers Brawl. That is a game that I do not understand. When you are setting up the game, there are a bunch of characters in squares on the screen. Each player can select whichever character they want. A picked his player and it was C's turn to pick. He was not sure which to pick and had some questions. When he tried to show A which one he had questions about, C stood up, went over to the TV and touched the screen. I asked C very nicely to refrain from touching the screen. (I did not use the word "refrain" with C) I believe I said, "please do not touch the TV". Simple and straight forward. Easy to understand. A's little sister A2, who is 3, understood. C picked his player and they played their game. When it was time for the next game, C again stood up, walked over to the TV, and touched the screen. I again asked him very nicely to stop touching the TV. His response "why?" Because I said so. He walked toward the TV again. I said, "C, please to not touch the TV." He said, "What will happen?" I said, "It does not matter what will happen, please do not touch the TV." At this point, I was starting to become a little annoyed. I was trying not to raise my voice. Mainly because it was a nice day outside, and the windows of the house were open. Again, he said, "Why not? What will happen if I touch the TV?" That was it for me. I said, "If you touch the TV again, you will not play the Wii at this house again". Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. That got my point across. C sat down and started to use his words to ask A what he wanted to know. Sometimes you have to re-phrase things with children. If one way does not work, try something a little different.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Think like a wolf, not a sheep
Tonight we were dispatched to a robbery with weapons that had just occurred. A robbery in Texas is defined as; in the course of committing theft, a person causes or threatens or places another person in fear of imminent bodily injury or death. For example, a thug comes up to you, knocks you down and takes your stuff. You have just been robbed. A person can be robbed, a vehicle or house can be burglarized. A couple in their twenties moved here four months ago from Australia. They live in a very nice brand new apartment building that is close to Lakewood Church. They are expecting their first child to be born in May of next year. Tonight, they decided to go out to a wine tasting bar. Strange place for a pregnant female, but she did not partake in the tasting. The bar is four blocks from their apartment complex. The weather was nice and they decided to walk the four blocks to the bar. They had a nice time at the bar and began their walk home around 10:45 PM. As they were walking down a not well lit side street, they noticed two males. These two males were walking as well. They were coming from the opposite direction walking toward the married couple. Something about the two males made the couple feel uneasy. Amazingly, they actually paid attention to their intuition and turned around. Unfortunately, two other males came out from another side street and started walking in their direction. The couple was in the middle of the block with males approaching them from both sides. They quickly realized that they were in a bad position. They decided to make a run for it. There was a small side street between them and the males. They turned back around and started running for the side street. They did not make it. The two males from behind them knocked down the female, sat on her, and then snatched her purse away from her. The other two males went after the husband. They caught him, and threatened to shoot him if he did not give them everything that he had. The suspects did not show a gun, but they had a hand under their shirt acting like they had one. The husband did the smart thing and handed over everything. The suspects then took off and the couple ran to their apartment building.
The couple was lucky. They were not hurt. They could easily have been severely injured or even killed. They listened to their intuition and experienced the "fight or flight" impulse. In their situation, it was probably a good decision to run. The husband was not going to fight off 4 males by himself. Take a minute and put yourself in the same situation. What would you do? What are you prepared to do? Do you have a plan? Have you talked to your spouse about what to do in these types of situations? Jen and I have talked about some situations. In most situations, she is to run away and call 911. That way I do not have to worry about her, just about myself. If the kids are with us, she grabs the kids and takes off for the same reason. We have not discussed this particular situation. This is the first time that I have seen suspects in this area "hunt" like raptors. Usually they all come at you from the same direction, not from multiple directions. In this situation, I would instruct Jen to hide between cars nearby, take out her phone and call 911. That way I can take out my pistol and take care of things without her in the way. I have the benefit of having a pistol with me all of the time and of extensive training. Without the pistol and the training, I would react differently. Even with those tools, sometimes the best option will be to run. I am fine with that. The important thing is to think about these situations. The best thing is to avoid the situation completely. Be smart about where you park and walk and pay attention to your surroundings. And, get a concealed handgun permit.
The couple was lucky. They were not hurt. They could easily have been severely injured or even killed. They listened to their intuition and experienced the "fight or flight" impulse. In their situation, it was probably a good decision to run. The husband was not going to fight off 4 males by himself. Take a minute and put yourself in the same situation. What would you do? What are you prepared to do? Do you have a plan? Have you talked to your spouse about what to do in these types of situations? Jen and I have talked about some situations. In most situations, she is to run away and call 911. That way I do not have to worry about her, just about myself. If the kids are with us, she grabs the kids and takes off for the same reason. We have not discussed this particular situation. This is the first time that I have seen suspects in this area "hunt" like raptors. Usually they all come at you from the same direction, not from multiple directions. In this situation, I would instruct Jen to hide between cars nearby, take out her phone and call 911. That way I can take out my pistol and take care of things without her in the way. I have the benefit of having a pistol with me all of the time and of extensive training. Without the pistol and the training, I would react differently. Even with those tools, sometimes the best option will be to run. I am fine with that. The important thing is to think about these situations. The best thing is to avoid the situation completely. Be smart about where you park and walk and pay attention to your surroundings. And, get a concealed handgun permit.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
A couple of Germans
Day four evaluating Adrian and she is still doing well. She claims that she is still anxious about evaluation. I keep telling her that she is doing fine, but I am not sure that she believes me. I tell her that I can document poor performance as easily as good performance. I am not just giving away good scores. Early in the shift we volunteered for an assault report in the "gayborhood". Right in the middle of my beat is the nexus of the city's homosexual population. We arrived to find four males standing in front of their apartment complex. One of the males was dressed in drag and another had powder on his face and a french manicure. They stated that they were both dressed in drag and were walking down the street. They were on their way to perform at a local club. An acquaintance jumped out from behind a vehicle and punched one of the males in the jaw, cracking his tooth. They fell to the ground and the other male dressed in drag jumped in to help. After a brief scuffle, the males in dresses were able to free themselves from their attacker. The suspect ran off and the males walked home and then called the police. While Adrian was getting all of the information for the report, two other males walked up. They had a question for me. They stated that they were from Germany and were in town for the weekend. They were staying downtown and had called for a cab. Once in the cab they told the cabdriver that they wanted to go to a bar. The cabdriver dropped them off in the middle of the gayborhood. The Germans had no idea where they were until they walked into the closest bar. They quickly left after observing the waiters. The waiters were wearing tidy whities and shoes and that is all. Needless to say, they were a little shocked. I told them that I understood. The first time that I had to go into that particular bar for a call, I was a little shocked as well. They said that they are members of the German Air Defense and have been training in El Paso for the past 6 months. It seems that Germany will not allow them to train with live anti-aircraft ammunition. We will, so they are training in west Texas. After getting to know them a little, I told them that there were two possible reasons why the cabdriver brought them to the gayborhood. Either the cabdriver liked the scenery in the area, or he thought that the two Germans were homosexuals. This made the Germans fall over laughing. I told them that we would give them a ride to a more appropriate part of town once we were finished gathering information for the report. The Germans piled into the backseat and we took off for Mid-town. On the way I asked them if they wanted a nice place to get drinks, or good music, or beautiful women. They replied all three would be great. We dropped them off close to Pub Fiction. Right after I let them out of the backseat, three gorgeous blondes walked out of the Pub. The Germans smiled and said this place looked great. They handed me a camera and I took their picture by the patrol car. I am an ambassador for the city. :^D Good times.
Friday, November 13, 2009
OT, property crime, and a strange question
I came in to work a little early today. I had signed up to work 4 hours of patrol overtime in the Upper Kirby District. The district is a rather wealthy part of Houston that has recently experienced an increase in property crime. My regular shop (patrol vehicle) was not available so I was given another. The air would only blow on full speed in that shop. That was not going to work for 12 hours, so I exchanged keys and tried again. Once in the shop, I heard a familiar voice over the radio as the dispatcher. I met her when I worked evening shift for a few months at the beginning of my career. After evening shift, Courtney and I would go to headquarters and work out. While we were there we met Liz who was also working out. She was the regular evening shift dispatcher. We got to be friends. Let me just say that being friends with the dispatcher is a good thing. It can be a very long shift if you are not on good terms with the dispatcher. I have seen Liz made life absolutely miserable for an officer after they were rude to her over the radio. On a side note, Liz is also a dental assistant and she assisted Mike when he took his Dental Boards. While on overtime, you are required to show some type of production. There is not a quota or anything like that, but they expect you to do more than just drive around. On evening shift you have to constantly check the computer for calls for service. There are quite a few evening shift officers and the calls are claimed quickly. I was able to jump on a few calls and ended up with one report. Not surprisingly, the report involved property crime. A female left her vehicle parked overnight in a strip shopping center and when she returned the driver's side window had been shattered. Nothing had been taken from the vehicle. Normally, a radar detector, iPod, camera, GPS, laptop, or some other type of electronic devise had been left in plain site and stolen from the vehicle. PAUSE for a quick public service announcement: When you leave your vehicle, do not leave anything of value visible in the passenger area. Resist the urge to stop at the bar on the way home from work and leave your laptop in the backseat. Do not put your purse on the floor of the vehicle and expect it to still be there when you return.
Overtime went by quickly and it was time for another day of evaluating Adrian. We are on day three out of five. She is still very nervous, but she has reined in her driving. I am thankful that he nervous energy in no longer being transferred to the gas pedal. I found out that another rookie is waiting in the wings for me to finish evaluating. Her name is Jocelyn. That will make three females in a row. Strange. During our shift, we did two more property crime reports. One person came outside to find someone else in their vehicle rummaging around. They chased off the suspect. They leave the doors to their vehicles unlocked because that way the suspects do not break the windows in order to look around inside the vehicle. Good solution, but it is sad that it has come to that. The other report was for another vehicle burglary. A female left her laptop on the backseat and went into a bar. She returned later to her vehicle and found the passenger side window had been shattered and her laptop was gone. She had watched a little too much CSI. She noticed a footprint on the passenger seat and the wanted us to take pictures of the footprint. She also wanted us to checked the dirt around the vehicle and make plaster casts of any possible matching footprints for evidence. Okie dokie. We made quite a few traffic stops as well. One particular driver made an illegal left turn, was driving without his license, did not have an inspection sticker, his registration expired in November of 2007, and his vehicle still had Nevada plates even though he had been in Texas for 30 months. Texas gives you 30 days to register your vehicle once you establish residency. He knew his driver's license number so we were able to verify his identity. To top things off, two traffic warrants had been issued for his arrest. They were from 1999. They could not be verified, so he was not going to be arrested. I went up to talk to him while Adrian was writing the ticket. I told him about the warrants and that he was not going to be arrested tonight. He said, "I am not trying to be a smart ass, but aren't the warrants arrest warrants? Why am I not being arrested"? That is not a usual question for us. Why are you not arresting me? Well, because the City spent millions of dollars on a new computer system a few years ago and it routinely goes down at night so we can't verify warrants. Your lucky night, now please sign here.
Overtime went by quickly and it was time for another day of evaluating Adrian. We are on day three out of five. She is still very nervous, but she has reined in her driving. I am thankful that he nervous energy in no longer being transferred to the gas pedal. I found out that another rookie is waiting in the wings for me to finish evaluating. Her name is Jocelyn. That will make three females in a row. Strange. During our shift, we did two more property crime reports. One person came outside to find someone else in their vehicle rummaging around. They chased off the suspect. They leave the doors to their vehicles unlocked because that way the suspects do not break the windows in order to look around inside the vehicle. Good solution, but it is sad that it has come to that. The other report was for another vehicle burglary. A female left her laptop on the backseat and went into a bar. She returned later to her vehicle and found the passenger side window had been shattered and her laptop was gone. She had watched a little too much CSI. She noticed a footprint on the passenger seat and the wanted us to take pictures of the footprint. She also wanted us to checked the dirt around the vehicle and make plaster casts of any possible matching footprints for evidence. Okie dokie. We made quite a few traffic stops as well. One particular driver made an illegal left turn, was driving without his license, did not have an inspection sticker, his registration expired in November of 2007, and his vehicle still had Nevada plates even though he had been in Texas for 30 months. Texas gives you 30 days to register your vehicle once you establish residency. He knew his driver's license number so we were able to verify his identity. To top things off, two traffic warrants had been issued for his arrest. They were from 1999. They could not be verified, so he was not going to be arrested. I went up to talk to him while Adrian was writing the ticket. I told him about the warrants and that he was not going to be arrested tonight. He said, "I am not trying to be a smart ass, but aren't the warrants arrest warrants? Why am I not being arrested"? That is not a usual question for us. Why are you not arresting me? Well, because the City spent millions of dollars on a new computer system a few years ago and it routinely goes down at night so we can't verify warrants. Your lucky night, now please sign here.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Thanks for serving Dad
Like most little boys, I was fascinated with the military while growing up. I can remember my Dad showing me his service metals when I was a kid. They were kept in a box that was in a desk that now resides in my house. I would go and pull out the metals from time to time to look at them. I wondered what my Dad did to earn them. I made up grand stories about how they were earned that I would then go act out in my room or the backyard. As I got older, the fascination continued. I can remember staying up and listening to the initial assault of Desert Storm over the radio while I was on a retreat with my fraternity in college. I minored in history for both of my degrees and I took quite a few military history classes. For a few years every book that I read dealt with the military. I was particularly interested in the Special Forces. Throughout my teen years and into my twenties I often thought of serving in the military. Initially, I wanted to fly planes after watching Top Gun. Later, after graduate school I thought of applying to Officer Candidate School. I did not have any career plans and serving in the military appealed to me. I never applied to OCS, but I did do some research into the possibility.
As I looked into the military and read the books and the stories, I was always amazed by the sacrifice and dedication of those that served. That brings me to my Dad. He was an electrician living in Las Cruces and had just married my Mom when he got the notice in the mail from the Selective Service. At that time, the draft worked a little differently than later in the war. You were classified as a 1-A candidate if you were between 18 1/2 and 25 and the older males were drafted first. My Dad was in the upper range of the age bracket and had a skill that was in demand for the war. He was drafted, went to Basic Training and then did a combat tour in Vietnam. He returned home to my Mom, went to college and had a son. Vietnam was not a popular war. Soldiers were not appreciated when then returned from service like they are today. Quite the contrary actually, they were vilified. They were pulled from their lives, sent to fight a war that they did not understand, and then looked down upon when they returned home. That sucks. Dad, I want to say thank you for the sacrifice that you made and for honorably serving in the military. That makes me proud and I am honored to be your son.
As I looked into the military and read the books and the stories, I was always amazed by the sacrifice and dedication of those that served. That brings me to my Dad. He was an electrician living in Las Cruces and had just married my Mom when he got the notice in the mail from the Selective Service. At that time, the draft worked a little differently than later in the war. You were classified as a 1-A candidate if you were between 18 1/2 and 25 and the older males were drafted first. My Dad was in the upper range of the age bracket and had a skill that was in demand for the war. He was drafted, went to Basic Training and then did a combat tour in Vietnam. He returned home to my Mom, went to college and had a son. Vietnam was not a popular war. Soldiers were not appreciated when then returned from service like they are today. Quite the contrary actually, they were vilified. They were pulled from their lives, sent to fight a war that they did not understand, and then looked down upon when they returned home. That sucks. Dad, I want to say thank you for the sacrifice that you made and for honorably serving in the military. That makes me proud and I am honored to be your son.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Feeling like a bad parent today
Recently on a Facebook status update, Jen stated that she "hopes that my children will be able to forgive me for all of my shortcomings one day." I understand exactly how she feels. There are days when I feel like I do nothing but harm my children, especially Austin. This evening Jen caught me staring at an older photo of Austin, he was probably about 3 in the picture. She asked what was wrong and I said nothing was wrong. What was going through my head was "look at the cute little boy before his father screwed him up". Definitely morose, but that was my state of mind. To add a little perspective, Austin absolutely adores me. He hates when I am not home because of work. He asks every night if he will see me the next day. He wants me to take him to his games and to karate. He wants me to coach his teams. He just wants to hang out with his dad, unless he is playing a video game or watching a movie, but that is beside the point. Back to the point...
What brought this on today? It saddens me that Austin is constantly apologizing. I guess it is my tone or the way that I look at him after he asks me a question, but all to often his question is followed with "never mind" or "I'm sorry". Every time that happens I feel like an inept parent. I want him to feel comfortable coming to me and talking. I want him to have the freedom to ask me anything. I do not want him to think that he is bothering me or annoying me with questions. If he hesitates now with questions about gameboys or iPhones, what will happen later when he is wondering about drugs or sex? When he comes to me with questions or requests, I need to stop what I am doing, give him my full attention, pay attention to my facial expression and tone, and forget about whatever it was that I was doing. He deserves that much from me.
What brought this on today? It saddens me that Austin is constantly apologizing. I guess it is my tone or the way that I look at him after he asks me a question, but all to often his question is followed with "never mind" or "I'm sorry". Every time that happens I feel like an inept parent. I want him to feel comfortable coming to me and talking. I want him to have the freedom to ask me anything. I do not want him to think that he is bothering me or annoying me with questions. If he hesitates now with questions about gameboys or iPhones, what will happen later when he is wondering about drugs or sex? When he comes to me with questions or requests, I need to stop what I am doing, give him my full attention, pay attention to my facial expression and tone, and forget about whatever it was that I was doing. He deserves that much from me.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Twentieth Reunion Day 2
Day 2 of Jen's 20th reunion began a little earlier than we expected. Unbeknownst to us, Addy had contracted a stomach virus and at 4 AM, it started to effect her. Jen tended to Addy while I did the initial clean up and then Jen went into hyper cleaning mode. Jen absolutely despises stomach viruses and anytime someone in the house gets one, out comes the yellow gloves, lysol, bleach, and other various chemicals. So for the next few hours, Jen tended to Addy and cleaned at the same time. She is an outstanding multi-tasker.
The stomach virus threw our plans for the rest of the day into chaos. It was time to roll with things and hope for the best. I took Austin to his flag football game. His team won again, they are undefeated with one game left in the season. At the game, I asked my parents if they minded still watching the kids for us that evening so that we could attend the reunion. They said that they had been around sick kids in the past and that they would watch them for us. Big props for that to Mom & Dad. Courtney also came to the game and she took Avery home with her, thanks. After the football game I took Austin to a birthday party. I do not usually go to the hundreds of birthday parties to which my kids are invited. Austin & I had a good time at the party, but thanks Jen for usually taking the kids for me.
We returned home and loaded up the family truckster and took the kids to my parent's house. Addy had not gotten sick since about 7 AM and was in good spirits. Jen and I arrived at the Moody Gardens Hotel around 4 PM. Jen wanted a snack and I wanted a margarita so we headed for the lounge on the top floor of the hotel. We found out that they do not offer any food, just a bowl of mixed nuts. The waitress said that they also have gold fish crackers. We asked for some crackers, a coke, and a margarita. Another Jennifer arrived a short time later and met us in the lounge. She ordered a small bottle of champagne. She finished it and felt pretty good going to the reunion. When the waitress delivered our bill, we found out that we were charged for the gold fish crackers. I guess the 200 percent profit in the alcohol was not enough for Moody Gardens.
We returned to our room and a short time later heard Terry & Mary in the hallway. They were supposed to have the room right next to us. Terry used the key that the desk gave him, walked into the room and there was a woman working on a computer in the room. He quickly said sorry and backed out the door and headed to the desk to get things fixed. Terry returned a short time later and found the new room to be unoccupied. It was about time to head down to the reunion, so we all got dressed up and then met in the hallway.
We were one of the first to arrive at the reunion, it was held in a ballroom at the hotel. There was a bar in the corner, a buffet on the other end, a dance floor, and about 20 round tables that sat 10 to a table. The DJ arrived and started spinning the tunes and dinner was started. The food was good, salad, chicken, rice, sliced steak, veggies, and rolls. There was iced tea on the tables and each person got three tickets for drinks. I stated with a margarita and Jen had a glass of wine. About halfway through dinner, Jen noticed that there was a nat in her wine. Jen is not confrontational and before I could do anything about it, Aimee who was sitting with us called over a waiter. She said, "Her wine has a bug in it, can you get her another glass". He scurried off and returned with a fresh glass filled to the rim. After dinner it was time to mingle. A few times Jen was caught my eye from a few tables away and waved me over. I thought that she wanted to introduce me. No, she was calling over camera boy. I dutifully took a few pictures. I did not take the big camera, so we only have 30-40 pictures instead of 300-400 pictures.
Eventually a few people made it out onto the dance floor. Every time the floor started to fill up and there was some momentum and people were enjoying themselves, the DJ would change the music completely and kill the vibe. That happened at least 4 times throughout the evening. Later in the evening, the DJ played 40 minutes of Tejano music. There were about 12 hispanic people in the ballroom and half of them worked there. I felt like I was in a taqueria on Navigation by the ship channel. It just seemed like a strange selection by the DJ. Terry was on the dance floor quite a bit throughout the evening and eventually Mary and Jen joined him out there. They were able to get me out there for about 10 minutes. Luckily I did not pull anything and there is no video of the event, that I know of.
At one point I was standing by our table and a woman walked up to me. She said, "Who are you?" I responded, "I did not graduate from LaPorte, I married in." She said, "Good enough" and walked away. The most interesting outfit of the night had to go to a graduate's date. She wore a black dress that stopped just south of her rear. Almost the entire back of the dress was see through. Her black panties was on display to everyone. I am not here to judge, but only strippers and porn stars wear dresses like that. It made for a few laughs.
The reunion closed down at midnight and the after party was at Woody's on the seawall. We decided to skip the bar and headed up the room. Terry ordered some dessert and we unwound and discussed the evening over chocolate cake and Italian creme cake. When I noticed Jen starting to fall asleep while leaning against the headboard in their room, I knew it was time to call it a night. Overall, it really seemed like everyone had fun. Jen had a great time talking to all of her old friends. People seemed more open and less clique-ish than at the 10 year reunion and there is already talk on Facebook of a 25 year reunion.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Jen's 20th Reunion, The First Night
How time flies. I can't say that it feels like I just graduated from high school. But it is still hard to believe that it has been over 20 years. My 20th reunion was last year up in the Dallas area. I did not attend. The one person that I would have been interested in seeing was not going to attend. Actually, I do not really keep in touch with anyone from high school. However, I have recently gotten reacquainted with a few friends through Facebook, which has been great. I am not sure if my lack of friends from high school is because I moved away right after high school or because I spent most of my time playing golf while I was in high school. Whatever the reason, it would not have been real fun to sit at my reunion without really knowing anyone.
Skip ahead to this year, and it was time for Jen's 20th reunion. She definitely wanted to attend. Jen has kept i touch with a few people through the years and has reconnected with many others through Facebook. Her class president did a good job through Facebook of planning the event, inviting everyone, and keeping everyone informed about the reunion events during the weekend. A few people met at a bar on Thursday night, but our first night was Friday. The night began with a catered dinner that was served in the high school cafeteria. Since it was an alumni dinner, Jen's sister Courtney attended as well. She somehow persuaded Mike to come with her and he looked very nice in his collared shirt. Terry and Mary met us at the high school and we all ate together. The graduates kept saying how "institutional" the cafeteria looked. To me, it looked like any other high school cafeteria. It was white and a little run down, but not too bad. After the dinner, we all took a walk around the high school. The graduates would make comments like "I spent a lot of time in that room" or "It did not look like this when we in school". I will say that the school seemed huge. Apparently they have connected all of the buildings together since Jen was in school. I have not been back to my high school since graduating, but I do not remember it being that large. After the tour we left the school and started the walk over to the stadium for the homecoming football game. As we were walking, we ran into a group of people that Jen knew. So, Courtney & Mike and Terry & Mary hung around for a few minutes, and then they walked to the stadium. I was not so lucky. The people that we ran into were not going to the game, so any catching up had to happen then. After about 15 minutes, I started getting text messages from Mike and Terry asking if we were ever coming to the game. The best one of the bunch was this jewel from Mike, "Our baby will be born by the time you get here". Classic. That still makes me laugh. Eventually we made it to the game and found a place to sit in the grandstands. The game was extremely boring. LaPorte crushed South Houston. At least LaPorte knows how to schedule a homecoming opponent, unlike the University of Missouri. The Tigers scheduled Texas for homecoming and got boat raced right out of their stadium by halftime. But I digress... During halftime of the game, they had the homecoming king and queen ceremony. They announced all of the candidates and they all walked across the turf with a parent while the announcer blathered on and on about their accomplishments. During this, Courtney heard a name that she recognized. One of the candidates for homecoming king was the son of her high school basketball coach. He was born the year that she graduated from high school. I think that made her feel old. After the game, it was time for the after party at Outriggers. A small bar on the water underneath the Kemah bridge. The parking was less than ideal. Anytime the tide effects the amount of parking for a business, it might be time to look for an alternative. There were quite a few people at the bar. They had a live band out on the bottom deck. That is where the above picture was taken, it is Mandy, Laura, and Jen. We left before most. The smoke started to bother us and we needed to rescue my parents who we nice enough to watch the kids so we could attend. Overall, we had a nice time and it was a good start to the weekend.Friday, November 6, 2009
Surprise, another rookie
On my way to the extra job yesterday morning, my supervisor sent me a text message letting me know that I would be starting evaluation with a new rookie tonight. Ladybug and I finished last week, so I figured that another one would be coming soon. Her name is Adrian. She is 29, but looks 20. She has a college degree and prior military experience. She is as quiet as a mouse. This is quite a change from Ladybug who talked non-stop. She has had three good trainers who all have said that she did well. After roll call, she walked up to me and you would have thought she was about to be fed to the lions by the look on her face. To say she was nervous would be an understatement. I can understand being a little anxious before evaluation. It is a nerve racking experience. But she looked like she was about to experience vapor lock. In order to get her to relax, I knew that all of my personal and psychological skills were about to be tested. Some of the other evaluators, especially on evening shift, seem to take pride in stressing out the rookies. The evaluators will not talk to them during the shift. The rookie does not get any feedback on how they are doing until they get their grades the following day. The evaluator will sit or stand behind or beside them the entire shift with their arms crossed. I look at evaluation a little differently. I try to get the rookie to relax. I want them calm and breathing normally, especially when driving me around. So we got into the patrol vehicle. Then I began "the talk". With each new probationary I have a short talk that I will share with them. It is a different talk depending upon if we are training or evaluating. The evaluation talk has the word "relax" in it about 10 times. One of the things that I stress, is that I am a bad passenger. I hate not being in control of the vehicle. Drives me crazy. I tell the rookie that I get motion sick and that they need to drive like I am their 90 year old grandmother. This usually gets the point across and they drive nice and smooth and slow. Not Adrian. So far she drives like her hair is on fire. The tires do not spin at every red light, but they have spun a few times. She slams on the gas and then slams on the brakes. Not exactly smooth. I am trying to give her the benefit of the doubt that this is because she is still not really breathing. She still looks at me like I am a hungry lion and she is a baby gazelle. Hopefully, after tonight this will change at least a little bit. As far as the evaluating is going, she is doing fine. Just still a little nervous.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Slow but interesting
I have been patrolling the streets for a little over ten years now. And it amazes me every year how slow it gets on night shift once the weather starts to cool down. As soon as the night time temperature starts creeping below 65, everyone stays inside. Even most of the crackheads, dealers, and trannies stay indoors. This is especially true on the weekday nights. Now, nothing will keep people inside on Friday & Saturday nights. With everyone staying inside, it would stand to reason that more domestic violence and family disturbances would occur. I do not have any statistical data to justify this, but it does not seem to be the case. Tonight, Ladybug who is still with me, and I checked by on an assault that had just occurred. It was the male's birthday and they were celebrating with his family out in Katy. The female, who is 5 months pregnant, got tired and wanted to go home. They left Katy, but the male was upset. He kept getting more upset as they drove home. Once they arrived home, the male really flipped out and started pushing the female, eventually shoving her down onto a bed. He then jumped on her, grabbed her hands, and put them around his neck telling her to choke him. Weird. Then he destroyed everything in the apartment except for the flatscreen TV. She was finally able to lock herself in the bathroom and call 911. Unfortunately, we arrived about 30 seconds after he left. She went on to tell us that he had been violent in the past. In the prior incident, he hit her in the head with the butt end of a shotgun. We then asked her if she wanted to press charges against this fine fellow. And she hesitated. What? First he hits you in the head with the butt end of a shotgun and then later he pushes you around the apartment and destroys everything. Why are you not sure that you want to press charges? I understand that it must be scary. But sometimes you have to make the tough decision for you and your unborn baby. Fortunately, in domestic violence situations, we do not need the female's cooperation to press charges. The primary unit ended up writing a detailed report and filing a to-be warrant on the male with the District Attorney's office. A little while later, we were dispatched to a Jack in the Box. Someone had fallen asleep in the drive through. We arrived to find a black male driver and a white female passenger both unconscious in the vehicle. The driver's side window was down, the vehicle was on, and the vehicle was in park. Ladybug went to the driver's side and woke up the driver. He woke up very quickly. Normally in these situations, it takes some effort to wake up the unconscious. Ladybug got him out of the vehicle and sent him around back of the vehicle to me. Ladybug then went to the female passenger. She was much harder to wake up. Indicating that she was more intoxicated than the driver. As I started searching the driver, I began questioning him. I was trying to determine where he lived, where they had been that night, and just how intoxicated he was. He said that he lived on Missouri, close to South Beach. That was good news, they were close to home. He said that they had been out drinking. That was obvious. He said that he had pulled into the parking lot after realizing that he should not be driving in order to sober up. Good idea, bad execution. They had gone to a bar on Washington. I asked him where he thought he was, and after some thinking he responded with "Los Angeles". BUZZZZZ, wrong answer. Then he stated that he had recently returned to Houston after spending a month in Los Angeles. That sounded more reasonable. Throughout the questioning, he was very polite and seemed to be telling the truth. I left him by the trunk of the vehicle and went to talk with Ladybug. She said that the female was conscious but still a little out of it. I asked the drunk female who the driver of the vehicle was and where he lived and she gave me the correct answers. I then asked Ladybug what she wanted to do. She was not sure. I told her that we had three options; 1. arrest them both for public intoxication and tow the vehicle 2. arrest the driver for DWI and the passenger for public intoxication and tow the vehicle 3. with the business's permission, leave the vehicle in the parking lot and give them a courtesy ride home. We decided on option three, leave the vehicle in the parking lot and then give them a ride home. Since he woke up quickly, he was not that intoxicated. He tried to get off the road and sleep it off, just made the poor choice of pulling into the drive through. He lived close by was honest with me when I asked him questions. We put them in the backseat, and he was able to give me the correct directions to his house and we were there in 3 minutes. After we let them out of the backseat, he was very appreciative. He said that he was amazed that the police had treated him "like a human". He said that his previous encounters with the police had not gone so well. I told him to learn from the experience. Next time, take a cab home or have a designated driver.
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