Setting an example

Austin played in his first flag football game for the season this past Saturday. He is on the Cowboys and played center for most of the game. He really enjoys that position for the same reason that he likes to play catcher in baseball, you get to touch the ball on every play. The team uses the shotgun formation and Austin did a great job getting the ball to the QB. As is usually the case, Austin had a large cheering section. Our family is great and they really make an effort to make it to his games and support him. Thanks.

After the game, everyone was invited back over to our house. Since Mike and Courtney brought Cagney, everyone (except Cathy, she went home) decided to pick up lunch on the way back to our house. Jen and I decided to go to Whataburger. We pulled into the parking lot and the drive through line was very long. Whataburger is not known for having a fast drive through line, so I parked the family truckster. For some reason unknown to me, I instantly became irritated. I do not know if it was the hot temperature of the game without a breeze that finally got to me or the lack of sleep. No idea and no excuse. As I was getting out of the Suburban, I asked Jen what she wanted for lunch. She told me and then added that she wanted a Dr Pepper. I rudely told her that she could get one of those at home. I am a moron. I shut the door and began walking across the parking lot, then I realized that I needed to find out what to get for Addy. I walked to Jen's side of the truck and lightly knocked on the window. Then a couple of seconds later she opened her door. Apparently the window lock was on. This further frustrated me for some reason. I returned to the driver's side, opened the door and slammed my fist down on the window lock. Which is plastic. Needless to say, the window lock/ window switch area separated into a few pieces. Smooth on my part. 

I shut the door and went inside Whataburger to place our order. I had not completely lost my mind, so I ordered Jen a Dr Pepper. I promptly took it out to her and then I intended to fix the mess I had made of the driver's door. I opened the door and Jen had already fixed it for me. I apologized for acting like an idiot and thanked her for fixing the door for me. I went back inside Whataburger and found Austin talking to one of his football coaches and his son who is also on the football team. I went and stood near them, by the drink machine. I noticed an older lady using a walker inching her way towards me. She had napkins and plastic ware in one of her hands and was struggling to move the walker with her other hand. I watched her struggle for a minute, and then I made eye contact with her. I reached out my hand and asked her if she could use a little help. She looked at me for a few seconds, and then said that would be great. I grabbed the napkins and utensils from her which allowed her to put both hands back onto her walker. She then began inching her way around a corner to an accessible table. Once she arrived at the table, she ran the walker into it. Then she stood there for a minute trying to decide how she was going to get into the chair. The chair was attached to the table and swiveled. At that point, a nice lady walked up and offered a regular chair. I asked the older woman if that would be ok, she said that it would be fine. So I took the chair and placed it directly behind her. I then took  a hold of her shoulders and helped her lower herself into the chair. I then scooted her up to the table. She was extremely grateful. She told me that she had recently had a stroke and was not getting around as well as she used to. I shook her hand and told her to enjoy her lunch. 

I do not tell that story to toot my own horn. I was happy that I pulled things together and did the right thing. I was glad to set an example for Austin. I hope that if I am in the same position later in life that someone will help me. I tell that story to illustrate how differently a person can act in a very short period of time. I had just been a complete jerk towards my wonderful wife and then acted like a spoiled 5 year old by hitting the door. Then 2 minutes later I am living my faith and helping those that can not help themselves. What a dichotomy.      

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Not as bad as it looks

They do blood drives at our church on a routine basis. I usually donate double red cells. The process is called apheresis. The blood is taken into a machine that seperates the blood into it's components. The red blood cells are collected into a bag and the rest is returned to your arm. It takes a little over an hour to complete the process. The red cells are beneficial for trauma victims.

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from will7079's posterous

It was CRAZY night

Even though Ron is finished with evaluation, he passed by the way, he is still riding with me until he transfers to evening shift for week two of evaluation. We checked by with another unit on a family disturbance. The 14 year old daughter was terrorizing the family with a baseball bat. We arrived and met the other officer inside. The mother gave us a brief summary of the night's events. The daughter, Anya, was calm and in bed at this point. The other officer, Andrew, knocked on and then opened the door to her bedroom. Anya was in bed, but was not asleep. The room was in complete disarray. Clothes were everywhere, which is probably typical for a 14 year old girl's room. One wall was covered with Twilight posters.

Andrew, a young officer that is not known for his bedside manner with suspects, started in on Anya. "What is going on? Why did you swing the bat? Why are you angry? Are you going to say anything?" Anya just sat up and stared at him. Andrew turned and looked at me. He said "what do we do now trainer?" I told him to go talk to the mother. I turned on the light, said hello to Anya, and walked over and sat on the end of her bed. I then engaged her in a civil conversation. Anya and her brother were adopted from an orphanage in Russia about 10 years ago. We talked about school, she is on the flag corp at Lamar High School and loves it. She makes A's and B's and wants to go to Brown after she graduates. She loves to read and is infatuated with Twilight and has read all of the books and seen the movie "at least 100 times". She wants to be an interior designer or a chef. She takes culinary classes at Lamar. She wants an iPod, cell phone, and laptop. I told her that when I was her age I did not have any of those things. She said "did they even have iPods when you were my age?" She guessed that I was 36 years old. She was very articulate, witty, and generally fun to talk to.

However, she has a major issue with anger. Tonight, her brother and his friend started giving her a hard time while they were shopping at Randalls earlier in the evening. They continued to pick on her when they got home. Anya finally went over the edge, grabbed a baseball bat and slammed it into the walls of her brother's room 8 times. She then threatened to pour hydrogen peroxide down the friend's throat. Anya's brother knows that he can get under her skin and eventually send her over the edge. He enjoys getting a reaction out of her. Anya seems more than willing to oblige. We discussed proper ways to express anger. I told her that is she gets in the habit of reacting this way when she gets angry, she will eventually react this way at school. That will get her sent to an alternative school and put a damper on the Brown plans. She said that she was not trying to hit her brother or the friend and only threatened about the peroxide to scare him.

I went outside and made some phone calls. Juvenile division said that she had never been handled by law enforcement. There were not any mental health units available to come talk to Anya. My supervisor advised me to make a report and to leave Anya at home. The mom did not want her arrested or taken from the home. The mom was just scared and looking for some help. I talked to the mom about possible ways to motivate Anya to go see a psychologist. So far, Anya had refused to go. The mom thanked us for our help and we left. Later in the shift, Ron and the other officers that were on that scene told me how impressed they were that I was able to quickly develop a rapport with Anya. What can I say, it is easy for me to talk to 14 year old girls. That did not come out right, it is easy for me talk to people, at work at least.

We also responded to a person down in a vehicle call. A lady, Donna, went out to Howl at the Moon, a piano bar, for happy hour with co-workers. She said they kept bringing her free drinks. Cool. She started to feel bad and said that she had to leave. She made it to her vehicle and had the good sense to realize that she should not drive. She started to feel worse, opened her door and got sick. She then passed out in her vehicle. We gave her the option of taking a cab home or going to jail. She refused a cab and belligerently said "don't you have better things to do, like fight real crime?" That attitude always earns you a trip to jail. At the jail, she told the jail "doctor" that if given the opportunity, she would harm herself. Fabulous. So, we loaded her back up and took her to the Neuropsychiatric Center (NPC) at Ben Taub. At NPC, she was even more belligerent with the real doctor. She cussed him and called him stupid among other things. I filled out the emergency detention order and left her in their care. She was in their system, was being treated for depression, and had a history of seizures. It turned out that NPC was a better place for her to be than jail. Even though we were not training, Ron learned a lot tonight.

36 hours and Thank You

My regular work schedule consists of 5 eight hour shifts every week. I work from 10 PM to 6 AM and I am off on Sundays and Mondays. I also have a permanent extra job that I work two days a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 AM to 3 PM. On top of that, I regularly get subpoenas for Municipal (traffic) court and County court for DWI trials. Then there is the patrol overtime that is offered at various times throughout the year. So, I stay relatively busy with work. On the other hand, Jen, works her regular job four days a week. But her real job begins when she gets home. She takes care of virtually everything at home. That is a subject for another time, but thanks Jen for all that you do. Your work is never done and your love is constant.

This week I experienced a perfect storm of work scheduling for 36 hours. Starting on Wednesday night at 10 PM and ending Friday morning at 10 AM, I worked 31 of 36 hours. Below is the schedule:

Wednesday 10 PM to Thursday 6 AM - regular shift
Thursday 6 AM to 7 AM - nap in car
Thursday 7 AM to 4 PM - extra job
Thursday 4 PM to 6 PM - nap in car
Thursday 6 PM to 10 PM - patrol overtime
Thursday 10 PM to Friday 6 AM - regular shift
Friday 6 AM to 8 AM - nap in car
Friday 8 AM to 10 AM - Court overtime

Luckily I am able to nap comfortably in the Hybrid. I put the seat all of the way back, roll up a t-shirt to cover my eyes, and pass out. The iPhone serves as my alarm. I know that the schedule looks and sounds crazy. However, I actually prefer when things get scheduled that way. It only really messes up one day instead of two or three days. That way I am only away from the family for an evening. I would not be able to work those hours without a lot of help from a few generous people.

First and foremost, thanks Jen. You make it all possible. Thank you for being the best wife that I could ever hope for. Thank you for taking care of me and the kids. You are the best and the love of my life. Second, thank you Jim and Cathy for taking care of Addy on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thank you for taking her to pre-school for us. I could not work my extra job without your help. Third, thank you Mom and Dad for watching Addy on Wednesdays. Your help allows me to get some much needed rest. Fourth, thank you Rob and Pam. Thank you for taking Austin to school four days a week. Thank you for letting him come over to your house after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays until one of us is able to pick him up. I could not work my schedule without your help as well.

Others have helped along the way, Courtney kept Austin one day a week when he was younger, Kristin kept Austin on Thursdays for awhile, and Julie has helped in emergencies. I am sure that I am forgetting someone, and I apologize.  

I may be the one that puts on the uniform and goes to work, but you all make it possible. I can not thank you enough for the help. I am so fortunate to have a great wife and we are so fortunate to have great parents and great friends that give so freely of their time and energy.

Other people's tragedies

At work I often see people at their worst. They have just lost a loved one, been in a major traffic accident, had their house broken into, or just been robbed, assaulted, or raped, to name a few. I have been trained to remain detached. I am able to be compassionate and considerate, while still doing my job and not allowing the situation to effect me emotionally. It sounds callus, but it is a necessary trait for a patrol officer. Fortunately for me, I am able to essentially forget the incident once my shift is over. That is to say that very few if any calls or things that I see at work bother me later. I rarely even think about the tragedies that I see at work once that shift is over. I am very thankful for this ability. 


However, I have a strange addiction to cancer blogs. I am sure that most of you have seen or heard of these before. Someone is sick and they start writing about their experiences. Sometimes it is the actual sick person writing, sometimes it is the spouse, or even the parent of the patient. I would think that it very cathartic for the person to share their experience while at the same time relating with others. I do not actively go out and look for these blogs. They are easy enough to find. Most major hospitals have Web sites that they provide for patients to share their experiences. Then there is blogforacure, livestrong, and many, many, more sites where people share their stories. When I run into trouble is when for one reason or another, I happen upon or am directed to one of these sites.


A couple of years ago I was reading a post on one of the knife forums that I used to frequent. The post was asking for prayers for a sick relative and had a link to their Web site. I made the mistake of clicking on the link. It happened to be the story of a child with cancer. I sat at the computer and read for over an hour. Jen walked in the bedroom could not help but notice me crying. She did the logical thing and asked me what was wrong. I gave her a brief description of the what I had been reading and asked her if she wanted to read. She declined and I completely understood. If I found her so effected by a story about a complete stranger that she was weeping, I would not want to read that either.


I use the micro-blogging service Twitter. I do not post very often, but I follow a number of people that are involved in fields or pursuits that I find interesting. Leading up to this year's Tour de France, I decided to follow Lance Armstrong on Twitter. He is a very active Twitter user. One of his tweets referenced Fatcyclist . I thought that was a strange name, so I clicked on the link. Another mistake, but this time I was at work. I started reading his story. His wife has cancer, they have young children, he deals with it by cycling. My probationary at the time is writing a report in the car, and I am in the passenger seat tearing up. He looked over at me and asked what was wrong, and I said that my allergies were bothering me. I can't tell the rookie that I am reading a cancer blog and starting to cry. 


Then last night I receive and email from a friend replying to a prayer request that Jen asked me to send out. It turns out that she had been praying for the same woman and she sent me a link to their family blog, The Sullivans. In summary, Jen's fourth grade teacher gave birth to a daughter, Sara, while Jen was in fourth grade. Well, Sara has breast cancer and gave birth to a healthy girl about a week ago. Sara and her husband were able to take their daughter home. But two days later, Sara started having a seizure that would not stop. She was taken to the hospital, put into a coma to stop the seizures, and then died a few days later. The funeral is this coming Saturday. Once again, I was mesmerized by the blog. I read every word. 


I find it very interesting that I am able to detach myself from things at work, but when reading these personal stories, I am transported into their lives. I find myself imagining what they are going through and putting myself in their shoes. I wonder how I would react in the same circumstances and question why some people have to face these trials. And then I deal with it the only way that I know how, I pray for that family and thank God for mine.   

1st day at the new job

A couple of years ago a good friend called me about a new extra job. The call woke me up from a deep sleep. I did not pay much attention to what he was saying. I told him I was not available and said thanks for the call. I saw him about a month later. He asked if I wanted to fill in at his extra job. I said what extra job? He said the one I called you about. I vaguely remembered a phone call. He was kind enough to fill me in again. I said filling in would be great, a permanant spot even better. He said I offered you a permanant spot over the phone. I felt like an idiot. That is one phone call I wish I had received when I was awake.

Sometime later he called me again and said that they might be starting a day shift at the extra job. I told him I was interested. That was 18 months ago. He called me last week and said that the day shift was finally starting. Tuesday morning was my first day shift at the new job. I will be there every Tuesday and Thursday.

The job is at a residence in River Oaks. River Oaks is the Houston equivalent of Beverly Hills. The house backs up to River Oaks Country Club. The owner is the principal shareholder and co-founder of an oil and natural gas pipeline company. The last Forbes' list had him listed in the top 100 richest men in the world. My job is to sit in the guard house and watch the monitors. The property is surrounded by a 10 foot brick fence. There are motion detectors and pressure sensors around the property. I am also responsible for allowing people on the property. There is also a TV and a computer connected to the Internet to pass the time.

On Tuesday, they held a fundraiser at the house for the Texas Speaker of the House. Two weeks ago they had a fundraiser for Govenor Perry. Last year Senator McCain and Former Govenor Palin were guests. The former Presidents named Bush have held fundraisers at the house as well. This is a popular place for Republicans to raise money.

It is an easy job that pays well. Just the kind of job that I like.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

A little ink

Most of you know that I have a tattoo. If you did not, you do now. I had it done at Bombshell Tattoos on Westheimer, which is owned by Greg, the night manager of the House of Pies on Kirby. The artist who inked me initially was John Devilman. He had done a back piece on another officer and had a very impressive portfolio of work. John specializes is portraits, but I did not want anyones picture on me at the time. I have always liked tribal arm bands. I told John that I wanted an arm band with an ichthus in the design. He drew it up, I liked it, and showed up on a Tuesday afternoon in November of 2006 to get it done.

John and I were the only ones in the shop at that time. It seems that most people get tattoos done at night. After playing a quick game of Gears of War, we got started. I ended up being in the chair for three hours that day. The pain was not too bad. By far the worst part was on the inside of my arm. It turns out that my skin does not take the ink very well. I ended up having to go back on three more times to have the tat filled in and redone. John did the initial and first follow up and Vince Crowley graciously did the next two, since John moved to the LA area. In all, it took around 9 hours. I also experienced what is called tattoo blast or tattoo blow-out. I have heard different statistics, but lets just say it is rare. Blast or blow-out is when the tattoo ink spreads to the surrounding tissue. This happened on the inside of my arm. It almost looks like a  permanent bruise. I was told that it might go away in 6 months. Almost three years later, it is still there.

With the difficulty that was had just getting the ink in my skin and then having the blast occur, you would think that I would would be skeptical about more tattoos. Not so much. I do not have plans for any more, but I have ideas. At the very least, I would like to do something around the arm band that would cover up the blast. This fact does not please Jennifer, since she reluctantly agreed to the first one. Quick side note,  before I got my tattoo, Jen actually had a dream about me getting a tattoo. I had begun seriously thinking about it, but had not yet brought it up in conversation with her. Strange. She knows me too well.

One of the funny things about having a tattoo occurs when friends do not know that have one. There is a negative stigma that goes with tattoos and those people that have them. I have been part of a few conversations where friends have made derogatory comments about tats in general. Some of the comments went like this "what kind of moron gets a tattoo?",  or "don't they know those are permanent", or "just pure white trash get tattoos". I just smile, knowing they have no idea that I have one. There is no use in explaining, if that is their attitude, nothing that I can say will change their mind. Which is fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

The photo was taken at the House of Blues by Courtney before the Live concert earlier this year.          

Aunt wanted action

Friday nights at work are typically hit and miss. Sometimes it is busy, but sometimes not as busy as you would expect. I am now back to evaluating Ron after Mark passed officer safety with flying colors. We grabbed a report call early and then did a traffic stop. I was busy texting back and forth with Terry and sending IM messages back and forth with Aunt Joanne. I can do that since I have a personal driver. One of the last messages that Joanne sent was a request for more work stories, with some action. At that point, this night was not looking very promising. Then after telling Joanne good night, the bottom fell out. 

The code 1 tone came over radio (a high pitched tone that is designed to get officer's attention) and Susan (our regular dispatcher) announced that a robbery was in progress at a seafood restaurant on Airline Dr. Four hispanic males with guns were in the process of robbing the business. We were not dispatched, but we were not very far away so we started heading that way. The primary unit arrived on the scene and announced that he could see the males with guns out still inside the business. That got everyones' attention and every available unit that was in the area started flying in that direction. Two of the suspects tried to flee out the back door and were caught instantly by officers with shotguns and AR-15s at the ready. The other two suspects ran back into the kitchen and took the employees as hostages. They holed up in the back of the kitchen , near a window. Then they began taping up the employees. Officers entered through the front doors of the restaurant and started a dialog with the highjackers (HPD lingo for robbers). SWAT was called to the scene, which is standard procedure when there is a hostage situation. Just as SWAT was beginning to arrive, the highjackers were talked into surrendering. Officers then took the 8 people left in the business into custody. We had to take everyone into custody to make sure that the suspects did not try to blend in with the hostages. It ended peacefully, with no injuries and all of the suspects in custody. 

As we were heading back to our patrol vehicle, the code 1 tone sounded again. This time it was a home invasion in progress. I drove, since I knew the way and I do not enjoy being a passenger especially during code 1 driving. We arrived in a couple of minutes. We found the front door to a nice townhouse had been kicked in. We received permission to search and Ron and I went to the second floor while another training unit took the bottom floor. We found the residents. The female said that she had woken up for no reason in particular. She then had heard some noise outside her bedroom door. She opened it to find the suspect. She screamed and he ran. The suspect was gone before we arrived. I found it interesting that the shattering of the front door did not wake up anyone in the house. 

Quick public service announcement. Most strike plates (the plate that has a hole in the middle for the deadbolt to slide into) are secured to the door jamb with 1/2 inch screws. If Austin kicked a front door with those screws, it would fly open. Go buy some 3 inch screws and replace the 1/2 inch screws. The 3 inch screws will go through the jamb and into the actual frame of the house. That way, when the crackhead kicks the front door, it is his leg that breaks and not the door. 

A little later, that tone again. This time it was a sexual assault in progress in a white vehicle that was north bound on the Southwest Freeway. A few units attempted to locate the vehicle as they were given updated locations from the dispatcher. A friend of the victim was on her cell phone with the dispatcher. She was following the suspect in her vehicle. The last thing she said was that the victim had jumped from the suspect's moving vehicle at Irvington and the North Loop. We never found the victim or the suspect. It was a wild goose chase.

There was also an accident involving two cabs, a crazy woman that keyed her neighbors car, threw dog feces on the driveway, stuffed trash in the mailbox, and threw paint on the front door, and a person who reported his vehicle stolen because he had gotten into an accident while he was drunk and fled the scene among other craziness. Well, Aunt Joanne wanted some action, be careful what you wish for.    

Posted via email from will7079's posterous

7 Random facts

1. I do not like to touch my food with my fingers. I can not stand for my hands to feel greasy. For example, I will eat pizza, nachos, french fries, and even burgers with a knife and fork.

2. When I was in grade school, I did not like to read or write. Not good. The first real book that I read cover to cover was Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell while I was in graduate school. Cliff Notes were my friend in high school. Graduate school is also where I got over my dislike of writing.

3. For my Masters Degree Thesis, I studied the custodial death records for the state of Texas. Custodial death means a death that happens while in the custody of the state or police. For example, if someone is shot and killed by the police, that is classified as a custodial death. I wanted to see if race was a factor in custodial deaths in Texas. Turns out that it is not a factor, at least not a statistically significant factor. This was based upon comparing the custodial deaths to violent crime statistics.

4. I had a bowl haircut until I was in high school. Then I had the sides and the back of my head cut short with clippers while the top was longer and hung partially over the clipped area. It is now called an undercut. My father hated it.

5. On Tuesday I am starting a new extra job. I will be doing residential security on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the wealthiest couple in Houston.

6. While I was in middle school, I enjoyed jumping off of the 10 meter platform at the local pool. It was a long climb up the steps to the top. Looking down, it seemed like 50 feet rather than 32 feet since you could look straight down to the bottom of the pool. I do not think that I would do that again.

7. I would love to go bungee jumping from a bridge into a gorge. Something like this. Who wants to come with me?

 

Decisions that shape

Unlike my beautiful wife, I did not grow up knowing exactly what I was going to be when I grew up. Jen not only knew what she was going to be, she went out and accomplished it. Amazing. If my very bad memory serves me, I would say that while I was growing up I wanted to be either a fighter pilot, a doctor, or a professional golfer. Looking back on these possible occupations and the decisions that I made in search of them in quite interesting, at least to me. Especially in light of the various paths and choices that led to who and where I am today.

 Fighter pilot. This was possibly inspired by the movie Top Gun which came out in 1986. I and most other young males thought that it would be very cool to fly fighter jets. I liked to go fast as my teenage driving record indicates, and I looked good in a leather jacket. It just so happened that my golf coach at Lewisville High School told me that a recruiter from the Air Force Academy had inquired about me. They were looking for golfers who also wanted to be pilots and had good grades and test scores (which I did at the time). Sounded like a perfect combination to me. So, I started the process. I took tests, wrote letters to Congressman and the Vice President, went to interviews, and then took some more tests. Everything was going along great and it looked like I was headed to the AFA. Then I got a phone call from the recruiter. He stated there was a problem with my last eye exam. My peripheral vision did not meet the minimum requirements to be a pilot. The only thing I wanted to do was to fly. He stated that it was most likely a mistake by the examiner since every other aspect of my vision was perfect. However, there was not enough time to take another test and still get into the current class. He wanted me to go to the the AFA prep school for a year and then enter the next class. I decided that I did not want to wait a year and withdrew my application. At the time it was a big decision, but I had no idea how big.

 I did not have a fall back plan. I had not applied to any other schools or universities. So I started looking to see who was still accepting applications. That list was not very long, since it was early summer after my graduation from high school. Texas Tech was still accepting applications. I requested one, filled it out, and was granted admission to the school on the plains. This had some unintended consequences. The biggest being, Heather (my on-again off- again senior year girlfriend) and I decided to try to stay together since I would still be in Texas. We were going to part ways if I went to the AFA since I would be in Colorado and would not able to come home very often. Deciding to stay together with Heather proved to be life changing. (Lots of jokes could be inserted here) Heather went to Texas and got involved with Campus Crusade for Christ. She met the director of the Texas Tech chapter of Campus Crusade while at the Crusade Christmas Conference in Dallas after our first semester at school. When I returned to Tech after the Christmas break, the Crusade director contacted me. We met at the student center and he shared the plan of salvation with me. I prayed to accept Christ into my life and started my Christian walk.

 Heather was a speech pathology major at Texas. During our long distance phone conversations, she told me numerous times about this cute girl she had met in her classes. In the spring of 1991, this cute girl ended up pledging the Alpha Phi sorority and became Heather's sorority sister. At the Alpha Phi Formal that Spring, I was introduced to the cute girl. She became "the cute girl in the green dress" in my conversations with Heather. I am terrible with names. Soon enough I would remember her name, which was Jennifer. On many occasions I drove Jennifer back to her dorm from the Alpha Phi house, which was across the 40 acres. Usually it was late at night after studying at the urging of Heather since she did not want Jennifer to walk across campus by herself. Sometimes we stopped at Taco Bell on the way back to her dorm, Kinsolving. I got to know Jennifer during these short drives and told Heather many times that I would like to date Jennifer if Heather and I ever broke up. Well, thank God, Heather and I did finally break up.

 I remember this lunch like it was yesterday. One Sunday after church, Heather, Scott, and I were eating at Tres Amigos. Jennifer had graduated a semester early (shocking) and was in town for the weekend. She happened to come eat at Tres Amigos after church as well. After lunch I approached her and asked her for her phone number. She thought that I needed a friend to talk to after breaking up with Heather. We started dating a few weeks later. That was 16 1/2 years ago and we have been madly in love ever since.

 So, a botched eye exam followed by my decision to not attend the AFA prep school started a chain of events that led to me becoming a Christian and meeting my wife. It is interesting to look back and be able to pinpoint a single choice that changed and shaped the rest of your life. I am very thankful that my decision turned out be a great decision.

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Making sure

Some events in the last couple of days have caused me to think a lot about my relationship with my mom. Last Thursday, she had surgery to repair her right shoulder. She initially injured that shoulder playing with Addy. Addy likes to stand on my stomach. I hold her arms and lean left and right and say whoa constantly. Addy thinks it is tons of fun. Back in April, my mom was laying on the ground and Addy decided to stand on her stomach. Mom did not know the objective of this game. So, Addy leaned and mom's shoulder ripped.

 According to the doctor, the surgery went very well. She should regain the full use of the joint without any pain or limitations. However, she has experienced some side effects from the pain medication that she was prescribed. Rather severe side effects that have her in the hospital as I write this. The side effects have caught all of us completely off guard. They have also scared me.

 I believe that it is important to tell those that you love just how you feel about them. I am not good at expressing these feelings verbally, except to my wife. I have thought of writing notes to express my feelings to these people on many occasions. Below is the note to my mom, and it will be followed by other notes to other people in the future.

 Mom, the saying goes that you can not pick your family. But, if I had the choice, I would have chosen you. You have always been there for me. You took me to school, soccer, baseball, cotillion (a story for another day), golf, and to everything else that I was involved in. You have always given everything that you had for me. You always seemed to know what I was feeling and how to make things better. I can remember being upset one morning in middle school about my clothes. We had recently moved to Houston from Las Cruces and I was starting out at a new school. You went to a closet and pulled out a new shirt. You were prepared just in case. You wanted me to fit in and not feel like an outsider.

 You always had/have time to talk to me. You were my sounding board growing up. I remember many times sitting at the kitchen table or driving in the car talking about whatever was on my mind. I know that you miss those talks, and I do as well. I know that you have prayed for me daily, and those prayers have made a difference. I am so glad to have you and Dad attending church with us. That makes me very happy. You are always so patient. You always give people the benefit of the doubt. You see the best in people.

 I love watching you enjoy your grandchildren. Your face lights up when you see them. They both love to play with you. Seeing you teach Austin is a true joy. You really have a gift for teaching. You are able to communicate in a way with children that allows them to learn and understand. Years ago you knew that Heather was not the girl for me, but you stayed out of it and let me find that out for myself. When the time came you knew that Jennifer was the right choice. You love my wife like she is your daughter. You take care of Dad, and that takes patience. :^D Your love for people has been a fantastic example for me. I did not really understand that growing up, but I am starting to understand. People are what matter, not stuff. You have always understood that and tried to impart that to me. It took along time, but you succeeded. I am so proud to call you mother. I love you so much and I am looking forward to many more days with you.

Posted via email from will7079's posterous

Safety, DWI, & football

First, an update, my current rookie, Mark, is doing fine with officer safety. I really think that he just had major personality conflicts with two of his evaluators. These two evaluators are friends and they pride themselves on failing probationary officers. Three days down and barring any disasters, he will pass this week and move on to a do-or-be fired third week of evaluation. 

Last night, we were dispatched to a major accident at the intersection of Montrose and Allen Parkway. A female in a red vehicle was in the left turn lane facing southbound on Montrose at the light at Allen Parkway. She then decided to turn right onto Allen Parkway, from the left turn lane. She did not make it to Allen Parkway. She turned right in front of two other vehicles. One vehicle slammed into her and the other just barely nicked her vehicle. Upon our arrival, the female driver reeked of alcohol, slurred her speech, and had a hard time walking. We called a DWI task force officer to the scene to help with the DWI. For some reason, an accident unit made the scene, instead of a DWI unit. He performed field sobriety tests on the driver and declared that she was not drunk. 

Ok. I can count on one finger the number of times that I have called a DWI unit to my scene and the driver was not intoxicated. I have given DWI task force units approximately 125 drunk drivers. I have a little experience with drunk people. A little annoying, but he is the expert.

Come to find out, the driver of the vehicle that slammed into her vehicle, was also under the influence of alcohol. He was 20 years old, driving with a suspended license from a previous DWI and admitted to drinking. The accident unit performed field sobriety tests on him and said that he was not drunk either. Wait a minute, he is 20, below the legal drinking age. I thought he only needed a trace of alcohol in his system to be DWI? The accident unit told us that this accident was not a big deal, no one was injured, just cut him some tickets and let him live to see another day. I said "What the #@#$"? He is 20, driving with a suspended license for a previous DWI, has alcohol in his system and you say no big deal? Well, what if he had slammed his vehicle into your family? Is it a big deal then? Absolutely crazy. I consulted with the district attorney's office and a supervisor and was told to just issue him a ticket for driving with a suspended license and being a minor under the influence of alcohol. 

The accident unit tried to justify his decision by saying that the DA's office is throwing out borderline DWI cases. He told us to issue tickets to borderline cases and only call for DWI task force units on the really drunk ones. I am not sure that I have heard worse advise. So, I pull someone over and think they are boderline DWI. I do not know if their alcohol level is coming up or going down depending on when they finished drinking. Based on his advise I just issue a ticket so that if they get into an accident after I release them, they have a piece of paper with my name on it in their pocket. I do not think so.  After he left, I instructed my rookie to disregard everything that the accident unit had told him.      

On to a more important matter, :^D, the Longhorns played the Wyoming Cowboys in Laramie yesterday afternoon. It was on Versus network and I was fortunate enough as a Dish Network subscriber to be able to watch the game in glorious high definition. The first half was a little stressful as the Longhorns came out flat, the punting game was a disaster, and the offense played uninspired football. They got things together in the second half and rolled to a 31 point win. However, it is a strange thing having to root for teams to win so that their wins will help the Longhorns. For example, the Oklahoma State Cowboys played the University of Houston Cougars. I wanted UH to win. But, an OK State win would be much better for Texas. See, Texas needs the teams that it plays to win, but then lose to Texas. With the Big 12 not looking very good so far this season and the Longhorns playing a bunch of high school teams during their non-conference schedule, the Horns better hope that there are only two unbeaten teams at the end of the year. It would be nice to play in another Rose Bowl.

Started with the new rookie

I was informed by my sergeant last night that I would be starting with a new rookie tonight. I was in the middle of evaluating Ron. I was told that Ron will wait a week until I am done with Mark. Mark is nearing the end of his probationary period and has to finish evaluation before September 26th. He failed his first week of formal 6th phase evaluation. He must now pass two more weeks of formal evaluation or he will be terminated. So, he has to pass 10 days of evaluation and only has 16 days left on probation.

 Well, if he has 9 more days like today, he will sucessfully complete his evaluation. I had been led to think that he has a bad attitude and does not listen to instruction. That he repeats the same mistakes as well as being a safety hazard. He failed officer safety and that is the only area in which he is being evaluated. Not tonight. I am not sure if my pre-evaluation pep talk calmed him down or what, but he performed just like he was trained. We had an arrest, three traffic stops, and an auto theft. He performed just as I would expect the entire time.

 I am curious to see how my documentation will be received by my sergeant. I was told to do very thorough documentation. I did and it shows him to be a model of officer safety. At least for tonight.

Posted via email from will7079's posterous

They felt the need for speed

A few years ago at work you could often find me on the left shoulder of US 59 running radar looking for speeders. For a few reasons, I have not run radar on the freeway in quite some time. The main reason is that I have been training or evaluating non-stop lately. Doing traffic stops on the freeway is very dangerous, but also fun at the same time. When I am training, I like to train my probationary officers in a more controlled environment than the freeway. However, my current probationary officer, Ron, expressed an interest in learning about freeway traffic stops. So tonight we checked out a radar and ventured up onto the freeway.

I directed Ron to the place on US 59 where I prefer to run radar. The spot allows me to back up the patrol vehicle between short concrete walls, providing protection from the crazy drivers. I step out of the vehicle between the concrete barriers and point the radar at the oncoming traffic. Ron was driving, so I told him that when I jump back into the vehicle, to mash the accelerator to the firewall. Otherwise, we have no chance of catching the speeders. After about 5 minutes of waiting, I hear the glorious high pitched squeal of the radar and jump back into the patrol vehicle. Ron floors the accelerator and I tell him to catch the white Altima in the left lane. Ron gets the patrol vehicle up to 100 mph. I turn on the emergency lights and the Altima begins to slow down. At this point, Ron learns a very important lesson. You never know what drivers are going to do when you get behind them with your flashing lights on. This driver pulled very quickly onto the left shoulder and slammed on her brakes. Ron had to basically lock up our patrol vehicle to get stopped in time. We put ourselves out on traffic and went to speak to the driver.

I know you are not supposed to judge a book by the cover, but sometimes it is accurate. In this case, my first impressions said "stripper". The driver had on heels, daisy duke shorts, and a tube top. She had blonde hair with highlights and some other enhancements as well. She was also talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone. Just so happens, she is dating a fellow HPD officer. Shocking. She hands me the phone and I talk to her boyfriend. I tell him that we stopped her for doing 91 mph in a 60 mph zone. I tell him to get my cell phone number from the department's computer system and to call me later. I told him that so that I can verify that he is in fact an officer. If he is, he will know how to get my phone number. We ended up writing her a ticket for 89 mph in a 60 mph zone and for no insurance. After running her driver's license number on our computer, we saw that she is no stranger to the traffic stop. She had 5 traffic convictions on her record and she is only 19. That is even worse than my teenage driving record!

We made it safely back to our radar spot and 3 minutes later I was jumping back into the patrol vehicle. Ron does his best top fuel dragster driver imitation and we burn out after a silver Scion tc. Ron successfully catches the Scion and activates the emergency lights. This driver takes Spur 527 and then decides to stop on the Richmond exit ramp. Why in the world do you decide to stop on an exit ramp? We approach the vehicle, once again a female driver with a female passenger who look like they have been out clubbing, and the driver is crying hysterically. Once she calms down a little, she tells us that her baby is sick and that she is trying to get to him. I ask where he is and she says with a babysitter at a motel close to the Westheimer and Beltway 8 intersection. Just then, the babysitter calls and I ask to speak with her. The babysitter confirms that the baby is sick, a fever of 101 along with diarrhea. At this point, I do not have a lot of faith in the mother or the babysitter. So, I told her to call 911 and to have HFD take care of the baby. At least that way, the baby would be in good hands. I then ask the babysitter what is the name of the mother of the child? She tells me that she has no idea. So, I then ask the driver, who is babysitting your child? At this point, the passenger pipes up and says one of her friends. I then assure the driver that the baby will be taken care of by HFD. Ron then asks for her driver's license and insurance. She has no identification on her and no insurance. She says that she bought the car yesterday from some guy. It just kept getting stranger the more questions we asked. It turns out that the driver had a New Jersey driver's license. The vehicle had insurance according to our computer, but from the previous owner. She receives a citation for 95 mph in a 60 mph zone, no insurance, and failing to present a driver's license to an officer upon request. The driver then speaks with the babysitter again who tells her that the baby is with HFD on the way to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the medical center. So, I gave her directions to the hospital.  She thanks us for our help and drives off.

Every traffic stop is different.  Traffic stops on the freeway seem to lean towards the strange side. Tonight was no exception.

   

Next week will be interesting

While I was standing at the radio room door waiting to get the keys to my shop (police car) and my radio, my sergeant asked me to come to his office when I was finished getting my gear. Other officers were standing around and overheard the request. It felt like I had just been called into the principal's office to answer for a transgression. I was not worried, if I had done something really wrong, Internal Affairs would have come calling, not my sergeant. Once I got to his office, my sergeant kind of stuttered and stammered for a minute, searching for the correct way to say what he wanted to say. This actually made me think for a minute that I was in trouble. Once he finally found the words that he wanted to use, it was actually good news and bad news.

First, the good news. Since I am a trainer and an evaluator, part of my job is documenting what happens during the shift. I am required to train or evaluate the probationary officer's performance in 16 different categories. I must cover all of the categories at least 3 times in a 5 day week. I usually cover all 16 categories every training or evaluation day. This documentation takes some time as you can imagine. We are allowed and encouraged to start and complete if possible, the documentation during the shift. I write my documentation while the probationary officer is writing whatever reports he/she has to write. As an incentive/reward for training, the department gives me an hour of paid overtime or comp time (time in the books that I can take off later) for each training or evaluation day. When I went through the training program, trainers got the hour of overtime along with a take home patrol car. So, the department has taken away some of the incentive to train. Now for the good news, my sergeant told me that we can now put in for an hour of paid overtime and an hour of comp time for each training or evaluation day. The only caveat is there must be enough documentation to justify the extra hour. This is great news for me, I am always in need in comp time since I tend to take some time off.

This led into the bad news. My sergeant then told me that starting next Tuesday, I will be evaluating a probationary officer in week two of phase 6. Training is broken down into 6 phases. Three phases of training, a different trainer for each phase, which are 3 weeks each for a total of 9 weeks. This is followed by phase 4, which is 2 weeks of evaluation, a week each with two different evaluators. If the probationary officer passes, he is finished with the training program. If the probationary officer fails evaluation, he goes to phase 5 which is 3 more weeks of training in only the categories in which he failed. Then we come to 6th phase. Final Evaluation. The probationary officer is evaluated in only the categories that he failed in phase 4. It is 3 weeks in duration. If a probationary officer passes week 1 and week 2, he has passed and is done with the training program. If he fails week one or week 2, he gets to go to week 3, for a final do-or-die week of evaluation.

The probationary officer that I am getting next Tuesday, just finished failing week 1 of phase 6 of evaluation. That means that he must pass with me, or he has failed the program and will be terminated. So, needless to say, he will be stressing beyond belief. I will be evaluating him in officer safety, the only category that he failed in phase 4. It is imperative that I do excellent documentation since there is a good chance that he will fail and be recommended for termination. When someone fails the training program, that have the option of going before a termination board and all of the documentation is reviewed. At this point, if the documentation is poor and does not adequately justify the failing scores, the scores can be changed and the probationary can be passed. Even if the probationary has no business being an officer. Therefore, good documentation is vital if the probationary might fail.

I have done one other 6th phase evaluation and it went very well. The probationary had learned from his mistakes in phase 4 and learned from the additional 3 weeks of training in phase 5. I have been led to believe that that is not the case with this probationary. I will do my best to go into the evaluation without any preconceived notions about the probationary officer, but it will be difficult. The evaluation process is supposed to be without bias. But, it is also the sergeant's job to prepare me for what I may have to do. Regardless, the probationary will get a fair chance from me. If he passes, he will have earned it, and likewise if he fails. It should be interesting.   

The best time of the year

September to December is a glorious time of year. It is my favorite time for numerous reasons, some of which I will elaborate upon.

 Saturday marked the beginning of the Longhorns football season. They started the year with their typical non-conference beat down. They bulldozed the Warhawks of some Louisiana school by the score of 59-20. They made plenty of mistakes during the game. So the coaches had lots of teachable moments. I did not watch the game. It was only available on pay-per-view, so I listened to it over the Longhorn radio network. I was not as fortunate as some others to be given tickets to the game. I am not bitter, just envious. I can be an absolute trainwreck during the games. I do not scream at the television, but I will make comments from time to time. I will pace and have been known to jump up and down. Hopefully this was the beginning of another run at the National title.

 Next Thursday is the start of the NFL season. I am a Cowboys fan, but as Jen can attest, I can watch any NFL game. This fall most Sundays will be spent at Mike and Courtney's house watching the NFL Sunday Ticket. I am sure glad that Mike decided to go with DirecTV.

 It is a little hot and humid during the long Houston summers, so the cooler days that fall promises to bring are definitely a bonus.

 Since having children, Halloween has been very enjoyable. The kids love to get dressed up. I think Austin will be a ninja this year and Addy will be Minnie Mouse. We typically start the night at the South Main Baptist Church Fall Festival, because churches can not celebrate Halloween. Instead, they celebrate fall, on Halloween. Then we do some trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. However, I am not sure what is going to happen this year, Halloween falls on a Saturday. The Longhorns play Oklahoma State that day. Hopefully, it is not a night game.

 I enjoy the time change. I prefer for it to get dark earlier in the evening. I am not entirely sure why, but it just seems more natural that way to me.

 Thanksgiving is in the fall as well. Lots of great food with the entire family. The Cowboys and Longhorns play on that day. As long as the Horns win, it is a great day. This is also the day that we take all of the Christmas decorations out of the attic. For most families, this is probably not a big undertaking. At my house, it requires prior planning. I schedule it for this day since the entire family is at the house to help. Otherwise, I think it would take the better part of a week for me to do it by myself. Every year, Courtney counts how many boxes come down, but I never remember. I think somewhere around 50.

 We celebrate both Jennifer's and my birthdays in the fall. It is an excuse for me to buy what I want. Like I need an excuse, but it sounds good. I also get to buy more clothes from Ann Taylor for Jennifer. She is so easy to buy for, she looks great in everything.

 Then we have the Christmas season, a fabulous time of the year. A very stressful time as well. It helps to remember what we are celebrating, the birth of our Lord and Savior.

 The rest of you can prefer the spring or the summer, but I will take the fall every year.

Posted via email from will7079's posterous

More questions & answers

1. What is your dream car or vehicle if price didn't matter?

A Gulfstream G550. I could choose any number of cars, but a plane would be awesome.

2. Who was your favorite teacher in high school and what did they teach?

Sad to say that I do not remember the names of very many of my teachers. But, Mrs. Fadley would be my choice. She taught Chemistry.

3. Have you met anyone famous?

Yes. They have all been athletes. Tom Brady, Dan Marino, Patrick Ewing, come to mind. Tom and Dan were the week before the Super Bowl was in Houston and Patrick was on a traffic stop.

4. What is something you can't help but spend money on?

My wife. :^)

5. If you could change something about the world, what would it be and why?

Sounds like I am in a pageant, but I would end world hunger. Seems silly to me that there is enough food but it does not get to the right places.

6. What is the craziest thing you've done?

Well, after a few beers, Marvin, Brian, and I along with a few other dorm mates climbed on top of the Texas Tech Bubble and jumped up and down on it. It was like being on the world's biggest trampoline. Climbing up was easy at the time, but getting down was a little hairy. 

7. If your job made you move, but you could choose which country you would be living in, which country would you choose and why?

No idea really. I would like good food, be able to understand the language, and a temperate climate.
Spain, I do not speak Spanish. England, food is terrible. Belieze, probably a language barrier. Italy, language again.  I am open to suggestions. 

8. What is your favorite TV show?

Armywives would be my current choice. The Unit, The Wire, The Shield, are all excellent as well.

9. What is your worst habit?

Biting my nails.

10. How would you describe yourself if you could only use five words?

Christian. Husband. Father. Officer. Geek.

11. Do you have any phobias?

Claustrophobia. I am better now, but I still hate small spaces. My first MRI (I have had 3) nearly killed me. It was while I was in college and it was on my neck so they had to slide me all of the way in. It was miserable.

12. What is your favorite day of the week?

Toss up between Saturday and Sunday. Saturday in the fall is UT football. Sunday is church and in the fall, the NFL.

13. What are your pet peeves?

Bad drivers, rude people, ignorant supervisors.

14. Do you have any tattoos and/or piercings?

Yes. A tat on my right arm. It is a tribal style arm band with an icthus. I would like more, but I am not sure that will ever happen.

15. What website would you say you never go a single day without viewing it?

Google Reader, my RSS feed reader.

16. Would you rather regret doing something, or not doing it?

I would rather not do it. Hard to believe, but I have a guilty conscience.

17. What do you think your best characteristic is?

I am extremely good looking. Just kidding. I am kind and love people.

18. Who was your first famous crush (celebrity or character from TV or movie)?

Probably Olivia Newton John. "Let's get Physical"

19. If you were given the day off from all of your everyday responsibilities, how would you spend it?

With my family at Disney World. We love that place.

20. What kid were you in high school.

As a freshman and sophomore, I was a small dork with a bowl haircut. As a junior and senior, I became one of the cool kids. I was an arrogant jerk. Thank the good Lord I grew out of that phase.

A little too close to home

The probationary that I am currently training, Tray, earned the nickname, the Grim Reaper during his three weeks of training on evening shift. During those weeks, he and his trainer were dispatched to 5 dead person calls. A few were suicides and the others were natural DOA calls. So tonight, just after roll call, Susan, our regular dispatcher, sent me a text message asking if we needed a DOA for the training program. I knew Tray had done a few, but doing another while of the third phase of the training program would help to get him ready for evaluation. So, I texted Susan and told her that we would be on our way in a few minutes.

We arrived to find another officer already on the scene. Come to find out, the call actually dropped at 8:45 in the evening. We arrived on the scene at 11 PM. An early side evening shift unit got the call, passed it off to a late side evening shift unit, who passed it off to us. At least the evening shift officers had begun to gather all of the necessary information for our report.

This is what happened. Earlier this week, a 67 year old man that I will call Bob, had minor surgery on his leg. It seems that it was healing properly and he had no complications or any other major medical problems. His wife, I will call Lisa, flew to New York City yesterday to attend the US Open tennis tournament with their son who lives in NYC. This evening, Lisa calls their house and Bob's cell phone numerous times and gets no answer. So, since they live in River Oaks, Lisa called River Oaks patrol and asked them to check on her husband, Bob. Lisa also called their housekeeper and she came to the house to open the exterior gate and then the front door. The River Oaks patrol officers (they are off duty HPD officers or licensed security guards) entered the house and found Bob. They searched the rest of the house and found no signs of a struggle and no signs that the home had been broken into. All of the doors were locked and the windows were intact. It seems that Bob was walking down their stairs, lost his balance and fell forward. Towards the bottom of the staircase, the stairs turn 90 degrees. So, there is a small landing, then a wall, and then two more stairs directly to the left when coming down the stairs. Bob fell at just the wrong angle. His head hit the landing right where it meets the wall and his neck broke. His glasses snapped in half and his head forehead split open and bled.

The medical examiner came and processed the scene. They took pictures and inspected the body looking for anything that might point to something other than a tragic accident. They did not find anything. They loaded up Bob and took him to their office for an autopsy. In the mean time, two family friends had arrived. One of them came to take the family dog to her house and the other came just for support and to gather any information possible to pass on to Lisa in NYC. After the body car and the medical examiner investigator had left, the friends asked me about the house. I told them that there was a medium sized mess on the stairs and advised them that there were services that would come to the house to clean it up. They did not want Lisa to come home to find the mess, and I had to agree with them. They thought that Lisa would be home the following morning. So, they decided to tackle the clean up themselves. I sent the rookie to the car to start the report and I grabbed  a handful of gloves and helped them look for cleaning supplies. We found the necessary supplies took care of the stairs. Lisa is very lucky to have friends like these two ladies. This was the first time that I had been in a situation to help clean up something like this. These two ladies were brave enough to do this for a friend, so I helped out. Each night holds something new on patrol.

As an officer you learn to distance yourself from what you see. It is a defense mechanism. I have seen all manner of things that you never wish to have to see, and very little bothers me. This scene bothered me. It hit way too close to home for me. Mom and Dad, be careful on your stairs! Take your time and if you need me to come down and take stuff up or down, call me. It is the least that I can do after you have done so much for me.

   

Meet the teacher

Third grade is an important grade for a child. It is a TAKS testing grade in Texas as well as a transitional grade. What I mean by that is the children are growing up. They are no longer babies in the school sense and are expected to be more responsible. They are also expected to learn at a quicker and more effective pace. 

Last night was meet the teacher night at Austin's elementary school. My parents were kind enough to watch Addy and Austin while Jen and I headed up to the school. We arrived to find actual parking spaces in the parking lot. Which is amazing, his school has a horrible parking problem. There were about 100 other parents waiting outside the front of the school doors to enter the building. There was also a Galveston county sheriff's deputy outside monitoring the parking situation, just in case someone parked in the fire lane. While we waited to enter the school, we talked to other parents that we have met through school or little league. The assistant principal unlocked and opened the front doors and we were herded into the building like cattle. It felt like we were flying Southwest Airlines. We made it to the correct third grade classroom and were greeted by the very cheerful Mrs. Collins. She instructed us to find our child's desk and to sit down. Thank goodness Austin is not in kindergarden, because those chairs are tiny. 

Mrs. Collins asked the parents to write a note to their child and to hide it in their desk. Of course, Jen took care of that for us. Her handwriting is perfect and she could write cards for Hallmark if she wanted. Then Mrs. Collins started her presentation about her teaching philosophy and what we could expect for the school year. She talked about how much she loved kids and how she already loved our kids and how much she was looking forward to the year with them. She told us not to worry about the TAKS test, that everything was going to be ok. Her specialization is reading, but she also loves math and science. She talked about giving presentations to other teachers and teaching them how to be more effective teachers. She said that she gets to school early and does not leave until 6 in the evening. She said that she rarely has a substitute because she rarely misses school. She uses positive punishment and gives the kids the benefit of the doubt. She loves technology and employs it in the classroom. She said that her children have both graduated and are no longer living at home. Throughout her entire presentation, I kept thinking, "Wow, she sounds just like my mom." How fortunate for us and especially for Austin.  

Posted via email from will7079's posterous

A nice effort, but she still went to jail

We stopped a white Lexus for making the illegal left turn from Westheimer onto S. Shepherd. The vehicle stopped in the BookStop parking lot. Tray, my current rookie approaches the driver's side and tells the female driver that she was stopped for making an illegal left turn where prohibited by sign. He then asks for her driver's license and proof of insurance which she provides. I have walked around the front of the car from the passenger side and join him on the driver's side. He then asks if she still lives at the address on her license. She faintly said no. So, he asks for her current address, and she whispered it to him. He had to ask her to repeat it a few times. After getting the address, we walk back to our patrol car. 

I immediately ask him if he noticed anything unusual. He stated that he thought that he might have smelled alcohol on her breath (FYI, ethyl alcohol has no smell, but alcoholic beverages do). I told him that he was correct, there was a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle. Since the driver was the only one in the vehicle, the odor was most likely coming from her. She was whispering in an effort to not project the smell. I called a fellow officer that is on the DWI task force, and he came to our location. He asked why we stopped her and why we thought she was intoxicated. For training purposes, I had Tray answer his questions. After receiving the answers, the task force officer asked me if she was polluted. I answered "definitely".

The task force officer gets her out of the Lexus. She is chewing gum now in an effort to hide the smell. She is wearing a spaghetti strap ankle length green dress and 4 inch heels. She has had some "work" done as well. The officer has her step in front of his patrol car, which puts her right in front of the camera that he uses to record the field sobriety tests. He performs HGN, which stands for horizontal gaze nystagmus. Nystagmus is the involuntary jerking or bouncing of the eyeball due to due a disturbance in the inner ear. The consumption of alcohol hinders the brains ability to correctly control the eye muscles resulting in the horizontal jerking of the eyeball. The more alcohol consumed, the more pronounced the jerking of the eyeball. She had 6 clues HGN, which means she is over the legal limit. 

So, the task force officer asks her to perform the other tests which require a little movement. She protests that she can not do the tests  in heels, so she is told that she can take them off. To do so, she decides that she has to bunch up her ankle length green dress. At this point the dress comes up to her knees. She gets the heels off, but does not put the dress down. The next test involves raising one foot 6 inches off of the ground for 30 seconds. The task force officer demonstrates. She decides that the dress is hindering her and bunches it up further. Now, the dress is holding at mid thigh. After doing that test, the task force officer demonstrates the walk and turn test, 9 steps, turn, 9 steps. Apparently, she thought that the dress was still limiting her, so she pulled it up some more. She is still on camera. The front of her dress is now being held just below her waist. She is showing off the goodies, commando style. I am not sure if she thought that would get her out of the arrest, but she tried her best. She was taken to Central intox for processing. She blew a .17, over twice the legal limit. 

It was a great training call. The probationary got to see first hand, just how far some will go in an effort to get out a ticket or arrest. Here is a quick iPhone picture that I took for illustration purposes, since this is a story that some would not believe.

     

Mini Me 2

It was an interesting coincidence to read Jen's thoughts about Addy. I have been thinking along the same lines lately in regards to myself and Austin. Not only do children seem to bring out the best and worst in a parent, they copy those same behaviors.

Tonight was Austin's first Upward flag football practice of the season. His team ranges in grade from 3rd to 5th, 8 to 10 years old. Austin is one of the youngest boys on the team. During practice, the team did a flag pulling drill. We, I am one of the coaches, set up a 15 yard box, spread the boys out, and said go. The object is to pull as many flags as possible. We did the drill twice and Austin's flag was pulled immediately both times by older boys. He sighed and became obviously frustrated and down on himself. I told him to keep trying and to get flags. He rallied and kept trying. Seeing him react with frustration was like watching myself in the mirror.

When I was his age I played soccer and little league baseball. I was coordinated but not athletically gifted. I was also small like Austin. Quick side note, one of my very few regrets is not playing high school football. I played golf for fun with my dad. I eventually took golf more seriously. Mainly because I was better at golf than other sports. You see, I am competitive, some would say very competitive. At least genitically, I was predisposed to be a good golfer. I like to win. I thought my best chance to win came from playing golf.

Austin also likes to win. When he does not win or do well, he gets frustrated, just like I do. He has seen me get frustrated. Unfortunately, I have modeled that behavior for him. I became mindful of that fact from watching him react the same way that I do. Since realizing that, I have tried, somewhat successfully to react differently. At least I pay attention to my reactions when I know he is watching. I do not think that there is anything wrong with being competitive or wanting to win. I just want Austin to realize that it is ok, and can still be fun if you do not win. I do want him to strive to get better and to want to win. I want him to try harder to win. I do not want him to give up if something is tough. But, you do not always win.   

He also has a tendency to get down on himself and to be negative. This absolutely breaks my heart to hear coming from my son's mouth. I want so much for my kids to have a high self-esteem. Not cocky or arrogant, but I want them to like themselves. I want them to know that God created them in his image. I want them to be happy in their skin and to enjoy who they are. I try to reinforce what amazing kids they are. Addy is not quite old enough to grasp this, but Austin certainly is. I want Austin to know that I am proud of him and that he is a great kid. Jen and I have been blessed with wonderful children, and they need to know that we feel that way. 

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