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.
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