Friday, June 10, 2011
Breakfast in Beaumont
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Minute Maid panorama
The view from our seats at tonight's Astros game. Not too shabby. This is 11 photos stitched together, all with the iPhone.
The week on patrol, April 11-15, 2011
I had a partner for two nights this week, worked a little over time
with J, and rode the print unit on Friday. Monday night I was by myself. It was very slow in the district. I was
dispatched to one call, a disturbance in government subsidized
housing. It turned out to be baby mama drama. Mama came over to
daddy's apartment and they had an argument. Mama wanted daddy to
participate in the baby's life. Reasonable, but daddy was not
interested. Apparently, daddy was all about making the baby and not
raising the baby. Sad. Daddy actually called us because he thought
that she was going to slash his tires. Daddy was more worried about
his car than his child. A and I rode together on Tuesday. We started the shift by taking 3
tests. It was time to be re-certified for the TLETS and TCIC/NCIC
database searches. It took us about 2 hours to complete the tests. Once we finally left the station, we drove through the parking garage
of B's apartment complex. There have been a few burglary of motor
vehicles in the garage lately and he asked me to drive through at
night when I was bored. Our first call of the night was a disturbance with a cab driver. The
passenger could not pay. He had $11 and the fare was $43. The cabbie
took him to a bank, but the ATM told him that he was overdrawn on his
account. The guy told me that he deposited an $800 check earlier that
day (unemployment benefit). Then he made a "few" purchases and the
last time he checked his balance, it was $150. The guy tried to phone
a friend and got no love, I guess the friend was broke as well. The
cabbie decided to give the guy a day to pay and they exchanged contact
information. The cabbie drove away and the guy decided to try the ATM
one more time. Miracle, the ATM spit out some money. So, he called the
cabbie who came back and got paid. Then the cabbie drove him home for
free. Everybody wins! Our last call was a burglary of residence in progress at an apartment.
The resident said that someone tried to turn the door knob a few
times, tried the window, and then walked off. There was not any
damage. We walked around the complex and did not see any foot traffic
at all. Most likely, it was a drunk guy who just went to the wrong
apartment. I was by myself again on Wednesday and my number came up for a drug
test. This was the first one for me in quite some time. There are a
few different reasons why you might be required to submit to a drug
test. If you are gone for more than 30 days (vacation, military,
injured), a "for cause" test (exhibited behavior that suggest drug
use), or a random test, which was my case. As for work that night, the
other district was busy but we were nice and calm. On Thursday I worked some productivity over time with J. We wrote 10
tickets which included 17 violations. J then went home I was on the
desk for the first half of the shift. There were lots of rumors
swirling around because of the city budget crisis. The mayor told the
chief that he had to cut millions from his budget. The chief came up
with a plan and presented it to the mayor. We have no idea what is in
the plan, but there are rumors. Layoff rumors. I was the print unit on Friday. I checked by on a code 1, assault in
progress at an apartment complex called in by a downstairs neighbor.
She said that there was a lot of banging and yelling upstairs. It
sounded like a fight to the neighbor. I banged on the door and it was
answered by three punk rockers who were "acting stupid" according to
them. One of them was sporting a huge green mohawk. Then I checked by with A. She was on a loud noise call at a club that
we all despise when two lesbians decided to get into a fight right
behind her patrol car. A went to stop the fight and got punched
inadvertently. Then she got on the radio, but did not get her numbers
out and all we heard was a loud disturbance going on. We finally
figured out it was her and everyone raced her way. The club was
letting out and there were hundreds of people in the parking lot. We
got it cleared out and helped her process her three arrests, 2 for
fighting and one for public intoxication. My last call dropped as a home invasion / just occurred. It turned out
that a guy was either lost or drunk or just trying doors. He tried the
front door of a townhouse and when the owner yelled at him through the
door, the guy turned around and walked off. A similar call dropped
nearby with the same suspect description. We searched the area, but
did not find him. That concludes another week on patrol.
with J, and rode the print unit on Friday. Monday night I was by myself. It was very slow in the district. I was
dispatched to one call, a disturbance in government subsidized
housing. It turned out to be baby mama drama. Mama came over to
daddy's apartment and they had an argument. Mama wanted daddy to
participate in the baby's life. Reasonable, but daddy was not
interested. Apparently, daddy was all about making the baby and not
raising the baby. Sad. Daddy actually called us because he thought
that she was going to slash his tires. Daddy was more worried about
his car than his child. A and I rode together on Tuesday. We started the shift by taking 3
tests. It was time to be re-certified for the TLETS and TCIC/NCIC
database searches. It took us about 2 hours to complete the tests. Once we finally left the station, we drove through the parking garage
of B's apartment complex. There have been a few burglary of motor
vehicles in the garage lately and he asked me to drive through at
night when I was bored. Our first call of the night was a disturbance with a cab driver. The
passenger could not pay. He had $11 and the fare was $43. The cabbie
took him to a bank, but the ATM told him that he was overdrawn on his
account. The guy told me that he deposited an $800 check earlier that
day (unemployment benefit). Then he made a "few" purchases and the
last time he checked his balance, it was $150. The guy tried to phone
a friend and got no love, I guess the friend was broke as well. The
cabbie decided to give the guy a day to pay and they exchanged contact
information. The cabbie drove away and the guy decided to try the ATM
one more time. Miracle, the ATM spit out some money. So, he called the
cabbie who came back and got paid. Then the cabbie drove him home for
free. Everybody wins! Our last call was a burglary of residence in progress at an apartment.
The resident said that someone tried to turn the door knob a few
times, tried the window, and then walked off. There was not any
damage. We walked around the complex and did not see any foot traffic
at all. Most likely, it was a drunk guy who just went to the wrong
apartment. I was by myself again on Wednesday and my number came up for a drug
test. This was the first one for me in quite some time. There are a
few different reasons why you might be required to submit to a drug
test. If you are gone for more than 30 days (vacation, military,
injured), a "for cause" test (exhibited behavior that suggest drug
use), or a random test, which was my case. As for work that night, the
other district was busy but we were nice and calm. On Thursday I worked some productivity over time with J. We wrote 10
tickets which included 17 violations. J then went home I was on the
desk for the first half of the shift. There were lots of rumors
swirling around because of the city budget crisis. The mayor told the
chief that he had to cut millions from his budget. The chief came up
with a plan and presented it to the mayor. We have no idea what is in
the plan, but there are rumors. Layoff rumors. I was the print unit on Friday. I checked by on a code 1, assault in
progress at an apartment complex called in by a downstairs neighbor.
She said that there was a lot of banging and yelling upstairs. It
sounded like a fight to the neighbor. I banged on the door and it was
answered by three punk rockers who were "acting stupid" according to
them. One of them was sporting a huge green mohawk. Then I checked by with A. She was on a loud noise call at a club that
we all despise when two lesbians decided to get into a fight right
behind her patrol car. A went to stop the fight and got punched
inadvertently. Then she got on the radio, but did not get her numbers
out and all we heard was a loud disturbance going on. We finally
figured out it was her and everyone raced her way. The club was
letting out and there were hundreds of people in the parking lot. We
got it cleared out and helped her process her three arrests, 2 for
fighting and one for public intoxication. My last call dropped as a home invasion / just occurred. It turned out
that a guy was either lost or drunk or just trying doors. He tried the
front door of a townhouse and when the owner yelled at him through the
door, the guy turned around and walked off. A similar call dropped
nearby with the same suspect description. We searched the area, but
did not find him. That concludes another week on patrol.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The Original Mud Run more pictures
The slick mud slide
Gorilla Ropes
Cannonball!
We are in there somewhere
Post race
The Original Mud Run pictures
A pre-race frog stretch
Coming out of the first low crawl
Trying to get the mud out of my eyes
Photo op after the 8 foot wall
The splash down
The Original Mud Run
This past Saturday, Courtney and I ran in another mud run. This one
was called the Original Mud Run. It took place at the Sam Houston
Raceway Park, which is a horse racing facility. The race was 10
kilometers and had 25-30 obstacles along the route. We were scheduled
to start at 11 AM. I did not want to be late like we were for the
Boondock Battle when we got stuck behind the Model T parade. We met
Courtney, Mike, and Sydney at the movie theater and caravanned to the
track. There was very little traffic and we arrived nice and early. We had elected to get our race packets mailed to us, so all we had to
do was affix the timing chip to one of our shoes and attach the wrist
band. We got our race t-shirt and had plenty of time to stretch. 5
Hour Energy was one of the event sponsors and they had people walking
around handing them out to everyone. I do not think that any of us had
tried one before. Mine tasted fine, but Courtney and Jen were not
impressed. In fact, they did not like it at all. A short time later,
my parents arrived to provide some much appreciated moral support and
to watch us play in the mud. They gave out the 15 minute call for our start time and we headed over
to the starting area. The starting area was close to the Raceway
complex. We waited the fifteen minutes and then got the countdown to
the start, 10, 9, 8, etc... The horn blew, and we could not move.
Apparently they decided to split our group in half, so we had to wait
another 10 minutes until our start. They had said that the course will
start off with a long run to spread everyone out so that there are not
lines at the obstacles. Once we were running, the course turned to the
left, straight towards the area where the horses are kept. We ran
through the stables and paddocks, and then right out onto the actual
sandy horse track. The course took us down the front stretch in front
of the grandstands. At the end of the grandstands was the first water
station, so we were already one mile into the race. The course left the horse track, went through the parking lot, and
crossed a bridge into a wooded area. The course then turned to the
north and it looked like our first obstacle would be a large climbing
wall. But no, the course made a u-turn and we found our first
obstacle, the low crawl. They wanted to get you dirty and wet in a
hurry. They had strung a net about a foot above the water line across
a shallow mud and water pit. This forced you to army crawl through the
muck. Between the person in front of me sloshing mud everywhere and
the low net, by the time I was out, my face was covered with mud. The
second water station was immediately after, and Courtney was kind
enough to pour water on my face to wash some of the dirt away from my
eyes. Then we were running again toward the next obstacle. I actually
do not remember what the second obstacle was and it is not my
intention to list them all, so here are a few highlights. There was a mud hill early on that was just about impossible to climb
up without a little bit of help. I pushed the guy in front of me to
the top and he reciprocated by helping me out a little. Once I was at
the top, I reached down and helped Courtney pull herself up. Then I
noticed a group of 8 girls sloshing toward the hill. There was no way
they were getting up the hill without some assistance. So, I stayed
where I was and pulled them all up the hill. After the girls, I helped
one more guy and figured that I had done my part. I slid down the
other side and caught up with Courtney. There were two large mud slides among the obstacles. One of them was
covered with plastic sheeting and had a water source. The other was
just coated with slick mud. Both of them ended in a muddy pit. The
course then turned into a heavily wooded area and there were quite a
few hurdles along the trail. There was a rope swing, another low
crawl, and a rope bridge. The rope bridge was about 15 yards and had
one rope for your feet and another rope above you head suspended over
water. After the bridge was the cargo net. Straight up 20 feet, over
the top, and down on an angle. Toward the end was my favorite obstacle, the Gorilla Ropes. Twenty
five feet of monkey bars made out of rope suspended over water. For
some reason, I am good at the monkey bars. Maybe because I had lots of
practice on the playground in elementary school. The leap of faith
followed the Gorilla Ropes. It was a platform suspended 9 feet above
the muddy water line. My dad told me to do a cannonball so that I
would not sink as far down. So, I did a cannonball and still hit the
bottom. At least I did not lodge myself in the muck by jumping
straight down. I would guess the pit was about 8 feet deep. A couple
more obstacles and a mile jog and we were done. We took a few "after" photos. They had plenty of water and 5 Hour
Energy for us at the finish line. Our times were posted quickly and we
finished in 95 minutes. Not fast, but respectable, the average time
was about 2 hours. Three firemen and a pumper truck hosed us off. It
is amazing where the mud ends up. Literally everywhere. The runners
were provided a Chick-fil-a sandwich and 2 mini Budweiser beers. I had
a great time. My only problem, which was shared by probably everyone,
was debris in my shoes. The sediment built up under my feet and that
made running a little more uncomfortable then normal. But, I am
definitely looking forward to the next mud run, which is in early
July.
was called the Original Mud Run. It took place at the Sam Houston
Raceway Park, which is a horse racing facility. The race was 10
kilometers and had 25-30 obstacles along the route. We were scheduled
to start at 11 AM. I did not want to be late like we were for the
Boondock Battle when we got stuck behind the Model T parade. We met
Courtney, Mike, and Sydney at the movie theater and caravanned to the
track. There was very little traffic and we arrived nice and early. We had elected to get our race packets mailed to us, so all we had to
do was affix the timing chip to one of our shoes and attach the wrist
band. We got our race t-shirt and had plenty of time to stretch. 5
Hour Energy was one of the event sponsors and they had people walking
around handing them out to everyone. I do not think that any of us had
tried one before. Mine tasted fine, but Courtney and Jen were not
impressed. In fact, they did not like it at all. A short time later,
my parents arrived to provide some much appreciated moral support and
to watch us play in the mud. They gave out the 15 minute call for our start time and we headed over
to the starting area. The starting area was close to the Raceway
complex. We waited the fifteen minutes and then got the countdown to
the start, 10, 9, 8, etc... The horn blew, and we could not move.
Apparently they decided to split our group in half, so we had to wait
another 10 minutes until our start. They had said that the course will
start off with a long run to spread everyone out so that there are not
lines at the obstacles. Once we were running, the course turned to the
left, straight towards the area where the horses are kept. We ran
through the stables and paddocks, and then right out onto the actual
sandy horse track. The course took us down the front stretch in front
of the grandstands. At the end of the grandstands was the first water
station, so we were already one mile into the race. The course left the horse track, went through the parking lot, and
crossed a bridge into a wooded area. The course then turned to the
north and it looked like our first obstacle would be a large climbing
wall. But no, the course made a u-turn and we found our first
obstacle, the low crawl. They wanted to get you dirty and wet in a
hurry. They had strung a net about a foot above the water line across
a shallow mud and water pit. This forced you to army crawl through the
muck. Between the person in front of me sloshing mud everywhere and
the low net, by the time I was out, my face was covered with mud. The
second water station was immediately after, and Courtney was kind
enough to pour water on my face to wash some of the dirt away from my
eyes. Then we were running again toward the next obstacle. I actually
do not remember what the second obstacle was and it is not my
intention to list them all, so here are a few highlights. There was a mud hill early on that was just about impossible to climb
up without a little bit of help. I pushed the guy in front of me to
the top and he reciprocated by helping me out a little. Once I was at
the top, I reached down and helped Courtney pull herself up. Then I
noticed a group of 8 girls sloshing toward the hill. There was no way
they were getting up the hill without some assistance. So, I stayed
where I was and pulled them all up the hill. After the girls, I helped
one more guy and figured that I had done my part. I slid down the
other side and caught up with Courtney. There were two large mud slides among the obstacles. One of them was
covered with plastic sheeting and had a water source. The other was
just coated with slick mud. Both of them ended in a muddy pit. The
course then turned into a heavily wooded area and there were quite a
few hurdles along the trail. There was a rope swing, another low
crawl, and a rope bridge. The rope bridge was about 15 yards and had
one rope for your feet and another rope above you head suspended over
water. After the bridge was the cargo net. Straight up 20 feet, over
the top, and down on an angle. Toward the end was my favorite obstacle, the Gorilla Ropes. Twenty
five feet of monkey bars made out of rope suspended over water. For
some reason, I am good at the monkey bars. Maybe because I had lots of
practice on the playground in elementary school. The leap of faith
followed the Gorilla Ropes. It was a platform suspended 9 feet above
the muddy water line. My dad told me to do a cannonball so that I
would not sink as far down. So, I did a cannonball and still hit the
bottom. At least I did not lodge myself in the muck by jumping
straight down. I would guess the pit was about 8 feet deep. A couple
more obstacles and a mile jog and we were done. We took a few "after" photos. They had plenty of water and 5 Hour
Energy for us at the finish line. Our times were posted quickly and we
finished in 95 minutes. Not fast, but respectable, the average time
was about 2 hours. Three firemen and a pumper truck hosed us off. It
is amazing where the mud ends up. Literally everywhere. The runners
were provided a Chick-fil-a sandwich and 2 mini Budweiser beers. I had
a great time. My only problem, which was shared by probably everyone,
was debris in my shoes. The sediment built up under my feet and that
made running a little more uncomfortable then normal. But, I am
definitely looking forward to the next mud run, which is in early
July.
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