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I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and survived Black Friday! So far, I'm loving my new job, enjoying the opportunity to be officially trained in this business of playing go-between.

I've been on the job for just over two weeks, and it has already proven itself to be interesting. Have had some awesome calls so far, none that are as funny in the retelling as in the actual experiencing, but still its been good.

I will try to get back in the habit of routine updates, at least when something good comes along ;)

Everyone have fun, and stay safe out there!

I am indeed alive...barely. It's been an eyeopening and difficult month (which I think is the time lapse between my last post and this one).

I'm making the incredibly difficult decision to move on to another agency within the county. The issues which have arisen over the past 3 months have prompted much thinking and now change.

I'm going to spare you the bloody details, but rest assured they are indeed unhappy in nature.

Little or no days off, a return of the 'good ole boy' system and just too much ignorance has finally pushed me to the point of no return.

I don't claim to know it all, but I've ran this center for the last three months since our supervisor became ill. Subsequently, I've worked enough hours for four people, fought to keep officers out of dispatch (unsuccessfully), pushed to hire experienced dispatchers in an expedient manner (also unsuccessfully) and passed over for a friend of the administration with less than 3 months of dispatch experience for the supervisors position.

I'm leaving for the county communications center, gaining a substantial pay raise and less responsibility. It wasn't a snap decision, but it did all happen rather quickly.

I'm looking forward to this new agency and to learn more...and maybe get over being so bitter :) (just kidding)

Well, here I am, back again. I managed to weasel a day off after working 14 straight, it's been kind of a personnel nightmare around here for the last three weeks.

But at the same time, there has been no end of funny moments. It's gotten to be common knowledge that the hoot shift is pretty much in a world of their own, especially concerning radio traffic. It's all FCC approved, but far from being typical police chatter.

I was advised yesterday morning that both of my units would be out of their cars, "pig wrangling". A few minutes later, I was advised of a foot pursuit SB on 8th, which was terminated shortly thereafter.

I had to get my laughter under control before being able to answer the radio. We've also been having problems with the schools not securing their buildings, which consequently are being broken into, which they blame on us. So, my guys have decided to check every door on every building every other night, hoping for an open door so we can wake up the superintendent and show him that we're doing our jobs. And last night was no different, they found several doors open and we dutifully notified the man in charge. He wasn't happy at all and let me know all about it. So, being the good dispatcher I am, I advised my units that contact was made, key holder was enroute and he was not thrilled.

30 minutes later they go 10-8 and one lets me know, "you were right".

It's nice to be on this shift, there's no admin to worry about whether you're doing your job, the stats can speak for themselves. And believe me, we've made a killing this week, five arrests in two nights all without a single call. It's been nice to be able to kill three or four hours without dispatching into an unknown situation.

Update

Update on my rant yesterday...

Apparently things can actually get worse. The new part-timer quit yesterday after deciding that the hours she agreed to work just wouldn't work for her.

So, now we're down to simply having two full time dispatchers to try and cover three shifts seven days a week. Needless to say the firefighters aren't happy. :)

Yay!

I actually think I'm getting delirious from lack of sleep. I'm not entirely sure what day it is, and had to ask one of the guys how many hours I worked three days ago since I couldn't remember.

I think it can only go up from here...unless something happens to me or the other guy which shouldn't (fingers crossed).

Some weeks, I think it's better to just stay in bed.

So, we've hired a part time dispatcher and had a fulltime quit - both in the same week. I think that working straight isn't hard at all, the training is what's kicking my butt right now.

I like to think of myself as fairly easygoing, but holy cows, she's a little highstrung for my taste. :)

And I think the stress is starting to get to me, so I'm going to try to catch some sleep and get back in the gym.

Well, let's see. This Friday has been uncannily like last Friday ... with one exception. As a dispatcher, I'm used to talking to people who are generally unhappy to say the least, and most of the time I just blow it off, gripe a little bit and move on.

Tonight, I actually got pretty much pissed off while dealing with a caller. Received a call per an ex bf who had taken his ex's cell phone. He wound up repeatedly calling the station, ranting because the officers hadn't arrested her for public intox.

He kept ranting that the only reason she hadn't been arrested was because she was a female, had a p***, was a whore and traded sexual favors. In total I probably talked to him 7-8 times, trying to convince him to speak with an officer (which he probably would have been arrested because he had been drinking substantially as well. He started ranting again and maybe I shouldn't have, but I interrupted him because I'd had enough.

I told him in no uncertain terms that I was trying to help him, he had no business talking to me that way, and that he was offending me. lol

Surprisingly, he stopped and apologized. Granted, he was still being a royal ass but he stopped talking to me like I was his freaking whore or something.

He pretty much lied to me the entire time I was on the phone with him and didn't help his cause whatsoever, so who knows what will become of it all.

:)

Oh well, tonight was also home game night, so I got to put on my monkey suit and go play for a couple of hours. It was fun, I've been giving the Chief a hard time about getting one of our more "reserved" reserves into some trouble and I at least succeeded in getting him more active and involved with dealing with people tonight, so it was fun.

I'm working a 12 today because I really don't feel like getting back in uniform and working traffic later this morning after I get out of dispatch, so my relief is going to go play traffic cop and I'm just going to kick back in my chair :)

Finally,

I have to say that I really like having three guys on my shift :))

Tonight has been a blast, at one point I had six officers out on the street. My new guy fits in great with the two original officers and has figured out how nice and easygoing I am (which translates easy to pick on I guess lol)

We haven't had a problem with calls stacking tonight, just being steady and the guys out finding things to do.

We ended last shift with an unattended death, my first to work behind the radio and it never fails to floor me that I'm handling the details of the death of someone's loved one. Doesn't bother me, just tends to stay with me and I use it to help when the next one roles around.

I have to say that Monday night was really a lot of fun. I'm glad none of the guys know about this blog, because they might be tempted to shoot me. I went and rode on the hoot shift, and as we were leaving the station I jokingly told my officer, "let's go get into some trouble..just kidding". Yeah I know, never say stuff like that because you will get into something.

Abt 15 minutes later we're dispatched to a SVA, turns out the guy is impaired and all that fun stuff. So, I received a crash course in DUI arrests and learned about the joys of having to wait in the ER while he's medically cleared.

After 2.5 hours of waiting and listening to his dumb ass complain that there needs to be a stop sign at the highway intersection (which there is) we finally get him to the county jail. At 415 we make it back to the station where we get to plow through the mess of paperwork which awaits us...finished up about 6 so I decided to cat out about 630 to get some sleep... this whole school thing really puts a cramp in my style for sure.

The point of this is, I think I'm addicted to being a cop. Don't mind the paperwork, don't mind the waiting, just enjoy being able to do something I find both enjoyable and worthwhile. Sorta like dispatching...have to say though, it's a letdown having to be stuck in here while the action is going on outside :)

Oh thank God it's Friday for me.. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, since it's also Labor Day which means no school and no work :)

Well, I was a dork and bought another gun last week. I've been wanting a .380 for a while, and finally broke down and bought one. It's definitely the smallest gun I've ever owned, fits in my pocket perfectly :)

All I have to do is slide it into my jeans pocket and I'm good to go. It's a Diamondback and is basically a miniature Glock, breaks down the same way, long trigger pull safety and etc. It's pretty awesome :) and I'm a dork.

So, I've been having a little drama in my personal life, nothing new there, I guess. I recently posted about my feelings for a co-worker, and nooow it's all weird. :)

I've decided to just move away, do my damndest to keep from going to his shift and have fun. Yeah, you could say I took a chance and it didn't work out, but I knew the risks so it's just whatever, you know? :)

I'm ok with it and am just ready for my newest guy to get on shift, hopefully he'll livin up the shift :) I can only hope!

I'm very sorry for that really goofy update from Monday :)

At that point I was about 10 minutes away from participating in an interactive "Shoot - Don't Shoot" exercise and I was in slight panic mode. I have to say that it was quite possibly the most amazing experience I've had since I've been an officer. It opened up an entire can of worms for me :), now I see the holes in my abilities and the lack of training I have, I've been fortunate to be able to ride and participate, but there is so much to be said for having the knowledge and the skills to be comfortable while I'm out on the streets.

It's a far cry from my padded dispatch chair, let me tell you. The system that we used was the MILO system, don't ask me to tell you what that stands for, but it is essentially one giant first person video game that has the ability to change depending on how you react, whether you give verbal commands or simply shoot. Some of the scenarios included traffic stops, home invasions, convenience store burglaries and active shooter calls, including an officer down scenario.

It was a huge eye-opener, because the moment I put my gun on everytime I ride these thoughts go through my head, what will I do if I have to use my weapon? What am I going to do if I have to restrain a suspect? I've been shown some stuff, but the amount of actual training I've had is very limited.

The readers who have spouses in LE, be grateful for the training they have, because it will save their lives if ever its necessary, the saying train like you work, definitely isn't something to take lightly. It's not something to take for granted, either. I'm anxiously awaiting the chance to get into academy, so that I have all the training to ensure that I come home every night.

Stay sage out there :)

ded to shoot off some steam. Waiting is the hardest part. I keep hearing that it's fun, but here is where I see the dirty, nitty gritty aspect of being a

This is a quick update while I'm in hiding :). We are having simulated shoot/don't shoot training today. I'm really getting nervous about it and just nee

An update on my previous blog, perhaps it finally sank in, lol. I'm in the middle of one of my wonderful 12 straight weeks, when I got a text from my friend telling me that she had broken it off with her fiancee'. So, when I finally dragged myself away, (and turned down at date at the gym with my crush) I went to talk to her.

I'm really just relieved that she's coming to understand the situation that she was in and I (selfishly, I'm sure) made a point to remind her that she was one of the fortunate ones who have a support system and have the ability to make the break.

So, I feel much better about the situation and hopefully everything will work out!

In light of some recent developments in a friend of mine's life, I really feel like getting this in writing.

I can hear the collective groans from my intrepid readers :)

Domestic violence and abuse is an extremely sore subject with me and never fails to really just tick me off. Slight background on the subject, my dad grew up in an abusive home and I've dealt with enough kids through high school that I'm familiar with the signs and the inevitable escalation that occurs whenever a woman or man gets involved in this situation.

One of my best friends recently became engaged to a man who she's known for several years. I had only met him once before and she was bouncing back from another toxic relationship, (can you see a pattern yet?) one which resulted in my nephew who is now almost two.

It started out great, like always, he was considerate, sweet, caring and then the verbal abuse started. He became aggressive, controlling, and manipulative. He wanted to know who she was talking to, ordered her to not have any contact with any male friends, barely tolerated her talking to my brother. He would bait her into arguments while at the same time talking to other women who were co-workers and just friends. It went from verbal to mental abuse very shortly thereafter, he would belittle her weight, and when she began to lose weight became threatened by this, wanting to keep her on a tighter and tighter rein.

I tried, believe me, I tried my hardest when this all started to convince her that it would end up being physical, she told me that if it ever became physical she would leave him. I told her she wouldn't, that it never happened like that.

Less than two weeks later she calls me while I'm at work asking to talk to me. I was training at the time and told her to stop by. She's crying and tells me that they had gotten into an argument, which resulted in her trying to walk away and him grabbing her hair and yanking her back. This was witnessed by people in the parking lot and the guy nearly got himself stomped.

I asked her then if she believed me yet and she said yes. Unfortunately, the relationship did not end. They "talked" it out, and he swore he would never touch her again. So far, after my conversation with her yesterday, he hasn't. But now, hopefully, she's starting to understand what I tried to tell her three months ago.

It has been so frustrating for me, I deal with people in these situations, more specifically women, I deal with it at work, yet I can't even convince one of my closest friends that she needs to get out of this relationship.

It's definitely opened my eyes to the need for women's shelters and domestic abuse training. I only wish there were more resources.

Oh my gosh..

Oh Wow!

This has been the night to remember! I came out about 1630 and rode til 2300, it all started about 2030 interrupting dinner and is still going.

Actually had fun though, I've gotten to play all the roles, police officer, dispatcher and jailer...although the last one wasn't so fun. Picked up a very intoxicated male who wasn't really sure who he was or what was going on, he was however very obnoxious :)

He had drank so much that he eventually revived and starting throwing up. This was in the middle of a stabbing call, and after a traffic stop involving someone methamphetamine :. Guess who got to don the latex gloves and pour bleach down the drain? So, we broke out the water hose and cleaned out the cell, I think I might have bleached the concrete...O_o

The Chief has been trying to convince me to move to evenings, and I've been trying to resist. He about had me convinced earlier, but after tonight its going to be really hard to leave midnights. I love that one night can make up for an entire boring month, granted the guys aren't too fond of it... but eh, it's good for them!

It's getting personal

It's amazing to me how I've managed to keep from running into calls from people I know or people I know indirectly..until recently.

Received a call Saturday night/Sunday morning on a self-inflicted gunshot wound (to the leg)
I'm asking questions and find out that this gentleman actually works with my dad - ironically.

I transfer the call to county after I hang up, less than two minutes later he calls back. For some weird reason, I'm not able to transfer calls unless they come in on our 911 lines, which is a real pain which requires talking back and forth and making phone calls between the RP and whoever I'm transferring the call to. I'll be really glad when we get things fixed.

So in other news, I just spent 35 minutes on the phone with our local crazy, partly telling him that if he had just done what he was told the first time, he would have gotten to talk to an officer, then the next 20 minutes just talking... I had to convince I was who I was, he kept telling me that he knows all the dispatchers by voice, and I'm like I know, I've talked you many many times. Eh.. it's a losing battle and I had one of the officers call the other line just so I could get off the phone.

It was really funny, he's bipolar and just swings from aggressive to passive within seconds. Definitely one of my more memorable phone calls.

Ok, so today was a day that reality really hit me as to how much of an impact this job can really have on someone's life.

I rarely get to see the calls that I dispatch, rarely get to interact with the people face to face, and never before have I have seen news footage of an incident that I was directly involved in -- until today.

I was covering part of day shift Thursday morning so the Fire Chief could conduct interviews when a call for a vehicle which had gone off the road into a creek came in.

I took the initial call, contacted the Sheriff's Dept and advised medical. Nothing unusual about that, happens every week. Roughly an hour and a half later, I'm looking through the local news stations website when I see a breaking story on a vehicle which had driven off a bridge.

The exact same call that I had dispatched less than 2 hours previous.

They posted a raw video appx. 5 hours later, and I don't know if this is a normal reaction, but I was literally moved to tears. It didn't show anything, but the woman survived and is listed in stable condition.

I guess it was just the emotional impact that you don't get by being removed from the situation.

But wow..it kinda hit me - not in a bad way, just emotionally. Doesn't happen often.

It's pretty awesome actually.

I've kinda come to the conclusion that I'm done with being the whole go-to girl at this dept. I guess I'm being petty, and maybe I should have never expected it to actually count for anything.

Ok, enough pity party :)

I'm currently babysitting a PI that evening shift brought in, this person is snoring, which is great because that makes it easy when I do visual checks every hour.

I'm resisting the urge to be busy and work on things that really aren't my job. I'm trying to not make this blog just a rant page, but sometimes it's really hard to do, so I'll move on to better topics :)

I've been running and working out in preparation for Reserve academy, with the goal of being able to meet the physical requirements of the Full-time academy. I really have no plans to ever become a fulltime officer, but I think it would be interesting to see if I can at least be able to someday.

So, I start off the basic aspect - the mile run. If I remember correctly, women's times is either 12 or 14 minutes, I'm not entirely sure. I started focusing on it roughly 1.5 weeks ago just to see what my times would be.

First time was 16:09, not bad felt like I was going to pass out. Second time was 3 days later, dropped it to 14:41, didn't feel quite so horrible. Third time was much better, 13:09, two days later. Finally, my last time was at roughly 2120 on Weds and I knocked it out. 11:41, got it under both 12 and 14 minutes. Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked about it. :)

It's had some awesome side effects as well, I've dropped appx 2 sizes and I'm running out of clothes to wear, guess I'll have to go shopping at some point, which also means my uniform pants are now too big as well as my favorite 511s. The Chief will be thrilled :))

So, it's been a crazy week.

I get to work on Wednesday and our newest dispatcher tells me that he's talked to the Chief who told him that if he could get it covered he could have thursday and friday off. Yay.

So, we (I) dutifully covered the shifts. Luckily, one of the firefighters was able to cover thursday, but our other dispatcher decided she couldn't work so guess who got to pull a double? :)

Oh well, it's ok and it's Friday.

I'm going to rant for a minute here, our other evening/night dispatcher has gotten to where's she really being a pain. the Chief wants her to go to fulltime, working 5 days a week and she doesn't want to. She wants to get her hours, but she wants to keep 4 days. I guess she's not able to recover in 2 days like everyone else...

So, I started reworking schedules..like I was told to do...adding her another day. Forgive me if I seem really unsympathetic lol, but here goes.

She would have to work 5 days, starting with a 0700-1500 on Friday, work 1500-2300 Sat and Sun, then work 2300-0700 Mon and Tues. She seems to think that there's not enough turnaround between Tues and Fri. Am I completely being hard to get along with?

She calls in sick -- a lot, takes off -- a lot and wants the schedule worked to fit her schedule. That's cool, I would love to be able to make my days off whenever and screw everyone else, but I'm doing my best to get people hired and make the schedule fair.

She's completely set on working 4 days a week and going to 12 hr shifts or 10s whichever. I wrote up a schedule with her working 10s, overlapping on the evening shift when she works nights, because that's the busiest shift. That's not working for her, she thinks the nights are busiest-- believe me they ain't. Yeah we get weirder calls and a lot of bs...but by far not the busiest.

Ok, i think I'm done ranting, but it's still a pain in the ass.

Post Song: Francesca Battistelli - Beautiful, Beautiful

It's been an interesting week, but I've discovered something.

I seriously need some advice :) I'm not sure whether this is typical or not, but working within a small department had created relationship which is much like therapist-patient, more often then not, certain officers will find their way into my office between calls in order to sit and talk. I understand that the majority of our conversations are decompression about what's been going on, general gripe sessions (even we aren't perfect :) ), or brainstorming and educational.

Lately, however, there's been a more personal note to these conversations. Relationship issues, personal history and heartbreak. I've learned more about each of these officers in the last two months than ever before and frankly it scares me.

One in particular is single and I've fought a crush on him for at least a year and just when I think I've managed to eliminate it completely and be friends, it's back. I've admitted in past writings that I tend to psycho-analyze people unintentionally, but it's a mechanism that has helped me work with varied personalities and quirks and it's served me well.

I fall into that trap of believing myself to be slightly different than most girls, I'm tomboyish, date rarely, and repeat conversations less. I've always preferred to work with guys believing them to be less dramatic than women, a generally true statement. In this job, there are so many type A personalities, myself included, that it can be a delicate balance between friendship and competition.

I just wonder if this is normal, yes familiarity can breed contempt, but can it also breed attraction? I'm just slightly confused at the moment ;). (nothing new)

Well, onto to happier topics, it's been a nice steady week. I'm happy to be at work, more so than being out in real life haha... I had another dress consult for my friend's wedding yesterday. One of the other bridesmaid's rode along to try on dresses that we had previously picked out. We're riding along, and she's rambling in the front seat. I'm sitting there thinking to myself, "I talk to morons like her on the phone, I never dreamed I'd be stuck in a damn car for 2 hours with one"

Yay me... peace out folks,

your feedback on the above issue is appreciated :)

Monday, Monday...

Today was ironic.

I was awake at 0530 and for some weird reason decided to hang out at the station til after 1300. Got a lot accomplished, although it just seems like it takes for freaking ever. I've morphed from strictly being a dispatcher to being one of the go to people around here.

I've gotten the ball rolling on upgrading our radios, mobile software, and security upgrades for the building. So, our crazy guy that we arrested again last week then disappeared after he was OR'd again..was arrested up in a county near the northeast border...we honestly thought he was probably dead in his house...

IDK...

It's been a quiet night, I'm thankful. Got no sleep this afternoon and it pretty much sucks, but I'm glad to be back on our normal shift without the long hours. Saturday will be a long day, I've got to go try on bridesmaids dresses with my bride-to-be bestie and her other bridesmaids...oh yay.

I'm really not a girly girl, so trying on frilly dresses doesn't interest me in the least. But-- I'm a good friend :)

Holy Mackerels, it's almost Friday!

Well, last night was fun :) foot pursuit ensued and ended with the apprehension of one juvenile...
Trippy times and hilarious to watch..well after they got back to the station.

It's been confirmed by a friend of mine who dispatches for the County that yes, I do sound like a little girl on the radio..should be fun when I'm on the street and actually have to arrest someone. Anyone listening might think the kids got a hold of the radio :) At least I don't sound like a man, right?

I went back to the gym yesterday morning after I got off and worked out for abt an hour and a half, I'm feeling pretty good, it just hurts when I laugh ...read ab workout lol.

New gun

So, I finally broke down this week and bought a new duty gun. I was having some major issues with my original gun and I couldn't even qualify with it.

So, I took myself down to one of the local gun shops and ordered another gun. I never thought I would, but I'm now the proud owner of a Gen 4 Glock 22 .40

I have to admit, it's a pretty awesome gun :)

Well, I'm on day 8 of my 12. I probably complain too much, but it kinda has sucked this week. I like my job probably too much since I'm still a newbie, but the weird sleeping has really messed me up :)

Haha, it's actually Monday this time :)
Yesterday was interesting... I find the justice system to be completely confusing (and to think I wanted to be a lawyer).

It amazes me that the judge who signed 4 protective orders and a warrant against the same man, is also the same judge who signed his OR release. This guy has some pretty serious mental issues, including bipolar and schizophrenia, he's made threats of violence against the DA's office, our department and the Sheriff's office all because he perceives he's not getting his way when it comes to certain issues.

Mostly all of his complaints are civil rather than police matters anyway. He's always been either rude or nice when he's called, (he was the one demanding wrecker service the other night). When he called yesterday morning, he was completely violent, threatening to kill his brother and to do something to us because we weren't "protecting his rights". Did I mention his warrant was for previous threats of violence against the department? *sigh*

I'm not sure how any of his previous requests and issues have been our fault, there's only so much we can do and it's been explained to him repeatedly.

I just hope he gets the help he needs before he attempts to make himself heard with a weapon.
:)

Today should be Friday for me, but alas, I had to open my big mouth and complain about overtime earlier in the month. And, apparently the 30 hours on my last check did not go undetected...so I'm getting to have another 24 this week. Yay me.

it's been a slow week on the nights, however the 2nd shift has had their hands full, which is good for them, that means the weirdness hasn't happened to us :)

One complaint for the week however, apparently I don't know what I'm talking about when I tell a repeat caller that the police department is neither a wrecker or mechanic service. I'm pretty sure I know that none of our current vehicles have tow packages or hitches..even if they did we wouldn't be pulling your truck to the road so we can jump it off.

I'll be here all week, so stay tuned :)

Peace out.

Boredom leads to inane stuff...

Stuff, I guess for a lack of a better word. I really can't believe I've actually been sucked into 16 and Pregnant--only briefly, I came to my senses very shortly.

Far be it from me to be judgmental, people can find themselves in crazy and difficult situations very quickly, as I see on a weekly basis, but some of this is just pathetic.

I've been officially 10-8 for a week now, and I'm still a little self conscious about actually being out in uniform. However, I'm learning some valuable lessons which will be very useful in dispatch. Information--properly disseminated and anything extra will greatly help the officer onscene. Of course, I know this, but now I know how vitally important is to have a clear picture when responding to a disturbance or domestic call.

I've been itching to get to respond to calls and I got my chance tonight. I'm pretty limited on when I can come ride since I work nights and the two days I'm off are the two slowest nights generally of the week. Occasionally they surprise us, but not often enough to mention :). I admit to being a horrible and habitual psycho-analyzer, something I do without even realizing it sometimes. But, when I'm in close proximity with people, such as the officers I work for/with, I tend to try and analyze them.

Yes, it's very similar, type A's with a few exceptions scattered among them, but 9 times out of 10, they are alpha males (or females). The officer I tend to ride with on the evening shift has a wide and varied background, even though he's only about five years older. I always enjoy riding with him because he actually performs the role of an FTO.

He'll ask what I know and quiz me on procedures to see if it's correct and if it's not, he'll show me the proper way. He went over the basic traffic stop, which is never the same and probably one of the dangerous, consistent duties an officer will perform. We actually tried a mock traffic stop in the parking lot of the PD and went over where to stand, what to look for, what to do in the event of a subject pulling a gun and where to go.
Very educational if I do say so.

It was an eventful evening and I'm glad to get the chance to see what it's like.

I should have skipped dinner, now I'm sleepy. Not a good thing...this makes me wish the phone would ring...then I would have to complain! :)

Peace out.

I have to say it's been a fairly productive Monday.
We're back to looking up grant opportunities and I managed to get one application completed last night. Yay me... :

Starting at roughly 430 I started getting heat advisories from the weather service, you know it's going to be hellaciously hot today. Not fun in the least.

This is short and without any comedic instances, unless you count my trying to start working out again :). I've decided to get back in the groove of working out, eating healthy isn't too big of a problem, it's just hard all the time since only thing open in the middle of the night is fast food and I tend to forget to bring healthy food ...

Perhaps I'll go swimming tonight before work and improve my tan!

TGIF!

I have to admit, I'm very glad it's Friday :)
Saturday went really well, considering all the craziness. Most of the issues last night were because parents feel the need to screw off raising their children and calling us when they can't handle them anymore. Yay us.


I guess now I've accomplished the goal of becoming a commissioned reserve officer, it's interesting how now I get to see both sides of a call and this job. Got to go on one call, there were four of us so we kind of SWAT teamed them.

One observation I can pull away from this experience is that those uniforms suck and the vests are hotter than hell :) I'd much rather be working in a pair of 511s and a polo shirt.

Qualified.

I've been unsuccessfully trying to post an update for most of this week, and now I have a chance to do so.

With good news!

I had pretty much decided to put off anymore attempts to qualify for a couple of weeks, thinking it was operator error or perhaps the gun I was shooting and I told the Chief exactly this.

Well, as things would have it, one of the officers I work with loaned me a different gun and the dispatcher I just finished training talked me into trying one more time.
I'm not sure exactly what the problem was whether it was myself or the gun, but I managed to squeak out an 84 yesterday morning after I got off work.

Qualifying score is a 72 :) I managed to refrain from jumping up and down and screaming, but I did tell the instructor that I could have hugged him. Believe me, after failing multiple times I definitely had a monkey on my back ... or so I was told by just about everyone at the dept. :) Gotta love their brand of encouragement!

Well, it's been a great week, went for a couple of ridealongs (I have to say I'm addicted now) and the calls were fairly steady and not terribly complicated.

Right now they're slamming me with traffic stops...a comment was made earlier that one of the officers prefers to take calls versus running traffic, I'm cool either way, I like them running traffic because it keeps me on my toes and gives me practice (wierd I know) so now, one goes out, the other follows.

I'm not sure when I'll be commissioned, the Chief had to make an emergency trip out of town and didn't get back until last night. I'll try to post an update whenever that happens.

Yay for me, it's a week with 30 hours of OT on my time sheet :)
I've been breaking in a new dispatcher this week, worked both of my days off, and failed to qualify in firearms training not once, not twice, but three times. I will eventually get this.

All I can say is hooray for the 4th of July...or not. Our towns celebration will be held later today, including a parade with all of the headaches. So far though, I think it's going to be a little soggy.

So, since I've failed to qualify, I'm still waiting to go 10-8 officially. I will, however, still be working in an "unofficial" position (I think).

Anyway, on to the fun stuff of the week. It's been a very productive week, depending on who you ask, we've logged seven arrests since Monday, including a whopping hat trick last night. That call was a complete cluster and not my best moment :)

Tonight, thankfully, people have refrained from beating the living crap out of each other, and have simply been imagining people hanging outside their houses.

Best one so far: dispatch to a possible prowler with a hero RP.
He informs me on the phone that he has a gun at his residence in another state and he will be retrieving them at some point. He also informed me of the different laws that this state and others have, pertaining to lethal force by a homeowner in the event of a home invasion. I simply told him, stay in the house, don't open the doors, and don't start pulling weapons out unless you are absolutely positive you have to use them, preferably not at all because units are enroute. ("enroute" by the way, isn't an actual word, either apparently)

Units go on scene, less than five minutes later they clear and go 10-8. One officer tells the other, "should we tell her to log what he said about registering?" to which he replies, "definitely".

So, I wait for the phone call to fill me in on what I missed. Apparently, in the state from which the RP recently moved from made him register his teeth and his fists as lethal weapons.

??

So, this gentleman is either The Hulk or a member of the Cullen clan.

It was entirely too ridiculous to fathom :)

Well, here I am riding again :) I could definitely get addicted to this. I'm riding tonight with a different officer and he's more then happy to get out and play to make the night go faster. He's been FTOing me tonight asking questions and giving advice, he's definitely looking out for me here. We just got a call from a neighboring county looking to serve a warrant here. It's handy being a dispatcher, because we remember names, places, and dates the way guys remember sports stats. So, Im now sitting outside the pd in the car waiting while he go finds a picture.

Wheee....

Oh geez... it was an interesting day today.

I live in a rural area just south of town and as most people who live out in the country, I shoot on my property.

As you know, I've been working on my techinique and just practicing for qualifications next week. (which are Wednesday, btw). I shoot a .40 handgun, no rifles, no shotguns, just handguns. We've shot out at this place since I've lived there and never had a problem with riccochets or had the neighbors to the east complain.
Let me explain the setup. It's roughly 5 acres and our fence butts up against another lot with an empty barn. On across the road and back south there is a house, in this house lives a state trooper who I've known for a couple of years now.

All in all from the point where I'm shooting to his house is close to 1500 meters. We don't have a berm set up because the field slopes up at a steady incline from where we are to the end of the fence and there's an empty barn directly in the line of sight.

Well, this morning I get off work, go to the house, and get my range gear out. I've shot roughly 35 rounds before he shows up at my house. Apparently, somehow, some of our shots have been riccocheting all the way down to his house.

I felt pretty stupid, but I would never have known that a .40 handgun with a 3.5 inch barrel could travel that far...apparently it can. So, I rode over with him to a deputy's house to check out his shooting area. It's really no safer, its just a creek bed... So, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do, I guess once Wednesday gets here and it's over, we'll see how I did.

In other news, the dispatcher who I was filling in for is now home from the hospital. However, they believe he had a stroke...so no one is really sure if he'll even be back. This is going to suck, because I'm the only other fulltime dispatcher we have. I'll definitely be getting the overtime at this point, hopefully they'll get someone hired pretty quickly...

I have to say I love working the 3-11 shift. I had been complaining that I hadn't gotten any overtime lately because our scheduler had been giving it all to one dispatcher. Well, we sent him home again this evening with some medical issues, and then the fun began.

First call involved a weapon, the next involved a toddler wandering down the road wearing nothing but a diaper, and finally a medical call that was really strange. A 911 call with no one on the other side...all I could hear was a television in the background and some faint noises that sounded like either a moan or whimper.

Get 1st responders enroute and they call for PD because they can't get in the house and someone is calling for help inside.

It all ended well...although that was all within 2.5 hours. :)

Now to my actual shift...what do you call a verbal domestic when the parties involved are deaf?

That's been the running call of the night, we're back over there now for the second time in an hour. Throw in a civil custody dispute and it's a good night :)

Of course, if my guys knew I was enjoying this, I'd be outta luck!

And so it begins :)

It appears I've started a new journey :)

I guess the one of the best things about being young is that I can still change my mind. I've spent the last two and a half years preparing myself to go to law school, mostly because of my random sense of justice, ignoring the fact that emergency services is my actual passion.

I spent four years working disaster relief with the Red Cross before moving to my current hometown. Survived house fires, canteens, ice storms, and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and loved every minute of it.

So, consequently, I'm starting reserve CLEET and transferring at the first of the year and changing my major to Emergency Management.

It's been an interesting evening so far, came on shift in the middle of an assault call, and just a few minutes ago a EOD request/domestic issue decided to come visit the PD.

I'm kinda tired so being busy is good :)

You're a good dispatcher when you can empathize with whoever is on the other side of the radio or phone line. However, when you hang up the phone and feel like taking a moment, you're too close and emotions are clouding judgement.

Not saying this is a bad thing, especially if you don't have the opportunity to decompress afterwards.

So far in the last week, received an attended death notification of a lady who I've known nearly the entire time I've lived here. Talk about surreal :)

On to happier decompressing topics, I've been combing through numerous websites attempting to gather my duty gear. This whole decision to go to cleet has incited major family issues.

Let's just say that there are some religious issues which have previously prevented me from doing a lot of the things I've wanted to do, as far as dress goes. I've made some decisions over the last several months to move away from a lot of these ideas. And, as I've tried to explain to my parents, I'm not doing away with God...just some of the rules that I was raised with.

We'll see, perhaps I'll be living under a bridge eventually :))

I almost thought tonight was Monday, luckily I wasn't the only one running late :)

It's been an interesting week already. I had to work a partial shift on days, Wednesday and it was actually nice to be at work with other people who are at the station and can have actual conversation! I love my guys, but, they are definitely guys.

It also gave me the chance to experience types of calls I haven't had before, including the ones that dispatchers all hear about and hope they never have to take. The classic panicked, incoherent, and scattered caller who is unable to calm down long enough to even give an address. Fortunately, there was another person with her who was able to advise me that they would not need the ambulance they would be going to the hospital POV. Sadly, as I learned later, two children were injured which prompted the call. Both were evac'd to separate children's hospitals. that call ...pretty much sucked.

I have to say I'm kinda proud of myself, I was calm, persistent, asked all the right questions.. :) I'm getting the hang of this thing. Now, we'll see how the reserve officer experience turns out!

One last thing... I admire and applaud anyone who dispatches for an ambulance service or any other Emergency medical service exclusively... I couldn't say some of the stuff they have to say over the radio and maintain a straight face...

It's Friday, thank God. I'm going to attempt to actually get something accomplished on my days off this week. The parentals are leaving town this week so I might be able to get into some trouble on my two days off. We'll see how that goes :)
I started working to get into shape for reserve school, it's not as hard as I thought it would be, however in a week I might say something else. It was almost abysmally quiet last week, everyone may have been recovering from the holiday. So hopefully, next week will pass faster than this week did.

I'm not exactly sure what I've gotten myself into this time. :) It has all the potential of being a lot of fun and I might never do anything else again.

I was talking to the Chief last week and he asked me about getting on as a reserve officer. I told him that would be something I would possibly be interested in, just not right away. Well, let's just say that I somehow managed to get roped in attending reserve school in July and took my crazy test this afternoon.

One thing about the test - if I wasn't crazy before,I sure as hell am now :)

It's a nice Friday night, not too busy so far just steady. Syfy channel has been running reruns of old shows such as X-files and Stargate, I'm just desperate enough that I've been sucked in every night this week.

And let's just say that it apparently works to keep the phones quiet :)

Well, it's Monday for me, back in the chair behind the radio. Truthfully, this operation is on such a smaller scale than even the County Communications center that it makes me laugh sometimes.

We only run five agencies primarily and on occasion the state troopers or deputies will switch over if they're helping out locally. I've always been a fan of information, it didn't really matter if I was repeating it or not, I just like to know...some people call that nosiness :)

In a small town, the rumors definitely fly and somehow we manage to hear a large amount of them. Sometimes, the information is useful, mostly it's just simply for entertainment value.

I finally managed to wrangle a ride-along last Monday night, I can't really say if I'm relieved it was completely dead or if I'm slightly disappointed. :) Pretty sure the officer I rode with was glad it was quiet. He points to the console near his knee and says, switch for the shotgun is right here, chamber, safety off, pull the trigger. I just nod and smile.

It is summer, I'm (semi) anxiously awaiting the 4th of July and the ensuing cluster that will transpire. Our town hosts one of the largest fireworks displays in the Southern part of the state and all the crazies show up for it. Festivities start that morning and continue on until well after dark when the main event occurs.

We shall see how my trial by fire(works) goes...

Remembering is hard to do, but never forgetting is easy. Thank you to all of the servicemen and women who gave it all for my freedoms. Also, thank you to all of the firefighters and police officers who also made the ultimate sacrifice keeping peace at home. Happy Memorial Day everyone!

I'm nursing the mother of all headaches right now. I came back to work Wednesday night, left at 0630 Thursday heading to a class an hour and a half away, was a retard and didn't come home to sleep instead went to see some friends I hadn't seen in almost a year. So, consequently, Im working on 2 hours of sleep out of 28 :) It was a very interesting class, covered some of the basics of relaying info which my training in was nil at best. We dealt with tactics for suicidal callers, listened to one of the most badly handled calls I've ever heard which resulted in a murder/suicide. I don't know, it's like I feel like I should learn more, but when I go to a class it only covers the same stuff. Call taking, information gathering and etc. it all begins to be the same. I guess thats why I appreciate my guys so much, I can ask them how they want warrants returned, how they prefer the returns be given and not know a different way. I guess it all eventually works out :)
Now if the headache would just go away.

Sheeesh....

I'm really sucking at my job right now. I hate when the mistake is on my end, transpose a number and get the wrong return. I'm sure they're wondering where the hell my brain is at, plus while I enjoy having the officers fairly close by, it also makes things stressful when they have problems on the job.

I guess it's normal, but that weird bond that occurs when you work consistently in close quarters with them. Doesn't really matter about gender or age, you deal with two sides of the same issue.

I really didn't mean that whole "I'm bored" thing, can I take it back now? Please?
Haha...it never fails that when I least expect the fit to hit the shan it does.

I really hate having to call people and wake them up to let them know their adult child who's driving their car has had a minor accident, is being arrested for DUID and they can pick the car up in the parking lot of the theater where it happened.

I hate it even worse when I know the people personally.

This week has nothing on last week :) For a small department, we manage to keep pretty busy, for a night shift, we manage to avoid being busy. Except this week.

My monday, which in the real world is wednesday, we had a total of 6 arrests, which lead over into severe weather. All good, except boneheads who kept checking their phones by calling 911. Then lightning struck some transformers, so people lost power and exactly why half the town is awake at 0300 I have no idea. Thursday was only slightly better, lightning struck both two more transformers but also a house. So, we dropped tones for the FD and they got it taken care of...
Friday, we started off with one of the local crazies who thought someone was in her house, then we moved to an issue with a motorist out at one of the highway junctions, then moved immediately into a disturbance with one of our other local hoodlums and ended nicely with a total bs call from a man who told us his ex-wife had taken his truck and their child. An hour later it is discovered they aren't divorced, so well, it's all a civil matter and there's nothing we can do about it.

Tonight, we had a stolen vehicle, missing persons, someone threatening to kill someone else, and a poor crazy old man who had a long haired, french man wearing a wetsuit in the back seat of his car.

I love my job :)

Whee....
I love tornado weather in the Great Plains. However, I do not love people who call 911 6 times over a period of 2.5 hours just to check if their phone works, then the last time try to carry on a freaking conversation with me.
Mmmhmmm....

You want us to do what?

Again, another round of stupid requests. It still amazes me the things that people think the Police Department can do. Yes, absolutely, I'll have an officer come make the other person living in your house let you in. Wait, nothing illegal is happening? Sorry, maybe you should have weighed all your options before moving him in with you...
You want to come pick up your son's stuff from when he was arrested? Sorry, talk to the property officer and don't call in the middle of the night thinking you can just "pick it up". Also, please don't call when you're intoxicated asking me to send another municipal's units to your location - twice. They've been advised and they've talked to you, so it's out of my hands. Also, while you're at it, please don't call and demand to speak with number so-and-so, then get pissy when I refuse to tell you who is on shift, it's really noneyabizness, if this was a true emergency you probably wouldn't give a flying rats ass. Nobody here gets paid enough to be your personal police officer.

It has been a hellacious week, so this is definitely a vent post. Sorry :)

It's amazing how one call can go bad and turn the entire mood. It's also amazing how the attitudes and moods of the officer can affect my own. They're pissy and so am I now... Dang stupid people.

Full Moon lunacy :)

I'm a firm believer in the full moon phenomenon, even though I don't think it's even a full moon this week.

Since last week, we've dealt with many crazies, particularly one family which is all at odds over a power of attorney issue. (by the way, we don't handle civil stuff but convincing them to either get along or get away from each other is not the easiest to do.)

This week its been medical...our poor On call guy has been running around like mad and the bad thing about it is that it's all been major stuff.

9 calls in the last 20 hours...

You know you're bored when...

You're playing a random retarded game on your ipod touch. I have discovered both "Zombie Farm" and "Rocket Bird". I kid you not.

Tonight has made up for last night, we were off the hook with fun stuff. Tonight, only call was from a guy whose wife apparently "ripped off his clothes and kicked him out of the vehicle"

I was able to turn that one over to county :))
It's almost Friday for me, so I'm going back to my rocket bird!

oh..ouch

I'm not even sure what day it is...a sure sign my days are all shot to hell and back.

It was orthodontist day today and I'm at the point where I'm not sure if it's all worth it or not. Got chains put back on top and got my bottom half put on... if it's possible to recreate the feeling being stabbed in the face, I'm pretty sure braces accomplishes this hands down.

Needless to say, one loratab and an 8 hour nap later I'm really just kinda here. I'm not exactly sleepy, but I'm sure as hell not perky and chipper...lol

The department had a training class all day today so my guys are also less than chipper themselves. Basically, if anyone has a bullshit problem tonight...or decides to be stupid they're going to wish they hadn't. :))

My brain is off...

It's been a fun week so far. Really, I'm not just being sarcastic. I was able to go hang out with one of my friends here from the department and enjoy myself, and rack up an extra 8 hours of overtime on my monday.

It's been fairly quiet tonight, my favorite call of the last two weeks just came in, it was a 911 medical with an elderly woman who had fallen. She had two requests: one, she didn't want her husband going to the hospital with her because he had shingles, and two, she didn't want any sirens, because "she lived in a neighborhood full of old people".

I dutifully advised the medics of her request :).

Back to normal-ishness

Sorry for the lack of intelligent posts, or even posts that have something remotely funny in them.

Current projects include grant research, 4th of July planning and being completely lazy this summer :))

Last night was interesting, I'm really tired of dealing with juvenile drama and just drama in general. I love my job, but its nights like tonight which make me wish everyone would just grow up.

That's pretty much all the fun, except for the very persistent ex-reserve whose wife got stopped and he was demanding to know the whys and whats. He made two trips to the station and called...yikes. read the little piece of paper the officer gave your wife...you should know the drill..

Its been a week :). Tonight is prom and the chief is pulling in some of the reserves to work over. I really hope all the crazy dumb-ass highschoolers stay home and drink instead of going out and doing stupid things. Speaking of stupid things, my dumbass little brother had a wreck monday night and totaled the vehicle. He's severely lucky to be alive thats for sure, he walked away with only a minor wrist fracture and a seperated shoulder. But the vehicle is toasted. Again, very very lucky. Im just glad I wasnt at work when this happened.
Im sitting in class, waiting for the last slow person to hurry up so I can take the teacher evaluations to the department office. Im not sure why I volunteered, but I think they were relieved that I did. It's finals week and this is the last one of the spring ... Im so freaking happy I dont have to be back at this place til August! Im looking into some different software for the department, we are not on a CAD system simply due to the small nature of our force and call volume. Everything Ive seen looks like a major headache, I know there are a few like occupation who read this drivel, so if you would be so kind as to give some feedback, negative or positive doesn't matter. I would appreciate anything that's said. There's like 5 of us in here and they have 10 freaking minutes...really? How hard is comparing Machiavellian politics to those of the classical greek and mediviel times? Yeah its actually a pain...did I mention Im glad to be done?
l

If idiots grew on trees, this would be an enchanted forest!
Thanks to a cousin who dispatches for County for this..

Hum...

I love working 12 hour shifts.. :) I got a call this morning around 11 that I would have to be back at 1900. I guess I was asleep when I answered the phone, so I had to call the Firefighter who was dispatching that morning and double check :)

So is my life...whiled away sleeping. So, did you know that persistence doesn't always get you the desired results? I fielded 7 total calls this morning from a lady who wanted us to get her keys out of her vehicle which she had locked.

We don't do that due to liability...which I told her...every time. She got smart and dialed the fire dept line (which I answer too). Finally, she decided to try and go over my head to the former Chief who is now a p/t officer/dispatcher. (Don't ask).
Sadly, he won't be back in until Monday.

Awww...

If there's one thing I hate about this job is the total bullshit calls...
'' 911, what's your emergency?''
'' There's no emergency, I've turned my motorcycle over and I can't get it back up''
''Did you turn the motorcycle over on yourself?''
''No, I just can't get it up by myself.''

REALLY??
Or this one,
''Police and Fire''
''Yeah, is Chief So and so, working tonight?''
''No, he's out for the week. What's the problem?''
In short, it had something to do with the auction of an item which apparently can break into any vehicle, if you've locked your keys inside. This was an issue of great consternation for this gentleman, so he called the police. Mind you, this took place in an entirely different town a few miles away. However, since our Chief used to work there, he apparently can still enforce law there. I'm not entirely sure what he was complaining about is illegal. So I left a memo for the Chief, ''see 909 for details''. :)

(and yes, the smiley face is on the message)

Some kind of attraction...

there appears to be a fatal attraction between this department and drunks :)
An hour into the shift and the same officer who "found" the drunk last Sunday picked up another one. In a way it serves him right, he took off thursday night and we were kinda slammed for the hoot shift. I guess that's one reason I enjoy working this shift, it's pretty quiet, but when things happen they happen.

Nothing too spectacular though, just a wasted guy walking down the road. :)

The rest of the story...

It didn't just end with the really unsmart drunk sunday night. By the time my officer who was working got back to the station, after escorting the poor "confused" lady to the jail it was after 3 am.

He's still in the middle of all the paperwork that goes along with a DUI and about 15 til 6, (we get off at 7) a gentleman walks in the front door and asks to speak with an officer. So, being the good dispatcher that I am, I run back to his office and tell him he has a visitor.

Only, this visitor wants to be EOD'd. Ouch. And, being the only one on shift, he gets both boatloads of paperwork. Luckily, the next officers coming on at 7 helped him and transported him to the nearest crazy house which was about thirty minutes away.

Yay...so I was very glad to be off last night and tonight too. Hopefully, the effects of the full moon won't carry over into my week. :))

Fridays!

I now have a "people never fail to surprise me" story.

In short, if you have four outstanding warrants, are obviously operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and have enough beer in the vehicle for a small kegger, why on earth would you go to a police station and ask for directions??

The officer on shift very helpfully escorted her to the county jail. :)

It never fails to amaze me how much I still don't know about this job...especially technical stuff involving warrants and the like.

When I first started here, there was an officer who was my primary officer and any question I had pertaining to what to do on the radio, returns or warrants I would ask him. He's since went to county and is a deputy, but tonight I was still asking questions. :)

Funny thing is, he was still answering them.

Oh Monday, How I wish you had been better.

All I can say is that these days better be few and never happen again. I'm generally on the receiving end of phone calls, but this afternoon I got to be the RP.

We've been dealing with the death of my grandmother since 2006, in a nutshell it was a surgery gone bad and ended up in a lawsuit.

Well, her husband, who at previous times has been referred to as my grandfather is completely unstable and a sorry excuse for a human being. He's basically one of the worst kind of people to have to deal with in law enforcement. He's a manipulator and a child abuser.

Mediation finally happened today and it wasn't pretty at all. he basically blew up and flew into an unprecedented rage. If I haven't mentioned it before, he has been EOD'd three times previously. Before they left the attorney's office in Texas, he had already threatened to kill my uncle and dad. The scary thing is, he has several loaded weapons in the vehicle with him. So my poor mother completely trips out and I walk in the door into the middle of it.

I had to call the PD where I work and have an officer come out to file a report, they also put out a BOLO for him. It ended well, they found him back in Tx and were able to cancel the bolo. Aaand, did I mention I decided to visit the cemetery?? Yeah, that probably wasn't the best thing ever. So I'm stressed out, tired from no nap, and emotionally exhausted.

But, hey, I'm glad to be back at work, making the Deputies work tonight, picking up our warrants :))

It's Friday!

I'm always so happy to write these blogs :)
It's been a nice evening so far, not too busy, although if it changed it wouldn't hurt my feelings.

So far, the most ridiculous thing I've dealt with was trying to get a warrant confirmed Saturday night. It took me three tries to the County jail before they finally got their heads out of their collective asses and got it confirmed.

Besides that, the poor EMT on call (who always gets slammed when he works) was indeed, slammed. Things can be absolutely dead when anyone else works call, but the minute he takes over, everything hits the fan. I did forget to mention the power outage on Friday, and the blizzard that hit. Yes, I did say blizzard.

Such is life in Oklahoma, it was literally in the 70s during the day, and by 530 the next morning it was snowing.

It's all melted as of now, but they're predicting yet another cold front in the middle of the week. My monday, no less.

Titles Are A Pain

Really, they are. I'm not even remotely good at coming up with them.

It's been an interesting week, I'm sitting here watching Manhunters while my cops run traffic and apparently hold their radio's a foot away from their mouths :).

I'm tempted to text him and say, "SPEAK UP!" Of course, 10-9ing him works just as well.

Like I said, it's been an interesting week, and since this blog is fairly public I'm not going to spill many details here. It all started Saturday when I had to fill in for one of the FFs who was pulling dispatch (being a small, rather ill managed dept, FFs work dispatch on weekend days and three days during the week).

Well, its this ill management and personality conflicts which led to the issues Sunday night. When the spouse of a firefighter goes in for surgery and they experience complications, he's just like any other concerned husband. Being a firefighter does not exempt him from this, and somehow he was expected to get over it and leave his wife in the hospital.

It's just been interesting to see how it's played out, it's become more apparent that the dispatch department needs to be put back under the management of the police dept and that actual management needs to had. I just work here, and do my job.

This becomes much more difficult because, you can only do your job when they give you the ability to do it.

On a happier note, it's been spring break, although I haven't gotten to go be bad, I do get the privilege of babysitting a Glock 31 .357 Sig for a week :))).

I slept all day, so I won't get to shoot it until I get home later this morning. BUT OH WELL!

Woo...

Loong ass night... the morning dispatcher had to rush his wife to the ER this morning, so I worked over for him till 3 this afternoon. Now, I'm back. :)

I'm not being anywhere near judgmental, but it's really hard to get coherent information from some poor sap who stutters. :(

Argh...Holy

Holy Shit, it all done hit the fan this time :)

I want to go on record and say I've never done this before, and hopefully will never do it again.

Tractor fire, right? Easy, just page out the rural FD and its good - not by a long freaking shot.

They just went to this new phone paging system which takes like 10 minutes to complete, on top of paging out at the same time.

Well, first off, it's been a while since I've paged anyone but the main city fd, and we have to change channels to page the others. So, I page them out but I forget to leave it on that channel in case they need anything. So, I subsequently page them like 4 times total. Then I'm having to get directions and call the rp back since she failed to give them to me (and I failed to ask, dumbass that I am). So I have PD yelling on the radio, two lines ringing and some irate ffs...

I wish..

Its amazing how much I would love to have a hamburger right now... I had to get my braces tightened yesterday morning and my mouth isn't happy :(

It's been a crazy busy night...everyone's getting ready for spring break I guess...

Blue Collar...

It's a typical Thursday, but a nice change from last week. :)

People never fail to amaze me, a lady came in the other morning wanting to report her social security card and bank card stolen. She was fully prepared with her own pre-written statement, and some bank printouts... the only thing is, she couldn't tell us when it was stolen, and she "assumed" this one person had taken it because this same person had applied for credit cards in her grandmothers name...and this lady had at one time went to the grandmother's house...

Then she proceeded to tell the officer that she had lost nearly 3k but hadn't discovered it until nearly 2 months later...

We received a warrant for her from a neighboring county the next day for bogus checks.

like I said, I don't get people sometimes... :)

tonight I'm watching Blue Collar comedy with one of the officers...

Jinxed :)

Hum..there must be a full moon tonight. Either that or some wiseass had to open his mouth before he went off shift...in 40 minutes we've had an out of control juvenile and a domestic call...

yay.

Monday, Monday...

Got home Sunday around 330 and was informed I had to be at work at 7 to work a twelve, which is fine except I wanted to sleep :).

I knew it was going to be interesting when I walked in the back door and we already had a "detainee". ( we average like, one every few days, apparently it was a busy week).The night included watching the Oscars with the guys and arranging a welfare check in another state.

It was a nice night to come back to, but tonight is my monday, so we'll see how much mischief the town can cause. Next week is spring break, for me and all the local schools. Hopefully, they all go out of town to party --- that's what I would do :)

Some days, I sit at that desk and wonder if I'm really as good at this job as I think I am... I still mess up, which I guess is normal, but in this business messing up can mean someone gets hurt.

I'm scheduled for a storm spotting class next week, its Spring Time in Oklahoma . . . we've already had one tornado this week.

almost home..

Tomorrow I'll be back to work...and thus will begin the struggle to re-acclimate my sleep schedule. I've gotten really used to sleeping at night and being awake during the day... one week will have destroyed three months of effort :)

One week

Am I so lame that I miss being at work, even though last week was insanely busy? In a four day period, two domestics, two fights, one structure fire, one arrest and one unattended death call...

I know, some departments handle this in one day, for one as quiet as ours its unusual.

Right now I'm sitting in a motel room with a girl I just met today, she's my roommate for the next 5 days while I'm here taking a class on the history of foreign policy.

I'm so tired atm, hopefully I can sleep tomorrow :)

full moons

they never fail to cause some excitement. We've been steady since friday night, so its been hell for doing homework. :)

10-9, Radio?

It's been a funny night...well for the last two nights, at least. Being such a small department, the interaction between all of us leads to some hilarious moments.

I was asked last week over the radio for a 10-13, to which I jokingly replied, "Its raining", then proceeded to give the actual update. A few minutes later, the FTO came back on and said, " be advised, it's not raining on the south side of town". Last night, the detective on duty called me and asked if I would look for his coffee cup, that he holds so dear... after looking around the station unsuccessfully for about 10 minutes, I advised him of negative contact...

The Chief has been switching people around on their shifts again, the guy who's been working evenings is working hoots this week, and the guy who normally works hoots is working days. (they aren't enjoying it, :) )

We had a fire tonight, and crews were still on scene when I came on, which immediately following we had a 911 medical...normally when the Ambulance is running hot through town, I let whichever officers are on know...

That is, if I can remember their damn number... I keyed the mic and completely blanked who I was trying to talk to. "1 oh ........." I got off the radio and just laughed hysterically. The officer came back on checking radio traffic, so I was able to tell them then... but yeah really?

Perhaps...

all our power problems are on their way to being finished once and for all. We had a scheduled power outage last night from midnight to around 0300 to finish attaching the main line that went down during the ice storm.

It was remarkably quiet and the phones only rang about a dozen times with power inquiries. It was nice to answer the phone and there actually be an emergency need on the other line.

My friends are being pains, they're trying to set me up with the cop that I have a thing for.. it's rather embarrassing and I'm afraid it's going to through things off...

Aside from that, its been busy! Arrests, crazy people, and the usual.

This is short, but I'm in class so I'm signing off.

Crazies...

Gotta a call last night from a man who has everything wrong with him from a staph infection to HIV... or so he said.

He was really unclear on his address, giving me one that didn't match the one that popped on my 911 screen, so I sent an officer over to verify the address.

They came back in and they said, "thanks for sending us over to such and such address". I'm like, why?

Apparently, this guy was packed and ready to go, he didn't even realize they were cops, he just walked out the door and was going to get into the truck...lol

The officer just laughed and said the guy must have read a medical dictionary before they got there... I guess his symptoms must have increased from the time he called and the time someone got there.

Funny thing is, we got a call on him this morning from county after they picked him up for walking down the road carrying a rifle...

I work with a bunch of jokers....

These guys are about to see how much of a smartass I can be..lol

A couple of the restaurants in this town and the motel are all owned by people whose names are pretty much unpronounceable, unless you happen to have heard it or whatever... well they love giving me these 28s (tag/registration) and hear me try to pronounce the name over the radio...

I'm just a tiny bit tired of trying to figure out what the hell this name is and saying it over the radio...tonight they gave me an Asian name (no offense to Asians) but this was a name I wasn't even going to attempt.

I paused for a minute, then came back to give my return normally except for this part..."Comes back to an unpronounceable name, do you want me to print and hold?"

There was a pause on the other side, then I hear them laugh and say, "Negative, headquarters".

Jerks :) lol

Well back to work, power has been back on since 10 am monday - with a few glitches. It was out for about 4 hrs today, I was in class but I still got about 5 texts asking if I knew why... Really? Lol Im not even in town and they still think I know.

The new guys have started this week, I think they're going to be pretty cool. Its funny, we hired the Jolly Green Giants two younger brothers. I walked in Monday morning from the back and was face to hip with them. Maybe a slight exaggeration, Im not that short lol.

But, they're nice and are good cops, which is what counts. Ive been busy tonight, just with traffic, the phone has been blessedly quiet thank god. Im so tired of answering the damn phone after last week lol.

The handheld has disappeared somewhere during the chaos, so now Im sneaking smoke breaks when I think they arent going to yell over the radio. Luckily the backdoor is about 20 ft from the office so I can - and there's no generator noise! Sucks for bathroom breaks tho.. Anh, didnt need one anyway. Watching Dog the bounty hunter, as is the ritual on Weds nights lol, this show just makes me laugh - alot.

Sitting at the orthodontists office...hoping I can get out of here in time to go take a math class. Im on days off, but I pretty much died yesterday around 3pm, so Im catching up while I wait.
We hired two new officers yesterday, I think they'll be a good fit. Lol it will at least bring things closer to normal. Power was fully restored at around 10 am yesterday, Im pretty sure everyone in the building wanted to dance a jig or throw a party.
Got some more news last night, well Sunday night anyway. Generally in the past it hasn't been SOP to give a time at the end of a transmission. I dont know why, just havent. Well, Chief wants us to do so now, which is no big deal, except most of the cops dont like it. The officer I work with the most hates it in fact and was basically telling me NOT to do that with him... Tough shit, Im not going to get in trouble just because he doesnt like it. Maybe him getting a playmate will make him get over it lol. I know it will be easier on him, the 2nd shift guy that normally works over is a dick and doesnt do shit.

Life in a police department is way too dramatic sometimes lol

Dun dun dun..! We still have no substantial power source in town yet. We have partial power due to pulling our substations into the main line of a neighboring city. The north end of town has power, the south end, not so much.

People are beginning wonder if we'll be in the dark. Our generator is still plugging along, Im watching Shattered atm..very crazy movie. Im still not sure what the point of it is. Im also trying to finish two papers due tomorrow, my head is just not in the game at all.

Havent had much tonight, just people wondering about their electricity. Not new at all lol...

Its slowed down considerably, we're watching some weird ass movie one of the cops brought in... I guess this is why I love wrking in a small town..

They have figured out something with the power, parts of the town have it, some dont. The calls arent quite as pissy as they were earlier, however they are still just as moronic.

Had a 911 tonight, wanted to know what time it was... Yeah *click* Yesterday, a lady called complaining that she had came by and paid her electric bill, but when she got home her TV wouldnt work. It took way too long to explain to her that no one in the damn town had power... I love that people think we're the same as time and temperature, calling asking what time is it, whats the temperature tonight...

I give up.

Yep, it was a case of operator failure last night/ this morning. About 430-5 they brought the engines back in and sent everyone home. About 730 the Fire Chief calls and asks me to get together an engine because they finally figured what they wired wrong.

Trying to get enough ffs in here after being out til 5 am is tough. Since its mostly volunteer, only 3 fulltime, they werent interested in getting back out. But we got a few, including the two who had just spent the night on medical standby at the shelter, my replacement, and three who were here last night. Oh the joys of small departments!

I was stabbed by one of the cops last night, course it was only a push pin and I was trying to get a splinter out. Still it hurt, the bastard.

Its just dead... Lol and they still havent gotten the generators going yet. Its going to be interesting how long things are going to take to get running. Im seriously considering running away lol...

Juust kidding. However vending is up so I can sneak around the corner.

Its very crowded in here tonight...

The electric dept is going to attempt to hook up generators to the substations and bring power back to the city. This presents a huge risk for fires all over town. We currently have 2 engines staged here, as well as an engine from a neighboring town. There are three other depts on standby as well... We've already had one fire tonight, someone was fueling their generator and overfilled it, it subsequently exploded and caught the garage on fire.

Now, we're just sitting here waiting, the natives are still restless, we've advised everyone to not overload their electrical, but we doubt they will listen. They didnt listen when we put out a water advisory that was fun.
I picked up a new copy of Guns and Ammo, so Im duly occupied.

I love it when an officer asks for a warrant check on a subject by name... Without a DOB, without a license number, and without a confirmed spelling of the last name.

Love it!!!! Its a bitch. =D

I forget how hard it is to get information out of someone who is hyperventilating. She didnt know her address, or where she was at...dang.
so, I manage to get her location, color of the house and what vehicle is parked outside. The ambulance service is picky and has to have an actual address since they use GPS in their trucks.
Now, Im sitting here watching Gran Tarino again with the current pain in the ass. He's freaking bipolar or something, lol.
This movie cracks me up, Clint Eastwood is probably one of the best actors around..
The natives are getting restless around these parts, Im tired of old ladies calling me complaining that they dont have the money to get their branches hauled off but they can stay in a motel for 3 nights and complaining that she misses her jacuzzi...

I dont know why I bother...

Well, its officially a week without power. Im sitting here listening to Gran Tarino and should be doing homework.
Im also hoping that a buddy of mine who's a deputy will swing by lol.

Im really getting tired of the bullshit I have to put up with around here. Im sick of this certain officer acting like its my fault he has to get his fat lazy ass up and do something... Im just the friggin messenger...

lol Im good now.

I hate generators. Its all a matter of principle, I guess. I love that they provide heat, light and phones, but I hate that we have to keep up with them, even if it means dragging the dispatcher out of the office to help.

Im attempting to blog frm my phone. We'll see how this works. If things look weird, Ill just be sure to keep them short and sweet, lol. Got some amazing news tonight, we had a situation which occured back in Oct with some of the officers, who were then placed on Adm leave. Well, it took them this long to finalize their findings, but they no longer work here. Thats kind of a relief. You know, lying on the stand, falsifying audio and written logs to make your case just isnt the best thing to do.

Anyway, we're here on day 7 w/out power, hopefully mine at my house will be up soon. Im on a diff provider than the city so one can hope. Ive been catching up on homework and eavesdropping lol these guys act like we dont hear a thing. Course, I hear ALOT but make sure I dont repeat anything... Im good that way lol.

Got to meet our lone female reserve tonight. She's very cool and hilarious ... and loud.

Im signing off here, hopefully this works

Holy Shit...

Sorry it's been a week since I've been on here, a lot of chaos has happened in the last week.
I'm currently sitting at school, since it's the only place I've been that has actual power. Last Thursday, an ice storm hit that wiped out power to several towns, including this town. As of today, we still have no power and aren't expecting them to be finished repairing our main feeder line until Friday.

It's been awesome. We've had no heat, hot water, cable, internet, or electricity, and I really need a shower lol. Thankfully, crime has been nil, so all of the cops have been put to work repairing, hauling extension cords, or checking generators. We have at the moment 4 huge generators running city hall, and they all have to be checked at least twice a night.

My days are all running together, I'm pretty sure today is wednesday, but I'm not really sure :). We didn't get heat up at the station until Sunday morning, let me tell you, I froze my ass off. It was so freaking cold in that building, I thought I was going to die. lol Obviously I didn't, although I did fall asleep Sunday night for about 45 minutes. Thankfully, the officer on shift was there and awake.

I've never fallen asleep before, but I had alreadly worked 12 hours on thursday, 9 on friday, 9 on saturday, and 16 on sunday, did I mention I had to work on my day off too? I'm not complaining, I'm just letting you know I'm completely hysterical from lack of sleep.

Did I mention cranky too? Lol I nearly relieved one officer of his life Monday, normally I'm used to him, but he pretty much drove me bananas, by 2000 Monday night, if he didn't leave soon, he was a dead man. (and I'm only half kidding)

We had an amazing time getting acclimated to the generators, (note: never put a GASOLINE can next to a DIESEL generator, it leads to complications of epic proportions)

The community has been amazing, the pissy ones are outweighed by the patient ones and it has been nice. I've fielded some amazing calls though, through this. My favorite so far has been the one asking about forced evacuations - on the 911 line.
"This is an emergency number only, call back on ***-****" *click*.
My next favorite involved a man who had fallen in his garage sometime during the night. His son calls me and asks for an ambulance and first responders. He then proceeds to ask me if I'm sending police over, since "it's a felony".

....

Yeah, complete moment of "WTF?" Turns out he thought his dad had been pushed and he assumed a crime had been committed.

Fun stuff...

We've played a lot of poker this last week...and some people are crappy losers :)
My brother is also in the middle of everything, he's an EMT and has had to work medical standby at the shelter in town. He worked there last night and was ready to go ahead and put some of the old folks out of their misery, lol.

Don't let him kid you, he's having a freaking blast. I am too, I just wish I had hot water lol.

This is all for now, hopefully I'll have an update on Friday when I make it back to class.

It's Monday, again.

Back from days off, they were very long and a lot of fun. Of course, staying up for 30 hours straight is always good, right?
They are predicting another round of ice and snow, starting tomorrow sometime. I got my prints done for training monday evening. LOL, poor guy, I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm a complete moron. Everytime I have to get prints done I forget to fill out the cards. He's done them both times and I have forgotten both times.

We went and shot Tuesday, after lunch. It was a lot of fun, and we were able to introduce one of my best friends to the joys of shooting. She's pretty girly and isn't necessarily afraid of them, she just hasn't shot that much.

Let me tell you, she's damn good. Now she wants a pink gun :) I have a .38 as my primary carry gun right now and I'm waiting on a refund check in order so I can get another one. Charter Arms has what they call a Pink Lady, it's a .38 and it comes with the internal hammer mechanism. really cool shit. Well, it was that or the .22 Sig Sauer Mosquito which is hot pink and black.

Her boyfriend is a good friend of mine and is under the impression that they bigger the caliber, the better the gun. He rags me about my .38 compared to his .45. Oh well, he's a big guy and needs a big gun lol.

It's been fairly quiet tonight, just a few odd tags and traffic. I hate personalized tags, they are of the devil and a bitch to track down on the computer.

Do us all a favor and don't get one, no matter how sly or clever yours is, it still sucks. >:|

No Rest..

911 rarely rings, but when it does, it's either anti-climatic or an adrenaline pumper.

Dang, it was nice and peaceful.

I'm harassing the cop on duty right now, lol he should have gotten some sleep.

I'm done with homework, and now I'm just bored. I use Google Chrome as my browser and for some reason it's not loading facebook at all and IE just sucks.

Any ideas why it's being weird on some sites?

And the dang trash can is making weird noises. I hate that. :)

It's Friday!

It's been a nice slow night so far, I'm watching Criminal Minds and eating a rice krispie treat. I have company and it's pretty nice.

Unfortunately, I'm a people person trapped on the graveyard shift. I love my job, but I like to have some interaction.

this isn't to say that I like people, I'm pretty sure most of them shouldn't be allowed to procreate, breathe, or vote. But, that's my own personal opinion and doesn't reflect that of my department, lol.

It's homework night, so I'm about to be "absorbed" in Plato, more Federalist papers, and American History.

It's all inane and I'll be really glad when I graduate.

I'm kind of in a dilemma, I love my job and the town I live in, my current goal is to go to law school and eventually working in the DA's office. It's like the closer I come to graduation to less time I have at my job.

Isn't that pathetic? :)

Goodnight for now, nothing crazy tonight, and I'd like for it stay that way!

Babysitting

I'm currently babysitting a signal 87, who'll be out on bond in a few hours. He's really well behaved, except he's no longer wearing his shirt, but rather using it as a pillow.

I'm not even sure I would even touch those blankets without a hazmat suit. Ick.
I'm so freaking tired atm, and the phone has rang pretty steadily throughout the night.

The drama around this place never fails to amuse the hell out of me, I'm just glad there aren't many women working here :)

We have one female officer and she and I have gotten to be pretty good friends. I think she's relieved to have a semi-competent full time dispatcher lol.

The guys might disagree with her though.. :)

I'm on the 8 hour downhill slide, hopefully the rest of the drunks stay quiet, but with basketball tourneys winding down, there's a crap load of traffic on the road.

It will be fun!

Ouch..

they didn't get the damn pig til this afternoon. I'm working back to back 12s, probably tomorrow too. Our 2nd shift dispatcher is sick, so we're splitting the day - I say splitting, I'm the only one who's worked 12s so far, but I'm not complaining, it's extra monies :)

You can tell I haven't been on the early shift in a while, I had to readjust to officers who run traffic. I did it again... lol except I'm like, "Clear, standby" or wait, he's running traffic not asking for a tag return. Shit.

I just sat there, he's used to me, thankfully.

I walk in tonight and the one officer who is really pretty much useless, starts mouthing off about other people finally working 12 hr shifts. I'm sitting there thinking, I'm not sure you even know what actually "working" a 12 even means.

I tell the guys everything about police work I learned from Law and Order and the like. Thank God for USA channel, lol I can keep up with all the good ones, like House, NCIS, Law and Order, and Burn Notice. The only one I miss watching is Bones, thats the only thing I miss about the 2nd shift, lol.

I'm eating a wonderfully healthy dinner of Lays Potato chips and Junior Mints. People should definitely combine the two.

It's never too early for drunks :)

4 calls

I just received the fourth call of my shift about the dead hog.. lol

The people in this town have a strange sense of humor. Apparently it's a joke..?
Crazieness

I Love Google...

And Live Maps.. it makes finding people so handy. In a rural area, finding people depends very much so on their directions. "Go 2 miles West on Rattlesnake Road turn North onto Camelback and we're the third house on the East side of the road. There's a black truck in the drive" ... I've actually used the GPS on my phone to find a road.. shh don't tell anyone.

PS

Ok, I'm not being ignored, he's just pissed at the other officer. :)

God, I'm lame lol

I'm Being Ignored :)

God, I love cops... lol. I'm currently being ignored, which is better than being harassed, I guess. Today has been an interesting day, both at work and abroad. I'm slightly jealous and partly relieved ... and the minute I start writing this, the phone starts ringing. Thanks.

Okay, but now it's fun, because of all the bullshit calls. The bouncer at the local bar advised there was a possible fight in the parking lot ... oh wait, they're just talking. A lady wanted to see if her daughters car was home... it was, she just didn't want to talk to her mom.

It's great.

The day shift had some excitement today, definitely tragic though and not something I would want to happen on my shift. A man barricaded himself in a house, set it on fire then proceeded to shoot himself. Sad situation all the way around.

Anyway, one of my favorite things to do has been done, now I'm just being ignored.
You know this job is hard, especially when you kinda like one of the guys you work with, then when things go quiet you wonder what you did to make them do that.

Beyond that, no personal relationships at work!!

I'm working a 12 tonight and I won't get off work til 11 tomorrow morning. Which is okay with me, I like overtime (just in small amounts).

I'm having some trouble staying awake for some reason, maybe because I picked up Sprite instead of my usual Pepsi.. no caffeine will do that to you... Maybe I'll be breaking out the Redbull sooner than I thought.

Second

Obviously, I'm either bored or things have actually happened that warrant a second entry this morning.

Well, I fulfilled two of my three favorite things :) I actually got to wake up the EMT on call and tick off the cop on duty.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes I don't think I'm ever happy - I complain because it's slow and I complain because it's busy. Either way, I'm really okay with the situation. When it's slow, homework gets done and people get annoyed (by me).

In the last two days, I have written a three page paper over Plato and censorship, read all of my required reading, which included Plato's critique of democracy and Federalist #10.

However, I did something tonight I've never done before - called an officer by the wrong number.. oops.

I'm pretty good with keeping up with who is who, until the last two weeks. A lot of the day shift has been coming in at three or staying til three because of shortages on the graveyard shift. So, I'm dispatching officers I've never dispatched before, hence the mistake.

Sad thing is, I almost did it twice in one transmission.. lol

"Return 108... I mean 10... uh 6, yeah it was greeat!

I finally broke open the Redbull tonight, (I brought it wednesday when I only had two and a half hours of sleep). There are still many things which I wonder about, one of them being bathroom breaks. Yes, I know dispatchers don't get many of them, I average about one per night.. maybe.

We recently acquired in the office this nifty little handheld radio. However, whether I can operate it has yet to tested.. I've wondered about how to let them know I'm not going to be immediately with pen and paper for tag numbers... "Uh, such and such, I'm gonna be 10-6 on the handheld" ... Five minutes later "I'm back".

lol I don't tell them and they don't ask. Normally if there's an officer in the station I tell him I'm running away - their reply "Don't be gone too long".

Yeah, that's total excitement in a nutshell.

The best thing about this job ...

Is I really can't decide. I really like pissing off people, by telling them that their complaint is completely asinine and trivial, I really enjoy waking first responders and fire fighters up in the middle of the night, and the highlight of my life ( be it ever so futile) is the pissing off of officers (one in particular) by doing welfare checks.

This consists of simply saying over the radio "Such and Such, 10-90?" to which they should always respond, "I'm 91, or Code 4" both of which mean they are good. One guy hates this, but it's my job, right? Far be it from me to slack on the job!

Right now I'm trying to figure out why someone called the City Hall nonemergency number to make a complaint/report and I'm watching hockey. I'm a Dallas Stars fan, and right now they are getting beat by Vancouver. Actually I think I know why he's pissy, I may have inadvertently hurt his feelings.

My boss feels the need to harass this officer and myself about having a 'thing'and I very succinctly told him that was crap tonight when I got here...unfortunately, this officer was standing right around the corner. Oops.

I went to Wal-Mart this morning after I got off work, it's kinda great to walk in and only have to dodge old people and employees. I'm waiting in line and there's a 'wonderful' specimen of a man standing at the bank line, whose jacket reads SECURITY in large letters.

I had to roll my eyes, this kid was probably all of 21-23, fu-manchu gotee, total cocky asshole. It made me laugh...

I have to get fingerprints done at some point, for training. I asked them this morning when I could do it, they told me to have one of the night guys do it. That's not exactly what I wanted to hear. You gotta understand, when you get fingerprinted, whoever is doing them is ALL up in your business. There's no such thing as personal space and it sucks. I have a few people who get that close in my space - the rest gotta back off. Now, there's one I wouldn't MIND doing them, lol, but that would just be odd. :)

So, I'm avoiding it at all costs until I'm forced to do them, which makes perfect sense, right?

It's Monday...

Or Wednesday, it all depends on what day of the week you go back to work, right? It's interesting, to call certain days of the week 'Friday' when in reality it's like - Thursday or something.

Good news, Dad's home from the hospital, no blockages revealed in the tests, so I'm very very very happy :)

Tonight will hopefully be a slow evening, we had enough excitement last week to last me till the end of the month. So, tonight is going to be a homework night - yay me. This paper is comparing Plato's ideas of morality in entertainment to the standards of today. I think there's gonna be a very large gap.

Had some storms come through earlier in the evening, I was afraid they would continue one into the morning. I was seriously praying the electricity would NOT go out, since this town has citizens who are not above calling 911 to inform me they have no electricity.

This office has about a half dozen lines not including the 911 lines, and every last freaking one will light up - and they all have the same complaint. It's hard to be sympathetic after the 80th call.

Sunday night was a little crazy, in the middle of a fire page out, my computer monitor died. Yeah d-i-e-d. I panicked just a teensy bit. Luckily, there was a computer in the pd that they didn't use, one of the officers brought it over and helped me pull the old one out and put the new one in. ( I say he helped, he did the whole damn thing).

Plato awaits, so no more facebooking or farmvilling :)