Dry spell

Unfortunately the past two nights have not achieved my goal of getting into anything interesting - between the winter weather, rain, and just general mid-week stuff it's been quiet. I'm sure you all will remind me of that come August when I get busy and don't get a break. But for now I'd really like to find something more than a couple of tickets.... ah well, it will come when it does.

On another note, this was in the backyard today, eating one of the dog's bones:





It appears a pair of red tailed hawks have taken up residence in one of the pine trees out back, and have made themselves at home. Absolutely beautiful to see them, and I do hope they stay around - if so, more pics will follow as we get them.

Happy sounds

I don't think there's any happier way to wake up than to have one of your children running into the room grinning and calling your name, because he's thrilled to see you any chance he gets and wants a hug. It always makes my heart smile, no matter how the day or night has been.

Back at real work this week, so hopefully something interesting will happen & I can have better stories again - I know my life has been boring lately! Let's all hope for some excitement.

Going to enjoy a beer, read some schoolwork and have a quiet night.

Nothing special

Tonight has no real quality posts - recovering from a week of dayshift, but letting everyone know I'm alive.

Got to attend a very interesting and educational class on interdiction - which not only gave me some good tools for work, but also one of those things that makes me think how much I may have missed in the past.

Other than that, I'll be saying more tomorrow hopefully - this is my recovery night. I need to have my weekend and then I need to go be a real cop again - it's been too damned long!

A bit busy

Limited posting the next couple of days, have some training at work and some college stuff going on, along with normal life. Back soon with more useless stuff I know.

Another beer

Lagunitas Brewery, with the "sneak release" of their Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale. Described as an especially bitter ale, it definitely is flavorful and a joy to drink. The alcohol level is a 9.28%, so significantly higher than the tripe you get at 7-11 and thus be warned... but wow, what an enjoyable beer for me on this cold winter night. No particular flavors or tones are jumping out that I can describe, not like a porter or stout - just like it says, a perfect bitter ale to sit back and sip for a while.

We had some nice snow yesterday, but nothing that stuck around unfortunately. It still gave Jacob a chance to get out and play for a bit which he always loves. Other than that my day was spent on school and family, and no excitement to report from any portion of things. I'm on dayshift this week for some training, so that's going to mess with my whole schedule.

I hope that all of your days were as quiet and comfortable.

Great post by Commander Zero on long term planning today - I highly recommend. I know it made me consider a few things, and some of my "need to buy" items.

another curry of thoughts

Watched the second episode of Terminator - Sarah Connor Chronicles tonight, and if anything it's grown on me even more. The plot seems to be developing even more, and it looks like they'll be avoiding the "cyborg of the week" trap. I'm intrigued by the development of the resistance teams sent back and working in sleeper cells - hope they do more with this topic. The fight scenes seem really well choreographed so far, particularly when considering the whole lack of vulnerabilities thing - I was reminded of Dark Angel (in a good way), but much better in my book so far. A few other bloggers have posted comments I agree with, such as that diamonds aren't my thought of the best way to store funds for quick dispersal, but at least the concept is being explored. All in all, three thumbs up and I'll be watching more.

On the beer review side of things. Tonight I picked up a few new bottles to enjoy over the weekend, and the first sample was Arcadia Ales "Big Dick's Olde Ale". Wasn't sure what it was going to be like, since the bottle doesn't give many hints, but it was an enjoyable first drink. A malty/chocolaty ale - not my normal IPA style but nice for a winter's night. This is the first thing I recall trying from this brewery, but I'll look for more - good potential. Of course, I have a few others for the next two nights, but we'll save those for then...

Oh, before I forget - got my first linky-love from Pagan Blacksmith :D thank you sir! Hope my disjointed ramblings live up to your kind words...

On other blog notes Marko has posted an excellent essay about the militarization of our police forces which should be required reading and discussion for all cops. I don't agree 100% with him, but damn I wish I could write 1/10th as well... on a side note for it, I would invite any of my few readers with gang investigation experience to comment - for all that cops are mimicking the military, let's consider the whole gangbanger culture of calling themselves "soldiers" as well - I'm curious as to the parallels...

That's the bits for tonight, talk with you all tomorrow.

SCC

Finally sat my ass down and watched the first episode of the Sarah Connor Chronicles tonight... very happy so far. Will watch the next one tomorrow, but I think it is definitely making my list. A good continuation of the series, some interesting thoughts connected with it, and hell - Summer Glau is hot... just sayin'.

Black and White

Despite everything we would all wish, being a cop isn't always an easy choice on what to do. A couple of things from last night brought that to mind for me. Everything isn't always a black and white situation, and sometimes doing the right thing isn't doing the right thing...

The first incident involved a coworker who's a good friend as well. I was backing him on a little situation where he had a guy who most likely should have gone to jail - not needed to, but should if the difference makes sense. Unfortunately, the individual in question was a friend of his, which put him in a tough position and it wasn't anything I could jump in on. I helped him out where I could, and he resolved things for the night which is sometimes all we can hope for - but he was also frustrated at being in that position, which I greatly understand.

Later on that night I ended up with one of my own - a guy who was acting up, and basically talked himself into a pair of handcuffs by being dumb. Not much of a charge though, it's almost the famous "contempt of cop" that you will hear about. But now I'm really wishing I could have found another way. Yes, the guy was a mope, and he needs more time on his record what with everything he's into - and there was more to it, but unfortunately nothing we could legally find. But I still just feel like I let things get to an arrest that could have somehow been handled differently.

Three simple things

How to avoid a ticket early in the day...

1 - don't run a stop sign right in front of the white car with the big blue lights on top.

2 - when the occupant of said car stops you and wants to have a friendly discussion about the topic, don't lie about what happened when we both know better.

3 - and finally, the last thing you want to do is start on a rant about "you don't have time for this, and it's bullshit," because I can guarantee you I can make time...

A worthwhile petition

Nice to see this from my current state. I encourage you to sign Rep. Cantor's online petition regarding the Second Amendment, and remind the government how we feel as Americans. The link is:

www.savethesecond.com

The cool kids are doing it...

OK, I need a better picture editor than MS Paint I have decided, but anyway...
Fresh from their tour of the finest in European dives and the debacle of RenFaire, I present the first album by:






The rules are:

"The Band Meme

"Here’s how it goes. You are about to have your own band’s CD cover. Follow these directions to the letter. It’s fun and requires no thought at all. Go to……

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result in your own journal because it’s more amusing that way."

h/t to Roberta and Tam for it.

Domestic Bliss

I didn't do anything exciting today. Nothing cop-related, no training or anything at all. I slept late, did house stuff, and spent time with my family and it was great.

So, no thrilling posts or stories tonight.

I'm sitting here now downloading files to check out, listening to Carbon Leaf (a stunningly underrated band!), and drinking beer. And it's the perfect way to wind down the weekend.

Headed back to work tomorrow night like I said, I'll do my best to come up with a story or two. Either that or it will be time for some gaming geek posts. Either way, more to come soon for my two readers, I promise.

A bit of mulligan stew

Just some mixed random junk from how the day went, nothing particularly amazing in any of it...

The Veggie Tales "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" movie was cute today, and a nice simple break. The kids all liked it - Jacob even did pretty good at sitting still through the whole thing, and he didn't raise any sort of fuss, which was great. Interestingly IMHO they kept all the church stuff out of this one - still good moral lessons, but no Bible verses etc... wonder if it's a reflection of the Saturday morning cartoon demographic these days?

Afterwards when the others were all on nap time I took Kyleigh and went to the gun show in a slight change of plans. Mostly I just picked up some more of the Magpul PMAGS - my plan is to score as many as I can as an investment, given the current political winds. Besides, you can never have too many magazines. Otherwise I pretty much observed a bunch of people asking way more than what they should be for the simplest of things - AK mags going for twice the price from the online dealers, and most of the guns were at least 15% above the store prices I've seen around here. I'm not sure if this is a case of the show being disconnected from the regular purchaser these days, who has researched things; or if the dealers are simply playing the market again given the current outlook of things.

Picked up one of the SAW-style grips for my AK & installed it... this following the debacle of the Ergo grip I got last week. Note to a manufacturer - "Made for XX item" means that it should install with minimum effort, not require EXTENSIVE use of a Dremel tool to even get close to fitting things, plus bolts other than supplied etc. I still may try to get the Ergo on at some point, but for now I'm happy with this as an improvement over the tiny stock grip. Now if KVAR will ever update their website or answer their phone I can order the shorter stock & be mostly happy with this one. This rifle I still need to score some magazines for to catch up to my AR ones, since it may be my SHTF/Truck gun for a while.

Speaking of my AR/M4gery build... had a oh shit today when I went to replace the rear sling mount on it. Found out I used loctite on a spot I should have used grease on when I did the lower assembly - my fault, I didn't RTFM on that one. But, now I need to order a new buffer tube and safety spring and install them, and chalk it up to a BIG lesson learned. Fortunately nothing damaged more than that, and I can easily fix it. Now I'm just waiting for taxes to come in so I can finally order the upper receiver and have that project done...

Continuing on the shooting side of things, I had picked up a pair of the Surefire Sonic Defenders earplugs this week, and will give them a two thumbs up. VERY comfortable, they actually stay in, and perform as advertised - cut the sharp noises but you can still hear conversation if you need. I'll be ordering several more pairs to throw in various places now.

No new beer reviews yet this week - it's been the old standards, given my schedule. However I do hope to run out tomorrow and grab a thing or two, so we'll see what I can come up with tomorrow night.

I've been following the news with regards to the Iranian speedboat provocation last week, and all the spin and bullshit surrounding it. Anyone who thinks that this whole thing hasn't been carefully orchestrated and played is either stunningly naive or just stupid - even if you didn't know anything about the current Iranian regime, their activities and goals throughout the Gulf, and the fact our media is easier to play than a Fisher Price piano simply needs to look at the history of the past thirty years to see the same trends there. But, I'll stop before I rant.

Tomorrow's post will probably be rather domestic - planning some housework I need to contribute to, and I picked up a number of organizing drawer sets that I can use to tame a few things while I have the day to do so. I know, not at all interesting, but that's part of my grown-up life now... I'm back to being a regular cop next week, so I hope to have a story or two then.

Still alive

Past couple of days kept catching up with me, thus the lack of posts... fortunately the week is over now, and I can readjust to my normal hours.

The family is finally getting over their respective colds, which will help things immensely... I thought I was catching it, but (knock knock) appear to have dodged at the very end...

Finished up the first week at the range with this group, they'll get a break before the next session. Most of them are coming along well, but there are a few with issues - nothing surprising, it's the law of averages. I just hope we can either straighten them out, or else that the academy staff gets rid of them. A constant problem these days (for most agencies) is people slipping through the training that just don't have what it takes... it's a liability for everyone concerned, and I wish I knew the fix.

Busy day tomorrow. Taking my son & the nephews/niece to see the new Veggie Tales movie, which they will all love... then have to run some errands, plus taking myself to the gunshow for a bit of toy shopping... don't plan anything major, but you never know. Plus I need to start my school term tomorrow night, so that will give me something to do.

Anyway, hopefully something more interesting soon. Adios for now.

Simple things

My day started off kind of shitty, and I was ranting for a while. BUT - I'm not going to discuss that, instead I am going to focus on my blessings as I look back on things since I woke up:

My son crawled into bed with us and snuggled with me and was thrilled that daddy was awake for him.

I spent an unseasonably warm and beautiful day at the range helping new shooters learn the art.

I came home to the same loving family I left this morning, and everyone was thrilled to see me.

We had a nice dinner together of some good bar-b-q (not mine, but one of the few I'll buy here), and smiles and talking.

My daughter was laughing and grinning in my arms as she looked up into my eyes in perfect innocent love.

I got to tuck my son into bed tonight, completing our day together with a smile and a hug.

My wife and I sat down and enjoyed a movie together, with no rush, no distractions and just some quiet time together.

All in all, I am far more blessed than I ever expected to be. I hope your lives are the same.

The New Culture

A lot of talk has taken place around the shooting community over the last twenty years or so on the change in public participation in such activities growing up - the number of people who have any exposure to firearms, shooting sports, or military service.

Well I'm in the middle of observing that whole trend this week, helping to teach the new academy on our range. Out of the group, about 40% of them have never fired a weapon before, or only once before. Another 30% has very minimal exposure, and the final 20% of them have prior military or law enforcement experience. Some of the new ones are enthusiastic and putting forth good effort to learn, while others are less than stellar...

My point with all this though, is that it used to be that a lot of cops were, if not gun enthusiasts, at least somewhat active shooters. They were familiar with firearms, comfortable with them and viewed going to the range as a fun chance to shoot free ammo. These days qualification courses are a chorus of "Why do we have to do that? I don't want to sweat/get dirty/challenge myself." whining. In my estimate probably a third of our department is uncomfortable with, and barely competent with their handguns. I hate to say it, but it's true & a trend I hear from other agencies.

Which leads me to the thoughts of how this has affected our police/society interaction as a whole. The number of "cops" I have met or have heard speak who are OPPOSED to armed citizens disgusts me. Same thing for the number who support weapons bans, similar to NYC or DC's. They have taken their own fears and discomforts (brought in from their prior experiences and closed minds), and transferred them to what others are doing... Additionally, many are very ignorant on the very gun laws they so vigorously seek to enforce upon others. They don't know what is legal or isn't, and when it is or isn't - but they want to arrest people for violating these rules?

Well, in my time working as a cop, I have dealt with plenty of gun incidents - and out of all that I have arrested exactly ONE person with a legally purchased, legally carried firearm for a gun offense - and he was drunk when he did it. Well hell, alcohol and guns don't mix no matter how legal you are... On the other hand I have dealt with countless armed citizens who were polite, law abiding and gave me no problems or concerns at all - I've even gone out of my way to answer weapons/law related questions when I'm asked, to make sure they keep that right even when the system thinks they can "take" it away. In my belief we need to be doing everything we can to encourage armed, trained and safe citizens throughout our country.

Folks, as so many have said before, if you call for me in the middle of the night because you're being attacked, raped, killed or anything else I will do my damnedest to get there and help you. But unless I'm already right outside your door, the odds are the situation will be over before I can get there, and all we can do is pick up the pieces...

anyway, just my random thoughts from today on the whole thing...

Two new ones

The rest of the family is still sick, so I spent my day taking care of the littlest one, and having quiet time sorting files on the computer since I could do that at the same time - so nothing thrilling to share.

On the other hand, got to enjoy two new beers from Left Hand Brewing this weekend. The first one last night was the Smoked Goosinator Doppelbock Lager. This is the first time I can recall trying a doppelbock, but I definitely enjoyed it - plus I have so far liked all their smoked offerings. Nice and cloudy with a good chunk at the bottom to be mixed in as well. So yes, a different flavor than my normally preferred IPA's but a good winter change.

Tonight I'm trying the Warrior IPA for the first time - another great offering. Hoppy goodness and a full-sized bottle so you get more than just a glass to enjoy.

Left Hand pretty much continues to rock in my opinion, don't think I've had a bad offering from them yet - so they're a good starting point if any of you are looking to expand your beer horizons.

On a dayshift schedule this coming week, so not sure what my posting will look like. Still going to try keeping up with things even though no one is paying attention yet...

rambling

Still out of it a bit - between the sick kids, running errands, and my brain working too much I really haven't slept much in the past 36 hours... so trying to take it easy and just catch up on simple things.

Actually got a good amount of stuff done this morning. Went and paid tuition and picked up my textbooks for the semester - the computer class will have me poking my eyes out. They're making me take an "Intro to Computers" for some reason (what a waste) - the text has statements like "a mouse is an input device, a monitor is an output device." Can you tell how much effort this one will take?

Went on the spendmart run, a little more than I planned but some things that were at good prices and will be useful. Finally picked up a bed for the old dog, since he doesn't have one downstairs. Now I just have to teach him it's ok to use it, but I'm hoping it will ease some of his "old dog" aches and pains.

Took Jacob and we both got haircuts, which was more of a struggle than I hoped. Poor guy isn't feeling good, so it carried over into his whole day. But we got it all done and he looks less like a mop-head now. I don't mind if he wants to grow it out when he gets older, but until he can take care of it himself it needs some control!

On the political snark side of things, everyone in the media is worrying the Iowa caucuses to death... while I'm of the opinion it's too early to tell, I am thrilled at anything that makes Satan's daughter upset and causes her worry... Would have liked to have seen Fred do better, but a 3rd is still higher than most expected. Maybe now some of his support there will get off their asses and step it up - we need a viable candidate to pull this one off. No matter who wins though, I'll have to echo the statements of countless others - if you don't already own a firearm, now is the time & if you do buy magazines, ammo, and more magazines - don't plan on things remaining the way they are for more than another couple of years at most. I have thoughts percolating on a few areas from that topic but I'll save it.

Speaking of the world and politics... the whole Kenya situation, particularly when coupled with Sudan, has me considering a boil-over. I asked my wife (who grew up in Kenya, for those who don't know) what she thought & if it had been this ugly before & she said no... like most African conflicts it is split on tribal lines, but this one is getting big faster than I expected & I'm not sure I see a good resolution either way. Even if the immediate situation is resolved for a period, my gut is telling me too many people are looking at Rwanda, the Congo & other examples of the lack of western response, and sharpening the machetes...

The other one that was on my mind lately had to do with listening to a radio show over the past week which had callers discussing their predictions for the new year. I hate to say that my feeling is this will be the year we see a nuke in play somewhere - I don't think it's going to be the big one, but someone somewhere is going to decide it's time to prove a point and let that cat out of the bag. I'd love to say that's going to wake up all the sheeple to the risks of the world we're in, but I don't hold my breath on it.

Anyway, it's a rather introsspective night for me and I'm gazing into space, so I'll end this... more tomorrow.

Recovery time

Took last night as some relaxation time with my wife, and for what's left of my brain... figured I'd earned it after the past few days.

Watched some simple TV, ate food, and just unwound - very much needed.

Today had to play the court game again - had fun with it, since I had an attorney trying to twist my words, leave out stuff I had said and all of that - it didn't work but I always enjoy the challenge. I learned early on in this career not to take it personally - they have a job to do, and it's part of our system. But it's still frustrating at time, because a lot can depend on how much attention the judge is paying to things, and all of that... still, like I said, it's part of the game.

Poor little Kyleigh (currently known as the snot monster) has a cold - and had to combine that with a doctor's visit and shots today :( So needless to say, she wasn't feeling good this afternoon. I ended up just letting her sleep in my arms as I lay on the couch, since it was the only way she would be calm. Still, we both managed a few hours sleep out of it, so it worked out. Hopefully the next day or two she'll feel better. Jacob has the same cold, but is dealing with it better - he's at the age where a river of mucus running down his face isn't really slowing him down...

Not too much else to share tonight, my brain is still in recovery mode. Working on updating a blogroll here, only through the B's so far so need to finish the rest tomorrow.

Bye for now to my reader.

Both sides of the fence

Like most cops, I talk a lot about the stupidity of criminals we deal with. However, I won't limit it to the bad guys only - we're just as bad... Last night had several incidents which reminded me of this fact.

New Year's is one of our busiest nights of the year, if not the absolute winner hands down. I suppose it's always been this way. People who have done the job for a while know, and try to teach the new guys, that this is not the night to go starting stupid stuff, get a lot of officers tied up on something trivial and all of that. We simply have too many places to be at once to deal with some of the things we would normally address, that's the plain truth.

Well, last night a few folks missed that memo...

We had a couple of guys wanting to run normal traffic enforcement right at midnight, when we needed to cover the most things.

Another group decided they wanted a standoff with a house full of our true hardcore gangbangers, with no real plan to do anything but sit there and stare back and forth... which didn't prove anything at all, and basically gave them the win when we drove away.

Then we had the group that felt the appropriate spot to plan an entry into a house with an armed subject who had already shot at folks was right in front of the living room window in the street.

Stuff like this just reminds me we aren't immune. Fortunately, no one on our side got hurt and we made it through ok.