Brief end of year post

Today was a much better day (in terms of my performance) at work - still a ways to go, but some of the dog stuff is starting to make sense. And yes, it is far more than just grab the leash and walk around, for those who wonder! But, we got some good training in & ended the week well.

I plan to take the family in this weekend when I feed and clean him to start the introductions - my partner can't come home to stay with us until I'm off light duty, so he's currently at the police kennels. I'll try to get a picture or two if he bothers to sit still long enough - right now he rivals Jacob for energy and desire to run around.

I should probably do some nice, introspective end-of-the-year discussion, but I just don't feel like it tonight. A lot happened this year - some good, some bad, some I couldn't control, plenty I brought on myself. But, all-in-all - my life is ending this year better than it was 365 days ago, and for that I am grateful.

I have a wonderful family I never dreamed of. A wife of beauty, strength and intelligence - we challenge each other, and both are far from perfect; but I still smile when I think of her at random moments and am amazed she still puts up with my own crap. I have two children that have every indication of being all I could have hoped for - intelligent, curious, happy and healthy. The fact that both of them think the greatest thing in the world is when I walk through the door; and that they have incredible smiles they share as they look in my eyes, makes any sacrifice worth it.

As for the blog - I have enjoyed being able to write and share my thoughts, and hopefully somehow grow from it. While I am nowhere near the caliber of many I admire, and will never have all their readers, I have been stunned at the ones who have wandered by and read my words and shared their own comments. So, I hope I can continue the same in the future.

In regards to the changing of the year (at least for those following the Gregorian model) -

I wish you all a happy, safe, and wonderful New Year.

For any I may have harmed, I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me - as I am seeking to forgive others.

Enjoy your day.

One tired puppy...

No, not the dog - me!

Yep, started working with my new partner this week.

First off, we are taking what is normally a 12-week school, and compressing it into six. So Sean has to be somewhat on the ball & play catch-up.

Second, I have a great, intelligent, enthusiastic & energetic two-year old Labrador retriever who loves his job (going out and finding explosives), and can't wait to do it every time as fast as daddy will let him.

And third, I am pushing 40, a few health issues recently that have slowed me down some, and coming off of six years of working midnights trying to adjust to a daytime schedule.

So yes, this all combines to have me a bit worn out! Between mentally trying to learn what I'm doing (I'm fortunate - this dog is already trained - HE knows what to do, I just have to figure out how to do my part correctly), and keeping up with him running everywhere he goes plus working the practice scenes, it's adding up. Not in a bad way - I'm certainly not complaining. And I can definitely say that I found a challenge of something new that I know pretty much nothing about (the dog side of things). But it's definitely a change from the life I was living this time last month, and yep it will take me a little bit to adjust.

Other than that, the new job definitely looks good. Much more personal freedom than I had even on midnights, and once I get done with school a bit more flexibility in my schedule as I need it. About the best comparison I have is when I moved over from the regular Navy to the special side of things - a corresponding increase in training and self-responsibility, but more trust to go with it.

So, sorry it's a light post tonight, but my brain is done & I also have a wife and children who don't feel well & need me well rested to assist.

I'll see if I can come up with more to share tomorrow.

Not much here, but visit the link...

For some reason I'm hitting one of my introspective, quiet moods again - nothing wrong, just a phase I go through here & there...

But

I would like to ask folks to drop by and wish my wife a happy birthday today! Comments to that effect would be appreciated by those up on the helm here.

What with taking care of two kids, an insane husband and everything else, sometimes she loses track of how incredible she is... So, hopefully today I will get a few chances to remind her.

Thanks ya'all.

The holiday greeting

I did want to take a moment to wish everyone out there, no matter what your faith or belief, a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Solstice, or whatever you may or may not prefer. May you find time this season to be with people who love you, and to enjoy a bit of happiness in your life.

Storytime

So I'm sitting in Domestic Court the other day, dealing with an unfortunately rather typical boyfriend/girlfriend dispute which involved him hitting her & tossing her around. The prosecutor is one that I work pretty well with, and since the defendant was gone when I got to the initial scene I am mostly around to verify what was reported and charged at this point.

The first sign that this was going to be fun was when the guy showed up without a lawyer and said he wanted to defend himself. Now, on some traffic tickets, this may be an alright choice... but for a criminal charge? No thanks - I'll take the professional who knows how a courtroom works, what laws apply, elements of the offense and all that stuff... but that's just me. This rule is pretty much proven true in this case as well though, since when he gets up to testify in his own defense, his statements pretty much make the case for us even without the victim.

Well during said assault he had helped himself to her cell phone from her purse, for which he got charged the larceny, along with some other alleged items. So as the prosecutor starts asking him about this in court he says sure, he still has the phone - he has it here today. Then, asking about what else he may have taken, he spouts off that yes he took a bottle of her medications from her purse, along with some other "drugs", because they were bad for her and she didn't need them...

I'm already shaking my head as the prosecutor jumps on this like a cat on a mouse. So what happened to those drugs?

Oh - I brought them here today as evidence. (Of what, I'm not sure.... )

And do you have a prescription for any of those?

No, like I said, I took them from her.

I'm just writing things down, more and more amazed as I listen to this guy not only dig himself deeper into his already-present hole for the larceny, but into brand new drug possession charges as he hands all the stuff over to us right in front of the judge.

So, instead of a nice, quick court appearance and going home, I end up spending the rest of my afternoon packaging 11 different kinds of drugs, plus writing a new report and swearing out new warrants. Which means I now get at least two more appearances in court with this guy, after watching what can only be described as a painful crash landing in front of the world...

The only good part is, he said now he "thinks he wants a lawyer for this stuff."

Nice to know some people CAN learn.

Preview spot

Question: What do you call someone who represents himself during a trial, and manages to talk a whole slew of fresh charges out of it?

Answer: Tomorrow's blog post, when I can get home at a normal hour and spend time with my family first!

Tune in for the fun.

Weekend stuff

Got up this morning & did a few house things, while my wife got the presents wrapped for the kids.

Worked on getting a "to-do" list going for the week in the new job.

Now she has gone to spend some time with her family & pick up our spawn, so I have the house for the afternoon.

Which started out by finishing up a viewing of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" as I cleaned the work guns...

See, in my own way I am adapting to this weekend life!

Today

Woke up and had the privilege of spending the morning with two wonderful, intelligent, beautiful and unexpected blessings of my children; playing & laughing and just getting to be their father while mom went off to do some things she needed.

Bundled them off to spend the night with her parents, who are in town and bravely volunteered to help with the care of the two handfuls.

Took a wonderful nap (this daytime thing is still throwing me), then took care of some of my work stuff preparing for the new job.

Relaxed quietly in the house for a bit.

Took my wife of ten years today to a Spanish tapas bar in town, where we had a great meal that reminded us both of where we met and the life that grew from that point. Then we came home and spent some quiet time together before she went off to a VERY well deserved night of sleep with nothing to wake her before she is ready.

Now I'm sitting quietly, answering a few emails from friends old & new, and listening to music in a home with holiday lights and the warmth of a family.

I have nothing to complain about at all.

Updates

Figured out that I hadn't updated my blogroll in far too long, since I've been using Google Reader & not paying attention to it - so hopefully I've corrected that! If I've missed anyone who would like a link just let me know.

Remembering the balance

Marko makes an excellent point about the first and the second amendments here. I like to think the rest are in the same package - all of them support each other.

Well said sir!

Lots of stuff today, but not a huge post on it...

Spent the majority of my day at the VA hospital - no crisis or anything, just followup on both the arthritis & my recent surgery. Got my stitches & pin pulled out (interesting sensation there, let me tell you), and some antibiotics since there is a minor but not unusual infection where the pin was at. It was apparently a VERY busy day for the hospital - I had to park at a lot almost ten minutes walk away, and was behind 60 other people in line to get my blood drawn at the lab for an example. So ended up taking about 5 hours to get everything done there, but fortunately all ended well. Next followups a month down the road & progress being made on both ends fortunately. Though yes, I had to hit the painkillers when all was said & done, plus I was starving and dehydrated by that point. Fortunately I learned long ago to take a book on journeys like this, which let me finish one that had been pending.

After that fought traffic on the way back to "my" side of town & hit the grocery store for some supplies. Then made it home in time to get a bit of a chance to talk with my wife & play with Jacob before cooking a nice dinner for everyone. Then, a bit more family time with everyone & bundling them off to bed...

Having given it a several week rest break, I also reconnected a hard drive I had that was going bad & got it stable long enough to get the last of my saved info on it - nothing critical but nice to recover it before trashing...

So then, I get a text message from my boss to all of us... We have all been anticipating some promotions & transfers coming soon & it turns out his name is on the list to switch to a new area & group of people. Unfortunate for us, as he has been a good supervisor for the past several years - knowing who he can trust, giving us leeway to do our jobs without micromanaging, and shielding us from a lot of the bs that flows down from above... Unfortunate for him as well, in that we quite honestly made his job pretty easy & his next crew won't be quite the same. But, all these things happen in an organization such as this & you just make the best of it.

Well, as I am taking care of a couple of phone calls as we all discuss what to do to say thanks for his work, I get a message to call one of the other lieutenants - the one who is in charge of the bomb squad among other things (one of my side duties). We had one of our two full-time guys get promoted & I have been chosen to not only take his spot, but to get his bomb dog along with it. Now - this is something I knew could happen in the unit - it had been discussed when the recent group including me had joined up, as obviously they wanted to make sure we were OK with it. But, I also know a couple of the other guys were much more vocal in "wanting" the dog position than I was - I certainly am not against it, but I like my road job as well & just being a part-time tech... Still, for whatever reason, I have come out the choice on this one.

Not complaining by any stretch - the family and I have discussed it & everyone agrees it is good. It will be a bit more of a stable schedule for a while, and a good career move for me to broaden my experiences. Plus, in all honesty, I need a new challenge - like I said, I love my road job, but I've been doing the same thing for six years now... and I know I've been a bit complacent about it lately. Pretty much the only challenges there are the ones I am giving myself... combined with the bad guys of course, but the job in & of itself has become "routine" - which is only a short step from "boring and lazy" - and that is dangerous.

This ended up longer than I planned & I still only said half of what I had to - but I will wrap it up with this.

So - a good change coming, but I am unsure of what a lot of it will entail. Not flying blind without a rudder, but definitely going to have a lot to learn and change in both work and my home life as I adjust. Not sure what I will be keeping & what will go by the wayside as I shift roles, but I know it will be interesting.

I look forward to sharing it with you all.

My little browncoat

I have a couple of posts percolating but nothing ready to release yet into the wild...

So in today's filler I wanted to share the latest child story. It seems that while I was at a court appearance today, Jacob (not wanting to take a nap) for his quiet time asked for a movie. And very specifically asked mommy if he could watch daddy's spaceship movie.

Meaning Firefly.

Nope, he didn't even make it through the first episode before getting distracted by my getting home... but I'm still proud! They both will get plenty of exposure to it later I have no doubt.

Possibilities lost

just some more of my insane old thoughts...







the full moon shines
shadows dancing brightly in the forest
dreams some, others a fragment of truth
all slipping free as fingers grasp vainly
seeking on a cold night

Issues

Somewhat of a ramble on this one, but I hope it makes sense to people.

Like most other areas my department is facing a financial crunch right now. Fortunately, we haven't hit the possibility of layoffs or anything yet; but things like new hires, travel, new equipment and training have all taken a hit. The particular discussion tonight is just part of my budget/training rant - which goes back all the way to the Clinton administration for my experience & history of things...

Anyway, as many of you know, between the military actions of the past 7 years & the fact China and India are buying up tons of raw materials, the price and availability of ammunition has skyrocketed over the past couple of years. This has not only affected civilian purchases but police agencies as well - several times recently we have faced shortfalls in our availability of ammo for training, and delays in ordering new supplies. Add that to increased costs & reduced budgets, and obviously you develop a problem. And, despite what some people think, police officers don't get unlimited free ammo & time to practice with from their departments. Heck, my agency is considered pretty generous around here, giving officers 100 rounds every month to use during a free training day.

So recently we got the news that as opposed to our previous two qualification shoots every year for officers, we are going down to just the state-mandated once a year that everyone is required to re qualify. The other time is going to be spent on active shooter training using airsoft pellet weapons.

I have a couple of things that bother me about all of this.

Number one - this now means that officers are only required to fire their weapons one day a year - as long as they meet the minimum scores, nothing else is needed. Given that the averages for experienced officers in gunfights is already about 10-20% of rounds hitting, this to my mind is not a good mindset to start building in people. Shooting for the minimums, and only doing it once a year, is not conducive to building competent, tactically proficient police officers.

Sure, the chance for people to practice will still be there - but I've been doing this job for a while, and cops are like everyone else & the vast majority aren't going to do anything more than what is required to get by. About ninety percent of the folks who take advantage of those practice times now are those who are already decent shooters & like doing it - the people with problems are rarely the ones who show up.

Second - while I see the addition of force-on-force active shooter training as a good thing, and a chance for some of those "non-tactical" officers to build new skills, it is a SUPPLEMENT to, not a replacement for actual trigger time. Just the same as flying a jet simulator is a great way to add to the skills of a pilot, it never replaces stick time in the air. Unfortunately though, as I said, I've seen this before when budgets start to slide & the mindset quickly follows. It doesn't take too long before the administrators start thinking that this sort of training is safer & cheaper than shooting at all... or for other types of training to be cut back in similar ways since we can just do it on a tabletop walk through... Which combines with the training budget cuts in general - one of the easiest things for the administrators to justify, since it's almost always "what if" money. They certainly don't want to cancel funeral escorts or shut down the police athletic league or anything like that - that is visible to the taxpayer & voter, and tends to generate complaints... But sending two guys off to a week long school that MAY someday be "useful" in the eyes of the staff - that is easy to cancel. So, as of very recently, we have been told there is no more money for training for at least a year that involves sending anyone outside of the department... Then we run into a lack of trained people to deal with these issues when they do happen. Or an agency scared to do things like use a SWAT team when called for, because Catch-22 - they haven't been trained enough.

Which then starts the same trickle into new and replacement equipment. Again, we have already seen cuts in areas such as new TASER cartridges for proficiency training, new cars as they wear out and such. Just like the 90's military I see a lot of agencies down the road facing the issue of working with old weapons and gear far beyond their intended lifespan. Things like ballistic vests wear out - but again, it's an "acceptable risk" until someone you care about gets killed because it didn't work as intended...

Going back to the original point that started all this... I'm also concerned that we are going to see a serious drop in weapons safety among our officers. We are cutting their practice time in half, and replacing it with what many are going to view as "goofing off" and playing with toy guns against each other. So, instead of reinforcing the fact that shooting and guns are serious, deadly business we are just going to build more chances in for people to be dumb, violate one of the four rules, and a tragedy to happen. Which then (seeing any patterns here?) gives the administrators a reason to cut back even more on shooting, training and other "dangerous" activities - because someone might get hurt.

I have a lot more thoughts on this, but I can tell it is already a random, wandering collection of words... I am curious as to if any other agencies are experiencing similar cuts or changes in their training programs. I'll see what I can add when my brain makes more sense of everything.

Old friends

OK, fine, maybe Facebook isn't all annoying...

my wife has socialized there a bit, but after my initial signup I really didn't do much - just didn't hit any of my "interesting"buttons...

well, out of the blue recently, two friends from 20 years and a couple of lifetimes ago have gotten ahold of me.... so I guess that is something redeeming. I'm looking forward to catching up with them & seeing how our respective paths have gone.

Truth in Advertising

h/t to Law & Disorder for this one.

Gratuitious surgery pics

Work safe, but maybe not dinner safe!

One being the nice sized pin stuck in the joint.
The other showing most of the incision and the pretty stitches.... looking forward to all of this being out soon!

Just figured I'd share with everyone.

Overachieving I guess...

Because, only I could be out on medical leave and STILL arrest someone...

Had a case in domestic court this week, where history repeated itself. The young lady of the couple has a bad habit of once her husband gets to court on an assault charge changing her story. To the tune of this has happened a number of times in a very short period.

So - he beats her up, we go out there & deal with things, take him to jail - then when the case gets in front of the judge, it never happened, or it didn't happen that way, and he walks out free to do things again.

I don't often get on my domestic abuse soapbox here, since it's pretty much the same attitude as most people - I don't have any tolerance for men who beat their wives (or vice versa), and I fully support changes in the law which took away the bad former habit a lot of departments had of letting these things sort themselves out as normal spousal troubles...

But as a cop it gets incredibly frustrating to deal with the same couples again and again, because "this time he changed, "he didn't mean to hit me," "but I love him," and all the other excuses people trapped in these relationships make. Yes, I understand the cycle of abuse. Yes, I know it can be hard to walk away, especially after years together, or with kids, or what have you. But I also know of the resources available for help, of the fact we make SURE the victims know about and are contacted by some of these support systems, and even by the speeches I've given reminding them that it will only happen again. Only to, once again, arrest someone for beating up the people who trust them most & then watching it all go nowhere...

Anyway, back to the point of the story...

So yet again we are playing that same music and dancing the same steps in this particular case. But instead of the normal "I don't remember what really happened" or other vague excuses, this girl looks at the judge under oath and testifies that she deliberately lied to us, that she wrote a false statement and all of that. Which means (since I also was lucky enough to have a prosecutor who brought along his integrity and backbone to the courtroom), that we charge her with filing a false police report.

The bad part is - I KNOW he assaulted her - I know the report was true... but nothing is getting through to this lady on the situation she is in, because every time he promises to change she is believing it & because she has her head wrapped around all his bullshit. So, maybe now that she is seeing other consequences, she will reconsider what to do with all this stuff...

So yep - I get an arrest with minimal work on a day off - but it's not one I'm exactly proud of & I wish there was a better solution to things...

Because the week was already going so well...

So about 2am this morning I was sitting at the corner, considering wandering up to bed when... out of the blue... I got that sudden feverish feeling combined with the kind of stomach cramps that made me wonder if death was really that bad of an option.

I spent the next five hours between the couch and the bathroom, and I won't disgust you all with the details you can probably figure out. Right about 730 I felt calm enough that I went up to the bed and spent the day in & out of a coma, with more trips to the bathroom. Unfortunately, this meant my lovely wife got to spend the entire day dealing with both children (and Jacob was in rare form) without any help at all - which I feel horrible about.

Finally made it downstairs & somewhat better a little bit ago, getting to spend some time with the munchkins before bed. Things seem to have calmed down enough that Gatorade & chicken soup are making me feel better, so we shall see how tonight goes...

Yep - I can't blog a decent cop story for crap lately, but you all get all my lovely health tales!

Just hoping the rule of threes doesn't kick in on this week - I don't need any more issues...

Typing one-handed and not why you think...

As mentioned previously, I had hand surgery the other day, so am a bit more off than normal right now...

I had a tendon in my little finger that decided it no longer wished to do the whole "hold things together & help them work" thing, which has progressively been getting worse. Pretty much to the point that the last several months the finger has been hyperextended & out of socket even at rest, and takes me actually pulling it into place to sit normally. Not horrible amounts of pain, but definitely uncomfortable.

So, after talking it over with the doctor & scheduling one appointment that fell through, things finally got fixed Thursday. Showed up nice & early at the VA Hospital, another round of anesthesia etc. Got one good laugh when I found out my case is apparently famous there - several nurses and such saying "Oh, that was YOU..." in reference to my last appointment - and letting me know that the hospital has some new procedures in place to hopefully keep the same from happening in the future. Refreshing and funny at the same time. Anyway, got rolled into the ER and drifted off under the nice medications, woke up a bit later as they finished everything & then off to post-op and release.

Short version is, they ended up cutting the tendon into two pieces & re-anchoring it in new spots, which will keep the finger slightly flexed & hopefully solve the issue. Oh, that and leaving a nice, long pin sticking out of my finger for the next week while stuff starts to heal - which they will pretty much just yank out during the follow-up, good times all around... Anyway, that hand is now all bandaged up, stitches in a few places, and I get to take it easy and enjoy nice, narcotic painkillers for the next week as needed... Just looking forward to this part being done & being able to start the arthritis meds again - unfortunately, they had me stop all of those while this is going on, to not affect the healing and recovery.

Obviously, due to the recovery issues, this means I'm taking a short vacation from being a road cop. As opposed to using up all my vacation time, and driving my wife nuts with 8 weeks of me being at home, bored and looking for stuff to do, I'm going to be helping out in our training department for a little bit. Right now the plan is for me to fix some of the things in our field training program which have been neglected in the past few updates, and try to improve the overall system. The good part is that the supervisor I'll be working with has a similar mindset to mine, so we will balance out well in approaching this. The bad part is that it will be Monday-Friday daytime stuff - we all know what a fan I am of that...

Anyway, just wanted to share the update on all that. In other news, just getting ready for the holidays, finishing up the school term, and exploring the depths of insanity... Once the next few days are done my mind should be lucid enough to write in English again - though I think I was channeling Uncle Duke for a bit last night...

Still alive

Had my hand surgery today - doctor showed up, all went well but between little sleep & lots of meds not really up to a real post. Really, content will return soon.

Meme in lieu of actual content...

Highlight/Bold what you've done & share any comments you wish...

THINGS I'VE DONE:

1. Started your own blog. You're here aren't you?
2. Slept under the stars. Yes, and far overdue to do it again.
3. Played in a band. Dear heavens no! I have ZERO musical talent.
4. Visited Hawaii. Lived there for 3 1/2 years in the Navy.
5. Watched a meteor shower. Several times.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland. and Epcot. Not a Disney fan anymore though, so no return trips planned.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo. See above note about musical talent...
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. Very interesting to see miles from home at night with no other lights around.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning. A few times unfortunately.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked. While working in Israel - very different attitude there, and the citizens are great about giving military personnel a lift.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. Ah yes, the famous "mental health" day...
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping. and skinny bar-hopping...
27. Run a Marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise. Do military deployments riding a ship count?
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. One side of the family at least, not the other.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. Money has never been the key to satisfaction - they toys are nice but money is just a convenience to get such things.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing. One hobby I miss.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David.
41. Sung karaoke. I can unfortunately say "yes" during an intoxicated evening long ago... I think their are still people in pain from the event...
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa. Just a few coastal spots unfortunately, not enough exploring.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight. My walk home after a night out in Spain used to be a mile down the beach to my apartment.
46. Been transported in an ambulance. Not as a patient though.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling. Used to get paid for it even!
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason. No, but I've given them for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book. Well, halfway - I have some small things published in the gaming community, but no full books.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby. Fathered two, if we count that?
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day. More than one, a number of times.