Friday, October 11, 2013
Video killed the EOD star...
Tonight my six year old daughter got into an extensive debate with me that the pictures I was showing her from work COULDN'T be real explosives, because they didn't look like the TNT in her video games...
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Crossover skills
To my coworker who called at 9 tonight...
Yes, I do take apart bombs for a living. That doesn't mean I necessarily know how to diagnose and rewire your water heater.
Just saying.
Yes, I do take apart bombs for a living. That doesn't mean I necessarily know how to diagnose and rewire your water heater.
Just saying.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
An observation
If your organization holds training for supervisors and leaders on things like "Team building," "Morale Workshops" and the like, you may rest relatively assured they have lost the root concept of actually fixing such problems.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
I'm so proud
My daughter's latest Lego creation?
She made a gallows... to put in the town square of the town she built. Because it needed one.
She wasn't born on Halloween like I had hoped, but she's still my spooky little girl when she wants to be :D
She made a gallows... to put in the town square of the town she built. Because it needed one.
She wasn't born on Halloween like I had hoped, but she's still my spooky little girl when she wants to be :D
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Sometimes you just shake your head
So recently we were "volun-told" that a few of us would be making an appearance at one of our local housing projects "police community day." Keep in mind that this is the sort of project that strongly dislikes the police in general, that is a high crime and drug area, and just generally isn't a great place to hang out in. It was clear well in advance that the majority of attendees would be there for free food or giveaways, and not really interested in better community/police relations unfortunately. But, the politicians had decreed to the administration had decreed to us... so off we went on a Saturday. My role there was to hang out for a couple of hours with the vehicle and me visible, and to do a dog demonstration for the attendees at some point. Which brings us to the amusement phase of things...
Keep in mind that for the vast majority of people (particularly on the thuggish end of things) there are only two sorts of police dogs they think of - patrol dogs, which chase and bite people; and drug dogs, which do the obvious. The fact that we have bomb dogs rarely if ever comes to mind unless you specifically point it out to them. And, I won't deny there have been a few times I might have let people presume one thing when talking to them - but that's a separate story.
Anyway, here I was on my day off, and all set for my demonstration outside. A five minute talk about the dog, show him finding something and that was the plan. So they make the announcement inside that there is a dog demo outside, and a small crowd of attendees wanders out to watch. And, as soon as I turn and start walking towards the group and they see my partner is a Labrador retriever, and obviously NOT a patrol dog - literally 80% of them turn around and make a beeline back inside. Not even subtly moseying - it was blatantly obvious that they didn't want to be anywhere near that detector dog. Even the upper staff who were there noticed and were dumbfounded. As I just laughed and let my boss know that was pretty much what I had expected to happen...
And if this doesn't tell you something about the state of things than nothing will.
Keep in mind that for the vast majority of people (particularly on the thuggish end of things) there are only two sorts of police dogs they think of - patrol dogs, which chase and bite people; and drug dogs, which do the obvious. The fact that we have bomb dogs rarely if ever comes to mind unless you specifically point it out to them. And, I won't deny there have been a few times I might have let people presume one thing when talking to them - but that's a separate story.
Anyway, here I was on my day off, and all set for my demonstration outside. A five minute talk about the dog, show him finding something and that was the plan. So they make the announcement inside that there is a dog demo outside, and a small crowd of attendees wanders out to watch. And, as soon as I turn and start walking towards the group and they see my partner is a Labrador retriever, and obviously NOT a patrol dog - literally 80% of them turn around and make a beeline back inside. Not even subtly moseying - it was blatantly obvious that they didn't want to be anywhere near that detector dog. Even the upper staff who were there noticed and were dumbfounded. As I just laughed and let my boss know that was pretty much what I had expected to happen...
And if this doesn't tell you something about the state of things than nothing will.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Just some bits...
- Still a work in progress, but I'm ok. Good days & bad but overall I'm in a better place than a few months ago.
- Finally took a couple of afternoons this week and did some serious yardwork I've been neglecting for years. Trimmed trees and bushes, raked up old crap and all that - and that's just the front yard. Now to slowly tackle the back.
- While "grilling season" never really ends here, with the warmer weather it has become more frequent and also involves letting the kids eat outside on the repaired picnic table as well as marshmallow roasts. To say they are happy is a big understatement.
- Have a birthday coming up this week - not sure yet what I think about that. But at least I made it another year.
Anyway, still alive here. Maybe have something to write soon but felt it needed an update.
- Finally took a couple of afternoons this week and did some serious yardwork I've been neglecting for years. Trimmed trees and bushes, raked up old crap and all that - and that's just the front yard. Now to slowly tackle the back.
- While "grilling season" never really ends here, with the warmer weather it has become more frequent and also involves letting the kids eat outside on the repaired picnic table as well as marshmallow roasts. To say they are happy is a big understatement.
- Have a birthday coming up this week - not sure yet what I think about that. But at least I made it another year.
Anyway, still alive here. Maybe have something to write soon but felt it needed an update.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Random thought
We do not miss conflict because it is complex or majestic... we miss it because nothing is simpler or more personal.
In war all the confusion and mystery is gone. It is you and the foe, chaos and madness, all distilled into action and reaction at their absolute purest form.
So we once reveled in it... to test yourself, and come home the winner in the ultimate game... and when it is gone forever after it's just a little bit duller in the world.
And how do you explain it without sounding mad?
In war all the confusion and mystery is gone. It is you and the foe, chaos and madness, all distilled into action and reaction at their absolute purest form.
So we once reveled in it... to test yourself, and come home the winner in the ultimate game... and when it is gone forever after it's just a little bit duller in the world.
And how do you explain it without sounding mad?
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Sign of the times.
So tonight I got a callout... on a suspicious backpack... in a
store... that still had the price tag on it.... because it's the brand
the store sells...
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Home
Home from the trip after a long day. I have a school paper which is refusing to proceed beyond the "staring at the page" stage of things, and yet is due tomorrow night. I have a wife and kids who haven't seen me in a week and deserve my attention. I have a full week ahead as well.
So, tomorrow will be a juggling act...
So, tomorrow will be a juggling act...
A rendezvous...
We see each other just a few times a year... it's almost like an affair the way we will meet when I am here. Because, somehow every trip for training, I find at least a few hours to spend with her. It's purely a private thing as well - nothing I take anyone along for, or tell them about afterwards. Just she and I together for a brief visit. It started four years ago on my first trip here, and ever since we have shared our secret moments.
The mountain rises east of town - it's barely qualified as such compared to many I've seen, but still she dominates the skyline every sunrise, and serves as a point of reference. Given my lack of anything similar nearby though, she serves the purpose.
So, I'll load up a light pack, throw on some shoes and head up to explore her trails. They are oh so cunningly designed - no matter how you choose to explore, the final part returning to your start will be an uphill climb. There was a time in my younger, fitter days I would have relished the challenge of conquering these slopes - seeing how fast I could run up them, striving to beat the mountain into submission and mark it as my own. Imposing my dominance on the landscape as I sought to prove my superiority.
But that was long ago. These days it's much more of a partnership. I know the places I can push hard, I can read her slopes and valleys and judge my pace to match what she presents. Instead of taking my time from the brief visits, I choose to use these moments as a gift, a reminder of the peaks of my own home and people.
And in return she rewards me. A forgotten cistern lying off the trail. The day I turned a curve and was in the middle of a small herd of deer. The spot where a copperhead sunning on a rock regarded me today until we peacefully went our separate ways. For, by accepting her, by living in the moment instead of striving for a victory, the mountain has given me just the barest glimpse of her secrets. I've walked down a path I thought I knew and ended up an hour distant exploring unknown streams. I've glimpsed the bright colors of spring flowers hiding in the brown remnants of winter; and seen the signs of approaching harvest in fat squirrels which have no fear of men they rarely see.
What the mountain gets from my visits is hard to say. The modern man in me of course sees such thoughts as foolish... The Celt sees a romantic notion, a wild spirit empowered by a human who remembers a time when such things mattered. The Native side simply remembers the feeling of the heights in my blood, the simple acceptance of man's place in this great circle, neither greater nor lesser than the other creatures in these wilds.
It's far too infrequent of a relationship to be called a love affair; rather, it's more of a reminder of something I miss and am not sure I will ever truly regain. The times of me freely wandering the mountains with no agenda or care have been supplanted by other priorities and needs. My life has gone in other directions, and it will be years before I live on such slopes again, or see them from my window as I awake.
But, it's still nice to visit her now and then; to be wrapped in her embrace for just a few hours and forget the past and the future for just a few hours of the present.
The mountain rises east of town - it's barely qualified as such compared to many I've seen, but still she dominates the skyline every sunrise, and serves as a point of reference. Given my lack of anything similar nearby though, she serves the purpose.
So, I'll load up a light pack, throw on some shoes and head up to explore her trails. They are oh so cunningly designed - no matter how you choose to explore, the final part returning to your start will be an uphill climb. There was a time in my younger, fitter days I would have relished the challenge of conquering these slopes - seeing how fast I could run up them, striving to beat the mountain into submission and mark it as my own. Imposing my dominance on the landscape as I sought to prove my superiority.
But that was long ago. These days it's much more of a partnership. I know the places I can push hard, I can read her slopes and valleys and judge my pace to match what she presents. Instead of taking my time from the brief visits, I choose to use these moments as a gift, a reminder of the peaks of my own home and people.
And in return she rewards me. A forgotten cistern lying off the trail. The day I turned a curve and was in the middle of a small herd of deer. The spot where a copperhead sunning on a rock regarded me today until we peacefully went our separate ways. For, by accepting her, by living in the moment instead of striving for a victory, the mountain has given me just the barest glimpse of her secrets. I've walked down a path I thought I knew and ended up an hour distant exploring unknown streams. I've glimpsed the bright colors of spring flowers hiding in the brown remnants of winter; and seen the signs of approaching harvest in fat squirrels which have no fear of men they rarely see.
What the mountain gets from my visits is hard to say. The modern man in me of course sees such thoughts as foolish... The Celt sees a romantic notion, a wild spirit empowered by a human who remembers a time when such things mattered. The Native side simply remembers the feeling of the heights in my blood, the simple acceptance of man's place in this great circle, neither greater nor lesser than the other creatures in these wilds.
It's far too infrequent of a relationship to be called a love affair; rather, it's more of a reminder of something I miss and am not sure I will ever truly regain. The times of me freely wandering the mountains with no agenda or care have been supplanted by other priorities and needs. My life has gone in other directions, and it will be years before I live on such slopes again, or see them from my window as I awake.
But, it's still nice to visit her now and then; to be wrapped in her embrace for just a few hours and forget the past and the future for just a few hours of the present.
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