Life in Motion

December 11, 2011 – Headed Home

2011-12-12T12:18:00.001-06:00

Well, I think my allergies knew we were getting back to America, because I could not sleep due to my sore throat. So, I had to deal with disembarking with no sleep.
I got up and hit breakfast. Then I sat around the room for a while because I was up early. We all met down at the ice rink and waited to be called to disembark. We were suppose to be called at 10:30, but they were running about 15 minutes late. We finally got to start getting off the boat around 10:45am. Once we were off the boat, we had to wait in a long line in the terminal. We waited in line for about 45 minutes before we even got a porter to get our luggage. Then we got into another line to get thru customs. Once we got thru customs, we loaded the bus and were finally on the road by 12:30pm. It is going to be a long trip home on the bus. We probably won’t get in till around midnight.
So, it was just before midnight when we pulled into town. I was glad to be home, but very sad to be back to reality. I found out the person I love desperately, I missed every day I was gone, and thought of every minute has moved on. My heart is broken, once again, in a thousand pieces. How can he tell me he loves me right before the cruise, and a week later have a date. I can’t even think about dating anyone else. I love him. Love never seems to be enough. I’m tired of hurting. I’m tired of crying. Life will go on without the person who I believed was the love of my life, my sole mate, and my best friend.
I’m headed to bed. Have a long day ahead of me. I’ve got to get my house set back up after taking everything apart for the carpet cleaners. I’ve got to unpack and get all that stuff organized. I’ve got to pick up Baxter and make sure everything is set up here so that he doesn't come home and continue to pee on the carpet. The I’ve got to run to Hutch and pick up Alowishus. He is the only one who can help with this pain. He will curl up in my arms while I watch TV and snuggle up next to me while I sleep. He is the only man who will be in my life for a little while. I’m just tired of getting hurt. Love is so great when its great and so absolutely horrible when its bad. What’s the point.

December 10, 2011 – Day 7

2011-12-12T12:12:00.001-06:00

Well, I spent 1.5 hrs today writing day 5 and 6’s blog. I figured out where the old people hang out during the day. The lounge I chose that had a hot spot at mostly old folks playing cards and scrapbooking. Then I ran around the boat trying to get all my errands ran. I hit the photo area to try to pick out my photos from the trip. After speaking to 2 less than helpful employee’s that didn’t speak very good English, I decided to meet the gang for lunch.

After lunch, we went to the final showing of the ice rink show. It was pretty good. The rink was much smaller than I expected. I don’t know how they got up enough speed to do any of the jumps. There were quite a few spills due to the fact that we had 10ft seas and the boat was rolling pretty good.

After the ice show, we went back to the photo area. This time I had back up and between the 3 of us, we figured out the best packages. I purchased 4 8x10 photos and got a free leather portfolio with a picture of the boat on the front. The portfolio only holds 2 photos so I’ll have to frame the other two.

By then, I realized it was already 4:30pm and it was time to get ready for dinner. After my shower, I realized that I wasn’t going to have much free time between activities tonight to pack. So, I ran around packing up all my stuff. I had brought an empty bag to fill with all my souvenirs. All the rest of my bags were stuffed.

It was the last night in the main hall for dinner. Shawn, Shara, and I all went to have dinner. The rest of the gang decided to show up for dinner to say good bye to our wait staff. Then they went to Johnny Rockets for dinner. We got most of the group in a group photo with our wait staff.

After dinner was the final farewell show. We had another comedian. Then the singers and dancers performed. Then they had a large group of the staff parade in and get up on stage.

After the show, I went back to my room to finish my packing and get my luggage outside into the hall. As I was taking my stuff out to the hall, I had been keeping my foot in the door, since I didn’t have my key on me. At one point, I guess I forgot why I was keeping my foot there, and locked myself out. Luckily, the room service lady was walking down the hall and was able to get me back into my room.

I met up with everyone at the Lotus lounge for the last night of karaoke. I got to say good bye to my favorite waiter, Florentine. He was always there with a nice strong drink whenever I wanted one. To the right is a picture of me and Melissa at karaoke. After karaoke, we went back to the main theater for the late night comedy show. The comedian was pretty funny, but that also could have been because of the lager sized crown and coke my other favorite waitress brought me that was mostly crown.

The boat was pretty dead after the show. We went to the Dragon’s Lair where DJ Jorge was rocking out some techno. Me and Pattie were the only ones dancing. So we decided to see where the party was on the boat. We found it at the Champagne bar where it was Salsa night. It was pretty lively so Pattie, Shawn and I sat and watched everyone dance. They shut that band down so we had to find a new place to hang out. We decided to hit the Promenade Cafe to get some pizza and cookies. The three of us sat around chatting till about 2am. Then we decided to hit the sack.

December 9, 2011 – Day 6 Cozumel, Mexico

2011-12-10T12:53:00.001-06:00

Today we got to sleep in a little, thankfully. I got up around 8am and we met for breakfast around 8:45am. We got off the ship and started looking around the shopping areas. We found a cab and got a ride to downtown where there were even more shops. The weather was cloudy and a little cool.

We had the taxi driver drop us off at the farthest end of the main strip. There were so many shops I knew this would be an all day event. It was mostly cloudy and rained off and on all day. It seemed like every time we were in a shop, it would stop raining. Then when we decided to walk outside and go to the next shop, it would rain. Nick decided to get a tattoo, so we tracked him down and watched that for a little bit. Then we ate at Fat Tuesday’s. The food was nothing to write home about, so I won’t. Then, more shopping. We hit Senior Frogs and got some of their big drinks. Then we hit their souvenir shop. They had some pretty good sales, so I picked up some shirts. While we were in this store, it was pouring down rain. We wondered around the mall that Senior Frogs is in for a while. Once the rain was more manageable, we found a cab and headed back to the terminal. As Erica, Scott, and I were headed back to the terminal, we saw Nick along side the road, so we picked him up. We had gotten separated from Tim and Sara, but figured we find them at the boat. We were standing in the area where customs controlled entry to the terminal, and Sara and Tim showed up, but they had lost their camera bag that had their Seapass cards in it. Luckily they had their passports, but it still wasn’t easy for them to get back in the terminal. A few more check points later, and we were all on board.

It was another formal dinner night. I got to wear my favorite dress. We got lots of photos taken. Tonight was the last night for photos. I was even getting more comfortable taking photos by myself. After dinner and photos, we went to the show. The group, the Unexpected Boys, were singing. It was a tribute to Johnny Vallen (or something like that). They were a quartet group that sung that guys songs. The were a lot of fun, and it didn’t hurt that they were all pretty cute. We hooked up with Melissa and her group at the show.

After the show, we all went to the “Quest” game in Studio B, which is the Ice Rink. The was the most hilarious game all week on the ship. Our group team captains were Melissa and Scott. The announcer would ask for an item from the audience and our captains had to retrieve it and take it to him. He asked for the female captain to bring him a piece of fresh fruit. People from our team began throwing fruit at Melissa. They asked for a man wearing women's lipstick. I had my lip gloss, so I applied it to Scott’s lips and he ran up to Paul Rudd (the host) with his lips all puckered. He asked for anyone with a piercing other than in the ears. I was sitting on the 2nd row so I hurdled the front row and the railing, grabbed the number, and went up and showed Paul my belly button ring. I knew it would be useful someday. They asked for 3 pairs of men’s pants. The guys in our group began to take their pants off. Then they asked for a pair of socks with a hole in it. Melissa’s husband, John, took his sock off and she bit at it to cause a hole. Then Paul came over to our group and told her that a sock has a hole in it and that’s the only way to get it on. It was so funny. Then, the last challenge to to have our male captain, Scott, take his shirt off and put on a women’s bra, shoes, earrings, lip stick and a purse. We were able to find all those things and dress Scott up. Our group did not end up winning, but it was the best time.

We ended the night at the Dragon’s Lair with some dance music. I got to bed around 1am. I slept in till about 9:30 this morning. Today is going to be a lazy day just trying to get everything finalized. There are lots of sales on the boat. I’ve got to find all the pictures I want to purchase. I will probably start packing before dinner. Melissa’s group has asked me to be on their dodge ball team for the guest vs. staff game at 2pm.

December 8, 2011 – Day 5 Belize City, Belize

2011-12-10T12:50:00.001-06:00

I’ve been getting a little behind on my blogs since I’ve had some crazy long days and long late nights. We were in Belize today. We had an excursion planned so most of our day was organized. We were tendered in to the city, which was about a 20-25min ride. We saw a few dolphins in the water, but they were too far away to get good photos of.

Once we were off the boat, we jumped in a bus and headed out of town. It was about 37 miles and a little over an hr to get to the location where we would be cave tubing and zip-lining. Our tour guide, Roy, gave us local info and history along the way. We arrived at our destination where we would begin our day cave tubing. We got our tube and helmet with a light and went for a 30 min walk thru the rain forest. Shortly into the walk we had to cross the river. They gave us a rope for balance, but the current wasn’t too bad. The river is spring fed, and not by a hot spring, so the water was pretty cold. Not as cold as some rivers I’ve been in in Colorado, but cold enough that I didn’t want to go for a swim. We continued our hike thru the rain forest. We crossed 2 more portions of the river. These didn’t have ropes for balance and the current was much stronger.

We finally arrived at our put in spot, which was between 2 cave openings. After getting acclimated to the cold water and getting nipped a few times by some little minnows, we stated getting our tubes together to head into our cave. They put Scott and Erica in front and tied them together. Then they got the next couple tied together, and they had to put their feet up under Scott and Erica’s arms. Then we put Tim and Nick behind them. They weren’t tied together, but they had to hook their feet under the people in front of them. Then since Sara and I have the longest legs, they put us in back and tied us together. We had to stick our feet under Nick and Tim's arms, but since we were in back, we didn’t have anyone under our arms. Only waterproof cameras were allowed. Lucky me, I had one. We traveled in our 8-man formation into the cave. It was completely dark. The only light was our helmet lights. My camera did a pretty good job taking photos of in inside of the cave. after we exited the cave, they unhooked us and we were able to free tube on the river. Right when they unhooked us, Nick immediately ends up and bush of trees along the side of the river. The free tubing was a blast. We only got to do it for a little while before we were at the end of our cave tour.

After tubing, they fed us a traditional Mayan lunch. I had a hamburger. Then our tour guide came and got us for our turn on the zip-line. We got all geared up and got on our first platform for more instructions. Then we went on our first short zip-line. We got gloves with a leather strap on the right had so you can grab the metal cable and break by pulling down. After a short climb up a mountain, we got to our next platform. This was one than you didn’t have to break until you got close to the next platform. It was pretty fast and right over the top of the trees. I thought it would be cool to look around and see the scenery, but mostly you are holding on for dear life and watching the tour guide because he would tell you when to break and if you are coming in too fast. For the most part, it was pretty awesome. The straps I had around my legs could have been more comfortable, but what can ya do. I don’t have any pictures of me from the zip-line, but there will be on other people’s cameras. I’ll upload them to Picasa when I get them from Erica.

After our excursion, we headed back to town. It was about 45 minutes before we had to get back on the boat, so I did a little shopping in the shops by the boat. I have made sure to get my magnet at all the locations, but mostly I keep buying stuff for other people. It is hard not to when you see something perfect.

Tonight's dinner was colorful casual. The show was the Royal Caribbean dancers and singers. Then, most of my group hit the sack, so I tagged along with Melissa and her group. It was 70’s themed night. Melissa, Pattie, Missy and I went to the Royal Promenade where they had 70’s dancing. Got to see some of the staff dressed up as the Village People. We did a little conga line. Then we headed up to Ellington's on the 14th deck for an adults only dance. It was suppose to be out in the Solarium, but since the weather was crappy, they moved it to this lounge. They already had a country music band playing. We had to cut them short so DJ Jorge and play some good music. We did some dancing and some drinking. I had a great time. I hit the all night pizza joint and got to bed around 330am.

Tomorrow is Cozumel. We don’t have anything planned so we are just going to wing it.

December 7, 2011 – Day 4 Roatan, Honduras

2011-12-07T21:29:00.001-06:00

Today was our first day off the ship for 3 days. I definitely needed it. We decided not to do a planned excision at this port. We weren’t exactly sure what we were going to do, we were just winging it. It was pouring pretty good when we docked and got off the ship. The weather in Roatan is kind of like what they say in Kansas, if you don’t like the weather wait a minute because it will change. However, Roatan is really bad.

We got off the boat while it was pouring rain. We headed out of the port and got bombarded with tour guides and taxi drivers. We ran into one that convinced us to go on one of their buses. We would have a personal driver and tour guide all day and the bus held all 8 of us. It was only $25/person and it sounded like a great deal. The morning time was spent shopping and finding all the local shops. Since it wasn’t a scheduled thing they would take us to all the local spots. The only thing fancy about this town was the little area where we docked, otherwise, you definitely know it is a third world country.

After shopping, we headed for a private resort beach. Our tour guide Grace, told us they don’t have any free beaches they all are owned by private resorts. During our sales pitch at the dock, we were promised monkeys. Grace said they weren’t any monkeys on the beach, but she would find me some. We wound up at a zip-line company that actually had 3 little monkeys. They were tethered so we were actually able to go up and play with them. I have a feeling PETA doesn’t have much say in this country. It was the highlight of my trip so far. I got to play with the bigger monkey first. It had a good grip with its hands, feet and tail. For some reason he liked to bite my elbows. I probably have Ebola now. It climbed all over me. For some reason at one point it wanted to grab on to my nose with one hand and try to stick his other hand in my mouth. It was so funny. It climbed all over my head. Then I played with the baby one they had. He was just as cute, but he liked to pull my pony tail. At one point, Shara, was playing with the bigger monkey, when the bigger one that had been sleeping decided to jump on her back. It was kind of funny to watch all the employee’s deploy in all directions. They told her not to make any sudden moves and to just walk away from him. I guess he’s a little testy. Maybe they would retire him. He didn’t cause us any problems and they employees were able to get him off her back. It was very hard to leave them. I could have played with them all day.

Next we went to the private beach. It was only $10/person to play on the beach. We got a little hut and some beach chairs. By this time, the weather had gotten better. The sun was out and the humidity was up. They had a live DJ. We started off the day with a dance off. It was Ericka, Sara and I along with Melissa and her group. So, all Wichita people. Somehow, we all ended up at the same place. Since no guys would volunteer, we had to buddy up with the other girls. I am pretty sure it came down to me and my partner and Melissa and her partner, but it was a “nobody loses” kind of place so we all got free drinks.

The beach was more of a walled off lagoon, so I decided to swim over to the other side. It was about 100 yards. As I was on that side, it started to get cloudy and began to pour down rain. While I was mid-swim back, it stopped. Then the wind picked up. Then 20 minutes later it was perfectly calm. Weird.

The resort also had a chlorine pool. I decided that would be the best time to try out my new water proof, freeze proof, shatter proof camera. They had a little water slide and I was able to video tape my ride down the rock slide they had at that pool. The camera worked out pretty well, except when I hit the curve on the slide he hit the light of day and the camera couldn't adjust soon enough so it kind of whited out for a few seconds. Otherwise, it worked really well. I took some underwater shots of me and Shara landing in the water from the slide. We spent about 3 hrs at the resort before we headed back to the ship to reboard. I did buy a few things. I don’t think I’ll have too much time to shop in Belize tomorrow, but I’m sure we’ll get our fill of shopping in Cozumel. Maybe I’ll actually buy myself something there.

I decided to call it an early night tonight. I got all dressed up and went to dinner. I was not at all impressed with anything I ate tonight. It can’t be great every night, I guess. After dinner, we were standing outside the dining room. Before dinner, the Plummers and I got our photos taken. While we were standing outside by the photographer, he came over and asked if I would take some individual photos. He said I had pretty hair and wanted to try something out on me. He was cute so I obliged. He had me face away from him and on the count of three, he wanted me to turn around real quick and make my hair swing around. I thought it was pretty cheesy at first, but the picture actually turned out really cool. Tonight was the ice show, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay up too late and get up super early for our excursion in the morning. I hit the internet cafe to finish up this blog and upload it along with yesterday’s. There are a lot of photos, so I don’t know if I will be uploading them. I’ll see if I can just upload the monkey photos, cuz they are super funny.

Tomorrow we start pretty early. We meet for our excursion at 7:55, so breakfast is at 7:15am. We are going to be in Belize. We have a zip-line, cave tubing adventure planned. It goes most of they day so we probably won’t get to shop too much. Each of the ports have their own little shopping areas, so we might be able to hit those places. I really like to get authentic items from where I’m at and it seemed like most of the stores in Roatan consisted of stuff that “fell off the truck” and were all things I could get in America, just much cheaper. I’ll keep looking though. I have lots of souvenirs to buy.

December 6 – Day 3 At Sea

2011-12-07T21:25:00.001-06:00

Today was a pretty uneventful day. I was able to get my internet access working. At $.55/min, I was able to get online and upload all my photos and blogs in just under 30 min. I am hoping next time won’t take as long.

I spent the morning laying around the top deck getting some sun. Well, I got a little sun, but since we are right on top of the equator, I decided to spray SPF 50 all over, regularly. They had a belly flop contest at the pool. I had pretty good seats overlooking the pool. I eventually got bored and decided to have lunch.

After lunch, it was back up to the top deck. More cancer causing rays. The weather has been beautiful. My favorite waiter, Florentine (who I now believe might be stalking me) tracked me down for some more Miami Vices. Here is my view from my spot on the deck. It probably got up to 80 degrees. Only somewhat humid and windy.

We all got dressed up for another yummy dinner. I had the surf and turf. I had to have help figuring out how to get the tails off my shrimp. I don’t really like shrimp that much, but they were really good. I also had a lasagna. It was all right. It wasn’t cheesy enough for me. Then I finished it up with banana cream pie.

After dinner, we wondered around a little bit. Sara, Ericka and I got cheesy photos taken by a professional photographer. They will be so cute. The evening show was the staff singers and dancers. It was very entertaining to us, but not so much to the old lady sitting next to Nick. I think she was snoring. There was no karaoke tonight, but we hit the Lotus Lounge for some “Battle of the Sexes”. Sara and Melissa (our new friend from community corrections) got to do one of the physical challenges. They each had to blow up a balloon and pop it using another female at the other end of the stage. Then Tim and Shawn go up and were given a key chain. Then they were told they had to stick the keychain between their butt cheeks and carry the keychain to the end of the dance floor and drop it in a cup. I have a lovely picture of their expressions after they were told this. Luckily for Tim, the first lady that went got it in, so only Shawn had to attempt it.

Then it was off to bed early, like midnight. We are docking in Roatan, Honduras in the morning. We don’t have any excursion planned here so we are just going to wing it. We’ll probably do some shopping in the AM and hit the beach in the afternoon for some more cancer causing rays.

December 5, 2011 – Day 2 At Sea

2011-12-06T11:28:00.001-06:00

I started off the morning at 7am, and hit the gym by 7:30am. Ran 30 minutes on the treadmill while looking out over the Gulf. It was pretty interesting to try to run on a treadmill with the waves we had. I definitely hooked up the stop cord on this run. After the gym, we meet up and had breakfast in the main dining hall.

After breakfast, the girls went to a shopping seminar. Mostly they talked about the good deals we can get on diamonds and other rare gems. Not too appealing to a bunch of girls who don’t wear much jewelry. While we were there, all the boys hit the casino. Then we met the boys at the hot tub. It was cloudy and very windy, but Ericka and I went ahead and laid out by the pool sipping our Miami Vice drinks. Any cloudy, windy, chilly day on a ship in the middle of the Gulf is better than Kansas.

We had lunch at the Windjammer Cafe. Then after a short emotional breakdown (its been pretty rocky being here without Justin), we hit the top deck for some more sun bathing. The sun was out, but it was still windy, but we are used to that, right? Tim informed us that it was 30 deg back home. Life is good.

Tonight was our first formal dinner night. I wore my favorite dresses of all my new dresses. It has a low back and side cut outs. I got lots of compliments. We all waited in line to get our professional photos taken. After we were all photoed out, we headed to dinner. It was filet night. I started with a Caesar salad and Oxtail soup. Pretty good even thought it doesn’t sound like it would be. Then, I got my steak. I didn’t even have to use my steak knife. After I was done with that, I asked for one more order. So, after two appetizers and two orders of steak, I couldn’t do two desserts. I ordered the chocolate soufflé. Then, the waiter brought out another one, but no one was missing one, so I volunteered to take one for the team. I was stuffed.

After dinner, it was more photos. Then we hit the after dinner show. My new favorite waiter was working, Florentine. He always says “medication for your vacation”. He even remembered my name. He’d been my waiter for karaoke the night before and that afternoon while we were at the pool. When he brought me my Miami Vice tonight, he had made a little heart out of the straw paper. It was cute. I know he’s only flirting with me for the tips, but as long as he keeps them doubling up on the rum, its all good.

After the show, we hit the Lotus Lounge for some “Finish that Lyric”. The Wichita group was really representing. We had 4 people out of 10 in the contest and 2 were in the top 3. After that game was more karaoke. It was a great time. We hung out with our new friends from the bus. They are a pretty crazy bunch. After we thoroughly entertained the crowd, we headed to the late night comedy show. The guy was hilarious. It was interactive comedy so he didn’t have a set routine, he just fed off the crowd. After that was over, it was 1am and we were pooped from all the activities of the day. Tomorrow is another day at sea. Hope all is well back in Kansas. We are definitely representing Kansas here. We are making people think, “hey, remember that big drunk group from Wichita Ks that was on our cruise, they were crazy fun”. I signed up for internet between activities tonight, so I hope I can get all this uploaded in the AM.

December 4, 2011 – Day 1

2011-12-06T11:24:00.001-06:00

Today we left Houston and headed to Galveston. It was cloudy and rainy all morning, which is kinda how its been any time I have ever been to Galveston. There was a lot of waiting around because we left the hotel early expecting some construction that, I guess, we had already went thru. No one had any trouble boarding, so that was good.

Once we got on the ship, we headed straight for the all you can eat buffet. It was yummy, as expected, with lots of different choices. After lunch, we decided to explore. It was still cloudy, rainy and very windy. We checked out the pool, the fitness center, and a few other neat places. Then I separated from the group and went to the upper most front deck. The weather was crap, so not so great for photos.

By this time, we were able to get into our rooms. Since I had changed my travel partner the room plan had not been changed. We had to get the single queen bed separated. Of course, our stateroom attendant didn’t make that request very easy. Anyway, after we got unpacked, we headed down the the main promenade. None of the shops were open, but they had a free champagne toast.

We had our dinner in the main hall. I had prime rib. It was yummy. There weren’t too many good dessert choices, so I had a chocolate cherry cake. It was OK. After we stuffed ourselves, we headed to the opening show. It was a comedy show, so that was fun. Then we hit the karaoke bar. We met up with some other Sedgwick County folks. Tim and Nick each did a song. Oddly enough, there were tons of people who wanted to sing, so it was pretty entertaining. After karaoke, we found a dance club. It must have still been early because there weren’t too many people there. I decided to call it a night, cuz I was beat.

Like my last cruise out of Galveston, this one is pretty rough. I can definitely feel the waves. I haven’t seen the weather reports to see how high the swells are, but they are definitely rocking the boat pretty good. Tomorrow is a full day at sea. We haven’t really planned it out, but there seems to be a lot going on. I’ll probably hit the gym in the morning before breakfast. Tomorrow night is our first formal dinner. I’ve been looking forward to that. I haven’t decided which dress I’ll wear, but since me and Sara have somehow picked out 2 dresses that are very similar (totally separately and without even knowing), we will have to coordinate that. Hopefully, if I have gotten this blog uploaded, I was able to upload all my photos to Picasa. There should be a link from my blog.

Its That Time Again

2011-12-01T13:28:00.001-06:00

Its that time for my yearly vacation. I’ve been planning this vacation since before we got back from Jackson Hole last year. I leave on Saturday at 5am on a bus. I am going with a group of friends from my academy class, and a few other friends I’ve made along the way. We get to Houston Saturday night. Then we leave Houston Sunday morning and head to Galveston.

The boat leaves at 5pm. We are going to Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel. It is a 7 day cruise. The first 2 days are at sea traveling. Hopefully I can stay entertained on the boat for 2 straight days. I will do my best to upload all my photos to my Picasa account and blog daily. Wireless is somewhat expensive and I kind of want to be unplugged during this vacation. I’ll probably write my blog and upload my photos to my Netbook, then hit the internet cafe and hop on the internet to upload. It is $.65/min so I’m going to get on and right back off. I may only get on every other day. We’ll see.

This week I’ve been pretty busy getting everything organized for me to be off grid for a whole week. I’ve got to get the apartment cleaned up because the carpet cleaners are coming while I’m gone. Both creatures will be at a kennel. I’m pretty sad about sending Alowishus off to a kennel for 11 days. He is so spoiled and likes to be around me. Hopefully someone there will give him a little affection. I’ve been pampering myself this week also with a manicure, hair cut, and pedicure. Got to look good for all those awesome dresses I bought for the trip.

August 30, 2010 – Day 8 – Vacation 2010

2010-08-31T00:05:00.001-05:00

Today we decided to sleep in some. We got up at 9am and got to packing. We ate up that humongous cinnamon roll for breakfast. We loaded up and headed toward downtown to finish our shopping. We bought tons of souvenirs during this trip. Also, it was pouring rain. Shocking!

We headed out of town at about 11:30pm. It was 2-lane road most of the trip today. We stopped in Dubois, WY for lunch. Dubois WY, population 892. The first place we went to eat wasn’t serving lunch. We went to a gas station and they recommended another place downtown (the 1 block of it). While we were walking to that place, we saw a place called the Rustic Pine Tavern (or something like that). We walked in and there were a bunch of people at the bar. We asked if they served food and they said no, but they do behind the two double doors. We went thru the double doors and the place was vacant. We finally located someone that worked there. We asked if they were open and she said yes. The place was very dark and we were the only ones in there. The menu was on a dry erase board. Justin and I both had hamburgers. We also had their loaded potato soup. It was delish.

We left there and felt it necessary to go ride the Jackolope. There was a life sized Jackolope in a gas station just inside town. They had a whole Jackolope exhibit. It cost us $1 to ride the Jackolope and we even got a card that said we rode it. I also picked up a Dubois WY t-shirt and another magnet. After all that excitement, we hit the road. We weren’t sure exactly how far we would get, but we ended up in Wellington CO. Its just 15 miles north of Ft. Collins. We are headed home in the morning. I guess we eventually have to get back to real life.

August 29 – Day 7 – Vacation 2010

2010-08-30T22:41:00.001-05:00

We started the morning with a 6am wake up call. We wanted to get an early start on what we knew would be a long day. We had breakfast at the Virginian. Rose said it had the best pancakes in town. She was right, again. I also got a cinnamon roll to take home and it was the size of my face. The weatherman called for rain all day so we stopped by Sports Authority to get some rain gear. We got out of town around 8:30. It took about 1 1/2 hrs just to get to the Yellowstone entrance. Then we had another 2 hrs of narrow, crowded, wildlife infested road ahead of us to get to Mammoth Springs.

We had just turned to go toward Yellowstone Lake when we saw our first wildlife of the day. There was a herd of Elk and a very large bull Elk with a huge rack. Hee Hee Hee. We jumped out with all the other crazy tourists to take some photos. The bull was scraping at the ground then eventually laid down. When he did he let out this extremely loud bugle that was so obnoxious I thought I was having feedback in my hearing aide. His females were crossing the road dodging traffic and gawking tourists with cameras. They were also in a geyser field.

Then we headed out and saw a heard of bison. After nearly missing the idiot tourist that decided just to stop in the middle of a busy road on a curve, we used a pullout and walked back to see them. They were laying in a grassy area. Not too exciting.

As we continued on that road, we came to a bit of a traffic jam. The park was not extremely busy so we figured it was just some idiot that didn’t know how to drive on these roads. As we got closer, we realized that there was a buffalo on the road. Just meandering along like he owned the road and we were interfering with his day. He would be in the northbound lanes blocking us and the southbound traffic would slow to take photos. Then he’d get over to the southbound lanes and northbound traffic would slow to take photos. It is pretty amazing when you are driving up along a huge buffalo. So we did the touristy thing and slowed for our photo op. The buffalo could have cared less that we were there.

Next we turned to go west on North Geyser road. As we were cruising along we came across another meandering buffalo. This one was smart enough to be walking in the ditch. It was on my side so we got to take this lovely photo as we zoomed by.

We finally came across the area that we wanted to hike. It was called Bunsen Peak. The first part was suppose to be 3 miles. Then a short 1.4 mile hike down to Osprey Falls. Then back up the Osprey Falls trail another 1.4 miles. Then a 3.6 mile hike to the peak of Bunsen. So, basically a short 9.4 mile hike. The National Geographic map said the hike was strenuous. So, off we went, bypassing a sign that I will mention later in the blog.

The first 3 miles were very easy. Justin said he could have gotten that hike at the St. John’s live Christmas tree farm. The first half ended with 100ft of steep road. We found the trailhead to Osprey Falls. We noticed the big sign at the trailhead stating it was steep and narrow and we thought “how bad could it be”? The hike was 1.4 miles and we went from 7300ft to 6600ft elevation in that distance. There were numerous switchbacks that took us right down a mountain…all downhill. If you had a misstep, you’d fall 600ft. It was a bit scary at times. We passed an odd fellow hiking up as we were hiking down. He said there was no one else down there. What Justin heard was “there’s no one around to hear your screams”. I was reminded of a bumper sticker I saw in town that said “hike faster, I hear banjos”. But, he went on his merry way. When we finally got to the bottom, we realized the hike down was worth it. It was a beautiful, high waterfall. We hung out in the river for a while. I was trying to nurse some blisters. After some more photo ops, we started our ascent. Up sucked. We’d get about 100ft and have to stop for air. We would look up and think it was going to level out, but it just turned and went up in another direction. I thought we were never going to get to the trailhead. We finally did and it took us about 1 hr to hike down and 1 hr to hike back up.

There were two routes that would take us back to our car, the long flat way we came in or the way over Bunsen Peak. I was tired from climbing Osprey Falls, but we decided that we may never be there again, so I put my big girl panties on and we were gonna summit Bunsen Peak. We drank some water and tightened up our pack and set out. After about 1 1/2 miles of not making any progress toward Bunsen Peak, we decided to check the map. We realized once again, that we were the victim of poor signage and navigational errors. So, we backtracked the 1 1/2 miles back to the trailhead for Osprey Falls. However, had we not taken the wrong trail, we would not have seen Osprey Falls from the area that we started that hike. We also would have missed seeing the Grouse (its a small bird). By that point we had hiked about 8 miles and it was 4pm and we still have plans to eat in Gardiner MT and see Mammoth Springs.

We decided not to take the 3.6 hike over Bunsen Peak and that we would just hike back on the flat 3 mile hike we came up. As we were walking back we passed two geeky looking dudes. One seemed to be carrying some sort of directional antenna and a holster of bear spray. We said hi and passed by thinking, what are these nerds up to up here? But we pressed on and got back to our car at about 6:30 pm. We had hiked 11.5 miles for 4 hrs and 15 min. We were sore, tired, and hungry. When we got back to the trailhead for Bunsen Peak, Justin noticed a sign posted. It stated that this area was frequented by bears and to beware. It also stated that just 2 days earlier, a bear had been spotted with 4 cubs. So, that’s what those geeks were up to. Tracking bear. That might have been good information for us to have seen and read before our hike.

So, we loaded up and headed to Gardiner, bypassing Mammoth Springs. The first restaurant we found was busy, but they did offer us to sit at the end of a big table with another very nice couple. We decided we would try something else. So we went down the street to the Two Bit Saloon. They were not serving dinner on Sunday night. The bartender was nice enough to direct us to the Yellowstone Lodge/Restaurant/Casino/Souvenir shop. The restaurant ended up being the best food of our vacation, but the absolute worst service. By the time we finally got out of there it was dark. My camera is useless in the dark. We headed back to Yellowstone. We did stop and take a quick shot of the sign that said we were at the 45th parallel. We did decide to stop at Mammoth Springs. It was about 9:30 and it was dark with a little bit of light. At this point, it finally started raining. All that time we spent shopping for rain gear and packing all the rain gear with us on the mountain, and it didn’t rain till now. I snapped some pictures of Mammoth, but my camera is a POS and doesn’t take good pictures at night.

So, we saw what we could see then headed out on the long 3hr trip back to Jackson. Note to future travelers of Yellowstone, get out of the park before dark. The roads are very narrow, hilly, and curvy. And at any moment you could round a corner and find a buffalo in the road. So, no shit, there we were, traveling eastbound on North Geyser Road, when we rounded a corner and standing there in the middle of the steamy dark road was a buffalo. We hit the breaks and it jumped into our lane and started meandering. So, we pulled up beside it and took another photo. Of course my camera is a POS, so the picture sucked. We were still laughing about that one, when again we came across another buffalo standing in the middle of the road. We stopped and it began to walk toward us. So we backed up and it continued to walk toward us. We were thinking at some point this thing was gonna ram the G6. We eventually drove around him and continued on our way. We didn’t have any more trouble with wildlife on the roads in Yellowstone.

About the time we were getting comfortable thinking we were free and clear, when we were in Grand Teton National Park, an Elk decided to run out in the road. Luckily, we saw him and were able to stop in time. Then, not even 1 mile down the road, another one decides to cross the road. When we saw it, it stopped and looked at us like “what am I suppose to do”. After some indecisive moves, she decided to get out of the roadway. We finally got back to the cabin around midnight.

August 28 – Day 6 – Vacation 2010

2010-08-30T01:33:00.001-05:00

We can sum up this day with rain, rain and more rain. We started with breakfast at Bubba’s BBQ. They had a really good breakfast with homemade biscuits the size of your hand.

At that point it was just misting. So, we headed out to Jenny Lake again to hike one of the trails our mountain bike guide, Rose, had recommended. We got to the parking area for Jenny Lake Marina and it started raining pretty hard. We had to take a ferry over to the trail that was on the mountain side of Jenny Lake. When we got over there we began hiking toward hidden falls. It was .5 miles up the mountain. Initially we thought we might be the only stupid people on this hike in the rain, but we ran into an entire tour group. Everyone was wearing ponchos….or trash bags. When we started taking pictures I noticed that my camera battery was going dead. We only got a few pictures on my digital. The rest I had to take with my blackberry. Our next stop on this hike was Inspiration Point. It was another .5 miles up the mountain. It was a beautiful overlook of Jenny lake and the weather had cleared up by then. We had started our hike at 6800 ft and Inspiration point was at 7200 ft. As we were hiking down, we saw lots of evidence that some sort of animal was in the are…there was poop everywhere, but we never saw any wildlife. We hiked down the mountain and caught the next ferry back.

By now, the weather was clearing up and it was mostly blue skies and sunny. We began our drive to Yellowstone. It was about noon by this time so we planned to see Old Faithful and do a couple short hikes. We stopped in Coulter Bay for lunch. Justin had a Moose Drool brown ale with lunch. He said it tastes exactly what you would think something called moose drool would taste, however it did not seem to stop him from eating it. Then there was the baked potato incident. I was munching on my burger and next thing I knew I saw potato and a fork go flying. Not sure what happened, but it was pretty funny.

We got into Yellowstone and it began misting again. The drive thru Yellowstone was very pretty. When we got to Old Faithful, it began pouring. We put our rain gear on and headed toward the geyser. We were only out there for a minute before we were soaking wet. We ran to the nearest gift shop/cafe/ice cream store. We roamed around there for a while trying to dry off. We did a little shopping and got some ice cream. We got some 900 degree hot chocolate that we couldn’t even hold with the little cardboard cup things. Then we checked out the schedule for Old Faithful. It was about 10 min away from going off so we headed that direction. By then the rain had let up again. We stood around and waited for Old Faithful. It was almost right on time. It was pretty neat. The sound was the best. I’ve seen it on TV before, but hearing it is the best.

After that we headed toward the trail that goes around a bunch more geysers. We got to see a few before it started raining again. We toughed it out and finished the 1.5 mile hike.

We left Old Faithful and headed toward another hike. I think we missed our turn because we ended up at a bunch more geysers. This included Excelsior Geyser. As we approached this one all we saw was steam. It was hard to even see 5ft in front of you. People were walking out with wet hair. Old blue hairs had their shower caps on. It was good for the lungs after 6 days of dry air. We really didn’t get to see much of this geyser due to the stream. The little part we did see was beautiful. Then we walked around the “boardwalk” to another geyser. I can’t remember its name but it is the really pretty one that is on all the Yellowstone books. It wasn’t so pretty from ground level. It must only be pretty from the air. All we saw was a hole, with steam coming out of it. It was also very windy and it appeared that the bacterial mat had sucked up a bunch of hats. However, it is unlawful to mar the bacterial mats or step off the boardwalk.

We didn’t seem to see the trail we were trying to go on, due to poor signage and minor navigational errors. We decided we had had a long day and figured we’d head home. During our time in Yellowstone today, we saw a little chipmunk. That was it. I did see a lot of bison patties, but no bison. We are headed back up tomorrow and hopefully Yellowstone will live up to its reputation for hordes of wildlife.

We got back to Jackson and headed to a Mexican restaurant that was recommended by Rose. It was pretty good, nothing too special. They did have a yummy Twisted Cowgirl dip.

Due to the battery issue with the camera, I only got a few pictures I can put on the blog. Once I get the right connector for my phone I will download more photos and a video from Old Faithful.

August 27 – Day 5 – 2010 Vacation

2010-08-27T23:19:00.001-05:00

Today we had to get up early for our mountain bike ride. We hit The Bunnery for breakfast. They had awesome croissant fluffy cinnamon rolls. Then we met up with our guide, Rose. She drove us into Grand Teton Park. As we were entering the park, we noticed a bunch of cars pulled over to the side of the road and a bunch of people in a group with their cameras out. We figured….wild life. So, we did a drive by and saw a huge moose. Rose turned us around and dropped us off so we could check it out. It was hiding at first, but then it stepped out from behind the trees. Then you just start hearing cameras snap. It was funny.

We got back in the van and headed to our trailhead. We hit the bike path and headed to Jenny Lake. The path took us thru a flat prairie covered with sage brush. The Tetons were on the left. It was weird how you had this ugly land with a beautiful background.

We rode 4 miles to Jenny lake. The path was pretty flat with a 200ft elevation gain to the lake. We took a back path to an area that wasn’t highly traveled. Our guide gave us the story of Jenny Lake. We hung out on the beach for a little while, then we headed to the Jenny lake ranger station. They had a 3d topographical map and we were able to see all the little lakes and crevasses. Then we headed back to our starting point. We were excited because it was going to be all downhill back, however some head winds moved in and it was blowing like 25mph in our face. We got back into town and went back to our cabin and took a nap. As I was laying there, the sun was very bright coming in the window. Then it began to pour and hail and it was still sunny.

We got up from our nap and headed to Jackson Hole White Water for our afternoon white water rafting trip. It was on the same part of the river that we did our duckie ride on. It was a lot different in a large raft. The big rapids were still fun, but the smaller rapids didn’t feel like nothing when we cruised thru them in a large raft. We finished up the 8mile rafting trip and headed back to the JHWW boathouse. They offered a steak cookout after the ride. It was very good. It was raining most of the time after we got off the water. We got a real good double rainbow.

Tomorrow we are gonna hit Grand Teton park and take a short hike before we head to Yellowstone. We will try to see Old Faithful tomorrow and stay at the south end of Yellowstone. We will hit the north side on Sunday.

On a funny note, we were sitting in our car in the parking lot of JHWW when a news bulletin broke into the music…breaking news out of Wilson WY, a 20 month old dog named Wilson was missing. It had jumped out of the back of a trunk. This is breaking news in WY. People here love their dogs. At JHWW they had a very large Mastiff at the office.

August 26 – Day 4 – 2010 Vacation

2010-08-26T23:30:00.001-05:00

Today started out with a trip to the fitness center. Then we got around and went shopping. We hit a few sporting goods stores and caught some good deals. I bought these awesome pants that I might wear everyday. I love them. We had some Mexican for lunch.

Today we did our 2-man duckie kayak trip. After a 35 min drive to the put in spot, we got dressed up in our wet suits and loaded up the duckies. We had a group of 6 duckies. Justin and I had a pretty rough start. Both of us wanted to drive, but only one person can be the driver. That’s what happens when you get two control freaks in one duckie. They said the first 4 miles were gonna be pretty easy. It actually had quite a few good rapids. The duckie sits lower in the water than a regular raft so we got splashed a lot. Good thing we had the wet suits on. The best part was the “Big Kahuna” It was a big rapid. I figured if we were gonna get booted outta the duckie, that would have been the time. We made it through them and they were awesome. There are some great pictures. I’ll put the links and info at the bottom of the page.

After our duckie trip, we headed out for dinner. We ate at the Gun Barrel. It has beef, buffalo, elk and bambi. I had a regular steak. Justin had a game sampler. It had buffalo prime rib, elk chops, and venison sausage. We both ate till we were stuffed. That’s kind of a vacation thing. We’re eating everything we can till we can’t walk. To work off dinner, we took a walk into town for some Haagen-Das. Everything on vacation tastes much better than when we’re back home. We did some more shopping. We stopped by the photo shop and ordered some of the photos from our duckie trip. While we were eating our ice-cream by an Antler Arch a couple came up and asked us to take their picture for them. They were a nice Southern couple who recognized Justin as the “Sheriff” from the wagon train last night. Justin said he recognized her as Paula Dean from her cooking show! Then we came home and hit the hot tub for a little while.

Tomorrow we have to get up early and meet up for our mountain bike tour. I accidentally overlapped some activities tomorrow and had to change our scenic raft trip/white water raft trip/cookout to just the white water rapids and cook out.

For the photos from our rafting trip:

www.floatographs.com – Our rafting company is Snake River Kayaks – the date is today and our time is 1:30. Our photos are the last 5. Those are the ones that we ordered. Those photos were all taken on the Big Kahuna.

The other photo company is www.snakeriverphotos.net. Snake River Kayaks, today’s date, 1:30, we are duckie #6, but the pics aren’t very good. Justin and I might be the only ones who know it is us in the pictures.

Photos in this blog: top left: me and the moose at the Mangy Moose store; top right: Justin at the Mangy Moose; bottom left: Justin and I in front of one of the antler arches after we ate our ice cream.

August 25-Day 3 – 2010 Vacation

2010-08-26T00:08:00.001-05:00

Today we mostly stuck around town. We walked into town this morning for breakfast. Then we walked around the Town Square and did some shopping. We came back to the cabin and relaxed for a while before heading out to get lunch. We found the Snake River Bar and Grill. The restaurant is connected to a liquor store. We walked into the liquor store and saw that the doors to the restaurant were open. We walked in and it appeared to be under construction, but there was another group in there. They said they opened for them, so we might as well stay too. We did get served...eventually!! Our waiter was also our cook, the bartender and most likely the dishwasher. After we got our food I asked him what time they actually opened and he said 4pm. We got there at about 2:30. It was real nice of them to serve us while they were closed. Then we went grocery shopping. At one time, in the busy grocery store, Justin thought it was appropriate to pick me up, put me over his shoulder and spank my butt.

Tonight we went to a chuck wagon dinner at the Bar T 5 Ranch. We met up at the ranch. We got the story of the history of the ranch. Then we loaded up in a covered wagon with all the blue hairs and headed up the mountain. We were pulled by two female Draft horses named Dixie and Ginger. While en route, we were accosted by a trapper named “Buckskin”. Then we were attacked by two Indians. They rode by us so fast I couldn’t even get a picture. When we arrived at the dinner site, we were fed roast beef, chicken, and corn on the cob from a Dutch oven. I was dumb enough to forget to take my jacket up, so I was freezing my ass off by dinner time.

After dinner, and some awesome Blondie brownies, we were entertained with a cowboy music/comedy show. It actually was funny and the singers were great. Justin was even chosen as one of the volunteers. He got to get up with a group of kids to help with “She’ll be coming around the mountain”. They put a very small red cowboy hat on his head. It had a Sheriff badge on it and they told him he was the Sheriff. When it came to his part he had to say “hello ladies”. It was hilarious. It was nice to go somewhere where there was wholesome family fun. Made me forget for a minute that there were gang bangers with guns and husbands beating their wives. It was refreshing.

Tomorrow morning, Justin and I are going back up the the Cache Creek area (the area that we had the chuck wagon dinner) and doing some trail running. Then at 1pm we have our 2-man duckie trip. I have been uploading all the photos daily on my photo website. If you go to my blog and click the Photos link under my favorites, you can see all the photos.

August 24-Day 2 - 2010 Vacation

2010-08-24T23:44:00.001-05:00

Today we traveled from Cheyenne WY to Jackson WY. We left Cheyenne around 10:00. The first 4 hrs was pretty uneventful. We did have a tractor trailer blow a tire when he was right next to us. It was pretty scary for a second. The scenery was worse than western KS. It was mostly prairie and some hills. You could go 30 miles before you’d see a house. There would be mailboxes and driveways, but I’d never see a house. I saw lots of antelope. We had lunch in Lander.

The last half of the trip was a little more scenic. Lots of cool rock formations. You could see all the different layers of soil in the rock formations (I wouldn’t call them mountains). They just looked like the ground got pushed up. We had a little fox run across the road at one point. It was small, about the size of a cat. Then we started seeing signs that said the road was closed between 10pm-1am and 1:30am-4:30am. We thought that was really interesting. Then we got to the point of the road that they were closing. It was a mess. We had to follow a pilot car thru about 15 miles of tore up rock road. It was rough.

We finally made it to Jackson around 7:30 pm. We have a really cute cabin in town. It is a pretty quiet property. It is walking distance from downtown. We unpacked, then headed for the fitness center that is in the basement of the office building. After our workout, we headed into town. We ended up at Mountain High Pizza. It was pretty good. We decided to call it a night and head back to the cabin to get settled in.

Tomorrow we are just gonna stick around town. We are hoping to do some sightseeing around town and possibly some rock climbing. We also have our chuck wagon dinner planned tomorrow night.

August 23-Day 1 - 2010 Vacation

2010-08-23T23:10:00.001-05:00

We left this morning around 8:30am. Went to the Bread Basket in Newton for breakfast. It was super yummy. Then we stopped in Limon to have lunch at the same Mexican place we ate at on our last day of vacation last year, Jenny’s. It was still as good as it was a year ago.

We decided we’d continue on to Cheyenne WY. It only took us two tries to fine a hotel. We are at the Candlewood Suites. It is very nice with a full kitchen and my favorite, free WiFi. We started to head into town to find somewhere to eat and we ended up at Sanfords Grub & Pub. It was a huge place full of a hodge-podge of collectables and memorabilia. It also had the hugest menu I’ve ever seen. Along with the large menu was the large plates of lots of very good food. Good thing we worked out in the hotel fitness center before dinner.

We’re gonna head out in the morning for Jackson. It should only be a 6-7 hr trip from here.

One week Away

2010-08-16T18:50:00.005-05:00

Justin and I will be leaving for our vacation to Jackson, WY/Grand Teton/Yellowstone in one week. I think both of us really need some time away. We are looking forward to all the fun outdoorsy stuff we are planning. This trip we are doing a mountain bike ride, chuck wagon dinner, scenic raft trip/whitewater trip, duckie ride (2-person raft), and plan on lots of sight seeing and hiking. I will update my blog each night as I did last year. This year, we are staying in Jackson Hole and should have easy access to wireless. There should be lots of photos and hopefully some good stories.

Stay tuned!!

August 24-Day 7 of Vacation

2009-08-24T16:25:00.005-05:00

We got up and packed up around 8am this morning. We went into town and ate at our favorite breakfast joint, the Egg & I. Then we finished up our souvenir shopping. I got some pictures of some flowers for my mom. It was the end of the season, so all the stores were having sales. Then we headed out of town. We stopped at the overlook to Estes Park.

Then we headed home. We stopped in Limon for lunch. We found this awesome Mexican joint called Jenny’s. This was the best Mexican food we have had our whole vacation. The place was small, but the food was authentic or at least awesome. If you are ever in Limon, check out Jenny’s. It is on the main street.

Then we went down the road to the truck stop. That is where Justin noticed the front right tire was flat. Somewhere between Denver and Limon we must have hit something, because we had a small hole in the sidewall. We found a NAPA and they went to repair it. They said it was in the sidewall and since his tire is speed rated so they couldn’t patch it. They called their sister store in Flagler and was still not able to find a tire. We were debating our options when they were able to locate a used tire that was the same size. Sounds like we won’t be staying at the Bates motel here in Limon. They are mounting the tire as I type and hopefully we will get on our way soon. They don’t have a waiting room here so I am doing my blogging sitting on top of a huge Arctic Cat and it is raining like crazy outside. It wouldn’t be a vacation without adversity.

August 23-Day 6 of Vacation

2009-08-24T09:31:00.001-05:00

Today we a pretty busy day. We got up. Justin ran. Then he came back and made breakfast. Then we headed into town. We checked out the Estes Park visitor’s center and picked up a few brochures on some stuff to do today. We headed to the Stanley museum, but it was closed. So, we decided just to walk thru town. We went to the heritage festival for a little bit. We got some fresh squeezed lemonade and watched a reenactment of a cowboy shootout. Then we wondered thru town. I picked up some t-shirts.

We walked all the way to the west end of town and back. We ended up eating at Ed’s Cantina. It was much better than the Grumpy Gringo. Estes Park redeemed itself in Mexican food. Then we went to the Stanley museum. Earlier, we had made an appointment for a couples massage. That was pretty relaxing after the week we have had. We are both very sore from all the hiking yesterday.

After our massage, we went to the Estes Park museum. It was small, but it had a lot of cool history stuff from the city. While we were looking for the museum we finally found Samson. Samson was a local elk that was killed by a poacher in 1995. I had been looking for him all week. I had read the story in one of the books I purchased. The locals donated a bunch of money and put up this statue to remember Samson.

Then, we headed to the aerial tramway, finally. I have a little issue with heights, so once we got on this little cart that took us to the top, it was a little scary. However, it has some very awesome views. Go figure, the day we finally get to go up there, it is stormy and hazy. Once we got to the top, we were immediately greeted by a chipmunk. He was expecting us to have some peanuts. They sold them at the store up there, so we got a scoop. There were these little chipmunks everywhere. With all the people feeding them peanuts, I can’t believe these things don’t weigh 500 lbs. Some of them would come right up to you and take the peanuts from your fingers. We were told by our wrangler on the horseback ride a few days back, that these little creatures carry the plague. So, as these little guys were taking the peanuts out of my fingers, I was a little nervous. One of them grabbed my finger with his cute little claws while taking a peanut.

After the tram, we headed to dinner. We ate at Peak to Peak. It was pretty decent. Again, I ate myself miserable. Tonight, we are just gonna veg out. Tomorrow morning we have to leave and head back home. We still have some souvenirs to purchase, so we will hit the town again in the morning. We haven’t began packing or anything yet. That’s about it for our vacation. Now we have to go back to the real world and go back to our regular lives.

Remember to check out “My Pictures” for all the photos from our vacation.

August 22-Day 5 of Vacation

2009-08-23T11:05:00.001-05:00

Today, Justin decided to get up and run 2 miles. I decided not to go because I knew we would be getting enough exercise on the mountain hiking today. Then we decided to go back to one of our favorite places for breakfast, The Egg and I. It was super yummy, again. They have the best ranch potatoes. It was so good that we got some of them to go. That is what we will make breakfast with tomorrow.

After breakfast, we headed into Rocky Mountain National Forest. We decided to see Alberta falls, so we had to go to the Glacier Gorge trail head. However, the parking lot was full. Then we went to the Bear Lake trailhead. The ranger at the entrance told us this parking lot was also full. We had to go thru it to turn around. As we were driving out, a car left. Bear lake trailhead isn’t exactly where I wanted to start, but it all goes to the same place.

So we headed out toward Alberta Falls. The trail was not as challenging as we would have liked. It was very well marked and flat. Once we began hearing running water, we got off the trail and headed toward it. We found a nice little creek (Glacier Creek). We followed it along a sloped and rocky trail until we came to Alberta Falls. Alberta falls is a 25ft cascade in Glacier Creek. We hung out there for a while and took some pictures. Then we headed out to find the original trail and see where it takes us. We were trying to make a big loop back to Bear Lake trailhead so we didn’t have to double back on any trails. We found tons of great scenery. It seemed like no matter where we went, we were going up. This trail became more technical. There were more rocks and the trail was narrower. If you fell over you’d probably fall to your death. Once we got to “The Loch”, we did a map check. Well, somewhere we had chosen the wrong path. We had to backtrack from the Loch and head toward Bear Lake via an unimproved trail. However, I believe if we hadn’t gotten lost we would not have seen some really great views. Like in this picture. Behind us in the Chaos Canyon Cascades Once we got on the right trail it was more uphill, rock climbing, and root steps. There were tons of varmints on these trails. We saw lots of squirrels, chipmunks, a woodpecker, and another marmot. We finally made out way back to the Bear lake trailhead. I was ready to get my shoes off. We had hiked 7.5 miles in almost 5 hours and reached a max elevation of approximately 10,200 ft. I had originally estimated a 4 mile hike. We were both extremely dirty, so we headed back to the cabin to clean up for dinner.

Tonight we went downtown to Poppy’s. It is a pizza joint in an outdoor square. There was a lady playing her guitar and singing in the mini amphitheater. The pizza at Poppy’s was good. However, we have left overs. Now we have BBQ left overs and Pizza left overs and we leave Monday morning. Then Justin and I took a walk on the river walk. It was a gorgeous night. We decided to go to the bakery that I have been wanting to go to. I got cinnamon apple pie and Justin got Key Lime. Mine was good. It would have been better if it were warm. The apples were sliced really thin, just how I like them. Then we went to Starbucks and got something to drink so we would sit out on their patio tables.

That completed day 5. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow. I know we want to go into town and check out this Heritage festival. We need to pick up our souvenirs that we’ve been scouting out all week. There are some museums I want to check out. We still want to go on the aerial tramway.

I have been uploading all our vacation photos to my Picasa account. That means if you want to see the entire trip, click on My Photos on the right hand side of the page.

August 21-Day 4 of Vacation

2009-08-22T11:26:00.001-05:00

We got up early today because we had to dead to Fort Collins which is about 1 hr away. This is where we did our water rafting out of. There were approximately 24 of us. We go suited up in our life jackets and helmets. I didn’t know what to expect on the trip so I didn’t take my camera. I wish now that I would have bought a waterproof camera.

After getting loaded up into a big yellow school bus, we headed to the put in spot. The river we are rafting on today is called the Cache la Poudre River. It was down substantially from the more exciting June and July months. Our guides name was Dave. I would guess that he is close to my age. He said he calls North Carolina home only because he went to school there. Other wise he has lived in at least 18 places for more than 6 mos. How exciting would that life be?

We had 4 other people in our raft. We kept getting stuck on rocks because the water level was so low. There were some pretty exciting times. For a first timer, it was probably perfect. Next time I’ll go in June or July.

The water was freezing cold. Dave said this is the warmest it gets. We stopped at the swimming hole to play in the water. There was just one other couple playing in the water and they were from Wyoming. Then Justin decided it would be funny to throw me over his shoulder and toss me in. It wasn’t cold, it was freaking cold. But, we pressed on and got back into our boats and headed to the pull out point. It was a very scenic ride.

We got out of the river, loaded back into the yellow school bus, and headed back to town. Our guides were very funny. They said they have one more week of the season. Once we got back to the business and got changed, we went inside to check to the pictures they took of us. I found 4 that I liked. They will be e-mailing them to me today or tomorrow. Then we took of our guides advice and headed into town to eat at Cooper Smith’s.

After lunch, we headed home. I slept in the car on the way home. When we got home, I sat on the deck and read while Justin slept on the couch. After our time of relaxation, we got up and around for dinner. We decided to go to Smokin’ Dave's BBQ. It was very good. I don’t know how it rates to Hog Wild, but it is right up there. They also had the best mashed potatoes. We even got a side order of them to-go. Then, we decided to come home and veg out. We watched some preseason football. The Cowboys were playing Tennessee.

We haven’t quite decided what we are going to do today. Estes Park is having their Heritage Festival today and tomorrow. We will probably check that out. We want to do some more hiking. We’d like to check out the aerial tramway. We only have 2 days left before we head home.

August 20-Day 3 of Vacation

2009-08-21T08:09:00.001-05:00

Today, after Justin and I ran our 1.5 miles. We got perty’d up and headed out to explore Rocky Mountain National Park. We took the Old Fall River Road which was the first motor route to cross the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was built between 1913 and 1920. It is a one lane dirt road that runs for 9 miles following the steep slope of Mt Chapin.

The first stop on our drive was Alluvial Fan. This was created during the Lawn Lake flood in 1982. We climbed all the rocks to the top of the falls. We saw a small chipmunk on the way down.

The next stop on our drive was Chasm Falls. This is a 25ft water fall. After that, we climbed our way up the narrow road thru some hairpin turns. We eventually reached 10,000 ft. The scenery up there was beautiful. Mostly just trees and mountains as far as you can see. It was kind of hazy today, but we still got some good views. I took my GPS watch, so I was able to keep track of our elevation the whole trip.

We did some pretty good hikes. Some climbed 200ft. The air is very thin at 11,000 ft. Some of the hikes really sucked on the way up. Down wasn’t too bad. We saw a yellow-bellied marmot on one hike. Even though the signs say “do not approach the animals. You may be gored”, Justin got as close as possible to the creature.

At the end of Fall River road was the Alpine visitors center. It is at 11,796 ft. Lucky for us it had a cafe since I didn’t prepare for the day well enough to pack food and beverages. We both had a Nathan’s chili dog. It was pretty yummy. We bought some souvenirs while we were up there. Then we hiked to the top of the mountain that was there. We reached 12,000 ft at the top.

Then we cruised back on the Trail Ridge Road. On the way, we saw a bunch of herds of elk. It was just like the Discovery channel. There was a herd of does and one buck. We rounded one corner and saw this very large herd. They didn’t seem to afraid of us either. The females got very close to the crowd that had gathered along side of the road.

By then, we were pooped. We headed home and got ready for dinner. We decided to eat at a place called Grumpy Gringo’s. We realized why the Gringo was grumpy. The food was not very good. I guess that serves me right for saying we hadn’t had a bad meal yet. After dinner, we came home and hit the hot tub. Now we are just laying around being lazy.

Tomorrow, we are headed to Fort Collins for our white water rafting experience. That is all we have planned for tomorrow. I’d like to try to get to the Stanley Hotel museum and the airway tram that afternoon or evening.

August 19-Day 2 of Vacation

2009-08-20T12:08:00.003-05:00

Today we didn’t really do too much in the morning. After we got up and around, Justin and grabbed my laptop and headed into town for breakfast. We ate at this place called the Egg & I. Very yummy.

Then we walked around town some more. This place is extremely pet friendly. Dogs can go in to most of the stores downtown. They have buckets of water outside their shop for dogs. Samson would have loved it here, however, the 9 hr drive would have been miserable for all of us. We checked out some more stores. We don’t want to buy our souvenirs till a little later into the vacation, but we are keeping track of where all the good stuff is. We mostly spend our money in the ma and pop snack shops with homemade ice cream and chocolate candies.

We came back to our cabin and changed for our horseback ride. We spent some time playing in the river. We took some pictures of our cabin. Then we headed for the stables. After spending a few minutes lost, we finally found it. It is west of town and right up against a mountain. We checked and and I got Cinder, a black horse, and Justin got Silverado, a brown horse. They kept telling Justin to keep Silverado at least a horse length away from Cinder. We found out later that Cinder has been having some attitude problems. He seems to like to kick at the horse behind him. Our wrangler said he is just grumpy because its the end of the season.

This was no Kansas ride where you cruise down a flat dirt street, then they parade you around a small pasture so that you just get to ride a horse. Our first steps were straight up the mountain. There were rocks and tree roots the horses had to maneuver around. It didn’t take long before we were seeing the most beautiful views from this mountain. There were also little creatures following us around. This is a picture of a tiny ground squirrel of some sort. Our wrangler told us they carry the plague. Not so cute anymore, huh? It was only Justin and I on our ride. Our wrangler said it has really slowed down in the last week for them. We got to a point up in the mountain where you could look out and see the continental divide. We tried to get our horses together for the picture, but mine was very stand-offish.

So, going up was pretty exciting, but you have to remember, the steep climbs we encountered on the way up were cool, however, we have to go back down those steep climbs. She told us as we were going down things called “the devils staircase” and “slippery rock”, to lean back, grab the saddle horn, squeeze your thighs and don’t stand up in the stir-ups, or you could go straight over your horse’s head. This was definitely the worse part. My horse didn’t take anything easy. It was like riding in a jeep straight down the mountain. Cinder, would not do anything I told him to. He took me under a tree one time. I had to do the limbo on the saddle to get under it. Then on the path where she said we had to take it one at a time, I pulled back as hard as I could to stop him, but he was going with Hondo (the wrangler’s very large horse). Speaking of Hondo, he had gas and with every step he farted right into my horses face. I personally thought it was the funniest thing ever. He farted the whole way and I laughed every time. We also ran into another creature along the path, a coyote. Our wrangler said she thinks he’s looking for the two baby deer they have up there. He’s kind of hard to see in this picture, but he looked really close when we saw him. We did the two hour ride so we spent 1 nice hour riding up the mountain and 1 horrible hour going down it. I took lots of pictures of the views, but they don’t do it justice at all.

After our horseback ride, we went back to our cabin to change and get the horse stench off of us. We got all cleaned up and went to a steak joint. We both had prime rib and it was super yummy. We haven’t eaten at a bad restaurant yet. After dinner, we decided we were both pooped. We headed back to the cabin to relax. Then we decided to check out some of the trails around our cabin. So, we changed back into hiking gear, grabbed our walking sticks and headed out.

We only found about 1 or 2 marked trails. So, we started hiking. These trails were along the river and straight up a mountain. The trail was about a foot wide and if you slipped, your happy ass was rolling about 100 ft down a mountain into the river and hitting every tree and rock down. Luckily, we had our walking sticks. We found some cool rocks and began climbing to them. We tried to get some pictures, but it was getting dark and my camera was not working out for us. So, before it got too dark we headed back down to the cabin. We stopped at the wood swing they have around the outdoor fire pit. It was so nice and peaceful out. After our hike, we went back to our cabin and chilled for the rest of the night. It was kind of hard to sit around, mainly because my ass was getting sore from my horseback ride.

Today we are traveling on the scenic Trail Ridge Road. I got up early today and made coffee…mainly cuz I can. I’ll let Justin sleep in a little bit. Eventually, we will head into town so I can upload this thing. Remember, I don’t have internet or cell phone access at the cabin. So, if you call or e-mail me, it may be a while before I respond.

I got Justin up around 8am. Then he decided we needed to go for a run. So, we suited up and headed out on this narrow, curvy road we stay on. We started at 7390 ft elevation. We ran downhill for .75 miles, then back uphill another .75 miles back. We did it in approximately 18min. That may seem like a long time for 1.5 miles, but it is hilly and the air is thin up here. Now Justin is going to make me breakfast.

August 18-Day 1 of vacation

2009-08-19T10:26:00.001-05:00

We got everything packed up the night before. I was expecting to leave pretty early. Since I had stayed up all day I was pooped by about 8pm. So, I think I went to bed around 8:30pm. Justin however, wasn’t able to sleep. He said he took a 2 hr nap. When I got up around 5:30 am we decided to load up and head out.

We hit Cracker Barrell in Park City first. Then we were in route to Estes Park at about 6:30 am. The drive thru western Kansas and eastern Colorado was as boring as expected. Once we hit Denver, at around 1:30pm, it started pouring on us. We made our way thru Denver in the rain. Then as we got close to Estes Park, as we were driving thru Big Thompson Canyon, it started raining again. The scenery was beautiful. Large rock formations.

We pull into Estes Park. It wasn’t as busy as I was expecting. I think most families have already had their vacation for the summer and are getting their kids back in school. We found our cabin 3 ½ miles east of town, right on the Big Thomson River (or creek as I would call it). Our cabin is in a small valley between two large mountains. There are tons of trees. Our cabin has a balcony that is right over the “river”. It is also much larger than I expected, however, they didn’t advertise that it is 10 ft off the road that goes into Estes.

Our first night, Justin and I went into town to check out some shops and get dinner. We were doing some shopping, and going into all the candy shops. Then, I just got tired. We decided to eat and go home. We went home and were in bed by 9:00.

We don’t have any wireless service here, on our cell phones or our laptop. I will try to write my blog up at night, but I probably won’t be able to publish it till the next morning. Today, I got up around 6am. I decided to go outside onto our deck to enjoy the morning, the “river”, and the great outdoors. However, I mostly get traffic and it’s freaking cold out.

Today we don’t have any real plans for the morning. We go horseback riding at 1:30 for 2 hrs. Hopefully we will be able to walk tomorrow.

Long overdue update

2009-07-06T21:52:00.004-05:00

Well, I know it has been a while. I didn't know how exhausting this job was gonna be. Life hasn't been too exciting. All the things that were crazy to me in the beginning are just everyday occurrences now and I don't even think about them.

Back at the end of May, I was sent to assist the south bureau on a disturbance with shots fired. They decided they had enough people there. As I was leaving I saw a suspicious Cadillac stopped on Hydraulic picking someone up across the street from the disturbance. I did a traffic stop on the vehicle. Kasey Weidner, who was in my class and who works out of the north bureau, was my back up. I got the ID on the driver and she got info on the passenger. As we were in my patrol car running them and writing our tickets, the passenger exits the vehicle and decides to take a jog. We ran south on Hydraulic behind a house and into an alley. Kasey got to point her tazer, but we weren't close enough to get him. I jumped the fence and chased him down the alley. This is the point where my head was saying "we are gonna get this guy and hopefully taze him for making me run". However, my legs said "all you have fed me was a peanut butter and jelly samwich today". So, my legs gave out and I went flying on the rock alley. I must have landed on my left side because after someone finally located him at 2nd and Kansas I noticed I had bled all over myself. That was also the first day to wear my brand new soft uniform. I also noticed my shoulder starting to hurt. The city is real picky about workers comp stuff, so I reported it so it wouldn't bite my ass later.

So, my Sgt. had to come to my scene. Then we had to go to the hospital. Luckily, the officer who got to take my report is a cool guy. Of course, he was making up stories about me in the fetal position with my thumb in my mouth yelling for mama. Anyway, after some good drugs, I got to go home early. I went to the dr the next day and he put me on light duty. So, for the next week I was stuck working the desk at the station. I was only on light duty for week. Basically I just bruised my shoulder. No big deal. I also had to get a tetanus shot. Those suck. I do have some good scars on my left elbow to remind me of the event.

The rest of June was pretty calm. I did have to work the 4th of July. It sounded like a war zone in town. I just drove around my beat and watched the show. It was actually a pretty uneventfully night. The next night, Sunday, however, was crazy for me. I picked up Justin around midnight so he could ride with me. We were stalking a suspicious car into College Hill when we turned south off of 2nd which only goes west, when we saw a car coming toward us. So I turned around and stopped this car. It ended up being a 17 year old who blew a .16. He went to JIAC. As we were sitting in the BAT van, Justin looked toward 1st street and heard a loud noise. I didn't hear it so I didn't think much of it. Then, as we were wrapping up that traffic stop a citizen informed me that someone hit a wall at 1st and Bleckley (just south of where we were) and ran off. He had located the vehicle about 5 blocks over. So, we followed the debris to 1st and Old Manor where we found the wrecked out car. I realized the driver was drunk. This guy blew a .308. this is the 2nd highest BAC I have ever seen. He went to the big boy jail.

That's about as exciting as life gets for now. I'll try to stay on top of my updates. Tomorrow is officially my 1yr anniversary with the police department. One of the girls in the class is hosting a pool party. It should be fun and it will be nice to socialize a bit.

May 19

2009-05-20T14:13:00.007-05:00

Nothing much exciting happened to me at work this last week. I got the 14th off for Memorial Day holiday. On the 15th, I was told to be out at the range for my remedial training at 1pm. When I showed up, it wasn't remedial, it was just a make up day. I called my Sgt. He told me to go to the station and see if they could put me to work. So, for most of the afternoon I rode with a 1st shifter. Then I was on my own from 5pm till 11pm. It was weird to cover all 4 shifts. Then on Saturday, I didn't do much. I volunteered to sit at the desk in the station because I wasn't feeling very good. Then Sunday I was pretty sick so I didn't get to work.

Last Tuesday, for Paige's birthday, we were going to take her horseback riding, but it was wet and rainy that day. So, we rescheduled for yesterday. We were all excited. We all bought cowboy hats. Paige got a brown horse named Sam. I got a white horse name Jesus. Justin got another brown horse named Howard. We went on a 1 hr "prairie ride". Which was basically 2 miles down a dirt road, then a few circles in a pasture. It was fun though. I think Justin and I are both glad we just did the one hour ride. Here are a few pictures. To see all of them go to My Picture link.

May 11

2009-05-11T14:04:00.002-05:00

Well, it has been a while since I blogged. My days are becoming pretty routine. The usual domestic disturbance, traffic accidents, disturbances with weapons, and check shots which are usually fireworks. I have had a few good incidences in the last few weeks.

A few weeks ago, I was dispatched to a man down call. Basically, neighbors were calling because there was a man lying in their street. Initially, I turned the wrong way and didn't get there as fast as I would have had I not gotten lost. When I arrived another officer and my Sgt were on scene. All I saw was a body hit the ground right next to the other officer's police car. I run up and they had him tazed. However, the guy doesn't seem to be feeling it....at all. So, he got tazed 6 more times @ 5 seconds each. Then we rolled him to his belly and tried to get his hands behind his back to get him in handcuffs and he was holding his hands under his chest. So, he got a good beating at that point. He got drive stunned in his arm with a tazer and beat with a baton. Nothing was working. I was pretty much just tugging on his arm. We finally got one and I got it cuffs. All that was left was my arm. I tugged and tugged and finally got him cuffed up. Initially, I didn't know why we were beating this guy up. Then I found out when the other officer arrived, this guy charged his patrol car and jumped on the hood and windshield. Then he charged at the other officer. Come to find out, the dude was on PCP. Yup, I guess it's all the rage again.

The next fun story happened 2 nights ago. I was riding as a 2 officer unit this night. My partner and I were sent to a larceny just occurred from an auto. The neighbor saw the whole thing and pointed us to a house across the street. We pulled everyone out of that house. The guy we were looking for was not in there. However, they did know exactly who he was. One of the people in the house was able to get him on the phone. He was still in the area and could see us. So, my partner and I went trapezing thru the neighborhood. I was about a block and a half from my partner when I saw the guy. He took off running down an alley. So, I chased him. He had a good head start on me though. I was able to call it out on the radio as I was running. I chased him up this alley for about half a block before he ducked into a backyard. I had officers in the area pretty quick, but I think he just hunkered down somewhere. We weren't able to locate him again, but we know who he is and where he lives. We'll get him next time.

So, that's about it for cop stuff. Our vacation plans are going good. I've requested the days off work and they are available. Justin and I have purchased miscellaneous clothing and gear for the trip. I'm doing some research about the history of the area. I remember when I went to South Dakota a few years back I regretted the fact that I didn't know enough about the history going in. Deadwood would have been a lot more interesting.

As for our varmints, Baxter is the devil. Samson is going to the groomer's on Wednesday. We have warned the guy about Samson being a crotchety old dog who's been kicked out of Petsmart. They said the shouldn't have any trouble with him. We'll see. Today I have a massage. I have only slept 2 hours so far today. Tomorrow Justin and I are taking Paige to a horse ranch up in Maize and going horseback riding for her birthday, which is the day after mine, on the 16th. I have Thursday off for my Memorial Day holiday. I don't know if we have any plans for my birthday. Justin wasn't able to get Thursday off with me. I might just ride with him that day.

April 15, 2009

2009-04-15T17:26:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm not sure anything real exciting has happened since my last blog. I haven't gotten kicked in the head lately. On March 26th Justin road with me. It was a pretty uneventful night.

On April 3rd, I helped other officers in the area of a hit and run. The run vehicle was abandoned in the neighborhood. When I came into the neighborhood, I saw someone walking along the sidewalk. That was pretty unusual for that neighborhood and that time of night. I turned to check him out and he ran from me. I couldn't call it out on the radio because other officers were involved in a foot chase on the south end of town and I wasn't entirely sure if this dude had anything to do with the hit and run. Later that morning, I spotted a guy walking at 13th and Rock that looked like the guy I saw in the neighborhood. I stopped him and he turned out to be the guy that was the registered owner of the run vehicle. He was drunk, which is what we figured.

On April 4th, I was sent to a suspicious character call in a really nice neighborhood across from Kapaun Mt. Carmel. We located 3 juveniles hiding in the bushes. They said they were making "Works" bombs. Basically, acid bombs. Plastic bottle, pressure, boom! We discussed the situation with the supervisor and we determined that these kids were going to be arrested for Felony Criminal Use of Explosives. I went over to where the "bomb" was exploded. I determined that I didn't want to touch this stuff. We had to call the bomb squad out to collect the evidence. Basically, I was on one call for 8 hours that night.

On April 5th, I got my first DUI for the month. It was 30 degrees and the wind was blowing like crazy. I had the guy out doing field sobriety testing for 6 minutes and my fingers were numb. Believe me, in weather like that, I wasn't looking for a drunk. They just always find me.

April 9th was a pretty crazy night. I was sent to 4 calls and got 4 cases. I started with a juvenile shoplift at the mall. Then a vicious dog. Then at around midnight it started pouring down the biggest snowflakes I've ever seen. I was sitting at the mall at Douglass and Rock doing paperwork when a auto theft just occurred came out at the apartments at Douglass and Rock. It happened to be a motorcycle. I think I would have noticed a motorcycle driving around in that weather. I don't remember seeing one so he must have gone the other way. Then about 15 min after I clear from that a robbery comes out at my Dillons at Central and Rock. They ended up finding the suspects and I got to book one, a 16 year old, for felony aggravated robbery. Most nights I don't have any calls on my beat. On this night I had 3 and 2 were major crimes.

On April 11th, I was cruising west on 13th from Greenwich. Usually I don't go up that far because I know my closest backup is pretty far off. As I was headed westbound, a truck going eastbound suddenly came into my lane. He swerved back into his lane right before hitting me. I immediately flipped my overhead lights and siren on and turned around to chase him down. He stopped on 13th at Greenwich. I was getting ready to get out of my car when he took off again. I was thinking "kick ass, a chase". However, he just turned south onto Greenwich then stopped about 100 yds from the intersection. However, when I got out of my car, I must have turned the wrong knob on my radio because I ended up on another channel. East side dispatch was checking on me and I wasn't responding. So, they put me out in trouble. So, all law enforcement officers in Sedgwick county were headed my way. I got up to the car and realized it was a drunk old guy. When I got on the radio to say I was 10-4, I realized I was on the wrong channel. I fumbled with my radio for a while before I was able to find my channel. Justin happened to be working at that time. He said he was headed my way from Oaklawn. That ended up being a pretty crazy night. The longest I went between any call was 30 minutes. Most of my calls were all back to back.

Justin and I have been planning a vacation for the end of August. It will be our 1 year anniversary by then. We are planning on going to Estes Park, CO. We have reserved a cute cabin with a hot tub. I am sure we will need the hot tub after all our activities. We are planning on white water rafting, hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, and ATV riding. We are going to stay 5 days there. I am totally looking forward to it since I haven't had a vacation since I went to Cherie's wedding in FL in Aug 2006.

Baxter, the cat, AKA "Bastard", has been nothing but a headache. First with the ocular discharge. Now he has ring worm on his ear. He is a total attention whore and hollers when you pet him and when you don't pet him. He is always in my face. He loves to stand in front of the computer monitor and play with the cursor while I am trying to do stuff on the computer. It doesn't matter how many times you throw him off, he just comes back. He licks everything and chews on stuff. He's the weirdest animal I have ever owne. As for Samson, he's doing fine. He is about 5 lbs over weight, and he needs a haircut real bad.

Last few weeks

2009-03-26T03:13:00.002-05:00

Well, the last few weeks have been pretty interesting. I've been keeping copies of my daily activity reports so I can look back and see what I did.

On the 12th, I got my first DUI on my own. That was pretty exciting. Then later I helped another one of the rookies on a DUI. They were just falling in our laps that day. On the 13th I rode with a senior officer. It wasn't too exciting until the end of the night when we responded to a walk-in at St. Joe. He had an arterial bleed on his wrist. He was squirting blood everywhere. I immediately grabbed the camera and started taking pictures of the outside. Then I walk in the ER and they said "follow the blood trail". It was pretty nasty, but I held up much better than I thought I would. On the 14th I worked an injury accident and a hit and run. Luckily I sat BOF (badge on the floor) at the station that night so I was able to get all that paperwork done. On the 15th, I assisted SCAT at 11:30 p.m. with a female patdown and was there till 7 a.m. while they executed a search warrant. That is what we call a day killer.

I don't have a copy from the 19th, but I am pretty sure it was uneventful. On the 20th, I didn't do a whole lot. Then around 2:30 a.m. I assisted with an assault case. I was with that until 7 a.m. Another day killer. The 21st was pretty exciting. The night was very slow until I picked up a wanted person out of Pottawatomie county and took them to the jail. While there, one of the other guys in my class had a drunk chick. They were trying to get her back in cuffs to get her into booking when she resisted. I helped wrestler her to the ground where she began kicking. I was trying to control her legs when she kicked me in the face. I didn't notice it, but my arrestee said "she just kicked you in the face". It took a little while to get her in cuffs. People are crazy when they are drunk. We ended up booking also booking her for Battery-LEO. The next day my head hurt pretty good and I had a nice bruise on my right arm. Guess she kicked me there too. When your adrenaline is pumping, you don't feel anything. The 22nd was another crazy night. We got tons of disturbance weapons calls. I got to run hot down Central to an officer in trouble call. Then at about 4:55 a.m a shooting came out just down the street from the station, where I was doing paperwork. I got there and got to talk to a witness. Then I was asked to take him to the 6th floor for detectives to interview. Sounds like they ended up catching the guy that shot the lady in that house.

Baxter has been a bit of a pain and I don't know if I like him yet. He tends to holler alot while I'm sleeping. Usually it's inches from my face. He got declawed Monday. I pick him up today. Justin is going to ride with me tonight. He has spend most of this week getting certified on the M-4. He has training today from 8a.m. to 5 pm, then he has tomorrow off. So we thought this was a good night for him to ride. I'm hoping to learn a lot from him. Monday night Justin and I hung out with some people from our class. We had a good time and it was fun hearing every ones cop stories.

On my own

2009-03-12T18:05:00.004-05:00

As of March 7th, I have been out of training and on my own. My final week of FTO wasn't too crazy. I only road with my training officer 2 days. My official end of phase was Thursday March 5. On Friday, I road with a traffic officer and got Lydar certified.

Saturday, March 7th I was on my own. Just a reminder I am working 4th (9pm - 7 am) with Mon, Tues, Wed off. My first night they wanted both us rookies to ride on our own. However, when Marks and I went out to find a car we had a little trouble. The car I got in, an Impala, had to be jumped. The car Marks got in, the computer didn't work. Those were the only cars left on the lot. Marks was headed to CMF to find a car that might have had repairs completed, when someone who was already there told the Sgt. there weren't any. So, Sgt. decided to pair Marks and I up. However, when I went to log us on the computer, it wouldn't work. "Help Desk" was useless. We took another computer from a downed vehicle and were on our way. It was a pretty slow night. Most of the calls were pretty routine. The only thing that sucked was when they sent us on 2 officer calls, we were the only ones there. There were no senior officers to ask questions to.

Then, Sunday I was finally on my own. It was another slow night. I did a club check with a couple other officers and they ended up finding a crap load of cocaine on some people. I helped transport to jail. That was the most exciting thing all night. I got so desperate for entertainment that I wrote a parking ticket. Don't park left wheels to curb on my beat.

Then, I had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off. As a reward for finishing my training I got a cat. He's a cute little pain in the butt. He pretty much lies around all the time. He is very affectionate and talks...alot. We named him Baxter.

First week of final phase

2009-02-28T14:08:00.003-06:00

Well, I've had 10 weeks of pretty much routine stuff. Nothing too crazy. I think I was saving it up for this week. I know it's hard to believe but I can't actually remember what I did the first few days. I know it was very nice out. I worked a couple of crazy accidents. It seems like nothing I roll up on can be routine. Then, Thurs night at approximately 2:30 a.m. (I get off at 3 am.) I was headed out out east because the Sgt. said he had a car going eastbound in the westbound lanes. I was northbound on Woodlawn coming up to Kellogg when I saw a car at a high rate of speed make the u-turn from WB Kellogg to EB Kellogg. So, I started to follow it. It ran the stop sign on Kellogg drive. Then I got behind it at Rock road where it ran the light there. The whole time I'm praying that this guy is not drunk. So, I lit him up and he kept going. It wasn't some crazy high speed chase. Our speeds were less than 25mph. He took the road that curves around behind the shopping center there. Then he pulled over a bailed.

My FTO got out first and started chasing him. Then after I got our car parked I jumped out. As I was taking off to help my FTO, I saw back up lights on the other car. Then I heard a crunch. So, I went back to where my FTO was and he had him tazered. I jumped the fence faster than I ever though I could. I jumped on him and put him in cuffs.

Then I found out that he might be the vehicle in another Hit and Run that other officers were working. So, a good night. We got a bad guy. I didn't get out of the station till 7 a.m.

I have 3 more days of FTO. My FTO has Friday off so my end of phase will be Thursday. Not sure what they are gong to do with me Friday. I'll probably ride as a 2 officer unit. Then, Saturday I'm on my own. I was given 4th shift (9pm-7am) with Mon-Tues-Wed off. I've been told I have 37 beat which goes from Oliver to Webb, Kellogg to Central. It shouldn't bee too bad on 4th shift since the stores at the mall will be closed down.

Justin and I are still doing really well. We just had our 6 month anniversary. He filled out some paperwork to be put on the lease here. He's letting me get a cat once I get out of FTO and have a regular schedule. Since Justin doesn't want the kitty litter in his bathroom, we are fixing up the spare bedroom for the kitty. Since Samson seems to like to eat kitty litter and its contents I have decided to elevate the kitty's litter box. So, I am gonna go to the DAV and try to find a table.

That's all for now. I'll blog more after my final phase and after my first few days on my own. This week I'll work Tues-Fri on 3rd for final phase. Since our pay period starts on Saturday, that is my first day of my new schedule. So, I'll also work Sat and Sun. on 4th shift. So, six days in a row. That should be fun.

3 more weeks

2009-02-16T09:43:00.002-06:00

I know, it's been a long time since my last blog. It has just been hard to get motivated to do much on my days off. I did 4 weeks on 4th shift (9pm-7am) and was just getting used to that schedule when I moved to 1st (7am-5pm). I am just starting to get used to 1st shift. I have gotten out of the apartment more this weekend. I had this Saturday off for President's day. I go back on Wed. for the last week of phase 3.

My phase 3 FTO is pretty hard on me. He knows a lot of stuff, especially about gangs and Plainview. I'm getting a wake up call to the fact that 13 year old boys are as violent as adults. It's been hard adjusting to thinking the world is a good place to not trusting anyone and thinking any person you could stop might want to kill you.

I still haven't done anything too exciting yet. I was riding with another officer the other day when he noticed a car in the driveway of someone wanted for murder, but he was supposedly out of the state. We called detectives and they got info from a CI that the guy was there. We were sent to secure the house until SWAT showed up. We were to make sure no one came or went. I grabbed my shotgun and went to the front of the house. Me and my FTO for the day had the front door. Eventually SWAT showed up and moved us back. I was about 50 ft from the front door when the suspect walked out the front door. He was taken into custody without incident. Then we got to sit on the house for the rest of the day while the narcotics unit secured a search warrant. I got to be there when narcs showed up to execute the search warrant. I saw all kinds of drugs and paraphernalia that I had never seen before. The guy was Albert Thomas. He was accused of killing a girl in Plainview last summer.

That's about as exciting as it has gotten. Justin has been assigned to 2nd shift (2:30pm - 11 pm) with Tues. Wed. off. I'm hoping my schedule will work with that. I know I will definitely have Tues and Wed. off so that will be nice. He also gets his own car since he graduated first in his class.

End of Week 2 in Phase 2

2009-01-10T04:34:00.002-06:00

Sorry it has been so long since I blogged. Switching to 4th shift (9 p.m. - 7 a.m.) has been pretty hard to get used to. I get home at dawn and get up when it's dusk. I'm outside mostly during the night time. I feel like a vampire. I went outside one day when it was sunny to walk Samson I my eyes hurt from the bright light. By the time I get used to this schedule, I go to first shift. That transition is really going to suck.

Anyway, I really don't feel like I have gotten into much during the past 3 weeks. I had my first disturbance with a weapon in week 2 of phase 1. I got to draw my gun and point it at people. I am pretty sure we were put out as "officer in trouble" because every law enforcement officer in the county showed up. I was one of the first officers on a shooting call. No victims at the residence, but there was lots of people to deal with. There was also lots of dried blood in the garage. I got to babysit shell casings for 3 hours till the lab came and collected them.

I had my first DUI last week. It was a pretty easy one because he was hammered and kept telling me he was. I wasn't even able to complete fields on him. Then I got him to the jail and he started getting mouthy. I went to grab his arm and he pulled away from me. At that point all the officers in the vicinity were on the guy. I got to grab and twist his arm back and then put him in cuffs. Somehow (well, I know now but I didn't know then) my cuffs got locked up. So, as I was trying to slap them on him they weren't working. He'll probably feel that in the morning. The jail deputies drug him into the jail and put him in a holding cell.

Right now I have a really good FTO and an awesome Sgt. They have realized I have good instincts and make good decisions but I have some confidence issues. So, they have kind of decided to jump start me into a phase 3 and 4 mode and pretty much let me run my own show. The first day they did that, I actually felt like I was having fun. They said they noticed a huge increase in my confidence. I even got an E (excellent) for my self-initiated activity. I also got an E for the day I got my DUI for self-initiated activity because I decided on my own to sit off a problem bar. I wasn't even looking for a DUI. This bar has a huge gang clientele. I was really just looking for someone with a warrant. And, there are always disturbances in the parking lot of this place.

Anyway, I start week 3 of phase 2 tomorrow night. This last week Justin has also been on their 3rd shift (10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m.). However, we don't have a single night off together. We do both work Saturdays and Tuesdays. I am not sure what shift he will be on or what his schedule will be after this Saturday. Hopefully he won't be in FTD much longer and he will be on his own regular schedule.

Week 1 FTO

2008-12-21T22:58:00.002-06:00

Well, I graduated. Now I have 12 weeks of field training (FTO). I started last Tuesday. I am working 3rd shift (5 p.m. - 3 a.m.). My FTO (field training officer) is pretty cool. He is very laid back and doesn't yell. Our first call of my first day was to a suspicious character. When we pulled up we found a car with 3 occupants sitting along side the road. The front passenger got out of the car and began to run from the other officer on scene. The car then began to leave. We blocked the road and the car stopped. My FTO said "go check on the other officer". So I took off running in the fresh snow. By the time I got to the other officer, she had the guy in custody. Then I went back to check on my FTO. He had the driver out of the car. I got to take the back passenger into custody since she was a female. We found marijuana on the driver and in the car. We ended up arresting the driver because he also had a warrant. The rest of the calls were babysitting the people down in Plainview. I was sent to a shots fired call because they had 3 females that needed searched. There doesn't seem to be many females out east so I will probably become a professional at searching. One day last week I also got to search a CI (confidential informant). This is an actual strip search. Believe me, it wasn't the funnest thing to do. I worked a juvenile shoplift, quite a few domestic violence reports, a runaway, and have done a few traffic stops. This week I work Tuesday and Wednesday and get Thursday and Friday off. Then, Saturday I start phase 2. I'll be working 4th shift (9pm - 7 a.m.) with Wed, Thurs, Fri. off. I'll be in this phase for 4 weeks.

I have uploaded all the photos from graduation to my Picasa online photo album. You can get to them by clicking My Photos under my Favorite Links to the right. If anyone has any good photos please e-mail them to me at tgrimes@cox.net. I really don't think I have one good photo of Justin and I where we are both looking in the same direction. I'd like to get a good one to frame.

2 Days Left

2008-12-10T20:09:00.003-06:00

It's been a pretty fun week so far. Things at the academy have been pretty laid back. Tuesday we took our group photos. Below is the WPD photo. I am on the 3rd row, 3rd from the left. I think they found the worst picture that they took and printed it. Then Deputy Chief Moses came in and taught racial profiling and we had a brief review of our city government. Then we went downtown and took our individual photo. Then today we had our final PT assessment. I did 48 sit-ups (in one minute). I did 41 in my initial assessment on day 1. I did 40 push ups. I did 21 on day 1. Since we had some crappy weather move in yesterday, we didn't have to do the cooper run (1 1/2 miles) and we didn't have to do the 300 yd dash. Then, we had our Chaplin and shrinks in. WE had our final exam. I got a 92%. Then in the evening, our families (mom and dad came) showed up for an Emotional Stress seminar. The main topic was officer suicide. Mom and dad got to tour the facility. Not that it is too exciting. It is pretty much an old elementary school.

Below is some info regarding graduation. Basically directions to the parking lots on campus that we can use.

Graduation Week - 4 days to go

2008-12-08T20:52:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to update you on my FTO schedule. My first 2 weeks I will be on 3rd shift with Sat., Sun., and Mon's off. This means that I will be working Christmas Eve and Christmas. Then I switch to Phase 2. I will be on 4th shift for 4 weeks with Wed., Thurs., and Friday's off. That means I get New Years Eve and New Years off. Then, in Phase 3 I will spend 4 weeks on 1st shift with Sun., Mon., and Tues. off. Then, I will go back to 3rd for my final 2 weeks for my final phase of FTO. Here is a picture of Justin and I that I took this morning before we headed to class.

End of Week 22

2008-12-07T14:05:00.007-06:00

Well, one week left. This next week is mostly administrative stuff to finish up the academy. We get to start wearing our tan uniforms on Monday. As for last week, Thursday we had Juvenile Intervention. We also had our blood drive for the battle of the badges. Then that night, Justin and I went into Hutchinson to watch Paige in her 3rd grade Christmas program. It was really cool. I hadn't been to anything like that since I was in 3rd grade and I had never been on the audience side before. I actually had a lot of fun. Then on Friday we spent the day at the range doing our tactical shooting. Since there were 33 of us out there we didn't get a lot in. We did get to shoot the tazer at an actual target. One of the range masters put on a suit and acted out a scenario. I was the one that got to deploy the tazer. We did more shooting from the ground and shooting if you are disabled. We did some drills where we shot, reloaded, and pulled the gun out of the holster with only one hand. Then, Friday night, the Sheriff's department group took their Sgt. and FTD out to dinner. It was cool hanging out with those guys. Their Sgt and FTD are really cool. On Saturday we had our class party. We went out to Blank's house that is a few miles south of Augusta. For the most part, the usual people showed up. There were a few people that showed up that surprised me. I think we all had a good time. Here are a few pictures. The first pic is and and Smith. The second one is me and Maxfield. The last one is me and Weidner.

Middle of week 22

2008-12-03T19:04:00.003-06:00

Well, since I have lots of stuff to talk about, I decided to blog early this week (and mom was bitching about me not telling her about getting tazed). So, Monday we had our tazer training. I made sure I jumped in when they did the group one. Basically there were 3 of us. They hooked one probe (alligator clip) to my right hip. Then they hooked a clip to Richardson's left hip. Weidner was in the middle and we all held hands. We told him we only wanted to take a second. He hit the button and everyone said it sounded like choir practice. I felt most of the pain in my left arm. I just remember grabbing Weidner's hand with my right and trying to get her to let go of me. I don't know how many of you have accidentally been shocked by an electrical pug, but it feels like that but you don't let go. We only did a 1 second ride, but it felt like 10. Advice: if you ever get a Tazer aimed at you, comply!

Today we had our defensive tactics review. Basically we reviewed everything that we have done all 22 weeks in 8 hours. I feel like it got ran over by a truck. Also today, Deputy Chief Lee came in and gave us our assignments. I am going East. The basic boundaries for east side are...North boundaries: 13th to Rock, then up to 29th. East boundaries: city limits to the Butler county line. South boundaries: City limits over to 135. West Boundaries: 135 up to Kellogg then over to Hydraulic. Yes, we have Plainview. Little interesting info...there have been 3 officer involved shootings while we were in the academy. One was out west where an officer got shot. The other 2 were out east. No officers were shot in those...2 were pepper sprayed. I should know my FTO schedule by Thursday of next week.

Justin got his badge today. So, next Monday we are all wearing our regular uniforms to the academy. maybe I'll figure out how to use the timer on my camera and get a picture of us.

End of Week 21

2008-12-01T18:38:00.006-06:00

We had a short week this week. On Monday we did our mock trial. Judge Paul Clark was our judge. I am pretty sure the guy has been doing this for 100 years. I didn't get to testify (not real heart broken). On Tuesday we had our 11th test. I got an 89%. Then we had Career Development, Racial Profiling, and EJustice (records software). Then Tuesday night, a bunch of us got together and had a game night. It was tons of fun. Then Wednesday, I worked from 4pm - 12:30 am. The first 4 hours I spent at the Jail. The first hour or so I got to roam around with a rover. We went into a few of the pods. I went into one of the pods where the Deputy sits right out there with the inmates. I could never do that. Then I spent the last 3 hours in Master Control. This is where they control all the doors, elevators, and all access points. I was down there for about 30 minutes when they had an incident in the pod I was just in. I guess they couldn't get one of the inmates to go to his cell. I am not sure of all the details, but the guy I spent the 1st hour with called down to master control and told me that the incident in that pod was all my fault. Not sure of all the details, but the guy ended up getting 5 days lock down for the incident. For the next 4 hours I was up in dispatch. I ended up spending the night with the EMS dispatcher. It was pretty interesting. It was interesting to see how you get one call from 911 and EMS, Fire, and PD all get dispatched. The room gets pretty crazy when something big comes in.

Then on Thursday (Thanksgiving), I went with Justin to Hutchinson to be with his family. He had warned me about his crazy family, but I really didn't think it was any different than any other family. Here is a picture of us that Justin's daughter Paige took.

We were pretty lazy the rest of the weekend. Thursday night we set up the x-mas tree. Friday went to see Four Christmases with some of our friends from the academy. Then on Saturday I drug Justin to the Arts and Crafts Fair at Century II. We got some new x-mas ornaments. Then that night we went cosmic bowling with Rebecca and her family. Then Sunday we just did some chores around the house.

We have 2 weeks left of the academy. This week is going to be pretty fun. I got tazed today. We have a full day of defensive tactics on Wednesday. On Thursday we have the blood drive for the battle of the badges. We have tactical handgun on Friday. Friday the sheriff's department is taking their instructors to dinner so I get to tag along to that. Then Saturday is our class party. But you will have to wait till next blog for all of that.

End of Week 20

2008-11-23T13:48:00.003-06:00

I'm about a week behind. Week 19 wasn't too exciting. Monday we had grade crossing accident investigation and HAZ-MAT. Tuesday we had the day off for Veterans day. Wednesday we had NCIC (National Crime Information Center) and MCT (Mobile Computer Terminal). We also had our 10th exam. It got an 87%. They posted our grades before this test and I am in 3rd. Thursday we had Child Abuse and Critical Incident Team. Then on Friday we did our Crime Scene practicals. I had a different role in each of the 3 scenes. I was the detective, then I was the photographer, then I was the Supervisor.

That weekend (Nov. 14-16), Justin and I went to KC for the weekend. We figured it would be our last chance to get out of town together for a while. I got to eat at Manny's. We went to Bass Pro Shop and the Legends Mall.

Week 20 (Nov. 17-21) - Monday we were out at the range. We did some stuff with the shotgun, but most of the day we did handgun drills. Tuesday, in the morning we had NIMS (National Incident Management System). Then in the afternoon we were back at the range. We got to do a tactical course. That was fun. We got to use cover, transition from shotgun to handgun, drag a body, and shoot multiple targets on the move. Then we got to use the $50K simulator downstairs at the range that only works every now and then. Luckily for me it works when I was down there. It was tons of fun and I got to yell at a screen in an empty room. Then I got to shoot some people. Wed. we had Interview and Interrogation practicals. We just got to do more interviews from the Crime Scene practical from last Friday. Then we had our classroom portion of Active Shooter training. Thursday we had Crime Prevention, Conceal and Carry, and Drug Test Kits. Then on Friday we got to go back to Longfellow for Active Shooter training. This training was lots of fun, very stressful, but fun. When we got to our sim scenarios at the end of the day, I only got shot once...in the ass, again.

Here is the info on our graduation:
Date: December 12, 2008
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: Friends University, Alumni Auditorium, Davis Hall, 3rd Floor. (clock tower building)

End of week 18

2008-11-09T17:05:00.002-06:00

Well, this week we finally got to gear up and do some rides with our uniforms. Monday we had some classroom stuff. We learned about crowd control, 911, and court testimony. Also, Deputy Chief Moses came in and gave us all our badges. Then, Tuesday, I rode up North with a community policing officer. Usually they work special community projects in their area, but we ended up making quite a few calls. We got 2 cases. Both were for vandalism. I got to help out at my first injury accident. There were 9 people transported code green. Three of them were children. I know what you are thinking, was it a bus, nope, it was a suburban packed to the max.

One Wednesday, I rode with one of the female officers up north on 2nd watch (11 a.m. - 7 p.m.). We weren't nearly as busy as Tuesday. On both of these days the officers let me drive. They worked the radio and other buttons. I just drove. The only case we pulled on Tuesday was a burglary report. I got to write the report and I am pretty sure she turned mine in.

Thursday, I rode 3rd watch out west (5 p.m. - 1 a.m.). I didn't drive, but I was OK with that. I got to work the radio all night. We made 2 traffic stops and I got to radio those in. I did much better this time than I did on Halloween. We got sent to 2 domestic disturbance calls. At the end of the night we assisted at a cutting (which was in the news the next day...that was cool). We were at the cutting location for a while. Then we went to find the suspect. One of the other officers found her and we were there just after she was taken into custody. She decided she wanted to go to the hospital so I got to ride in the ambulance with her. We spent a while at St. Francis. Then it was time for me to get off so we headed back to the station.

Friday, I rode 4th watch out west (9 p.m. - 5 a.m.). It was a pretty slow night. We did some club checks. We also had the pleasure of investigating Vegas Video. We immediately go in and head to the booth area. The thing about those "booths" is that you do not have an "expectation of privacy". Therefore, we are able to just go busting into the rooms without consent. Luckily, there was no one there. I didn't want to see any of that. I saw enough of it on the floor and walls. I still feel dirty. I finally got to drive after 3 a.m., but there was no one out. We were about done when we were dispatched to check the welfare of someone sleeping in their car at Meridian and Orient (the railroad tracks there). When we got there, dude was passed out in his car sitting in southbound traffic. Probably went to sleep while waiting for a train. I tapped on the window and he didn't wake up. So, I opened the door and was hit with a wall of alcohol stench. I told him to turn off the car and take the keys out. He did. Then one of the other officers took him into custody. I did get to do a search of the car. Then, since it was after 5 a.m., they sent another officer to pick me up and I was toted back to the station. Since I made first contact with the guy, I have to call in a tape. It will be my first.

This week we have more classroom stuff. We have Tuesday off due to the holiday. Then on Friday, Justin and I are headed to KC for the weekend. We figured we might as well get a short vacation in now before our schedules get all jacked up. I am looking forward to Manny's.

End of Week 17 - Practical Week

2008-10-31T10:56:00.006-05:00

This week was the most stressful week I have ever had in my life. We did hands on practical situation stuff all week with actors.

Monday and Tuesday, our group did car stop training. The first few were your average daily car stop. Then after that they just got crazy. The hardest part is stopping the car, and getting everything in the car where you want it to be in order to get out of the car (spot lights, lights, grabbing your flashlight, seat belt, putting the car in park, turning your portable radio on). I was the primary officer on 3 car stops on Monday. One went off without a hitch. Then they told me to come back and look in the car. Dude had a gun sitting right on the dashboard. Talk about tunnel vision. Then on Tuesday we learned how to do felony car stops. So, most of Tuesday had crazy scenarios. Some people got beat up, some people got dead. I think I was about the only one in my group that didn't get into any physical altercation.

Then on Wednesday, we did building search. We use Longfellow Elementary at Main and Clark. It is a very old abandoned elementary school. Most of the day we learned the fundamentals. Then we did some light scenarios. Then at night, after dinner, we got to do scenarios with simunition rounds. These are kind of like bullets, but they only come out of the gun at 450 FPS (330 MPH) and the bullet is plastic with a colored substance in them. Our groups first scenario was without sims. We were trying to get a vagrant out of a building. While we were watching him, his buddy jumped out of the back of the room that we hadn't cleared yet. He ran past all the guys on my team and tackled me. I had my gun out, but was having trouble reholstering (he didn't have a weapon so I couldn't shoot him). So, I just rolled over on my gun and let him beat the crap out of me. I just have a bruise (that i can feel, but no one can see) on my jaw. Our next scenario was with the sim guns. We begin clearing a room and start taking fire. We ended up barricading the dude in a back room. We made entry into the room and took him into custody. No one got shot in this one. Then we had our last scenario. It involved clearning a long hall with small rooms and a multi-purpose room. We cleared down to the multi-purpose room. Then they (3 guys from my team) left me and another guy in the hall to cover their backs. When they got inside they realized they couldn't handle it by themselves so they called us in. We were in the entry way when I took my first shots. Hit me in the thighs. I screamed out a lot of expletives, as I was taking cover. Then, next thing I know, I am being grabbed by my collar and drug backwards. I thought it was one of our guys until I took a bunch of close range rounds into my vest. Then I dropped and spun around and started shooting him. I ended up taking one round in the shoulder. Then I got back up and went back to my position. At that point I took a few more rounds in the thighs. Basically it was a cluster at this point. Oh yeah, did I mention that the shooters in this practical were the WPD/SGCO SWAT Team. They can shoot a gnat off a horses ass. They also had long guns instead of pissy little handguns. So, in the end, all but one member of our team got lit up. Below are pics of what sim rounds can do to ya. The first 3 pics are from that night. The last 2 are taken 24 hours later.

Oh yeah, I also took on to the ass, but I am not putting that pic up.

Then, Thursday night we did Domestic Violence scenarios. We used different rooms in the training academy as our residences that we went to. Each one was very interesting. I got to wrestle 2 chicks and one guy into custody. I only had to kill on person and I never got killed. I think I did pretty OK on these scenarios. I was getting my confidence up by the end of the night.

Tonight I have a 3rd shift ride along down south. It's Halloween so it should be interesting. Tomorrow, Saturday, I have the Newton volleyball tournament. Then Sunday I am going to be lazy. I've also got to get my schedule back on track because we worked nights all this week and next week are are back to days.

End of Weeks 15 & 16

2008-10-26T12:47:00.004-05:00

Week 15 - Monday we did the pepper spray. Tuesday we had Officer Survival. We got to hear a lot about line of duty deaths and watch a lot of very scary videos of officer assaults. Wednesday we covered Interview and Interrogation. Thursday we had our 7th test. I don't remember how I scored. Then we covered Building Search lecture. Then the rest of the week we learned about Domestic Violence.

Week 16 - Monday we had night fire qualifications. We learned how to shoot in low light and no light conditions. We also learned to shoot with while using our flashlights. I qualified on my 2nd try. My instructor says I have focus issues. Then Tuesday I was up on the 6th floor with investigations. I got to sit with the Larceny group. Wednesday, we had the class I had been dreading since day one...ground fighting. We learned the basics of Brazilian Jujitsu. After we learned some stuff we got to fight the instructors for a while. I got punched a lot in the ribs and I took a few shots to the face. Then by the end of the day we were fighting each other. By the end of the day, I ended up actually liking it. I kind of got over the issues I had with being so physically close to other people. Thursday we had our 8th test. I got an 86%. Then we covered Pedestrian Stops and Prisoner Transport. We each got to handcuff someone and shove them in the back of a police car. I don't know if you have ever been in the back of a police car, but there is no room back there. Then on Friday, we had our Traffic Stop lecture.

This next week should be pretty eventful. On Monday and Tuesday I'll be at the KS Coliseum doing our traffic stop practicals. I hear they take all the bad things that can happen and put us thru those scenarios. Then on Wednesday we do our building search practical. On Thursday we do our Domestic Violence practicals. Then on Friday, Halloween, we get to do a ride along. I am riding south side, 3rd shift (5 p.m - 1 a.m.). It should be an interesting week.

Then on Saturday, November 1st, I am playing in the Newton volleyball tournament.

Pepper Spray Day

2008-10-14T19:04:00.003-05:00

OK, so pepper spray is the worst thing I have ever experienced in my entire life. First they give you a nice spray across the eyes. Then, you have to run the gauntlet. It consists of getting a suspect to the ground, beating on some pads, beating the dummy with the baton, then handcuffing. All while my eyes were burning like an MF. So, lucky for me, one of the guys had his camera there with video. You will see as I am trying to reholster my gun when the pepper spray kicks in. Then, I beat on Villegas, then I give a good slap to my Lt. Then J. and Justin finally lead me off to water. Here goes. This will be pretty entertaining.

http://s261.photobucket.com/albums/ii58/Coldblue_01/?action=view&current=sept-oct08220.flv

End of Week 14 - EVOC

2008-10-11T21:29:00.002-05:00

This was one of the best weeks so far. We spent Mon., Tues., and Fri. up in Hutchinson at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center (KLETC). Monday we spend most of the day, in the rain, driving thru some slower courses. Working on our precision driving. We did a 90 deg turn at 35 MPH. We did a forward slalom course, then we had to do it backwards. It was actually easier backwards. Then we did a long back thru a tight course and then we had to back into a "garage". I did very well on the first day. I knocked down my share of cones, but made all the courses in the required times. We did get to work on a few parts of the qualifying course on Monday. We worked on zone 2 first. This includes a slalom, a Y back (driving in a garage and backing up), gates (basically another slalom type course), then forward into a garage. I loved the slalom course. It was still pretty wet when we did it so it made it twice as fun. Next we got to work zone 1, which is the beginning of the course. Basically, you have some cones you have to go thru at at least 40 MPH. Then when you are halfway thru they would say left or right and you would make an evasive maneuver thru some more cones. Also, another one of my favorite parts cuz you get to go fast. Then you drive into a garage and back into another garage. Then you pull out into an S turn. We were at KLETC from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the first day.

On Tuesday, we were at KLETC from 10 a.m. till 10:30 p.m. We started the morning by putting zones 1 & 2 together. Then we started on zones 4 & 5. This includes an S backup into a long, fast back up and immediately into a garage. Then you pull out of the garage into a serpentine (S curves with cones on each side). Then you speed ahead into another garage. Then a 90 deg back up into another garage. Then you pull out of there and head for a stop sign. Then, you pull out of there and weave thru some more cones to the finish. In order to qualify you have to do all that in 3 min. One Tues. I didn't have any trouble with times and most of my runs were clean.

Then that night we got to do some night driving thru the course. The first run was with normal headlights. The second run was with brights on. During this run the instructor in the car asked questions to try to stress me out. Then, the last run was with lights and sirens. During this run the instructor is yelling about an officer in trouble. Some instructors got more animated than others. My instructor was pretty calm. That was my best run all day. Also, while we were out at KLETC we got to eat in their cafeteria for free. I felt like I was back in college. The food was actually pretty good.

On Wednesday, I did a ride along. I was out west for this 2nd shift (11 a.m. - 9 p.m.) ride. It wasn't very eventful. We did get in a chase. It was low speed thru a residential area. The guy just drove an extra 3 blocks just to park in his driveway. Then I had Thursday off. That was really nice. I pretty much did nothing.

Friday we were back out at KLETC to qualify on the course. We had to be there by 9:30 a.m. We weren't sure how long we would be there. It just depended on how long it took everyone to qualify. The morning went really well and everyone from WPD qualified on their first run. I was up first after lunch. My first practice run was pretty clean except for I overshot the garage on the long back and I had to make a correction. I still made it in 2:40. My second practice run again was good except I screwed up the 90 deg back and had to pull forward and back up again. I did that one in 2:45. My qualifying run went really well. Again, I screwed up the 90 deg garage (something I hadn't screwed up once on Tues). I did qualify on my first run with a time of 2:50. We ended up getting done by 3:30 p.m.

Since we were done early, I went with Justin into Hutchinson (he lives there). We decided this would be a good time for me to meet his daughter. We picked her up from school and took her to dinner. She is pretty awesome. She reminds me of me when I was that age. Then we took her to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Today I did pretty much nothing. Tomorrow, we were voluntold to do the Walk for Unity. I convinced Justin to bring Paige into Wichita and they could walk it with me. I think most of our PD class will be there.

As for next week, we are back at the academy. For all your entertainment, Monday I get pepper sprayed. If my eyes aren't swollen shut I will blog about it Monday night. Please have me in your thoughts because I hear it isn't a great time.

End of Week 12 & 13

2008-10-05T18:45:00.002-05:00

Week 12 we had another week of classroom junk. We did have our 6th test on Monday. I got a 98%. Monday we learned about booking into the SG Co jail. K-9 was in. I really enjoyed when the dog destroyed a cabinet with wood doors looking for the bag of marijuana they put in there. Then we went over Civil Process Serving. Tues. we had our CSI group in. Wed. we had narcotic and controlled substance. We did a controlled burn of Marijuana. That stuff is nasty smelling. We also learned about Surveillance and Informants. Thurs. the CSI unit was back in. We also covered traffic enforcement and traffic control. We got to go down the street and do traffic control at an intersection. Luckily we have a lot of people in class and I didn't have to get out there. We also covered Alarm Ordinances, Crime Stoppers, and Clandestine Labs. Friday we also covered Civil Liabilities, Forensic Computers, and Alcohol Beverage and Control. Then on Saturday, a few of us from the academy ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I actually ran the whole 5K without stopping. I finished it in 35 min. I was glad to have my new boyfriend Justin running with me. If he weren't there, I probably would have walked a lot more. Then on Sunday, I volunteered for the WPD Show and Shine Car Show. I was there for a few hours in the morning to help set up.

Week 13 got pretty interesting. On Monday and Tuesday we did Standard Field Sobriety Testing. For those of you who didn't see channel 12 news on Monday, we had a bunch of volunteers come in and get drunk for us. Then we did a battery of field sobriety test on them. On Wednesday, we actually got certified. We also covered driving while under the influence of drugs. Then on Thurs., we did handgun retention. Then, Thursday after work we played a little flag football. It was WPD vs the Sheriff's Office. It was a lot of fun, but in the end, they ended up beating us. On Friday we covered Legal Aspects of Emergency Vehicle Operations and Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics. This was the classroom course for the stuff we get to do this coming week. Monday and Tuesday I will be up in Hutchinson at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center for Emergency Vehicle Operations Course (EVOC). This is another Pass/Fail class. I have to finish the obstacle course on Friday in under 3 minutes. I'll try to blog next weekend so I can let everyone know how this week went.

End of week 11

2008-09-20T13:35:00.002-05:00

Well, I have been a little behind with my posts. I spent the first of this month moving. I am starting to get more organized, but things are still a little crazy. Samson and I have been in our new apartment since Sept. 6th. I think he likes all the space he has, but I think he is pretty lonely since he doesn't have someone around all the time like he used to. I have someone that comes and takes him for walks every afternoon so that might help a little.

Anyway, as for the academy. I left off pretty much at the end of last month. Week 9: On Sept. 2nd, we had an observation day. I got to spend my day in Sex Crimes. I think it is a great department, but it is nothing like Law and Order SVU. We did get to see them interrogate a suspect about a rape. That was pretty interesting. Then on Sept. 3rd and 4th, we were out at the range with shotgun training. Not a huge fan of the shotgun. It's big and heavy with some kick to it. I came home the first day with a bruise on my shoulder and cheek. It took me 4 tries to qualify. When I did finally qualify I got a perfect score. We even ran the course again that afternoon and I got a 53/54. At least I finally figured it out. However, not my weapon of choice. Then that Friday, we had reactive knife training. Mainly we spent all day blocking, deflecting, and throwing each other on the mat. I ended up with a swollen wrist by the end of the day.

Week 10: Monday and Tues. we had Verbal Judo aka Tactical Communication. Then on Tues. we had Robbery and Dealing with Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Wed. and Thurs. mainly dealt with traffic accidents and traffic code. Not a huge fan of working traffic accidents. So, if any of you are in an accident and I get called out, I will punch you in the face. =). Then on Friday we had Sex Crimes and SANE/SART (nurses who take the rape kits at the hospital).

Week 11: Monday - Wednesday we worked on more traffic accident investigations. We did do some PT this week. Monday we ran a little over 3 miles. Then, Wednesday we did our 300 FT dash and the Cooper Run. We ran the Cooper Run in squads. My squad can kick my ass at the 1 1/2 so they just let me pace it. We ended up being the squad with the fastest time. Then on Thurs. we got to do Close Quarters Combat. This was learning to punch and kick. Good stuff, but I'm pretty sure I won't be punching anyone anytime soon. I have little fragile hands. I'm more a fan of the heal of my hand and the elbows. Then Friday I did an observation day. I rode 2nd watch North side. I actually ended up riding with the officer that was Andy's primary FTO. He was pretty laid back. We really didn't get into anything too exciting. We did get to go fast and go to the jail.

I haven't written down next weeks schedule so I don't know what we are doing. I know Monday we have our next test. I'm gonna spend the day studying for that.

End of Week 8 - Handgun Quals

2008-08-31T09:55:00.002-05:00

I just want to thank everyone for the e-mails, texts, and calls wondering if I passed this week. I did pass. I got a 180 out of 240. 161 is passing. This might be the only time you ever hear me say...well, at least I passed. My goal was a 200 because my highest score all week was 191. My hands are all beat up from all the shooting this week. Next week we have our observation day on Tuesday. I get to spend the day in the Sex Crimes Division. Then Wed. and Thurs. we are back out at the range for shotgun training. That should be fun since I have never shot a shotgun. Then Fri. we have reactive knife training.

Also next week, I will probably spend most of my nights packing. As soon as my new apartment is ready I am moving. I am staying in the same complex so my address won't change...just my apartment number.

I am at Table Rock right now hanging out with my parents. I get back into town Monday afternoon. Hope everyone has a good and safe holiday weekend.

End of Week 7

2008-08-26T18:33:00.005-05:00

Well, last week started off pretty boring but ended really cool. We had our 4th exam on Monday. I covered that in my last blog. It ended up getting an 87%. They finally posted the class grades. I am #2 in class right behind my car pool buddy. She only has me by .3 points though. There are about 5 of us that are within 1 point of each other. I will have to stay on my game to maintain my GPA. Right now it is 91.5.

Tuesday we had a class on weapons of mass destruction. Pretty interesting, but for the most part I knew a lot about that because I watch a lot of military shows. We also had some more attorneys in for some classes...Use of Legal Force, Title 3 (Drinking Laws). Then Wednesday afternoon we had the gang unit in. I didn't know squat about gang activity, but after their presentation I know kind of what to look for. Also, it put another check mark on the side of never wanting to have kids.

Then Thursday and Friday morning we were out at the gun range. We were issued our weapons. I get to carry a 40 caliber Glock. Then Friday afternoon we got to go out to the bomb range. The WPD Bomb range is out in BFE. Basically you go to the Viola intersection at K42 and take 111th street west to the county line. They bbq'd some burgers and brats for us. Then we got a nice PowerPoint presentation that had some pretty gory pictures that I, of course, couldn't look at. Then they took us down range and blew some stuff up.

This week we are at the gun range doing our handgun practicals. Yesterday we went thru 300 rounds each. Not sure what we shot today, but it was alot. My hands are killing me. When I am done here I'm gonna go soak my hands in ice water. I have blisters on 4 fingers. By Friday I will know if I qualified. This week is pretty much do or die. If I can't shoot the course, I'm out of the class. No pressure though. I'll be out of town all weekend so I will catch everyone up on Monday night when I get back in town. Have a good holiday weekend.

End of Week 6

2008-08-18T20:39:00.004-05:00

Another week down. It was another boring week with mostly classroom stuff. Here is what we covered this week: Juvenile Law/Custody, Financial Crimes, Admissions and Confessions, Rules of Evidence, Crime Scene and Death Investigations, Emergency Response & Pursuit Driving, Road Block and Barricades, and Title 5 (city ordinances). The most interesting class was the Death Investigations. We had Lt. Landwehr in a few times this week. He covered a few local homicides. We got the info (including very detailed pictures) of the Cornelius Oliver murders. This was the other quadruple homicide 5 days before the Carr brothers. Then we got all the gory details of the Carr brothers quadruple homicide. We also got details on the incident at the Crown Chase apartments out south where the lady was beheaded and the apartment set on fire. Let's just say, there are images in my head that I'm never going to get rid of. Lesson's learned...if you think someone is following you, don't go home. Duh!!!!!

We did have one day of PT. We got to run east on 37th street to where it meets up with the big ditch. Then we got to run up and down the burm. I ended up having a pretty good asthma attack and got to ride the Sheriff's police car back to the academy. I went to the Dr. the next day and got some new medications.

We had a big test today. It covered the last 3 weeks. We didn't get the results back yet, but I don't think too many people did very well. I did pass. That is about the only info I could get out of the Lt. Today after the test we got instruction on how to deploy stop sticks. Not as easy as you might think. By the end of the session, I was doing pretty well. Then we had more Title 5 crap. This week we finally get to go to the range. Will update more on Friday or this weekend.

End of week 5

2008-08-08T20:10:00.003-05:00

Let's just say this week was the most boring week so far. I drank more caffeine than ever this week. We had 1 assistant district attorney and 2 Deputy District Attorney's in this week. This week we had KS Justice System, Criminal Law Codes, Constitutional Law, Laws of Arrest, 4th Amendment (search and seizure), Admission and Confession (more 4th Amendment stuff), Burglary, and we got our first round of hepatitis shots. That's about as exciting as it gets. Next week is more classroom crap. Lt. Ken Landwehr will be in a few days next week. I hear his presentation is pretty interesting. Tonight I am meeting some of the girls downtown for one of their birthdays. Then tomorrow we have a pool party for the whole class. Then Sunday I have a huge beat map to draw up. Should be fun.

Bruises

2008-07-31T22:21:00.005-05:00

Ok, I finally got some bruises to show up. However, it still doesn't look as bad as it feels. The picture on the left is of my common peroneal nerve strikes on my left leg. The picture on the right is the same strike. You can see I kind of had to rotate my leg over so you can see the bruises. I also have a bruise at the tibial nerve (upper calf) on my left leg. I also have a ton of small bruised areas on my upper arms. I have a pretty good bruise on my upper left arm from swinging the baton incorrectly and whacking myself. I can see a good bruise there, but I don't think it will show up on pi cutes. I also have a few small bruises on my femoral nerve (inner thigh). Just think, tomorrow is suppose to be worse. Can't wait.

Middle of Week 4

2008-07-30T18:29:00.003-05:00

So, I figured if I waited till the end of the week to write about this week I'd miss something cool. This is what I call ass whoopin' week. Monday we had a defensive driving course. It was a real snore. The only good thing that will come of that is that when I get my certificate I can send it to my insurance company and hopefully get a discount. However, then I have to let them know I'm in law enforcement and they will probably hike up my life insurance rates. Tuesday we learned handcuffing. Don't know how many of you have ever been handcuffed, but it isn't a pleasant experience. Well, try being hand cuffed over and over again for 6 hours. First we learned how to fall. Yes, there is a technique to it. Then we went into take down moves and speed cuffing. My right wrist is sufficiently bruised and swollen. The crappy thing is that I don't show bruises that well, so I can't put up any pictures. However, I learned some great take down moves with the cuffs and without. I'm ready to hit the bar and have someone grab my ass. Just kidding. We did do some PT along with the handcuffing. I went to sit down this morning at the computer and about jumped out of the chair my ass hurt so bad. I figured it was from the fall stuff, but then I remembered I did one squat yesterday. One 10 count squat. 10 counts down....10 counts up. It sucked. Today we learned about the mechanics of an arrest. Just classroom stuff. Then we got to have our baton training class. First they gave us foam batons. They showed us where to hit on the legs and arms that would make someone buckle. However, being hit with a long metal stick I think would do the trick. So, for about 3 hours we beat the crap out of each other with the foam baton. I have nice bruised areas on my upper thigh, my forearm, bicep, and my upper calf. Then we got to beat the crap out of a dummy with our real batons. I could have played with those foam batons all day long. It was fun. Tomorrow, we have the Mechanics of self defense. This class is all classroom. Then Friday, they we get to beat the crap out of each other again using pressure points. Andy says this is the class that is really going to hurt. I'm thinking that sucks since the last two days have been pretty brutal. I'll let you know how the rest of the week goes on Friday...or Saturday if I am too wore out. If any of these spots on my legs become good bruises, I'll take pictures.

End of Week 3

2008-07-26T13:41:00.003-05:00

Well, it was another boring week of sitting in a classroom for 8 hours straight listening to lectures and viewing power point presentations. By Friday, my brain was fried. We did have a test on Tuesday covering week 1 & 2 stuff. I got a 92%. We have another test this Tuesday. This week we learned about Cultural Awareness, Fingerprinting (I suck at pulling prints), ID of Suspects, Larceny, Tittle 11 (city traffic ordinances), Crisis Negotiations, Felony Assault, Intro to Community Policing, Problem Solving, Arson, ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children), Infectious Disease, and Crimes in Progress. Luckily, Friday afternoon we got some PT time. We did a 30 min Plyometrics workout and started with some defensive tactics basics. The type of martial arts we are learning is called SYSTEMA. It is a form of Russian martial arts used in the Russian Special Forces. The other girl in my class that is closest to my build and physical ability is like some black belt in martial arts. We got to spend some time hitting some hand pad things. I look forward to next week when we get to do a lot more stuff out of the class room.

End of week 2

2008-07-19T13:20:00.004-05:00

Well, this week wasn't nearly as exciting as last week. This week was mostly classroom stuff. We learned about ethics, dealing with special populations (mental illness and elderly), Office of Central Inspection (housing codes), Kansas Incident Based Reporting System (KIBRS) (basically the foundation for all our reports), Field Notes, and Professional Standards (previously known as IA). I welcomed the 2 days we had of PT. I will spend all of my weekend finishing up reading our Policy and Regulations Manual. Then we have a test on Tues. that I also have to study for. The academy is definitely tough and I am mentally exhausted. I pretty much go to class all day and study, do homework, and polish my shoes every night. Next week looks like more of the same. We get a little reprieve from the classroom in a couple weeks because we have a few days of defensive tactics and handcuffing. Maybe I'll have some nice bruises to take pictures of.

Academy

2008-07-13T18:48:00.004-05:00

I decided to try on all my gear for the academy tomorrow. I spent 20 minutes ironing my shirts perfectly yesterday. I have nice creases in my sleeves. I also probably spent 2 hours polishing my shoes. That isn't as easy of a task as I thought. I have gotten lots of different advice from lots of different people. I put them on today and got a bunch of creases, so I had to buff them out some more. We will see how the Lt's like them tomorrow. I spent most of the weekend studying. We had 2 study groups. We had about 7 show up yesterday and about 11 show up today. We will probably do study groups every weekend. If not just to study, but to let the group get to know each other better. Anyway, I told mom I would post a picture of me in my academy uniform. You can't really see my shiny shoes in this pic.

A day at the lake

2008-07-12T12:20:00.003-05:00

Yes, it sounds real fun, but it isn't what you might think. After Monday, the rest of the week was mainly classroom stuff. Pretty boring. I kind of like the PT at the end of the day because it give me energy for the evening. If we don't PT, I just want to go home and crash after 8 hours in the classroom. So, Friday, they took us out the the WPD SGSO (sheriff) range out at Lake Afton. This is where SWAT does all their PT training. Most people driving by have probably never seen it, but there is a huge obstacle course behind the shooting burm. It has about 10 obstacles. First, me and my partner (I picked one of the bulky guys), had to go over a privacy fence high gate. Then, you have to jump a chain link fence; climb 3 rungs to a window, go thru and climb down the other side; run thru a cement culvert; then there was a 4 ft wall; then was the worst thing on the course, it's hard to explain but the top level you had to jump to was about 8ft off the ground. Doesn't sound too high, but when you are jumping horizontally to the next rung...it's high. I got a nice abrasion from that obstacle. Then we had 3 low step logs to go over, they are about knee high. I did pretty well with those because I have long legs, so I was able to just bounce right thru them. Then was the dreaded monkey bars. I couldn't do them in middle school and I can't do them now. Next was a couple long balance beams at a couple different heights. Not too easy with 25 MPH winds. Then we had to climb up about 4 rungs that were about 10-15 ft high. Get over and climb down. The last obstacle was about 6 stumps at different heights that we had to bound over. Then we went for a jog around the lake to the south end where the dam was. We did some sprints up and down the dam. Then we jogged back around to the swimming area on the west side of the lake. We got in 2-row formation in the water. I formed up in the back row first. Then, they went along pushing the person in the front row and we had to catch them. I got a skinny guy and I only dipped him in the water once. Then when I got on the front row, they never pushed me. So, he never had to catch me. Then we did some push-ups. In the water, they aren't that bad. Then we had to run out and around some of our fellow recruits that were out further in the water. Then we had a nice easy, soggy run back to the range. At the range, we had to do some push-ups, flutter kicks, and pull ups (I can't do pull ups). Then we had to lunge about 50 yds. That was it. I personally didn't think it was too bad. I had a good time. They talked it up like it was going to be hell. We have our first test Monday. We have study groups set up today and tomorrow for everyone. Hopefully with some teamwork everyone will do good on the test Monday. At the study group today, we are not only going to study, but we are also going to learn how to polish our shoes and iron nice lines in our uniforms. We get to wear our blues on Monday. I'll make sure I get a picture so I can post it up. The blues aren't too exciting. They will be more interesting looking when we have our vests and duty belts strapped on.

On another note, Friday got police radios to take home for the duration of the academy. I listened to mine most of the night Friday. I turned it off at about 11:15 to go to bed. Andy called me at 1:30 a.m. to see if I had been listening when the Officer Down call came out at 11:30 p.m. He wanted to let me know it wasn't one of our friends from the West side. I missed it by 15 min. I guess a west side WPD officer was checking a suspicious character and the guy pulled a gun and shot him. Luckily, he only got shot in the leg and he is going to recover. The suspect however, ran a ways down the street then turned the gun on himself. He died early this morning. Andy said it took 9 seconds for it to go from a suspicious character call to an officer down call. I am sure this is something that will be discussed in length on Monday in class.

First Day

2008-07-07T18:03:00.006-05:00

The first day wasn't too bad. We had PT immediately when we got there. Push-ups and flutter kicks are no fun in slacks and dress shoes. Then we had 1 hour with the chief. He mainly went over WPD goals, objectives, and expectations. Then we spent forever reading over WPD Policy and Regulations. We do a lot of that the first few weeks....a real bore. After lunch there were the academy rules and regs. We learned how to write our first report. Then the crappy part of the day started. Our squad started with a 300 yd sprint. They say it is like running 2 city blocks. They were really big blocks. I could barely make out our FTO (Field Training Officer, heretofore to be known as FTO...that was for mom) standing at the finish line. I did my dash in 1:25. Then we had push-ups, sit-ups, and a sit and reach. I did 41 sit-ups in 1 min; 21 push-ups; and I maxed out that sit and reach (measures flexibility). They needed to add another block for me. I am not sure how I am suppose to improve on that. Then to the dreaded Cooper Run. It was about 95 degrees by then with a brisk 15 MPH southern breeze. I did it in 15:35. They didn't expect us to make land speed records today with this weather. These tests today were to set a benchmark for the rest of the class. Basically, by December when we graduate, we are to improve on these numbers. We had some homework. Nothing that took me too long. I came home and got right on it. I was appointed treasurer for our water jug program. We have a water thingy and we have to pay to refill the jugs. We went thru a whole jug today. I am kind of excited to be able to do a spreadsheet and keep track of money. Those are the things I will miss the most with this job. Well, that's it. Nothing to eventful to report. I hear Friday is going to be hell. If I can still move, I will post again Friday to report on the week.

Last few days

2008-06-28T20:51:00.002-05:00

So, Friday I had my orientation for the Wichita PD. I was so nervous. I think the thing that scares me the most is that I am just afraid of doing anything that would get me yelled at or singled out. That morning, we already had one guy show up late. He was picked on all day and it seemed like everyone knew that we had someone show up late already. Then we had a guy come back from lunch late. They didn't pick on him as much but I am sure he already had a black mark in the instructors book. We were sitting in the classroom and the instructor walks in and yells "class rise"...scared the shit out of me. Then, I was standing there and all the guys looked like they were all standing at attention. I wasn't sure what to do with myself. Then he says good morning and we all answer with a weak ass good morning...then we get the discussion about saying sir and using our police voice. My police voice...very funny. I feel more like that little girl from the movie "Police Academy". I guess I'll learn to get that too. The discipline the class teaches is definitely going to be hard for me. We have to say sir and ma'am to everyone...I'm not used to that. We have to walk in single file lines along the right side of the hallway and not speak. I feel like I am back in 1st grade lining up for lunch. This should be interesting. We got fitting for a bunch of clothes and supplies. I didn't know ordering my duty belt would end me in a 10 min discussion about being left or right handed. I didn't think I would have to worry about deciding that until our first day at the range. I guess it matters for ordering the belt. Had our pictures taken for our PD ID. Got a short tour of the city building. Rec'd my blues for the class. They are super sexy, let me tell ya. Ordered all my PT gear. Did a trigger pull test...I have to do hand exercises. No push-ups today, but it sounds like July 7th is going to kick our asses. I'm sure I'll let you know how my first day goes. I have this next week off to prepare myself for the rest of my life...basically.

So, on to today. Cherie and I played VB in KC today. It was cloudy and a little rainy in the morning. We had 5 teams in our pool. We ended up going 7-1 in our pool. That put us 1st out of our pool. Then we breezed thru the next 4 games to win the tournament. I'm telling you, boot camp is really paying off. Too bad, now that I am in the best shape of my life, I can't play VB anymore because of the academy. So, our overall record was 15-1. We won $80. It was a pretty awesome day.

I finally made it!!

2008-06-24T16:33:00.004-05:00

After one year and a huge emotional roller coaster, I finally completed my last obstacle in the process for WPD. Today, I ran my cooper run (1.5 miles in 14 min) for the 4th time. We were able to run indoors on a flat surface with climate control. We have been running outside with 90% humidity and a few hills. My first run, I didn't really finish. The second try I got it in 15:25. The 3rd time I did it in 14:20. Today I did it in 13:35. I was able to shave almost a minute off of all my times. They told us when we were done that there were 11 people hoping that we wouldn't complete the run today because if we didn't, they would get a shot. I am so proud of myself. I have never worked this hard for anything in my life. It has been the most emotional experience of my life. Now it is completed and I can move forward with my goal. I have orientation on Friday. Then the class starts July 7th. It is a 22 week class. There are 27 people in the class. I will blog regularly on all the cool stuff we do on a weekly basis. So, if you are interested, keep checking back at least weekly.

So, I would just like to thank everyone for their support. You have all gone out of your way to think about me and help me thru this grueling process. I know the next 22 weeks are going to be tough and I'll still need everyone's support to get thru it.

Getting Closer

2008-06-23T11:53:00.003-05:00

So, I ran again today. I didn't make it, but I am very proud of myself for getting a better time than I ever have before. Today I ran it in 14:20. So, all I have to do is shave off 20 seconds. We will probably run again tomorrow. They said they will let us run inside tomorrow. They did say that we will probably go to orientation even if we haven't passed yet (I don't particularly want that to be the issue though). I have to have it ran by the first day of class on July 7th. I'll update everyone tomorrow on how it goes.

Third times a charm????

2008-06-20T12:00:00.004-05:00

I ran the Cooper Run (1 1/2 miles in 14 min) again yesterday. I didn't make it. I finished in 15:25. I am really having a lot of trouble with this run. I am going to try some different stuff for the next 3 days. My friend sells supplements and stuff like that and she is really hooking me up with a good regiment. My main problem is just my asthma...and Becca says I panic because I think I can't make it and that makes my asthma worse (they let her run with me yesterday). She is hoping that I can take this stuff for the next few days and it will help a little. She has some other workout enhancing stuff she wants me to try also. So, I get to run it again on Monday. If I don't make it I get to run it again everyday next week until orientation. Orientation is on Friday, so I just have to make it by then. I'll keep you all posted.

Boot Camp

2008-06-03T11:18:00.001-05:00

Talk about an ass whoopin! I had my first boot camp session last night. It was a real kick in the pants. I was fine until we jogged down to the park down the street in 90 degree weather. From there we did a battery of push-ups, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, a couple different kinds of push ups. It would have been real awesome if I had been able to breath. I had to stop half way thru and find some shade. I was able to continue doing some stuff while I was in the shade. I really love the workouts; I just have trouble completing them because of my asthma. I have added a link on my blog. This is to my training log. I log all my training…running, volleyball, boot camp, mountain biking. If you click workouts and view a certain boot camp entry, you can see the exact work out. The boot camp that I use posts the workouts daily on their blog so I just copy them to my training log when I log the activity. So, if you care, its all there. Anyway, I really love this boot camp thing. I would recommend it to anyone. The instructors are really great and they actually do care. I had one by my side thru the whole workout just in case I had some kind of attack (which I won’t have, but they have to cover their asses). Tonight’s workout is more like the stuff we did in college to train for VB. Check out the boot camp website at www.getfitwichita.com. I’ll keep you posted on my weekly performance.

Physical Exam

2008-05-21T13:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had my physical exam for the WPD. It was pretty interesting. I had to pee in a cup….then is when they treat you like you are a criminal. The waters off, you can’t wash your hand; you have to watch them pore your pee from the big container to the little one. Then, with my unwashed pee hand, I had to initial the little pee container. It was super. Then, I got to work with a physical therapist. She did some ergonomic testing. First was a grip test. It showed that I was 100% ambidextrous. I pulled the same number on both hands. Then, there was this peg board. It had pins, spacers, and washers. In 1 min. I had to build as many Pin/washer/spacer/washer things that I could. I think I built 9. It helps to be ambidextrous cuz I can use both hands. Then there was some squatting to make sure my knees worked. Then she wanted me to bend over and touch as far as I could. Once I flopped down with my palms to the floor she said….I don’t see that too often. Then I had to do some various pulling movements. I know I passed all that stuff because she showed me where I fit on the WPD scale. That was the hardest part of the day. Next was blood work…I was starving so I was glad to get that done soon. I brought a bag of chips to eat. Then I had my hearing tested. She said I have great hearing even though thru the whole thing all I could hear was the ringing in my ear. Then, I had to do a lung capacity test….blow real hard and keep blowing until your eyes pop out and you have slobbered down your face. I saw a Dr. for about 5 min. He did the usual ear, nose, lung, heart, hammer to the knees, and spine test. Then they x-rayed my back. Three different x-rays. The first time they came back bad so they had to do them again. Then I did the treadmill test. They hooked up 10 electrodes to my chest to monitor my heart. They said I had to get my heart rate above 160 for 1 min. I knew that wasn’t going to be a problem. The treadmill started at a nice slow walk at a huge incline. Then it inclined some more and went a little faster. I never got to a run just a brisk walk at a steep incline. The test took 8 minutes to finish. I never broke a sweat or even breathed hard. That was it. I was in and out in 2 hours (they weren’t that busy). So, I assume I’ll get a call by the end of the week from Det. Giffin about the results….or I’ll call her.

Busy past few days

2008-05-19T19:12:00.010-05:00

This weekend was pretty eventful. On Saturday, I played with Cherie on her family team at Watson Park. We played rec. We ended up doing pretty well. We played 3 different 3 team pools. So, basically we got 12 games in. They went off points to decide how everyone was seated for the tournament that was on Sunday. Our team ended up getting 13th with an 11-1 record. I guess there were a few undefeated teams and he said the difference between 7th and 15th were decimal points. Our team, however, decided not to show up on Sunday to finish out the tournament. Cherie and I decided to play sand doubles on Sunday. We always play together in the grass so we figured it would just be a matter of adjusting to the sand. We did pretty well. There were 5 teams and we all were in one pool. So we got to play everyone once. We ended up splitting with every team. So our record was 4-4. We ended up getting 4th. They decided that the 5th and 4th place teams would play a best 2 out of 3 match to see who goes on. After we lost the first game, we decided to give up for the day. Most of the teams that played on Sunday, didn't play 12 games the day before. We were wore out. Mom and dad came out and mom took some pictures.

Also, Saturday night a few of my friends decided to get together and go down to the fireworks. We fought the throngs of people and found us a nice little spot on the east bank. It was right in front of the speaker, which meant we definitely didn't miss any part of the music to the fireworks. Thanks BOB for blowing out my ear drums. We parked pretty far away so we didn't have to deal with any traffic. Here are a few pics from my cell phone. Not that great of quality, but I thought my blog needed to be spiced up with some pics.

Then this morning I had my psychological exam for the WPD. I was pretty wiped after this weekend, so getting up early to do this test really sucked. I had a bunch of stuff to write out...a biographical info sheet. Basically, the same stuff I've already told them. Then I had a 300+ True/False test. Then I had another 575+ question True/False test. All in that Iowa basic Skills test bubble answer sheet. I swear, if I get asked about the voices in my head one more time, I'm gonna go postal. =) Tomorrow morning I have my physical exam. Thankfully it is at 10:30 a.m. so I will have some time to sleep in. I am taking tomorrow off work too because I won't be able to even get 4 hours in with the physical scheduled the way it is. Hopefully I can use my afternoon to do something productive since I haven't been home much.

Command Staff Interview

2008-05-15T14:27:00.001-05:00

I had my command staff interview today. I guess it went really well because they offered me a job. It is still contingent upon me passing the physical and psychological exams that I have scheduled for Monday and Tues of next week. Then I do my Cooper Run on June 12. This was definitely the most stressful thing I have ever done in my entire life. So, tomorrow I go in in the morning and get finger printed. Then Monday I have my psychological exam. They said it should take about 4 hours. Then Tues. I have my physical. That will take about 6 hours. Not sure what they are going to get out of me in 6 hours. Sounds like it should be a good time. The orientation is June 30. Then the class will start on July 7th.

Command Staff Update

2008-05-12T20:27:00.002-05:00

Just an update, I have moved up my command staff interview to this Thurs. They had an opening and wanted to get me in. So, Thursday, on my birthday, I will have my meeting with the Chief. Hopefully doing it on my birthday will be lucky. Keep your fingers crossed.

First Weekend of RiverFest

2008-05-12T11:33:00.003-05:00

I had a pretty eventful weekend. Friday night I went to a Tastefully Simple party at one of my friend’s house. Nothing better than going to a party just for the free food. Then Saturday, I ran in my first River Run for the River Festival. I started the race with Cherie, Rachel, and about five thousand other runners. After the first turn, I had to let Cherie and Rachel go on. I haven’t really done much since a few weeks before my surgery in April. So, needless to say, I was a bit out of shape. I finished the 2-mile race in about 23 minutes. Then, that afternoon, I went out to Goddard to watch Nathan’s baseball scrimmage. He only had 4 kids from his team actually show up, so everyone in the family got to play. Dad, Austin, and I all played outfield. Rebecca caught for a few innings while Nathan pitched. Willie played short stop and mom got to be the first base coach. I got one at bat. I swung real good at the first ball….that small ball is hard to transition to after years of softballs. I did get a hit, but it went straight to the pitcher and I got thrown out at first. However, I did advance a runner, so we will call it a sacrifice. We had a huge front come thru and we decided to end the game because of the dust bowl. Then we went back to Rebecca’s for our Mother’s Day BBQ. On Sunday, I had a volleyball double header. We went 3-0 in our first match and 0-3 in our second. I wasn’t really moving so well because my muscles were very sore from my run on Saturday.

May is always a very busy month for me. This week we are having dinner with Andy’s mom on Tues. for Mother’s Day. She had to work this last Sunday. Then on Thursday is my birthday, so we are having dinner with my parents and Andy’s mom and brother at my favorite restaurant, Sal’s. Then Saturday I was coerced into playing on my friend Cherie’s family team for coed sand volleyball. However, I made her play doubles with me on Sunday.

Command Staff Scheduled

2008-05-07T17:18:00.003-05:00

Det. Giffin called today to schedule my command staff interview. It is scheduled for May 19th at 1:30 p.m. in the Chief's office on the 4th floor of the city building. It will be with the Chief, the deputy chief over training, the Captain over training, and the Lt. over training. After the command staff, if I pass, they will offer me a contingent job interview. I will know that day. She told me she didn't see any reason that I would not pass the command staff. The job offer will be contingent upon passing the physical, psychological testing, and the copper run (1-1/2 miles in 14 min). Once I get thru all of that I will be in the class in July. So, wish me luck.

Oral Board Interview

2008-04-14T17:55:00.001-05:00

Well, today I finally got off the couch and got out of the house. However, it was my oral boards that I had to get off the couch for. The pain from my surgery is pretty much gone. Now I’m just dealing with weakness and lightheadedness from doing nothing for 4 days. I tried to get out this morning and walk Samson since it was so nice. I made a loop around one apartment building before I had to come back in and rest. Then I got around for my oral boards. It was pretty stressful. I feel like I was pretty much prepared for all the questions they asked. In order to pass, I had to get 30 points out of a possible 65. I got a 52. The detective working my file said they were very impressed with me. She said I did a very good job. I have a few things to work on for my command staff interview. That one will be with the chief and probably deputy chief. She said they will be doing those between now and the first of June. I’ll keep you posted and let you know when that interview will be. That’s it for now. I will go back to work tomorrow. I have 2 weeks before I can start playing VB and working out again.

Surgery Update

2008-04-10T17:26:00.004-05:00

Well, I had my surgery yesterday. I was back in surgery for about 40 minutes. They were able to find some spots of endometiosis. They also found a fibroid in my uterus. He said it was small. You can see from the attached picture. I guess everything else was normal. I am in some pain still, but am up and moving around. Andy has been real good about taking care of me. He also got up this morning and took Samson out for me. I have another hole in my belly button. I have one more hole lower, that just went thru my old scars. I have a new hole on the side of my abdomen next to my left hip. I was out of the surgery center pretty quick. I got there at noon and I went home around 5:00 p.m. So, here are some of the pictures that the Dr. took while he was in there. Viewer discretion is advised. =) You should be able to click on the picture to enlarge.

Ride-a-longs, surgery, oral boards...oh my!!

2008-04-07T16:35:00.002-05:00

Well, the last few weeks for me have been pretty crazy. I am in the process of moving. Actually, I'll be out of my old apartment by tomorrow. I have moved in with Andy. He lived in the same apartment complex so I didn't move far. This last weekend I went on another ride-along. This time I rode out west with one of Andy's buddies from the academy. It was very interesting. I know that area so well since I grew up on the west side. It felt very comfortable. However, I did run into a few people I know. That may be the hardest thing about working out west. If I get thru the WPD academy, I think my first choice will be the west side substation. Not that what I want really matters. I think they may take it into consideration.

I have my surgery Wed. of this week. I scheduled it for a day that Andy has off so he will be around. His mom, who is a nurse, is also taking that day off for me. I'm sure everything will go OK. I'll keep you all posted.

I got a call today from the Det. at the Law Enforcement Training Center. We scheduled my Oral Board interview for Monday, April 14th at 2:45 p.m. Hopefully I won't still have to be too doped up. I am sure I'll be functioning fine by then. She said she really wanted to get me into this oral board because they are probably not going to be doing too many more before the July class, and she wanted to make sure I got in in time to be considered for the July class.

Polygraph

2008-04-02T12:00:00.000-05:00

Today I had my polygraph. That was one of the most stressful things I have ever done. I don’t think it matters if you are the most honest person alive, it will still rattle you. I know I didn’t have anything to hide or lie about, but you start to psych yourself out. You think…well, what about this or that. I was sitting there with those things around my chest and I could just feel my heart thumping against them. My ears were buzzing. I can’t imagine how people can be calm when hooked up to that thing. I did pass. So, my next step is the Oral Boards….again. This will be with a panel of 3 commissioned officers and 1 civilian. It is a little different than the SO boards. They score you based on 9 categories. He rattled some off, but I don’t remember too many. Basically, everyone comes in ranked at a 5 in each category. As you answer questions, your score goes up or down based on your answers. He said I have to have a 5 in each category to pass. I will know as soon as it is over if I passed or not. The next step after passing oral boards is the command staff interview. That is the one I am dreading most. I tend to get a little nervous and intimidated around people of high authority. That interview will be with the Chief himself and a few other high ranking officers. The guy that did my polygraph today said that they are planning on having a big class in July. They are looking at 30-35 people. That is mainly because they are anticipating the creating of the new Central substation. This will add 93 new officers to the roster. I’ll let you know when they schedule my oral boards. It will probably be the week after my surgery.

On to the next phase

2008-03-26T09:56:00.001-05:00

So, it has been pretty crazy the last couple days. Yesterday I had my first contact interview. It took me an hour and a half to fill out the 37 page form. Then I was in my interview for about 45 minutes. Things seem to be going well. There are tons of people who apply for WPD so I have no idea where I stand. All I know is that I keep passing each phase and get to move to the next one.

This morning, I went to the training center for my agility test. For those who followed my SO stuff, it was all the same thing. However, WPD didn’t make me run as far. So, I did the obstacle course in 37 seconds. On the body drag, I totally messed up and fell on my ass, but I did still do it in less than 9 seconds….barely.

So, next week I get to go in for my polygraph. This is something the SO didn’t do so I don’t know how it will go. I’m pretty sure I have nothing to hide, but you never know. So, check back after next Wed. and see how that went. After that will be the Oral Boards….again.

Moving fast....

2008-03-18T14:28:00.001-05:00

So, in one day, I have taken my written exam for the WPD; scheduled my first contact interview; and am planning for my agility test. I went in this morning to the city building for the written exam. I scored an 87, which is 2 percentage points better than I did on my SO exam. For WPD we had to do a typing test. I can type 56 WPM. Woo Hoo! That should be real handy driving around in a cop car. They should have done a “how fast can you write” exam. I’ve seen the paperwork they have to fill out. I have scheduled my first contact interview for the morning of March 25th. They will have me fill out a 37 page packet. It will probably be like the 29 page one I filled out for SO. Then, if I pass the first contact interview, I get to do the agility testing again. She said I should be able to do that on April 2nd, so it is done before my surgery (weather pending). She said I have made it in time to still be considered for the July class. Check back next week and I can let you know how my first contact interview went.

Wichita PD

2008-03-16T14:18:00.001-05:00

Well, last night I did another WPD ride along. I just love it so much. As I was riding I was able to keep up with the activity of all the other stations and the sheriff’s department. I realized as we were running from call to call, that the sheriff’s office is a snooze compared to the action of the WPD. When I first applied for SO, that was all I knew. I didn’t have anything to compare it to. Now I have seen the light. Yes, they both do have their pluses and minuses, but in the end, I want the action. I have spent the last 10 years being bored at my job and always trying to keep busy. I want to make law enforcement a career and I just don’t want it to be another boring job. One of the 4th watch sergeants have been recruiting me big time on all my ride-alongs. I think last night he talked me into it. So, as soon as I get all my paperwork together, I’m going to apply for WPD. I just really hope it isn’t’ too late to get into the July class. The sergeant said it isn’t and that they are recruiting like crazy right now. So, we will see. I have about 3 weeks before my surgery so I need to get the ball rolling so I can at least get all the physical testing done before the surgery. So, keep checking back for more updates.

My Surgery

2008-03-03T13:17:00.005-06:00

Well, I have scheduled my surgery. It will be April 9th. It is a routine outpatient thing. For those of you who may not know, when I was 15 I as diagnosed with Endometriosis. About 10 years ago they went in, via Laproscopy, and were able to control some of my growths. Well it has been 10 years and the pain is back. I go in around 1 p.m. and I should be home that night. I will be down for a few days. Then I won't be able to play VB or work out for a few more weeks. So, please have me in your thoughts on that day. I have never been real good with anesthesia. We'll see. It should be fun.

Update 02/22/08

2008-02-22T17:38:00.003-06:00

I talked to the deputy handling my file at the Sheriff's office today. I guess he had to put my file aside so he can start working on a detention class. So, it may be a little while before I hear anything back from them. I will try to blog about day to day stuff just to keep everyone in the habit of checking it every now and then. I have a friends b-day party tonight. Then I have a co-ed tournament at the Y on Sunday.

Don't forget to check out my parents blog. My mom keeps everyone up to date on all their travels. Also, I have a link to my pictures. Check back for more pics from tonights b-day party.

We got 2nd

2008-02-17T12:56:00.004-06:00

This doesn't really have anything to do with the Sheriff's department, but our Newton team got 2nd this weekend at our tournament. It was a very long day and there were a lot of good teams in the tournament this year. Our team ended up getting 1st in our pool. Then we lost in the 3rd game of the finals, by only 2 points. Other than the fact that I am extremely sore and can't move too well today, I am already looking forward to the next tournament in November.

The process has begun

2008-02-12T12:35:00.000-06:00

Well, I got a call yesterday from the Law Enforcement Training Center. My file is on the top of their list for the next class. They want to begin my investigation immediatly. Hopefully I don't screw anything up from here. If I pass all the next stages I will be in the July class. That means a December graduation...so mark your calendars. Deputy Berry wants to schedule my in-home interview in the next few weeks. Then there is a psych eval and a physical. If I get in the academy, you can keep up with my weekly training thru my blog. I will blog weekly or when we do something really cool. Keep you fingers crossed for me.