I mean, I got a Relic…  15 years service at Tulare County.  A nice introduction in front of the crowd.  More brass there than I’ve ever seen at one gathering!  The Sheriff himself, and a bunch of the rest of them.  Not there for me, of course, many of them were receiving service recognition too, but still a big crowd.  SRO in the Supervisor’s Chambers.

That’s me listening to the guy from personnel extol my virtues.  I’m not sure what he said, I was dead on my feet!  I had worked till 3am that morning, then got up after only a couple of hours of sleep.  I recall something about being a training officer, and Dispatcher of the Year.  It came out like I was THE dispatcher of the year, rather than just OUR dispatcher of the year, back in 2005.  They had quite extensive bios of people before me, and I was wondering what they would say about me, since I never filled out any kind of info sheet, and nobody ever called to talk to me.  I didn’t know what to expect, and was worried that, in that conservative atmosphere, they might say something like “local gay rights activist”.  I needn’t have worried though.  Very innocuous.

I left immediately afterward, and went home and crawled back in bed!  Thanks to my niece Michelle who came down and witnessed the presentation and took this picture.

Now it’s 5 years before I have to worry about this again, but at least I’ll know what to expect.