Around 11pm on a Friday, just after a full Moon, on a winter day where the temperature hit 72 degrees that afternoon. It’s almost scary.
Sometimes the universe just plays games with us
January 18, 2014
9-1-1, commentary 9-1-1, 911, dispatch, dispatch loads, full moon, q word, quiet 1 Comment
Demons, Diabolical Lifestyles, and late middle age
December 18, 2013
commentary, Gay, Humor, Personal anti-gay, demon possessed, gay demons, gay persecution, LGBT, religion, visalia gay 6 Comments
Not my demon, apparently
Demon possessed. That’s what the ex-chaplain says. Gays have an “un-human demonic spirit” in them.
A local resident of Visalia, Sam Lukes, said we have a “diabolically twisted lifestyle” in a recent letter to the editor*.
Russian actor Ivan Okhlobystin is ready to toss us in the nearest oven. The government is not far behind, as the Duma (Russia’s Parliament) has passed into law sweeping edicts that seem to make even talking about homosexuality a crime. The 2014 Olympics are taking a hit over the crackdown.
We’ve made some impressive progress over the past few decades, and things, at least in the USA and some other progressive western nations, are getting better.
But to listen to some of these nutjobs talk, you’d think Satan himself was walking the Earth in a leather harness and spiked heels. As they describe what it is to be gay, I’m looking at myself and thinking…
You found what?? And you did what with them???
December 11, 2013
9-1-1, commentary 9-1-1, 911 dispatch, dispatcher stories, hand grenades Leave a comment
Sometimes you really have to wonder.
Tonight we received a call on 9-1-1 from a woman who said she was in our parking lot and needed to have a deputy come out to speak to her immediately. When asked why she needed a deputy, she said she had been clearing out her deceased mother’s residence and had discovered two hand grenades, had brought them here, and needed someone to come get them.
That of course required the local bomb squad be called out, as the initial deputies determined that they appeared to be real, live grenades.
One of the incredible things about this caller was that she was getting very upset that we were unable to get someone out to her in four minutes, so she called back wanting to know what the delay was about. (the deputies are out on patrol, not in the building!) We got someone out shortly thereafter, they called the bomb squad, and the grenades were disposed of by the bomb techs. It didn’t dawn on her, apparently, that handling and transporting them was probably more dangerous than sitting in the parking lot waiting!
Sigh.
Rule of grenades (or other explosive devices) #1 – Leave them alone, and call 9-1-1! Don’t pick them up, don’t drive them someplace in your car, and don’t get huffy with the 9-1-1 operator trying to help you!
Rule of grenades (or other explosive devices) #2 – See rule #1
Jimmiejoe Goes Golfing – circa 1968
November 5, 2013
commentary, Personal golf, linwood golf course, terry ommen, visalia, Visalia history 1 Comment
There’s a great website by Visalia historian Terry Ommen, Historic Happenings, that chronicles the history of Visalia. This month’s post had a question about the location of the Linwood Golf Course.
The image above is where I believe the course was located. South of School Street, between Linwood and Crenshaw. The course, if I recall, was a small 9 hole affair, and stretched down to the edge of Mill Creek on the south. (I don’t recall if the creek traversed the course, or simply skirted it.) The area is now condominiums and single family homes.
I played one “round” there when I was in the 5th or 6th grade (circa 1968). A buddy who lived in the area invited me to go with him and “play” a round. We did, but I don’t remember our scores, or if we even bothered to keep track. We had brought a set of clubs, they were Lenny’s or his father’s I suppose, and we hacked our way around the course.
It was a fun afternoon, but I would not touch another golf club until the mid-80’s, when the boss invited the “managerial” staff to a round out at the course east of Mooney’s Grove. (the name escapes me, and it is no longer open) That round was such a spectacular mess, with a long hole (on the back nine? South side of the course. If you’re a local golfer, you probably know it.) teaching me that I have no business on a golf course, ever. I haven’t tried the game since.
I understand golf was invented in Scotland. I think they did it just to torture the rest of the world.
Another one. This could become a trend this week.
October 15, 2013
commentary, Gay black model, breakfast, grindr, hunk 2 Comments
@Grindr Tweeted this today.
Local paper prints my online blog in their Weekend Edition
September 21, 2013
commentary, Personal alternating currents, brian ward, cam hamilton, greg shelton, pete mccracken, porterville, porterville removes mayor, virginia gurrola, Visalia Times Delta 3 Comments
Here’s the link to the Visalia Times Delta’s site where my blog “Alternating Currents” is posted. I was not notified that they were planning to publish my blog in the print edition, but I’m tickled they did! One minor correction to the printed edition, in the intro, they say I was at the Porterville City Council meeting that ousted Mayor Gurrola and Vice-Mayor McCracken from their ceremonial posts. I didn’t make that meeting, but I was there for the three involving the LGBT Pride Month proclamation, and it’s rescission.
2:30 am, in the drive-thru
September 7, 2013
commentary, Humor, Personal audi, dodge, drive thru, Ford, late night stories, munchy run 2 Comments
“Hey! Guy in front of me!”
Yeah, that’s probably not something I want to respond to at 2:30 in the morning in the drive-thru lane. I’m figuring the guy yelling it is somewhere on the high side of a blow into a breathalyzer, and it’s better I just pretend I don’t hear him.
“Hey! You! In front of me! Don’t act like you can’t hear me!”
Oh, joy, this is not looking like a good time to be stuck between the car in front of me, and the one behind me with the guy who’s probably feeling no pain.
I’m really not sure what to expect, as I was in my pickup, not my car. My car has a couple of LGBT related stickers on it, but the truck does not, so I knew i most likely wasn’t about to be gay-bashed, but I really was wondering… maybe it was the Obama magnet on the bed-mounted tool box? Maybe it was someone who recognized me from a blog posting? Why is this guy yelling at me in the drive thru?
I really didn’t expect what happened next.
Full Moon Effect Disproven
August 21, 2013
9-1-1, commentary dispatcher stories, full moon, full moon effect, lunacy, police calls during full moon Leave a comment
I’ve been steadfast and firm in my conviction. For years I’ve maintained, in the face of unrelenting public opinion to the contrary, that the full Moon has no effect on “the crazy”.
People claim that emergency room nurses and police officers all swear by the “full Moon” lore, that insists everything goes nuts on a full Moon.
Well, last night I disproved it. Or, I should say, my dispatch center’s traffic levels disproved it.
Last night, at 6:45 pm Pacific Time, the Moon was full. It was a calm, peaceful night. No shootings, no stabbings (well, no stabbings by one person on another. There was one troubled kid who tried to stab himself, but for this discussion, he doesn’t count. He’s just a troubled kid, not a lunatic.) A few fights, a couple of loud music calls, a couple of badge bunnies, and a computer at one of the facilities that decided to let all the magic smoke out of it’s innards, setting off smoke alarms and scaring the DSOs. A really easy shift, all things considered.
Now, the night BEFORE the full Moon, that was just crazy town!
Oh, I didn’t just say that…
August 7, 2013
9-1-1, commentary, Personal 9-1-1 mishaps, 9-1-1 stories, dispatcher stories, hang gliding accident, paragliding accident Leave a comment
I can’t believe I said that to the 9-1-1 caller. It was unintentional, totally inappropriate, and had everyone in the room in fits of giggles.
Other dispatchers will understand the sometimes dark humor we express in our jobs, and how something that to an outside observer (or the brass) will seem completely humorless, but will have us guffawing and giggling for hours afterwards. Something like that happened to me yesterday, and it involved a crashed aircraft and it’s pilot stuck on a rockface above a lake.
I really meant it to be reassuring, but it sure didn’t come out that way!
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
Proving my point – Obama haters operate on racism, not facts
January 27, 2014
Jim Reeves commentary boycott subway, first lady promotes healthy eating, FLOTUS, Michelle Obama, Subway Sandwiches 1 Comment
Photo: The White House
You can always rely on the wingnuts. In this case, rely on them to be all at once racist, hateful, and misinformed.
There’s been a long habit by some in the conservative fold for putting forth some really disgusting words and images about liberals, especially this President and his wife. George Bush took a lot of flack during his time in office, some of it undoubtably undeserved and unkind. Laura Bush, however, as best as I recall, never suffered from the abuse and slander at the hands of liberals as Michelle Obama has been forced to endure as First Lady. Some of the comments and photoshops are clearly hateful and racist. That’s bad enough, but when they start passing around lies in the wingnut echo-chamber, it really gets telling. Not only do they hate her, they’ll not do the slightest bit of research to verify what they’re being told and passing along.
Yesterday I posted a blog on Alternating Currents, my community blog on the local newspaper’s (The Visalia Times Delta) site. It concerned the calls for a boycott of Subway Sandwiches because they’ve joined the First Lady in a program to encourage children to eat healthy. Boycott Subway, because FLOTUS promotes healthy eating! Some folks really don’t like Michelle Obama!
I shared the link on my Twitter feed, and this is what I got in reply – More
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