Another one. This could become a trend this week.

October 15, 2013

Jim Reeves commentary, Gay , , , 2 Comments

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@Grindr Tweeted this today.

Local paper prints my online blog in their Weekend Edition

September 21, 2013

Jim Reeves commentary, Personal , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

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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

Jim Reeves commentary, Humor, Personal , , , , , 2 Comments

drive_thru“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.

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Full Moon Effect Disproven

August 21, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary , , , , Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2013-08-21 at 5.14.47 AMI’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!

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Oh, I didn’t just say that…

August 7, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary, Personal , , , , Leave a comment

dohI 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!

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Want to piss off a dispatcher? Act like you’re the only unit on the radio!

July 5, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary , , , , , , , 3 Comments

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We have procedures officers in the field are supposed to follow on the radio.  They are designed to allow the quickest, most efficient transfer of information possible.  It really gums up the works, and creates needless stress, when radio traffic is not conducted according to those procedures.

Last night, the 4th of July, was one of those nights that will have me cursing the name of a particular unit for a long time.  Those in the know will probably figure out who I mean just from their own knowledge of the departments and personel involved, but I’m not going to name names (or unit numbers!) (even though my “about” blurb says the guilty will be hung out to dry!  It is my job, so I have to be minimally diplomatic in this rant.  I may still hear about it from upper echelons).  I’m going to hope it’s simply a training issue, and not a case of “I’m the most important thing on this radio channel, and you better be able to handle what ever I do regardless of how many other things are going on!”.

How can any unit in the field not realize that there are 20-25 units on the same radio channel, it’s a national holiday, it’s hot as hell, and their dispatch center is a small room in the basement of the jail building?  Are you not listening?  You just key up and start talking?  Really?

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A neighbor gets nosy…

June 29, 2013

Jim Reeves commentary, geek, Humor , , , , , 1 Comment

Back in December I was forced to evict a relative from my home.  Long story, but after six months of legal actions and $500, he was gone.  I set up a webcam in a bedroom window to keep an eye on things, since he tried several times to come back.

Today, I had a visitor check out the camera close up.

Screen Shot 2013-06-29 at 3.36.02 PM

Maybe he wasn’t being nosy, but rather was looking for a way to get inside and cool off, as it was 106 degrees outside!  Poor guy…  keep a-knockin’, but you can’t come in!  Sorry!

Video killed the radio star

June 22, 2013

Jim Reeves commentary, Personal, video , , 1 Comment

A Tale of Two Cities

June 5, 2013

Jim Reeves commentary, Gay, News, Personal , , , , 2 Comments

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

visalia_porterville_logos

What a difference a day makes!  On Monday, June 3, 2013, the City of Visalia‘s City Council issued it’s second LGBT Pride Month Proclamation.  On Tuesday, June 4th, the City of Porterville issued it’s first.  The two events could not have been more different.

Both cities provide online applications for proclamations, with instructions on how to turn them into the city.  Such requests are routinely handled by cities across the country, and are ways for cities to recognize citizens and groups.  Here’s Porterville’s “Request a Proclamation” page.

Visalia’s proclamation resulted in applause and friendly chatter in a standing room only crowd that overflowed into the hallway.  This year’s proclamation went mostly unnoticed by the greater community in Visalia.  Last year it provoked some media coverage and talk-radio interviews with the Mayor of Visalia, Amy Shuklian.  Porterville’s proclamation, in a meeting room at least twice the size of Visalia’s, also with standing room only and overflow into the hall, resulted in boos, catcalls, the arrest of a anti-gay protestor, and at least two calls for the death penalty for homosexuals.

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City of Visalia Proclaims June LGBT Pride Month

June 3, 2013

Jim Reeves commentary, Gay , , , 2 Comments

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For the second year in a row, the Visalia City Council proclaims June as LGBT Pride Month in Visalia.  For our very conservative community, this is a big deal!..I’ll be putting up more pictures as I steal them from various Facebook posts, and once Mary and Herm get their shots to me I’ll have some professional style pictures to show off!  For now, these…

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