Wit, Wisdom, and Whimsy. (your mileage may vary)
June 20, 2012
commentary, Gay, Personal being out, coming out, lgbt rights, personal growth, personal journeys, pride proclamation 2 Comments
Monday June 18th, 2012 Visalia City Hall
If anyone had told me, oh, say back when I was in high school, or even for a decade or two after that, that I would end up as some kind of “community leader”, standing at the public’s podium at the City Hall, and accepting a proclamation for that community, I’d have thought they were simply nuts.
Something’s changed.
June 16, 2012
commentary, News, Personal City of Visalia, Gay rights, gays in visalia, LGBT Pride Proclamation 1 Comment
It’s weird, every now and then, how things work out.
For years, various political figures have issued proclamations honoring June as LGBT Pride Month. Whether a Mayor of a major city, or the President of the United States, the whereas‘s and the therefore‘s have highlighted the triumphs and tragedies of the gay pride movement across the United States, and marked the month in remembrance. Some cities do it every year, Presidents (who are Democrats) issue one annually, and other government bodies sometimes do and sometimes don’t.
This is the story of Visalia’s LGBT Pride Month proclamation.
It was all quite accidental.
June 14, 2012
commentary, Personal Carnival Inspiration, cruise vacation, Ensenada, life at sea Leave a comment
In several of these clips, I sound like an illiterate DBO. It’s a bit embarrassing. My only defense is these are all spur-of-the-moment videos, and I wasn’t thinking about presentation.
You can check the entire series of videos at my YouTube channel, here.
June 11, 2012
commentary, Personal Carnival Inspiration, Ensenada, Jim Reeves, Mexico, Ted Freitas Leave a comment
I’ll post more about the cruise, later. Right now, I need a nap!
June 3, 2012
9-1-1, commentary, Personal 9-1-1 stories, drunk human tricks, funny 9-1-1 calls, life in dispatch, stupid drunk human tricks Leave a comment
I almost titled this one “stupid criminal tricks” but until someone actually gets convicted, I suppose criminal is a bit judgmental….
Here’s the latest story that has us shaking our heads at what people will try to do to get out of trouble. The place and time – State Route 99, south of Pixley, California (in California’s great Central Valley) – about 3am. One of our south county patrol units is driving up 99 towards Pixley, heading back to the Substation. He sees a vehicle displaying all the signs of an intoxicated driver, so he makes a traffic stop. After the normal “license, registration, and insurance” interaction, the deputy gets on the radio and asks to have the CHP dispatched for a drunk driver. I get on the phone and place that call to get them started, when I hear my supervisor pick up a 9-1-1 line, and things start getting interesting…….
May 30, 2012
commentary, Personal Carnival cruise, high seas adventure, Mexico vacation 1 Comment
I’m hoping.
UPDATE:
It’s a done deal. A cruise from Long Beach to Ensenada and back, leaving June 8th. Guess I better start watching old Love Boat episodes on Netflix to see how cruising is done right!
May 25, 2012
commentary, Personal close enough for government work, dress codes, monkey suits 1 Comment
I’ve always been a jeans and casual shirt kind of guy. I seldom get dressed up, even for work. Apparently, that’s about to change.
Recently, my employer put out an updated policy manual. Most of it was simply rehashed, and sometimes reworded, things that had “always been”. Some of it was new. One new part was the dress code. In the number 1 dairy county in the United States, and the number 2 agriculture county, denim jeans are no longer acceptable wear. Even though we work in the basement of the Sheriff’s Office/Jail, and are not visible to the public, the kind of clothing I’ve been wearing for all of my 17 and 5/6ths years of employment here is suddenly not acceptable.
Well, not “suddenly”. Just “kind of suddenly”. The manual came out either late last year, or early this year, I don’t recall precisely. We were all required to electronically “sign” that we had read a copy of the manual. (I had a bit of a problem with this, as we were required to click off that we had read the policy, BEFORE the computer would allow us to actually read it! Sometimes government logic is best not studied too deeply.)
We were supposed to comply with the “new” regulations at that time. Needless to say, few did. In our defense, however, the policy was not enforced until yesterday.
Recently, somebody elsewhere in the department wore something they should have known would not pass muster, even under very relaxed attitudes. When they were called on it, they immediately responded with “but dispatch can wear jeans!”
That’s when the shit hit the fan.
May 22, 2012
9-1-1, commentary, Personal barricaded suspect, computer failure, crazy, dispatcher stories, homicide, time warp Leave a comment
The calendar said it was Monday. My phone said it was Monday. The newspaper said it was Monday. Tulare County seemed to think it was Friday. Friday of a full Moon. On a Friday the 13th.
It started off quietly enough. A nice staffing level, not much going on, things running fairly smoothly. A nice, calm, reasonable Monday at 9-1-1. The officers and deputies were all out getting into their routines, as Mondays are generally the beginnings of work weeks for them. Some subpoenas to be served, maybe a warrant or two, and informants to be talked to, in order to glean intel over events that occurred on the weekend. We were settling in there in dispatch, looking forward to sedate work shift. We should have known better. Just when you think it’s all good…
“WHO SHOT YOUR MOTHER??”
That’s the phrase that led our descent into chaos, nearly shouted by the Duty Officer, on a 9-1-1 call…
May 18, 2012
9-1-1, commentary, Personal 9-1-1, 9-1-1 center, 9-1-1 dispatching, 911, emergency dispatching, Prince George's County Dispatch Leave a comment
Our center is not as roomy or well lit (too many of my co-workers want to work in the dark!), but this video gives a great overview of most modern 9-1-1 centers. We don’t have to do the medical pre-arrival aspect in our center, that’s handled by the Tulare County Consolidated Ambulance Dispatch staff, and the Tulare County Fire Department has their own dispatch center, but everything else is pretty spot-on. Whatever the type of call, we deal with it first, directing it to TCCAD or TCFD if required, or taking information and dispatching Tulare County Sheriff Deputies, or police officers from Farmersville, Exeter, Woodlake, and Lindsay Police Departments. Prince George’s County, Maryland, has a state-of-the-art 9-1-1 center, and is an example to which other centers can aspire. Every type of incident here, except the medical instructions, is something I’ve dealt with in the past, and just when you think you’ve heard it all, the Universe will toss something at you, as if to say “oh, no you haven’t!”.
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
Shock and Awe
June 24, 2012
Jim Reeves commentary, Gay, geek, Personal Adam Bouska, following blogs, NOH8, Snoopy dance, Wordpress Leave a comment
My chin hurts.
It hurts because it hit the floor a few minutes ago, when my jaw dropped.
As I was logging on to WordPress today to check my “dashboard”, as they call the administration pages for the blog, I noticed something that surprised me to no end. I clicked on the little icon that indicates administrative messages waiting to be read. Those messages indicate when someone “liked” your blog, reblogged one of your posts, or signed up to receive email notices when a new post goes up. I’ve got 161 followers as of this writing. It was # 161 that gave me a sore chin.
Adam Bouska is now following my blog! (insert Snoopy dance here. In a dignified, appropriate for a 54 year old gentleman sort of way, of course. Oh, hell, never mind dignity… full on Snoopy dance.)
One such open shoot is coming to Fresno on July 13, and I’m going to have to finagle a way to be there, because I have to work that night. I’ll figure out something, though.
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