Opted out--I don't exist?

Wow, I can't believe how fast that opt-out form from the county took effect. What that is, is you can fill out the form to opt-out of having your info. posted on their fabulously informational website. I.e., anyone can look you up to see where you live if you're a registered voter (they used to be able to see how old you are until the county pulled that item) or can see how much your house is appraised at and how much your property tax bill is. I know this 'cause I'm very nosey and look people up all the time!!!

Anyway, I filled out the opt-out form and mailed it in last week and today none of my info., not even a listing for me, comes up on the website anymore. It's like I no longer exist! It's kinda creepy but definitely cool. No one needs to be knowing my shit. Of course, all info. is still available under the Public Information Act, but now if anyone wants to be nosey about me, they have to go in person to fill out a bunch of paperwork. Ha!

More wrestling fun

We had an absolute blast last night. We met my coworker and her 8-yr old grandson perfectly at the pre-arranged meeting place plenty early enough to get to the jive-dive Toyota Center, park, and for the boy to buy some stuff. (I only had a delay of a few minutes getting into the place b/c as always, I had Gus with me and had to get my credentials checked by HPD.) But we had pretty good seats, although not nearly as good as the ones S and I had in Dallas last summer, but still we enjoyed ourselves immensely. I was also happy b/c I was wearing my Rey Mysterio t-shirt and my black leather pants, which have not been worn in a year and amazingly, still fit! (Ok, I did have to undo the button in order to lean over and put my socks on...!) And what a night! All our favorite superstars were there! Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top was in the audience! In short, it was a hoot.

So we found out last night that they're bringing Vengeance back to Houston in June. Everyone looked at me and asked was I going to get tickets so we could do it again. If we want the floor, tickets are going to be about $150 each. But OK, I'll see what I can do! S is totally down, and my coworker already gave me her down payment on tix for her and the boy. They go on sale this Saturday!

I can't believe what a busy week I'm having, and it's only Wednesday. Tonight is my only night off and although I should go running, I need to run errands and just chill. Tomorrow night I gotta work at Job #2 since I missed last night due to the wrestling event, and Sat. I have to work there again so I can be off on the 10th. On top of everything, possibly this weekend I need to fit in some patrol time too but that's gonna be hard since our patrol car was temporarily confiscated for a civil trial currently going on (a bad guy got shot in our back seat before it was our car).

Mardi Gras note: People are rsvp'ing for our party! Yay! I gotta figure out some kind of toga. Here's some pic's from the party in 2005 (I didn't take many pic's last year--too busy being fabulous).
Me, Janel, Karen.


Diane, Laura, future bride JFi, me.

The Employee of the Month...

...is me!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be signing autographs later. We had our monthly Sheriff's meeting last night, and the Lt. announced that I was the Employee of the Month! Now, that's just for our district, but still! I got the honor for the calm way I handled that fleet earlier this month, and as he put it, "Getting on the radio and calling for EMS when all the other deputy could do was go [blubbering noises], and then directing traffic." I, truly surprised, said, "Really???" and he reiterated that he'd received several favorable comments about me--that I hadn't panicked or turned into a scared, crying little girl. I said, "I didn't have time to be scared!" but the Lt. said, "Doesn't matter, you still did a great job." Another deputy at the meeting also told me that he had heard me on the radio that night, and that I had done a good job. Well, my gosh!

Still, the more I thought about it, I always have had a knack for staying calm in crisis situations, even as a child. I must have inherited the non-panic gene from my ER-nurse mother. We just seem to have it built-in to our constitutions that when there's work that needs to be done, that's all that matters, and there's no point in wasting emotion or energy in anything else.

We've got our wrestling event tonight!!! At long last, the time is here. They were in Dallas last night and Donald Trump pissed off Vince McMahon by dropping tons of money from the ceiling into the audience. People were picking $100 bills out of the damn sky! S was salivating, saying he hopes they do that for us tonight, but I'm not optimistic. I guess we'll see!

Royal Rumble

Boy, last night was fun! The wrestling PPV was a good one. We howled with laughter. That's why I like wrestling: not just to share S's passion with him, but also b/c wrestling is just plain silly. It's so stupid it's funny! And there is no denying the athleticism. Sure, the matches are prearranged as far as who wins, but who cares? I reminded S that 1 year ago we were in Miami, seeing live this exact PPV.

Also, we had a great weekend with the baby. On Sat. night she and I watched the Muppet Show on tape and danced around. Then she lay on top of me on S's recliner while I painted her nails. Later S assembled this cute artist easel I'd bought for her so she could be an artist. And my aunt called us to invite us to my 7-yr. old cousin's b-day party on the 10th!

Sunday I took the baby to church after S went to work. We went to the nearby Methodist church, since I was raised Catholic and I can relate to the Methodists. It was an enjoyable experience. They sang peppier songs than I am used to hearing in the Catholic church. I like churches where you can clap your hands (on the other hand, I don't ever want to go Pentecostal!). And the baby was very well-behaved for the most part. We'll go back again for sure!

After church we went to the zoo. It was a bright sunny day although a bit chilly, but the zoo was packed. As always, we had a blast there. While in the reptile house we were looking at a humongous boa constrictor. She asked, "Will that snake bite me?" I said, "No, that snake is so big he doesn't have to bite. He just swallows you whole!" and some parents standing nearby heard me and cracked up. She wanted to ride on the carousel, and as zoo members we do get discounts on the rides, but you have to buy your discount token all the way at the front gate. Still, she'd never ridden the carousel, so I told her that we'd have to walk all the way back to the front to buy our token. This man overheard me and held out a carousel token and asked if we wanted it! So we got to ride the carousel, the baby on a zebra!

After the zoo she fell asleep in the car, and we went home for only 30 min. before we had to head up north to meet S. We dropped her off (Dickhead is growing a mustache, and since he is already white trash, his wispy brown mustache now makes him look like trailer white trash! Ha ha!) and went to the sports bar to meet M. who had saved us a table. The waitress did not charge me and S for our cokes, though she charged M.'s for his. (Hmmm. I can't help but wonder if we got a free carousel token and free soft drinks b/c I gave at the church earlier? S advised me to read the parable in the Bible about the woman who had nothing but gave all. I do know that on the msn money boards I read several people have claimed that after they started tithing their financial luck turned around and even improved incredibly. Of course, that's not a reason to tithe or give, just so you get something back, but I can't help wondering if our good fortune yesterday was just a coincidence or not.)

I'm delighted. Dave Ramsey is back on the radio during the day!!! Off to listen!

And the excitement continues

Here I sit at Job #2. I just got back from lunch at my mom's house who is watching the baby (Burger King for all, I had a coupon). The baby is doing fine over there, was just a little fussy this a.m. but apparently got over it soon after I left, although she still wanted me to take her with me just now. She'll be fine! Kids are resilient! But that's not the excitement of the day--I had to call the cops yet again over here. I was surprised to see when I got here that the teen computers were all shut off, and they all had notes taped to them saying to the effect that due to the bad language, rough housing, and disrespect for other library patrons the teen computers would be shut down until further notice. Whoa! The teen librarian finally had enough? I can't say I blame him, I had had enough several weeks ago (see previous post about me crackin' skulls). Also, there were lots of pretty doughnuts here today, so I was looking forward to a nice, sedate, "routine" day, and I actually said that out loud to someone. I knew I shouldn't have done that!

Right before noon I got a complaint about some loud fighting in front. I saw one of our infamous trouble-making teens arguing with an older man wearing a black leather jacket. So I called the cops and right when I did they came into the damn library and the man began stalking the teen through the stacks all around the entire floor. Fortunately, the police dept. has cameras installed in the library (we also share a parking lot with the cops) and the dispatcher could see what was going on. Cool! My coworker got the teen to stand with us behind the ref. desk and I tried to get the man to come over near me (it was apparent this was some kind of domestic disturbance and the 1st thing you do is separate everyone), but he refused. Meanwhile everyone in the entire library was also watching. Another man had offered us his assistance and was standing by. I got off the phone with dispatch and stood a little ways behind the man so I could watch him and also watch for the cops. They showed up in about 90 seconds and 4 of 'em came in and took over. Apparently it was the stepdad arguing with the unruly teen about something. The fuzz took them outside and off the premises and now I get to write an incident report. The end!

I think tomorrow me and the baby are going to the zoo, but I'm really thinking I want to go to church, too. The Methodist church is right down the street and I could use a little churchin' up. Last night found me crying like a baby at 20/20's report on children in poverty in Camden, NJ. I couldn't help it! They profiled The Cutest Little Boy in the World, 4-yr old Ivan who absolutely broke my heart. I never saw such a precious little soul! (I'm sure it's also no coincidence I was so touched by him b/c the baby is 4 too.) I totally wanted to adopt him. Poor little thing, homeless but wanting to go to school, wanting to be Superman when he grows up, and wanting a house with a bathroom for Christmas!!!

I never paid attention to children, except for annoyance, until I had the baby. Amazing how that works out. I mean sure, I had a couple of "favorites" when I used to be a children's librarian, but basically I was just fine not having kids in my life. In fact, when I first met S and he told me about the baby's existence, I seriously would have dumped him right then and there if he had been ANYBODY ELSE. And even still, it took me a few months to get used to the idea b/c I was fighting it so hard. And this is yet another reason why I hate S's mother so much, b/c she had tried to convince me to help her in making S think that a custody battle would be futile, and that he should just "walk away" from the baby! What kind of fucked-up so-called "grandmother" would want us all to just walk away?!?? Heartless bitch! See why we (and the baby) have nothing to do with her, and will never have anything to do with her?

So when I met the baby it took us some time to really, really bond. I felt uncomfortable and awkward around her so many times. I read parenting websites, books, and online forums in order to learn how to be an incredible parent. It became my mission. And now look at us, a year and a half later! It's so cute the way she's almost become addicted to me. Why just last night she kept wanting me to come and "watch her", and when S and I retired to the "marital bed" she came wandering in later to announce that she wanted me to come and sleep with her. Not S, but me!

But anyway, so now I notice children and babies. And now I have compassion for them, and understand them a whole lot better. And instead of feeling annoyance at them, I feel mostly delight in being around them. Before, I couldn't stand 95% of kids. Now, I love 95% of them! And I do feel that I'm a much better person because of it.

Heated up

Yay! We got our heater problem fixed yesterday. It was the breaker, but it turned out we only had a screw loose. The electrician tightened everything up and the heater blew all night without tripping. I celebrated by making a delicious dinner of shake-n-bake chicken. It was yummy!

I wish I could stand leftovers, though. That's another way to help in being financially ahead of the game, but I just could not stomach the thought of bringing shake-n-bake chicken to work to have for lunch. And although I made a tasty egg salad the other night, I like to eat it on toast and that just won't keep very well in the fridge here at work either. (Although, hmm, I just remembered we do have a toaster here too.) So I treated myself to an Egg McMuffin this a.m. (pronounced "Egg a muffin").

I spoke to J. last night too. Her wedding plans are coming along! The wedding will be on Sep. 1 and the reception will be at the swank Rice Hotel downtown. I've been to parties there, it's nice! I urged her to make her Knot page asap.

P.S. Please get well soon, B.B.! I loves yew! My blog has a subtitle because of you!
I should also be in this picture.

Breaking, Entering, and other Joys of Homeownership

Our heater was not working right last night. It just turned itself off before reaching the target temperature. I called the home warranty co. and they suggested trying to flip the breaker switch. We dealt with this last month when our upstairs power went out; we had to, with the help of a neighbor, break into our other absent neighbor's back patio since that's where all the breaker boxes are and incidentally, he's either supposed to give us all keys to his back patio or not lock the patio door according to the management co.! So last night S and I were found again breaking into the neighbor's back patio door since he was not home yet again. (I'm a little disturbed at how easy it is to break into a dead-bolted wooden door --but glad we were able to do it!) We flipped the switch and the heat kicked back on--for about 10 minutes. We went back out, flipped it again, and the same thing happened. The warranty co. would not send anyone out unless it got under 40 Degrees--and it was 41 degrees last night!!! S and I spent the night in the baby's room under several blankets.

So this a.m. the heater guy called and said he'd be out "between 9 and noon." Well, I had to teach that Evidence Based Medicine class today at 9:30, so the heater guy readjusted for me to "between 10:45 and 2." Only appt. time available today! So I came in and taught that class, which btw, was kind of strange. The 3 instructors there told me that these students were "slow." So why I am teaching them this sophisticated searching and EBM environments that use jargonish jargon such as "sensitivity" and "specificity" and "systematic review" and "randomized controlled trial" and "PICOt" and crap like that which I barely understand?!? And they want me to impart all this heavy-duty knowledge to a bunch of low-level nursing students? Okkkkaaaaaaaayyyyyy. Anyway, the class ended up being mostly a Boolean searching and mini-Pubmed class. Whatever. I'll be back next week and the week after to continue where I left off. I apologized for having to skip out a little early, and hustled back home to meet the heater guy.

Well, it's not a heater issue. Our heating unit is barely 2 years old. We went back to breaker boy's house and it apparently is a breaker issue, as in, our breaker is old and also is only a 50-amp power breaker and our heating unit requires a 60-amp power breaker! What? Not exactly sure what that means but it doesn't sound good. So now we call the electrician, who I'm still waiting on. I debated whether or not to wait for him at home, or take a chance and come into work. I came into work and good thing too, for the 1st electrician couldn't come out today so now the warranty co. is searching for someone who can come out today, since it's going to be 39 degrees tonight and I am too busy at work tomorrow to deal with this crap. Also I have to pick up the baby tomorrow, so we need to get this fixed asap. Wish us luck!

Stalling

I'm stalling! I don't want to get back to studying this Evidence Based Medicine/Practice stuff. But I only have a few hours left to understand it totally, as I have to teach it 1st thing in the a.m. I just get so bored with academia sometimes--yeah, analyze everything to death, strip it down to its molecular level so that you can publish on it! Whooooo! Boring.

I did have fun this a.m., finishing up the creation of my new blog. This is for my health website. Our counterpart in Michigan has such a blog, so I thought it'd be fun if we did, too. I stuck a cute picture of me and my very cool co-project director on it. We are in front of a lighthouse and herons. That was a fun day; I drove down to Galveston to meet her and we pigged out on seafood, then took the ferry to the photo op location. On the ferry we saw dolphins!

For some reason I'm dressed like Mao today. You'd have to see it to understand. It was inadvertant. I blame P. in VA, who called me at 8 freakin' a.m. today and completely disturbed my equilibrium! P., if you do that again... Well, I just don't wanna say!

All right, no more stalling.

Oscar season is upon us!

Wow, the announcements came early this year--and I've got some catching up to do. So I've already gotten The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine out of the way. I guess I'm going to have to see Dreamgirls, even though DH has no interest as he is anti-Beyonce. I am too, we are just so sick of seeing her everywhere. She is being shoved down our throats at every turn and we're kind of over her, homegirl or not! I also want to finally check out The Devil Wears Prada, and in fact, they're showing it here at Job#2 on the 10th--but I don't know if I'll make it here for that since I'm off that day. What else? Babel? I dunno, sounds a little too dour for my tastes these days. Oh, but I'd love to check out Forest Whitaker in the Idi Amin movie! I've always loved him (Forest, wise guys!) Black Diamond? Maybe, if I can get around to it. The Queen? Eh... no thanks. I've never found the modern royal family to be particularly interesting. Children of Men, yes! Little Children, sure!

Nice visit yesterday

We had a nice visit yesterday from the lady from the county's Domestic Relations Office. She visited with us for a little over an hour and took copious notes. We gave her a tour of our home. (I'm just a little upset that neither she nor the amicus atty. examined the house hard enough to see that I'd spit-shined the base of both toilets, or peeked in to see how tidy S and I keep our big walk-in closet. They both just gave every room a cursory glance. I'd even cleaned the bathroom mirrors and tidied my sock drawer! I guess I fretted for nothing that I hadn't wet-dusted the upstairs window sills.) She was very nice and heard our side of the story. She said she is supposed to visit the whore soon, so I'm glad we got the 1st visit, just like we did with the amicus. Right before she left S lamented how all of his friends, Dickhead, and even S's worthless piece-of-shit mother had warned him not to fight this custody battle, that he would never win being a man. The lady said that on the contrary, being a man no longer guarantees you'll lose anymore, and in fact, for awhile there each and every one of the cases her office was investigating resulted in the father being awarded custody!!! Oh man, that made us feel so good. And I keep reminding S, he's not in this alone anymore. He's got a stellar wife that is going to help him win custody, too!

So since we still had most of the afternoon left after nice county lady left, we decided to go to a movie matinee. We saw Scorcese's The Departed. Man, oh man, the acting! The violence! The under-handedness! Leo! However, afterwards I had some questions that I felt were unanswered, and S and later on the phone my li'l brother, both offered me their own theories.

Dell how could you do this to me

And by "Dell" I mean my former wonderful boss who left me to carry on in her name the Evidence-Based Medicine classes that we offer regularly to the local nursing stude's. I, the consumer health librarian, am now having to become some kind of EBM expert, or something. I have to teach my 1st class this Thursday. I just now today started reading up on EBM, what it is, and how to teach it. (Well, I've always worked best under pressure.) So far I think that it's all... boring. Boring, boring, boring. I don't know why science and I don't get along swimmingly. I always got straight D's in science in school. One of my college boyfriends laughed when he saw my Master's diploma, which states rather ironically, "Master of Science." Dell, how could you do this to me?!?

Fortunately there are chocolate-covered pretzels here today for some reason. I will eat them while I research EBM and play with EBM databases and try to learn how to teach this crap by Thursday morning.

Sundaze

Does not feel like Sunday. I kept thinking yesterday was Sunday, although it was Saturday. Waking up at 4:30 am yesterday really messed me up! Oh, it was awful. I even put my v-neck t-shirt that I wear under my bulletproof vest on backwards, that's how screwed up I was. I didn't even notice until I got home and got undressed. Poor S also woke up with me at 4:30; his insomnia is bad and he could not go back to sleep. It does not help either that I've had a pounding headache since Friday night that no analgesic could touch. I was pretty worried about it as I went on patrol, as I like and need to be 100% on my game out there on the streets. And I knew the Sgt. was already going to be on my ass about some things. But fortunately, the morning was kind of calm and we had an arrest that took up the rest of the time until I had to leave at noon. Some of that time was also taken up by eating (free) at Fuddruckers--yum!

The arrest was one that pissed me off for 2 reasons. What happened was there was a lady fighting with her husband in their front yard and the neighbors called it in. We showed up and the lady had put their 2-year old son in the back of the pickup truck that the husband was trying to leave in to go to work. 2 more deputies joined us on the call. We always have to ID and run everyone, so the lady said her ID was in the house. Sgt. followed her inside and told me to come, too. The lady was carrying the 2-yr old cutiepie and she tried to sit him down on the messy dining room table, but before she was able to sit him right on top of a baggie full of weed, the Sgt. spotted it. Nice try, dumbass! So the Sgt. told me to go outside and tell the other deputies the husband needed to be put into custody until we figured out whose weed it was. I ran outside and told the deputy with the husband, sotto voce, that the guy needed to be put in custody. The deputy said ok, and moved aside so I could do it. I thought he was gonna do it! But no matter, I turned the husband around, pulled my cuffs, held the guy's thumbs together, and proceeded to do the absolute worst job of handcuffing in my entire career. So that pissed me off and embarrassed me no end. It was horrible. This is what happens when you don't practice, which me and M. keep promising to do but never do. Oh lord, I can't imagine what those other deputies were thinking. Actually, yes I can.

The Sgt. called me back inside the house to watch the lady, who was now cuffed and sitting on the couch. She was crying and saying the pot was hers, and please don't take her baby to a foster home, and wah wah wah! I gave her a little lecture about doing drugs in front of kids, and how this little boy seemed to be very bright and that if she kept it up, he was likely to do drugs someday too. (Reason #2 I was pissed!) She agreed, but kept blubbering, and wanted some water, so I played nice cop and got her a drink of water and had to hold it to her mouth since she was cuffed. The little boy really was adorable, and he just played on the floor and did not seem scared of us at all. The Sgt. came back in and told her she was under arrest since the pot apparently turned out to be hers. She begged me to find her bra, so I went through the small cluttered house and finally found it after awhile. (I also had to get a tampon for her, ugh.)

Back at the station, the other deputies there started making fun of the baggie of pot, asking the lady how much she'd (over)paid for it and saying it was full of seeds and not even clean! She stopped crying long enough to say that it was good shit, that we should all roll one up and try it. I had to take her in the back so I could search her, and also had to watch while she went to the bathroom. [Why do they always ask if I have to watch??? Like I enjoy doing it, or something? As if I have a fucking choice? Here's a tip: if you don't want people to watch you on the toilet, don't get arrested, Numbskull.] Later she started complaining about the cuffs being too tight, which they weren't b/c I could stick my finger inside, and how terrible this whole experience was. I said, "Yeah, being arrested really sucks, doesn't it? Maybe you'll use this as a learning experience and think about this the next time you do something that'll get you arrested." Then she was all like, "Having pot is not nearly as bad as having crack!" My response, "Oh, people get killed over pot, too! People will kill each other over $5!!!" Then she claimed she was going to throw up, so they dragged the trash can over to her but told her if she did, then the D.A. was going to add another charge. They were really messing with her, which was pretty funny!

BTW, the Sgt. promised me he would call CPS on her. Trying to hide weed with your precious 2-year old's little behind? My vote is that you don't get to keep your kid anymore, you piece of shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So after all that drama, I took off to the next comic-drama of the day: my annual homeowner's association meeting. Here was the approximate basic breakdown of the other concerned homeowners like myself that were there: 45% older white women, 45% older gay white men, and the remaining 10% were me, a gay black man, a gay Hispanic man, a young single white woman, and 2 black couples. We had no quorum, and were only at about 33%, so we could not vote on a new board or any other changes. The gay men were vicious! They were absolute bitches! One of them actually asked the little old lady who was the board president why she hadn't resigned yet! Others sneered, how come this hasn't been done, and how come that hasn't been done? I mean, it was a real brou-ha-ha. I was actually uncomfortable, and I was still in uniform! I thought I might have to cuff someone before the meeting was over (that would've been good practice, actually). But all in all, I got some good info., such as the budget, and some of the plans for this year that they will be doing to the property. We did take a vote to adjorn the meeting until next month, so that we can all attempt to get a quorum of homeowners there so we can vote on some changes. After the meeting I met lots of my neighbors, which was nice since I feel like we never see anybody, being on the end and on the corner and all. The presiding officer said they might need to hire me for all future meetings so I can keep the peace.

By the time I got home, I was beat and my headache still hadn't gone away. I just lounged around the house, and finally finished my book! I watched a documentary on the real Blackhawk Down, which is also an incredible page-turner of a book. When S got home from work I was watching one of my fave shows, Flip This House! Speaking of which, I heard several of my fellow homeowners talk about their remodeling projects, which made me feel good b/c I have been having some ideas about home improvements (someday when we have the $), but wasn't sure it would be a good investment if our property values don't go up. But apparently, others are confident they will! So I talked to S about some of my ideas last night. I'd definitely like to re-do the upstairs bathroom and take out the upstairs carpet. Someday, someday...

Lord, today I still woke up with a pounding headache. I was supposed to be at work at 1, which is where I am now, but didn't make it until 1:30. I just could not peel myself off the couch and the light was actually making it worse. Maybe it was a mild migraine? Fortunately, the Advil finally did kick in and I was able to drag myself in. When I get home I have got to tidy up a little since the county lady will be out tomorrow to inspect our house and interrogate us on why we are better parents for the baby. Fortunately, there's not much to do, just dust and sweep so we can pass the white-glove test if necessary. I also need to put away the laundry. Our lawyer should be back in the office full-time starting tomorrow, which is great so we can get this case moving along again! S had the sweet idea to get her a get-well card, and I also got her a bag of Valentine's peanut M&M's, which we'll mail tomorrow.

Mardi Gras note: We lost 1 more member of the Krewe. I was on the verge of calling off the party, but don't want to do so b/c I already booked the room and don't want John at Bibas to be mad at me (he can be a little scary!). Instead, we will scale back yet again. Get yer togas ready.

Busy weekend on the horizon

Well, I did not organize a reunion with the "Marital Bed" last night b/c S pulled one of his dirty tricks that he likes to play on me. It goes like this: he'll be on his recliner, covered by his blanket. I will be on the couch, spending quality time with my book du jour. He invites me to join him over on the recliner; I can't resist. But when I get there, I'm doomed for he is so warm that it is only a matter of minutes before I start to doze off. I always murmur sleepily as I start to enter the point of no return, "Why are you trying to get rid of me?" Last night he was being so mean, telling me that as soon as I fall asleep he throws wild parties, with cakes, and ice cream, and pies, and cupcakes, and doughnuts, and cobblers, and fruit tarts, and his friends, and my friends, and I sleep through it all! So last night I was asleep by 10pm.

Maybe he can pull his trick on me tonight. That would be good actually, as I have to go on PATROL at freakin' 6 o'clock am in the freakin' morning! That is b/c the Sgt. wants me to patrol with him. I don't know why he likes to patrol the 6am-2pm shift, it just ain't right. I do have to skip out early though, as I want to attend our homeowner's association meeting which is at 12:30. I like to be involved!

Sunday I have to work. Well, I didn't have to, but I signed up anyway so I can use some comp time next week. Fortunately it's only a short shift of 1-6; unfortunately Sundays tend to be steady business around here.

Today I booked the room for our Mardi Gras party. It's at my beloved Greek restaurant, in the private room. So the theme will be "Greek Mardi Gras." Togas preferred!

M. told us he couldn't go to the wrestling event with us at the end of this month. Lame! He says he has to work. So S got his sales manager at work to take the ticket, which will be fun. That's in a couple of weeks and we are all excited.
Maybe my friend will be there.Miami Beach, Ritz Hotel lobby. January 2006.

I have not slept in my bed for days

S likes to sleep anywhere except our bedroom (I call it the "Marital Bedroom"). He prefers either the baby's room, his recliner, or the couch, probably in that order, too. As much as I protest that I spent hundreds of dollars on our mattress, and in fact, it is the mattress that the athletes slept in on in Olympic Village in 2004, he insists he is more comfortable elsewhere. So last night we slept in the baby's room. We've been sleeping in the living room during the cold snap of earlier this week b/c that room has the best temp. control of the entire house. We alternate between the recliner and the couch, several times during the same night.

I miss my bed! I think I might organize a reunion tonight. Unless it's too cold! S does usually end up joining me there for the last couple of hours of slumber anyway.

S has a probable job interview next week, at least, he's gotten the offer for an interview. There are pros and cons to possibly making a change, as always. I'm going to put it in the Lord's hands! Oh, and I started reading the Bible last night! S told me to begin with the Psalms to help my temper, but then changed his mind and assigned me Job instead.

It was interesting watching Armed & Famous last night (after we watched the Idol, of course). Jack Osbourne was urging someone to go to AA. It made me think of my days in Al-Anon, which really helped me back then. The program truly works! I kind of wish I had time to attend a meeting every now and then, just for touch-ups.

Cool news re: property taxes

We finally got our first property tax bill ever yesterday. It is much lower, about $800 lower, than I thought it might be! Dope! So our savings will not be wiped out after all, thank the heavens. The remainder will provide a nice cushion to my EF (Emergency Fund) that I am currently building. I'm going to pretend the cushion doesn't exist, though. It'll stay hidden over at the credit union where it'll continue gaining interest.

We also got a bunch of other tax items in the mail, such as mortgage co. interest statements and bank interest statements. This is the year I begin making an extra mortgage payment per year. Do you know that if you make just 1 extra payment a year you will knock something like 7 years off a 30-year mortgage, and save thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars??? Increible! And it's so easy to do, just pick 1 month and pay around the 30th, then just keep it up through December. Or, just do it in December!

I'm currently listening to a book on CD in the car, The Wealthy Barber. It's about money management, but to be honest, it's not teaching me anything I don't already know. Still, I enjoy reviewing personal finance tips b/c it just reinforces that I am doing everything I can at the moment. And reading the message boards daily on msn money continues to give me the discipline to budget and get out of debt asap.

Gratuitous pic of the day: Kill Bill Halloween, starring me as GoGo. 2004.

RIP, Michael Brecker

Wow, the good really do die young. I love Michael Brecker. I've partied with him, at the University of North Texas where my then-saxophone-playing-boyfriend got to play with him in concert. The jazzers threw a house party w/beer and invited Brecker to come, and he did! That was Brecker's sax solo on one of my favorite Paul Simon songs of all time, "Still Crazy After All These Years."

Too soon gone.

Greedy book monster

I am sooooooooooooo greedy when it comes to books!!! I have about 5 books at home and in the car, waiting for me to read them. They're begging me, taunting me, daring me to read them. I cherish the time I have to read, which lately is few and far between. I'm dying to finish my latest book (Marcia Clark's Without A Doubt) so I can start the next one(s), and things just keep popping up that don't allow me quality reading time. I even desperately try to catch snippets in the car while stopped at red lights. I must have books on me at all times, and the time to read them! Or I get withdrawal, I swear!

Last night was awesome. I got to Job#2, and all the public computers were down. Easy, easy gig! The place was sparse with folks, and the few people that were there were actually looking at books or the videos/DVD's. I had thought it strange when I 1st got there and saw a group of teens playing chess at a table. Then, as luck would have it, it was also the night they brought the People's Lawyer, Richard Alderman, to the library to speak and sell his book! I'm kind of a fan, so they let me go and sit in on the talk! (Plus they wanted to ensure that he had as many warm bodies in attendance as possible, since the library was dead due to the computers being down and all, plus the weather.) It was really cool, and he gave us much food for thought. When it was over at 7:30 I headed back to my post at the ref. desk and the library director herself, who was there for the talk, came over to me and asked me to make an announcement that the library would be closing early at 8. Ma'am, yes ma'am!!! So we all got to go home early, too and got a free paid hour off!

When I got home S put on Employee of the Month. I thought it was pretty lame. But b/c of that, I did not get any quality time w/my book. However, I did get in good cuddle time w/S!

Today at work, I got a visit from my li'l brother. He and I went to lunch, at the famed Lucky Burger, where I've never been! So I did not get to have lunch w/my book. But I got in some good catch-up time w/li'l bro!

I just realized that today, I have been married for 11 months. And it's been just wonderful. The time has really passed alarmingly fast! Tempus fugit when you're having fun, eh? I asked S if he wanted to go anywhere for our 1-year anniversary next month, maybe a quick li'l trip to San Antone or something. But we may not end up wanting to spend the $. I think at the very least we'll do something really cool here, a romantic dinner, something groovy.

I don't understand those celebrities who have quickie marriages of 6 months, 3 months, 1 week, Cher and Gregg Allman!!! How clinically delusional do you have to be to get married to that person in the 1st place? (Or, more likely, how amazing was the sex?) I just think of how much fun S and I have been having, and all that we've already been through together, and I just see more, more, MORE of everything ahead of us! This is the beginning of it all, and the amazement of that just awes me.

Cold Snap

Cold cuts, y'all! I eat 'em all night long! Cold cuts, y'all! I eat baloney and cheese! Gimme my cheese, baby...

That's in honor of my beloved (I know, everyone's "my beloved") Albert Collins and the Icebreakers. The Iceman! 'Cuz man, it's coooooooold outside. In the 30's, even. I can't believe I hadda come into work today. Unfair! Plus I guess I'll be working tonight at Job #2 as well.

Right now I'm taking a lunch break and eating chinese food and pizza. Yep, you guessed it--leftovers! S and I had a nice MLK holiday yesterday. We lazed around all morning, then went to see Alpha Dog. I found it extremely disturbing. It was like when I saw Trainspotting. I said, "I don't want to know any of these people." Hey, that Justin Timberlake can actually act.

After the movie, we were already dressed to run since I had the capital idea to go running in drizzly 35-degree weather. I called Tito J. and he was also up for it. No excuses! So we agreed to meet him at the park, and S and I did a lap before Tito J. got there. That was enough for S, who then went to sit in the car. Tito J. and I walked/jogged a couple of laps and S finally got out and joined us for 2 more. Then we went to eat at a Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood that S and I had not yet tried. It was pretty good!

And we had yet another fun weekend with baby. Sat. night we all ate at Star Pizza, and M. joined us. 3 of us Krewe members were there, and we decided we'd be able to do the party this year after all, just low-budget. Sunday, Auntie R. met me and baby at the Chirren's Museum, where much fun activity ensued. Unfortunately, S had to work late so he did not get to go with us to drop the baby off in The Shitslands. When we got there I gave Dickhead the look of one killer to another as I walked around the car to get the baby out. He needs to know that he's going down, and soon.

I'm crackin' skulls!

Busy day at Job #2, the zoo that is the public library. I'm on the verge of kicking out this group of hooligan teens. We already gave them 2 warnings (really 3 but I just got back from lunch so I'm not up to date on their goings-on) and I mean it, if they even get strange looks on their faces, I'm throwing them all out! The page here said the other employees here never want to throw people out, but I have no problem doing so. I dare them to make me throw them out! I'd cherish the opportunity! Please let me do so! Please please please, as James Brown would say.

I just got back from lunch and it's still a zoo here. I picked up McD's and took it to Ma and P.'s house, where they are taking care of the baby for the day while S and I are at work. This is the 1st time my mom has had to watch her for us, since this is the 1st Saturday I have had to work on one of the baby's visitation weekends, and I was a little nervous about the whole operation. When I picked up the baby last night, I told her 2 things, 1. that the amicus atty. would be visiting us that night, and 2. She was going to my mom's house today. So I prepared her, but I always feel like nobody on earth can parent her better than I (and that's probably pretty much true!), even though my mom is perfectly capable. I packed up bags of toys, healthy snacks, drinks, videos, crayons, books, change of clothes, etc. etc. so that she would have an activity-packed day and hopefully have some fun.

So we had a good time having lunch together, and she seemed to be having a good time. My mom said they had all gone for a walk earlier, and they'd been painting and dancing the "Hokey Pokey", etc. She got a cool alligator and turtle game in her Happy Meal and we played with that. We did each other's hair and ate some of the chocolate we'd gotten my mom as a gift. But when I had to come back to work she got a little pouty, and I had to explain to her that I had to go back to work for just a little while longer, and then tonight me, her and S will all go out for pizza at the restaurant (Star Pizza!) together! I also think she was getting a little sleepy. Then we put on The Muppet Movie and then I had to go, so hopefully she is relaxing and enjoying the movie (I know my mom and stepdad are!). And maybe will nod off soon! My mom said, "It's been non-stop with her," in an exasperated but good-natured way, and I said, "Welcome to my world!"

Tonight we are indeed going to the wonderful Star Pizza to attempt to have a meeting with my Mardi Gras krewe, the Krewe of Alexandria (a librarian group named after the 1st Library--Tito J. thought it up). We need to start planning the party this year, if indeed it is going to happen. I'm not sure it will b/c lame-o's keep dropping out of the Krewe due to their so-called money woes this year. Oh, like we don't all have money woes! I'm in credit card debt to the outrageous fucking tune of $13,000 so far thanks to our custody battle, but you don't hear me whining and bitching about it! (Well, you do but not where throwing awesome parties are concerned!) I made it a priority to stay on the Krewe this year, I've been on it since we started something like 7 yrs. ago and I don't want to give up on it now. So anyway, we'll see how this meeting goes tonight, but I'm at my limit of tolerance these days and I'm sort of ready to just give up on it if nobody else is going to be as committed as I am. To be honest, I sort of don't want 1 more thing on my plate right now, but I thought a kick-ass Mardi Gras party would make me so happy that it would be worth it.

My mom just called me and put the baby on the phone. The baby wanted me to come and get her, and I explained for the millionth time that I had to work so that I could make money and buy her toys, books, pretty clothes, etc. My mom says she is just getting lonely and probably needs a nap, too. I said that I hoped my coming over for lunch didn't cause a setback, but my mom said to not worry. My mom also had told me when I was there that the baby had said to my mom earlier that my mom is very nice, and that the whore is mean and that Dickhead is mean and that they both yell at her. She said to my mom, "You haven't yelled at me once." As if that's something extraordinary!

The visit last night from the amicus was a nice one. He was with his wife, and they came in and he asked the baby to show him her room. We went up there and he looked around (he was very friendly even though the couple of times I've seen him and talked to him he's been very rushed and curt) and looked around the entire place, including looking in the baby's closet. We offered him some gourmet cookies, but he declined and the baby ate 2. He said that we had a "very clean" house and that it looked like the baby was well-provided for. No shit. We then outlined our many concerns about the whore and Dickhead, and he said he was going to visit them too. He said that in a jury trial, he will be able to make his recommendation to the jury on his opinion--they don't have to rule the same way he does, but I'm sure every jury does listen to the amicus since, after all, he's the baby's unbiased attorney.

I spoke to a friend today who had a weight-loss surgery yesterday. I was worried so I called her last night and today to check on her. She is in a lot of pain but says that this is normal; also only drinking liquids! I told her to just imagine the bikini that she will wear. Her surgery cost $15,000. Hearing things like that don't make me feel as bad about the money we are spending on our court case--though it still makes my stomack sick to think of it. I just keep trying to remember how much it will be worth it. It's like that joke about divorce. Why is divorce so expensive? Because it's worth it. Same with child custody battles.

Me & Dave

I love Dave Barry!!! This is a pic taken of us at the Texas Book Festival in Austin in Nov. 2003. I went with my mom. I was so excited to meet Dave, and could barely contain myself. I told him I was a librarian and he signed his book for me, "To Adela, my literary idol." He had kept me from sinking into a deep black depression when I was in my mid-20's, and I own almost all of his books (not the fiction). I've always been sort of in love with him, too!

That TX Book Fest was something else. We also saw Amy Tan speak, and also Dave Barry w/Roy Blount, Jr. Later we saw them and their goofy rock band, the Rock Bottom Remainders, in concert at the Austin Music Fest. It was one of the best times of my entire life. Roger Guinn of the Byrds sat in. They made me cry when they did Warren Zevon's song "Keep Me in Your Heart", as he had recently died. I realized I also have a mini-crush on Mitch Albom, who's also in the band--he is a cutie, and buff to boot! I stood right up against the stage and took many pictures that night. If you ever want to see them, just ask!

I also got to meet Carlton Stowers at that Book Fest, who is a Texas true crime author [truth be told, that's probably my dream job!]. We saw him speak and he took questions afterwards. I have read pretty much all his true crime books, but I wanted to ask him about one in particular. His son had killed his own wife (girlfriend?) and was sent up the river for it. Stowers ended up writing a book about it. So I asked about that book, something like what was it like to write a true crime book from a personal viewpoint? He replied that it had been difficult, but ultimately therapeutic. Then he thanked me for asking that question. I was the only audience member he thanked! (I have a previous bizarre association w/Carlton Stowers. Just briefly: this guitar player I was "seeing" gave me a gift of one of Stowers' books and told me the author was his uncle. A couple of years later I was trying to track down the guitarist who was MIA from the Houston area. I actually found Carlton Stowers' home phone # at his home near Dallas and gave him a call, thinking he might have news of his nephew. He said he had no such nephew! I decided not to mention by the way, I'm a huge fan, and just hung up. Weird.)

Armed and Malaised

That's me right now! Ha ha! I'm feeling so lazy tonight on this last night that I will be working until 7pm. The laziness started at around 3, which sucked since I knew I'd have to be here late. I wanted to sleeeeeeeep...

Besides pulling all evening hours beginning next week, they're also going to de-staff the reference desk. This means that all questions are going to go to the low-paid clerks at the circ desk. I have to train them tomorrow on searching the library catalog. Meanwhile, all librarians will be in our offices all day, "on-call" in case our assistance is needed, which it will be. Then when the circ folk can't handle the question being asked of them, they will call us and we will run out and save the day! This should be a definite improvement in our lives, although the circ staff are a little miffed and intimidated at the change from what I hear. Ah, they'll be all right. 90% of the questions asked are just if we own a particular journal or minor directional ones anyway. No use paying a librarian upwards of $20/hour to sit out here for that.

The following is funny, and mostly true for me:

You May be a Cop if.....

you have ever restrained someone and it was not a sexual experience.

you believe that 50% of people are a waste of good air.

your idea of a good time is a gun run or a car chase.

you conduct a criminal record check on anyone who seems friendly towards you.

you believe in the aerial spraying of Prozac and birth control pills.

you disbelieve 90% of what you hear and 75% of what you see.

you have your weekends off planned for a year.

you believe the government should require a permit to reproduce.

you refer to your favorite restaurant by the intersection at which it's located.

you've ever wanted to hold a seminar entitled: "Suicide, getting it right the first time."

you've ever had to put the phone on hold before you begin laughing uncontrollably.

you think caffeine should be available in IV form.

you believe anyone who says, "I only had two beers", is going to blow more than a .15

you find out a lot about paranoia just by following people around.

anyone has ever said to you, "There are people killing other people out there and you are here messing with me.

people flag you down on the street and ask you directions to strange places and you know where they're located.

you can discuss where you are going to eat with your partner while standing over a dead body.

you are the only person introduced at a social gathering by profession.

you walk into places and people think it's high comedy to seize their buddy and shout, "They've come to get you Bill.

you do not see daylight from November till May.

people shout, "I didn't do it!" when you walk into a room and they think they'r e being hugely funny and original.

a week's worth of laundry consists of 5 T shirts, 5 pairs of socks and 5 pair of underwear.

you've ever referred to Tuesday as "my weekend" or "this is my Friday".

you've written off guns and ammunition as a business expense.

you believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, "Boy, it sure is quiet tonight."

discussing dismemberment over a meal seems perfectly normal to you.

you find humor in other people's stupidity.

you have left more meals on the restaurant table than you've eaten.

you feel good when you hear, "these handcuffs are too tight."

Good run last night; Armed and Famous recap

Tito J. and I had a good run/fast walking session last night! He introduced me to this great little park w/track that is just down the street from where we both live. I will be taking S there to run one of these days now that we no longer live near our beloved Hermann Park. I was glad to get a run in this week since I don't think I'll be able to meet M. tonight at the gym, since I have to get ready for this visit tomorrow night from the amicus atty. We always keep our house pretty clean but I just wanted to clear away any clutter, do all the laundry, make sure the bathrooms are clean, dust, etc. so it looks as perfect as possible. I started tidying up last night when I got home from the run, so I just need to finish up tonight. I also need to go grocery shopping after work since S has once again drank all the chocolate milk! I probably need to start buying 2 cartons at a time! You should always have chocolate milk in the house. It's an awesome way to get your calcium!

Then when S got home from work last night we watched Armed and Famous. M. had already texted me and said it was so unrealistic. You think? S was glad to see his dream girl (after me and Salma Hayek), Trish Stratus in action now that she's retired from wrestling. I was glad to see all the celeb's get Tasered, although thought it extremely unfair that they only had to take the ride for a second or 2, whereas I had to take the entire 5 seconds! Also, what bullshit that they only had to attend a mini-Academy of 3 weeks then immediately got to go on patrol. Still, they did learn some good stuff, and I had fun orally critiquing the show to S.

Taser note: I recently read a book about the Phil Spector murder. He got Tasered that night by the police at his mansion, then had to go to the hospital for treament of the effects of the Taser. Oh, brother! You know what I did after I got Tasered? I went to lunch!!!

Me getting my ass Tasered, December 2005. Owwwwwww.

Cool news re: Job #1; gratuitous photo

So we had the early morning meeting today (I was only 5 min. late) and they have decided to, as of next week, pull evening hours. So that means I don't have to work 'til 7pm on Thursdays anymore. This is actually welcoming news for me. I am very pleased!

Also we are making some (slow) progress in our court case, even with our lawyer being laid up in the hospital. We have made an appointment with the county's social study office where they come and visit us at our house and see how stable we are, if our home is clean and safe, and if we would make better parents--no contest there in any of that!!! We also made an appt. with the amicus attorney (atty. for the child) to come visit us this Friday night, again so he can see us all interact together as a family and look for the same things that the county office will be looking for. Frankly, I can't wait to show these people how S and I excel both as parents and as highly-functioning human beings--both categories where the whore and dickhead are 100% derelict!!!

International friend note: I'm so glad to hear J&J are safe and sound in Africa! Monkeys playing on your house? Wow. Don't think I'd personally like that--but wow!

Fun Tuesday

I didn't go to work until almost 2pm today and instead, S and I took the baby to storytime at Tito J.'s library (we missed storytime last night b/c when I got off work and went outside to S's car, it had a major flat and S had to come and rescue me with "Fix-A-Flat."). Then we all went to eat lunch together, including Tito J., at the fun Chinese restaurant we all like. We had so much fun playing this a.m. that when I kissed the baby goodbye so that I could finally head into work, she was acting all miserable and said that she was sad b/c I had to go and couldn't come with her and S! Awwwwww!!!

So now I'm at Job#2 and S said the dropoff of baby went fine tonight; Dickhead was there and M. did the job of handing her over to him. In a related court case note, I spoke to our lawyer's cousin (my good friend) tonight and she told me our lawyer was ultimately admitted to the hospital for her pain resulting from her car accident. No wonder she hasn't returned my call from yesterday! This. Sucks. Ass. Not just for us, but I am concerned about counselor and hope she gets well soon. And I refuse to get too upset about all this since there's nothing we can do but sit around and wait some more. We are getting good at it.

I will let all my jobs distract me. Tomorrow I hafta try my darndest to get my booty into work by 8 freakin' 30 a.m. so that my dept. can have a meeting on how we're going to staff the weekends. Well, I hate to say it, but I will probably be unable to help out since I'm either 1. working at Job #2, or 2. taking care of baby. So I just don't know! Lord knows I've done my share of working weekends there though.

I will also let party planning distract me. The Krewe of Alexandria is getting geared up to plan our next Mardi Gras Party, tentatively scheduled for Friday, Feb. 16. Also, I think this year I want to have another Karoake birthday party. I haven't had one in a few years, and I want to make it a joint one for me and S since our b-day's are less than 2 weeks apart! And we'll invite EVERYONE!!!

Still okey dokey

It appears I have no lasting effects of the fleet (see below post). Not even susto! Thank God. Yesterday the Sgt. called me to check that I'd survived through the night, and later my partner called me to see how I was feeling. I was perfectly fine, but he was still a little sore. I had felt so bad for him that on my way home I'd texted him, "I'd ride with u again anyday! I hope u get some rest and feel better manana." He said my text msg. had cheered him up. He said he hoped he hadn't scared me off but like I keep telling everyone, I had no time to be scared. (Plus I admit I was very ignorant of how bad the crash coulda been until later.) I also said that the odds are good for us now that we have had a bad fleet, and I would feel safer riding with him now than I would with anyone else! It's kind of like that scene in The World According to Garp where Garp and his wife are house-hunting, and a small airplane crashes right into the house they are currently looking at. Garp turns to the real estate agent and says, "We'll take it!" His wife says he's nuts but he points out that now that that's happened, the odds of it happening again are astronomical!

Today I met S and the baby for lunch at our favorite La Mad. S had a dr. appointment this a.m. so hopefully we can get down to the bottom of his health problems. After I get off work tonight we'll go to the library for storytime, since I won't be able to take her on Saturdays anymore now that her weekends with us fall on the Saturdays that I work at Job #2. At least until April when it'll go back to the way it was before since there's 5 weekends in March, or we have a trial date and win custody, whichever comes first.

Fleet

Last night at around 2200 hours, I was involved in a pretty bad fleet--although in retrospect, it could've been a lot, lot worse. What is a fleet?

Fleet (n): a car accident involving a police car.

And no, I was not the one driving.

The irony is, I was sent to patrol last night after speaking w/my Sgt., who said they wanted to train me better on Officer Safety issues, and so they preferred me not to patrol on Sunday w/M. after all. So I go out to ride with the fun young "regular" (full-time deputy, not reserve) guy that I'd ridden with before, and what happens? We wreck the patrol car and almost get killed.

We were so close to the end of our shift! In fact we were right down the street from the substation, about to go off duty when a pursuit came over the radio. So we did a fast U and got on the beltway and raced down it, lights & siren and everything. Fun young cop had asked me if I had my seatbelt on and of course, I did--I always do. I know lots of cops don't like to wear seatbelts and they have their reasons, but the statistics show that most officers killed on duty are killed in car wrecks--so I really don't care about the other on-the-surface "good" reasons for not wearing a seatbelt, the odds are that I will need the seatbelt before anything else. I'm glad he buckled up too. For after maybe just 30 seconds of speeding down the beltway, we were in the far right lane, and the vehicle in front of us saw us barrelling towards him and he panicked. First he went left, then he went right--and in order to avoid hitting him, which I later realized probably would've killed us all, as fast as we were going--fun young cop swerved over to the shoulder, and that's where we lost control. We kept going off the shoulder to the grassy median and then started spinning. I saw a street sign heading towards my door, but then we hit it with another part of the car instead and took it out. We may have spinned around down the grass a time or 2 more, then we landed on the feeder, perpendicular to it, and came to a stop. Later, everyone was saying how lucky we were we didn't hit anyone on the feeder, or get hit by anyone there.

So after we landed I looked at fun young cop and said happily, "Good driving!" since we had survived. But he didn't say anything. He got on the radio and said we'd been involved in a fleet. Several drivers were stopping their cars and coming down the grass to check on us. I jumped out and told them I was ok, so they went to the driver's side and opened it to check on my partner. Dispatch was trying to check on us, and she did so twice and when I realized he wasn't answering I got on the radio and said we needed EMS. I told her our location so they could find us. Then other duputies started showing up and I began directing traffic. I was concerned about my partner but I didn't know what else to do. I had shined my flashlight on him and made sure he wasn't bleeding or had broken bones or anything, but he just remained sitting quietly in the car so I just kept myself busy. (Later I found out how pissed off he was about the whole thing and that's why he wasn't talking.)

Then a whole bunch of cops showed up and asked us both if we were ok. I said that I thought I was--I mean, I had immediately jumped out of the car and was directing traffic and didn't feel hurt anywhere. I hadn't hit or bumped anything that I could recall. The traffic unit came out and began doing his investigation. Finally, my partner got out of the car slowly and started walking around slowly, complaining of arm pain, but it wasn't broken or anything. My cell phone began to blow up. 1st, the Lt. called me. Then while I was talking to him the Sgt. called. Then Lt. called back. Then Sgt. again. They were very concerned about me and if I had any injuries. Lt. ordered me to tell S that after I went to sleep that night, to wake me up every couple of hours and talk to me and make sure I was ok, in case it turned out later I had a head injury no one knew about. And that if I felt hurt the next day, to immediately notify everyone so the paperwork could be done on my medical and the county would cover everything. Then the Lt. said, "And good job on the radio." I called S and told him what had happened, then called my mom as well.

When my partner finally emerged from the car, the guy who had unintentionally caused our accident by getting in our way was standing there, all concerned. My partner told the other deputies to put him in the back of a patrol car--that's how pissed he was. But another deputy said he was just going to get his information and led him away. Well, guess what??? Come to find out this guy had 3 open warrants! Knucklehead! Turd! He went off to jail and his car was towed. (Maybe that's why he freaked out so bad when he saw us behind him, who knows?)

So almost 2 hours later, it was finally all over. Everyone's information had been gotten, all the witnesses interviewed, EMS come and gone, and all the other deputies went back to work. My other Sgt., a female, had come on the scene since she lives nearby, and told me again what a good job I had done on the radio. I blew it off, saying, "Ok, whatever", but she said no, that even the regulars were saying how calm and controlled I'd sounded, that I hadn't been a blubbering, panicking drama queen. One of the other Sgt.'s had asked me if I had been scared, but I said I never was, not for one second, b/c I had every confidence that my partner was going to control the car and we'd be ok. Well, I was half right. Then the female Sgt. gave me a bit of interesting information: this was fun young cop's 5th fucking fleet! Holy shit! Later he was saying it was his 4th fleet, but still... this latest one will probably get him a week off of work--unpaid.

The patrol car was towed away by the county. Besides the front tire being blown to bits and a few dents on the body, I think it's going to eventually be ok. The tow truck driver said even the undercarriage was all right.

So S did wake me up periodically during the night and everything has been fine so far. They thought I might be sore today but I feel fine. I'm hoping it stays that way. I prayed over and over last night that I would stay as fine as I felt, that no internal injuries would pop up, etc. You never know. Look at my lawyer: rear-ended on Monday, in the ER on Thursday.

Tonight we go to pick up the baby, then enjoy the wrestling PPV at the sports bar. Thank God I'll be around to enjoy it all!

Thanks R. for the fun

Or should I say, thanks Yoda! Here's Me:

Your results:
You are Lando Calrissian

Lando Calrissian 77% Han Solo 72% Chewbacca 69% Luke Skywalker 67% Princess Leia 66% Obi-Wan Kenobi 61% Mace Windu 60% Padme 57% Anakin Skywalker 57% Qui-Gon Jinn 54%

Tall, dark, and handsome. Not much seems to bother you. Maybe because you're so smooth. You truly belong with us here in the clouds.

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Very Frustrating News

Someone rear-ended our lawyer the other day. Her cousin, my good friend, told me her back was hurt. Well, today our lawyer called me to tell me that it is pretty bad, and she had to go to the ER, and she's gotten 2 MRI's, and she's in a lot of pain and is having a hard time getting to work, and will set up her home office this weekend, and that our enforcement hearing which was to be held next Tuesday will have to be postponed. She also told us that she had to get on the whore's lawyer to by God get that paperwork in for a jury trial if that's what they want so we can get this miserable show on the road someday.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the justice system in our country. If you are involved in a court case, be prepared to sit on your ass and wait a good long time, preferably years. Meanwhile, life as you know it stagnates and you basically have no future b/c you cannot plan for your future. On top of everything, be prepared to fork over lots and lots of $$$ on a periodic basis for the privilege of staying in this sorry-ass pathetic game.

It reminds me of when R. and I went to see Ruben "The Hurricane" Carter speak a few months ago. He took questions at the end, and someone asked him what he thought of the justice system in the U.S. He paused and said something like, it was best not to get involved with the justice system in this country if you could help it. No shit!

So to sum up: No enforcement hearing next Tuesday. The whore gets to enjoy her life and her freedom for a little while longer while we suffer b/c she has not been punished for her crimes. And our trial by judge, which was to be held on Jan. 17-18, will be cancelled until the next jury pool can be summoned, probably a month or 2 from now. And the whore gets to enjoy keeping our baby prisoner, destroying her teeth some more, trashing her precious mind and spirit, and letting a violent, convicted felon share their home. Fucking excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feel the burn!

So M. and I worked out last night for approx. 45 min. Good workout! We just did the Academy workout we did for a year, minus the hellish squat-thrusts. We ran/walked one-and 1/8 mile. We ended with 10 min. on the stationary bike, which I find even more boring than running. Afterwards we met S for a salad. I was the only one who ordered a salad! The guys ordered what they really wanted. Unfortunately Friday night is date night for M. and his girlfriend, so I'm not sure if I'll be running tonight after all. Tito J. runs too and I'm trying to figure out what park he does it at so that I might join him. He lives 1 exit over from us so is very nearby.

Tomorrow I have to wake up at the cruel hour of 6am in order to be at M.'s by 7 so that we can get our butts up to Humble by 8. We have an all-day class to take at the Academy on the new computer system. We are all excited b/c the current computer system is totally unreasonable, and they're even going to install GPS on all the cop cars too. This will be so great! Then on Sunday M. and I are scheduled to patrol again in my district, so I've got a full weekend of sheriff duties. On Sunday night we will go pick up the baby for another visitation makeup weekend. I love picking her up in full uniform in the patrol car. I hope Dickhead shows up so he gets the message too. Then we'll meet S at the sports bar for another wrestling PPV. Apparently I'm going to eat nothing but crap all weekend.

This a.m. at work HR numbskull called me and asked what are my expectations for the conflict resolution with Deb. Dumbass. Good question! I said I would rather not have to work with her on anything ever again, but since that is not realistic then I want her to stop lying about me and to stop talking about me. I also said I do not want to hear her gossip about other people anymore b/c it is not appropriate for the workplace. To be continued...

Financial note: Got the 1st paycheck of the year today. It is $20 less now that parking rates have increased again and I'm having pre-tax $ taken out this year for our FSA. But that's ok b/c I'm stickin' it to the tax man!

Wish us luck, we're going running tonight!

Me and M., that is. We are going to meet up at the gym though, since it's ugly and raining out. I do not mind running in the rain, but he suggested the gym that we both belong to and I agreed, saying that maybe while we are there we can hit some weights too. We are also going running tomorrow night, but I want to do it outside somewhere, maybe at the park where I take the baby. I hate gyms. Well, I do like going to the gym with S, he makes it so much fun and we really work hard together. And I try hard to impress him! But otherwise, I hate being stuck inside. Poor S's stomach was bothering him today and he just called me and said he has to work late anyway so he cannot meet us at the gym. I told M. last night, no excuses! After all, we worked out 3 nights a week up in Humble in a parking lot that was burning hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter for a year. We can DO this.

I hate running, too. I find it tedious, and a most mind-numbing bore. I can't think of many things I hate worse. But as I've said many times, I love what it does for me. When I started running my cholesterol level went down and my booty lifted up! It's so weird b/c my dad and his brother used to be big-time runners. My uncle even ran the marathon. I think my aunt ran, too. I obviously did not inherit their runner genes.

Careful, evil people of the world...

This could be you at the end of my muzzle! PLEASE make my day!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Someone asked me for more pic's on my blog so I will try to insert gratuitous ones here and there.)

Already fighting

Well, the fights are going on as usual in my life, but that is to be expected since I'm a FIGHTER!!! Last night when I took my mom home from the Dr. my extremely evil aunt came over. So I stuck around b/c my aunt is seriously mental--to call her a psychopath would not be far off base--and is constantly harrassing and verbally assaulting my mom and my poor grandfather. My grandfather refuses to stand up to her, but I welcome the chance! I let her in and just waited for her to say something to me so I could cuss her out, but she wisely did not talk to me besides saying hi (I did not respond back, she knows how I feel about her). I peeked outside to see that she was driving her Jeep Cherokee which is a sight to see b/c it is completely filled to the top of the roof with trash and junk, only fits one person, the driver, and it has been that way for years. Her house is similarly filled up with crap. She has one of the worst cases of OCD hoarding ever. It really is scary! Anyway, so I ended up not leaving their house until after Psycho Aunt left around 7pm. There will be an ugly, bile-filled showdown someday, and frankly, I can't wait.

Then today at work I got an email from that worthless asshole, Deb. H., who says she is now co-in charge of our Dept. until we hire a new head. I immediately picked up the phone and called HR to see if I could follow-up on the grievance I filed a few months ago against Deb H. HR Idiot told me that the Director had a meeting with Deb Dumbass and told her she needed to cool it. But according to HR idiot, Dumbass said she didn't think she had done anything wrong. Oh, blatantly lying about someone, spreading hurtful rumors, and then lying about your lying is ok I guess in her sick, twisted, sorry world. I told HR in that case, I was not satisfied and would like to pursue other options, b/c I still feel hostility towards Dumbass and don't think that working with her will be productive in light of all of this. HR said that we could go through the local Employee Assistance Program for a conflict resolution workshop; I said that would be acceptable, and to sign us up for it!!! If that's the best they can do then I am going to accept--but I will not back down from any of this and I'm not just going to let them sweep it under the rug. If you are dumb enough to attack me--or any of my loved ones--you better be prepared to watch me finish it.

Bleeding

I'm sitting here at the ref. desk, bleeding, but I'd rather not go into it. No, my beloved knife was not involved this time! Thank goodness I always have lots of Puffs Plus on hand, I'm trying to staunch the bleeding but it's taking forever. Hopefully no one will notice.

Took Ma to the Dr. today and will pick her up when I'm done here. I got a free "$85" for opening up another bank account recently now that I have 2 paychecks (I know they will 1099 me for that and I'll be lucky to come out ahead after taxes with more like a free $40, but still, that's a lot of $!) and come to find out, I now have online access to her account since it's with the same bank and I've always been on her account. This is actually good b/c now the loan process to my brother will be much more streamlined! Previously I had to get $ to him, then she would write me a check for reimbursement, then I had to deposit it, what a hassle! Now everything can be done electronically. Cool.

I am determined to save, save, save $ this year. I did pretty good last year even with all the legal bills piling up, but coulda done better. I used coupons galore and got lots of free stuff, and will continue doing so. Also this year I will continue putting away a certain amount every month for property taxes, hiding it over at the credit union where it cannot be gotten to easily; then, this month I'm going to start adding another $45 per month to my car payment in order to get it paid off asap (I did this with my last car and paid it off early, but I've been holding off on doing it with this car b/c of the legal bills); but the big thing for this year will be beginning our Emergency Fund. Everyone should have one, of 3-6 months expenses! Good lord, that's a lot of $, and it's hard to start an EF when our credit card bills are so high b/c of, yes, the legal expenses, but I'm going to have to bite the bullet and begin one anyway. It's going to be slow going, but I began today, putting a little $ over in my savings account (unfortunately the $ that's already there is going to have to go for the big property tax bill this year mostly, along with the $ hiding over at the credit union. That will pretty much wipe us out but next year's bill should be much better w/the homestead exemption we will be able to claim). [Ha! I guess the title of this post is multi-descriptive!] The new bank account will help me manage the bills a little better too.

S very sweetly rented Little Miss Sunshine for me and it's waiting at home. I can't wait to watch it. The New Year for me also symbolizes the time of year when I try to see as many Oscar-contendors as possible and I'm guessing this might be one. Once the Oscar nominees are officially announced, then I get into high gear and really get strategic about seeing most of them. It's a lot of fun, kind of like a game. Some of you will remember that last year, at the Mezzanine's Oscar party, I tied for 1st place in the prediction game and won $10 in Mezzy bucks!

Speaking of the Mezz, we were there on N.Y.'s Eve Eve! It had been awhile. That place used to be our hangout, sometimes several times a week. But now that we no longer live down the street, and they stopped showing the WWE PPV's, we've moved on. Still, it's always fun to go back! S, M., and I were there on Saturday to see the UFC PPV. I predicted Chuck Liddell to win and I was right. I also ran into a musician friend of mine, who incredibly was with a guy I graduated from high school with! Small freakin' world! Sadly, we found out that the cook, this friendly little Mexican guy who made the most amazing cheeseburgers ever and loved to duck into our private room to catch snippets of wrestling, had recently died in a car wreck. Sometimes he would even have his daughters there at the Mezz with him. We felt really, really sad. He was buried in Mexico.

The Resolutions

A couple people have asked me about them, so here they are:

1. I resolve to keep getting into work late. At the age of 34, I've come to accept that I am not a morning person. What information emergencies happen in libraries before 9:30 am anyway???
   
2. I promised S that I would start reading the Bible. It will probably do me some good, and I hear the stories are cool. Legend has it that my own father did a book report on the Bible in high school.
   
3. I resolve to begin jogging again. I was doing so well there for awhile! I just need to find a good place to do so that won't bore me out of my mind, hopefully near the house. M. has resolved to join me in this.
   
4. I resolve to not do anything about my temper. I'm a hot tamale, a Latin firecracker--we all know this!
   

I guess that only counts as 2 resolutions. Well, we need to keep things attainable, right? Ha ha! I will admit there's a couple things I should add to the list, like keeping my car clean and cleaning my desk at work. I did wash my car today at lunch, and I do intend on tackling the latter, if I can find a day when I'm not on the desk continuously like I was today, dammit! Seriously, what with coming into work almost an hour late today and taking a long lunch, I just did not accomplish much. I'm having a hard time taking work seriously when everyone else is gone, off vacationing. You know?

Thank the heavens that S got his back worked on today. He said a huge fat girl walked on him and he was scared she was going to break his spine--but he feels much better now, especially his neck. It was $50, but he tipped too much, $20, and I made him go back and get $10 back. Yes, I did, that's a lot of money and that was an ignorant move on his part. Oh yeah, I also resolve to keep being a cheapskate until we get all our legal bills paid off. (Actually, I think I've been bitten by the cheapskate bug for good, to be honest.) Fortunately I got a call from a library wanting to hire me in March for my $75 skin care class. Hopefully soon the calls for summer will start rolling in soon. I make $600-900 during summer and lord knows we need it more than ever this year.

I'm almost done reading Chris Darden's book. I've read Johnnie Cochran's, next I'll read Marcia Clark's. I'm enjoying reading about trials mainly, and am getting some insight into jury trials which will no doubt help me when I testify in our upcoming court case. Last resolution: to win our court case!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fortunately, I don't care

So this is a swell beginning to the work week: not only is this my long day of 2 jobs, but I get to Job #1 and I'm the only one here! In other words, Bob is out sick and it was just me and him to work the desk today. Well, there's 2 other librarians who work the desk sometimes, so I sent them an email asking for help. One of them is that fucking moron, Deb. H., who took 2 hours. In my email I said that if I didn't get any help, I would do what I could but would not be out here all day. Because frankly, if the powers that be don't care enough about the desk in order to prevent everyone from taking vacation at the same time, then I sure don't give a damn about the desk! Not my problem, I don't get paid to worry about the desk schedule, do I??? Plus I leave at 4 in order to make it to Job #2 on time, and so the reference desk area will be a ghost town from 4-7. Ho well!

I was saying to S yesterday that the best thing about the holiday season for me, are the days off from work and that's pretty much it. I can do without everything else (although seeing family is nice), the presents, the decorating, all that. The days off is what does it for me! Yesterday was great. M. had come over to spend N.Y.'s eve with us, and so yesterday morning S and I woke up slowly, puttered around upstairs, then went to get him a Smoothie King and me some kolaches--I had a buy 3, get 3 free coupon from Shipley's! We brought the kolaches home and M. and I ate them with mimosas since we had almost a whole bottle of champagne (pronounced sham-pan-yeh, like the Continental says it) left. Then it was a Monk marathon on all day long, and we all settled in to watch (I read my book during commercials). We did not move for hours! Like I said, it was great! Later I made a late afternoon snack of black-eyed peas and cornbread. S hates black-eyed peas but ate one spoonful for me. Then in the early evening, he and M. decided to go to the Hollywood video since we had coupons of course, while I started making the chicken enchiladas. When they got back we chowed down. Unfortunately, it was a very disappointing Raw but that was the only bad thing of the day. We had really wanted to see K. Fed get killed or maimed but that did not happen. Then after Raw M. had to head home finally. All in all, it was almost a perfect first day of the year!!!

N.Y.'s Eve was much fun as well, and as I predicted, we did much sushi and sake. I told S that since I'm working 2 jobs and I'm in charge of the money, I did not have a problem with splurging a little on a nice meal and a nice evening out. I had a large sake and he had that Japanese beer he likes. I even had a $6 dollar dessert--worth every penny! And it was fun to hang out with M. and his girlfriend and D. and his wife. They are so cool and so nice. We had a wonderful time!

The only weird thing, although maybe it's not so weird, is that after we got home and the other M. met us there, we relaxed and put on The 40-year Old Virgin to watch again and laugh at. At around 11, I joined S on his recliner and we both nodded off!!! At approximately midnight, I woke up long enough to kiss him and get the champagne poured. S went upstairs to bed so M. and I had a little champagne together, then I went upstairs too. That is the first time since I've been a child that I've fallen asleep before midnight on N.Y.'s! Crazy.