4 more years, 4 more years!

Today is Mindy and I's 4th wedding anniversary. It has been a wonderful  4 years and I couldn't ask for a better mate. I hear people say being married is a lot of hard work. For us it's not. We seem to just go with the flow and genuinely enjoy each others company. The key to a good relationship: laughter. At each other and at others. I like to end everyday by watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Being able to laugh at the sometimes dreadful things that happen or are going on in the world helps me make it through. Also being able to say your sorry, I mean sometimes an arrant karate chop to the neck is actually landed! And compromise, too. Give and take people, not just take, take, take. Clean the house for your mate and see how happy it makes them.

So a big shout out to "Bennett" for putting up with me and here's to many, many more.

I love you.

Citizens Police Academy

Last night was the official night 1 with presentations from the District Representatives and Cadet Training departments. DR's are the guys who focus on relations with the community- schools, block parties, community group meetings, etc. SPO Dunn was a good ol' Boy and a great speaker. He worked a really heavy drug area for a while and told us some stories about Big Tex who was a crack dealer he used to bust a lot. Dunn said they actually had a man to man relationship and it was understood that he was there to make arrests and Big Tex was there to sell crack. And that was just the way it was. Dunn said it had become personal when the cracks dealers starting asking about his wife and kids and he got transfered. TMI I guess.

The second presentation was from a trainer at the academy. I guess I've never give much thought to how smart cops are, I guess i thought it was something somebody did if they couldn't do anything else. I couldn't be more dead wrong. The training in Austin is 8 months, 5 days a week, 10 hours a day. Daily quizzes and weekly tests. A score of 80% is required to maintain status. The book they have to study is like two copies of War and Peace stacked on top of each other. Plus all the defense training, car driving, firearms, etc. Cadets are required to mentor a small kid from the local middle school near the academy and present a paper in front of a public forum regarding a community group they are required to join to learn about diversity. I was really surprised how intense and competitive it is.

One interesting tid bit. After the academy, with all the training, physical fitness etc., they are NOT required to maintain any level of physical fitness. Hence all the fat cops you see and wonder, how the hell is that gut a cop. Fat cop=desk job. Thin and physical fit cop=beat cop. Its just that simple.

Coming up next week is Office of the Police monitor? and Internal Affairs and then what I've been waiting for, Homicide and Cold Cases! I highly suggest if your local department offers this type of class, sign up its really interesting. Did I mention I get to ride along with a cop in a car for an 8 hour shift!!!

Losers!

Well not a good weekend for the Dawgs or the Cowboys. I didn't waste my entire Saturday night watching the Tide Roll all over UGA, but "the black jerseys look nice" according to Mindy. And then the Cowboys, and they lost to the Redskins, BOOOOOOO! That's the worst, well at least they beat Philly, BOOOOOOO!

Nice weather this weekend for the ACLers (Austin City Limits Music Festival). 60,000 people caught in a dust storm for three days is not my idea of fun. No rain+Dry Soil= Misery. I watched a bunch of it on-line from the comfort of my office.

Saturday I went out to the Austin Rifle Club, they had their annual BBQ. I am thinking about joining their group. Nice people and a great semi-private range. You have to pass a 3 hour safety exam and a background check in order to be voted in as a member. Most ranges will let anyone, with any level of experience (none) rent and shoot anything from a pistol to an assault rifle. Scary. ARC had an exhibition from the Single Action Shooter Society, Austin Chapter. These are people who dress in "period" clothes and use old timey guns to shoot at targets. They had a few people on horse back and let the members and guests fire a couple of rounds as well. After the first shot with the black powder charge shotgun, I thought I chipped a tooth. Quite a bang and recoil.

Just waiting on the "Bail Out" to happen, as yet another bank was sold this morning. We are so screwed on this whole thing. I think the government should round up all these executives and have National Dunk Tank Day. Where 'we the people' could throw softballs at targets to dunk these idiots in a huge tank of water. Maybe set them up at a gas station or grocery store, so the inflated cost of goods will seem a little less of a sting. Without something like this, the normal, average citizen (you and me) are just going to get swept under the carpet and things will be back to "normal".

Sarcasm at Its Best!

Look out world, Opel has joined the ranks of the blog. Check out the goings ons in Athens, GA at http://theathensblawg.blogspot.com. You may want to keep your impressionable children away from the screen during reading.

$700 Billion!?!?!

So the government wants $700 billion dollars to bail out Wall Street, at the taxpayer expense?Give me a break! If I ran my personal finances the way the government runs theirs, well I guess I'd be $11 trillion dollars in debt. I know there are lots of complicated equations and reasonings why this has to happen and all those poor bankers and investors aren't going to make their bonuses this year and a bunch of people who were trying to get rich taking advantage of others and make a quick buck on a risky real estate deal are walking away from the problem THEY created. But how the hell are we (and your kids, if you have them) ever going to be free of this mounting debt? It seems like the bottom is going to fall out of this at some point and our money will be worthless. The government buying up all the bad debt (which will be worthless by some standards that I have read) and then trying to find someone else to buy it, seems like a band aid on a decapitation.

We are royally fucked on this one. The bridge between the rich and the poor just got a lot bigger. I see these people in their $70,000 SUV's wearing $400 a pair jeans, they could care less what the price of gas or anything else is. And they are happy to cut you off in order to get there first. The burden of this whole thing is going to fall on the middle class (the few who are actually there) and the poor. It always does. And boo-hoo if you make over $250,000 a year and are going to end up paying more taxes. I guess that third trip to Cabo this year will just have to wait. Taxes are going to HAVE to go up. How else can any of this (Bail out after bail out, Wall St., Iraq, probably Iran) going to be paid for??????

To Protect and Observe...

I have been accepted as part of the 67th Session of the Austin Police Department's Citizen Police Academy starting at the end of the month. We'll meet every Tuesday from 5:30-9:30p for 10 weeks and learn about all the departments of the APD. Homicide, Cold Cases, Robbery, Sex Crimes, Forensics, Bomb Squad, SWAT, etc. and get to ride along with an officer for a 10 shift! Hopefully something exciting will happen during my ride along, you know like a shoot out at a bank robbery or the chance to rough up some hippies caught smoking grass. It's free and most Police Departments around the country have some sort of program allowing us tax payers to see what's really going on down there. More postings to come regarding this new adventure...

Yearbook Yourself!

Uh? this isn't too far off from my actual senior picture.

And why do I look like John Sabol in this 80's photo?