Police Comments

The following comments were taken off actual police car videos around the country.

"Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch out after you wear them a while."

"If you take your hands off the car, I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document."

"If you run, you'll only go to jail tired."

"Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? Because that's the speed of the bullet that will be chasing you."

"You don't know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?"

"Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I'm the shift supervisor?"

"Warning! You want a warning? O.K., I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket."

"Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey poop."

"Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven."

"In God we trust, all others we run through NCIC."

"How big were those 'Just two beers' you say you had?"

"No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we can."

"I'm glad to hear that Chief (of Police) Hawker is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail."

...AND THE WINNER IS

"You didn't think we gave pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't. Sign here."

Resignation

It's official. I handed in my letter of resignation for my department. My last day isn't until Dec. 30th, but still.... it was really depressing to have to hand that in. I really like working here, granted sometimes they drive me crazy, but I'm going to miss all the excitement. I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so I'm not sure how I'm going to cope! Maybe in a year or so I'll look for another dispatching job, I think I'll be going thru withdrawal.

I was thinking I may try working for a temp agency right after I move, just because I have at least 4 major events that I need to fly back to CA for: Mom's wedding, Do's graduation, Sara's baby, Amy's wedding. I don't think any full time job is going to give me that much time off. Anyone have experience with temp work? What can I expect? I can't imagine the work is too demanding if they are only planning to keep the employee temporarily. I can answer phones, type fast and think on my feet, how hard could it be?

Esperanza fire

For those of us that grew up here major wildland fires are commonplace. It's Southern California. It's hot and dry, and we are in a valley surrounded by hills covered in (usually) dead brush. We are accustomed to seeing large smoke headers throughout the summer. For those of us that were former volunteers, it makes your heart race and makes you really miss the fire line. However, when a fire turns deadly, which is rare, it makes your heart sink, and you feel a knot in your stomach. The fire dept still seems like family, and any loss of life is tragic. They haven't released any names yet, and hopefully I don't know any of them. I am out at work and can't see much beyond the mountains but mom says its miserable at her house. It's raining ash and you can hardly see in front of you. Some have left the valley because it is too hard to breathe. Its been a long time since we had one this bad.

The Esperanza fire started earlier today, and by 1600 hrs it was at 10,000+ acres, claimed 4 lives, and is suspected to be caused by arson. Our local paper / www.pe.com has good coverage and photos, its free to register. For those of you that are aware of the beetle problem in Idyllwild, this fire is dangerously close and poses a major threat. The trees have been dying off at an alarming rate for the past few years, and if a fire makes it up there it will be disasterous.

Our agency sent one engine to the fire, but the fatalities were from the US Forest Service. Please pray for the families of the firefighters.

This photo was taken in Lamb Canyon.

For incident information: http://appsweb.co.riverside.ca.us/firepio/process?action=viewIncidents

Short Break

WK and I just got back from a short trip up to San Fran and Napa. I say just got back, but it seems like ages ago. We stayed with P&L Wilhelm and had a nice visit with them. P just went through hernia surgery and he is doing well.
The first day we drove into San Fran (I know... why??). After finding a place to park off Embarcadero, we sure weren't going to move the car again, so we wandered around on the waterfront, then took a tour of Alcatraz. Its pretting interesting, but not something you would see twice. Then we just strolled around some more, and ate dinner at Bubba Gumps on Pier 39. Its a restaurant with a Forest Gump theme, which is cute if you have seen the movie, and a little strange if you haven't. The food is pretty good though. My sister and I went to the one in New Orleans, and it was the same. WK and I had fun just wandering around and talking. After 6, (because we got a discount off the $30 parking fee) we drove the scenic route through the city. It had been gorgeous all day, so dusk was beautiful too. The P of FA just glowed in the waning sun, and the GGBridge was spectacular. Its hard to take pics with a digital camera from a moving vehicle. And it was too cold to get out every time I wanted to take a picture.

Napa

Continuation of Short Break post.....

The following day, after fighting morning traffic, we drove up through Napa Valley. Another gorgeous day. We stopped for a few wine tastings and had lunch at the Rutherford Grill. I found some dessert wine at the Beaulieu Vineyard winery that I absolutely loved. Its a Muscat wine that is about 18% alcohol and loaded with sugar. WK about died,, he doesn't really care for sweet stuff. Even being the sugar fiend that I am, I can only stand about a tablespoon full, but it's yummy. I'm trying to think of desserts I could use it in... BV winery also had the best Cabernet. We were told Rutherford had the best Cab and explained the importance of about 30 different variables on the outcome of the wine. We politely nodded in agreement, having no clue what they were talking about, but not wanting to look like poor uneducated commoners. However, at the end of the day we agreed that theirs did taste the best. The scenery was stunning. The leaves on the vines were changing colors and the fields of green and yellow were accented by touches of bright red and orange. We stopped at the Andretti winery, and ended up at Domain Chandon for a tour and tasting. Poor WK, he was such a trooper - the whole place was pink. They were releasing a new Rose' wine and hosting a breast cancer charity event that night. So it looked like something pink had exploded. They were handing out roses, and the paths were strewn with rose petals. All the staff were in pink, and pink balloon bouquets were everywhere. The actual winery was on a hillside and the architecture was really cool. They had designed it to blend with the landscape, and the building was modeled after wine barrels. Chandon primarily produces sparkling wines (it's not champagne unless it comes from Champagne, France we were informed) so the designer made the interior lights look like bubbles rising to the ceiling.

More pictures

I don't know how to make one of those cool slideshows like SAJ, so you will have to manually scroll down to see them all. I know.. unbelievable in this day and age. Both Mom and Baby are well!

More details...

This silly program won't let me do more than 3 pics at a time. So here are some more!




This is the view from their window. Very picturesque, but see the helicopter? The landing pad is on the roof right above them, so it gets a little loud, and feels like a mini earthquake each time it lands. They told R she would have to stay 24-48 hours depending on how things go. So she may be going home tomorrow (Friday) evening or so.

He's HERE!!

Jacob Aaron

was born this morning around 10:30 am.
--- 6 lbs 9 oz. 18 inches ---

Both Mom, Dad and baby are doing well. Big brother noticed, but he had new toys that were more interesting.

He has lots of dark hair, and has a very sophisticated little nose. He has been very quiet, which Mommy appreciates, Waterboy said he has only cried about 4 times today. He is a very content little guy!

Busy bee

I have been terrible about updating! I have been so busy with wedding planning, working, training, worrying about nephew to be, etc. Tonight is my last shift for a week or so! Woohoo! WK gets here in a few hours, and we are going to San Fran for a brief vaca. He's never been, and wants to see Napa too, so off we go! He is a big steak fan, so I'm hoping we can stop at Harris Ranch on the way up--best steaks on this coast! I love to travel, and there is always more to see or learn. Love it. I'm a bit of a power tourist - I try to cram as much as I possibly can into the trip so I dont miss anything. This requires extensive planing ahead of time, but then I know I will see everything I want to see, and we don't go wandering around aimlessly or spend money we didn't need to. Yes. I have issues. There is just so much to see out there! Poor WK, I'll have to tone it down a bit and let him relax a little. He is going golfing this afternoon with Waterboy tho. I hope my bro can relax a bit too. I've been worried about him. He's got a lot on his shoulders right now, and I know he's worried about R and Jacob.

2 more hours til I'm out of here! Then somehow I have to stay awake to be at the airport at 11...

Baby update

Sis-in-law and baby are still hanging in there! She has been confined to bed/chair rest for the past several weeks, but is required to go to Loma Linda twice a week for tests to moniter Jacob. They hook up a moniter that makes his heartbeat audible and tracks it on a moniter. It was quite funny actually. No sooner did the nurse find him and strap down the moniter over where he was, than he would move! You could hear him swishing around in there, little stinker. He did that a few times, I got a kick out of it :) His little heartbeat was really fast too, was amazing to hear. Poor R is getting tired though. He is very active, and apparently has a very long body too. A fist to the bladder, a foot into the ribs, I can't imagine its very comfortable or either party. R is supposed to keep taking the meds to stave off labor until the 20th. They also gave her 2 shots to help with the babys growth. This hospital is the best around, so I know their in good hands... but still we worry.

Little buddy knows something is up. He has been especially hyper lately, almost manic sometimes.. he is so cheerful that it's not immediately apparent but you can tell he knows something isnt right. He was at the hospital (the "big building" to him) with Grandma J waiting for R to finish her test, and SJ said that they needed to go "check on mommy, and make sure she is ok". Boy did he pick up on that! So then he kept saying it, "go check on mommy, see if mommy ok". When he was at grt-grandmas with mom, he had to keep cking to see if grandpa was still there. Then he would hang out with him for a while, then go running inside to make sure grandma was still there too. Kids arent dumb. He knows somethings up, poor guy. I hate that he is worried. This is why people are crazy if they think kids dont sense tension or trauma in a family. They pick up on everything, they may not understand exactly what the problem is, but they feel the emotions and the energy that are generated.

Please keep praying for their family, and that R and Jacob had hang tight for another few weeks!