The topics of conversations ended up all over the board again this week.
The end all be all though was on Friday afternoon when the crew I was working with got a phone call telling us to go pick up 2 five gallon bucks and dispose of them.
This was not a strange request, we do this kind of stuff all of the time.
Then the next part came out, we had to dig a hole and burry the contents.
Um, ok this just got a little strange now didn’t it?
I mean, some of my guys have probably buried some strange stuff in the past, you know everything from drugs, animals and human bodies.
But they, and I felt we needed to know what we where going to be burring just incase we needed to go incognito and be sneaky about it.
So of course I ask, what’s in the buckets?
Well, each of the lovely 5 gallon buckets is partially filled with home made fertilizer …
Um, excuse me, what?
I get the same response so this leads to the next part.
That being of course us laughed about it with that uneasy and uncomfortable flavor added to it.
So we go, we find and we realize got lied to!
There where, and I am not joking, 14 - 5 gallon buckets of poo!
There was so much that we knew we where getting close because of the smell alone about a block away.
Some of them had lids, most of them didn’t ...
Just a quick side note, it’s the middle of July in Florida here people!
On another side note, all of this and low and behold a darn dumpster sitting 15 feet away from where they where placed.
My crew and I ended up gagging and did what we needed to do.
We then drove down the road with our windows rolled up looking for people who had there windows down and pulling up next to them.
Completely by accident of course …
We end up back at the shop and I call over the boss so he could injoy the lovely smell … aren’t I a swell guy!
In his defense, he did not get a visit from his lunch again … like I did …
Well, this is when it got strange, it popped into my head that none of my guys had TB and Hepatitis shots, so we put the buckets on the ground, smiled and then got to walk away.
Thank goodness for knowing the rules … and knowing how to use them for personal gain …
So the end all topic of discussion this week ended up being another multitude of things within the last few hours of the week.
With a countdown like a late night show might have, insert your own drum roll!

5) Who thought to poo in a bucket and leave it out for another to clean it up?
4) Who thought to do it 14 times?
3) Why not put them into the darn dumpster that was just 15 feet away???
2) Peoples faces as we drove past
And of course the number 1 topic of mass conversation and a lot of injoyment …
How green I turned and how funny it was to watch me gagging off in a corner.
I let my guys have there laugh and have all there fun because, well, first I would have been laughing if it wasn’t me, and second as soon as they saw me turning green they really started moving to get the stuff way from me.
Who says they can’t be nice every once and awhile.

I don’t have a lot to say about this one.
I know, I am having less and less to say each week now aren’t I?
Truth be told, the real question is, is it a big surprise?
I mean between ADD and everything going on I am impressed I have written for as long as I have.

Back to the 4^th though.
Lots of people think it is all about BBQ’s and fireworks.
Well, that is what it has become about.
The other truth on this topic is that people think that this is what it is supposed to be about.
Well, why not?
Yes, we do need to take a second to think back to and remember all of the things our predecessors did and had to withstand to become what we are now today.
After that though, it is all about our independence and freedoms that we now have.
This is one of the few Holidays where it is absolutely your choice to celebrate it how every you want, or not at all!
It is also one of the few holidays that isn’t pushed by the happy card companies.
This is though the holiday that so many other people in so many other countries long for and crave to be allowed to celebrate.
So many other places only wish that they could say that they have broken away from there tyrant rulers.
Others long to have a democratic government.
Then others desire nothing more the chance to become something more then they are where ever they are.

So, being that it is my right to celebrate this day anyway I want, I think I am going to go …

The truth be told, I should have some wonderful and deep Blog today.
I mean I have three day weekends and stuff.
But, I am still trying to figure out Bar’s n Stripe’s site and failing.
That is where the mass amount of my time seems to be lost at right now.
That and my computer has decided to separate all of the things in/on it into strange categories.
Does it not understand that even though I haven’t looked at something in 6 months I still might need to have quick and easy access to it?
Also, that my mind is not what it used to be and that I can’t remember what I might have named something at the time I put it into the computer?
So in closing, my computer and I are fighting.
I also think that since I do have a third day off during the week I will start working on this stuff, like website updates and things, until then, I think I need an assistant.
How do I go about getting interns?
Do I have to be successful to have one?
I mean, look at the people who are making some of these trash movies out there!
They have assistants, and they so do not deserve them!

Speaking of trashy movies …
La Wife and I went and saw the Karate Kid.
Um, wow, that was a GOOD movie!
Yes, it was 2 and ½ hours, but it did not drag at all!
The acting had a few rough spots, but the fight scenes, well just go see it and you will understand.
The fight scenes were not as cool as Kick Ass, but two entirely different movies!

Speaking of cool, I just almost typed in the word sweet.
I think I am starting to get old because I just realized I shouldn't use words like that anymore.
I also don’t use dude anymore … Um, wow … I can’t even remember the last time I thought about getting on a skate board.
I mean I might fall and hurt myself.
Then I might loose time at work … O NO!
I am getting old!!!
I’m sorry, I have to go and play some Super Mario ASAP!!!

La Wife left town Thursday night to go out with her girls for a nice weekend away.
WOOT, YEA, O YEA!!!
So, La Wife has a food allergy that means there are some food I don’t get to eat as much as I might like as much as I might like anymore.
So, while the cat is away …
I made up a big old full jar of Prego Meat flavored spaghetti sauce, a whole box of this spaghetti and some frozen meatballs thinking I would munch on them all weekend while she was away.
Yea, well, Thursday night I was bored, and lonely, and it was so darn good …
Well, Friday while I was walking around at work people might have commented on how I looked a little green.
So, I guess woman do serve a purpose … I’m going to go order 2 pizza’s now so I have something to eat for tomorrow …
La Wife needs to get home soon.
I have single handedly in one weekend gained all the weight back I worked so hard to loose!
Wonder Dog is not helping the matter either I might add.
She keeps telling me to cook more, all in the hopes that I might drop some of it for her.

On a completely different note, Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there!
Also to all of the Mothers who act as both parental positions!
I spent Yesterday with mine driving from one side of the state to the other.
Had lunch, his treat because the place we went to didn’t except credit cards (I know right?), then we wondered off and had dinner, my treat this time.
I had a good time and hope he did too.
Thanks old man!
We don’t say it enough, but you did good!
Working 2 and 3 jobs at a time so that we always had food, clothes, a roof over our heads and never any other needs.
We even had most of the things that we wanted too.
I am not sure how you pulled it off, and thanks doesn’t say enough.

 I am sitting hear trying to think of something to write about.

I am also just sitting hear eating some watermelon from the market down the street.

As always I am also listening to Sunday Morning coming down, but I know that no one cares about that.

Trying to come up with some grand topic that can both be entertaining and deep rooted.

As normal, I seem to be failing.

The only thing running through my head is how much time I do in fact sit in front of a computer.

I did just sit down and see that La Wife was looking up a big cat rescue down in Tampa

(http://www.bigcatrescue.org/tours.php)

Road trip in the near future?

Lets hope!

Big cats are so darn cool.

That does have me thinking a little though.

Do people actually realize how little time we injoy the world outside anymore?

We all go out and say how wonderful it is.

We even say how cute the little animals are.

We feel bad when we see hurt animals.

But we don’t really take advantage of it.

We have fallen to much in love with the A/C,, and other luxuries of the inside.

If we want to learn about an animal, we watch a video about it.

We sit and chat in online conversations instead of meeting up with a person in person.

Mind you, I am not saying that there is anything wrong with this … OK I am but I do it myself so I am trying to be nice about it.

So, instead of writing anymore about this topic I think I am going to go do something a little different and encourage all of you to do the same.

I’m going to go walk around the area around my house, because I have a forest 100 yards away from me … I really am lucky!

I’m going to go talk to some neighbors and injoy the morning.

That is until it gets to hot because I do live in Florida and it will be in the upper 90’s today.

So, I know this Blog is getting more and more disappointing, but it is about what is going on I my life and my thoughts on things.

And I think I want to go see my old friend Mother Nature!

I hate to say it, but I find myself working more and more on Bars & Stripes.

Yea, yea, yea I know it needs all the work I can give to it but still.

I think I have a hobby finally?

I always say that I need a hobby.

Now in my spare time I seem to go and work on that.

I will take it as I have a hobby just for conversational use.

Then also when people ask I can send them to go look at my hobby to get more and more viewers so that one day I can complete my final goal and attain … I guess I need to think about what my final goal is now too don’t I?

It was so much easer when I just said I needed a hobby.

Who would have thought that there needs to be long term goals in all of this?

I could talk about the oil spill.

Like everyone else is.

Well, actually I heard something from a local EMS guy that kind of made me think.

This oil sitting out in the Gulf, that’s messing up the flow of the cool water coming into the Gulf.

Then also holding the heat and creating a higher humidity in the area.

Yea, getting what he brought up?

Hurricane season might get really, really nasty!

Now I have proven that I injoy sitting outside watching a hurricane pass, and at the same time I might not be so smart I guess.

But I don’t think I really want to be hit with some supper hurricane that we can’t get a track because the oil makes it change directions.

I also don’t want to start getting black rain on my house and person.

Can someone please tell me why though we have let technology go into effect that we have not come up with answers to as to how we can stop it?

This is exactly how Skynet takes over people!

So, I am just going to move on to my next project for the day.

That’s right, British sitcoms!

I really do injoy them.

I decided to take a different path this year.
I think all of you know how I feel on this topic, and next year I will be forced to address it like I normally do.
Simple because I think that this is a one trick pony way of doing it this year.

So here we go …
All information listed below is gathered from different government sites, and I will not take any responsibility for the governments’ numbers being wrong.

World War #1 - 117,000 American Soldiers gave their lives, for us!

World War #2 - 292,000 American Soldiers gave us their families, for us!

Korean War - 33,000 American Soldiers lost everything they knew & loved, for us!

Vietnam War - 58,168 American Soldiers decided to give us everything they had, for us!

Now, I am not going to get into all of the other wars such as: The Colonial Wars, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, Banana Wars, Lebanon Crisis, Grenada, Beirut, Panama, and of course all of the other conflicts we have involved ourselves in, or the current conflicts in the Middle East, where we are losing soldiers every day.

Speaking of that, we currently have Soldiers stationed all over the world.
Although I tried to gather more information on those numbers, I was only able to find one that everyone would recognize, per say.
We currently have 183,000 Soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
That’s a lot of people!

And speaking of that, let’s take a look at some other numbers.
These aren’t the Soldiers who have already given us their lives, but the ones who are currently willing to do that for us.
The following numbers are based off of the financial reports of the forth quarter of 2009.

The US Army has approximately 540,000 soldiers
The National Guard has approximately 360,500
Army Reserves 197,000

Navy approximately 330,000
Navy Reserves approximately 124,000

Marines approximately 203,000
Marine reserves 40,000

Air Force approximately 330,000
Air Force Reserves approximately 69,000
Air National Guard approximately 95,000

Grand Total = 2,288,500 Soldiers ready to give their lives for you, at any given moment!

Now let us not forget the Soldiers who came home to us, either.
You know the ones, the ones who are crippled, both mentally and physically.
Constantly tormented from everything from missing limbs, to being stuck in a bed unable to see and/or hear anything, other than the screams they relive, everyday, in their heads.
This also does not include the poor souls who came home, but could not survive and/or not be able to live with what they had done and had seen, and then decided to take their own lives, one way or another.
Anything from drugs and alcohol, to guns and stepping in front of trains.

That’s that, as always, thanks simply doesn’t say enough!
I hope these numbers will help you understand why these people are so special.
They do what we can’t, won’t, and are just all around afraid to do.

So in closing, I say thank you, and reuse the old saying that “Freedom isn’t Free“!
Please, sit back and remember what that means, what people have given, and are still giving for us, so that we can say that we are Free!

And for the few out there who disagree, remember this …
Jack Nicholson’s character, Col. Nathan R. Jessep, in the movie, “A Few Good Men”, said this, and I think it says it very well ...

“ … my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. I know, deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you don't Want me on that wall, you Need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something.”

Yea, not a lot going on.
I could talk about the oil spill, but I am not in the mood.
Although I do have some opinions on it of course, but I think everyone knows them.
If not, well, the next big spill like this I will rant and rave.
Enough other people have said enough and my opinion is no better or eye opening then there’s.
I know I don’t have the quick fix answer so this time I am choosing not to force my opinion in the hopes that smarted people then me can get there points and ideals to the right eyes/ears.
O how lucky and glad the 3 of you are :P
Work is good.
La Wife is good.
Wonder Dog is Good.
Friends seem to be doing well other then one is getting divorced and another’s relationship of 17 years is over.
No neither is Kermit.
House and cars are doing well.
(Insert Crossed Fingers Here and knocking on the wood filling cabinet next to me!)
Family seems to be doing alright.
Websites are both up and going with more then a few hundred hit’s a month.
So now you know what’s going on in my happy little world.

Now I have to get back to writing my Memorial day blog … yea, I actually started it last week and haven’t finished it yet.
I know what you are thinking … Dear God how long is it?
Yea, I don’t think it will even be ½ a page.
Going a different direction this year, I hope it works …

The shuttle Atlantis went up on Friday.
Watched that, still amazing.
If a guy driving a race car around in circles at 200 miles an hour is considered an athlete, shouldn’t an astronaut be then also by default?
They go faster and have a lot more things to do then hold one foot on the floor and keep turning left?
Then again, is it not a sport because we don’t put stickers all over the shuttle?
I think we need to do that actually!
Get sponsors and advertise on the shuttle!
Yea!
We can make big money on that!
Have the astronauts walking down the bridge way with some pimped out patches all over there space suites.
We need to think more about this …

Lets see, the fox in our area had some babies.
They are so darn cute!

Wonder Dog went to the dog park again on Saturday.

Um, yea, I think that’s about it?

O, and of course what happened at work.
I already wrote this over at Bars & Stripes, but I am tired and don’t feel like coming up with some big long though line twice in one day so I am reposting it over here.
Deal with it, they are my sites so I can cheat if I want to!

Speaking of good old DT, or defensive tactics if you will.
This last week all of the DT in the world couldn’t have helped a coworker of mine.
He was working on an outside work crew, you know the guys picking up trash and cutting the grass out on the side of the roads.
Low and behold he hears a loud bang and the window next to his head in the vehicle he is using gets blown out.
Yea, good times right!
He was OK, the inmates under his care are also alright.
Kind of scary though isn’t it?
I had thought about it before, but this was the first time it actually sank in that things like that can happen.
I am always all about bring on the biggest baddest guy wielding a baseball bat and I will put him down.
Bring me a small guy in a black ninja outfit with nunchucks … and I will run!
Those things HURT!!!
I don’t know why but I kind of forgot about guns.
Is it because I am so used to dealing with people who don’t have them?
I just don’t know?
It’s kind of strange to think about to be honest.
The guys who work out on the side of the roads are in more danger then I thought.
First you have to watch for traffic, then for friends of the inmates, then enemies of the inmates such as victims, co-defendants and friends/family of there victims.
Then also rival gangs and of course X inmates and other people who just hate correctional officers.

So, that was that.
That’s my little blurb about work this week and now to go work on my other website.
How and/or when did this turn into a job?
Also, when will I start to get paid for all this work?

This last week was interesting to say the least, well as interesting as things get in my life.
The only way that I could really think to handle and coupe with this stuff was of course to share it all with the world … lucky you!

Let me start with all of this first section comes from the mouths of inmates.
As we all know, they are the most brilliant people around, just ask them.
No, some of them are brilliant, and it’s darn scary just how smart they are in fact!
As proof of the majority though, I give you this lovely conversation …
Let me set the scene for you first though.
A Hawk flies by and all of the pigeons and crows get out of dodge hiding in the trees.
The only animals left in the area are a couple of ducks and a chicken.
One inmate asks why they didn’t go and hide as well.
Another inmate says because the ducks are larger then the hawk and there are two of them so it would be hard fight for the hawk to win being two on one after all.
OK, that kind of makes since.
The first inmate then asks why the chicken doesn’t go and hide.
Yet another inmate voices up and says because if the hawk gets to close the chicken will just fight it off and/or fly off.
Me ß um, what?
Then the discussion takes another turn as the inmates try and figure out what flies faster.
A chicken or a duck.
Because if the ducks are faster then of course that must be another reason why they are not afraid of this hawk because who has ever scene two ducks fighting a hawk … this is getting strange …
This goes on for about 10 minutes as 5 grown men go on and on about how hawks don’t want to mess with chickens because they will kick there bums.
Because of course, chickens are natural fighters and fight all the time and could easily take out a hawk.
This conversation hurt my head as they kept telling stories about how they have scene chicken fights and scene them flying.
At no point did any of them disagree with chickens not being able to fly though … so now I question it myself!
Do I need to fear a flock of dive-bombing chickens from the north as they migrate south for the winter for now on?
Did the Yankee’s actually use fighting chickens to help win the war?
Fly them in and them set them a foot with there claws of doom?
Then the question came up about turkeys too!
Did you know that they can fly as well?
Even the big fat fluffy ones!
Do you think that sometimes when there is a wayward chicken or turkey that a flock of ducks might let them fly south with them?
Is the reason I didn’t know about this simply because I never looked hard enough at a V formation in the sky just assuming it was ducks when in fact it might have been turkeys, chickens, penguins or ostridges?
Now I also wonder if the whole move Chicken Run based on a lie?
Where people finding out that chickens could in fact fly, did the government have to go to Hollywood to tell them to make this movie just to keep the people in the dark because they feared they might just need the Chicken soldiers again in the near future?
If all of this is true then I have really fouled up my foul knowledge!
I mean, if all of this is true and is in fact based on truth, do I in fact need fear cockatrice’s now too?!?
I mean it was bad enough having to watch out Medusas but now I might have to watch out for a second creature that might turn me to stone?
Dead Bob, if they are real Basilisks and other mythical creatures might be as well!
3 different type of monsters that can turn us to stone at just a look?
I think that we have a very real and dangerous problem here.
So much so that we might need to take this to the government!
The only lobbyists (Have I mentioned that I hate lobbyists?) who would possibly stand against us would be the 4:20 crew … hehe … yea I know I came a long way around to get to that joke but you know you smiled.
Where to start this search for the unholy creatures though … well Germany for the basilisk and Jamaica for the cockatrice of course!
OK, I don’t think I can beat this horse any longer so lets move on to what really bothered me this week shall we?

So I was driving my crew to the job site and we saw a large, about 1 foot long, turtle trying to cross the road.
Being that the road was about to get busy with traffic and it was dark so people might not see it, I ask if anyone wants to go move the turtle.
I would have, but I had a volunteer … there is hope isn’t there that some of these guys might turn out to be alright …
The guy gets out of the vehicle gets a good running start trying to get to the turtle and then … kicks it …
Um, no, I couldn’t have scene that correctly could I?
Wait he is moving towards it again … and kicks it again?
I get out, yell something I shouldn’t type out and make him pick it up and carry it across the street.
I ask him what in the world he was doing and he says he doesn’t like turtles because one time one bite him.
OMG, Um, what?
So he thinks it’s all funny until I tell him I am going to write him up for molesting wildlife and I see his face twist in that ‘what the heck I didn’t do that to the turtle’ look.
So, the turtle seemed OK, the inmate knows he messed up big time and I have the reaffirmation that some people are, as my mother has told me I was once, ‘a waist of flesh.’
HE KICKED THE POOR TURTLE!
What was he thinking?!?
I just don’t understand, did he think it was a basilisk?
O come on I had to make one more joke about it!

… I think I hate him …

Talk to you all next week

Lets start with the sad stuff.
Wonder Dog had to go to the vet and have a growth removed.
Yea, every time we get a little extra money she gets sick and/or a large household appliance breaks.
So, she had a strange growth on her leg that got to be about 2 and ½ inches long by about 1 and ½ across.
Low and behold the vet said it should be removed and gladly offered to take my money because he is such a nice guy.
No, actually the people at the Vets office are great and have GREAT prices!
So, Wonder Dog had to go in and now has about 15 stitches in her leg.
Do to this, a little dog was not allowed to lick at and/or pick at her new war wound.
How do you keep a dog from doing what comes natural?
The CONE OF SHAME! (See the movie Up for a better reference to that if you don’t get it)
So, here are some pictures of how sad a little dog looks while forced to have said device on.

.

Last night I went and saw a movie.
The movie was filled with death, mutilation, profanity, insane violence, but with a simple moral question buried underneath all of that lovely insanity.
Why do so many people stand by and watch things happen when if they would act, bad things might not happen as often?

We as a people have decided that things must be going wonderful and that crime is alright.
I mean, we watch it every day don’t we?
We see people hurting others, stealing from each other and walking when the light says not to!
I guess it all comes down to we are just a nation of greedy people?
The question is though, who is more greedy?
The people doing the crime, or the people watching it happen without acting?
Yes, most would say the criminal is because they are taking something away from another.
What about the witness though?
Did they say anything?
Call the police?
Even take down the information as to describe the scene to the police?
Even call the police after the fact?
No, more and more everyone is becoming more and more afraid of repercussions of acting out to help others.
I, at least when it is bad, still act.
I know others who still do too, but fewer and fewer.
Action does not need to mean jumping in front of someone holding a gun sticking out your chest like a Super Hero because we all know that bullets, knifes and fists hurt.
Is it so hard to stop and make a phone call though?
Or take your phone out and take a picture of the situation as you drive past to give the info to the police?
If we as a nation would start standing up a little more people might start behaving a little better.
If people had a reason to have fear of there actions might they stop and just for a second reconsider what they are doing?
I know for a fact if someone pulls out a video camera I am going to behave … possibly tell a joke and do a little dance but that’s a different issue all together …

All of this needs to be addressed but it comes back to another couple of issues too though doesn’t it?
You know, the bad parenting issues I love thinking about.
No, not the single parent who works 3 jobs and can’t be at home with there kids because they are trying to do what is right.
No, the people who just have children for all of the wrong reasons, but still on purpose.
That and the government.
All the way from the National White Wigs, then down to the paid to look the other way cops on the corner.
We as a people all want change, as proof we voted change in not so long ago, but we are all to worried about repercussion to do anything about it.
We all want the government to fix everything, but how can they be everywhere at once?
I mean you can’t tell me that parents don’t know what there kids are doing.
OK, again I understand that the single parent working the 3 jobs might be a little busy to notice, but the parent who sees there kid who doesn’t have a job but still has a sweet car and gang colors on, should have a clue, right?
Then again, we also have the parents who are so happy and proud that there child just made it into a gang.
Um, WHAT?!?
Some people want there child to go to collage, make a national sports team or become a useful member of society.
Some though decide that they want there children to join the local gangs?
They want there children to follow in there foot steps?
It would seem to me that if they had to do certain things to not only join but to stay in, they would know that there children would and will have to do the same things?
I am not a parent, but I would like to think that K-D has come out OK?
She is the same thing right?
I know when she goes out, where she goes and who she is hanging out with.
Same concepts I believe as a parent?
I know it is not as simple as raising a dog, but isn’t that the basic structure that helps keep kids on the right path?
I mean isn’t it a parents job to protect there children and try and keep them away from danger?
At what point did this country go so wrong?
O, yea, once people stopped caring what happened to others and only wondered about and cared about themselves and there own.

So, I am going to wrap this up because I am trying to keep it a little shorter then I would like it to be because I can rant on this topic for some time.
The next time you see something that isn’t right you don’t need to jump out and stop it.
But take notes if only as you drive by and contact the police.
Let them know that 3 kids are beating the snot out of another one on the street corner and that a medic might be needed.
Crime persists because we are to lazy and scared to stop it.

So, that’s my thoughts on this week.
That and go see Kick Ass!

My birthday has come and gone once again.
I have turned the good old age of 33.
I know, that isn’t old.
It even still considered young in many ways.
The fact of it is though, it’s 1/3 of a century.
With all likely hood I am more then 1/3 of my way toward my death bed.
That being if the end of the world doesn’t happen in 2012 …

A lot of things popped into me head on this birthday.
Lots of things I never really thought about before.
A lot of things that kind of bothered me and made me think.
Things like, I guess I will live past 21.
I should start thinking about the future?
I guess retirement is more likely?
If I am this broken now, how bad will I become?
How much longer until my memory loss becomes some form of full blown Alzheimer‘s?
Did I make the right choice as to a line of work?
What future have I forced a pone my wife?
We all look toward the future, but now I guess I actually have to look forward to one.

I have made little plans that will pan out to small things, but I guess I need to start putting more away towards that dark ideal of being old, crippled and lost within my own mind.
Yea, fun topic.
This is what’s on my mind, so now you know.

Let me start with this Blog entry is not exactly young child friendly.
I am not going to say anything crazy, but the topics are topics that most people might not want to try and explain to there children.

Now I kind of feel bad because La Wife has already heard me rant about most of this … then again La Wife needs to work on her section so I don’t feel to bad.
Yea, pointless little jab but it made me feel better … Love ya hun!
I don’t watch the news.
I can’t help but listen to it at work.
Well I guess I could but then I would be so bored it would be insane.
So let me tell you about some of the stuff I have heard about this last week alone.

1) The teenage high school student in Mississippi who wanted to bring her girlfriend to the prom.
OK, so we all know that some parts of the Bible Belt are a little off, but …
First they say that she can’t come to the prom.
Then they the courts say that they can’t stop her form going.
Next the school says that if she is allowed to go that they will not hold prom.
This causes all kinds of trouble for the girl in school with other students and also her family from the other students families.
The court intervenes and come out saying that they must still have prom.
That was the first part of all of that … nice right?
That part made me really upset and helped me to loose faith in a lot of mankind and humanity as a whole.
No one needs to be discriminated like that!
But low and behold the court system did what was right and backed up the minority in this tragedy!
I guess humanity still stands a small chance …
So, prom is on … our little lady gets to go … gets all dressed up, grabs her date and off to a wonderful night full of magical memories and good times!
Nope, some of the parents of the other students got together and paid for a separate prom for all of the outcastes and freaks.
That’s right, our little heroine who fought to have a prom for everyone didn’t get to go to it at all, but had her own with some other people that have been declared outcastes and freaks and also a few handicapped students.
OMG!
How did something like this happen in this modern day here in the USA?
Do they not realize what they did?
This is possibly the meanest, cruelest, nastiest and all around WRONG’est (<- had to keep the flow going) thing I have ever heard done to someone.
O before anyone even goes there I am talking about of the nonviolent crime types.
ACLU and so many other organizations are going to riot I am sure.
If it was me, I would be suing everyone.
I am the first person to say that this country is sue happy and how I will not do it for stupid things … unless it happens on Disney property that is!
This one though, everyone is getting named!
First in a criminal and the each person in a civil to boot!
The City, County, District, State, teachers involved, counselors, principal, superintendents, school board members, the parents who paid for it and the anyone else attached to it.
People need to learn that this is wrong!
If not, that they need to at least behave for fear of consequences!　

2) La Wife told me about this one, so even though I trust her completely I still had to look it up just to verify it to be as bad as I heard … it was!
It starts off as a sweet little thing.
A 15 year old girl was going to a party and her 7 year old sister who was a little worried about her tagged along to make sure she would be ok.
After some time there the 15 year old pimped her 7 year old sister out and the little girl was assaulted by multiple men.
As all of this was going on, the older sister sat and watched … yea, faith in humanity is dropping again!
Once done the little girl left and the older sister decided to stay behind selling herself next.
27 people, including the older sister, have been arrested as of the time of me writing this.
Um, what can be said?
SHE WAS 7 YEARS OLD!
First how can someone, let alone a group of people do that to a child?
But then also how can a person do this to another for money, let alone a family member?
The long term effects of this, the physical and mental damages done … again, OMG!
Talk about one of the situations that if I as there I would be in jail for multiple murder charges!
How is it that the father has not gone on a killing spree?
If he does, and I was the Judge I don’t think I could prosecute him.
I would pull him aside and tell him to go for a temporary insanity plea and help him get it!　

3) 2 High School seniors (boys) are out on a date with there freshmen girlfriends.
The two boys are stars of the local baseball team with a bright future and collage scholarships waiting for them.
The parents of the girls know that there daughters are dating the boys and allow them to go out on dates with them.
One night though the police pull up on a couple of trucks and low and behold the 4 are hurriedly getting dressed with signs of the four hitting a few homeruns.
The officer contacts the parents and low and behold the girls parents want to press charges against the two boys for rape.
Because they had both just turned 18.
The boys are suspended form school, kicked off the baseball team, have lost there scholarships and now might have sexual predator tags thrown on there names for the rest of there lives.
Yes, they technically have broken the law … but how many of us have done something like this?
The girls are fighting on there defense saying that it was consensual and that they did nothing wrong.
Yes, the girls don’t have a say in the matter but come on parents, you didn’t think it was a possibility?
Blame yourselves for not raising your child to know not to do this.
Stop risking ruining these guys lives because you are a bad parent!　

So, this is why I don’t watch the news.
This is also why I think there should be tests for people to see if they can and/or would be good parents.
Some people just shouldn’t be allowed to have kids … but that’s a whole another subject.
I just wanted to vent, sorry if this was a downer …

On a side note, I got this new job, well same old job but a new position.
I now only work 4 days a week with a 3 day weekends and all I do is watch 5 guys cut grass.
I know, how do I keep going from job to job where I do nothing, to jobs of doing even less?

I am the first one to say that I don’t work for a living.
Or that I am nothing more then a glorified babysitter.
Mind you, I, unlike the children who do the same job, have insurance, retirement benefits and also do not need a ride home from the creepy father figure who always volunteers to take me home when he and his wife get home and he has to much to drink … sorry … hehe I am cracking up right now at that one but only because it is sick’ish and I am sleep deprived!

Back to I don’t do anything at work …
I sit around and, well, I baby-sit a bunch of grown men doing things like, watching TV, sleeping and when the weather is nice they might do yard work.
I know all of my little babysitters out there are so happy because there is hope for them to get a chance to stay in the field they love!!!
Some times though, just every once and awhile mind you, I actually do something.
Not often though mind you, otherwise I would have to find some other work!
We as corrections officers play it off like our job isn’t to bad.
And honestly most of the time where I work it isn’t.
Then again there are other camps that are crazy.
Fighting every day, and also just the people who are crazy!
We have both physically and mentally impaired inmates.
Elderly, youth and my favorite group of people the ones who are on drugs or going through detox.

So, back to the point I guess.
But first …
We have special teams in the prison system that have a special job.
They are called the CERT teams.
They are basically SWAT but without guns … ok some of them have shotguns but they shoot rubber bullets and wooden dowels.
When ever something goes wrong, we send in the CERT team … we then sit back and giggle as we watch them march in saying how silly they look … then we watch them do there thing and our jaws might drop a little … then they march back out and we all stand back and try to look away because we don’t want to make eye contact with these evil sadist's!

Well, Friday night the CERT teams got activated to go to an institution for a problem.
Then there back ups got called out to go to another camp for another problem.
Then we had another problem at another camp … and most of the help was already on the road.
So who did they call?
ME!
They knew that I could single handedly go and take care of the problem!!!
Yea right … I was a warm body who doesn’t have children and/or a life.

So I get a call 15 minutes before I was supposed to go home from my LT. and he said they needed my help … so me being the man I am decided to go … not because of loyalty, but the overtime pay of course!
No it also did not have anything to do with La Wife having plans to go out with her friends and I was going to be home all alone with the dog crying into some sparkling water wishing I had friends and a life!
I met up with 11 other people who where also picked to go on this mission and we got all of our gear, jumped in a van and drove away on a short little 2+ hour drive.
Once we arrived we where informed of what the mission was.
Another prison got a phone call that 2 inmates where planning on escaping … no big deal right Osceola County Florida has it happen all of the time … I know low blow but some of you smirked and you know it!
No, this camp has some bad guys in it and they don’t need to be getting out.
The other part to the phone call warning was that they had guns.
We all know that guns are bad.
In a prison it’s really bad though.
If a gun is on a compound it can very quickly turn into, well the old saying ‘like shooting fish in a barrel.’

It was so strange to be a part of this.
It either had to be bad or they must have been really desperate!
We all knew it had to be bad, I mean they pulled me and I am the worst babysitter around!
We all joked around laughing and playing, then we got hit with what was going on.
To say somber and silence is an understatement.
People who do nothing but joke around and cut people off in conversations left and right started raising there hands to ask questions.
Groups started forming automatically with senior officers moving around and grabbing up new officers pulling them into the folds.
Younger officers being forced to talk and say what was on there minds for the reasons of helping them to realize the realizations of what was going on, and also to get input from a new mind into this type of situation.
It was kind of strange because I got pulled into one group because of my experience and time with the department, then I was pulled by a few other officers who knew me because they knew I had the time but not so much the experience.
It helped the situation knowing that my coworkers knew me, knew I was reliable, but also respected that this wasn’t my field of experience per say.
We got all of the information, figured out what all we had to do, how we where going to do it, when and what to expect.
After everyone had the plan down they made us all sit down for about ½ an hour and the joking started right back up.
Some would say it was like a split personality switch.
Now that I have been in it though it was more of a tension breaker and a way to let the stress out and get to know the new faces with us.
We had people from all over Central Florida after all and most of us had never meet, let alone been threw anything like this with each other before.
That being said, in a situation like this any joke is fair game, disrespect didn’t exist, sexual harassment … well things got said that in any other situation would have gotten people fired … but not right then.
The feeling of comradery was so intense.
We became a family at that moment if only for the few hours it was going to take to take care of this problem.
Personal differences got thrown out the window, grudges didn’t exists, and you knew the person next to you that you just meet a ½ hour earlier would have your back.

So my group got the confinement cells.
That group is the group of prisoners who have been bad and need to be separated form the rest of the population.
These are the guys who could have done anything from back talking an officer, to trying to beat up an officer.
So, we had no clue who or what we where going to deal with in each cell … I know FUN!
We did what we had to do, found what we could and luckily had no situations.
We found some stuff, nothing to special.
We did not find any weapons though.
So, after all of the inmate living areas where searched we got to go home.
We got home at 2am.
The next group left out to go back at 6am to finish the searches of the other buildings out there.

So to my fellow corrections officers …
We are the group who only get the bad press.
We tend to be the lowest form of law informant … mind you most of the others not only can’t do it, but also will not even try our jobs … afraid to play law man without your guns???
The group who is looked down on because we are abusing peoples children.
We are looked at as the scum of the world on a lot of different fronts.
We are also the group that watches the people no one else wants to.
We are the group who walk into a cell with 100+ inmates of all sorts of crimes with only our minds and bodies as a defense.
We are the people who although trained to use weapons, don’t get to use them when we need them most.
We are the ones who are so understaffed that if and/or when things go south it is almost 30+ to 1 … in the inmates favor.
We all know that I am supper ninja and can take 30 inmates at one time, but some of my brothers and sisters in this uniform might not be to par … so those odds are kind of scary …
We don’t get the respect we should, or have earned, but we know that what we do is important.

So, I just want to say, to my fellow officers out there who might have happened across this silly little Blog …

Thanks you all!

So over at Barsnstripes.net I posted a few things that confuse me.
I have posted them here before, you know like how a concrete boat can float and some other things too.
One I didn’t mention there because I figured I would save it for over here is.
Drum Roll please ….
Why did the US government send out a letter telling us that the Census was going to be being mailed to us soon?
There are presumed 120,000,000 houses in America back in 2001.
In the Orlando area there are about 900 apartments complexes with how many apartments in each?
How about all of the mobile home parks around the world?
We are talking about Hundreds of Millions of residents across America.
So, lets take some stupid pull out of my bum numbers and say that they are official numbers but God knows I think I am shooting so low it isn’t even funny.

120,000,000 houses
240,000,000 apartments (Remember New York City only has apartments and townhouses)
60,000,000 mobile homes (Sure, why not the South has a lot of them, right?)
_________
420,000,000 Sure, that’s a nice number right?

OK, so that’s a lot of homes to mail stuff to!
Lets take it a few steps further shall we before we figure out costs for this?
Let’s throw in envelopes, we will say 1 cent each for easy math thinking that the government got a good deal while knowing better?
Can’t forget paper, we will go with 1 cent again but this time we are throwing in the ink cost to that as well to try and make it all work out.
So for envelope, paper and ink it‘s about $8,400,000
We can’t forget the stamps though …
.42 cents for a stamp that’s another $176,400,000
That’s roughly $184,800,000, we will round up to $185,000,000

So we just spent One Hundred and Eighty Five Million Dollars to tell all of us that in a weeks time we will be getting another piece of mail.
Um, how and why did we just let this happen?

Here is another fun fact!
A Gold Bar in Fort Knox weighs ruffle 27.5 pounds.
That means 440 ounces each …
Gold goes for $1,125 an ounce … so each bar is worth $495,000
That’s 373 and 3/4 bars of gold?
That's 10,278 pounds of gold
Also known as 4.58 Metric Tons, or 5.13 Standard Tons of gold.

So, my math might be off because I am still ½ asleep and math is not my strong point, but yea that’s government for you, just throwing money away like we have plenty.
That’s not even including the manpower costs to mail all of this out …

Just throwing this out there for you all.
Talk to you all next week.