The New Year

I am looking forward to the beginning of the new year for a variety of reasons. One is that I have gone from a high stress job to a much lower stress job. I was the chief of police for a small town and to put it mildly, I found out how much I really really hate politics. I stressed me out so bad I needed to leave for health reasons...theirs and mine lol. I went back to truck driving because I have done it, and do enjoy it. The only downside is less time spent with the kiddos but my health needs to come first.

Now for a few new years resolutions.........

I resolve to help find myself in a better place mentally and physically.

I really need to lose some weight and I have some ideas on how to do that while driving.

I need to work out more...hence to help out with the weight loss.

I am working on my circle of friends, as I found out recently I don't have much of one.

And the biggest one..... I need to HAVE FUN and ENJOY LIFE for a change.

I don't think any of these are out of reach, or too large. The biggest thing is to take them one at a time and just go from there. I want to start this new decade out with a bang!

Well that's all for now, we'll see how often I can post on here.

Sandfest

Well this weekend was Sandfest. The dunes were pretty packed and we had some decent traffic in town. They had a few new events downtown this year. One of the was a Miss Sandfest which my oldest daughter entered. The great thing is she won it! So she is the first Miss Sandfest which is pretty cool. The chamber which sponsored the event does plan on sending her to parades and other events to help promote the town and Sandfest which is pretty cool. Another thing they had were lawnmower races. These were pretty interesting to watch and it sounds like they plan on having more next year since it went off so well.

Other than that my life has been pretty busy with work, and being with friends helping them out when I can. I have a couple of classes coming up this week and the beginning of October. The one coming up is a code enforcement class for municipal codes...yay lol. The other one is a required class I need since I became chief. It is the 40 hour chiefs class cleet requires. So I will be pretty busy for the next month or so....yay lol.

Well that's all for now I'll try to do this more often I promise! Later all!

An original poem

This is a original poem I wrote for my poetry class that is suppose to have some of my identity in it.

The Career

I am hired and start right away
I go to the academy
the training is long and hard
but it is worth it in the end

I return with my new found skills
the town benefits from my knowledge
I do my job well and receive many praises
and continue to work hard

I am called in to the meeting one day
suddenly to be offered the top job
long I ponder about all of this
before I reluctantly accept the offer

I now run not just work in the department
It is a lot harder but I give it my all
I continue to make the work rewarding
and give my community my heart

Long Drill Weekend

Hi all, I know its been a while since I have blogged and I've been pretty busy with everything so here it goes lol.

I had a very busy and long guard drill this weekend. It seems that out of the clear blue, there is a lot more paperwork in a few of the many additional duties I have that need to be done that no one told me about. I spent the whole weekend in the office straightening out messes that should never have happened. Depending on how my position as Chief goes, I am looking at the possibility of not signing up for another enlistment with the guard. I know a few people would say I'm nuts there, since next year I will have 14 years. But in the retirement system I think I would have only 12-13 good years so that means I have anywhere from 7-8 left to do. With how everything has been going with my job, the country in general etc I don't know if I can invest another 7-8 years of my life to 'possibly' get a retirement. Yes I know I sound optimistic here lol, but can't help it.

Other than that life has been pretty decent. I'll be moving into town here in a few weeks to the apartments so that will make life a little more interesting for me there. I am hoping I continue to slowly get worked in here as my job as Chief now.

Surprises at Work

Hello everyone this blog is going to be a very unusual one to say the least so I hope you can bear with me.

I am the Interim Chief for the city of Waynoka now.

Now to suffice I will say how this happened exactly is not important nor will I give any details to speak of. The biggest portion being once I was called into the council chamber during executive session, I was in there for over 30 minutes before agreeing to take it.

Now I will admit this was something I had considered I would want a few more years down the road where I feel I would have a good amount of experience. Right now I only have 2 years in law enforcement. I am the type of person that once I am given a position of responsibility, I go into it using all of my abilities to do the job as efficiently as possible. Bluntly put, I'm not one to do a job half-assed lol. It has taken a few days for my mind to fully wrap itself around doing this new job but I'm slowly starting to work into it now.

I do hope my abilities and accomplishments with this will allow me to retain the position full time down the road. But I can say all I can do is take things one day at a time and see how it goes.

On another note I have a few weeks of classwork left and should graduate May 14th at Redlands Community College. I am looking forward to finishing my associates degree but now depending on how my job goes and all, I think it will delay me starting my bachelors program for a little while here. Also depending on how the job goes will determine whether or not I will re-enlist one last time with the Guard. I would have 14 years in but I know I would feel extremely uncomfortable leaving on long training assignments or possible deployment so that would have a major factor in my decision there.

An open form poem for class

I hope I haven't been boring everyone too much with posting my work from school here. I promise to posting some other thoughts soon lol.

The Traffic Stop

you see the lights flashing red and blue
as you pull over to the side
a few deep breaths you take as he walks up
mystified you roll down your window
he requests your license and verification
you fumble around as you dimly hear
your speed was excessive and we go from here

He walks back to those flashing lights
the fear and trepidation in you grows
you think back wondering how this could happen
and pray for any good ending
the time appears to creep by and you fidget more

you suddenly hear him approaching back
afraid to see what he might have in his hands
you hear him clear his voice and explain
the warning he must give

your heart skips a beat you feel so relieved
you listen and gladly sign
the warning he has issued you
instead of the fine

he bids you a good day and be safe
then turns and walks back to the lights
you regain your sense of self and breathe
while you slowly pull back onto the road

A poem I wrote for class

Here is a sonnet I wrote for my Intro to Poetry class:

The Snakehunt Festival

The carnival sets up its fun filled rides
The lights are bright, and games are loud
A person just wanders from side to side
And he has the look of being proud

The hunters bring their prizes in
To be measured and weighed against another
They hope the grand prize they win
to be able to brag and boast to each other

The vendors set up their booth so bright
The beer and music flow out of the saloons
Booths stay open late at night
Everyone hopes to have fun lit by the moon

Officers take the rowdy to jail
and you dimly wonder if they will make bail.

Finally over lol

Well snakehunt was long for me. I did put in plenty of hours and it didn't seem like we were in enough places there. We had a new bar open up in town and they had a very good crowd. We were kept pretty busy with the 'duners' coming in and out of town there so that kept us hopping. We did have quite a few arrests for public intoxication and had a few fights. There were also a few people that decided to play with the rides after the carnival closed so we got to deal with that too. But our biggest problem was underage drinking, and it seemed like most of them were from a nearby city.

Like I said we were pretty busy and I'm glad it's over now, well chat with everyone later here.

Beginning of Snakehunt Weekend

Well tonight I go back to work after having a few days off. This weekend is the 64th annual Snakehunt Weekend here in my area. We are expecting a pretty good crowd this weekend so it will be fun to say the least. We will have some help from a few outside agencies but I know it will be extremely busy. As the weekend goes along if I run across anything cool or just outright funny I'll make sure I blog about it. I guess that's all for now so chat with ya later.

Long Drill Weekend

Well I had another long drill weekend here. We went to Camp Gruber so we could qualify on our weapons. The thing that sucked was that this 3 day drill could have been done in 2 day tops there. We have new leadership and I think they need to work out a few wrinkles there lol.

The weather was ok, but rain and wind came in making it sucky lol. I was able to qualify first round but not with my normal score which kinda ticked me off there. Other than that finally made it back in one piece and got home.

Now I just need to motivate myself and get my homework taken care of, clothes washed etc but having a hard time finding the energy for it. I also didn't enjoy the limited communication I had with people, and it does make you realize how much we are dependent on technology these days. I can tell if I get deployed its REALLY gonna suck...ugh

A few of my Poetry assignments

I thought I would amuse all of you with some of the poetry I have written for my Intro to Poetry class.

MY SWEET LOVE



My sweet love is passionate like fire.

My sweet love is slender like a fairy.

My sweet love has eyes deep as a well.

My sweet love is compassionate as a saint.

Haiku Poetry
Cat Fur
It feels like silk
The purr is loud
Hair everywhere

Handgun
Being short square
Blocky and black
Kills with out remorse

Cloudy Sky
Windy and grey
Moisture in the air
Cool to the skin

Management Woes

Hello everyone, yes I will be using this blog to rant a little so bare with me.  This last weekend I had my 'normal' drill weekend for the National Guard.  Now what made this one a little more unusual was the fact that myself and 3 other soldiers got to go to Ft Chaffee in Arkansas so that we could haul ammo for one of our aviation units at the gunnery range.

The 'full-time' leadership that I have for my platoon where I drill is what I am not happy about.  Here lately he seems to be giving us less information than normal which is scary.  First off last I knew we were not scheduled to be back til Monday, so I made sure work gave me off the appropriate amount of days I needed.  A few days before we are to leave I receive a phone call, informing me that we will have to leave at 2:30AM that morning, but they are not going to get us accomodations like they are suppose to.  WTF?  We voiced our opinion about that, and after I went and paid for a hotel room (so I wouldn't have to wake up and drive for an hour to get to the armory) I receive another call the night before that we now didn't have to leave til 7AM.   Gee thanks guys, I could have saved some money there.  We get ready to leave and ask about our orders.  Come to find out, they don't have them back yet (which is slightly illegal, you have to be on orders to anything of this nature) and we are told to go ahead and get going.

I could go on and on but the whole gist of the thing is that management this round was so ill prepared that I am seriously wondering if we are going to get re-reimbursed for everything we should get.  I definetely don't make enough extra money to be able to throw a few hundred dollars away, (especially for the governments sake!) so I can only hope and pray it all turns out all right in the end.  So far complaining about the management has fallen on deaf ears and what they don't realize, is that if they don't take care of their soldiers, they will leave for a unit that will, its that simple.

I hate ranting about stupid things like this but it was still bugging me even after being back for a few days, so there ya go.  I'll try to come up with a nicer blog here  in a few days lol.

Oklahoma Winter Storm part two

Hello everyone, the reason this is part two is that we had a major storm last month, right before Christmas.  That one dumped quite a bit of snow on the state but not much else.  Now this storm is a little different.  It has been dumping a lot of sleet and ice on parts of the state.  I'm in the NW and we have been lucky at this point, the only thing we are getting is snow.  Now my only other major problem is that it won't be over until I get to go into work tomorrow evening.  I am hoping everyone stays home so I don't have to work any accidents or anything lol.

Other than that, I have been trying to get ahead on my classes and I'm actually surprised as to how I'm doing in them.  I know as long as I stay focused I will do good and keep that in mind.

Here recently I have been doing more 'Twittering' and I'm finding out how much fun it is.  Another thing is that I am getting to know some really cool people from across the country here and that's a huge bonus there.

Well I better get back to some schoolwork so I'll chat with everyone later!

First Assignments

Well college has started full bore for me.  I have been taking classes online due to my school location, (its a 2 hour drive from me to El Reno) and work hours.  Now I know the first question you ask is 'Why didn't you just go to a college closer to you?'  Well I do have an answer for you.  A long time ago (like 10 years lol) I had transferred my credits from SWOSU to Redlands where I had started classes again.  Well due to jobs I had to stop.  While I was going to the police academy I decided to see if I could use that training along with the hours I had to complete my degree.  Since I had hours at Redlands and they had online classes I decided to finish up my associates there and then move to a 4 year university.  So I am in my 3rd, and should be final semester here before I can move on.

Well I am finding out my classes seem a lot more intense than my last two semesters.  I can tell my art appreciation class is going to take up quite a bit of time, second being my intro to poetry class followed by my criminology class.  As long as I stay focused and committed I think I should do pretty good here.  I do see a light at the end of the tunnel, just hope its not that freight train bearing down on me lol.