Where have I been?
Okay, on multiple occasions now Bryan has inquired as to blog updates. It has been a long time, both in lineal time and the events in life that we often relate to more easily.
Since my last post I have taken a new job (and a big pay cut) to go into full time law enforcement. I work for a small town, which I like. We do not have detectives, crime-scene investigators, supervisors, spokespersons, maintenance personnel, supply specialists, et cetera. We have police officers and a chief. That means that when you get a big case on your shift, you work that case. So far I’ve worked a pretty big fraud case, a few burglaries, a case involving child sexual abuse, and a homicide. Not bad for about a year as a police officer (combining both reserve and full time).
Since I took a different full-time job, that means that I have gone down to part-time at the family business. I am teaching semi-regular CHL classes for a retail establishment, and I am looking for the time, interest, and training venue to do more advanced tactical classes. CHL Classes are fun, but I miss teaching classes that are mostly about sending rounds down range. Standing on the firing line and hearing/watching five to ten people send rounds down range quickly, rapidly, and accurately, employing good marksmanship and precise techniques, well… I really miss that.
In other news, I’ve been dating Adrienne since August. She is a school teacher, 1/4 Panamanian, from Ohio (though she was actually born in Houston), and comes from a family of teachers (primarily Spanish teachers, which might help with a personal training goal…). Things are going well with Adrienne. More on that later… Or not… As you may have noticed, I typically leave a lot of the personal element out of my blog. I’ve got my reasons for that, so bear with me folks.
In other news, I am moving. I found a company who is leasing me a house free of rent in exchange for providing security on their adjacent commercial installation. I picked up some new appliances and finally finished up installation today.
Putting the water line in for the ice maker/water dispenser was a strangely painful experience. I wanted all changes to be easily reversed. Of course, the house is a bit old, so the plumbing is a bit old. Some of the fittings weren’t the current standard, so coming up with a simple solution was a bit difficult. Combining the non-standard plumbing with my lack of plumbing knowledge made for an interesting experience. The end result, though, was relatively neat, tidy, and very effective. In addition, I can remove the modification to the household plumbing in about five or ten minutes without closing the water main valve… Beat that!!!
The stove I bought is pretty interesting. I’ve always hated electric stoves, as I have found them to be inferior to gas stoves. I ended up getting a KitchenAid brand smooth topped electric range. I am apprehensive to get into a smooth top, but we’ll give it a shot. The oven is really high-speed/low-drag, though. It is a convection oven with several convection modes. It has a pre-heat time of exactly 10 minutes to 325 degrees F, which isn’t all that impressive except for the extremely stable temperature. The oven in my apartment has a nearly 50 degree swing. It is difficult to accurately roast, bake, broil, et cetera with my apartment oven. And the apartments are only a few years old.
I moved the appliances in myself, and was planning on doing the entire move myself and with some assistance from Adrienne. She really threw down on it. She kicked me in the rear to get the couch, love seat, and coffee table on the trailer and into the new house. Her assistance was both invaluable and impressive. I had no idea she could really help me move a couch. She’s not a tomboy, but she can help move furniture. That’s pretty cool…
I digress. After spending a couple hours working the couch and love seat into the house, I came to a decision: “SCREW THIS!!!”. Friday I called and got pricing for moving. The one place I got a quote comes out to about $255.00. That’s friggin worth it. I’m going to box everything up, call these folks, give them some money, then sit back and watch. Life is just too freaking short.
Okay, I have rambled on senselessly long enough for one day. It’s time to prepare for work. Hopefully tonight won’t be overly slow.
Oorah
-Head
