News from the front lines . . .

So after a vacation at the lake and week or so of pursuit driving, parking and general driving a Crown Vic around I am back. I am happy to report I did not total anything, have it catch on fire or hit anyone. Pretty exciting for me, and probably my instructor.
Quote from my passenger during pursuit turns: "Look out cones!!! Their plastic life just flashed before their eyes."
Almost done with this damn academy. Thank God. I just sat through our mandatory "first aid" section. I felt a little over qualified, and pretty bored.
One of the better moments of first aid was definitely the childbirth video. The guys that got up and left the room will never live that down. . .
Living the dream at the FD tonight, hopefully we're quiet. But you all know better.

Things they never told you about . . .

Call me crazy but I definitely don't remember this scenario being covered in my EMT class. We get dispatched to our favorite state park, because the squad covering it is busy. . .again. By now even the new guy is starting to realize that calls to this place come with their own person brand of craziness.
We arrive for what was dispatched as female in seizures. What we find is a female diabetic who reads 14 on our glucometer. The better part? You know those fifth wheel travel trailers with the bed that is over the hitch? The ones you have to climb up to that have about 3 feet of head room? Yeah. That's where she is. Not to mention it looks like they've packed enough stuff for two months in the wilderness in this camper. I actually think it would have been easier to unpack the trailer and unload her than take her out on the backboard.
We succeeded . . . now we're all headed to the chiropractor.

That sounds familiar . . .

After joining the website "Cops Who Blog," I found this as posted by ENFORCER.

Civilian Friends: Know a few things about you
Police Friends: Could write a book with direct quotes from you

Two of the guys I work with read that and went, "Wait, that's like your "Quotes" section of your blog."

"Yeah, kind of. In fact I could probably quote some things you'd rather not recall."

"Huh. Yeah, hold off on that book . . ."

Really? . . . I mean, really?

So as a nice addition to this post we have the following. A friend of mine parked his cruiser sideways across a two lane road at an injury accident. We landed a medical helicopter in the field beyond. Someone drives around three other cruisers, our fire department staff car, a rescue truck and a tow truck to ask him a question. The question?

"Can you move your cruiser so I can get through?"

As my Sgt. would say, "What are the odds?"

It's the little things . . .

Hot fudge sundaes.
My Van Halen CD.
Family Guy.
Laughing until you cry.
The supervisor you can tell anything to.
Good friends.
Vacationing with the family.
Working at a kids' summer camp.
The "atta-girl" you never expected.
Naps.
Making somebody laugh.

That's not a structure fire . . .

We get dispatched for "fire moving up the side of a building" at a rather large condo complex. Upon arrival we discover no moving fire . . . except two tiki torches out on a patio. Nice.

If I thought you needed to know, I would tell you . . .

There are times in life when you just wish people would mind their own business . . .
Case in point: Last week one of our deputies passed away from an acute illness. I took a day off from the academy to attend the graveside ceremony with the honor guard, pipe and drum corps ect. My instructors at the academy did not feel the need to share the reason for my absence with people from other agencies. As soon as I returned to class I got this: "So nice of you to show up. I guess you think you can just take a day off whenever you want to." There were several variations of this throughout the day.
People here's the thing; it's awkward to have to explain to you why I was absent. Then you're just going to be embarrassed and I'm not really going to want to explain it for the thirtieth time. If you want to ask if everything is ok since I missed a day of class, that is acceptable. Smartass comments are not.

Like your mother told you. Mind your own beeswax.