Michelle Graduates

Last week, Michelle graduated from Kennesaw State University! I never realized how big of an accomplishment this was until recently. We originally thought Michelle was graduating Magna Cum Laude, but when they called her name, they announced “Summa Cum Laude.” (That’s a GPA of 3.9 or higher.) Mom said, “Did they say Summa Cum Laude? She’s so smart it’s disgusting.” After the graduation, we all came back to our house for a cookout. It was good to see the family again.

High Falls State Park

We left around lunch time on Friday to go to High Falls State Park in central Georgia. We love to go camping, but haven’t been in months. Before leaving we went to the newly opened REI in town. We purchased a few items for our trip. When we got back to my truck, it wouldn’t start. Though old, my truck always starts right away. We were very worried, reminiscing about one of our other camping trips where the car broke down. (Click here to read about that trip.) Thinking I flooded the engine, we walked to Chick-fil-a for some food. Luckily, the truck started up and we headed out. 

When we arrived we picked out a campsite and set up our tent and hammocks. We spent most of our time on Friday in the hammocks. We cooked hotdogs over the fire for dinner and went to bed.

It was pretty chilly in the morning. Eggs, grits, and hot Tang made a welcoming breakfast. After lounging and napping in the hammocks, we packed lunch and went to the lake. We rented a canoe and set out on the lake. After paddling for a little while we found a nice cove where we ate lunch. While we were eating, a bird flying over the water caught my eye. I watched it land on a fallen tree that was in the water. When it landed, part of the log fell into the water. Then I looked closer and saw that the log was covered in turtles who were sunning. We got as close as we could to them, but they all jumped into the water. We paddled around the edge of the lake and came across a couple more logs with turtles on them. I took these pictures:

After our canoe trip we gathered firewood so we could cook our dinner. We cooked what we call Hobo Dinner. I think I got the name from Dad or the Boy Scouts. It consists of ground beef, corn, peas, carrots, potatoes, green beans, salt, and pepper. Wrap all of the ingredients in aluminum foil and throw it in the fire. We also wrapped a corn on the cob in aluminum foil and tossed it in the fire as well. The Hobo Dinner is one of the best meals ever. Michelle and I always look forward to that meal when we go camping. 

Sunday morning we laid around in the hammocks even more. They’re really comfortable and relaxing, but after a while we started getting restless so we packed up. On the way back we stopped at the Tanger Outlet Mall and a Dairy Queen.

My truck made it all the way there and back without a problem. 

Science will tell you that the human race has grown over the centuries. The average suit of armor from the medieval times is too small to fit today’s average war-fighting-age male. But as I sit here in the Social Science building at KSU, I notice that the average height of the freshman and sophomore girls is between 5′0″ and 5′3″. Michelle and I have discussed it before, and we’ve come to the conclusion that we are systematically breeding shorter women. I’ve noticed the same thing–though not as severe–with the guys. This picture is a computer generated suit of armor, but I think if the US Army wore things like this into battle, there would be less battles to fight.

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I’m listening to Pandora Radio <pandora.com>. Pandora is a free internet radio station website. It’s very unique as well. When you go to their website, you’ll be given the chance to sign up. You don’t have to, but I suggest that you do. Once you’ve created your free account (or if you opt not to sign up, you can still do this) you type in the name of an artist or song that you like. They’ll play the song you choose, or a song from the artist that exemplifies their musical style. Once that song finishes, it will play a song similar to the one you just heard. One of the great things is that it introduces you to new artists and bands that you may not have previosly heard of. If you don’t like the song that’s being played, you can click a “thumbs down” button on the picture of the album, and they’ll avoid that song, and others like it. If you like the song, click the “thumbs up” button and they’ll play more like it. If you create an account, you can make radio stations that will be displayed each time you sign in.

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I’m going through my old journal entries and giving them titles and categorizing them. Most of them did not have titles, or if they did, it did not import the titles when I changed to Wordpress. It’s a tedious process, but it kept me busy in class this morning. I enjoy my classes, but they get a little boring sometimes. My Police in America class comes second nature to me, as well as my Criminal Law class.

This semester I’m taking three classes, a big jump from one class last semester. My supervisors were generous enough to let me work from 2:00 PM until 12:00 AM Friday through Monday from now until I finish the semester. This may not sound like a great deal, but that means that I get Tuesday through Thursday off. It also allows me to take all of my classes on Tuesday and Thursday. It’s a big relief not having to go to school at 8:00 AM until 12:00 PM, and then go to work at 2:00. I technically only have one day “off” all week, but it’s far better than being active for 17+ hours a day. So far I like my classes. I’m taking Police in America (if I don’t get an A in this one I’ll be mad…), Criminal Law, and Social Issues: Perspectives in Sociology. Social Issues is an online class, but from the way things have been going so far, I’ll spend more time on that class than the others. I guess with traditional classes, just showing up is enough to show most teachers you’re interested in the class. With an online class, you have to participate in discussions threads, post comments and article reviews, as well as online tests.

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My grandfather passed away on Christmas Eve. He was admitted to the hospital a little while back, then the nursing home for rehab, then back to the hospital. It’s amazing how quickly things happen. Dad, Andrew and I all went to the hospital earlier that day and prayed over him, talked to him, and sang Christmas carols. He tried to talk to us, but no clear words came out. He sang and prayed with us. His lips were moving the whole time.

It was great to see all of the family that came for the funeral. There were many tears, but just as many laughs.

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One night while I was patrolling the rear of a shopping center, I observed the brake lights of a parked minivan quickly go on and off again. Considering that I didn’t see anybody in the car, I thought it was suspicious. I drove up a little closer to the vehicle, but still saw no one inside. I told the dispatcher that I was out with a suspicious vehicle, and approached it with my flashlight in hand. Upon closer examination, I found two 17 year old boys sitting in the front seats. They looked at me in shock. I motioned for them to roll down the windows (if I hadn’t, they probably would have left them up). Here’s our conversation:

Me: Hey, what are you guys doing?
Driver: Oh, we’re just hanging out.
At this point I did not see, hear, or smell anything illegal. But I did have a good idea of what was happening.
Me: So… you’re not smoking weed?
Driver and Passenger: Um… well… um… we…
Me: So does that mean you are smoking weed?
Passenger: Yes, sir.
Me: Do you have any left, or did you smoke it all?
Driver: I smoked all of mine.
Passenger: I’ve got some.
Me: Well give me what you have.

They both handed over their pipes and what was left of their marijuana. I called their parents to come pick up the car, and so they could yell at them before they went to jail. One of the mothers said, “Enjoy your ride!”

(It’s little things like this that make me happy.)

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To be a cop meant you would experience humanity at a level of skinned-alive intensity.
-Edward Conlon

A year and a half ago I joined the Cobb County Police Department as a new recruit. Six months later I happily joined nearly 600 others as a sworn Cobb County Police Officer serving the 600,000 plus citizens of the county. One year later, I write this journal entry. Though my time with the department has been short in comparison to others, I feel as though I’ve obtained a world of knowledge. And there is still so much more for me to learn.

I started going back to Kennesaw State University this semester. Though I’m only taking one class at the moment, I plan on taking more next semester. I needed to test the waters of college while working a full time job before diving in. Hopefully there will be some online classes I can take next semester. I’m taking a Criminal Investigations class this semester. The professor is a former Cobb officer, and refers to me during class if he is unable to answer a question. The class hasn’t been eye opening by any means, but I chose it for that reason.

It’s amazing how quickly a job can become a way of life. As I drive down the road, I’m constantly glancing at license plates to check if they’re valid; I watch traffic to see if I can find any moving violations (and usually point them out to Michelle, which annoys her); and I’m always having dreams about work. Lately, the dreams have really started to annoy me. I used to sleep well, but since the cop dreams started, I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep. Hopefully they’ll pass and I can get back to sleeping well. They say, “once a cop, always a cop,” but I just don’t see myself doing this my entire life. Police officers have one of the highest divorce rates, and a suprisingly high suicide rate. We see a lot of bad things. People don’t call 911 because they are happy and want to share their happiness with us. They call 911 because they have no other options left. Their life has gotten to a point where they cannot go at it alone.

I responded to a domestic dispute between husband and wife earlier this week. The 16 year old son called, hysterical. Upon arrival, I found that the husband was gone. The mother, 16 year old son, and 12 year old son were all in tears. I found out that the mother and father had been in an argument, when the father picked up a phone and threw it, hitting her in the back of the head. She explained to me that while her husband was serving with the Army in Iraq, he was struck by lightning. (Of all of the things that could happen, he was struck by lightning!) Since coming home, he’s suffered from bi-polar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, and heart-problems…

Like I said, they don’t call when their lives are going well.