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. 

::

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.

::

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.

::

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.

::

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.)

original

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.

I miss school.

It's that time of year when all of the stores have their school displays up, and the nerd inside of me yearns to play with the pens, calculators, and organizers. I could spend hours in office supply stores.

I'm afraid that I'll never graduate though.

If I take more than one or two classes a semester I'm afraid that I will get burned out with either work or school while I'm doing both. But if I'm only taking one or two classes a semester then it's going to take me years to finish. I only have one more traditional year left. I hope it doesn't take me more than three.

When I was first assigned to Precinct 4 I was pretty excited. Precinct 4 is known for its wealthy neighborhoods and low crime rates. Even though I'm young I didn't want to be where all of the action is. I don't want to get into fights with gang bangers, I don't want to get in foot pursuits, and I definitely don't want to get shot at. But sometimes I feel like I'm going to lose it if I have to deal with one more dispute over nonsense. I went to a dispute over, "She took the remote from me and won't let me change the channel." It was a couple who has been married for 40 years plus, and has probably been fighting for the better part of 39 years.

I do deal with a lot of nonsense, but I get my share - though very small - of big events too.

I handled a call about a month ago where a woman had stabbed her boyfriend in the arm with a steak knife. We found her hiding in a shed in the back yard. We also found a stolen Chrysler 300 as well as drugs in their back yard. (This wasn't in the nice part of town.) And a couple of weeks ago I handled an armed robbery at a gas station. The perp was apprehended about a week later. I'd like to say it was because of my investigative and report writing skills, but I'm not sure how or where they caught him. I've had my fair share of death investigations, both natural and unnatural. One man shot himself in the chest after his wife of 30 years asked for a divorce. The next day a 17 year old girl hanged herself with a jump rope because of relationship problems.

But I guess that's what keeps us all coming back to work every day. I truly never know what's going to happen when I put on my uniform. One minute I could be doing a "routine" traffic stop, and the next I could be wrestling a drunk to the ground (which has happened).

There's a certain amount of excitement that comes with pinning on my badge every day. But with that badge comes more responsibility and stress than I ever could have imagined. I couldn't have made it this far without the prayers and support of my family and friends. But most especially, I wouldn't be able to continue doing this without Michelle.

No matter what I have to deal with, no matter what time in the night I come home, and no matter what I'm going through, I know Michelle will be there for me. Always supportive of my plans and goals, and always with a positive word to say, she has truly been a lifesaver to me.

Dad also informed me this morning, that I didn't have to pay him back for the money I borrowed to buy my new laptop. I tried to convince him that I did have to pay him back, but he wouldn't hear it. I guess I'll just have to take really good care of him and Mom when they're old.

Michelle took me out to lunch at my favorite coffeeshop, CozziCafe. It's a great little restaurant. The owner has worked his entire life in gourmet restaurants, and his wife is a graphic designer. So not only is the food and coffee great, the place looks awesome as well. Not that I ever have time to go, but ever Friday night they have live music. And of course, they have free Wi-Fi. While we were having lunch, Michelle's grandmother called to sing to me. Her husband's birthday is tomorrow, so she can always remember mine. Shortly after that, Michelle's mom and little sister called.

The rest of my day will consist of cleaning the apartment in case anyone wants to come over tonight after work, and going into work for my birthday dinner. My boss, Grace, said that I get a free meal and drinks!

I'm really enjoying two of my four classes this semester. The two I'm not enjoying are Economics and Statistics. They're both just classes that everyone has to take. They aren't difficult, and I think that's why I don't like them. I completely love my other two classes though. Ethics in Criminal Justice is such a great class. We talk about controversial topics (capital punishment, corrupt police, etc.) and the entire class participates in the talks/debates. It's so nice being in a class where everyone wants to be there. My other Criminal Justice course I'm taking is called, "Ideological/Group Violence and Law Enforcement." We just call it "The Terrorism Class," because that's what we're studying. My teacher is a big-wig in the Georgia Army National Guard and is very passionate about the subject, having worked both as a police officer and in the military. A passionate teacher makes all of the difference to a student. Sometimes I want to be a teacher just so I can make that difference, but I feel my talents would be better used as a police investigator or an FBI agent. The Cobb County Police Department is having a career fair in two weeks that I'll be attending. During the day it's going to be all bells and whistles: showing off the equipment, giving demonstrations, and other things for the community. But afterwards, they are giving the written exam to become a police officer. I'm going to talk to my Ethics teacher, who used to work for Cobb County PD, to see if he can help me figure out what I want to do with my life.

I've been very busy with school and my two jobs. Today is the first day in months that I've been able to just sit around without having to go to one place or another. I have class three days a week, and I usually work seven days a week. Between Zyng Asian Grill and Chapter 11* Books, my free time is pretty much nonexistent. I prefer it that way though. I don't know what I would do if I came home from school with nothing else to do. If I weren't updating my website right now I'd probably be cleaning, studying for one of my two tests on Monday, or finding something else constructive to do. Now that I think about it though, I should probably be studying now.

I started this post yesterday and I'll finish it in the near future. But I want to go ahead and post it now.

::

Not a whole lot is going on in my life right now. My average day involves working from 9:30 until 3:00, and class the rest of the day until 8:30. I don't have class Fridays but I usually work from 1:00 to 9:30. Saturday is the same as Friday, just spelled differently. I usually have two days off each week, Sunday and some other weekday. So, I go to class for 15 hours a week, and I work about 20 to 30 hours a week. Assuming I sleep 8 hours a night, I only have about 72 hours a week to do homework, eat, or any other thing I may want to do. This is going to wear me out eventually. I'm not whining, just informing everyone what I'm doing now. I'm now the Receiving Clerk at the bookstore, which means that any shipment that comes into the store, and anything that goes out, has to go through me first. There wasn't a raise, but I am working more hours. Hopefully, I'll get a promotion soon that has a larger paycheck attached to it.

::

I'm really enjoying my classes this semester. I have Psychology, Sociology, Criminal Justice, Criminology, and History. In March I pick up a one hour class: Walking. History and Walking don't have anything to do with my major, but I have to take them anyway. My History teacher is a lawyer by trade, but teaches because he loves it. That makes it so much more interesting and enjoyable. My Criminal Justice teacher is a Major for the Dekalb County Police Department (Atlanta is in Dekalb for you non-Georgians) and teaches at the police academy. My Sociology teacher, however, is only here because he is working on his doctorate so he can go on and do other things. He can't spell or pronounce anything, and just asks us questions and writes on the board what we say. But for the most part, I enjoy my classes. I like having evening classes. Everyone else is working like me, and they are generally older than me; which is good, because for the most part I don't get along with people my age.

::

It's really nice to have an internet connection again. I really got out of the loop on everything. I need to go back and read everyone's blogs for the past four months to see what's been happening.

::

I'm reading two books right now, both biographies. One is a class assignment, "John Adams" by David McCullough. President Adams' life makes for a very interesting read. (Bill Clinton said the same thing about his book, "My Life") If anybody enjoys a good nonfiction read, pick up this book. I'm also reading "Our Brother's Keeper" by Jedwin Smith. Jedwin works with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize twice, and was a finalist the second time. His book doesn't come out until March (one of the perks of working at a bookstore) and is amazing. It's the story of his life, but mainly focusing on the affect of his younger brother's death in Vietnam. His brother's death caused the parents to divorce (his mother blamed the father for the death of their son because the father was a Marine, and therefore it was his fault), and most everyone in their large Catholic family turned to alcohol as an answer. Jedwin swore that one day he would track down and kill the man that fired the rocket that killed his brother. He went to Vietnam, but I won't tell you want happens. You'll have to read the book.

My schedule for this semester is pretty easy. Generally, community colleges, like Georgia Perimeter College, are pretty easy. I'm still taking core classes, and haven't started anything in my major yet. Next semester I'll take a couple of Criminal Justice classes. I'm excited about the British Literature course that I'm taking, because I really enjoy the works that we'll be reading. Plus I had Brit Lit in high school with a great teacher, so I'm ahead of the class already. Sarah, Cody and I created some great presentations for that class, by the way.

I'm actually getting kind of bored with my website all together. Does anybody have any ideas to make it more interesting? Something that I should add or change? Just something for me to do...

I'm going back to Hiawassee this weekend so that I can get some things that I forgot to bring with me. I called my boss at the coffeehouse, and she said I could work on Saturday! A paycheck plus free coffee, it doesn't get any better than that.