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Alex's even longer post thread.

Started by Alex, March 19, 2020, 10:14:15 AM

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chefzombie

don't make me sic kitty and katz on you, butthead!  :tongueout:
  seriously though. yes, cops DO go through training, but in many places, not nearly enough. the BIGGEST problems are the fact that the police union protects bad cops, and the good ones who speak out get treated as pariahs and usually lose their jobs.
  another problem is the fact that most departments DON'T check on a cop's past " indiscretions" before they hire them. and the reason for that is the whole union situation that covers the past up with" self investigations" and wiping their records clean. and again, if anyone speaks out, THEY are the bad guy when they AREN'T.
  while i ran the catering kitchen, i sat in on MANY training classes that i cooked for, and got to know many cops. frankly, i was horrified by some of the blatant racism i hard, but i was far more horrified with hearing the people who spoke out against that kind of talk being told to shut up, mostly by the senior officers. and i'm not talking JUST white cops either, some of the black ones were just as bad.
  things ARE changing here in doodah, thanks to chief ramsay, but it still goes on in the sheriff's department and among the staties too. my governor is trying to fix it, and i hope she can....
don't EVEN...EVER!

Rev. Powell

Quote from: Alex on June 24, 2020, 01:27:27 PM
I checked my to-do list for today. At the very top, it said "Torment Barri."


Now here is my question, surely the police in the States have some similar training? Don't get me wrong, it isn't the exact same rules every time. They are tailored to where we are being sent, what the threat level is, local laws, the laws of armed conflict and so on, but I can't imagine the police get taught these lessons any less than we do in any modern, first world country.

Police here are regulated at the local level so some do, some don't, depending on what training the jurisdiction provides. You would think de-escalation techniques would be standard, but they aren't taught everywhere.

https://www.apmreports.org/story/2017/05/05/police-de-escalation-training
I'll take you places the hand of man has not yet set foot...

Alex

Went into work this morning and discovered the nightshift had decided to move all the desks around so more people can work in the office without breaking social distancing.

All good so far.

Thing is that the some people can't get out from their desks, we don't have wide enough fire lanes and the backs of seats are being knocked out by the backs of our chairs banging against them. Stresshead Jim who can't handle change looked like he was going to have one of his episodes. He didn't speak a word all morning, just sat slumped in his chair (and yet he is in the same job as me. Seriously if you can't handle things being moved around should you be in this job?). I did keep an eye on him, but he perked up in the afternoon. Our boss, Terry was seriously p**sed off that they'd moved things around without asking anyone else about it and was talking about making them work the weekend to put everything back (I doubt he will but man, was he raging about it first thing).

Sent out an instruction today and I guess it is a lot of work to carry this one out as I got a reply from one of the sections saying they acknowledged receipt and noted with some relief that it did not apply to any of their aircraft.

I sent another email back saying "I hate to tell you this mate, but they've already up issued an ATL for this instruction and its going fleet wide. I am just about to send it out. :D"

I then waited 15 minutes and sent another email saying "That may have been a wind-up... or was it?".

I got a phone call immediately and the guy I'd emailed (Dave) was calling me a git because he'd already passed the email onto his management and would now have to go round and tell them it wasn't real.

Wasn't quite as much fun doing that as winding Jim up this afternoon though. Since he seemed to have gotten over his earlier shock, I figured he could stand to be tormented some more.

Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.

chefzombie

you ARE a git sometimes...but i love you anyway. :cheers:
don't EVEN...EVER!

Alex

It has been a hot and sweaty week. And not in a good way either. My offer to extend my contract finally came through. They've offered me just enough time to take me up to five years left rather than the four Terry thought they'd offer me. This is something of a relief. I do not want to end up stuck in this job, too afraid to leave it and work in civvy street like many of my co-workers.

Five weeks left in post and then I move on. Two of those I am on leave for. The other three I am training up two guys to replace me. I am taking that to mean I am so damn good at my job they need that many people to do it when I go.

As to how I will be as a computer programmer... well that remains to be seen.

Training Max on new instructions has went better than expected. I haven't been able to do any cancellations with him, but I am going to go in on nights next week and give him a few hours training there. As much as I am tempted to not train these guys up and let some people stew in the mess they've made themselves, that would also mean I'd make things harder for people who don't deserve it.

And if you are reading this and thinking "Hey! You punish me and I haven't done anything!" Yes you have. You have been a very bad person, that is why I torment you and don't make me tell everyone all the details.  :bouncegiggle: :twirl: :drink:

Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.

chefzombie

don't EVEN...EVER!

Alex

Listening to a podcast of some REH, while laughing at an idiot who can't get anything right. At this point, it is just providing a medium level of amusement.

Up early this morning, it is too hot to keep the windows open and the seagulls are noisy.

Damn, but I hate seagulls. Were they and pigeons to disappear entirely from the world I would not shed any tears.

Ash had been moving around when I got out of bed, but he seems to have dropped off back to sleep so I am just leaving him to sleep as long as he will. Its been a rough few days with him, lots of tears for no reason we can tell. Lots of possible reasons but no way to tell for sure. Doesn't seem to be teething though.

Going to have a clean up of the man cave today (and indeed through next week). See what stuff I can get rid of. I want to rebuild my Death Star, but that is going to need some space to live in.

I did hope to go out today, take a walk down to the harbour and get everyone ice creams, but the weather is not playing along with that idea. Heavy rain all day so far. It is supposed to get better through the week though, and I am putting off the laundry until then.

I've started watching Horror Hotel. The hostess isn't quite Elvira, but there are some decent movies on there too, and many that I haven't seen before as well as some old favourites.

Has it occurred to anyone else that Jurassic Park is just a remake of The Killer Shrews?


Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.

chefzombie

don't EVEN...EVER!

Alex

If you have a Roku, her channel is on there and free to watch.

http://horrorhotel.net/home.html is the website. I find Lil' Zombie irritating. She has an annual convention relatively close to you (in Ohio), its a lot closer to you than it is to me.
Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.

Alex

#144
Rough night last night. Ash seemed to be screaming at the top of his lungs for much of it. It wasn't his I am in pain scream, although once it was because there was a cat up at the kitchen window. Kristi had gotten up with him first as she'd had a nap during the day, but I wasn't really getting any sleep either so I got up to come help. Cuddled him for a bit and then tried him in bed and off he went to sleep like there was nothing wrong.

We did plan on going out into Elgin shopping today (first time we have done that since the whole Covid stuff kicked off). No idea what time Kristi and Ash will sleep to today, but I am just going to leave them to it. Well, in Ash's case at least until 12. If he sleeps after midday then he won't settle down until some time between 21:00 and midnight. Feeling somewhat tired myself but since it is daylight, my brain will outright refuse to let me sleep.

I would much rather cuddle up in bed with Kristi and go to sleep right now given the option.

Clicked on the news this morning, people are complaining that the government hasn't done anything to hit certain parts of the population hit by the lockdown. Always going to be someone gets left out or left behind, unfortunately.

I should sort out some breakfast I guess.

We all took a trip into Elgin today. The first time we've had a family outing outside Lossiemouth for 4 months. Our local geek store has just reopened after expanding its floor space. It is still nowhere near the size of the ones in Utah, but at least if you have two people in it then it isn't overcrowded. Picked up a new version of Munchkin. I got £140 tax rebate in this months wage and used that to get a new computer chair along with more WW2 stuff online. Figured I could spend the last of it on stuff from the shop though.

Had word that there has been a few confirmed cases of Covid-19 on the camp. It is civilian contractors rather than military staff. I'll be popping into work to train Max up some more tomorrow night, so it will be interesting to see what if any, changes that makes.
Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.

Alex

So here I am. It is approaching midnight. I am drinking JD & coke because it is loaded with sugar and will help keep me awake.

That would be because Ash is awake, and if he is awake then either Kristi is awake or I am awake. Tonight is my turn to do even more sleep deprived. Still, he sleeps better than most parents get to experience.

It is more the amount of s**t in the world right now that bothers me more than anything. I can take a look at any amount of situations across the world and ask WTF? Even more so than I could in previous years. I remember when Bush Jnr was president and thinking that there was no way any president could possibly have a worse reputation worldwide than this guy. Noone could claim more and achieve less.

Yeah, America kind of had a "Hold my beer" moment there.

I could look at Russia and Putin's masculinity issues, N. Korea and its leader's god complex which frankly I wouldn't give a s**t about if they didn't have nuclear weapons. I could look at China and that they have a dictator in the mould of Mao Zedong and where that is going to go. In the old days of the empire (for all its faults), I can say that they would never have allowed another country to interfere with sea lanes in this way. Now, China is powerful, modern and able to steal tech from any country in the world and it does nothing. Hell, even mere regional powers like Lran can have a worldwide reach thanks to the world wide web.

The environmental battles I tried to fight as a teenager seem like small change compared to the challenges the world faces nowadays. Hell someone my age has survived the cold war, half a dozen pandemics (if you think Covid is bad you should just think about what the world would be like if some of the other diseases which have threatened to spread had actually managed it, like Ebola).

Sometimes I think the only reason I still drink alcohol is for a temporary escape from what is going on in the world. It might just be a coping mechanism and if I could step away from everything going on and not have to worry about it, then it would be a crutch I would no longer need. I often like the taste of alcohol, but I've never particularly cared for being drunk itself.

Besides, I have never overly cared for drunk me. He isn't someone I get one well with or even like. Drunk me can be fun and can be very honest in ways that sometimes people need to hear, but he can also be very hurtful to others, whiney and just not care about other people. Things that are minor complaints in the day to day grind become major issues and yet sometimes I need that to just let go of things. Why I can't let go of them without it, well you can decide for yourself the reasons for that. Nothing is ever as simple as a single reason though. If only life we as simple as a game of D&D or an episode of Supernatural or even Buffy. I'll even settle for Dr Who where all you have to do is defeat some bad guy inside the run time of an episode run time and the world is good until next week.

As a kid, I used to wonder why in Star Trek they just didn't skip Wednesdays from 18:00 to 18:30 when all the problems in the universe would choose to strike. Either the original series or TNG would have found life much easier if everyone had gone into suspended animation for half an hour every week.

Damn but I feel tired. When I was younger I tried to solve everyone's problems and eventually I switched to just trying to help with the problems of the people I cared about. Right now I feel the way I did when everyone else's issues just overwhelmed. You can't win a war by retreating all the time though. Yeah sometimes you need to let the enemy wear himself down, but sooner or later you have to go on the defensive.
Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.

chefzombie

i get it. please take care of yourself, sweet butthead. i worry, you know. you make me crazy and you love to torture/tease me. and i love you for that, it takes a nice BIG set of brassies to mess with an elder witch.  :cheers:  be well, my darlings.
don't EVEN...EVER!

Alex

I think I've been watching too much Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Last night I had a dream where I was married to her and she was cheating on me some guy, who turned out to be a homunculus made from spare bits of leftover Diet Coke cans.

I've had stranger dreams than that.

Besides, there is no way I'd settle for Buffy, while that sexy minx Willow was around. Especially evil vampire Willow. Now, there is a woman who could make a happy man very old.

This weekend lockdown rules change in England. Well except for that one place where they have had to put the town into quarantine following a big outbreak. In Scotland, from Monday you'll have to wear masks in shops. I find the masks uncomfortable to wear and irritating, but if it saves someone else's life, then I'll wear one and just grin and bear it.

Got Ash up early yesterday and kept him up a bit later than he is used to, but it worked and he slept through the night. I am going to wake him up at 7 am every morning now instead of letting him sleep until he wakes up himself. Took him out a walk yesterday. My plan had been to stop at the various playgrounds on the way to the harbour and let him play in them, then get him an ice cream and head home. Alas, the first park is still locked up, the second one was filled with kids playing. When we got to the harbour, the shop I had wanted to go to wasn't open. I got him an empire biscuit from the local bakery instead and he seemed happy with that.

Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.

Alex

Eight years ago today was not a good day on base. The day started out perfectly normally, but as it progressed an op was called that none of us had ever heard of before. Then we heard, two of our Tornado's had collided over the north sea. Three out of the four crew died in the crash. I was later to be involved in packing away the personal effects of one of the crew, which was... well lets just say I got well and truly drunk that weekend. Packing away most of his stuff was fine, although I really wanted to put some music on to break the silence, but when you got to something that must have meant something to the owner, like wedding invitations or a little lego figure of a pilot it reminded you that this had been a real person.

Not much in my job has an effect on me, but that was one of two times when it has.
Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.

Alex

#149
With yesterday being the 4th and knowing that Kristi wanted to watch it, I thought I'd stick on Hamilton. Turned out to be a mistake. Neither of us enjoyed the music. In my case, that was what I expected. I had thought Kristi would like it though. She asked me to put it off. But hey, if it is your kind of thing then more power to you. If not, well maybe you'll like this adaptation more.


Error 404 (Not Found)!!1


This morning I got woken up by Ash screaming his I am not happy and want attention scream. Took him into bed with us since I didn't feel like getting up at that time. He lay still enough but did not go back to sleep. It did seem he was tired though. Kristi got up to go to the toilet and decided to try putting him in his cot. Unfortunately, he did not agree with this policy and leaned out over the edge to try and grab his mum, overbalanced and fell out. I heard the bang of him hitting the floor, had jumped out of bed and was heading through to his room before he ever started crying. His cot is on the lowest setting. I guess I could drill out some new holes and lower it a little bit more, but not by much or he'd be able to slip out the bottom. Admittedly this would be better than him climbing out over the top and falling quite as far. He has a big red mark on his forehead, but it hasn't bruised or swollen up, his pupils are dilated or different sizes, no straw coloured liquid running from either ear and he is neither dizzy nor throwing up so I am going to guess he hasn't taken any serious damage. I'll keep an eye on him though.

Bought a Panzer I from a supplier I haven't bought any tanks from before. Trying to decide if they really were that small or the scale is out of whack. The grey vehicle in the middle is the Panzer 1



And here it is sitting beside a Tiger.



Hell, it is even smaller than the tiddly little Japanese tanks.

When I was younger, we had an election back when Johnny Major was the PM. His government was viewed as a lame duck, dead in the water and all it needed was the life support switching off because there was no hope of bringing it back. Every few weeks we'd have a new scandal engulfing them and they just limped from disaster to disaster. All the polls had his party heading for a heavy loss and no one believed they could possibly win the next election.

The day after the election, lo and behold, Johnny Major was still in power. The excuse the pollsters came up for getting it wrong (and to be honest here I do not understand why they bother coming up with excuses any more because they rarely call it right), was that people, when questioned, had been too ashamed to admit to supporting such a disastrous government. I've always thought it was important to note that they didn't change who they were voting for, regardless of how much of a laughing stock they had become, no matter how much they'd gotten wrong. They still voted for them, because most people do not change who they vote for. Doesn't matter if the candidate/party is right or wrong if they've done good or bad the great mass of people will still continue to support that party they've supported all their life.

They didn't vote for who they thought could do the best job.

Most of the time I just try to pick the least worst party that still has a chance of, if not winning, then at least presenting an effective opposition. That's a big reason why I didn't switch back to the Labour party in the last election as an example. I felt they were too riven with internal strife to either govern or at least oppose effectively. At that point it didn't matter to me what the said their policies would be, I didn't feel they would have any chance to implement any of them until they stopped fighting each other.

My new computer chair has arrived. It is taller, wider and the seat higher off the ground than my previous one. I think I am going to like it more, although I'd hoped the smaller armrests would be too small for Ash to climb through. No such luck there.
Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.