Sensitivity Training

5 o'clock seems a little different when I have to be at that time and it's not for work. I made it home early from work at midnight after a quick overnight at work and had trouble falling asleep from being so mad at the Yankees, but I did eventually fall asleep. Chancho on the other hand, I learned pulled an all nighter from being so mad. They lost their game last night by a single pitch. It wasn't the greatest sight to be seen, but anyways, Chancho needed to be in Manhattan this morning for his first of three days of Sensitivity Training. Here enters me to give him that ride to the train station so he could make the 5:19am train. Which leaves me wide awake and able to have time to blog.

He has received 3 civilian complaints this year. Therefore, the big guys upstairs believe that he doesn't know how to talk to people properly. (Which in my eyes is completely wrong.) Apparently every cop who receives these 3 complaints within less than a year must attend these classes, plus you are put on a level one monitoring. In Chancho's situation all three were looked into and classified as unsubstantiated, meaning they don't have enough to go forward with so his actions were deemed proper, but NYPD still puts their cops on monitoring regardless if found not guilty. In two of the cases it was actually Chancho's partner who got the complaint, but because he was there and involved the complaint got tacked onto his file as well. (Not fair in my eyes.)

The class is 3 days long. It is held in the academy building and involves guest speakers that talk about community policing and how to be more sensitive when talking to people. Very simple I suppose, but I bet a real bore. All ranks are placed together in this class too. Luckily his monitoring is almost up. He only has until January to go. Hopefully nothing else comes up until then. I'm worried that he's going to wind up falling fast asleep during this class. He can sleep anywhere, at anytime and by the sounds of this, he will be asleep before the first couple of words are spoken. I hope that he gets out early too. That will give us a little more time before I need to be back at work.

I start work tonight at 8pm and get out at 5am. I hope it goes by quickly and smoothly. There should be a big team coming to help, around 20 of us. From the sounds of it though these aren't the normal people who do trucks and maintenance in the store so it may not go so smoothly. There will be a lot of teaching and patience will be needed on my part and that is the one thing I do not have a lot of. At least we'll be fed by the company. Last night they ordered 3 pies and we finished all three, pepperoni, cheese and chicken finger. My supervisor said she's making brownies, I hope she remembers!

I am going to try and get back to sleep, at least until the sun comes up.

Quote of the Day: "Do what makes you happy. Be with who makes you smile. Laugh as much as you breathe && Love as long as you live."

Change of Pace

Chancho worked a new shift today. He started today at 3pm and will get out at 11:35pm, but he is doing 3 hours of overtime to add onto it. The reason behind the shift change was that they needed someone to do patrol. He volunteered with one of his partners and they began their day with a transport of 2 males and his detail for the night involves all of Van Cortland park. Now the good news is that he'll have a daytour Tuesday and Wednesday and on Thursday he's taking a class at the police academy for community sensitivity which gets him home around 4pm. This would be a great upcoming week, but I have the overnight shifts at my job. So we will have about 3-4 hours in between our shifts to see one another. I feel that there is a mini vacation in order for us to catch up with one another. He received his vacation voucher for donating his car, so maybe that can be used up. I'd love to visit California or Florida to get some warm weather and I heard that if you volunteer with some organization you can get a free pass to Disney Land or Disney World. It would work out great if we could combine the two to make a great vacation.

On a side note, I need to work in time to bake some apple pies. I have all of these apples still sitting there staring at me. I'm going to have to suck it up and just do it one of these days. I don't want the apples to go bad.

The Yankee game was amazing as usual. We sat up in the grandstands along the 1st base line next to the foul pole. It was freezing, absolutely freezing out. I had on 7 layers and still managed to be cold. If we wind up going to the world series, I am going to bring a comforter with me to stay warm. Towards the end of the game there was a rowdy fan that was getting a little out of control in the annoying sense and got kicked out for a brief moment. Well his friends didn't like that too much and came back and started causing some ruckus. A few things were thrown, a beer bottle landed in the row behind us as guys were holding the rambunctious guys back from hitting one another. I just wanted to watch the game, but I was a bit afraid of something hitting me from behind. The Yankees won 4-1! Hopefully tonight's game goes as smoothly! I'll be out with coworkers going to another gay bar, hopefully the game will be on there so I can keep track.

Quote of the Day: "I don't make you feel special. I just remind you that you are special." - David F. Sims

Weather

It's raining. It's been raining all day. It probably will rain all day tomorrow and the day after. I had to be carrying customers purchased items out to their cars all day in the rain. I was not thrilled. The store was jam packed with customers all day. When it rains, it's when they go shopping. It's crappy and they have nothing else to do, but go spend their money. It's just what people do.

Now for Chancho, he can't get anything. He's been driving around looking for action. He needs to get his fourth arrest for the month, but there is nothing out there. If anything I think that they should be looking inside buildings for trespassers. It's raining out, therefore people go inside to get out of it. Stairwells are always a huge hit. However, I am not too fond of the building sweeps. Last year around Christmas they had an incident that left his partner out of work for a bit with am injured back. I guess they do what they have to do though. The buildings that they usually look in are located in the "ghetto". Not a great place that I want Chancho to be in, but I realize that this is something he's got to do. If he can handle it, then so can I. Here's a little story about his first day on the job that involved these buildings. His first day on the job, fresh out of the academy. He's with an Asian guy who is also doing his first day. Instead of being a patrol officer, they were placed into an Impact Team. They go wherever the precinct needs them. For instance, say there was a shooting or a stabbing in a certain neighborhood, that's where his team would focus on for that day or week, just to let the public know they are doing something about it. So here he is in this particular neighborhood and he's outside of one of these "ghetto" buildings when he gets shot at from above. Everyone is okay, nothing bad happens, situation is taken care of. He goes back to the precinct and says "This is going to be a long 20 years." and heads home. The Asian guy who was with him goes back to the precinct and says "Here's my shield and gun. I'm out of here." and Chancho never saw him again. It definitely takes a special person to do what they do everyday, no doubt about it.

Yankee game tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed it doesn't get rained out!

Quote of the Day: "This is your life, right now. It doesn't wait for you to get back on your feet." -A Lot Like Love

Yankees Again

I just purchased game #1 of the ALCS for Friday!! I am pumped! Again, we're in the grandstand section, 8th row, but this time on the 1st base side. I don't want to talk about how this is affecting my bank account, but I am sticking to the fact that I am young and this is the time to be acting irrational. I don't have any other responsibilities so I can do this. It may not seem like a great idea to others, but I have convinced myself it will be worth it. Chancho is overly excited, he got his sergeant's permission to work an earlier tour and he can take loss time on top of that to get out in time for the game. And on the topic of Yankees, I received Chancho's Christmas present in the mail today. I pretty much peed in my pants when I saw it. I can't believe how beautiful it is. Never in a million years did I think I would have something like this in my own hands. It will have to be put into a display case for sure. But here it is in all it's glory, an actual, certified Mariano Rivera signed Yankee jersey!

I'm sure you all are getting tired of hearing about the Yankees, but it will soon be over by the end of November, just hang in there with me!

Quote of the Day: "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.”

Todays Funnies

Here are some funny situations if you will that had me literally laughing out loud. Have a good laugh courtesy of my sister:

WOMAN'S PERFECT BREAKFAST
She's sitting at the table with her gourmet coffee. Her son is on the cover of the Wheaties box. Her daughter is on the cover of Business Week. Her boyfriend is on the cover of Playgirl. And her husband is on the back of the milk carton.
WOMEN'S REVENGE
'Cash, check or charge?' I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet, I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse. 'So, do you always carry your TV remote?' I asked. 'No,' she replied, 'but my husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.'
UNDERSTANDING WOMEN (A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE)
I know I'm not going to understand women. I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.
CIGARETTES AND TAMPONS
A man walks into a pharmacy and wanders up & down the aisles... The sales girl notices him and asks him if she can help him. He answers that he is looking for a box of tampons for his wife. She directs him down the correct aisle. A few minutes later, he deposits a huge bag of cotton balls and a ball of string on the counter. She says, confused, 'Sir, I thought you were looking for some tampons for your wife? He answers, 'You see, it's like this, yesterday, I sent my wife to the store to get me a carton of cigarettes, and she came back with a tin of tobacco and some rolling papers; cause it's sooo-ooo--oo-ooo much cheaper. So, I figure if I have to roll my own . so does she.. (I figure this guy is the one on the milk carton!)
WIFE VS. HUSBAND
A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position... As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, 'Relatives of yours?' 'Yep,' the wife replied, 'in-laws.'
WORDS
A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day. 30,000 to a man's 15,000. The wife replied, 'The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men... The husband then turned to his wife and asked, 'What?'
WHO DOES WHAT
A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning. The wife said, 'You should do it because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee. The husband said, 'You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee.' Wife replies, 'No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee.' Husband replies, 'I can't believe that, show me.' So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says . 'HEBREWS'
THE SILENT TREATMENT
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, 'Please wake me at 5:00 AM.' He left it where he knew she would find it. The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, 'It is 5:00 AM. Wake up..'
Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.

MNF

Monday night football. I am not a football fan. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I have never gotten into it. My family is purely a baseball family. Hence my deep dedication to the Yankees. This is not the case for Chancho. He is a Jets fan. So here I am stuck with the Jets game on. I was trying to be patient and watched the 1st and 2nd quarter of the game, but I can't handle it any longer. I don't know all of the terms that are used and am just confused half of the time. I thought for a moment that I would learn it, Chancho did say that he would be happy to teach me and answer any questions that I have, but I can't get into it. I'm convinced it will always be this way.

Chancho has a daytour on Thursday this week. That will be nice to have a day to see him. However, it is not on Friday when the first game of the ALCS starts. He's a tad upset about that. I am hoping that he will get a daytour for Saturday because I am going out with coworkers to a gay bar in Connecticut and I want Chancho to come out with us. It probably won't happen if his older partner is driving. He's still figuring out how to get him to do work. He just doesn't seem to have the motivation to do anything except visit his girlfriend. I think they should take that time to come visit me, if they aren't going to do any work. Not that I'm condoning them not doing any work. Just want it to be fair all the way around.

For myself, this week, it should be rather light. We're gearing up for Gift Wrap Wonderland (GWW). This entails us transforming the center of the store so that it can fit all of the gift wrap and red and green colored items for Christmas. The following week is going to be very hectic for me. I have 3 overnights, going in at 8pm and getting out at 5am. It will be a full work week after that. I shouldn't worry about being bored. I'm excited for this to start. It should be a lot of fun and I love getting out of the habit of everyday routines in the store, this will mix it up a bit. Plus it is Christmas stuff, my favorite!

Quote of the Day: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he handles four things: a rainy day, the elderly, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

A Late Night

Saturday night became a long night for Chancho and I. It started out just a usual Saturday night, as most nights do when they turn into something bigger, I was home and bored attempting to keep myself occupied. I was texting Chancho here and there hoping that he would keep me entertained as he was riding in the backseat of the SUV and didn't have to drive. Then I didn't get a response back. An hour later, still nothing back. That's when the "I hope he's okay" "What happened?" "Is everyone alright?" starts to kick in. I can usually push those to the back of my mind for a couple more hours, but I was bored and didn't have anything else to focus on. Thankfully he responded before I got too crazy and let me know that they were the first responders to a 4 person burglary and one of them jumped out of the 4th floor. He filled me in on the details and then his night got busy. The guy decided to jump when they arrived there. He was still living when back up arrived and he got to the hospital okay, but he died on the table, but they were able to revive him and the last I heard he was in critical condition. I'd say he's lucky for having broken every bone in his body. However, Chancho was stuck with having to deal with the situation. He said that he was fine, just wouldn't be able to eat for a while after seeing the guy jump. He was told to held in the precinct until 4am waiting to be released. His phone was traced to make sure he didn't share any information and he thought he was going to be interviewed, but thankfully the the other perps told the truth about what happened. Crazy night.

Another Quote for Today: The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. - Joseph Addison