Recently at work, I have been charged with inputting money info into Quicken. I have to do this in the lieutenant’s office because I don’t have Quicken on my computer. I usually do it first thing in the morning because I get in an hour before the LT and so I don’t have to kick him out of his office.Almost every time this happens, the captain and a few of the sergeants will walk by the office and
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Recently at work, I have been charged with inputting money info into Quicken. I have to do this in the lieutenant’s office because I don’t have Quicken on my computer. I usually do it first thing in the morning because I get in an hour before the LT and so I don’t have to kick him out of his office.Almost every time this happens, the captain and a few of the sergeants will walk by the office and
My favorite phone calls at work so far are the ones from people out of state, mostly parents whose children are in school here, call me and ask if marijuana is legal in Colorado. Part of the reason this is fun for me is that I have actually taken the time to become pretty familiar and stay up do to date with Colorado's Marijuana laws. I find it all very interesting-- like the modern day
I just got the most ridiculous complaint at work. I have had my share of crazy-ridiculous, but this was just stupid.Woman calls in, says she saw an immaculately dressed black man at Burger King yesterday when she was there for breakfast. She saw him go to the counter and receive a small package from the cashier and then he went back to the line and waited anxiously. She said she left before she
I'm beginning to wonder if the police department is built on a portal to hell or something. Very Amityville-like things have been happening lately. Such as, a chipmunk running around inside. Rumor has it there is at least one chipmunk, one mouse and one rat. I personally think the "chipmunk" is a gerbil. Still, it is pretty weird that a chipmunk or a gerbil would be inside the police
How did you get in here? My desk is the front desk, the desk right by the door to our bureau. I'm the first person you see when you come to this office. This is a restricted area though, so I generally only see other police officers, DA's, crime lab guys, crime analysts and sometimes other secretaries. Until on day about three weeks ago. I was straightening up my desk and there were quite a few
Most of my friends and family know that my mother and I have a lot in common. She refers to me as "mini-me," and there are a lot of characteristics that we do share-- a propensity for tidying, very similar senses of humor, same dress size, etc. Some times I hear things come out of my mouth that scare me as soon as I hear the words because it sounds so much like her!Yet, there are times I wish I
Things You Didn't Know Are VicesToday one of my detectives came in and said, "do you like Bon Jovi?" as he handed me a tee-shirt. It's a Bon Jovi Concert shirt that some black market vendors were peddling. "It's a small, will it fit?" I held it up, it looked like a perfect fit."Just be careful when you wash it, do it in cold and then hang it out to dry or it might fall apart." I thought this was
When I take the bus to work, I take the elevator at work. I justify not using the stairs because I have to walk two blocks to the stop by my house and four blocks from the stop to the Police Department. And at the end of the day I have to walk three blocks to the bus stop and then two again, back to my house. That's exercise.There are four elevators for this building, and a lot of the time one of
It's possible that there is some kind of conspiracy at work to fatten me up. The last secretary was a very large woman. She even had a custom office chair that is quite wide; you could fit three of me in it. Maybe they just want the familiarity. Or maybe there is a more insidious plan to get me fat and use me as some kind of sacrifice for something (when I'm bored at work I sometimes read about
Craziest Yet.The caller reports that the KKK control the courts in Denver and that they are attempting genocide by cooking meth which will rot people’s insides. She reports that she and her mother have both been exposed to meth already and that the mafia is after them. You see, her father was Frank Sinatra’s physician. The caller tried to contact Mr. Sinatra’s family and even though she only got
More on the strange phone call front.An older gentleman who has recently returned from living overseas, working for the Department of Defense has called several times to report the house across the street from him. He believes there are drug dealers and call girls working there. This is horribly upsetting because, over seas, he worked to rid other countries of these kinds of evils only to return
One of my cops works at concerts off duty, usually Red Rocks, but other Denver venues as well. Today he was telling me about some of the rock stars he's met.Apparently one time when Guns 'n' Roses was in town, Axel Rose was being a pain in the ass. He had walked off the stage at his previous show in Oregon and caused a lot of trouble. The crowd rioted and there was a lot of damage. Apparently Mr.
stop shooting staplesThe janitor retired and she took her chair, but left her table. I hadn't realized she was old enough to retire, but the city is trying to stretch its budget and created some retirement incentives and she's outta here.The new janitor is pretty sweet, too. I'm not sure if she is going to be our permanent janitor, or if she is just helping out for a while until we get a new one.
Dorks to the Rescue.One of the best parts about working at the police department right out of Peace Corps is being part of the family of police. It's extremely comforting and feels a bit like what it was like to be part of a village community in Africa. I know that if anything really bad ever happened to me or my biological family, the police in the bureau I work in would be right there to help
The bathrooms at the police department have wonderful, orange, Formica counter tops.
The janitor for the vice and drug bureau has a wonderfully stereotypical name for a police department janitor. I’m not gonna tell you though, because I try to keep all the real names outta here just in case (you never know what kinda psycho’s are out there).But anyway… She is probably in her mid to late fifties, but looks older because she smokes and because she’s a janitor. For the police
It's Gonna Be a Good WeekMonday is always the busiest and most interesting day at work. Usually there are a bunch of prostitute busts over the weekend and the voice mail box is full from two days of going unchecked. Together these things keep me busy most of the day which is nice since I spend a lot of hours at work trying to find things to do to keep busy.Today the weekend busts included an
I think part of the addiction to traveling is being so overstimulated by new experiences that when you return you grind your teeth, tap your fingers, and basically act kinda ADD all the time and the only way to fix it is to go back. Or go to some place just as insane, like New York or Las Vegas or maybe just the mall as long as there are lots of flashing lights and people. But best to get there
Dumb Criminals.The other day a couple of uniformed police men brought in a guy who was selling drugs in the park. They ran his name to see if he had any other offenses and it sent a message to the immigration people because he's flagged as being illegally in the country. The immigration people call us and send a picture to make sure it really is the same guy. The picture is older and the guy in
Job Chronicles.I have now twice come upon very indignant Johns. The first was through a written complaint. A man who had just used a prostitute commented on her age, saying that she seemed younger than she claimed to be. The prostitute told the John that she could get him a girl of any age all the way down to 12. The John felt that this was going too far and sent in a complaint against the woman
Motorcycles, tattoos and mooching.I made mac-n-cheese last night. After I made the pasta I realized I had no milk. I tried to make the cheese sauce with butter but it wasn’t quite right. I decided to ask my neighbors if they had some milk and they gave me the last of their carton which was enough for me to have cereal for breakfast this morning. I think this is one of things that I will keep from
I have had an awesome week.Firstly, I had today off due to the furlough days all city employees are taking to help the city balance it's budget. I don't really mind getting a day off without pay, cuz I loves me a long weekend, and a short week.Secondly, I feel like I am really starting to fit in at work. The cops LOVE taking me out to lunch and teasing me in a friendly, family way. Like prank
11 May 2009At my job, I am surrounded by chivalry. The cops will hold a door open for a lady even if it means they stand at the door, holding it open for a good, solid minute before I get to it. For some reason they always apoligize when they swear around me. I figure I'll get them broken of that soon enough. They offer to bring me food and drinks everytime they leave the office.I get called
On Saturday I went to the laundr-o-mat to get change. As I was leaving I noticed a woman sitting in one of the chairs at the end of an aisle of dryers. She was wearing khaki shorts and a green, sleeveless shirt, which was only a little strange because it was snowing outside. What was really strange was that she was taking her bra off with her shirt still on and the bra was bright red and covered
Yesterday I saw a Catholic priest pick up change out of the gutter, a kid in an astronaut costume eating an ice cream cone and a guy in the holding cell at work staring at his hand and moving it around like a fish.Work was kind of boring but after dinner I bought Cassie and I ice cream cones. The routine isn't all bad, but I"m so aware of how fun it was without one. The days are going faster now
A Night At the Auto ShowI walk into the auto show and the lights and the smells and the reflecting, flawless paint jobs bring out everything of my grandfather and uncles in me and I walk confidently around knowing I could make deal if I had to. Especially with a few Pabst in me, greasing the gears.The rednecks stare at Chrysler's new concept car and take pictures and mutter.A bunch of the
Good Deed For the Day. This week I learned how to ride the bus in Denver. The most important lesson is that unless you want to score some kind of narcotics, don't use the bus stop at Colfax and Broadway.I didn't know for sure where else to get on my number 2 bus on Tuesday (but have since found that there are a couple of stops nearer and less nutty) so I stood down there for a good hour. I would
I Cry.I hate that I'm admitting this on Valentine's day because, for the most part, this day has never really meant much to me. I don't mean that in a cynical way, a bitchy way, or a "I don't give a shit what you think" kinda way. This day has always been pleasant for me, presents from my parents, including the Alanis Morissette album, tons of chocolate and sometimes gift cards. I have never had
What?
In preparation for the new job, I had my physical with the City of Aurora yesterday. I wasn't exactly sure what kind of check up this would be other than a drug test, but apparently Aurora is very concerned with my auditory senses. I filled out three forms, the first one was almost all questions about if I wore protection to save my hearing; if I'd ever had ear injuries; if I ride
Back to school.
I got a job. Reflecting the poor state of the economy, it's a job with the city of Aurora that will, so far, only be one day a week. The only reason they could hire me, when the government is otherwise in the midst of a complete hiring freeze, is due to the fact that the program is grant funded. That's about right, the economy is so bad that there are only part time jobs left
I just read an article about Obama's style in the New York Times. It was a fluffy, entertaining but rather unimportant article.
I get the headlines sent to my inbox every day and I usually read them and then follow a few of the links to the full article. Lately, I have been less inclined to do so. The articles about the economy and unemployment numbers bring me down. News has never had such an
Today was grey all day. A complete turn-around from the earlier part of the week.
On Wednesday I went for a walk in the park that is only a half block from my apartment. It was so sunny, I even took off my sweater and tanned my arms as I walked around the park.
I stopped at a picnic table to watch the people. I checked my email on my phone. I sat for about five minutes enjoying humanity and the
Denver is an interesting city. When I first got back to Denver from my travels far on the other side of the planet, Denver seemed a whole lot smaller than I had remembered. Granted, I had just been to a few of the biggest cities in the world (according to Wikipedia, Istanbul is number 3 by population, Cairo 22 and New York 13), comparatively, it is kinda small. But I started to feel really lucky
I'm afraid of the dark. I think all kids are good at freaking themselves out and imagining every shadow as a monster or intruder and getting all kinds of scared. As a kid you can usually talk yourself out of it, too.
It's been over a year since the robbery in Mafeteng, but once you have an experience where there was no talking your way back to the safety of knowing your doors are locked an no
I won this contest from a country radio station here in Denver. I entered on a whim, it was for the best engagement story in Denver. I didn't even really look at what I would win, but I thought, hey, I already wrote a blog about my sheep and it IS a pretty good story. I pretty much just copied and pasted the blog and about a month later I won all this crazy stuff. They called and told me they "
since i'm a sucker for reflection and list writing...
I'm gonna go with future first...
In 2009 I will have my first real grown up job. I will get married. I will learn what it is like to budget when you have a real income instead of a stipend. I will keep in touch with my friends who are now spread all over the world.
I will not take a drag off of anyone's cigarette. I will not forget to eat. I
As promised, riding a bike without a helmut. HA! take that Peace Corps.
Highlights of My Trip: Restoring Your Faith in Humanity
Crazy things happen when one travels alone for a month straight.
Along the way I was taken in by an Indian couple in Cairo who couldn't stand to see me eat McDonalds.
(hehe, Arabic writing on the wrapper)
They travel around the world together, she lives in Delhi, he
I've been a bad blogger. And now i have too much for one blog! What am I to do??
Firstly, I'm in the States, in Denver even. It's spectacular. But cold. So, lets go back a little.
I got to New York on Monday evening, my flight landed a little late, but we made it through the passport stamping line pretty quick and then me and my fellow passengers from Istanbul waited for our luggage. And waited
Leisurely Making My Way Through Istanbul.
I wasn't sure there was much that could top the bath house but then I went into the treasury at the Topkapi Palace yesterday and, boy howdy, there were some of the biggest gems in the world! An 85 karat diamond, rubies, emeralds, pearls, ivory, it was amazing. I now understand the concept of treasure and why people used to go searching for it. They didn't
Taking a Long Hot Bath.
Yesterday morning I went to one of the famous bath houses. It was a chilly morning, it's been rainy here for a while. I was excited to get into the warm bathroom, but I had little idea what to expect. I knew there was nudity involved, but I've been rubbed down in vaseline by my future mother in law, and i was on the swim team for years, being naked with a bunch of women
turkey at the present time
while ı was starting to feel a little depressed about the way our sloppy american culture has spread all over the world, ı heard yesterday something that made me smile. ın the square here ın sultanahmet they have fortune telling bunnies. they sıt on a table and then they pıck up little papers and ıts like a bunny fortune cookie. so, even for the mcdonalds and the bar
McArabia and other notes on globalization.
Shameful as it is, i went to Mickey D's in Cairo, hey, sometimes you need what's familiar. So, what did I eat at that old time, fast food, multi-national corporation? a mcarabia. In Cairo, they serve two kinds of McArabia, one with grilled chicken and one with kofta. I tried the later. It was pretty good, nice spices.
There is a TGIFridays on a river
Out of Africa
So, I'm now officially off the continent of Africa and wow, Europe is rad. There's amazing things here in Athens, like meters in the taxis, Starbucks, a subway and fast internet. It didn't really occur to me til today that I haven't left the African continent in two years, I haven't been to a really developed country in over two years, and whoa, is it amazing.
There was Swiss cheese
Cairo is a Crazy Place
Ok, so, there was a whole lotta drama getting to the airport in Joburg, and then I forgot the name of my Hostel, and some creepy guy from the tourist info at the airport brought me to a different hostel and then my hostel people found me and brought me here, and it's all kinda complicated and nutty, but in the end, things were fabulous. The people at both hostels are really
Alphabet ka Sesotho
A- Arribiata, the best pizza at the Goho... except that it’s a different pizza each time, depending on the ingredients available that day. But it usually includes chilies, tomatoes, mushrooms and all kindsa cheese.
B- Barefoot. White South Africans, at least in the Free State are very often found not wearing shoes in public places such as the mall. Culture shock....
C-
Engagement party Basotho Style
28 August 2008
Last night I was officially welcomed into the Lethoko family. This involves a sheep. And Vaseline. It started with my new mother in law wrapping me in a blanket, taking me outside and presenting me with my sheep. She told me that it was my sheep and that I was welcomed to her family and asked if I agreed to be part of the family. I told him I did and
Nothing about Peace Corps is easy. First, it's leaving your family and friends and comforts, then its adjusting to the culture and the lifestyle. Then you have to find work and readjust your expectations so that you can actually be helpful. Then you just start to get into a routine and feel like life is kinda normal and then all your friends start to leave and you have to leave, too.
But despite
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