Busy busy busy as usual.

I got sick last week and lost my voice for 5 days. Doc said initially that it was due to allergies (NC is TERRIBLE for pollen this time of year).

I've never had allergy problems before. Guess this means I'm officially starting to get old :(

So I spent all last week hacking & coughing & whispering. Needless to say I couldn't work last weekend due to not being able to talk. I finally started getting my voice back Sunday night. I tried to work Monday evening but only made it half the night... I felt so crappy I ended up going home.

Tuesday and Wednesday I started to feel a little better. Still couldn't sleep through an entire night due to the constant coughing. I chugged some Nyquil and slept 11 hrs Tuesday and 12 hrs Wednesday.

Then today I woke up nauseous and spent the morning throwing up. Went back to the doctor who now says things have developed into bronchitis and she FINALLY gave me some antibiotics.

So fingers crossed I'll start feeling better soon. I'm sick & tired of feeling sick & tired :(

Luckily John was a sweetie and stayed home from work tonight to keep me company and take care of me :) I love my hubby!

So one Tuesday a month is my scheduled court date, for the cases I take on each weekend at work.

Anywho. Yesterday was my Tuesday court day. I walk into DV Court around 300pm (my county has several court rooms dedicated ONLY for domestic violence related cases) and a victim in one of the cases has just been called to stand before the judge. Apparently the victim had been throwing up into a plastic bag in the back of the courtroom.

Turns out the lady is plastered. So the judge has one of the bailiffs make the lady blow into a PBT (portable breath test) to see what her BAC (blood alcohol content) is. Basically, how drunk she is.

No joke - the woman blows a 0.36!

In North Carolina, that is THREE TIMES the legal limit for driving. People begin to lose coordination and vision clarity as low as 0.06!!

The judge asks her how much she's had to drink and the woman seriously tries to say... "one beer this morning".

Can you say "FUNCTIONING ALCOHOLIC" or what?


Needless to say, I about fell out of my seat when the judge told the lady she blew 0.36. I was trying so hard not to laugh in disbelief.

Best part is that the judge had the bailiff's take the lady into custody so she could be taken to the hospital, detoxed, then thrown in jail for 48hrs for contempt of court.


People never cease to amaze me...

Buuuuuuuuuusy week again!

I'm in a training class all this week - Standardized Field Sobriety Testing. That's a fancy name for the tests you see officers giving to drunk drivers on the side of the road. Its a 32 hour class crammed into 4 days, but luckily Friday is test day and we should be done around lunch!

Its a pretty simple class, just a matter a memorizing the exact way to explain the tests so the defense attorneys won't crawl up your ass later in court. I'm all for getting drunk drivers off the road but I hate that its such a pain in the ass to process and prosecute. No wonder a lot of officers NEVER get a drunk... everything is made to be SO difficult. Then when you actually get the case in court (usually 1.5-2 years later), its gets thrown out or dismissed or plead down. Sigh...

Anywho. Wednesday and Thursday night the instructors brought in people that they got drunk so we could practice the tests on real drunk people.

Fun times.

They actually needed a few extra people tonight (Thursday) so I got my older brother to come out and drink.

Even more fun times! You better believe I'm signing up to be a volunteer in the future! :P


Friday night I organized an outing for all the instructors as my mom's pole dancing studio. It should be a blast except the weather is supposed to be crappy. We're all going out to dinner and then headed downtown for dancing. Its even better because the other 6 instructors don't know mom and I rented a limo for the evening!


I'm exhausted and need to cram in some study time before bed. Gotta get up early even though we didn't finish up after 10pm tonight :(

I know, I know... I start falling behind with livejournal and keep saying "I've been so busy!". Its a lame excuse but its the honest to goodness truth!

I have my faults and I know it.
I'm stubborn.
I can get bossy even though I do my best to reign it in.
I have a hard time accepting compliments and always think people are just "being nice".

But one of my biggest faults (at least that backfires on me the most) is that I am the type of person who cannot enjoy simply doing nothing.

It drives me nuts. I think I get it from my mother, since both of us have to be constantly on the go. I keep a calendar just so I can track all my events & appointments.

Its almost worse because of my work schedule. I only work Saturday-Monday nights and then I'm off Tuesday through Friday. That's a lot of down time.

So for those of you who don't know, my mother owns a pole dancing for fitness studio in town. She's had it opened for two years now and business is still good. And before you ask - yes, it was REALLY weird at first. I mean, it is my MOTHER. The last thing I want to do is think of her as "sexy" LOL

Anywho.

She's been bugging me for the last two years to work for & help with the business. I've held off since 2007 & 2008 were understandably busy for me (college+work, graduation, police academy, field training, wedding). But since October I've been left with nothing but work to fill the time... my friends all work normal schedules and I rarely get to see them these days :(

So me being the workaholic I am, I finally cave and start helping mom with the business. I'm currently training to be an instructor, which isn't too bad since I've been hanging around the place long enough to already have a good grasp on things.

She also started running "non" pole dancing workouts at the studio... the corporate office suggested a "bootcamp" style workout, so of course I jumped all over that. Between my experiences with track & field, martial arts, and the police academy... that's right up my alley!

I also convinced mom she needs a marketing person who has HER best interest in mind (long story, but she's had a couple bad eggs... er, instructors in the past). So when I'm not working at the PD, training at the studio, or teaching at the studio... I'm managing her MySpace, Facebook, Meetup, ZSpotlight and... drumroll, please...

... pole dancing blog! The blog's still under construction but its great for snatching attention from Google searches.

We don't need to spend TOO much on traditional advertising, since the majority of our business comes from word of mouth and internet searches. In this day and age though, the more presence you have on the internet the better off you are.

I know I'm not the only one who practically lives online!

So... that's what I've been up to these days. Apologies once again for the lack of LJ attention but real life calls once again!

But hey, if you are looking for another blog to follow I'd love for you to stop by the studio's blog every once and a while & leave a comment. Then at least someone will read it LOL

And now I'm starting to think I should add "tends to ramble" to my list of annoying faults! :P

I'm off!

PS new mommy Kristen - this is what you have to look forward to LOLOLOL

I've been doing the LEO thing for a little while now and I've always wondered how much weight I carry around once I am in full uniform. I've never thought to actually weigh myself before... until now!

Normal weight = 115 lbs

Underarmor Shirt, Leggins, & Socks = 1 lbs

Bulletproof Vest = 2 lbs

Uniform Shirt & Pants (with pins, badge, biz cards, etc) = 2.5 lbs

Work boots = 2.5 lbs

Fully equipped duty belt = 12 lbs


Total weight in full uniform = 135 lbs


Needless to say, my favorite part of the day is coming home from work and getting all that junk off!!! LOLOLOL

I'm a Leo.



Rawr.

Before November 2005 I had never heard of the incredibly touching Broadway musical, RENT.

I enjoy musicals as much as the next person, but I've never been a huge follower of them. I was still working at the movie theater when we got the trailer for the movie adaptation of RENT and I was immediately hooked!

In the lobby of the theater we had a giant projector where the movie trailers played all day... I remember everytime the RENT trailer came on me and the other employees would drop what we were doing and just start singing along. It was addictive! This sounds incredibly cheesy... but I've never had a song just hit a chord inside me so strongly; no words can really be put to the feeling, but I suppose its just a very meaningful song to me.

Needless to say, I saw the movie and it probably is on my Top 10 favorite movie list. I watched it several times in the theaters, then bought the movie soundtrack, Broadway soundtrack, and eventually the DVD.

I fell in love with RENT even more after I watched all the behind-the-scenes stuff on the DVD. The story behind Jonathan Larson's creation of this musical (or "rock opera" as Wikipedia puts it) is so touching. For those who don't know, he died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm on the eve of the Broadway premiere of RENT. His friends and family refused to cancel the premiere of the show he had worked so hard for, making the first performance an emotionally charged event.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

John knows how much I love RENT and the sneaky man (bless his heart! ♥) scored us amazing seats to a showing of the RENT tour in Durham this past Sunday! I was so excited about it, I didn't even care that the show was at 1:00pm and I would only get 4 hours of sleep the night before (off duty at 7:00am, sleep till 11:00am to get to the show in time, then back home to go to work by 6:30pm).

It was my first time seeing RENT as a Broadway production... it was absolutely amazing. My heart was pounding and I had to keep myself from singing along (because Lord knows I cannot carry a tune!). This tour actually featured both Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, two of the original cast members from the Broadway run and also the movie adaptation. Did I mention it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G?!!! I'm still gushing and its been three days!

And I fully admit I'm a nerd, because I am watching the DVD again as I type this entry. Talk about inspiration haha

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I think my favorite songs are:

"Seasons of Love"
"La Vie Boheme"
"Take Me or Leave Me"
"Tango Maureen"
"Out Tonight"
"No Day but Today"

.... heck, I love all of the songs!!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


( Seasons of Love... )


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Anywho... I've rambled long enough!

This morning a local hero passed away, succumbing to a very long & difficult journey with breast cancer.

Kay Yow had coached the women's basketball team at NC State University for decades. She even coached women's teams in the Olympics and World Basketball Championships.

I had the great fortune to work with her during a few basketball camps when I was in high school. Its rare to meet a person who simply exudes honest-to-goodness genuine love & dedication for a sport and for each & every person she touched through the sport.

Ms Yow was a local hero and her battle with breast cancer was inspiring to her players, the NC State Campus, and basketball fans at home. Even as her health dwindled, she continued to give of herself and think of other first. Anyone who faces the perils of cancer or disease and never loses their spirit & zest for life is a hero in my books.

Coach Kay Yow dies at 66

NC State Mourns the Passing of Coach Yow

Community Mourns the Loss of Kay Yow

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rest in peace, Ms Yow. You will be missed but not forgotten.

Snow snow snow! The city I live in hasn't had more than a light dusting of snow in several years and we finally got a few inches to play around in this week!

The news started calling for snow in the forecast late Sunday, early Monday. I was working Monday night and I got to see the first flakes start falling around 0100hrs. It was light flurries until about 0400hrs then it started to fall a bit more heavily. The snow finally started to stick when I went home from work around 0530hrs. The PD didn't want us driving around in our patrol cars so they got their hands on a bunch of the town's 4X4 trucks. It was pretty funny because the trucks are what the town employees use (ie: parks & rec, maintenance, etc)... so the supervisors gave us all these ghetto, 1970's style magnetic strobe lights to plug into the cigarette lighter, in case we need to stop a car or something. But sirens? Forgetaboutit. I guess we were supposed to stick our heads out the window and howl HAHA

Tuesday was my once-a-month scheduled court date; we go to court at 1400hrs then work on the road from 1700hrs until... I was up around 1030am though. Between Wall-E whining, people calling, and trying to get to sleep before 0600hrs I didn't get much sleep. Luckily court was canceled due to snow (yay!) and they had us roll two officers to a truck for the afternoon/evening.

Mind you we only got about 2-3 inches of snow. But seeing as this is North Carolina and we RARELY get snow... EVERYTHING was canceled & closed Tuesday and the entire town was pretty much shut down by 2000hrs.

We took Wall-E out in the snow today and he was loving it. He was so cute, hopping around and trying to eat it. Then he would go and stick his little head as far down in the snow as he could... and just sit there for a bit. It was so funny to watch.

( Photos and video under here... )

Going out to Hooters tonight with John and his coworkers. I'm still beat from the long weekend at work so I'm definitely looking forward to the next few days off!

Mrs Jones is a grade school teacher and gave her students a fun homework assignment one evening. She asked her students to draw a picture of what they want to be when they grow up.

Here is what little Suzie Smith brought in...




Needless to say Mrs. Jones was taken aback and didn't know what to think.

( Dear Mrs. Jones... )

Introducing William Wallace (aka Wall-E)!!!


( Woof! )

He is too freaking cute for words!

My two favorite funny first dances out there:

THRILLER





CAN'T TOUCH THIS

This one is crappy quality but OMG, the bride is totally wearing gold high top sneakers. LOVE IT.

Law enforcement is SO political.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying!

.

So.... John and I finally broke down and decided to get a puppy!!!

I've always wanted a German Shepherd because they are such beautiful dogs and very intelligent. Unfortunately we live in a small 2-bedroom apartment with the prospect of a house & fenced-in yard a loooooong way off.

My family dog Missy, was a Shetland Sheepdog (aka Sheltie), and we finally had her put down almost two years ago. She was the sweetest thing and such a wonderful companion. It was like losing a member of the family; I mean, she lived to be 16 years old!

I've got such wonderful memories of Missy and seeing as we will need a smaller dog... we decided to go with a Sheltie pup!

We are driving down Hamlet, NC on Friday morning to pick up a 9-week old Sheltie pup! I'm soooo excited and cannot wait! Plus I'm excited for Paris (my brother's Boston Terrier) to have another dog to hang out with.

Now we are trying to come with a fantabulous name for our pup. We know it will be a boy... we started joking that we should have the name tie into our roots somehow. I joked that we should name the pup "Jose Cuervo" in honor of John's Mexican-ness.

Then I joked that to honor my Scottish-ness, we should name the pup "William Wallace". John laughed and said we could then call him "Wall-E" for short.

LOL. We're still working on the name, to say the least!

I'm having a "down" sort of day. Don't have anything important to write about, it was a pretty uneventful week. I'm sick of worrying about money and planning for the future. I just want to "be" for a while.

Guess I'm gonna curl back up under a blanket and veg in front of the TV some more...

Its great when things actually work out for a happy ending for a change. This was cool because it really showed what a well oiled machine can do - ie: when numerous different facets of law enforcement work together well and create results!

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4239592/


Besides, this is the way things are SUPPOSED to work. Bad guy does bad... bad guy gets caught!


Anywho... the sun is rising which means I'm off to bed.

I rang in the New Years with friends at the Ale House last night. John's on night shift this week which meant we couldn't spend New Year's Eve together :( I called him right before midnight so we at least got to give each other a pseudo-kiss over the phone.

I had driven to Wilmington with my mother yesterday (she's looking to expand her business there) so I got back to Cary a little before 6pm. I was sleepy and took a nap, which caused me to run a bit late getting ready to leave for the evening's festivities. So I made the mistake of shoving down a quick dinner and not eating enough. A friend and I split a bottle of wine at the Ale House, one drink leads to another....

... and I wake up in my wedding dress this morning.



John was amused, to say the least.




Happy New Year boys & girls!

Wow... I worked on this entry for like two hours! So I hope someone actually reads it LOL

The holidays are coming to an end and I loathe to take down my Christmas tree. I told John I decided we are going to have Christmas all year because I love having a tree so much haha

I can't believe the year is over in two days. This has definitely been the busiest and most action-packed year of my life. I probably won't ever have so many life changing events happen in such close proximity ever again!

( To recap... )

And now I've spent the last few hours wondering where the heck 2008 went and amazed at all the things I've done this year!