Kat’s Den

I was playing with Google Earth last night. Neat stuff. I rolled it over to the neighborhood I grew up in, and was shocked to see how much had changed.

Now, I didn’t grow up on the farm, or anything like that. Rome (Georgia) at the time was a medium-small town, but my neighborhood was a subdivision. Nothing like the hyper-neighborhoods, with 200,000 dollar houses on 2/10 of an acre (like the one I’m currently living in); but a subdivision nonetheless. The roads ran in a big square, a half-mile in circumference, with a couple of cul-de-sacs off of that. Our house was a 2-story cape cod, with a generous back yard that backed up onto 75 acres or so of woods. A gas pipeline right-of-way ran from the backyard up a hill through the woods to the main road, maybe a half-mile away. A creek, full of small bream and sunfish and crawfish, ran through the neighborhood. The subdivision had a pool in the center. As kids, we believed that we were surrounded by dangerous heathens and during any forays into the woods you had to be armed with slingshots and bb guns for protection against these dark forces (i.e., the teenagers who lived at the top of the gas line right-of-way). We dammed the creek at least twice a summer and once found a concrete mixing tub in the woods that became our battleship until a flood washed it too far downstream to recover. We were more fascinated than frightened by the water moccasins that shared our playground. On the other side of the subdivision was an unfinished road, with a hillside that had been cut away before whatever building project it was supposed to be was abandoned. We christened it “Daredevil Hill”, as it was a constant dare to ride your dirt bikes down the cliff-like hill. There was a convenience store perhaps a mile and a half away that we would cut through the woods to get to, as it had a stand-up Donkey Kong game and a slushie machine. This trip was usually risky, because it ended on Batsun Drive. The Batsuns had several teen sons who’d usually chase us off; we were convinced be’d become a gruesome sacrifice were we ever caught. But they also had Batsun Lake- really, just a pond- which harbored huge catfish and snapping turtles. Trips to the pool when I was young were always cause for celebration. As I got older, I’d enjoy floating on a raft in the pool in the evening, watching distant heat lightning lighting the clouds I could see just over Mount Alto; the ridge that rose 900 feet above the subdivision. After we were old enough to drive cars, we’d race each other in time trials on Radio Springs Road, which went over the crest of Mount Alto. In high school, I was on the school’s cross country team; so during the summer, after my 5 mile training runs around the neighborhood around 9 at night after the heat had abated somewhat, I’d have the pool to myself. We weren’t supposed to use the pool after dark, but in those days, no one really complained.

Daredevil Hill is now just another part of the subdivision, which Google Earth had shown me had grown into a sprawling mega-subdivision. I wonder how the kids there now entertain themselves? Do they still trudge up the creek through the woods, imagining themselves mighty explorers? Do they still build forts against the teenage invaders? I could see that our old house was still there; but who was living in it now that it’s 35 years old? Were those moldy porn magazines we found under a creek bridge still stashed under the insulation in the attic?

I kind of pity the kids in the neighborhood I live in now. 700 houses and a pool; there are still woods and the Mulberry River… but I never see any kids playing in them. Have yet to run across a fort, or see a bb-gun war. Yeah, I had an Atari 2600 game console growing up; but playing in the creek was always more entertaining than playing River Run… is that were all the kids are now? In front of an X-Box 360? I can’t say too much, as I now spend more time on my ass in front of a computer than running through the woods. Maybe I’m living their childhood… they should try living mine; I think they’d enjoy it more.

Wow, I’ve been slack in updating. I managed to write another 1000 or so words on the novel… not really outstanding. The annual busy time for me is here, with the Poker Run (already run, not too bad; although the route changed for the worse IMO this year), annual qualification (this coming week!) and the first CLEA class for the fall session starting tomorrow. That, and I still haven’t started pulling together the video for the annual banquet together yet. I can see I’m going to have to dump some more stuff onto my assistant and focus on the video for a while. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.

Spent the weekend cleaning the house and fixing the warning lights on the G-ride. The rear strobe bracket broke and the light was hanging by the wires; unfortunately, the only other bracket I had was for the front strobe. So I swapped places front and rear and put up the other bracket for the rear, having to wire up new connections because the wire lengths weren’t the same. 90,000 miles on the car and it sounds like the wheel bearings are going bad; but with the county’s budget being what it is, I don’t forsee a replacement in the near future.

Been thinking about other, weightier topic as well of late… religion, and relationships… but don’t feel particularly up to putting that internal dialogue on (virtual) paper right now.

So much for the dire predictions of 90 category 5 city destroyers this year. Not that I’m pulling for a devastating hurricane; but as somewhat of a weather junkie the season has been rather ho-hum this year. But that’s ok… the fall silly season is just around the corner. Annual qualification, citizen’s law enforcement academy, poker run, annual banquet; all of which require me to work on some special project in addition to my normal work. And, of course, the usual crop of new-hires. I’m determined to take a week’s vacation this year, though; I haven’t done that for several years now.

Played with the new lens a little today, taking macros. A Tamron 28-75 f2.8 with a long string of acronyms after it’s name. Pretty sharp lens, and seems to work well with macro rings. I need to get off my fat ass and mess with the camera more, but it seems once I get home from work all I want to do is… sit on my fat ass. Laziness takes dedication. Newest pics in the gallery under macro.

A lot of times, I’ll have a television on in the background while I’m doing something else. Most of the time, it’s some bland show that doesn’t really attract my attention and doesn’t distract me from whatever else I’m doing. Why have it on, then? Beats me. If I really need to concentrate I’ll put it on an all-music channel. But I’ve found one show that demands my attention… and really shouldn’t. “How It’s Made”. Some Canadian show that, well, shows you how various mundane, everyday objects are manufactured. Really mundane items, like wire fencing, or swizzle sticks, or cotton swabs. Who cares? Why should I care how they manufacture valve stem caps? But… I can’t stop watching once it comes on. There’s some subliminal signal that turns me into a drooling vegetable that stares unblinking at the screen while an insanely complicated machine carves out popsicle sticks.

In other news, we had a fellow get in an argument with someone else and decide to drive past his house and shoot it up with an SKS rifle. Apparently this fellow was quite full of machismo, loudly proclaiming to anyone who would listen how he was the “baddest guy in the county” and could have anyone he wanted killed. He also had a habit of waving a pistol at anyone who looked sideways at him. Needless to say, all this earned him an arrest warrant with a no-knock provision- in other words, due to the higher risk in serving the warrant, we are allowed to enter without knocking in order to take the person by surprise. The tactical team served the warrant and the self-proclaimed baddest guy in the county was arrested in his underwear about 5 seconds after his door was knocked in with a ram. Guess he wasn’t as bad as he thought. Anyway, his mother, whose house it was, sought me out (as the team leader) and demanded to know who was going to pay for the damage to her door.

Umm, gee, ma, how about…. your SON? You know, the one who shot at a house full of people with a semi-auto rifle? The reason we were there in the first place? Maybe you need to think about telling him to find another place to live so your door doesn’t get knocked in again the next time we have to arrest him? Because if you think I’m going to politely knock and meekly wait outside while your son loads his guns, you’re quite wrong.

Argh. People.

Discovery News had an article on the increasing number of mentally immature adults today. The study’s author believes that as formal education continues past physical maturity, people are required to constantly learn new things and consequently are forced into “psychological neotony” (one of them big words, like mayonnaise), allowing them to keep the child-like flexibility of attitudes, behaviors and knowledge necessary to continue learning. Perhaps so, but how do you measure emotional maturity? Are we certain that adults in previous eras weren’t just as mentally immature as they are today? I’m pretty immature, myself; most everyone I know would fit the criteria for immaturity… but we all seem to get along just fine in society.

Maybe that immaturity is why we seek out parental figures to solve our problems for us. A “mommy/daddy to make it better”. The folks who can’t solve their own problems and expect the government to solve them. The folks that call the cops when their neighbor’s leaves blow onto their yard, or when their 14-year-old talks back to them. How did our species survive long enough to come down from the trees? I guess problem solving isn’t as great a survival trait as I thought. Sure, some problems are beyond any one person’s ability to solve on their own; but passing a law because someone did something that offended your tender sensabilities? Please.

I had also run across an article showing that aolspeak… those annoying abbreviations used in instant messenger chat that show up on message boards, that I bitched about here… when used obsessively actually retards intelligence. Unfortunately, I can’t find the article again. But I find it amusing that not only does aolspeak make you look retarded… it actually makes you retarded. Heh, heh.

In other news, the upstairs A/C unit seems to have shit the bed. It’s only two years old, dammit, and I just cleaned the filter. The downstairs unit is still keeping the house nice and chilly; which is a relief after spending a week in 95 degree, 80% humidity, no shade anywhere weather on the range. Taught 8 basic firearms fundamentals classes over the week. Most folks were OK, and I think everyone who attended improved somewhat. But some of them apparently had never seen a pistol before in their life and didn’t know which end the bullets came out of. I’ve never had to spend so much time showing someone how to lock the slide to the rear in my life.

I’m always amazed by the capacity of human beings to rationalize whatever beliefs they may hold, no matter how outre they are. Sure, I do it myself, but I think the Westboro Baptist Church folks take to unbelieveable levels.

I read this in the Athens Daily News this morning:

“Kansas-based religious zealots convinced America’s tolerance of homosexuals has invoked the wrath of God say they will picket today outside the Athens funeral of an Army sergeant who was killed in Iraq.

“Members of Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church, claiming that God hates America because of homosexuality, on Friday said they plan to demonstrate against what they’re calling a “pep rally” associated with the funeral of Staff Sgt. Marion Flint Jr.. who was killed May 15 by a roadside bomb during combat in Balad, Iraq, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

“Services are scheduled for 1 p.m. at Hill Chapel Baptist Church, 1692 W. Hancock Ave., with burial to follow at Evergreen Memorial Park on Atlanta Highway.

“Members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle group formed partly in response to Westboro funeral demonstrations, plan to escort the funeral procession to the cemetery.”

Needless to say, I felt like this was one circus I couldn’t resist, and drove down to get some photographs. Not of the funeral itself; that family has enough to deal with and I stayed well away from the church, and concentrated on the protesters instead.

Westboro Baptist Protest

Westboro Baptist Protest

Some more of the pics are here.

Of course, the Westboro folks are all one big extended family, and almost all of them are lawyers. They live for the hopes that someone will take a swing at one of them during one of these protests so they can sue everyone within arm’s reach.

Truth is truly stranger than fiction at times.

Kublai’s blood work came back this week, and the results were about what I expected. Everything points to either Cushing’s Disease or a spinal tumor, exacerbated by his spinal arthritis. Either way, the odds that he would be able to stand on his own again were slim, and the best I could expect was maybe a year’s more life. Last night he whimpered and cried all night, today he cried if I left his side for any length of time.

My last dog, Alex, developed a fast-growing, aggressive tumor on his hip when he was 9. I gambled that surgery would be able to remove to tumor, but they had to remove a lot of muscle tissue as well. He was in a lot of pain after the surgery and I had to feed him morphine for two weeks. The tumor came back, faster than before, and spread; and I had to have him euthanized. I wasn’t about to put another dog through that kind of pain and frustration again, not when the odds are that slim.

Kublai was put to sleep this afternoon. Be good, buddy. Your daddy loves you.

Kublai Khan 1993-2006

Kublai

It’s been a roller-coaster week. I’ve been looking for a new car, and had settled on a Mustang GT; but only in a 5-speed… because what’s the use of having 300 horsepower in an automatic? Unfortunately, none of the area dealers had a 5-speed GT. Until Friday… I stopped by one just to see what was on the lot, and there it was; a tungsten grey clearcoat 5-speed GT. A quick consult with the insurance company and I signed the papers. Pictures up in the Gallery under Garage.

But that’s tempered by the fact that Kublai can no longer stand up on his hind legs on his own. A day at the vet’s on Sunday showed that he has spinal arthritis, and blood tests, which are still incomplete, are pointing towards either Cushing’s Disease or a tumor. Neither of which has a very good outlook.

Those of you in the business world probably already know this fact: Meetings are the world’s biggest productivity destroyers. I had one task in mind for today: Finish the lesson plan for the Defense Against Edged Weapons class I’m teaching in two weeks. That’s it. Doesn’t sound like much, but I’ve learned that if I set my sights too high, something will shoot them down in the first hour at work. And that’s about as much work as I got done: 1 hour. Then the meetings began. Let’s have a staff meeting. CID Sergeant’s meeting. Division meeting. Hey, meet with this body armor vendor and see what he’s got. Meet with me at 1:30. I had at one point driven back to my office and just sat down to get back to work on the lesson plan when my phone rang: Hey, there’s a meeting in ten minutes we forgot to tell you about, come back here. Needless to say, I didn’t get much real work done. There’s still tomorrow… if I don’t have a meeting.

Kublai has another vet appoitment Friday. His incontinence is still there, he’s developed diarrhea over the last day, drinking a lot of water, and now has a small growth on the end of the sheath of his penis; all of which point to bad things. I’m trying to keep him comfortable and happy.

More comment spam. You won’t see it from reading, but it’s on the rise. I’ve changed the ‘blog configuration so that anonymous comments are no longer allowed… which means that if you want to leave a comment, you’ll need to create an account and log in. It’s a hassle, I know. Blame the Cialis advertisers.

Kublai’s incontinence is reaching new levels. His dog bed reeks of piss no matter how often I wash it, and the carpet is going to get threadbare from being steam cleaned. The vet says the next step is an ultrasound to see if there’s anything visible causing it. If it’s senile incontinence, there’s not much that can be done about it.