*Sways Head* Oh, No You Didn't

Oh yes, they did. They finally did it. They pencil-fucked my schedule. As I stated in a previous post, the quickest way to get us to crawl up their asses or walk out the door would be to change our 4/10 work schedule. Now they want us there 5 days/week, some of us working 0700-1600 and others working 0900-1800 on a weekly rotation. Umm...do they realize what the fuckin' traffic is like between 8 and 9am in Houston? I'd have to leave the house at 6am just to make it on time anyway.

That's not the worst part. The worst part is it's going to cost me more to go into work, effectively taking food from my kid's mouth. Get this shit: I carpool to work with 2 other guys. So I only drive once every 3 weeks. Saves an assload on gas. Now it's going to not only cost me 2 weeks worth of gas more per month since I can no longer carpool with the schedule change, but working the extra day per week is essentially costing me 3 weeks worth of gas per month more (in comparison w/ a 4 day work week). Vehicle maintenance...more. Child care...more, since I arrive later and have to work Fridays. Oh yeah, and my second job? That's pretty much making a swirly down the shitter unless I want to work 7 days a week. That sucks major goat balls. Or I could work one day a week, but then why bother?

I was trying to remain pretty much neutral and see things from both sides' perspectives. But this...this means the gloves are off. We're supposed to have a "cuss and discuss" session on Tuesday. They're going to hear my opinion about this, like it or not. Oh, yeah...and never to be stuck in one spot, I called my old boss. They have a position open. All I have to do is apply. Let's see...I do less than I do at my present job, 4-6k more per year, and a company vehicle. And overtime, not this comp-time bullshit that they make us do here. And back to a 4/10 schedule.

Let's see what LT Fatass and his laughing chimp the project manager have to say. Cliff (the project manager) is a brown-nosing ballsack tarzan that hardly moves from his position under LT Fatass' desk. He likes to spy on us and report anything and everything back to the LT. If he stays during our little pow-wow session, I'm going to request that he leave. And I'm not going to be nice about it. I don't wanna hear shit come out of his suckmuscle, mainly because none of this pertains to him and he's an annoying little fuck. So his presence is not needed nor wanted.

Edit: WTF kinda circus is this? They've changed our hours again. This time we're all working from 0730-1630. Kinda defeats the "purpose" that they had for staggering our schedules, so that we have coverage from 0700 until 1800. GMAFB! What a load of dumbasses they have in charge.

Don't Get Too Technical

Being in the line of work that I am, I get the odd favor asked of me every once in a while of "Hey, can you fix my..." I've been brought everything from toasters to TV's. This time it's a computer. I've had my fair share of experience with hardware and software, so it's not real hard. I'm just taking my time with it. Carlos is a friend, but he's pretty ignorant when it comes to computers. I'm not saying it like it's a bad thing, just it's not something he's interested enough in I guess. He's kinda like my wife when it comes to computers, and with her, it's the same for cars too. Basically get in, turn the damn thing on and go. My wife is still trying to understand the concept of vehicle maintenance. She seems to think that when you buy a car, you shouldn't have to spend any money on it to keep it running.

Back to the computer. Some dude looked it over and told him he needed more memory. Or at least that's what he thinks he said. Actually what it needs is a total replacement of the mobo (motherboard). And the CPU. And the video card. And the hard drive. Turns out it's got a 380MHz CPU, 4MB integrated video card and a whopping 4GB hard drive. There's nothing you can do to this thing to make it fast. Except replace the parts with faster stuff. So I did what I could do to minimize the slowness, and I'll be giving it back to him probably this weekend.

That ain't all, oh no. While I was in the middle of giving that monstrosity the once over, my wife's computer decides to go tits-up. Wonderful. Allow me to modify a prior saying:

"If it's got tits, tires, or 'trons (electronics), it's gonna be trouble."

I May Be Going to Hell, But I'm Enjoying the Ride

Greed:	High
Gluttony:	High
Wrath:	Very High
Sloth:	Very High
Envy:	Low
Lust:	Medium
Pride:	High

Discover Your Sins - Click Here

Take the test and find out what kind of sinner you are.

Back in the Saddle Again

Got the Jeep back today...they said it was just the battery. That's the first time ever in 15 years of driving that I've had a battery go bad. Wife was a little pissed that we spent almost $200 between the tow, the diagnostic, and the battery. The way I see it, it's better to have had the diag done so that, on the chance it wasn't just the battery, it doesn't leave her stranded. But that's my perspective.

Just My Luck...

This has been a shitty week for the radioman's vehicles. First off, on Thursday while I was returning home, my normal back-and-forth-to-work beater had a flat tire. No spare, and no jack. Fucking lovely. Was stuck on the side of the road for about 45 minutes waiting on a tow truck. Luckily, Houston has a program called "Safe Clear", and they towed me from where I was to the nearest tire shop, which was less than a mile away. For free...well it's free for me, the tow company charges the city $50. Got the tire changed ($70) and continued on my way. Now, mind you, Thursday and Friday I had gotten up at 3am to do some stuff at work before night shift left and Thursday I got home at my usual time (6:30pm). Makes for a long day.

Today, my wife's grocery-getter and critter-wagon(Jeep Liberty) decided to go tits-up too. Luckily we were in a parking lot, not on the freeway. Turned the key and got jack shit. Not even interior lights. And no, I didn't leave the lights on. Some nice lady that was parked in front of us tried to give us a jump, but it wouldn't stay running. Hmmm...could it be the alternator? There's usually signs, leading up to the point where it dies (radio gets real fuzzy, lights get dim, other accessories are sluggish/quit working). I saw nothing up to the point where it quit working. I figure it's the alternator or the voltage regulator. Since it was Sunday, of course the warranty company wasn't open so I have to leave it where it's at and get it towed in the morning. There's a Jeep dealer right next to where my wife works, so I'll just have it towed there. Let's just see how much I gotta shell out this time and whether or not the extended warranty I bought when we got the vehicle covers it.

Goes to prove the old saying, "If it's got tits or tires, there's going to be trouble."

More Pics of My Little Man

Got these taken while up at Mom's. Was extremely busy late last week and this weekend with preparations for his christening last Sunday. More pics to follow.

Mutiny on the Bounty

I've been rather busy lately. I haven't really had the time or the inclination to post lately. Mama's back to work, and I'm watching Daniel in the evenings. That kind of eats up my time and energy. But now I'm back and here's another post about work.


I went on leave for about a week and a half, and when I got back upon checking my mail I found a letter signed by our tech services team addressed to our captain. To summarize what this letter contained, the other guys are rather upset about some of the changes that our new lieutenant has implemented. They are also not happy about his style of leadership. I've worked several jobs (never been fired, always quit for one reason or another) and been through several changes of leaderships while on those different jobs. As my friend Doug has so eloquently put it, when a new supervisor comes in it's at his discretion whether or not to make changes to the existing order in order to achieve his goals for the department. I can't say that I disagree with that statement. It's basically a given that at some point or another that there's going to be some changes, like it or not. It's how you decide to deal with it. To me, the changes that have been made so far are no big deal. We have to work 3 holidays per year, we're all working Mon-Thurs and one person works Friday on a rotating basis (10 techs = once every 2-1/2 months). When I say 10 techs, mind you I am the only radio tech, but I get lumped in with the other techs we have that do CCTV and door security(card readers and electronic door locks).

Anywho, this morning we had a big cuss and discuss session before our regular morning meeting, and the guys got to vent some of their concerns. I'm trying to remain neutral through the whole deal, though it seems as if the other guys have the same argument that they re-hash over and over again. "What are we doing wrong? Tell us the problem so we can fix it." The truth is, we're not doing anything wrong, but there's issues that need to be addressed and the changes are due to those issues. Mainly customer service related, like rapidness of repairs and such. I think our biggest problem has to stem from budget/material issues. We try to work with what we're given, but that only goes so far. When you're given the shit end of the stick, there's not much you can accomplish, and we're constantly getting shortchanged and denied the parts we need to do our jobs. Myself included. I had $130k budgeted last year for the purchase of radios and other equipment and accessories, but those funds were then taken from me and given to patrol for use because of their overtime budget. When we needed OT to complete jobs or for special projects we were told to take comp time, which essentially shorts the regular workforce since we can't come in or work until the normal time. Some of the guys have worked for free just because they wanted to get the job done. And just before I went on vacation, I put in a request for $7500 worth of parts and someone upstairs decided to slash it in half just because they figured I didn't need everything I ordered. Wrong.

But we'll see how things turn out. I know one thing's for sure...if they fuck with our 4 day/week schedule, they'll have every last one of us either crawling up their ass or walking out the door. Myself included. I'll take a lot of shit, but that's something that will not stand.

Do you hear bells?

'Cause somebody just got schooled...

That's right, today I was in class for RF Site Safety Awareness training. Basically a review of what to do and what not to do concerning RF safety and signage. Sounds exciting right? Really it wasn't that bad. Interesting stuff for those in the same career field as I. The class was held by a company called RSI, and the instructor's name was Steve and he's pretty charismatic. All in all, I learned quite a bit. I learned that I have a lot of work ahead of me as I try to make the changes I think should be made to this department so it's where I think it should be with respect to radio standards. Only bad thing is that I have a ton of other projects ahead of me. Maybe I'll put it down as one of my goals for the next fiscal year.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

And for you race-baiting fuckwits out there, it's not a racial reference. It's part of a nursery rhyme. Get stuffed.

We just got back in about an hour ago. I need to get stuff put away, but it can wait 'til tomorrow. The flight was fairly uneventful, even with the little man along. The flight up there, he was an unholy terror. The flight back, he pretty much slept the whole way. Tomorrow, it's back to work. I get to spend the day in class. Woo-hoo.

GAH!!! It's Cold!!

It's 32 degrees right now. Last night it was 21 degrees at about 9 pm. That's friggin' cold. Just another reminder of why I moved back to Texas. Good thing it hasn't snowed yet. But the weatherman has called for snow some time next week. Hopefully it'll hold off until Tuesday, since we fly out on Monday. Today we're taking a trip up to Decatur to visit some friends. It'll be a little colder there but not much. At least it's not Chicago. Not just because of the crappy weather there, but because the traffic there sucks too.

Home for the Holidays

I finally took some time off from working 2 jobs. On Monday afternoon the wife, the little man and I packed our stuff and flew out of Houston to STL to visit my parents and family in IL for Thanksgiving. Mom was pleasantly surprised. My sis actually somewhat did keep it a secret. Mom figured the next time she would see her grandson would be when he turned 18, save her coming down to Houston. She was complaining the other day about how I said we'd come home on the holidays before moving back to Houston and we hadn't come home yet. I didn't mean every damn holiday.

I won't be able to be totally lazy during my time off. I get to help my brother-in-law run a Cat 5 cable to my niece's room. I'm sure my Mom will have some stuff for me to do too. Plus I have to fix my sister's computer so it's no longer as fucked up as a soup sammich. Hmmm...first thing? Get rid of the damn thing. Oh wait, that's probably not an option. So I guess I'm gonna have to fix it the old fashioned way. Going through the damn thing with a fine-toothed comb. I hate Compaq/HP. Too much proprietary software. All of it junk. My wife's computer is my old Compaq with my own custom software install on it. I lovingly refer to it as "the Comcrap". I bought a Dell off a co-worker, and the thing has performed impressively. My next project will be to put aside some cash in order to build my own system, but right now that has to take a back burner to everything else. One of these days...

Funny...Yet So True

Stole this from GOC.

A father walks into a bookstore with his young son. The boy is holding a quarter. Suddenly, the boy starts choking, going blue in the face The father realizes the boy has swallowed the quarter and starts panicking, shouting for help.
A well dressed, attractive and serious looking woman, in a blue business suit is sitting at a coffee bar reading a newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. At the sound of the commotion, she looks up, puts her coffee cup down, neatly folds the newspaper and places it on the counter, gets up from her seat and makes her way, unhurried, across the book store.
Reaching the boy, the woman carefully drops his pants; takes hold of the boy's testicles and starts to squeeze and twist, gently at first and then ever so firmly. After a few seconds the boy convulses violently and coughs up the quarter, which the woman deftly catches in her free hand.
Releasing the boy's testicles, the woman hands the coin to the father and walks back to her seat in the coffee bar without saying a word.
As soon as he is sure that his son has suffered no ill effects, the father rushes over to the woman and starts thanking her saying, "I've never seen anybody do anything like that before, it was fantastic.
Are you a doctor?"
"No," the woman replied. "Divorce attorney".

Martel Electronics Sucks

Martel makes the Dash Hound vehicle video system. It's a dash-mounted camera, basically a Sony handi-cam, an electronics control box and a mount that has a suction cup that mounts to the windshield, and 2 straps to secure it in place. It's fuckin' junk.

Before I took this job, someone ordered these monstrosities because they were cheap, about $1400 per unit. Ever hear the old adage "you get what you pay for"? This is a prime example. Did I mention they're fuckin' junk? Not to mention shitty customer service. They won't even return my calls. Their motto ought to be "Once you buy it, you're on your fuckin' own, pal."

In my business, I've dealt with a few vehicle camera systems.
Kustom Signals' Eyewitness camera: Though rather clunky (got a full sized VCR in a vault in the trunk) and a pain in the ass to install, it's a workhorse and almost impossible to kill. Short of putting a bullet through the damn thing. They even have a vault that is bullet- and fire-proof. They now have a digital system with a rear-facing infrared camera on the headliner mount control panel that can keep an eye on the arrestee(s) in the back seat. Comes with choice of hard drive or DVD drive and have a pretty small front facing camera so it doesn't block your view. They have a lot of options. Plus they look cool. I've never had a problem with these systems, save operator error.
Decatur Electronics Gemini system: It's a good system, it's small and easy to put in and maintain. Just gotta keep the cops from losing the keys to the compartment that houses the recorder. The digital system has a touch screen display, which in my experience is a big no-no. Cops and firefighters are not known for their gentleness with their equipment.
Panasonic Arbitrator: Another good, small, rugged system. Interfaces with the Panasonic Toughbook mobile data terminal(MDT). The Toughbook is basically a laptop with a wireless internet connection. Only problem I've seen with it is the display on the screen. Can be occluded by other windows on the Toughbook being open, reducing the chance the officer will be able to see while he's filling out paperwork and running driver's license and plate info. Comes with option of a hard drive or a solid-state drive (like the memory card in your digital camera). I'm not a big fan of hard drives in vehicles, just because of the chingazos (bumps) they can sometimes take.
Motorola Enforcer: I'm sort of biased toward Motorola. They make some kick-ass products. From cell phones, to two-way radios, to video. Plus I'm a former Motorolan. Yet another kick-ass product from the Galvin family. Comes with a 60GB hard drive and interfaces with their version of the MDT. See above for my thoughts on hard drives in vehicles.
Martel Dash-Hound DH1: POS. Worst system I've ever seen in my life. Let's start with the way it is mounted. Two straps to hold the back in place and on the front...a suction cup that attaches to the windshield. A suction cup? Yup. Damn thing doesn't hold suction either. And with the heat here in Houston if it stays stuck to the windshield it flattens out, therefore losing all its suction capability. That makes it a flying object hazard if you get into an accident, or even hit a decent bump. Secondly, the camera sits directly in the sun. Not a good thing. You know how hot it gets down here? Roll the windows up and leave it in the sun, then turn on the A/C, oh wow...now you've got condensation inside the camera. What a concept. The cameras themselves are a whole other ball of wax. It has two jacks on the side for microphone functions and I'll be damned if they don't fall out. Now the concept of having a camera you can take out to film an accident or crime scene is good in theory, but how often will that really be used? And as for the little control box that's mounted underneath the bracket, well the antenna jacks seem to have a hard time staying soldered in the box. Plus the wiring inside is soldered together pretty shitty. My 7 year-old nephew could have done a better job. All-in-all, if you are considering buying this system, the next time you take a dump wipe your ass with $1400. Then get some more money and go buy a real video system.

Ick

OK, this is just gross. I can actually remember when Madonna was somewhat hot, but now she's just a harping old hag. I mean, I don't mind seeing some cameltoe once in a while but that critter looks like it's been wrecked. Oh, Gawd...I'm getting physically ill just looking at it. You know what looks good on a 47 year-old mother of two? How about dignity. Hang it up. You're washed up and old. I don't care what your religion is. And I don't need to hear you telling me what I need to do or what's cool. That goes for every other Hollywood type. Did I ask you for your opinion? No k thx stfu.

Aftermarket Batteries vs. Impres Batteries

I got an email yesterday from our Assistant Chief regarding a department in Illinois that wanted some advice about whether or not to go with aftermarket batteries, standard Motorola rechargeable NiCd batteries, or the new Impres batteries and chargers. I tried to offer as much advice as I could in the area, and I hope I sufficiently answered their questions.

My thoughts on the matter was to go with the Impres batteries and chargers. Simply for the fact that in the long run it would save their department time and money since the bank chargers automatically recondition the batteries after 90 charging cycles. Granted, the Impres batteries cost almost twice as much, and they'll have to replace their current chargers with the Impress chargers (which are pretty comparable in price). But they don't have to contract with a radio service for reconditioning their batteries, nor do they need to have a substantial amount of spare batteries on hand to accomodate the loss of the batteries during the reconditioning process.

The differences between our departments is this: the majority of our portables are HT1000's (about 225) with about 70 more being the new PR1500. They're using the HT1550-XLS.

I have about 30 of the PR1500's outfitted with the Impres batteries since they are assigned to bank chargers here at HQ. The rest are take-home units or assigned to officers in seperate offices, thus the need still for the NiCd batteries since they're using the single-unit chargers. I've had no problems with the Impres batteries so far, plus I like the fact that I don't have to constantly keep up with the reconditioning of at least those units.

Has anybody ever had any experience with the HT1550-XLS aftermarket batteries? I've heard some don't fit the radio properly, like the contacts don't even line up right. All I've had experience with is those for the HT1000. Interstate's RAD1830 is good, but doesn't fit our radio holders. Alexander's H7143 is a great battery, with a long life and a perfect fit.

Well, at least I got an "Attaboy" for puttin' my $.02 in, and maybe it was some good PR for the department (I hope).

My Little Blue Eyes

I love my boy. Sometimes he can be fussy as all hell, but overall he's a cute little man and I'm glad that he's here. He was born 8/25/05 at 0724. He finally came out after 2 days of labor induction since he was already a week overdue. He weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches long. As of his 2 month check-up, the little chunky monkey is now 23 inches and a whopping 13-1/2 lbs. That was 2 weeks ago, and he hasn't slowed down on his eating either. But that's a good thing. Now if we could only get him to stop fighting so hard not to go to sleep...

R.I.P. Latino Heat

I read this morning that Eddie "Latino Heat" Guerrero was found dead in his Minneapolis hotel room yesterday morning. He was 38 years old. He left behind a wife and 3 daughters. Anybody who knows me knows I love to watch rasslin'. Eddie was cool as hell. There will never be anyone who can replace him, and he will be sorely missed. The story is here.

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day to all our service members, past and present. We see what you're doing over there and we appreciate you immensely. Keep the faith, keep up the good work, and we'll see you back stateside real soon.

Go Navy!!

former FC2 Mike, USN

I Actually Like My Job...

Not too many people can say that nowadays. The place where I work, and the people for whom I work are great. I do have times when I get frustrated with some of the stupid stuff that goes on, like people destroying the portable radios or vehicles and management not holding people accountable for their actions, or people not adhering to plainly spelled out directives concerning the radios. Likewise, sometimes I get pretty overwhelmed by the amount of responsibility that has been heaped upon me. In my previous jobs I was a worker bee..."go here, do this." It didn't take a whole lot of thought or planning, I just had to make sure I accounted for my time and did the job right within a certain amount of time. Here is a whole different story. Here I have to get quotes from different vendors, write parts requisitions, plan installations of vehicular and fixed equipment, strip equipment out of the old vehicles, install equipment in the new vehicles, maintain a fleet of 20 current vehicles which they want to expand that to 30, maintain approximately 230 portable units on which I do PM's (preventative maintenance) twice daily, recondition batteries constantly, I take care of the programming of all the portable and mobile radios and the fixed base stations, repair the broken portables, send mobile radios out for depot level repair when needed, maintain the fixed equipment (3 repeaters, 3 base stations and 8 satellite receivers), maintain the dispatch consoles, maintain a backup dispatch office, attend numerous meetings for everything from daily update meetings to radio system improvements to new buildings that will house more fixed radio equipment, oversee any contractor work regarding fixed equipment in any building, issuing radio equipment to the officers and maintaining an accurate database, attend vendor demonstrations of new products (which can be quite cool sometimes), keep up-to-date on and inform upper management of the new technologies coming out and write up my own budget every year. Not to mention I'm in the middle of reorganizing the room where we store all the portables and reorganizing my own shop as well, which now looks like a disaster area. Did I mention I'm on-call 24/7 since I'm the only one who does my job? Oh yeah, and I'm part of a "ride-out" team when natural disasters like hurricanes strike.

The pay isn't bad...it's a damn sight better than the last company I worked for. I'm still not making as much as I did working for the City of Houston, but the raises here are more consistent and the benefits here are better than either of the last two places. I'll delve into that more in a later post. I'm under alot less stress than I was at my other job, believe it or not. Thankfully my management sees that I'm constantly busting my ass to get things done, so they don't pressure me too much. My predecessor was there for 28 years before she retired, and many of the people there have been there for anywhere from 5 to 15 years. We only have one problem child, and that one should be retiring in the next couple of years, so we don't pay too much attention to their bullshit. Everybody else has little gripes and complaints, it's just par for the course.

They recently did some schedule changes. It actually worked out better for everyone in the long run. Now at least we don't have to work a bunch of people on the holidays (the change before this one, which no one liked). We used to be off for every state- and federal-sanctioned holiday, but someone decided we had to be there even on the holidays so they changed the schedule to where we had to work 3 holidays out of the whole year. Terrible, right? The way I see it, such is life when you work in public safety. Others didn't see it that way. You can't please everybody all the time, though.

All-in-all I can say I'm pretty satisfied with where I work. I'm glad I took the job here, and I'm glad to be back in Houston again.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today's my Mom's birthday. Shall I tell them how old you are? :P

This pic was taken the day my son was born. We had to come back home for a bit and clean up since we'd spent 3 days in the hospital waiting for the cute little bugger to come out.

Why Blog?

I'm starting this blog for several reasons. To network with people in my chosen profession to get some ideas on how to improve my workplace. To let my family and friends know what's going on. To have an outlet for my rants when I feel the need to rant. To make people laugh, and to make people think about what's going on in the world around them. I'll discuss anything with anybody, whether on the net or face-to-face. I'm pretty candid with my opinions, sometimes to the point of brutality. That being said, feel free to read and leave comments. However, if you troll I will smack you. If you spam, I'll delete your comments and ban you. I don't put up with bullshit from anybody that a) doesn't sign my paycheck or b) I'm not married to.

Enjoy!!