23. February 2010 by [JP].

Well, one of ANY public safety worker’s greatest fears, is not coming home at the end of the day.
Andy Tingwell dying in the line of duty after rescuing a lost hiker.
John Sutter and Anthony Archuleta, and their pilot, when their helicopter crashed during a training mission.
And now, El Paso County Sheriff’s Office lost a LVN who worked for their detention division, when she was hit by a car, after stopping to render aid to a vehicle crash victim when she was off duty.

Its an eye opener to all of us, a realization that we are still mortal.
One of the things that has stuck with me over the years, is the second thing one of my former instructors said in class (always wash your hands being the first). He said, in order to save lives tomorrow, you have to come home today.

I’ve had some close calls over the years. I’ve been hit twice. Once by a car driven by an old lady as I was rendering aid at a scene… walked away from that with just some bruises. Another time, while working an accident scene, one of our units got sideswiped by a drunk motorist, and my partner and I were both hit with flying glass and debris.
When you’re in the middle of it, generally you’re paying more attention to the life you’re trying to save, rather then your own, and sometimes that can get you killed.
Even when you’re paying the utmost attention to your surroundings, the unpredictable actions of others will still get you.
And sometimes, only the loss of one of our brothers or sisters in the field is what it takes for all of us to start watching our own backs that much closer.

So. For the rest of us. Be careful out there, and always come home to your families, so that you can go back out tomorrow.

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18. February 2010 by [JP].

Ok, pretty much have it perfected at this point.
So here we go.

First, you need the chicken. If you’re in a rush, get a roasted or rotisserie whole chicken from the grocery store. De-bone it and either shred it or cut it up into small chunks. Discard the skin and bones.
If you have the time, then instead get about a pound and a half of boneless chicken tenderloin, season them with spices, boil them till fully cooked, then drain all but about 1/4 cup of the remaining stock. Then shred the cooked chicken and let it sit in the stock until you’re ready to cook the filling.

You need:
2 15 oz cans of green chili enchilada sauce
1 small can of green chilis
1 small to medium can of green chili strips
1 onion, diced.
1 16oz tub of sour cream
Shredded or cubed chicken
1/4 cup of chicken stock (or water with a chicken cube)
2 tbsp of butter or oil
1 doz medium sized (6 inch diameter) corn tortillas, as fresh as you can get.
About 6 cups of shredded cheese. I use a mix of sharp chedder and queso blanco, but you can use any cheese you want. The mexican or fiesta blend of shredded cheese at the store works well.

In a saucepan or skillet over high heat, melt the butter or pour the oil in. Put the onion in, and fry until the onion is translucent and starting to brown, stirring frequently. Then add the chopped green chili, and continue to stir. Pour in the chicken stock and one can of enchilada sauce, and bring to a bubbling boil. Add the chicken and stir and reduce heat to medium, and let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring to keep the bottom from burning.
If you’re using a skillet, then transfer the chicken mixture to a bowl. If you’re using the saucepan, then just keep it warm.

In a skillet, mix remaining green chili sauce, strips of green chili, and sour cream over medium high heat. Stir until blended, and remove from heat.

Dip a tortilla into the sauce, coating both sides. Put on a oven-safe plate, put a small amount of cheese down the center, add 2 spoonfuls of the chicken filling, then roll. Continue with all tortillas, then pour remainder of sauce on top, top with cheese, and bake, uncovered for 10 minutes.

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7. February 2010 by [JP].

I suddenly awoke. I rubbed by eyes and blinked a few times.
It was pitch dark and cold. I pretty quickly realized I was in my own bed, in my own room, alone. Beyond that, I knew nothing.
There was a slight glow coming from my left, as my CLIQ was plugged in, but upside down. I picked it up, and typed a motoblur update for my twitter, facebook, and myspace. Halfway thru it, i saw the time in the corner. 12:55 am. Not sure which day though, although I assumed sunday morning. I had 4 missed text messages, and about 9 missed emails from various accounts, none of them anything I wanted to know about.
I got up, and come to the laptop, wearing a tank top and boxers. Its probably 50 degrees in the front room, so that wasnt too good of an idea.
I sipped powerade zero, then went and put on the clothes on top of the stack.
I slowly pieced together what i remembered. I remembered not sleeping at all last night. I remembered showering and going to the charity thing. I remembered I had a work order after it, to go assist another unit in the next county over as they worked on restoring the backup to the power unit at a critical goverment building.
I checked my email including a report on that work order, the other employee had found the problem early, a lack of fuel in 2 generators, and had corrected the problem, cancelling me. I dont know if I even got the cancel message before i slept.
My black dress shirt, black tie, and black pants were on the back of the chair.
I had one black sock on, and the other was on the box i use as a night stand.
I went back out to my computer, and found messages from Julia and Amy. Found out who the medics were involved in the crash, confirmed the one I thought was involved, and found out a second one I had worked with previously was also involved.
Responded to some messages on facebook.
I went outside and got my cap, and put it on, to tame my hair, which was pretty much doing a Don King impression.
Hmm, what is this in my pocket? Oh, its an albertsons fundraising key tag for the Children’s Grief Center. Probably from earlier today.
Oh, yes. I wore a tie.
I made several failed blurry attempts to take a picture of said tie.
Heres one that almost worked.

No. I dont smile much lately. Especially when the picture is taken a few seconds AFTER i expected it to be taken.
Ok, now that I’m more aware of what time it is, and when, I think i’m going to get something to eat. And probably drive around the cold, dark, silent city for a while.
Alone. As usual.

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5. February 2010 by [JP].

I’m flipped around again. Slept all day. Awake all night.
And dang, I have to be at the thing tomorrow at 11. And i have to tie a tie in the morning, so I need to be semi-functional.

I slept part of the night, woke up at 2, screwed around on the computer. Woke up at 4, felt cold and in pain, and decided that staying in bed was better then going to the cold living room and looking for meds.
Was woken up at 8:03 by my doctor, who decided she wanted that chem20 done RIGHT NOW. Managed to get to the lab right before they opened at 8:30, got stabbed, came home, went back to sleep. Phone got left in the car. Bahahaha. Missed a few phone calls and emails. Oh well.
Got back up about 5pm. Responded to said calls and emails.
Took meds.
Ate a yogurt.
Went to get fuel.
Tossed some black clothes + my good black pants, and my black dress shirt in the hamper. I’ll go to the 24 hour laundry at some point tonight and wash them, and iron them when I get home… i wonder where my iron is.
Went to starbucks to do paperwork. An hour later, still there, no paperwork done, but deleted 56 applications off my facebook that I never use.
Planning on a cheeseburger on the way home. MMM.
I’m on call tonight, 9pm-9am. Probably NOT going to help with my schedule.
Few interesting emails of the social variety that I need to respond to.
And I have paperwork i’m still avoiding. Wont hear the results of the blood test till monday, but i’m in El Paso on monday for court.

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3. February 2010 by [JP].

A trained investigator is a poor choice of customers to attempt to rip off.
I’m just pointing that out, just in case.

Arrived at the bar at 9pm.
Drank one draft beer at the bar. 4.75
Ordered a second draft beer and proceeded to kick my own ass at pool, 3 games in a row. 4.75
Ordered a mixed drink, 4.25
Slammed said mixed drink, then played 3 additional rounds of pool.
At about 10pm, decided I had enough punishment at my own lack of pool skills.
Sat back at the bar, ordered another draft beer, 4.75 which I drank slowly.
Ordered two shots of Baileys over ice, 5.25 each, total of 10.50 and closed out my tab. Tab was total of 28.75

Ordered a third shot of Baileys, paid for it with my change, and added some cash as a tip.

At this point, I had a zero tab.

Went to the car for additional cash, with the intend on purchasing two additional shots.
Ordered ONE additional shot of Bailey’s. 5.25
Recieved 9.50 in change.

See the problem here?

I called him out on it, and he paid me the 5.25 from his tip bucket.
Which was a pretty big indicator that he had in fact tried to rip me off, rather then made an accounting error or overcharged me accidentally.

I’m going to go discuss his poor judgement with his boss tomorrow. The only thing that sucks, is this is one of two bars in Albuquerque that I actually LIKE, and the other one is loud, expensive, and way too yuppie for me in general. So, this may actually affect me more then I want it to, but oh well. Its the right thing.
Besides, I only drink like once every few months anyway.

BTW, heres the calculation that I did to determine how intoxicated I was by the end of the night.
First 90 minutes, I consumed 3 standard drinks. At 190 pounds, my BAC was probably in the .07 to .08 range. I was legally drunk. (And I could feel it, mostly in my lousy pool shots)
Second 60 minutes, I consumed 4 additional standard drinks. This probably brought my BAC to a peak of .12 to .15
Well over the legal limit. Which was probably what he was counting on, for me not to notice him ripping me off.

Too bad for him, i’m very observant, even under the influance of alcohol.

A shitty pool player… good thing I wasnt playing anyone else…

But still observant enough to know when something isnt right.

Ironic for him, i probably would have tipped him at least 5 or 6 additional bucks or more when I was done, so he made less money then if he was honest.

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