Property tax amendment and Huckabee

I voted early last Friday because I knew I would have to work Tuesday. I went with Huckabee and yes on amendment one down here on property tax relief. I like Huckabee for the same reasons I dislike Charlie Crist. Huckabee seems earnest and I feel like he was a worker when he was governor of Arkansas. Romney seems like a robot who tries on different issues and policies based on what gets him votes. McCain(sp?) is old and I worry about what he will do with Iran. If Huckabee goes down I will support McCain over Hillary because I feel like McCain has shown character by taking a stand on tough issues when they were not popular. I will vote for Obama if he wins the democratic nomination because I like charismatic speakers and I read somewhere that he smokes cigarettes on occasion. Obama seems human. When he is tired he looks tired. When he is happy, he looks happy. He is smart and he is not afraid of Bill Clinton. I trust Obama even though I don't agree with him on everything because he is running against the Clinton smear machine and you know that whatever skeletons he has are open and out to view.

I feel like Crist is using Florida as a stepping stone for the presidency. Crist is also way too skinny and I don't trust skinny people. Crist sits in Tallahassee and dictates to the counties how much money they can tax and how much they can spend. In Florida the state sucks money from all counties and then reapportions it to meet the state needs. If you live in a rich county like I do and you want more services you elect local politicians to tax and spend how you want. This is how I like it. Crist has limited the people's power by taking money from their elected local officials and claimed to be a man of the people by backing paltry tax cuts to boost his popularity. I voted for the most recent paltry cut because I will take whatever I can get and hope that more is coming. I just wish Crist would allow local government to police itself. If we don't like our schoolboard we will replace it and the same with the commissioners.

Knowshon

I don't believe I ever related the Knowshon story so here it is. I had been thinking for a couple of months that I might want the family to have a dog in the new house. We haven't had a lot of luck with dogs so I was concerned about how it would go over. I started dropping hints about what kind of dog I thought would be good for us. I had the 4 year old on my side immediately, but Zach seemed to be on the fence and Nicole wasn't too hot for the idea. I eventually came up with a plan that would satisfy everyone. We would leave it to chance and the Georgia Bulldawgs. It was decided that if Georgia beat Florida we would get a dog and name it after the player of the game. At the time it didn't seem very likely since Georgia had just struggled to beat lowly Vanderbit and Florida was the defending national champs. Long story short we won and adopted Knowshon (As a resident of SW Florida we couldn't name her Moreno because everyone would assume she was named Marino) a few weeks later. She is well behaved and patient and we couldn't be happier with her.

training and snakes

I saw this big snake in the middle of the road this morning when I walked the dog. I asked Zach if it was poisonous, but he didn't know. We killed it to be on the safe side since alot of kids walk to school and I didn't want them messing with it. I will hang it in a tree later since that makes it rain. In my neighborhood they will probably burn me at the stake for practicing witchcraft.

I don't have to go to work until Saturday because I have training all week. The county will pay for you to go if it is required training, but I am taking this class and a two week class next month so that I can get my Corporal raise in April. This means I have to burn through PDO.

Work

I decided to talk about work a little today. I worked in our version of the on-site hospital yesterday. Depending on your personality, you either like it or you hate it. It is where we keep both the mentally and physically sick. When I first started at the jail it was a more difficult place for me to work for a variety of reasons both personal and professional.

On the professional side the state of Florida has a law making the state responsible for the housing and treatment of those who are determined to be unfit for trial due to mental incompetence. Once an individual is adjudicated unfit the state has so many days to take them to a facility for treatment. This was not happening. As a result jails became(and still are to a certain extent) an extension of the mental health treatment industry. This is not good for a variety of reasons, but the problem was alleviated temporarily when the state opened additional beds. Now we have fewer of the mentally ill in our infirmary and it is an easier place to work for the time being.

Personally, I found it difficult at times to supervise individuals who reminded me of my crazy brother. This doesn't bother me in the least currently and I actually request to work in the infirmary when I work overtime. I feel the change came about because of an increased familiarity and a determination to eventually work full time in the mental health field. I have the right personality for it.

The work personality I strive for is that of a defusing wet blanket. I am usually able to calm excited inmates and get them to do what I want. When that fails I call for back up and handle business. This keeps everyone safe and out of trouble.

Our family work goals right now are for Nicole to start and complete her Masters since her work pays for it and she will receive more money from it than I will. I am approved to attend the next law enforcement crossover academy and hopefully will complete it by '09. Nicole will finish her Masters at about the same time I begin to feel competent as a road deputy. When this happens I will start my Masters with one caveat. This will all fall into place at about the same time Zach is finishing high school. If it comes down to it I will put off my Masters until he is settled in college or completes his bachelors. The way I look at it, I have 23 years to complete my education so there is no rush. I have no professional law enforcement ambition other than to be left alone and eventually make sergeant. As long as the checks continue to clear I will be good to go.

Recent events for us

Things are going well in SW Florida. We moved into the new house in September and the kids haven't had to change schools midstream. The house and neighborhood are wonderful. Nicole and Chloe saw an alligator this week in one of the lakes we walk the dog by every day. There are plenty of sidewalks and not too many people yet. The university (I'll capitalize it if it every gets over 2000 students. Current count is about 700 and that is less than most middle schools.) is well funded and growing. The town center opened its first restaurant before Christmas.

It was cold yesterday and colder today. I like to froze my nudget off walking the dog this morning. The town still has all its Christmas lights up. Zach and Chloe got a Wii for Christmas and we had fun visiting the Nick hotel and then family and friends in Georgia. I enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up.

The Friday before we left we had Jeremy and his family over. I cooked a standing rib roast and Nicole's moms potato casserole and Nicole's green beans. It was delicious if I do say so myself. We made Jeremy take the leftovers home and when his shift relieved me yesterday he said he had stuffed himself on it for days on after. I wish now that I had invited more friends over as I rarely get to see the ones that work on the other side of the week unless I'm working overtime.

My first post

Wow, I feel like a commentator or is that common tater. Here I will share my wisdom with the world. We will all be richer for the experience.