The Soda Stand

Archive for April, 2006

So you know….this weekend is the NFL draft…right? You don’t? that’s OK – not many people do. Just those of us who follow the sport and are concerned for their favorite team’s well being and standings during the season. Have you heard Brett Favre (pronounced FaRVe) is staying with the Green Bay Packers? He flip flopped since the end of the season in 2005 about whether to retire or stay. Retire or stay? Retire? Stay? Retire on a losing season – not even in the playoffs and risk being remembered as a loser? No fricking way. Not for this quarterback – the one who has been one of the best QB’s in the NFL history. He can still throw a missile. He can still get out of the pocket. He had a very very bad season last year. Why? Circumstances beyond his control. We all get into situations or circumstances that are beyond our control. Do we blame ourselves for said circumstances or do we learn from those circumstances at the same time as saying, hey….I did NOT cause this circumstance and I have NO reason to blame myself. Lesson learned, we move on and we cowboy (or cowgirl) up for what’s next. Brett, keep playing until you are 100% ready to retire. Until you do, I’ll be cheering for you and the Packers and hoping and praying for a winning season.

My day today? Good for the most part. Those chairs in the training center kinda suck – but that’s just cause I am uncomfortable no matter where I sit hahaha It took a few hours for them to start bothering me, so I just needed to make sure I was getting up and stretching throughout the day. I have another day tomorrow and it will be a short day. The instructor said we will be getting out around 2:30 or 3pm. That will be nice!

When I first got promoted in May of 2003, I went to a section of our department where I worked with both Detectives and police officers. In this class today, there were two guys from that section. That was very cool, like old home week really. One of them helped me move once – when we worked together at another substation – he and his wife helped me move. I think that move took place in 1997 or 1998. So I’ve known him a long time.

Until next time….

I woke up this morning at 5:43 – 17 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. This gave me that extra 17 minutes to make some coffee, go outside and watch the sunrise and then watch some of the news and read some blogs. I did not have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn today. I am in a training class today and tomorrow all day long for Performance Management and Accountability. It’s going to teach me how to help my employees be more accountable in their performance. woohoo! I’m excited! This class is next to the station I used to work at before transferring to where I am at now, so I’ll be able to go next door and visit old friends. the class starts at 8am – so I can take my time and not leave here til 7:15 or so. I’m moving very slow this morning and it’s already 6:10. I should be getting ready *sigh* I’m just not feeling motivated. Physically? I feel great! I’m in no pain, no cramps, no soreness (right now) and life is good.

I went to a meeting last night and when the basket was being passed for donation to support the group – I went into my purse and my wallet was gone. G.O.N.E. I panicked of course cause I could not remember seeing it since I was in the drive thru to Starbucks that morning (that was at like 6am) so I rush home at the break and there it is sitting on my bed. When did I take it outta my purse? When did I handle it and put it on the bed? Damn my short term memory is shot to shit! Owell, at least I found it!

Have a great day and keep smilin’

Until next time…..

OK….so I belong in a nut house. Who cares? Right? At least Goddess and WW will be keeping me company. Why are we all going to the nuthouse? Well….First…there’s this….and then there’s this and the ultimate…the ONE thing that convinced me I belong in a nuthouse? THIS right here…I’m nutty and I love it. I’ve had a GREAT time surfing the internet for these pictures! Men. In uniform. Gotta love that shit!

Enjoy the eye candy ladies, I know I do!

Until next time…

So I check the spam catcher here on my blog everyday…and I got this from horsebetting.com:

Being a consistent winner in sports betting is not about luck but whether you are prepared to invest the time and effort to become knowledgeable about the sports you bet on, whether you can weigh all the factors in a cool, objective fashion

OK….this strikes me as odd, considering I don’t bet. Considering all over this fricking blog – I mention Gambler’s Anonymous. Obviously, these spammers have auto generated their shit they send out. Any decent human being who reads this blog would know not to send ME something like that. It kind of offends me, but then I think I’m not the only one they do it too so I won’t take it personally

Not being into soaps, when I got home today I found that there ain’t shit on TV during the day. I did, however, find something on the History channel to watch. I’m now watching MTV Hits – watching the music videos. I’m thinking I’m going to lay down for a bit and take a nap. I have training all day tomorrow and Thursday so I’m going to be sitting in some VERY uncomfortable chairs for two days – that will make me feel great!

Had a good day today…I have a lot more energy than I did yesterday, that’s for sure! I pretty much have nothing else so I’m gonna go now and find something to do.

Until next time…

I found this article quite interesting…considering I am in Las Vegas and I do work for the police department. I think a central location or “headquarters” is an awesome idea for us and like the Sheriff says in this article, his office is the same one the Sheriff in 1973 had. What’s up with that? We are funded by both the City and the County, so sometimes it’s difficult to get everyone all on the same page. I’m happy that is happening with this. Cross your fingers for us!

Metro Police handcuffed by a lack of headquarters
By Tony Cook
Las Vegas Sun

You’ve heard the line in countless TV police shows when the cops think they have their man: “All right, we’re going down to headquarters.”

When Sheriff Bill Young and his officers deliver that line in the real world, however, they have no place to go. Not really.

That’s because Young is homeless – not in the traditional sense, but in terms of a headquarters for his 5,000-member staff.

Right now, a floor-and-a-half in Las Vegas City Hall serves as Young’s office. That’s the same amount of space that the sheriff had in 1973, when the department consisted of a mere 400 staffers.

“How ridiculous that Metro’s headquarters is where I happen to be sitting at any time,” Young said. “I doubt if there is a police department in the country the size of Metro that doesn’t have a true headquarters.”

As the department has grown, many of Metro Police’s administrative functions have been shipped out to other facilities. Today, the department is scattered among 58 sites across Clark County.

But that could be on the verge of changing.

Staffers from Clark County and Las Vegas plan to meet Friday to start hammering out possible options for a Metro administrative facility and new jail space.

It’s the hardest look a new Metro headquarters has received in some time – and the first time in at least a decade that the two jurisdictions are seriously talking about the possibility of a joint regional jail facility.

“I think we’ve got some folks starting to think along the same lines,” Young said.

Besides the economic barriers, simply keeping pace with the area’s growth has taken precedence over long-range law-enforcement planning in the past, Young said. Renting new substations throughout the valley has been easier and less expensive – at least initially – than undertaking a new multimillion-dollar capital project.

County and city staff will start this week by winnowing down various ideas that have been floated.

Young has suggested razing the old County Courthouse, which has been vacant since the end of last year, and building two new facilities on the 2.5-acre downtown site.

One would house a new police headquarters, allowing Young to consolidate under one roof bureaus such as internal affairs, human resources, general services, the crime lab and most detectives.

“Wouldn’t it make sense to have a lot of your investigators across the street from the jail and the courthouse?” Young said.

A new headquarters would remedy thousands of inefficiencies that Metro endures now, he said.

For example, Metro’s crime lab is located near the Las Vegas Beltway and Decatur Boulevard. Criminologists who need to testify in court must drive 12 miles to Metro’s evidence vault at Mojave Road and Charleston Boulevard and then four miles to the courthouse. After court, they have to retrace those 16 miles.

“The problem here is windshield time,” Metro spokesman Bill Cassell said.

The second of the two towers that Young proposes for the old courthouse site at 200 S. Third St. would house about 2,000 jail beds, providing some relief to the valley’s overcrowded detention facilities.

Both the county and the city anticipate the need for additional jail space. By 2010, the county projects that its 2,860-bed jail will be over capacity by more than 1,000 inmates. It already is housing about 200 inmates in the city’s 1,200-bed lockup, said Elizabeth Fretwell, assistant Las Vegas city manager.

The joint need could result in a new, truly regional jail facility, paid for by the city and the county. Although Metro Police is a joint city-county venture, the two jurisdictions maintain separate jail facilities.

“The more we regionalize, the better off we are from an efficiency and taxpayer standpoint,” Young said.

“What we’ve both agreed to talk about is, ‘If we both need to expand, are there economies of scale?’ ” Fretwell said.

The old courthouse site is ideal, Young said, because the nearby Regional Justice Center and Clark County Detention Center are connected to the old courthouse via underground tunnels.

“How much money are we saving by not having to buy vehicles to move inmates?” he said, adding that travel time and the need for vehicles for staff also would be reduced.

Residents would not see prisoners being transported between court, the sheriff’s headquarters and the county jail, he said. The location would be less controversial than some alternatives because there already is a jail across the street, he said.

Young believes financing could come via a lease-purchase option, in which a private company would build the facility and assume all financial risk, then lease the building back to the county or city with the option to purchase later.

Such an arrangement would get the project off the ground without the need for a bond issue that might be unpalatable to voters, Young said.

The Molasky Group already has written a letter to the sheriff saying that the company would be interested in such an arrangement.

Molasky built the Social Security Administration facility on Buffalo Drive near West Charleston, the IRS facility at City and Grand Central parkways and Casa Grande, the transitional facility for the state Corrections Department at Russell and Wynn roads. All three facilities were built under lease-purchase arrangements.

Molasky wants the county to consider building a Casa Grande-type facility for low-level offenders to help reduce jail crowding. The project could be built for about $50,000 per bed, as opposed to $110,000 to $120,000 per bed for a full-fledged lockdown, said Molasky President Rich Worthington.

Another private firm, J.A. Tiberti Construction, is conducting site evaluations for the city of three possible downtown locations for a Metro headquarters. Tiberti’s report, due at the end of this month, also will outline public and private financing options, Fretwell said.

Beyond the old courthouse site, options for a new police headquarters or jail include an eight-acre site south of the County Government Center and the current Las Vegas City Hall site, which Mayor Oscar Goodman plans to abandon for a new City Hall on the 61-acre Union Park parcel north of the Government Center.

“We need to get all of the things together on the table and discuss feasibility,” said Virginia Valentine, assistant Clark County manager.

The initial working group plans to present its findings to an executive committee within about four weeks, Valentine said. That committee, composed of Young, County Manager Thom Reilly, City Manager Doug Selby and an elected official from both the county and city, will decide how to proceed.

One thing can be said with certainty about that meeting: It will not be held at police headquarters.

Tony Cook can be reached at 259-2320 or at tony.cook@lasvegassun.com.

OK so I went back to work today. I decided to just do a half day, so I would work 7am until about 1130 or 12. POTUS is here today, has a speaking engagement at the Venetian or something. I don’t know. I don’t care. It’s just POTUS, right? That was what was going through my head. I’m sitting on the patio smoking a cigarette with a few officers, we are chatting and stuff. So I ask all three of them….”Should I just go up Russell to Decatur to get outta here?” All three said “Yes, that’s what you should do….” So at 11:40, I get into my car and I pull outta the parking lot. I turn left on the boulevard and then get into the left turn lane for Russell. My intention? Shoot straight up Russell, bypass the I-15, and turn onto Decatur going north. POTUS tends to shut down the resort corridor, including I-15 so I K.N.E.W. I had to avoid I-15 at all costs….

So I turn left onto Russell and GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?! Russell is closed just west of the boulevard at Frank Sinatra. Not only did the Highway Patrol have I-15 shut down, but we were not even allowed to go over the freeway. So they made us all make a U-turn there at Frank Sinatra back towards the boulevard. I decided I would turn right onto the boulevard and turn onto the 215 to take me all the way around the valley to get home….yeah not soooo much! I sat in traffic on the boulevard for a good 20-25 minutes. 215 appeared to be shut down too. So at that point I’m dropping F bombs like you would not believe.

Since the 215 appeared to be shut down too I decided I’d go up to Blue Diamond and go that way up to Rainbow to head north. I’m irritated, it’s hot and the people around me are shitty ass drivers. At least I had information on WHY traffic was so bad, some of them probably did not have any clue on why we were sitting there for over 30 minutes. As I get closer to the 215, I realize it’s NOT shut down – but there are so many cars already in the turn lane, I figure I won’t piss in anyone’s wheaties and cut them off. (why didn’t want to do that? cause I was feeling feisty and if they yelled at me I’d probably end up beating their ass hahaha).

I finally make my way to Blue Diamond and it’s backed up too – lots of construction out there. I make it up to Rainbow and start going north….I got home in exactly one hour and 30 minutes. Here I sit, watching my taped episode of Grey’s Anatomy, which turns out to just be a “recap” of this season so far. Irritated with that too. I think today is just an irritating day haha Looking at the Lost commercial for this Wednesday? It’s a “recap” too. This tells me that it’s getting close to the end of the season and the season finales are coming up.

As far as POTUS is concerned, I hope he enjoyed his visit and I hope that all of my friends working down there to do crowd control and the motorcade had no problems from the protestors or anyone else. He’ll be leaving town soon and I hope he has a safe journey to his next destination.

Until next time…

OK, earlier this afternoon, I was reading Seeking My Sanity and she listed her top five romantic movies. Now, if you know me, romantic movies are not my favorite genre of movie. However, I do enjoy some of them. So it took me almost 2 1/2 hours to figure out what my top five were. In her comments, I did not put them in order. For this post here, I am putting them in order cause I have a lot to say about some of these movies. So here are my top five romantic movies. What are yours?

1. Brown Sugar - The story of two friends who were madly in love with each other and fought the attraction for years. It follows their lives as they go thru their daily stuff in NYC and it shows the pain of the female character while she watches him marry someone else. Queen Latifah is in that movie and says during the wedding “She’s marrying your man.” I almost spit up the drink I was sipping on at the time. It was a great movie. the character development was a little lacking – but overall – good flick. If you like hip hop music – you’ll like it even more cause the male character is a music producer for hip hop collaborations and the female character is the editor and a music critic for a magazine/newspaper. Very good flick and I lose myself in the story every time I see it.

2. Serendipity – Fate. Destiny. Following the signs. this movie reminds me that we can follow our heart and our gut instinct and still be right. We can mold and form our own destiny. This movie brought to light the fantasy of the whole “the one” thing for me. this movie also showed me how sweet love could really be. I related to this one because I am so spiritually open to things – signs, karma, fate, destiny, etc are all things I believe in.

3. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - Odd choice for some. For me, it was the “forbidden” love. Two of the main characters that are always chasing around the young chick who steals the sword – they love each other. They want to be with each other but yet they fight the urge and fight the attraction so that they do not dishonor her deceased husband who was his best friend. It was tragic, sad and beautiful. Near the end, they confess their love for each other. Very sad to me what brought that confession on. I feel that if we feel it – we need to express it and deal with it right then and there. That way, if the other person is ripped from our lives, we will have NO regrets about what we “should” have said.

4. Tombstone – even odder than CTHD hahaha – The love story of Wyatt Earp and that woman is very interesting. Knowing what they want and going for it – no matter the consequence – taking their own destiny into their own hands/control. That’s awesome to me. Shows how two people can live for the moment and follow their hearts.

5. Pretty Woman - the whole fantasy of finding “the one” appeals to me. the whole prostitute thing is a little disconcerting – but it was a cute, flighty, romantic movie nonetheless. At the end, when he shows up in the limo with flowers and then climbs up the fire escape ladder to her apartment. Very sweet.

Until next time….

Have you done something so stupid and idiotic, you just can’t believe you did it? So I was laying here earlier – trying to take a nap. I couldn’t sleep so I made a mental list of what I needed from the store. I knew that Target would be the choice of stores I use. Why? It’s close and they always have what I need. So I needed body wash and facial base make up by Covergirl. So I put my flip flops on, I venture out – hoping and praying my energy lasts. I’m short on energy these days and every little bit I have is precious. So I get to Target…I walk in and get my protein bars (were they on my list? no!), I go get my make up, I get the coffee mom asked me to get for her, I get my coffee (MY coffee was NOT on my list)…then I get the spot shot – yes it was on my mental list – somewhere on the bottom of said mental list – but I got it! I wandered over into the shoe department and got these….two different angles here…bare with me!

These could qualify for that Foot Fetish Friday….but it’s not Friday…*sigh*

So they were only $14.00 on clearance from like 30 something. So I got a pretty good deal….so as I’m walking out of the shoe department, I find these other shoes…(no, I didn’t take pictures cause there are three pair – white, black and brown – and I’m just feeling lazy)…so I got those too…And then I wandered over to the electronics area and got the DVD for Jarhead. I went to the check out…I spent WAY WAY WAY too much money at Target….

Sooooooo what’s making me feel stupid? the body wash. The ONE thing I TRULY needed, I forgot. F.O.R.G.O.T. I fricking forgot it!!!! I’m so mad I could spit nails. I have no energy left. It was spent going to Target. Thank goodness I have a little body wash left to last me for a few days until I find that energy I lost while I was there at Target.

Something else I noticed about Target….the shoppers there are rude rude rude. I was trying to stay outta people’s way, I’m slow, I waddle when I walk right now, I know this. No reason to get all nasty and pushy with me. If my gut wasn’t feeling so tender every time I took a step I woulda been boxing with some white trash bitch at Target. I know I would have been. I actually think I still coulda taken her, even with my handicap right now hahaha

OK, this was the TOTAL venting post….thanks!

Until next time…

Rascal Flatts. Rascal. Flatts. They are coming to town…coming to Vegas July 15 (or is it the 16th? hmmm) anyway! the tickets go on sale next Saturday the 29th. WOOOWEEEE have I mentioned I love love love Rascal Flatts? If I have not…I’m telling you now…I love love love Rascal Flatts. Must get tickets. Must go to this concert! The first time I had ever seen them in concert, I went to see Toby Keith and RF opened up for him. I fell in love with their music. I have every one of their CD’s, including their newest one. Melt (their 2nd CD) is my absolute favorite though. Not only will I get to see them live AGAIN – there will be lots of cowboys there. Eye candy galour for me! Wrangler butts drive me nuts

I was watching Sportscenter earlier this morning – as I always do when I wake up and have my coffee. Matt Leinart – the USC quarterback was interviewed. Have you noticed how hot that kid is? woooweee! Also, did you know he was cross eyed as a kid? WOW! What a thing to over come and win the Heisman Trophy. Good for him! I also saw on SC that Barry Bonds hit his first home run of the season. He’s 5 shy of tying Babe Ruth for overall HR’s in a career. I’m conflicted about him trying to take over that record. The steroids thing really lowered my opinion of him and I personally think his record is null and void. But that’s just me and I’m just saying. He cheated. Period. Cheaters seem to prosper in our world and that makes me sick to my stomach. Again, that’s just me and I’m just saying.

I’ve read on MSNBC.com that Osama Bin Laden has issued some new threats. OK….if he keeps issuing these threats, with all of the intelligence we have out there, why haven’t we found and killed this idiot yet? Supposedly, this tape is bin Laden blasting how the Hamas has been left to fend for themselves since they won that election or whatever the fuck. Here’s the whole story if you’re interested. bin Laden makes me sick to my stomach. Much more so than cheaters in baseball.

Three more US Soldiers were killed near Baghdad. *sigh* I feel bad for their families. These soldiers enlist to defend our country and our freedom – or the freedom of another nation and they pay the ultimate sacrifice. I will pray for their souls and pray that their families find the courage and strength to get through their grief journey. Seven Iraqis lost their lives as well. I’ll pray for their souls and their families as well. Here’s the story

The Yankees game starts at 10am here on the west coast. I’ll be watching it. They are now 8 and 8 on the season. I didn’t get to watch the whole game yesterday – I was busy getting pampered. But I watched the last 3 innings – they played in the rain! I thought for sure it would have been called and delayed cause it was raining hard! Matsui at one point went and got a towel to dry off the bat he was using haha that was kind of funny to me!

Until next time…

After my lovely, pampering this morning (that would be the pedicure and manicure), I came home and ….you guessed it!!! Watched Jarhead again. It was just as good the 2nd time watching it as it was the first. Actually I think I liked it more hahaha My favorite character besides Jamie Foxx’s character of Staff Sgt Sykes (Sikes?) was the character Troy played by Peter Saarsgard. He reminded me of a young John Malkovich. His voice was so similar it was kind of freaky haha He did an awesome job as that character and portrayed it with class. Jake made my hottie list really quickly in this movie haha Then again, I’ve always thought he was cute – just not HOTT. Now? I think he’s HOTT!

I went to the 6pm meeting on the other side of the universe (other side of town really haha). That’s a long ass drive. Then again, living where I live – everything is a long ass drive. It’s OK though, I felt the need for a meeting and I went. It was a great meeting. My friend SS I mentioned in a previous post recognized his 2 years. It was awesome being there for him

My day was pretty good, I was getting really restless at the meeting tonight, could hardly sit still. Then again, sitting in those seats is NOT comfortable and when it already feels like someone is taking particular parts of my body into a vice grip…..it makes it worse. By the time the meeting was over – the right one felt like it was in a death grip. Once I stood up though? The pain went away so I’m thinking it’s the way I was sitting in the booth/seat.

Tony Stewart placed 2nd in the NASCAR race. I didn’t get to watch it since I was out at the meeting most of the evening. I saw the last 11 laps though. Good enough to see Kevin Harvick win the race and Tony place 2nd.

I’m now channel surfing like a fiend, trying to find something to watch on TV and I realized it’s 9:15. I’m pooped. I could always go to sleep. At 9:15 p.m? On a Saturday? Good God I’m getting old!!! What is up with that? hahaha couldn’t be that I just had surgery 6 days ago and I’m still trying to get my energy back or anything like that. I could always check out the Entertainment on Demand again for another good flick to watch – but I’d probably fall asleep. And as I typed that, I realized that would be OK cause when you get those EOD movies – you get them for 24 hours. So if I fell asleep during the movie, I could watch it tomorrow when I wake up …. hmmmm something to think about?

I was watching MTV Hits again…Pink’s song Stupid Girls came on. hahaha I love that song and it’s so true. There’s a line of the song, “if I act like that, will that guy call me back?” or something like that – probably paraphrasing at this point since the song is not on anymore. Anyway! It’s a great song and I found it kind of sad cause it’s soooo true with some of the women in this world. They try so hard for attention, to make themselves more beautiful. Liposuction, face lifts, boob jobs, etc etc. At one time I thought I wanted a boob job. I used to be very small…then I gained some weight…and yeah…not so small anymore haha so I don’t NEED the boob job. And after thinking about it – I realized I needed to accept me for the way I was and the body God gave me and be happy with that. It took me a long time, but I did it!

Until next time…