Hodge-podge of stuff in one of those GryEyed updates

[Guest guest]

Two great friends and fellow APCO members offered to take me to the local

No. CA APCO Chapter meeting this past Thursday, which was held this month

in Salinas. Yup, hosted by an allied agency for which I used to work:

Monterey County Communications. The friends' invitation e-mail came at the

perfect time: I needed some outside influence and some professional (and

personal) networking! The day before the APCO meeting, I wimped out on a

luncheon invitation from a dispatcher because I am so pooped all the time,

so I " did everything right " to get a good night's rest before being rousted

at 0700 to traipse off to a pre-meeting breffus. And catch up with stuff

important to friends and fellow state employees.

Actually, they arrived at 0745 but the early phone call was to make sure I

was still " up " for the trek. You betcha! Really easy and quick to shower

when one doesn't have anything to shampoo and condition..... I packed

anti-nausea meds, bouillon cubes, an apple and an energy bar " just in case "

either one of the day's meals decided to become unappealing. (I did have

to use the drugs, but brought home the snacks because I was able to eat a

sensible breakfast AND quite nice lunch!! Wahoo!)

Until recently, I've sort of been stuck on a modified " BRAT "

diet: bouillon, rice, applesauce, toast. Bland and digestible,

non- " repeating " and gosh, great for regularity. (Yah, I know:

TMI.) Anyway, it was really nice to branch out to sliced turkey, roast

beef, deli-style sandwiches, and excellent salad and side dish and even

have a fantastic chocolate brownie for dessert! (Plus a sugar cookie,

which I snagged on the way out and ate before we got to the car in the

parking lot.)

Monthly APCO Chapter meetings can be less than thrilling, sometimes, but

this was - thankfully! - an interesting meeting for operations

folks. (Well, for technical kinda operations folks, but specific to

PSAPs.) It was the networking and howdying that was most important for me,

truthfully. But since I'm kind of a techno-geek in the dispatch side of

Public Safety Communications, I didn't even fall asleep once. <grin>

After the meeting was over, I talked my friends into taking the scenic

route to my favorite produce market so they could check out the artichokes

(and I could stock up on fresh veggies). The place is Pezzini Farms, and

they have a web-site at http://www.pezzinifarms.com/ - I've sent artichokes

and other gift packages from this site to various friends around the

USA. The walk-in market is less than 4 miles from my house and sometimes

when I left the Comm Center before dark, I'd make a stop there on my way

home. I highly recommend y'all hit the web-site and check out their wares.

Today is a no-energy day. (LIkely a normal reaction to yesterday's

outing.) It's 1630 as I type this and I haven't been up out of bed very

long at all. I see that my Comm Center is pretty busy; handling two

fatality crashes, one on " each " radio position, along with other routine

stuff. Bummer.

The first fatality:

http://cad.chp.ca.gov/ii.asp?Center=MTCC & LogNumber=0095D1010

The second fatality:

http://cad.chp.ca.gov/ii.asp?Center=MTCC & LogNumber=0392D1010

I'm REALLY curious about work stuff right now because my department is the

Governor's state-wide Law Enforcement agency, so to speak. Boy I bet there

have been some interesting administrative conference calls so far this

week! And wooo hoooo! the " transition " from one governor to the other is

..... mind-boggling for someone stuck at home out of all the loops. Thank

goodness for e-mail discussion lists, huh?!?!?!

Speaking of which, there's been some breaking news about breast cancer

research and a new drug for treatment of estrogen and HER/2-receptive

cancers to reduce recurrence. Since I've signed up for regular

newsletters from

www.thebreastcancersite.com and www.breastcancer.org I'm already on

top of that news. (But thanks to several folks who forwarded e-mails to me

about it.) Makes me wish my particular cancer was not estrogen and hormone

negative. <shrugging> It's one of the reasons chemotherapy is taking such

a whack at me: I hadda get a tougher cancer. Oh, please, do go to both

those sites and click on anything that will help fund mammograms for the

poor, or more research! Another interesting (drug company supported)

website is http://www.livingwithit.org/

I've gotten some really nifty presents from wonderful people lately: one of

the little Chevron toy cars, which is the 2003 Breast Cancer Research cute

pink sedan with the Pink Ribbon on its hood (sent to me by The Most

Wonderful Captain In the Entire World, now retired). A care package

including REAL HUCKLEBERRY JAM from She Who Is Probably Easy To Guess. A

souvenir T-shirt for the Komen Race for the Cure plus other event goodies

from Chattanooga, and from my two friends, yesterday: something SO " me " - a

black T-shirt with the words: " OH CRAP. You're going to try and cheer me

up, aren't you? "

I do want to be at work. I'm conflicted about it, because I know I haven't

any energy whatsoever, plus there's this little matter of being sick and

needing chemotherapy and all that bother. REALLY SHORT ATTENTION SPAN,

too. (Check the time this was sent to see how long it took me to write it

and proof-read it and I bet I still muck something up in this

dissertation...) Certainly not conducive to call-taking, dispatching OR

" supervising " any dispatchers. I suspect my in-basket would scare me right

back into bed, to huddle with protective companion animals.

There are many specific list-members to whom I " owe " correspondence; please

forgive me for taking so long to get around to y'all, individually. I am

heartened by every personal message. Well, so far, that is. Whodaheck

knows, somebody may decide to flame me soon for excessively blathered posts.

I just know that, collectively and individually, we're in this career field

because we do care, for the faceless folks on the phone, the field

personnel with whom we interact, and our Brethren & Sistren of the Headset

at their consoles across the world. We couldn't do our jobs if we didn't

care. But I can tell you this: although we're normally distant from the

events we handle (barring earthquakes which don't just happen OUTSIDE the

Comm Center), it sure slapped me in the face when a life-threatening

illness dared to inform me I'm not really all that separate from

humanity. [insert pithy vulgarism here] Doncha hate it when that happens?

Happy to be here, proud to serve.

Olmstead

Public Safety Dispatch Supervisor

~somewhere on the Central CA coast~

http://www.gryeyes.com

[not presumed to be a statement of my employing agency]