Once upon a time....

Once upon a time, I was a Dispatcher.  I worked the Emergency Call Center for a local county.  All Fire, Medical, and Law Enforcement calls went through us.  Also, as we were a county wide dispatch office (instead of just an emergency office) we handled calls for other county services:  Schools, Animal Control, Public Utilities, Et Al.

This lead to some interesting calls.

Our county was...  Growing.  When I was a kid, the county was considered poor but being on an interstate some interesting industries had opened up.  These industries gave the county a nice tax base and when I was in college the county was able to install a 911 system.  Shortly thereafter the low cost of property lead to a lot of people with money moving in.

It was actually quite common to drive around and see a McMansion constructed next to a hand build shack.

Hmm...  Let's find a story for me to tell about my adventures as a Dispatcher.  Let me preface it with the fact that the county had always been friendly to agriculture.  Plenty of farms.  This county was the only local area where exotic animal farms were legal.  Suddenly they were popping up everywhere.  Lions.  Tigers.  Monkeys.  Ostrich.  You name it, someone probably raised it.  With the exception of elephants.  I never saw any elephants.  Those things are pretty hard to miss.

I was taking calls and someone called in to the non-emergency number.

Caller:  "Sorry to bother you, but this is kind of odd."
Me:  "No problem, that is what we are here for.  What is going on?"
Caller:  "I'm not too sure, but I swear that there is an Emu in my back yard."
Me:  "No problem ma'am.  I'll notify Animal Control.  You are only about a mile from an exotic animal farm."

Actually, I do find it a little odd that someone can live so close to an exotic animal farm and not know it.

DyE - Fantasy

Here is an interesting music video by DyE titled "Fantasy."  Very interesting style and subject.

First lawn mowing of the season!

Spring has sprung early.  The weeds in the front yard are above my ankles.  I've got a day off.  Visiting MIL is playing with Adorable Preciousness.  I HAVE FREE TIME TO MOW THE LAWN!

Being the first time I've had the mower out this year, normally I would do some basic maintenance.  Change the oil and filter.  Maybe get the blades sharpened if they need it.  However, due to a handful of minor emergencies last week, I am dead broke!  (So broke that I have to break out my credit card to get gas until I get paid again.)  Therefore, I decided that I can forego the annual maintenance of my mower until I get paid.

This is not really a bad thing.  The mower is relatively new, being purchased last summer.  I did winterize it so I was not looking at any major issues.  I checked it out this morning.  Everything looked pretty good.  The oil still looked clean and it was at the appropriate level.

It took three pulls to start the mower and then she ran like a champ!  I made a few passes in the front lawn and then I noticed that the mower was smoking.  There also appeared to be mud on the deck.  My first impression was that I ran it too close to the mud puddle on the side of the driveway.  Then I notice that the oil fill cap was loose.

I apparently did not attach the cap properly.  When I put it on, it was snug and I could not pull it out but I did think that it went on oddly.  It's my fault for not checking it a third time.

So, the lawn care is on hold until I break out the credit card to buy oil and change it.  I should know better than to cut corners.  It never works out for me.

Time to pull out my pith helmet and machete so I can work my way to the car.

World of Warcraft - It keeps trying to drag me in!

I recently got an e-mail from Blizzard asking me to come back.  It is a "Scroll of Resurrection."  Apparently, if you accept the offer you can get a handful of benefits.  Quite interesting!  One benefit is to get an alt up to 80.  I was trying to level a Paladin as a Tank when I left WOW and I am somewhat interested in the proposition.

This also lead me to look at the videos for "Mists of Panderia."  I was very unenthused when I heard about the new expansion.  While it is very beautiful, it still strikes me as if the developers watched Kung Fu Panda one too many times.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Now go and enjoy all the green beer you want!  Me, I'm drinking Smithwick's.

Lack of posts

I'm ten days in to a twelve day stretch of working.  Plus, the wife and I are sharing one computer because tea was spilt on her laptop.  I'll post something when I have time.