A Little Bit of Everything

I sprained my finger yesterday at work. I really feel dumb about it because I don't have a clue as to how it happened and I did it in the last 10 minutes before I left. It's my left ring finger, so I spent the ride home trying to get my engagement ring off and after I got home I had to grease up my finger to pull my wedding band off. I'm glad I was able to take them off last night, because this morning I would be in some serious trouble. I told Ryan my finger looks like our cat, Piglet, skinny on the ends and fat in the middle. (Poor Piglet!) I was somewhat concerned about how this sprain will affect work tonight since I type on a keyboard all night long. I don't think it's going to be a problem. I'm not having any issues typing this blog, because I'm a two finger typer. I never took a typing course in school, so I don't use all ten fingers and place them on the home row. I use two fingers for the most part and every once in awhile I throw in some other fingers. The amazing thing is that I type about 49 wpm with my technique. The bad thing is that people make fun of me when they figure out how I actually type.

We got our computer back yesterday. It pretty much is empty. We spent part of yesterday loading our music, pictures, documents and printer back onto it. We still have more to go, but it's nice to not be working on something that freezes up all of the time. The only bad thing is that I just discovered we don't have Microsoft Office on this computer. I hate it when they forget that!

The other night at work a young college girl called the police because she believed someone was syphoning gas from her gas tank. We sent an officer out to speak with her to assess the situation. The officer called me back with the report. Upon questioning the girl, the officer determined that the girl had driven her car around town enough that day to use up half a tank of gas. The officer also told the girl she should probably take the car to a mechanic and make sure that the gas guage was working properly. I had to fight back the laughter while taking this information. And to think the future of our world rests in the hands of people like this.

For Anyone Who Has Been Through a Tough Time

Awhile ago my parents recommended that I listen to a sermon that really spoke to them. I took my time getting around to listening to it and after hearing it I kind of wish that I hadn't. It really is a truly amazing sermon about the Eternality of God. If you have ever experienced a really hard time in your life or if you're going through one now, I would recommend this sermon.

http://www.mcleanbible.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=3673#

It was on September 16 and it's entitled The Eternality of God.

I'm not dumb

I feel dumb at work. This is the first week that I am answering phones full time. I feel like I've forgotten the simplest things that I learned in training. I guess that's to be expected, though, since I learned so much in so little time. Maybe the problem is that you have to think fast about so many things. Hopefully I figure out the rhythm soon. Last night I was supposed to start answering the 911 lines. It was a pretty slow night and my only two calls were hang ups. I had more luck with the non-emergency lines. I feel a bit like a bartender or hairdresser, though, because people tend to tell you all about their problems while they have you on the phone.

We found out this week that my husband should be able to graduate in May. We thought it would be December 2008, but his advisor looked at what he had left and I guess some of the classes on his list are outdated. It's kind of exciting that he only has one semester left. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, now we have to come to some sort of decision about what to do with our future and if we want to move.

Am I ready...?

I am finally at the end of my classroom training and about to begin my month long one-on-one phone training. It's so exciting to be at this point and yet so scary. I am glad to move on and finally be allowed to learn at my own pace. The classroom training has really gotten to me this week. I have been working extra hard and yet maybe not as hard as I needed to be to control my frustrations at my other fellow trainee. We had our second test on Wednesday night. It was originally scheduled for Tuesday night, but because we were a little behind it was pushed back. Tuesday night as we were leaving our trainer told us that we would review a bit the next night and then begin the test. By the time I came to work on Wednesday I was ready to sit down and take the exam. The other trainee was begging me not to tell our trainer that I was ready for the test. I think that was my turning point of being done with the classroom training and ready for the one-on-one training. All week I feel that I have been held back and not allowed to spread my wings.

Last night we started answering non-emergency calls. My first call was a woman wanting someone to check on a house that had 50 or so malnourished cats living at it. I called the animal warden and he yelled at me and said he didn’t believe it and wasn’t going to check on cats. It was an interesting way to start my 911 career. Thankfully the other calls were a little more routine. All I have to do now is figure out how to take calls, enter them into the computer like we were taught and do all of the other things that are asked of me. I think I’m ready but then next week will be a different story…

Success!

Amazingly I got the laptop hooked up. Well, it wasn't so amazing. All I had to do was plug in the internet cable and I had internet. I'm just happy not to be devoid of internet this weekend. I'm also happy to be on a computer that is actually working! It's the small things that count...

Computer Woes

We are having computer problems. I actually have to take our computer in and see if there is any hope for it. This means I might not be on-line for the next couple of days unless I figure out how to hook up the laptop to the internet. It should not be that difficult, but it is satellite internet and I am not sure if I have to add a new program or anything.

We have had our computer for about 6 years. We have been good about getting it updated every year or so. The thing actually has two hard drives on it, mainly because Ryan likes to use it as a gaming computer. I just want something I can use for internet, music, pictures and word documents when needed.

When I take it in today I am supposed to ask how much they want for a new computer. Since I do not know too much about computers, Ryan wrote a list of “requirements” for a new computer. At the top of his list- dual monitors. Is that really necessary?

Rodents

We are having rodent problems. Thankfully, they are not in the house. Unfortunately, they are outside in our vehicles. We currently have three vehicles. Our truck sits most of the time and maybe gets driven every week or two. I might expect something like that to happen, but I do not expect it in our cars that are driven daily. That just seems odd to me, though I do not call myself a rodent expert in any way. We discovered this problem not by actually seeing any living animals, but because there are acorns in our engines, and some chewed up wiring in the truck. Acorns!?! We have asked people for advice and done some research on the Internet. There is not much information out there to assist us with our problems. We have the silly responses of putting a cat in the car, then a dog to get rid of the cat, followed by a mountain lion to get rid of the dog. (And what gets rid of the mountain lion?) Right now, we are currently trying hairspray. Someone told us to spray our engine with hairspray because they hate the smell. It seems to be working, but only time will tell…

I'm trying to keep up with this...

All right, so I have not been very faithful in updating this blog. It is a little difficult to start this new project and a new job too. A new job that is making me study and do homework. Yikes! It has been a while since I have had to do homework. I am enjoying the new job, though; it can be a little boring in the training. Another two weeks of classroom and I should be trained one-on-one actually taking calls from people.

I missed my 10-year high school reunion this past weekend. On one hand, it is hard to believe that it has been 10 years and on the other, it is hard to believe that it has not been more. I missed the reunion because I wanted to and because I started a new job. It helps that my husband was not interested in going back and seeing the people we graduated with. I saw some pictures of the reunion this morning. Is it wrong to be secretly happy that some of the people who were mean to me growing up did not age well at all? Is that my vindication for them hurting me during my school years? I was the semi-nerdy girl whom no one wanted to date until I got contacts my sophomore year. I really do not miss anything at all about high school. I guess the one good thing that came of it, though, is that I met my husband in high school.