On April 14th a good friend and co-worker passed away unexpectedly. I’ve written two posts about our last conversation and the bond that is built around work families. It’s been hard for us at work but I can’t even begin to imagine what his family is going through. I’m sure they are doing everything they can to manage but let’s help them do more then just manage. A fundraiser has been put together for the family. It will take place tomorrow May 2nd between 5p.m. and 8p.m. at Uccello’s of Wayland 700 W Superior St. Let’s do everything we can to fill Uccello’s to its maximum capacity and support the Tatrow family. I have provided the flyer that the Sheriff’s department created and I ask that you share this post with as many people possible in support of this fundraiser. Cheers!
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Walking Dead to an iDevice near you.
Hello fellow Jabber Loggers and welcome to an early edition of Tech Thursday. This sneak peek is so awesome that I had to share it a day early. If you dig zombies then I’m sure you have either read the comic series of The Walking Dead or you have been watching the show on AMC. Well if you’re like me then you can’t get enough of this! I’m a Walking Dead Junkie and I even have the comics so that I can read ahead. So why is The Walking Dead being mentioned in an early edition of Tech Thursday? Well folks, a teaser trailer by Telltale Games has debuted today and it shows an excellent looking preview to a game of The Walking Dead that will hit some time April ’12 for iOS devices. I’m not sure about Android users but it looks as though it will be out for iPhone and such devices first. I can’t wait for this to hit and make sure to check out the trailer below and follow the link for more goodies from Telltale Games where you can pre-order and get the chance to join The Walking Dead cast and die a horrible death. Cheers! -
Within the Trenches Ep 133
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Episode 133 of the podcast features Kaylyn, a 9-1-1 dispatcher & content creator out of Northern California. She is the creator of the popular YouTube channel Youmarriedme. In this episode Kaylyn shares her 9-1-1 story along with her inspiration for Youmarriedme. One of her stories left me speechless. It’s a powerful one that you don’t want to miss! Below you will find links to her social media outlets.As always if you have any comments, questions or you would like to be a guest on the show send an email to wttpodcast@gmail.com.
Youmarriedme – Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
Episode topics –
- Kaylyn’s 911 story
- Kaylyn’s first high priority call
- Kaylyn’s closure, 5 years after a suicide call
- Inspiration for “Youmarriedme”
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From Michigan to Florida in 22 hours
Hello everyone! It’s been about two weeks since my last post here and the break was definitely needed. I have been hard at work and between, family, school, work, and personal projects, I really needed to step back a moment and prioritize. During my break I was able to finish school and design my personal website. It will included my portfolio among other items. As of right now I have the homepage and blog portion completed. I just have to finish up on four more pages and it will be revealed to all.All of that has lead to one thing, graduation. My school is based in Winter Park Florida so that meant I would have to take a vacation. I know, Florida is so horrible this time of year, (playful sarcasm) but I can’t miss my own graduation. The excitement of it was becoming unbearable as early as last week. As Friday approached the local news station warned of winter weather. I figured it was a crock since this winter in West Michigan has been nothing compared to previous winters. I think it has snowed maybe five or six times and even then it didn’t stay.
Friday morning, or two days ago, I woke up at 3am to get ready for work. I walked outside and it was snowing but not like I had heard. My car was barely covered and I figured my team and I would have an easy day in dispatch followed by an easy drive for my family and I. The Gods and Goddesses of winter must have heard my cocky remarks about the weather and they let us have it! Dispatch was busy with slid-offs and accidents everywhere. We had only so many officers working but we kicked ass like we always do. It also helped that my co-worker Whitney hooked everyone up with some awesome BBQ pulled pork. Although we had good food the powers that be continued to grace us with snow so our eating time was limited.
After kicking ass at work and saying my good-byes I headed home to get the family and head out on our long trip to Florida. After packing the car and getting some last minute items we were off. Our first stop was at the local BK to get some fastfood and my 6 month old daughter Lola was already tired of being in her seat. She was fussing so my wife decided to sit in back to keep her company. It was just what the doctor or Lola ordered and she was good to go. The snow was coming down hard and when we got to Benton Harbor the snow was really bad. White-out conditions and no windshield fluid made it tough but we made it out fine. At one point I couldn’t even tell where the road was.
“Hey Beck…”
“Yeah…”
“You should see this.”
“I don’t want to look.”
I shoved more fries in my mouth as I tried to figure out where the highway was. Luckily the smart folks at the Michigan Department of Transportation decided that rumble strips between lanes would be best. Indeed they were correct because that was the only way I knew I was within my lane. The snow was like this until we passed Indianapolis. After that the roads were clear and I was on a mission to get as far as I could before switching with my wife. Now remember in the beginning I said I woke up at 3am for work. It was almost 3am when we hit Kentucky and I was beginning to wind down. The kids were asleep as well as my wife but when I stopped to put gas in she ended up in the drivers seat. I was relieved and ready for a nap. We took off and I crashed out.
I remember dreaming something crazy and someone was pushing me. I awoke out of a deep sleep and it had been my wife trying to wake me up.
“WHAT’S WRONG!? ARE YOU OK?”
Rebecca looked at me with her eyes half open,
“I don’t think I can make it.”
“How long have I been asleep?”
“An hour or so…I think.”
I laughed and applauded the fact that she took the wheel for me.
“I’m sorry, you know that when it’s dark out I want to sleep.”
“It’s cool, I had a cat nap and I’m ready to go.”
We stopped at the next restarea and I hit the road with a bag of beef jerky and a couple cans of Red Bull. We were making pretty good time and the kids were doing great. The whole trip was pretty easy and I was proud of Lola because she hates her carseat. I don’t know if she just gets bored or if she gets hot but she will pitch a fit. Until this point of the trip she had been fine but the last 2 hours were HELL! She fussed here and there but nothing big. The traffic blew and for whatever reason the people of Florida wait a few minutes after the traffic light has turned green to take off. I mean, geez people! Punch the gas already! We were all getting hot and ready to be done. The very last leg of the trip was where Lola had had it. She definitely let us know where to put it in baby talk and when we finally reached our destination I wanted to kiss the grass and roll around in it.
It was a good trip overall but man that last part about killed us. I would like to thank the excellent people of Combos, Jack Links Beef Jerky, and Red Bull. Without your contributions to society I would have not made this long trip on minimal sleep. Thank you to my family for hanging in there and we left on Friday at 7pm and arrived Saturday in Florida at 5pm. Despite everything that attempted to hold us back we pushed forward and that’s how you go from Michigan to Florida in 22 hours.
