Mixed Martial Arts

So last night we went to Hooters to watch UFC 64. Rich Franklin fought Anderson Silva and WOW! It was amazing. This was Anderson "The Spider" Silva's SECOND UFC fight, and now he's the middleweight title holder. It was unreal. The entire restaurant was rooting for Rich Franklin, since he's from Cincinnati and he's an awesome fighter, so you can imagine the reaction when Silva TKO'd Franklin barely into the first round.

Meanwhile there was a guy sitting at the next table who was wearing an MMA t-shirt and whose girlfriend was wearing a "I love fighters" shirt, and J ended up talking to him about the gym he trains at and so forth. J has been wanting to find a gym to get in shape at, because really he needs a trainer to give him the motivation and means. He was so good at going to the gym by himself and finding his own program on the internet and so forth, but then he just lost motivation, going to the local PD gym all by himself every other day. There's something to be said about going to a gym with other people. Plus he has been so interested in the MMA stuff that he wants to train in that also. A lot of cops get trained in ground fighting techniques, and it would probably be REALLY beneficial to J to be better trained in fighting. He does hold a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, but it's been a long time since he practiced that. Plus he loves the whole 'sport', so there you go!

Halloween!

Probably my favorite costume in quite a number of years...

I think this was the year J was a GSW victim...the theme of the part was "death" so your costume had to be someone dead. I was so caught up in planning the party that I forgot to come up with my own idea, but someone I work with supplied the beginnings of this idea. Since I work in healthcare (corporate R&D though, nothing fun) someone else came up with the not-so-bright idea of making me look like I was still smoking by using a 200ml syringe filled with dry ice. I decided against that, since I didn't want to *really* have burns on me.

Definitely my best costume to date.

A bit of clarification

Well, you may or may not have noticed that I shut down the comments on the Flat Daddy post. I don't want to talk about the war on this blog. It's a sensitive subject, and you're bound to get a lot of fiery remarks on it. My blog isn't about me disagreeing with the war. It's about my life, my husband's life, and the fact that he's a cop. There are plenty of blogs out there that focus on the war. If you agree or disagree with the war, I'm sure you've found your favorite blogs.

J was finally able to share more details about babysitting the inmate at the hospital. The story got quite different after that, at least for me. Turns out she and her boyfriend / husband / whatever were both arrested the night before. Deputies were called in because they were beating the crap out of each other. What most likely happened is he started hitting her, and she fought back. She cut him with a knife, and they both got arrested. J said there were a ton of bruises on her, some fresh, some old, but there were a lot. I say good for her for fighting back. Boo for her for staying with him long enough to bruise her more than once. But they were so drunk that the woman didn't remember calling her lawyer, and didn't remember much of the night. By the end of the evening, she'd been released on her own recognizance, so she got to go directly home from the hospital. No word on whether or not she actually had a seizure. Hopefully she'll take this to heart and move out. Doubtful that she actually will.

Since J has weekends off now, we were going to try to go camping this weekend. Unfortunately there is now an insane cold snap headed straight for us. And I don't camp in freezing temperatures. I mean that literally, I don't camp when you can go ice skating. If the temp is below 32, no way, jose. Call me a wimp. I can take it :) But now at least he gets to see UFC 64. Rich Franklin is defending his title, and he's a local boy. So of course he's a favorite. Plus, his record is 22-1 (I think) so he's pretty much a great fighter.

I should mention the fact that this is nothing new with my mom. I have been dealing with her shit for my entire life. It's just fortunate I live two hours away now, so I don't have to deal with it as often. Sometimes she gets moments of clarity, where she understands that she's a bitch, and that she says and does things that are very hurtful to other people. Then five minutes later the real her comes back out, and you realize she doesn't *care* that she hurts people. She only cares about herself. Usually those moments of clarity come with copious amounts of alcohol. But however you grew up, if it was with loving people who raised you the best way they knew how, or if it was people who didn't know any better and screwed you up, you still know what it's like to want a happy family. Whether that family ultimately comes from the people you aren't related to, but you just choose them to be your support system, or that family comes from your blood relatives. So I'm sure most of my readers get where I'm coming from when it becomes too much.

Anyway, there you have it. Thanks for all your supportive comments. It means a lot to me, genuinely. Kind of helps me feel I'm not so alone.

LOST is on tonight...eek! They'd better start answering some damn questions, NOW!

Silence.

So, since I told my mom that I am pregnant, she's hardly asked me anything about the baby. Hasn't asked how I've been feeling. Hasn't asked if we've picked names. Are we excited. Do we want a boy or a girl. Are we going to move before Squirt's born. Etc. The usual litany of questions that every other person who knows has asked. And she definitely hasn't said congratulations. She's pretty much been silent on the whole thing. You'd think, from our conversations, that it wasn't happening. In fact, we had a discussion about some of J's family members, and she asked, "Do they know about...you?" Like I've got some communicable disease that nobody is supposed to talk about.

This weekend I went to Columbus with the intention of meeting my grandfather for the first time. This would be my father's father. I never met my father, and I never will. Why? He died in 2001. Saturday I couldn't get ahold of my grandfather, so we stopped by my grandmother's house. This would be my mother's mother. One of my uncles was there, so we all sat around for a while, shooting the shit and watching the Buckeyes game. Naturally the topic came around to my mother. Now I have further evidence that she isn't excited about the baby. She spoke with my grandmother and my uncle on separate occasions, and they both got the impression that she isn't excited. She basically feels she isn't ready to be a grandmother. Well I got news for you honey, TOO FUCKING BAD. We didn't make this decision for her. We didn't make this decision ABOUT her. In fact, my mother never entered my mind when J and I decided to have a baby. She used to say it to me as a child, and she sure could use a dose of her own medicine, but THE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOU. So quit pretending like it does. Quit pretending everybody does everything in their own life because of you. It's not. about. you.

Sunday we went to breakfast and J called her Grandma, knowing it would get under her skin. In a pretty bitchy tone of voice, she said "Don't say that again." I turned to him and said "Yeah because then it makes it not TRUE."

Since Cathy came up with the idea, I've been looking for a way to come up with a story about an innocent victim of a lie told in silence. Turns out the shit was my own life all along. I can't say as it was specifically a lie, but her silence on the matter turns out to speak volumes. You can decide who the victim is. There's a repeat theme in some of my posts about not understanding why someone could cut another person out of their life so completely. Well, I've got a pretty good reason going right here. I don't know that I want my child growing up with such a hateful, mean old woman as a grandmother.

Hospitals

Well today J had to do a special detail. He got to work this morning, only to be told he had to go babysit a prisoner at the hospital. Overnight she'd claimed to have had a seizure, so they had to take her to get tested and such. It's still not clear if she actually did have a seizure, but I gotta be honest. A seizure would be a great excuse if you wanted to get out of jail for the weekend. Without a video on her 24 hrs a day, it would be nearly impossible to prove it happened, and all they can do is a litany of tests on her. Meanwhile she probably gets better food and a nicer bed, plus some privacy. Needless to say, J was pretty bored. I can tell you from personal experience he doesn't like sitting at the hospital with someone he chooses to be there with. Not a lot of people do. He was probably going to have to stay at the hospital til midnight tonight, until he'd reached the limit of the allowable consecutive work hours, and someone else would relieve him.

I offered to bring him a book or food. Some of the nicer nurses brought him a bunch of magazines, and a word-search. I can only imagine how bored he'd have to be before he did that, but I digress. He had hospital cafeteria food for lunch, but then tonight after I had fed myself and the dogs, he called to say his choices were some cod or scary looking beef for dinner in the cafeteria, and would I be so kind as to bring him Subway? By the time I got to the hospital, things had turned around and the prisoner was due to be released either from the court or from the hospital, I'm still not quite sure of the details. But it meant he'd be done at 8 pm, not midnight. So there's that silver lining...

It's a full moon out tonight. I know lots of guys who are on extra look out for the loonies tonight...speaking of which, did you know the word lunatic has at its roots 'lunar' which is of course, related to the moon? Yup, lunatics were always associated with the full moon. Neat little etymology lesson for you there. Can't remember where I learned that one.

At 10 weeks, Squirt is now the size of a walnut, roughly. She (He, if you ask J) has fully formed fingers and toes, and is probably learning how to flip me off, since the fingers are separated now. Something I learned today is that the 'yolk' is starting to disappear. Did you know we all had a yolk? I had the funny image in my head of a nice little yellow egg yolk next to the fetus. I don't think I'll be able to eat sunny side up eggs for a while....Anyway, after getting a peek at the maternity floor at the hospital J was 'stationed' at (BN), and having already visited the maternity ward at the hospital I'm *supposed* to deliver at (GS), I've made up my mind. I want to go to THAT hospital! J's sister had both her girls at BN, and I guess I just got a better vibe off that hospital. Plus, having personally visited GS already (I was just getting IV fluids due to dehydration) and not being impressed with the staff OR the facilities, I gotta say I'm already starting to figure out a way to go to BN.

A sobering moment

Is anybody else SERIOUSLY disturbed by this picture? You'll have to click on it to read the text, but basically the National Guard is making cardboard posters of soldiers for their families. You have got to be joking me, right? "Here son, hope this cardboard cutout will help you not miss your dad. Look, he can push you on the swing and everything! It's like he's not even gone!"

What happens when that soldier dies in combat, like so many others? Do they come and take away the 'Flat Daddy'???

This is absolutely beyond ridiculous. And horrifyingly sad. I hope I am not bringing anybody's Friday down, but I felt this photo was important enough to share.

Justice is served

OK I can't find the post, but I swear I wrote on here about the guy who robbed a UDF, and beat the clerk half to death. When the police showed up, they thought the woman was dead. Fortunately she was still alive. I know she was in the ICU for a while. Anyway, J actually heard about that asshole's trial recently. He got 3 years for the robbery, and 7 for the assault. I was glad to hear that; at least they put more weight on the woman's life than on the material items. J said he heard that the clerk wasn't doing too good these days, though. Has agoraphobia, can't work at her old job anymore. Then I felt like the asshole didn't get enough time in prison. AHA I found the old post.

On a side note, anybody remember Teddy Ruxpin? Playskool has come out with a newer version, only now they're calling it T.J. Bearytales. What a rip.

Night time

So now that J has a 'normal' schedule due to court services, we've had to readjust to sleeping in bed at the same time. We're both so used to sleeping with the whole bed to ourselves, that it's almost like starting from scratch. I'd forgotten how warm he is when he sleeps. He'd forgotten that I'm a cuddler. For those of you who don't get Amy-speak, cuddling means I move in to wrap myself around him, and since he sleeps warm, he moves over to get some space. I then move into that space, which means halfway through the night he wakes up halfway off the bed. To make matters worse, Holly, our smaller dog (note I said smallER, not small) likes to sleep on the bed next to her mama, and she takes after me in the cuddling sense. So we have woken up sometimes with her in the middle, me partly on J's side, and J falling off the bed. It's got to be hysterical on tape, if only we had a cctv.

But anyway, it's weird still. It's not been quite a week and we haven't gotten into a rhythm yet. I keep forgetting during the day that he's actually awake. And when he says he's tired at 10:30 at night, I think he's going to take a nap before shift.

We've been sleeping in the same bed for over 6 years now, but it's strange how a year of third shift will mess with the household routine.

Quick Squirt update: Squirt is now slightly over 3 centimeters, roughly an inch and a half. Weighs about the same as an American nickel. I have to eat constantly throughout the day to avoid throwing up, which has led to my stomach growing quite a bit. And I don't have anything to blame it on but myself. In a few months I can play off the stomach as being a baby, but right now it's just fat. And compared to other preggers / mamas I know and talk to, I supposedly have the worst nausea/vomiting that they've heard of. Great. That's comforting. At first I wasn't going to write a lot about the pregnancy on my blog, but I realized it's all part of being a cop's wife. Of course, it's part of being anybody's wife, should you decide to have a child. Plus, it's my blog. :) And they really are lying when they call it morning sickness. I am the least sick in the morning. It's the worst at bedtime.

Hope everybody is enjoying this crazy fall weather. Today it was almost 90 degrees here in the Queen City, and tomorrow it's only supposed to be in the 60s. I love Ohio weather.
Hope everybody is also gearing up for elections. They are going to have the no-smoking in public places bill(s) on the ballot this year, which I am most excited about. GO VOTE!

Check, please

So J and I happened to remember a story from his old job that I just had to put up here because it was so funny. They got a call at the PD, because a man had went to the local pizza parlor, had himself a bowl of soup, a salad, and some pizza. When the check came, he flipped it over and wrote "I have no money. Since this means I cannot pay for this food, I realize the police will need to be called. I will wait patiently until they arrive."

First of all it was pretty damn funny that this was how he would 'turn himself in', so to speak. But he hadn't done anything other than steal the food, since he ordered and ate it, knowing he couldn't pay for it. So they knew he just wanted 3 hots and a cot at the jail, hence he came up with a way to get arrested. Instead, they took him down to the shelter.

The stories like this always have a sad side to them, because you know this guy just wanted a roof and guaranteed food. If he was genuinely a crackhead, he wouldn't have had a problem attacking somebody on the street, or something similarly violent to get arrested. But it is pretty funny when you think about it.

Good Riddance

Well I didn't even know it was going on until they'd already caught the suspect, but here it is. A Polk County, Florida sheriff's deputy and his K9 were killed yesterday during a traffic stop. Another deputy was shot in the leg but is said to be recovering.

Today they caught and killed the suspect. Good. Please keep Deputy Vernon Matthew Williams' wife and three children in your prayers.