Happy Humpday...


And what better day to usher in my new technology, than with a personal milestone here...FIVE-HUNDRED POSTS (that's *D* to all you LATIN aficionados - that's halfway to *M*)
Didn't think I had it IN me, did'ja?
So, welcome to NOW...!
Where FiOs is now part of my lexicon.
After only a 4 hour stop to install Verizon FiOS at our humble abode, we have bent to the pressure of our technocracy, and have entered the current century, leaving "ye olde dialup" in the dust.
And to use the words of Darth Vader: "...Impressive. Most impressive".
The TV package is better than we hped for, but ALL those channel number changes are testing this "seasoned" man's personal memory storage capacity...LOL! Looks like it's tme to make SOME MORE lists!
The remotes we were provided with are fine, and work well, but that basically renders all our OTHER remotes useless. They DO make nice DOORSTOPS, though.
On our direct line (w/adapter) set, we can't scan through "favorite" channels, and that bugged me, but the other set in the living room (the 25 year old Mitsubishi with stereo expansion on the external speakers) scrolls fine through my favorite channels (after I aced the selection and scrolling gigs).
The internet package IS fast. Reminds me of the old 486 days with Prodigy CLASSIC on Netscape. Feels like I've come FULL CIRCLE yet again.
And the phone package is well....still a phone, but at least NOW, I can be ON the computer and STILL receive calls. Like having a second line in...only better.
But amidst all this frivolity, there were OTHER things happening aside from our install...
--FWPD chief Rusty York has decided to allow an "objective" outside agency evaluate the proceedings of the lethal shooting of a Fort Wayne man (who was an illegal from Guatemala) by a rookie officer.
Even Prosecutor Richards noted that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a trial.
So what's up, Doc...I mean Rusty?
Just because this officer is a Marine vet that served in Iraq doesn't make him a born killer. He was merely reacting to a situation that had the immediate potential to seriously injure if not kill other officers at the scene of the "routine" car stop.
And didn't we loose an Indiana State Trooper due to a ROUTINE car stop last year?
You of all people should know, Chief, that there is NO SUCH THING as ROUTINE when it comes to the streets in THIS day and age.
A civil suit for wrongful death is being levelled against the officer, and the attorney is Mark Gia Quinta. I thought Mark was made of sterner stuff that this.
And don't those HEADHUNTERS from IAD have some pull any longer? Cripes, it's sad when we have to "outsource" investigations...and to what COST, I might add. If Internal Affairs can't find anything wrong, or is not allowed to investigate, how weird does that seem?
Methinks I smelleth another witch-hunt. Let's hope not. This is probably a damn fine officer that made a decision that definitely saved lives. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
Spock said it
I believe it.
That settles it...(for now, anyway) .
--Urban League holds meeting to stem youth violence.
And although it WAS covered on the TV news locally, I didn't see ONE WORD in the local paper this AM. And that's troubling. Perhaps the J-G isn't backing this noble effort by our black population to stop the killings?
Granted when perps kill perps, they're NOT killing innocents, but when this initiative was talked about, it seemed a positive thing to do...even though I personally felt this was something that SHOULD have been enacted YEARS ago. Better late than never, I suppose.
But maybe it just didn't make the morning edition...yeah, right.
This is one of the reasons this city fails on several levels.
If you're going to institute REAL change...you just don't talk about it, hold a meeting and call it done. That doesn't win ANY battle in ANY war. Never read about anything like that in history, either.
You want to make a difference?
Get in peoples' faces...make a stink (the louder the better), and become that "burr" under the saddle of the status quo. You may not become popular in the process, but you will get noticed, and thereby allow others to know what's really going on. THAT is when change begins to occur.
Lastly, we had a FWPD code 25 last night before 2300 hrs. Right in the middle of our intersection. And this is something I;ve told the quadrant captain about for YEARS. We've got too damn much SPEEDING in the area, and I was proven CORRECT AGAIN when we had a rear-ender that trashed an Olds Achieva as well as a Chrysler Concorde. The driver of the Olds was a young black girl, who began mouthing off to the officers on scene. She was promptly "cuffed and stuffed" and her car was given the "once-over". Officers found several aerosol cans in the vehicle (either tagging or huffing).The victim's car had enough damage to warrant the hook as well.
So the "new" neighbors across the street from us don't have a vehicle now, thanks to a speeder with more attitude than brains.
Like I said...NEVER A DULL MOMENT around here.
Designed to keep you on your toes.
Still...it makes for good copy (and the occasional laugh).
Welcome to the jungle.
And thank you all for your support and input over this time. I couldn't do all this WITHOUT you.
So, here's to the NEXT 500!