Day care.  Really?  $800 a month?  I harp about how inflation affects daily life, gas prices especially, but this is downright painful.  My rent for my 3 bedroom house isn’t even $800 a month.  Granted, many people’s rent IS but still, perspective!

Still, it is an accredited organization we’ll be giving my son to for 40+ hours a week.  I can be thankful for that at least.  The people are friendly and I understand that they take good care of the children.

I wonder if I’ll miss things.  His first word, his first step, his first front snap kick?  Guess I can’t concern myself with those things.

I spent this past weekend keeping an eye on people.  It is interesting the different habits individuals portrait when going through their daily routines.  Those who aren’t, you can usually pretty readily identify.

My wife and i ate at On the Border on Sunday (who by the way, have a killer chimichanga menu).  Our waitress was brand new.  She didn’t tell us this but it was noticeable.  She was sporadic at best with her service consistency, and didn’t keep the drinks refilled at first.  When she finally figured out she had forgotten us, she brought us two full glasses each of our respective drinks and apologized profusely.  In fact, she apologized during the course of the entire meal.  At one point I had to tell her “You’re doing fine, it’s all good.”

Low confidence, rare eye contact, half smiles and a rush to and from the table (there weren’t many people there yet either).  She was either a severely scatterbrained person or brand new.  When she did engage in conversation, she seemed intelligent, so this ruled out the first possibility and decided she was new.  When asked, she confirmed this suspicion at the end of the meal.

When we were in Kansas City, we were approached by a man with a tin can asking for money on the street.  He was dressed in dirty rags, gloves with holes in them and a beanie hat with a big smear of something questionable on it.  However, he was completely confident in his endeavor.  He knew his target clientele and approached them with directness.  Measured eye contact, not enough to make me feel threatened.  It seemed to me that he had been doing this for a long time.  He knew how to sell.

I imagine criminals fall much into the same frameworks (of course there are exceptions to every rule).  A first time robber may lack confidence, be aloof, unsure, inconsistent.  Whereas a long time thief will case a joint or approach you on the street without hesitation and be in/out/done before the dog sneezes.

Take this concept and extend it to violent criminals.  Those cold, calculating men who have this dangerous level of comfort with their actions are to be feared but, strangely enough, probably have a measurably larger amount of psychological “training” in how to affect victims.  They know what the presence of a weapon can do to people.  They have experienced the freeze numerous times and are skilled at inciting it in others.  Then you have the shaky fingered first time gunpoint robber who really isn’t sure what his goals in life are.  Who is more dangerous?  On what levels?  Is there even a comparison?

The inability to reason can be a deadly affliction (for the person in question as well as anyone around them, especially if they are allowed behind the wheel of a vehicle).  If drunk uncle Bob says something innapropriate or does something stupid to himself, that’s one thing.  However, what if drunk uncle Bob destroys property?  Takes a swing at someone?  Forces himself upon a woman?  Or worse?

Someone might need to stop drunk uncle Bob.  However, What is the appropriate level of force given the different circumstances?  What if Bob pulls a knife out of the kitchen and goes after someone?  He is threatening that person’s life, is it appropriate for one to not take that threat seriously?  Of course, if at all possible I’d like to stop him with as little harm to *anyone* as possible but hell, he’s drunk out of his mind and probably wouldn’t feel a joint lock in the same way your or I would while sober.

Again it is entirely circumstantial.  If Bob takes a swing at me, my first reaction (assuming he missed) would be to try and talk him down.  If he persists (again, unarmed) then he might get laid out.

Once he picks up a knife though… hrm…

I wonder if he’d even remember, the next day.

Enter the late Mr. Sherwood Anderson who died of Peritonitis (inflammation/irritation of the tissue that lines the wall of the abdomen and covers the abdominal organs) in the 1940s due to ingestion of a piece of toothpick apparently hidden in an olive or piece of food.
http://sherwoodandersonfoundation.org/2006/07/an_early_encounter_with_sherwo.php

Tasers have killed 300+ people since 2001.  It doesn’t take much…
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/us-teenager-killed-police-taser-attack-20090323

… but you also get those who are a bit over eager,
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/22/taser.death/index.html

1) Yell at Bill to get away from my (son).  Afterward,  I’d take the opportunity to flee after him

2) Approach Bill slowly with disarming words, ultimately attempting to distract him from the family member so I can attack.

3) Yell for the family member to flee at the same time attempting to take control of Bill.

The individuals who stated #s 2 and 3 also added that they’d be willing to go as far as taking Bill’s life if necessary.  Given the circumstances, especially the notion that Bill is threatening bodily harm to your kin/friend and you have NO idea the extent at which he is capable of acting, perhaps that is not an imprudent thought.

A dramatic response?  Isn’t it a dramatic scenario?  I am beginning to understand these ideas.  I can’t begin to claim that I’d be able to react accordingly but I can indeed agree that action is absolutely necessary and that inaction would end with an unpredictable result.  An unpredictable result is unacceptable.  If you are able to accurately, exactly predict a severely angry person’s next action please email me with your secret.

A similar scenario could happen anywhere at any time to any one…  In Philadelphia back in 2008, a sleeping man on a subway was attacked with a hammer.  10 passengers were in the car with the assaulter and the victim.  No one acted.

…or for any reason.  2 dollars and a bag of chips?

…with any level of force, sometimes even foolishly… Assault with … um.

Visualize this scenario:

An individual, whom you do not know, is threatening your family in a violent manner.  Be it your daughter, sister, mother, whoever.  We’ll call the threatening character Bill.  Bill has a weapon and Bill is gesturing very aggressively toward the family member referenced.  You’re not sure what Bill’s intentions are and all he is saying is “Don’t move!  Don’t move!  Don’t move or else!”

Bill has the means to hurt your family (the weapon) and he has the opportunity for now (he is between you and them).  Does he have the intent?  Is he mentally capable of deciding what is the morally correct action?

Lets say that you have an opportunity, whatever it may be, to disarm this situation.  Considering the use of force continuum, he has not responded to verbal or presence means, and you’re not sure that a soft attack will stop Bill if he decides to act on his seeming intent.

It is an adrenaline fused anger laden difficult scenario which only emulates one of millions of possibilities regarding a violent act.

Things to consider :

1) Bill is bigger than you
2) Bill already has a time advantage (he is closer to your loved one(s) than you are)
3) Consider your surroundings, think blanket thoughts I.E. “If there were a X I would do Y.”

What would your next action be?  How far would you go to stop Bill?  Could you think clearly enough given the stress of the situation and the likely adrenaline dump?  Are you prepared for something like this happening?

I love George R R Martin’s series,  A Song of Ice and Fire.  The depth of character development and his intricately detailed world really bring the story to life.

So, maybe it is time to bring a little bit of the written word back into your world.  This is a simple request, buy a book.  Go browse through the aisles of your local book store and read the story summaries.  You might find something that strikes your fancy.

I for one want to eventually get my hands on one of Amazon’s Kindle devices.  That’s a little ways and a few hundred dollars down the road, though.  For the time being, I’ll enjoy my shelves full of those aforementioned other worlds, following armies into the fray and flying through the sky on the back of dragons!

Courtesy of newson6.com:

Snow Storm in Oklahoma

Well, we saw our fair share of snow come down yesterday night (New Years Eve, in my back yard I measured about 8 inches non-drift).  My wife and I started off down one of the main roads to try and get to our Uncle’s house for a Christmas get-together.  Sadly, with visibility cut down to about 100 yards and the horizontal wind/snow, we had to abort our trek a mere 3 miles (yet about 30 minutes) into the journey.  Hopefully we’ll get to make up the missed family time come Sunday.

While I was out there shoveling this morning, I realized how valuable some of the items I had at my disposal were:

1) A cheap Beanie Hat.  The one I have is from Walmart but I couldn’t find it on their website.  It was only $1USD, the best winter buck I ever spent.

2) A pair of Snow Gloves.  You can find them for even less from other discount stores but these from Overstock are a great price/quality ratio.

3) An Ice Scraper.  I cite this one specifically because it HAS A SNOW PLOW!  I didn’t know this simple addition existed.  When I saw it I had a “Well, Duh!” moment.  It prevents the spray from scraping ice from getting all over your sleeves/gloves/etc.  So simple yet so helpful!  It might not be worth spending $20 on the high end but we found one for my wife’s car that was near the $5 mark with the guard.  Great stuff!

4) We had a soft snow fall so a broom really helped out here.  I was able to brush off the top 4 inches just by trekking back and forth whipping the thing around.

So from a practicality standpoint, you may benefit from investing $40 or so in some really useful “winter gear”.

Merry Christmas!

In seriousness, for the kids out there who love the “hands on”, weather still isn’t out of the question.  Sites like discover-this.com have kits geared toward all types of different applications including understanding and measuring weather which are much more reasonably priced and will, while not providing instant gratification, teach your children (and you, if you’re like me) a bit about Meteorology.

Oh and by the way.  Am I the only geek who gets a goose-bump fit about this?

May the force be with you.  Merry Christmas!