Pulse

Keeping my finger on the pulse of the city – that is what working 911 is like for me. It’s knowing what happens, where, when and to whom.

Working for the University would be a much smaller pulse but that isn’t a bad thing. The University police handle everything on campus property plus are backup for the new consolidated center for IC, JC, and Coralville. It is also in the strongest storm shelter in case of tornados.

The U also put together a paging system for warning students of problems. They had their campus shooting back in the 90’s and never want to risk that happening again. I’m very excited about the idea of working for them and hope I get the job.

Oh, another thing I’m looking forward to are long drives in the country. Driving through traffic to the theater today was hell. I started thinking about how a person could drive for an hour out in the Iowa countryside without encountering a single stoplight. Can’t wait. My son and I use to take drives every Sunday – we’d do the drive, then lunch, then a movie. I doubt he’ll be able to go that often but I’ll always have Baxter and Jewels to take.

Cloverfield Review

Ok folks – I forced myself to go see the movie – almost turned around several times. Got to the theater and it was so dead I thought they might be closed but they weren’t.

I got the theater all to myself (woohoo!), which is always a huge plus for me because face it, other people talk during movies and I find myself getting more and more aggravated as the movie goes along.

Before I say what I thought of the movie, let me just say, I had never heard of this movie before seeing a preview of it the other day at work. I saw it and was like “Cool, when does that come out?” and was told it had been out for awhile. No one told me anything about the movie – no one raved it up or trashed it. The only thing I read about it was that it was filmed like the Blair Witch Project which made me skeptical to say the least. I hated the Blair Witch Project – didn’t understand the sold out theaters at all – however, I also waited till it was on DVD to see it and maybe something got lost in the transition?

This movie was excellent – I really can’t say anything bad about it at all. When I left the theater, my neck and head hurt like they would if I had just completed my 12th ride on one of the rollercoaster’s at Busch Gardens. Yes, the film is jumpy so people like my sister Marge, who get motion sickness, can not go see it. But oh it was thrilling, memorizing and riveting. It was not scary in the least but the action came fast and furious once it started (about 10 min into the show).

When I got out, I called my son right away to tell him what a good show it was and how he had to see it before it left the theaters. He said, and I quote, “I’ve been waiting for the hype to die down.” Hype? What hype? I didn’t even know the movie existed! He said it had been #1 and that everyone was gushing about what a good show it was so he figured he’d wait a bit. Goes to show what happens when I don’t keep up with newspapers and what is happening in the entertainment industry.

Bottom line – if you like sci-fi at all and want to see a movie that is fun and thought provoking – see Cloverfield.

Cloverfield

It is one of those days where you just want to be outdoors – 75 degrees and breezy. Blue skies abound – everything is green – life is good!

Took Baxter on a two mile walk – he was getting sluggish the last round but managed to finish it. He plopped down when we got home and hasn’t budged since. I bought him a McDonald’s hamburger which he gulped down – pretty much ignoring his regular food.

The park was very busy today so Baxter got a lot of attention which he always loves. So many people stopped to coo at him as he cooled himself off in the fountain – like seeing a dog in a fountain was something they’d never seen before.

On our third walk around the track we came upon a young mother with her little daughter – maybe 2 years old – and I had a flash to Denise, it made me cry. I know it sounds silly that the call cut me so deeply but you didn’t hear it. People who have heard it since then tell me it haunts them as well. I honestly don’t understand how he could hear her pleading like that and still kill her…he has to be purely evil.

To get my mind off that, the interview and moving – I’ve decided to go to a movie this afternoon. Cloverfield got good ratings and, supposedly, is very scary so I will hit that one up in an hour. I hope it doesn’t disappoint me and I hope it is nothing like The Blair Witch Project because I thought that one was damn boring.

I’m looking forward to the popcorn though…homemade popcorn never tastes as good as what the theaters make – don’t know why.

University Interview

Had my phone interview with the University a few moments ago – it went very well. I think I would be happy working there and am certainly well qualified for the position. They have great benefits as well. I pretty much think I have the job – they seemed to really want me badly.

Baxter is upstairs pouting over not going to the park first thing this morning as is our custom. I had the call coming in and didn’t want to risk them calling early or something. Now that the call is done, we can go to the park – it is only 61 degrees so not too hot out there for him yet.

I took six pieces of furniture out to the curb yesterday – have three more pieces to go out today, possibly four. The men that live in the boarding house next door took all the stuff practically before I could finish putting it down.

I haven’t gotten anything more packed but am getting stuff thrown away so that is good. My sister said I could send stuff to her house so I may do that starting next week. It would make cleaning easier if the packed boxes were out of here, that is for sure.

Sorry folks to be slow in writing – I seem to run out of hours in the day so quickly.

Sunset and The Bridge

I took Baxter to see the sunset from Ringling Bridge last night. It was a beautiful evening so wanted to be outdoors where there were few mosquitoes…near the salt water there are very few.

Baxter didn’t care much for the bridge – no grass plus it was too high up and the sound of the cars zooming by made him nervous. He kept pulling on the leash trying to back track. I didn’t make him walk the whole thing – he was obviously in distress – so we went up to the top and stood there waiting for the sun to set beyond our horizon.