"Call 911"

So while I was bored at work one night last week... I saw a commercial for this show called "Call 911" on the Investigation Discovery channel.

I had this past Wednesday night off, so I finally had a chance to watch it.... it's not bad! Too bad some of the useful stuff that's on the show I'd never be able to do in my town. I work by myself... I can't stay on the phone with someone and dispatch police, fire, EMS, and medics all at the same time. Plus, by the time I'm done with all of that, the police would be there anyway. It only takes 5 minutes to get across town WITHOUT going lights and sirens...

Anyway, check it out... Call 911 on Investigation Discovery

Just Another Ducky Day In Dispatch

Finally a day off! Got some stuff done today for the other organization I belong to. Damn paperwork! It all looks the same after a while.

As for the dispatch world, it's been the same old stuff. My crazy friend that calls about non-existent stuff hasn't called. Maybe about a month ago, a mental health screener went to her house to talk to her and she was shipped off to the happy hut in a local hospital. I'm sure she's home by now... probably heavily medicated, too. Other than that, it's basically been the same as always... drunk illegals, a domestic or two, traffic stops, barking dog complaints. Blah. It has given me some time to get some other work done.

Speaking of other work, I did order that laptop I mentioned a few posts back. It was just under $500 after shipping. It's working out well with the exception of battery life (or lack thereof). I was going to order a new battery, but at $165, I think I'll just deal with it for now. Damn laptop batteries aren't cheap, WTF?!

Still haven't figured out what domain name to use. I don't even know what to put on it. We don't even have Internet access at work, so I don't know how much good that'll do. Any suggestions?

As for the DUCKY image and the title of this post... check out www.911cares.com, their store has some great 9-1-1 dispatch items... such as the DUCKY! I'd get one to toss around Dispatch, but I guarantee it'll disappear.

That's it for now...

Dispatcher 6

3 to Headquarters. Hello? Helloooooooo?

I'm still around. Sorry I've barely been posting. It's just been the same old stuff, as I'm sure you know. I'm getting really frustrated with my job and once again I'm thinking about going back into the computer field... and being more serious about it this time.

There's been a lot of stuff bugging the hell out of me in just the last week and I don't think I can accomplish any of it while still being a low-paid dispatcher. I wouldn't make much more in the computer industry, but it would certainly help. The problem I'm running into, though, is have I been out of the field for too long already? A perfect example of that is Windows Vista. I only used it a few times since I was last a tech, back in early September 2007. I haven't really touched it since. Sure, maybe on my girlfriends laptop, but that's hardly administering a computer from the business perspective. I'd be lost if I walked into a company that just upgraded to Vista computers.

Dispatching is an "easy" job. WAIT! Before you shoot at me for saying that... I meant I don't have to drive all over the place fixing computers and listening to stupid people who don't have a clue what they're doing. Instead, I sit in my cell, staring at the same 4 walls, answering phones where there's usually a stupid person on the other end of the line. When there's no calls, I sit there with my feet up on the desk and watch TV, play sudoku on my phone, or talk to myself.

It's fun sometimes. Especially since I'm on midnights and the only people around are about 3 patrol officers and a patrol sergeant. Unless they come in for reports, arrests, or to randomly read the paper, I'm on my own.

We'll see how it turns out. I'll keep you updated. I'll also try to post more. There's been some stuff I wanted to bring up, but I have my hands in too many different things right now and I'm being stretched thin.

Dispatcher 6