Gimme Five 030716
Wednesday, Jul. 16, 2003
1. Thirteen Miles
Before we went to Mexico, I bought a pair of FRS/GMRS radios. Those are the little two way radios that are so popular. They didn�t get used much in Mexico since the guy in charge really didn�t want to be gotten hold of. Aisai and I worked within 40 feet of each other, and I�d only have to walk about six feet to poke my head out the doorway to say hi to her. Well, I was reading the family radio newsgroup yesterday and someone mentioned that they got much better range over water than the advertised two miles. They said they got around four miles. Then a person piped up and said that over ocean water, they had gotten thirteen miles out of a pair. They sited the brand and model too. It was a cheap set of Cobra units with a two mile range. (I�ve got a cheap set of Motorola units with a two mile range.)
2. 10123 Versailles
That�s the address of my childhood home. Sometimes I drive past it since it makes me sad to see it in such horribly conditions. Some day, I�ll drive by and someone new will live in it and it will be all cleaned up and the vines will be cut off the house and new shutters will be up. Heck, maybe it�d even be mowed too.
With the information I need at work to do my job, one of the things I have access to in the utilities database. I�ve always assumed that it was angry renters who lived in the house, since it is so horrible and pathetic. And it�s not a horrible neighborhood either. Across the street is the second best elementary school in town, and all the houses are nice, except 10123, which is a hellhole. Well, I looked up the information on 10123 and it seems that the same single guy has been in it since 1995.
He�s destroying my childhood. Well, him and George Lucas.
3. Manslaughter/Self Defense
Dave Barry linked to a prison penpal guy who was very scary in his blog. And since I was just killing time while Aisai played Animal Crossing, I poked around and looked at different people. This one gal, and not some rough lifer prison dweller, was in for about another year and some months for �Manslaughter/Self Defense.� I always thought if you defended yourself you could off anyone and it�d be fine (but don�t defend yourself against the police.)
I looked up what that meant and the most common time it occurs is when a woman is being abused by their spouse or boyfriend. The gal then resolves in her mind that if he starts beating me again, then I�ll kill him. And they equip themselves to do so. So, when bubby starts beating her, it is actually self defense, but it�s premeditated. So they get a few years for taking out the trash in the wrong manner.
4. Ward
This looking at prison stuff made me wonder where my cousin was. I never talk about him. No one ever talks about him. My mom will always make the claim that we have �no blood� with him anytime he is mentioned.
Ward is my cousin. When he was 19 he held up a convenience store in Georgia and killed the clerk. I don�t know details beyond that, and I don�t really want to. But it was done in such a way that he is on death row. So I�m sure there are some gory details about how he did it.
I found Ward�s picture. Not at the penpal site, but the Georgia Prison site. He looks healthy, but sad. He�s my age. I don�t remember him too well. The only memory I really have of him is when Grandpa Brockman gave all the kids those Nerf Missile Launcers for Christmas early, so we�d have something to do. So we were all shooting Nerf Missiles around Grandpa Brockman�s house. Ward, and Jarhead (Jared, his brother) and me.
5. Grandpa Brockman�s Nicknames
Grandpa Brockman had a nickname for everyone. In fact, he was called �Mutt� his whole life, even though his name was Clarence (which is as good a reason as any to be called Mutt in my opinion). My nickname was Mark Anthony. My father, also named Clarence, was Richard. Yes, that was his nickname. I don�t recall any of the other members of my family�s nicknames, but Mom has told me he never gave her one (which she�s glad of). And obviously, Jared�s nickname was Jarhead.
If anyone was going to flip out and kill people, I�d figure it�d have been a guy called Jarhead for most of his childhood.