I'm beginning to get back to something resembling a normal life--or at least as normal a life as I've ever had. It took a couple of days, but I'm finally to the point where I don't feel guilty for doing something that doesn't involve studying. Friday I washed and waxed my unit, and then spent a bunch of time fiddling with stuff on the inside, like getting my computer stand in the position I wanted (which was difficult since I'm missing several brackets that I need.) I also finally cleaned out my trunk of all the stuff I needed during the academy, and started to stock it with various stuff I might need while on the road. Of course this whole process was made all the more complicated by the fact that Zeus absolutely loves going for rides, and so whenever a car door is opened, he jumps inside. And somehow he always manages to have muddy feet.

I've also discovered that I have to keep Zeus locked inside whenever I wash my car, because he thinks water is great fun and gets very aggressive with it--tries to bite it, and leaps at it--which usually means he ends up jumping on the car, with his big muddy feet, which pretty much ruins any chance I have of actually getting my car clean.

I've also been attacking my yard this weekend, which a co-worker had described as a "dump." Personally I preferred the term "overgrown shithole." So, I offered this co-worker the chance to be my personal lawn-boy (I told him I would even supply the loincloth) but he refused my kind offer. Therefore, I spent much of my weekend doing my own yardwork. It's beginning to approach "respectable" and the flowers I planted around my front door made a colossal difference.

I go back to work as a "real" deputy on Monday--though I have 5 days left of my field training, which had not been finished up before the academy started. So I'll have a partner for another week, which I'm actually kinda glad for, since I've been out of the loop for so long. I think it'll be good to have someone there to remind me of various procedures that I've surely forgotten. I learned a helluva lot in the academy, but the majority of it is theory, and the application of that theory is what counts. However, I was fortunate to get a phone call this morning, asking me to work a detail this afternoon. Nice relief there, because extra money is always a nice thing, and now that I'm POST certified, I can work any detail on the books. I was annoyed at myself yesterday, because at about 4pm I decided to go see a movie (Erin Brockovich--good flick!), and then after that I did some shopping, and so I didn't get home until after 8pm. Well, there was a message on my answering machine from the radio room, time-stamped at about 4:15, telling me to call within the next 20 minutes if I wanted to work a detail that night. Arrg! But the worst thing was when I dug my pager out of my bookbag, I saw that they'd tried to page me as well--and if I'd actually had my pager with me (trust me, they're much more useful if you actually carry them with you) I could have left the movie and gone to work a detail. (It wouldn't have been any great loss on the cost of the movie either--it's only 50 cents for cops at that theater!)

So, needless to say, I learned my lesson about effective uses of pagers. And, I was very relieved that there was a homicide last night and the detective who was supposed to work the detail this afternoon was busy with the investigation and asked me to work it instead. (No, I'm not glad about the homicide--just the circumstances!)