I went and got Zeus's picture taken with Santa Claus today! The proceeds go to the Animal Assistance league, and it was really just too darn cute to pass up. Zeus, of course, got all sorts of compliments while we were down at the pet store. "Wow, he's big!" being the most-heard. The LASAR (Louisiana Search and Rescue) dog group had a table down there also, and they tried to recruit me to get Zeus trained as a search dog until I told them I worked for the Sheriff's office. (If they're out working a search, chances are I'm working it too!) He also got his claws clipped for free while we were there by one of the LASAR guys--which was handy for me since it's a two-person operation to do his claws.

Zeus was very well-behaved with Santa and posed beautifully. As soon as I get access to a scanner I'll subject y'all to pictures of my dog.

The other night when I was at the office, I had three different people come up to me to tell me that the Detective Captain was looking for me. "Why? What did I do?" I asked one of the detectives who was passing along the message. (Not that I have a guilty conscience, mind you, but this Captain is known to spank deputies who don't do proper initial reports or who don't do necessary follow-up.)

However, the poor schmuck giving me the message had no clue, so later in the evening I called dispatch up and asked them to page the Captain and have him call my cell. A few minutes later a different detective with same last name as the Captain called me. "Umm... sorry. Wrong one!" Called dispatch back and had them page the correct name.

Anyway, the Captain finally got in touch with me. And instead of receiving a spanking, I was instead offered a position in investigations as a detective. (Or rather technically I was offered the chance to interview for the position, but if the Captain calls to ask you to interview, it's an awfully good sign.)

However, I politely declined. So he and I had a long discussion (this is the second time this year that I've been offered a detective position.) He knew that I'd been trying to get on with Narcotics, and he agreed that there's more experience to be gained in narcotics than just about anywhere else in the department. I told him that eventually I do want to go "to the back", but not for a while. Fortunately, he seemed totally cool with my answer. And, I feel fairly confident that when I do decide I'm ready to go to investigations, I won't have any trouble getting in.

I will admit, too, that it was an awfully big ego boost.