SO Lame

Soooo I feel super lame, I just realized I haven't posted since the 19th.. I feel kinda bad! I just don't have any new photos.. I've been stressed with school so I haven't really had a chance to be awesome. I have film being developed.. so hopefully i'll get that soon and be able to post some prints...

It's really windy/rainy today.. I love it.

This is super sweet.

Look Here

The end.

Hopefully I'll have something new to share soon.

Until then.. Enjoy!

Lock In!!

So I have nothing new to show you, just to tell you.

Things have been up and down for me recently. The house is starting to feel more and more like the apartment did last year. If you don't know what that means, it's ok. I just feel bad, pretty much every day that passes it reminds me a little more. School is getting really difficult, I am just so burnt out, I really need a break. Luckily it's just a few more weeks until spring break. Hopefully everything will get better all around.

On a happier note, the weather has been really nice, but I haven't been able to get out and take pictures. :( Class and sickness do not care that it is pretty outside. Hopefully this weekend will be nice so I can get out!

Anyways...

Today I participated in an event called the Lock-In. This is where a bunch of police agencies come in and put on simulations and teach us about their different fields within criminal justice/criminology. There were three different rotations with 2 sub-rotations each. The ones I did were:

*Shoot/Don't Shoot

This is where you interact with a scene on a screen. it is throwing you into a situation and you have to decide if lethal force is necessary. This wasn't as fun, you are yelling at a screen with a laser gun that didn't work half the time. The officer said this isn't used as much as it used to be.. I can see why.

*SWAT Simulation (Active Shooter)

This one was my favorite! we were working with the Medford SWAT team, which is full time police, part time SWAT. We were briefed on what they do, and why they are important. We then learned about their formations, and why they form the way they do. It was then time to break down into small groups, we had a group of 7 so it broke down into 4 and 3. My group had 4, and we learned to walk as a group and how to move into a room with an active shooter. I was center point (I'm pretty sure that's right). So there was a girl directly behind me, and one on either side of me slightly behind me. I was front and center! We then went to gear up! We got masks and the glocks, they had foam rounds. We learned how to hold them, and all that fun stuff. It was then time to move into the hallway to get started! The SWAT team had become the victims, spread throughout the hallway with tables and chairs thrown around. We started moving towards the gunfire, a man jumped out of the bathroom yelling, "don't shoot me don't shoot me" we kept moving. We came to the room yielding the gunfire, I entered first to see a man holding a gun at a man's head. I shot at the man holding the gun, and I hit him! We kept shooting until he fell to the ground, but we found out someone on our team had shot the hostage. Later, while talking to the SWAT officer, in our group debriefing, he said he was surprised with how well I did leading the group. He was also told me he was surprised by how well I did, and that I hit the target. Apparently some people didn’t think I would have good aim? Haha.

It was then time to switch out to

* Traffic Stop

I didn’t enjoy this one as much, it was just the officer talking about a traffic stop, he had a car pulled over with a gun on the dash and drugs in the drink holder. Nothing was new or surprising to hear, it was just ok.

* DUII

This was a lecture about DUI’s. This was another just ok, not very surprising at all. The only thing I really found interesting from this was that you can be charged with a DUI on a horse. The officer was really nice, and you could tell he wanted to be doing more than just lecturing, but because of the time limitations he couldn’t do anything more. He also didn’t seem like he had much planning time to prepare.

* Crime Scene

This was my third favorite part of the day! We walked in and met two detectives from Central Point, both were really nice. They had real crime scene photos, and showed us cool techniques and some real life CSI stuff. Like the magnetic dust powder! It was sooo cool!! It made the print cleaner, and wasted less powder while making the print just as well. It was also surprising to hear that DNA takes about a year to get back, and rushed is still 6-8 months! Fingerprints are also something that take a long time, they are not just instantly put into the computer system, they are first hand looked at, by two technicians and then finally put into the system. This is obviously not what we see on tv.

* K-9

This was my second favorite part! The officer was really nice, and did a lecture then simulation. He specializes in finding drugs, mostly through traffic stops. He has his dog, Quincey with him pretty much always. Quincey is a black lab, who is very hyper and muscular. I have never seen a dog with so much muscle! He is trained to find cocaine, marijuana, meth and heroin… When he smells one of these, he will being scratching.. Scratching the car.. Sucks for them! Ahah shouldn’t have it anyways! Also, he did a simulation where he had some pot in a duffle bag, he had a bunch lined up on the ground and had Quincey find it. As soon as he started scratching, the officer threw a rolled up towel for Quincey to get.. After he had that towel he didn't care what happened to the bag! He just wanted that towel. He was a total puppy! So the officer was telling us about life with Quincey and how much he loves his job. He also joked about how unprotective Quincey is over him, he said we could beat him up and Quincey wouldn't do anything.. as long as he got his towel. LOL He told us a lot of stories that have happened recently.. Just today he stopped a guy with a pound of marijuana. He really sold his job and I must admit it was a convincing argument.

Overall, today was amazing. It was a great experience and I am kinda regretting not doing it before! One of the other rotations that I didn’t do had tasers! And a few students decided to get tazed.. I don’t know that I would have done that, but it would have been interesting to see!

Anyways, on a more photographic topic.. If I see pictures from today I will be sure to post them! And hopefully I will be able to post some pictures soon!!

So sorry for the length! It was just a great experience, and I wanted to share with someone!

Whoa

So I was just looking at photos online, and I stumbled across this artist named Martin Stranka, he is from Prague. He has done work for commercials, and coffee shops as well as many others. His photos are pretty dark, not much color to them, they have a sort of eerie feel to them. Almost like in a dream. But they are so amazing. His work is really well done, each photo tells a story.

I think you should check him out!

http://www.martinstranka.com/

As for me, no new stuff yet. So enjoy his!

Migraine Post!

This is part two of the Daddy's camera pictures. These ones I think are better. I think the third one is the best from this roll. hopefully the rest will turn out good like that. Next roll is black and white. Soooo we shall see!

So I had a migraine all day, I slept until like 6 pm when finally it was feeling ok enough that I could get up. Now to do all the homework that was supposed to be done all day today. YAY.

Until next time..

I don't know what to say now.

Bye!!

The Time Has Come..

To show some photos using my daddy's camera! Most of the pictures didn't turn out, it was the first real attempt to use his camera... Bigger lens = heavy, more shake. The few that did, aren't very good. But I will share the best of the worst. HAHA Even though some aren't very good, they turned out and that is what is important. I need to spend more time getting used to his camera, and then maybe they will be decent. So without further ado.. I give you..

Oh nope wait.. I forgot. I will be sharing 8 photos with you. So I will make two posts, with 4 pictures each.

So NOW.. without further ado..

I give you..

A ROCK!

This was on my way home from my sister's. Those HUGE wind thingys that are cool.. theres a bunch along the way. There happened to be a nice viewpoint to stop at.
This is... a ROAD! No way!!
And again from the viewpoint.
End part 1.

Missin Them

It has been about 52 hours since I saw my niece and nephew and said bye. I miss them so much already. I mean how can you not miss these faces?

The whole time I was there I was exhausted, from the drive and from school. School has been pretty tough this year. Seeing these two was a nice break, one that I needed desperately. But now that I am back at school, all I can think about is the next time I will get to see them. All I can say is tomorrow would be too long to wait.. So however long it is.. Is too long.

Desi is a good sister. She misses the attention though. That is pretty obvious, it is a hard change to go from all the attention on her to most of it on the baby. She loves him though, and I bet she can't wait until she can play with him. Right after I took this pic, she looked at him and said,"Hi brother I like you." It was about the sweetest thing i've ever seen.

I hope the next time I get to see them will be for longer. I also hope I will have my camera so I can take a bajillion pictures. (I had my mom's second camera and it doesn't do too well in low light). But a camera is a camera, and one is better than none.

Speaking of camera's, I should be able to post some new pics from my daddy's awesome camera.. As soon as I get them developed.

Time to study.

Hangin with the Kiddos

These pics are from yesterday, Feb. 4th. Benjamin is so cute! and so quiet!! Desi is all over the place.. Just as a 3 year old should. She has her moments of being really cute with Ben, but also moments of "noo!! don't do that" Also as a three year old. All in all, they are super cute, and it will be sad when I have to go.

Welcome Home!

So I came home today, for the night. I am heading to my sister's tomorrow!! When I got home I got to see my puppy and doggy. Remy is about 3 months old and ginormous! He gave me the best welcome i've gotten in awhile. it made me feel special :) I really want to find a place where I can have him next year. With any luck i'll get my wish come true. It would make everything so much better. I love this boy. Best guy in my life ;)