The Edge of Empty

I have mentioned before that ferrets are curious creatures.  During our recent air conditioner/hotel adventure, A. E. was particularly mesmerized by Youngest's new pocket watch.  Too bad we couldn't hypnotize him so that he would stop crawling under the beds.

I have been told that we may be having some new visitors from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of FARA stopping by this week.  Welcome!! You might like to check out my disclaimer here and some previous CryWolf® hints here . Today, we are continuing our discussion of letters generated by CryWolf®. We previously discussed how to send a letter from the account screen and also how to use portions of the bulk letters screen.  There are many times that it is necessary to send a letter to an alarm user beyond the alarm notifications that are generated when processing alarm calls.  Before my arrival in the unit, the practice was to draft a letter in Word and send it out.  This certainly served the purpose, but record keeping in CryWolf® was being ignored.  Most of the time, the accounts in CryWolf® show no indication that a letter was sent--so staff members have no idea to go looking for those letters. Although the letters were saved and are available on the shared hard driv...

One of the benefits of having the Hubster's project completed is that hair is no longer taking over our home.  Our bathroom particularly is blessedly becoming a long hair free zone.  In helping those efforts along, I decided to clean out the strainer plate over the shower drain.  I had noticed that there was some hair caught in it and I wanted to get rid of it.  Little did I know what awaited me.  When I pulled up the strainer, a huge mass of hair came snaking out of the drain.  Honestly, it was so gross that I about puked.  What I thought was a few hairs was a mass so thick that it filled up the entire pipe--I can't believe that we didn't have draining problems.  The mass was bigger than A. E. Ferret, and itt looked a bit like it could have been a relative too. My poor mom is probably thinking "where did I go wrong? I taught her how to clean a house."  However, blogging is a bit of an adventure--you never know when a bit of over-sharing wi...

I am determined to buck the trends when it comes to blogging--that shouldn't be too hard with a site that focuses on false alarms and features photos of a ferret.  I just don't think that there are many blogs out there that focus on either of these things--and certainly not any that combine the two. Also, I figure that there are enough posts about current popular topics without me adding my two cents.  Hurricane Irene and the earthquake are recent examples.  However, I can provide a public service announcement for those living in the earthquake affected areas.  We have lived in Japan and California, so have experienced earthquakes several times.  I knew that I should inspect my home for damage, but to be honest, I didn't really feel much  any concern that there might be damage.  That is until last Monday when my husband called to tell me that a neighbor texted him that he had smelled gas near our house when he walked his dog.  Needless to say...

As anyone in Law Enforcement can tell you, the Law Enforcement Torch Run benefiting Special Olympics is a special event that takes place across the country and around the world culminating in the lighting of the Olympic torch at the opening ceremony of the summer Special Olympic games.  The torch run was begun in Kansas City in 1981 by a police chief who saw a need and was moved to action.  The International Association of Chiefs of Police soon adopted the cause and the torch run has grown to become one of the largest fund raisers for Special Olympics. Special Olympics provides so much for the athletes and is something that the athletes benefit from year round.  The best way to describe the spirit that I have seen in the athletes is competition with love.  It is rare these days to see a fellow athlete demonstrate caring for his competitors.  This attitude is shown every day across the country in Special Olympics venues though. The sports events also become soc...