The Edge of Empty

I had the opportunity to speak about alarm systems and false alarms at a self-defense workshop for women this past weekend. The event was put on by one of the members of the county board of supervisors. There were 13 speakers slotted to speak in a 2 hour period, so we only had a few minutes each. As you can imagine, each speaker had to distill their comments to the most important points. I decided to focus on the following questions: Do you need an alarm system? Take advantage of free home security survey offered by many departments Evaluate if you will actually use it Consider low-cost alternatives such as upgrading locks and lights How do you choose an alarm company? Use resources such as the Better Business Bureau Check with neighbors Don't be afraid to move away from the beginning of the alphabet Check professional associations such as ESA for members What do you need to do after install? Learn how to use the system Follow the maintenance schedule Educate al

A young mother named Jennifer Black-Moir asked Will Wheaton to explain to her new daughter why it is awesome to be a nerd and then she put it on YouTube. Since I am a bit of a nerd and I gave  birth to an outright geek and a semi-geek, this really hit home. His response was thoughtful and lovely, and worth a few minutes if you are or love a geek/nerd/unique individual. Enjoy!

A few years ago, I took a job with a police department to become a fingerprint technician. As with many government jobs, the advertised position varied a bit from the actual position and one of my main duties was to staff the front desk of the station. Since I worked the midnight shift, there wasn't a lot of foot traffic. As time passed,  I took on many interesting duties such as calibrating alco-sensors and tasers just to keep busy.  There was still down time though, and I began reading blogs when I couldn't find any other duties. One of my favorite law enforcement related blogs was "The Chief's Corner" written by Tom Casady who was Chief of Police in Lincoln, Nebraska at the time. He has since moved on to the position of Public Safety Director and the blog has been retitled " The Director's Desk ." One of the reasons I found his blog so fascinating was that he appeared to be so technology savvy. At my station, I was the closest thing to a tech ge