My problem with today's law enforcement

I first want to say that I have a lot of respect for cops. My cousin's husband is a cop and after listening to some of his stories I realize that they truely are heroes. I couldn't do that job nor would I want to. They take a lot of undeserved crap from the very people they are out to protect, but sometimes you have to wonder about the system....

We all have our stories where at some point in our lives we feel we were treated unfairly by a law enforcement officer (I know Tom has at least three). Mine involved a highway patrol woman in Mora who stopped me for speeding. She was literally parked at the sign were you are suppose to slow down from 60 to 40 mph. Technically she was right and I was going to fast when I crossed that sign, but come on...give me a flippin' chance to slow down. She then approached my car with her gun half drawn and proceeded to ask why my car was riding so low. I honestly didn't know that it was. She decided that the speeding ticket was enough and didn't search my car.

I told you this story to tell you another story. My problem with today's law enforcement wasn't that this cop gave me a ticket just because she was having a bad day, or didn't like people with green eyes, or whatever her bullshit reason was. It's that she would sit at that 40 mph sign waiting to trap a speeder when there are so many other horendous crimes being commited that she could be out trying to prevent.

This issue popped in my head when I was driving to work yesterday listening to the news on WCCO. The story was about a woman that on the previous day held a dieing pizza delivery driver in her arms after he was shot and killed for the $30 he had on him. The very next day someone broke into her house, shot her boyfriend in the leg, and stole $2,000 from her. As I was listening to this story I drove past an officer parked behind a bridge pillar setting up a speed trap.

Those of you who live in Minnesota and watch the news know that North Minneapolis is a war zone right now. While I haven't visited either, the description of the area sounds simliar to that of current day Iraq. Wouldn't that police officer's time be better spent patrolling the streets of North Minneapolis than setting up a speed trap in Forest Lake?

I don't begrudge any individual officer. If I was told to set up a speed trap out in the suburbs I don't think I would ask if I could go to North Minneapolis instead. But I think we need change at the top starting with Govenor Tim Pawlenty and Mayor R.T. Rybek.

--Doohow

A random night, networking

Tonight, for whatever reason, I was feeling introspective.

I decided to try to hunt down people I used to know, on MySpace and Facebook.

It was an interesting adventure.

I was looking for people I used to be in shows with, either in Arts-In or back in high school.

I started off just plugging names into the search features of both sites. I had no success. Everyone who's name I could remember, I either had aready found, had been found by, or wasn't on either site.

Having spare time on my hands, I upped the search by searching through the friends of other people I was already connnected with.

I found a girl named Heidi, possibly one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet through another Tom's friend list. That was fortunate, I have no idea how to spell her last name. It starts with a W......

It was an interesting search, especially for the girls. First off, I wanted to know if any of my old hot friends were still hot. Second, it is tricky to find girls because we're at the age where a lot of them are getting married (especially the hot ones), and then BAM! new last name.

MySpace makes it even more difficult, because people can use nicknames and false pictures.

In all, I only came across 2 or 3 people that I used to know. I sent them a couple of messages, hey, how's life, etc.

It reminds me of how many truly special people I have met in my life, and how many I've had to say goodbye to.

Chances are, that if you're reading this, I've coerced or badgered you into doing so. And if I took that much effort, if we ever drift apart, you can bet that I'll be trying to track you down someday too.

Or maybe I'll get really, really rich and just pay someone to keep tabs on everyone I've ever met.

I RULE YOU (especially Jordan)!

I have always wanted to be a Tom

....and now that day is finally here.

Sorry about the delayed introduction, but I am not too computer savy and it took me 3 days to figure out how to post on here.

For those of you who do not know my real name it is A.J., but to my closest friends it's Doohow.

I don't know where Doohow came from or what it means, but it's the one that stuck. It was coined by a friend of Tom's and mine in high school, Bryan Ingebrand. I even asked Byran one day "Why Doohow?"....and his reply was simply "Because you're the Dooest of the Doohows". Byran's twin brother Joe tried his own variation for awhile, Doohouse, but it didn't take. It could be worse. Tom and I went to school with a guy that will forever be known as Sweaty Boner.

I am at work right now and things are kind of crazy, so I am not really in a creative blogging mode at the moment. By the way that reminds me that I should say that I work at the Minnesota House of Representatives. I say this because it will be the inspiration for many of my posts. This is an interesting place to work and I never run out of work stories.

I will also be able to provide some Tom stories to all of his loyal fans. My in-laws once noted to me that most of my best stories start with the phrase "My friend Tom...".

Here is a quick sample:

One night at about 1 in the morning Tom and I were riding around in the Ghetto Cruiser (god I miss that car) and we decided to stop by Powerhouse Hallstrom's house. I don't know why, but Tom killed the lights an parked at the end of his long long driveway. We went up to Powerhouse's door and didn't get an answer. Tom then did the only logical thing and grabbed the case of Mountain Dew in his garage and we left. It was the sweetest Mountain Dew either of us had ever tasted. The best part was listening to Powerhouse bitch about his neighbors stealing his soda for the next two weeks.

Man, high school boys can be dicks.

--Doohow