What a great weekend we had

With both sets of parents and a couple of siblings in town to help us celebrate Logan's graduation we had a great time.

The graduation itself was very neat. Not something you get to see everyday. There were the Police Trumpet Band followed by the Pipe Band. The Pipe Band marched around and had a dancer. And then out marched the recruits. Down the stairs and into formation wearing their "number ones", their dress uniforms. From the top of the badge adorned hats, crisp white shirts, black leather gloves and mirror like shine on the boots they were dressed to impress. Then they marched. Around the parade square they went in perfect unison. It was all very neat. The band was playing, the flags were waving and the recruits were in deep concentration. And then the exciting part. They presented each of them with their badge and certificate! After a quick shake of the hand with the Chief and Head of the Police Association they were off and marching again. Something that I will never forget.

After a quick stop over at our place for some appetizers and drinks we headed of to the Westin for a beautiful dinner and dance. The only problem was the recruits had been working 10 hour days all week and were at the armouries at 7:30 that morning to set up and practice one more time. They were all too pooped to party. Sure they drank and chatted - but it was up to Stef and I to dance the night away. And we did!

We made friends with a couple of other people and the four of us remained on the floor from the third dance until the end. Some people came and went. But we danced. Jason and Tyler Haughey were the DJ's so that added to the fun. They said that they play the music to the crowd. They quickly discovered that no one was going to dance - so that made the four of us the crowd. We had a good ole time!

Saturday we booked the entertainment room in our apartment building. We had food till the cows come home. Appetizers, cake, punch... yum... if I do say so myself. We were a small group and I had planned for an army. But we had a great time!

(I custom designed the cake using clip art -

you are unable to see his reg # on the badge on the hat)

A round of our favorite new game Apples to Apples

Then back upstairs to play a relaxing game of Wii.

Our new game "Smooth Moves"

Logan's Police Graduation Ceremony

My poor baby.

Logan has experienced some interesting things in his training. They have done some crazy physical training, learned things that the average person doesn't want to know. A week or two ago they Tazered him. He was one of seven who experienced that pleasure. He even videotaped it. Not something I can watch. Not true, I watched the other people and laughed - but saw Logan get it and felt terrible for him. To hear him groan in pain is not easy. But his comment on that event was that the pain was more than he thought it could be while the Tazer was cycling (3 sec), but as soon as it was done it was over! There was no lasting pain or anything. Today is another story.

Today all of them were peppered sprayed. My poor baby. They pulled numbers and he was last. He got to watch every one of them go thru it before it was his turn. He said that it was more painful than he ever thought that it could be. Apparently his eyes, nose and mouth started to run like crazy to clear out the pepper spray. Gross.

I feel really bad because the pain continued, well, continues. They were sprayed at 1:00 and felt alot of pain until 6:00. He sat in the car for half an hour with the air in his face until he could drive. He came home and looked horrible. After the exercise they had a decontamination area with a bucket of water and baby shampoo to rinse. But they were told only to wash once cause the spray is worst when it is wet. Then they all lined up in front of the fans they had to cool down the burning. He came home and stood on a phone book on a chair to put his face up to the air conditioner vent. He started to feel better and went to do the dishes. He obviously got sprayed on the hands cause the water reactivated the spray and then next thing I know he has his hands in the freezer.

I guess if the point is to show them how their weapons feel they may think about it before they use them. I think that Logan will reserve the use of Pepper spray for those who have really done bad.

Wife Night

On Friday night the people in Logan's recruit class were all planning on going out for drinks and for the first time their significant others were invited. First they went to the Cuff & Billy (the cop bar at the police associate). At just before nine (when I finished rehearsal) they conveniently moved to Earl's right by our house. I walked over and found a group of very "happy" people. They had clearly been "enjoying" their Friday night since the end of class at 4pm. I had a not bad time. But the lounge of Earl's is loud and everyone was too far gone to say anything more than "Hey, it's Loganberry's wife. Mrs. Berry how are you doing?" Very clever! But that would be the extent of the conversations I had - less one person that started talking to me about working back stage which progressed to the usual "I did a show in high school..." and that is the end of that.

I however had given up Opening Night comp tickets to Theatre Calgary's The Overcoat to meet these people.

Disclaimer** when you read this Logan I am not complaining or bitching, all I am saying is that they are nearly $100 tickets I got for free to shmkooze with and I could have sat with a group of drunk people I don't know any night.

A Short Blog From Log

Wow, my first time "blogging". don't like talking about my training because it seems like it's all I ever do, and I don't want to be one of those people that other people say 'shut up about the cop thing already...'. Here goes:
I love it. The people that are in my group are great, and so are our instructors. The instructors are very level-headed and make us do very difficult tasks, but always include an explanation as to how this will help us. The majority of Police officers are great people. We are told what we can and can not do constantly, but they throw in a side note of "but if there are kids involved, do whatever you can", letting us know that we may be sued civily for our actions....but would you want to save a child's life and get sued, or let one die? It won't seem like it when you get your speeding ticket (I have lots!), but most cops really want to help. I know I have been sitting at a red light and a cop car will turn on the lights, blow through the light, then turn them off again and I thought 'fresh batch of doughnuts eh??' but now I think....I wonder if that guy has a 1 month old baby at home and is enroute to a sids death, or rape-home invasion.
I'm just lucky that I have Stacey and my family and God to keep me flying steady.

First time bloggin'....hmmmm. It was ok, but don't hold your breath.

Opening and cop stuff

*** UPDATE****
The puke run was supposed to be yesterday. They all arrived early to the classroom dressed to run (and puke). They had a little lesson on the chalk board about how the run would go etc. Then they said that they were going to go for a nice easy run as a group - choose a partner... no puke run. I am just worried that they will spring it on them. That is something I would want a little warning on, some prep time.
*****************


Opening went well. The show was fine. Once I am preset there isn't a lot for me to do. The show is three actors on stage for the whole show - they don't leave and there are no scene changes. Everything that needs to be done/changed they have to do themselves. But it seems to be going well. The audience likes it and that is all that really matters.

Nothing else new to report. Logan is loving be a recruit. They are working him hard (physically and mentally). He is learning tons of great stuff - and lots of fun stuff that he teaches me when he gets home. Lots of interesting obstacle courses and physical training too. Some that doesn't sound very fun to me! On Tuesday there is a thresh hold run. Basically, they run from the cop shop downtown to the enter street bridge and Memorial Drive (very close to our house and our huge hill) they run up the steps leading you from Memorial to the top of the bridge - at the top do 30 push ups and back down. Repeat until you puke. That is right - go till you puke. The idea (apparently) is to see how much you can actually do (instead of when you might stop). Weird. Not really my idea of a good time - but we will see how it goes. He tells me that they aren't doing it individually, they have to run in a group. So really you are only as strong as your weakest link - so maybe he just has to wait for most of the others to puke. Weird.

Nothing new

There seems to be nothing new at our place. Things have found a rhythm. Logan gets up and goes to work/school around 7am. I stay in bed until the much later alarm call of 8:30. Logan goes to his police class, I go to the theatre. He finishes around 4pm and I finish around 5:30. We come home, make some supper and sit around a bit. Then Logan starts to get tired and tries to go to bed early. I have been allowing this - even though I am a night person. It is 9 right now and he is off getting ready for bed. And then we will get up and do it again tomorrow.

Exciting - I know. I can hardly convey the excitement on the page. Oh well. Routine is nice. For a while. I look forward to my next contract. I will be working with Quest Theatre as a Stage Manager. They do theatre for young audiences. I will be working with three male actors in a show call "The Curse of Shree" and it will tour Calgary and area schools teaching kids about music. On that contract I will have weekends off. Logan and I will both have weekends off together. It has been a long time since I have had weekends off. Since we both have had the same days off together! Can't wait for Feb.

Day One down

I picked up Logan shortly after 4pm yesterday, just down the street from the downtown Police Headquarters building. He had piles of books and papers, not to mention his duty bag full of goodies. He couldn't stop talking about all that he had learned. And yet, he felt like they had tried to jam so much stuff in his head in one day that none of it had stuck. I think that he quite enjoyed himself.
It will take some getting used to though. It has been a long time since he has been in school. The classroom setting calls for a very different sort of energy. A lot more brain power than one is used to using in a day. He said that his head hurt from cramming so much in.
He was pretty excited to go back today. I think that it will be a very interesting six months.

Today is the first day of a new career

Today is Logan's first day of training with the Calgary Police. Yesterday was his last day as a civilian. The first order of business this morning was to swear all the new recruits in. He is now officially Constable Kotlar. He has to wear his uniform every day and everything. I can't wait for him to come home so I can hear all about his first day.