Real 911 calls

Dispatcher: 911 What is your emergency?
Caller: I heard what sounded like gunshots coming from the brown house on the corner. Dispatcher: Do you have an address?
Caller: No, I have on a blouse and slacks, why?

Dispatcher: 911
Caller: Yeah, I'm having trouble breathing. I'm all out of breath. Darn....I think I'm going to pass out.
Dispatcher: Sir, where are you calling from?
Caller: I'm at a pay phone. North and Foster.
Dispatcher: ! Sir, an ambulance is on the way. Are you an asthmatic?
Caller: No
Dispatcher: What were you doing before you started having trouble breathing?
Caller: Running from the Police.

Dispatcher: 911 What is the nature of your emergency?
Caller: I'm trying to reach nine eleven but my phone doesn't have an eleven on it.
Dispatcher: This is nine eleven.
Caller: I thought you just said it was nine-one-one
Dispatcher: Yes, ma'am nine-one-one and nine-eleven are the same thing.
Caller: Honey, I may be old, but I'm not stupid.

Dispatcher: 911 What's the nature of your emergency?
Caller: My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart
Dispatcher: Is this her first child?
Caller: No, you idiot! This is her husband!

Meowy

Having 3 fifteen year old cats, I've seen my share of feline injuries. Today I saw one like no other. Tuesday we let our 3 cats go outside to get some sunshine. Two of them came back inside later that day. Meowy, however, didn't. My mom went outside late that night and looked for her, but never found her. The next morning, my dad let her in, because she was sitting at the door. She was completely soaked, and the fur down the right side of her back was missing. This made me angry, because by looking at it you could tell it was not done by nature. It looks like someone took her and tried to wax or skin her alive. How anyone could torture an animal like that is beyond me.

Free Weekend

I lost my match yesterday morning, and arrived back in town by noon. I spend the day talking with my friends and watching softball games. Then I realized that I don't have a tournament scheduled for this weekend. It will be the only weekend this summer in which I am in town. It is also the only weekend this summer in which I have to work. My coworkers miss me.

2nd Day

I lost this morning to the eight seed. I played awesome, but she was way too good for me. The score was 6-1,6-1. I play tommorow at 8 AM. I'm quite bored because all of the other players from my hometown went two and out. That means they're at home enjooying the picnic while I'm here with my mother and nothing to do.

Midwest Closed

Today I played in the Midwest Closed Tennis Tournament in Indy. It is one of the 3 toughest Midwest tournaments. Before today I hadn’t won a single singles match in this tournament, and I have been playing it for 6 years. Somehow, my first match this morning I played a girl from Middle ILL and won 6-0, 6-0

The highlight of the day was my doubles match, even though we lost. I played with a girl from Skokie, IL, which is by Chicago. She was really cool. She had orange hair and a very strong accent. I could hardly understand anything she said. We may have lost but it was a good match, and I played awesome. Hopefully I will see her again.

The one bad thing about winning this morning is that no matter what I have to play on Monday.

Heather

Pictures

My sister and I's last tournament together.

The trophy was huge.

Congratulations Everyone

State Champs

That’s right state champs. My high school team participated in the first ever Illinois Class A State tournament. In past years, the state tournament was an individual event, so the coaches association decided to add a team state tournament. They split the school in half. Class A consisted of schools with less than 1500 students. They then invited the top eight schools to complete this past weekend. We were seeded 1st and lived up to that seeding. The matches consisted of 3 doubles and 2 singles matches. We dominated. My partner and I didn’t even give up a game all tournament. I promise I’ll post some pictures of us and our huge trophy later.
After the three hour trip home, I went to a midget car race in a nearby town. It was the first time I have ever been to this type of race. It was a blast. Unfortunately the guy we were cheering for was in first place, but he ran into a car he was lapping. His brakes locked up and he couldn’t finish the race. I’m looking forward to a day off today and a long bike ride.

Alton

The tournament was a success. I played 5 matches on Sat. and 3 matches on Sunday. I am still exhausted. I ended up getting 3rd in the 18 and under, my sister got 1st, and my brother got 2nd in the 16's. My sister and I also got first in doubles. I also managed to increase the severity of my tan lines. In my free time, the little I had, I crocheted. I'm working on a sample afghan made of 63 different patterns.
It will essentially look like this, but instead of pink it will be brown. I finished three of the squares this weekend, so I have 18 done now. Hopefully I will finish it before the end of the summer.

Heather

Flooded Roads

The forecast was right, it did rain, and the tennis did get cancelled for tonight. However, the rain made the journey to my tournament an interesting one. Usually all we do on our trips is argue, but today we didn’t argue at all. I was surprised.
My 15 year old brother started driving, but when the wind picked up and it started to rain, he couldn’t handle it. He turned off and stopped in the middle of a random exit ramp. I then decided to drive, because my mom gets very flustered when driving in unfavorable conditions. After another half hour, we set the GPS to not send us on the interstate. That’s when the fun started. Instead of sending us down a nice two lane highway, it tells us to turn down a one lane gravel/dirt road. This wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been raining. I’m driving and I see that the road is flooded up ahead. I asked my mom what I should do because I’d never crossed a flooded road before. To my surprise she said to cross, and I safely did. I go a few more hundred feet and see it flooded again. This time to my right it looked like a person was lying dead on the road. Luckily it was just some thrown out sheets. We past the flooded road again and kept going. Then it started to be more mud than water. We had to cross twice where the mud had overtaken the path. .2 miles from the next turn we are forced to turn around because a tree trunk was blocking the road. Somehow we safely arrived. Hopefully the weather is better tomorrow.

Heather

Sunshine

I have tennis almost every day. The last two days my tennis has been ruined by the rain and storms, so when I saw the sun shining this morning I was very happy. However when I rode my bike to tennis today I realized it was terribly windy. Trying to play in the wind was like I was back to beginner. I couldn't control anything.
Tomorrow I leave for a tennis tournament about two hours away, and guess what the forecast is. Rain, Rain, and more Rain. This is going to make for a miserable trip. Is it to much to ask for some nice weather, we already had a terrible spring.

Heather

Softball Coach

I love to coach. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a young individual learn to play a sport, no matter what sport it is. Today I helped coach two very different teams at the same sport. The first was my small fry team. My mom, sister, brother, and I all help with this team. It is a group of about 15 girls ageing from 6 to 9 years old. Some of them are very talented and love to be out there. You can tell they are going to continue play when they are older. Therefore I give them much instruction, so they can improve. Others, however, are just there because their parents make them come. These are a pain to coach, because they don’t listen. All I try to do with these girls is teach them enough so they don’t injure themselves.
The second game I helped out with was a special needs softball game. The game was put on by the park district, but they didn’t mind me sticking around and helping. Each team had about 10 players. There was a mixture of males and females from about age 7 to 35, and everyone wanted to be there. Every player had an adult helping them. We played an hour and a half of modified softball with special balls and special bats. The biggest difference between this game and the one before was not the bigger ball or lighter bat or ability of the players, it was the smiles from the players when you told them good job and the spirit of the fans in the crowd.
I had the privilege a giving every player a high five when they made it to first base. Seeing the smile on there face was worth more than any monetary amount I could be given. My favorite part was the fans. It was the biggest crowd I have every seen at that park, and I’m there almost every night. Hearing the cheers for every player, no matter what team, and the applause after every play no matter whether it was a home run or a foul ball. There was never a complaint on ball or strike, out or safe, or whether what was done was legal. Only smiles, cheers, and pictures.
This was about my fifth time helping out with special needs athletes. I have helped with bowling and volleyball also. No matter what sport, the feeling you get when volunteering with these events is always the same. You remember how lucky you are for your own talents and you go home feeling that you really made a difference in someone’s life. I would encourage anyone able to find a special needs program you can help out with in your area. It is way worth it.

Heather

Demo Days

For the last couple of days my family and I have been taking down our old shed that was about 80 years old. We have plans to build a bigger and better one over the summer. Since my dad is a carpenter, he is building it. This means that the whole family will have to help whenever we can. Today we successfully removed half of the roof and two of the walls.
Here are some pics of my family in action.
It was also the first time my sister had ever mowed the grass.

Heather