The Adventures of Captain Imperfecto

You are here: Home » Christmas Observation Christopher (front) and Nico Disney cruising on the Dream. (Nov. 2, 2016) December 22, 2016 Observation is a good skill set to have when you're a police officer. The skill is honed as time on the job progresses. It has become a perfect tool that officers can use while on patrol to look for unusual or out-of-place things. On a Tuesday evening at around 5 PM, I was parked in the parking lot of a gas station. I parked my police car in a good spot that would allow me to feel safe while I did my paperwork, and I could watch the people come and go from this huge and busy fueling station. My eyes trained on a guy in a blue shirt. He was around 6 foot 2 inches, thin, his white skin was weathered, his hair receding. His eyes were as blue as his shirt. I could tell he was tired even though he hadn't left since I last saw him at around 8 AM that morning. While I stared at him from the safety of my police car, I noticed a man handing hi...

You are here: Home » Rock Bottom, a police story Nico (left) and Christopher playing footsies on the couch. All kids do this, right? My brothers and sister and I sure did. (December 6, 2016) December 8, 2016 When was it when he knew that he had hit rock bottom? Was it the cold steel of the handcuffs pressing against his wrist? Or it may have been the unforgiving firmness of the double-strand handcuff metal that rubbed against his wrist bone that caused his dangling hands to stiffen.  I just arrested this guy. He had crack cocaine. Until this point, this lily-white guy's only crime was wearing a Polo collar shirt, Khaki cargo shorts, and white sneakers. But in his defense, his style wasn't different from any other white guys in 2000. While patrolling the streets, I saw him walking away from a known drug house. They call drugs dope for a reason because this dope thought he was the only one who knew where to score cocaine at 2 in the morning. The only thing that stood...

You are here: Home » More Than an Ant Farm Nico (right) and Christopher enjoying Christmas early. Nov. 2016 November 24, 2016 I bought Nico and Christopher an ant farm last Christmas. This week, our order arrived! Uncle Milton, the company, is not a crazy family member. Mailed our order that we placed back in March. Better late than never. I didn't know much about farming ants, so I had a chance to Google the process and learned!  I ripped open the package, expecting ants to scatter everywhere! But thankfully, the ants were in a secure, transparent tube with tape fasted on the edges. Those ants looked menacing. They were rabid and ready to stretch their legs. The ants were full of activity. Seeing them inside that 4-inch tube is pretty cool. I could only imagine how it would feel to swallow that thing like an aspirin. It was easy to think of all sorts of horrors one could do with those ants. Yikes! I poured the vile as if it were a pitcher of water. As I tilted the pla...

You are here: Home » Do-Over Honeymoon Disney Cruise aboard the Disney Cruise ship, Dream. November 4, 2016 Nico left. Christopher right. November 14, 2016 I wish "do-overs" could be handed out to people like the car Oprah Winfrey would give away during one of her television shows as she shouts her iconic phrase, "You get a car, and you get a car…" "You get a do-over!!" "And you get a do-over!" "And you!" And so on. I'm trying to convey that your current situation is not a life sentence. And that if life handed you an opportunity to reset or a "do-over," you should jump on that opportunity.  People have complicated lives, and stopping participating in society is easy. But being a victim or sitting on the sidelines and watching the rest of the people live their easy lives won't help your current situation improve. Things won't be given to you. Most people aren't born lucky. Your chances of get...

You are here: Home »  Jack's Shadow, a Halloween story The boys goofing around in the van. October 13 2016 *could be intense for some October 26, 2016 The sterile hallway reaches end-to-end, which must be 200 feet. Every 5 feet, there's an iron door. Each door is fortified to hold back a hideous, sick-minded, or evil person. The facility isn't something you can Google. Other than the locals who are hired to run the place, not many people realize the heinous and brutal death that has occurred by some of those locked in those rooms outside this town of 5,000 souls. "This door," she said, pointing, "is where we keep Jack." A woman said to a group in the hallway just outside the quiet from the inside room. Dana is a tall and skinny woman. She is wearing a plain blue polo shirt and khaki slacks. Her tour seemed as simple as a museum guide, but the people with her today are not tourists. They are some of the brightest scientists, doctors, and F.B....

You are here: Home » Channel to Channel Nico standing on the 6th floor balcony with views of the ocean (Oct 9, 2016) October 12, 2016 I was inside my hotel room, sitting on the king-size bed. The bed was soft yet firm and comfortable. The top of the mattress was covered with a white down comforter, and I was surrounded by plush oversized pillows. I was basically sitting on a cloud of comfortable ecstasy. My hotel room is situated on the 6th floor on oceanfront property. The balcony had sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean. The breeze was soft and firm. The forced air would push through the open sliding glass doors, and a whizzing sound could be heard as the air poured through the ivory color privacy curtain. The curtain would sway inside like Superman's cape before being sucked back out. I lay back on my king-sized bed and cuddled under the covers. The roaring sound of the ocean surf pounding the flat sandy beach filled the room and gave me a natural high. I was in pa...

You are here: Home »  Negotiations Christopher (left) Champ and Nico. Celebrating C's 7th birthday. September 14, 2016 Negotiating with my sons is something I vowed not to do. I am their father, and they shall do as I say. That's a bible verse, I think? That kind of thinking is always great in jest. Still, the reality of the situation may dictate that I directly negotiate with them to devise a good compromise. I know what you're thinking. "No good parent should negotiate with their kids," I promise you if you don't judge me, I won't judge you for not admitting to other parents that there was a time you negotiated with your kids to have a little peace. Or negotiated so you could finish your favorite television show. You could negotiate to get them off the floor of some unknown department store where the little guy or girl is causing a ruckus.  So you do everything in your power to be nice and negotiate with the little tyke because you don't ...

You are here: Home »  Earned It Brotherly Love. August 2016 August 31, 2016 My dad's sister died. It wasn't unexpected. At least, I don't think her death was. Sadly, I hadn't talked to her in many years. She was 73 years old. Her death at that age is an anomaly for women in my family, where most women have been known to live into their late 80's and into their early 90's. She did suffer from dementia, however. A contributing cause for sure. Her passing was made worse news for me when the notification was made via her daughter's Facebook "wall." I guess death notifications posted on Facebook are the new normal and shouldn't shock me. But it did. As the hours after her death notification passed. I began to think about how her death affected me. I wasn't crying. I didn't feel upset. I only felt sad that my cousin lost her mother. But I had a nagging feeling overtaking me of despair as her death caused me to reflect on my own...