Week 21 of 52: Personal Training + WCCCA (Dispatch Center)

One, or more new things per week for the 2013 year...

Week  21 of 52 (May 20^th, 2013 to May 26^th, 2013): Personal Training + WCCCA (Dispatch Center)

                This week seemed to be more on track with my original “vision” of doing “new” things every week. I had the opportunity to tour and learn more about the 911 Dispatch Center in Washington County and got a FREE Personal Training Session!

                First I visited “WCCCA” which stands for “Washington County Consolidated Communications Agency” or 911 Dispatch Center for ease…

                “WCCCA (wă-kŭ) was formed in 1985, under the authority of Oregon Revised Statues (ORS) 190 by the execution of an Intergovernmental Agreement originally between Washington County and the cities of Beaverton, Cornelius, Hillsboro, North Plains, and Washington County Rural Fire Protection Districts Nos. 1 (now Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue, TVF&R), and 2. WCCCA subsequently entered into intergovernmental agreements with the cities of Banks, Durham, Forest Grove, King City, Sherwood, Tigard, Gaston, and Tualatin. Subsequent Fire Districts joining the agency are Banks, Cornelius, Forest Grove, and Gaston.” (http://www.wccca.com/about/)

Before 1973 there really were no dispatchers in Washington County, which meant that Police or Fire would have to answer the call, this lead to the formation of WCCCA, which now operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, answering 9-1-1 and non-emergency calls from residents of Washington County and dispatches for 10 police agencies and 7 fire agencies. The Agency’s service area is 819 square miles and their service population is 586,727. I got to learn how the calls are taken and how Police and/or EM/Fire is then radio dispatched to serve us.

A few interesting things I learned; If you call 911 from your Cell you get a recording. If you call 911 from a land line you get INSTANTLY connected to a dispatcher. So having a land-line is a good thing! While I was there I also learned about Crime Prevention and things we can do to prevent crime or help recover from a crime.

If you have equipment or valuables… engrave or write your name on it! This makes stealing and re-selling your property much harder for thieves. Also keep logs of everything you have with serial numbers (if possible) for insurance purposes and for help recovering your stolen property.

                Also if you are EVER in doubt as to whether your situation is a true emergency or not… just call 911, don’t hesitate. But if you decide that you need to call non-emergency within Washington County… Dial: (503) 629-0111.

To end my week I went to see a Personal Trainer, and it was very eye opening and very uplifting. The trainer helped me to believe that my goals of weight loss and fitness were with in my reach. I have a Body Fat Percentage of 29.47% and a lean mass of 70.53% which means that my ideal weight would be 190-200 lbs. Currently I am at about 238 lbs, which means I need to lose around 40 lbs, and that would put me at a Body Fat Percentage of 10%. So here comes my next challenge, to get to 200 lbs by the end of this year.

Until next week!

Week 20 of 52: P.O.S.T Exam and Nutraloaf

One, or more new things per week for the 2013 year...

Week  20 of 52 (May 13^th, 2013 to May 19^th, 2013): P.O.S.T Exam and Nutraloaf.

                The last few weeks have been crazy and were filled with so much that I felt as if my head was going to explode. Good thing that didn't happen! Well this is the first week (for about 3 weeks) that I feel like things are going back to normal. Although things are still hectic, I actually fell like this week was filled with some really cool new things.

                On Monday (May 13th) I was able to start off my week with the P.O.S.T Exam. If you are not familiar with this exam, don’t worry. I can honestly say that I really had no idea what it was until I was taking the test! The P.O.S.T Exam stands for “Police Officer Selection Test”. All I knew when I was taking the exam is that I needed to pass it, in order to enter into the Washington County Reserve Deputy Program.  The test is broken up into 4 parts. The first part of the P.O.S.T exam is simple arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and requires no law knowledge. The second part of the P.O.S.T exam is reading comprehension.  The third section of the P.O.S.T exam tests for grammar knowledge and the last test part is the report writing section based on a fictional incident report.

I still do not know how I did… but test results should be coming back soon. Even if I do pass the exam, it still means that I have a lot more steps to do just to see if they want me or not! So yeah, how many people have taken the P.O.S.T? I don’t think anyone, unless they actually have an interest in law enforcement.

                The week was not about to finish, before I could try Nutraloaf! Again, if you haven’t heard of Nutraloaf or you have never tried it… don’t feel bad. Nutraloaf, sometimes called prison loaf, disciplinary loaf, food loaf, confinement loaf, seg loaf, or special management meal, is a food served in United States prisons to inmates who have demonstrated significant behavioral issues. It is similar to meatloaf in texture, but has a wider variety of ingredients. Prisoners may be served nutraloaf if they have assaulted prison guards or fellow prisoners. Prison loaf is usually bland, perhaps even unpleasant, but prison wardens argue that nutraloaf provides enough nutrition to keep prisoners healthy without requiring utensils to be issued. The specific Nutraloaf that I tried was from the Washington County Jail and is baked with carrots, garbanzo beans and a bunch of other stuff that I really wouldn’t want to eat on a daily basis. I tried it and shockingly was the only person out of a group of about 10 who didn’t gag. I didn’t think it was completely awful, I could eat it. But if I had to eat it every day for sustenance I wouldn’t like it at all.

Week 19 of 52: A Whole Lot of Rest

One, or more new things per week for the 2013 year...

Week  19 of 52 (May 6^th, 2013 to May 12^th, 2013): A Whole Lot of Rest

                Well this is the first week that I can HONESTLY say that I did NOTHING NEW. Which is not 100% true, I actually broke a few toes. I have actually never broken any bones in my body (except a finger or toe). This week however I managed to break about 3 toes simultenously. All I know is that steel toe boots need to be worn more often!

                With that being said, I wasn’t able to really do much this week. Having to go anywhere (work for example) was pretty painful… every step… oh so painful!

                So I guess I can say that I have never broke 3 toes at once before? 

Week 18 of 52: A Whole Lot of Nothing New Road Trip

One, or more new things per week for the 2013 year...

Week  18 of 52 (April 29^th, 2013 to May 5^th, 2013): A Whole Lot of Nothing New Road Trip

This past week was the first week that I didn't make my Sunday deadline to post my new thing for the week. That deadline would have been Sunday May 5th, 2013 and today's date is May 8th, 2013. Yeah, 3 days late.

A Whole Lot of Nothing New Road Trip why that title? Well I really didn't do anything new this past week. I honestly didn't have time to plan something, my mother and I had to take my little brother down to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) to go on his two year mission for our church.

Is a road trip new to me? No. But driving from Portland, Oregon to Salt Lake City, Utah then to Idaho Falls, Idaho and then back to Portland, Oregon as the sole driver... is definitely new. Until next week!