Since Julia wanted to know...the testing on Saturday went fine. They're basically all the same. The written test is your standard grammar, punctuation, reading comprehension, spelling, map reading, memory test all rolled into 100 or so questions. To pass, you needed a 70%, I scored 89% which was pretty good since I know I missed about 8 on the memory part since I wasn't quite sure what to try and memorize and since there was a lot of information. The physical agility test was next, which, when compared to the SDPD agility test, was cake. Rather than rolling all the necessary parts into one long timed event, there were 5 different events, giving you the chance to rest in between each one and just collect your thoughts. First was the 99 yard obstacle course - they said 20 seconds or lower was a good time - I scored 20 seconds. Then the 6 foot wall then the 6 foot chain link fence - both of which I did very well at. After that was the dummy drag which I think I did great at - couldn't really tell since we were timed down to the tenth of a second and you can't really tell if others are faster or slower and then the last event...the 500 yard run (just over 1/4 mile - nothing compared to Julia's 26.2 miles). I finished in 113 seconds - not good, but not bad either. Anyways, each event has a corresponding score to go with the time. I don't know the exact numbers, but for example, 113 seconds could be 80 points and 112 seconds 82 points and so on and so forth. So after finishing the events, I was scored and came back with a 507. Before testing, we were told that any score above a 500 meant that we were "Academy-ready" - and even though I'm not ready for the Academy, it was nice to break that 500 barrier.

However, the true test comes tomorrow. Rather than giving us the personal history statement to fill out, we jump straight to the oral board. During the prep classes I took for becoming a police officer, the oral board is where I know I need the most work. So we'll see how that goes tomorrow. As I type, I'm also printing out facts about the City of Orange and the Orange Police Department as they most likely will ask me questions about the city. Hopefully my preparation will put me above others, however, my poor interviewing skills will drop me down a bit.

On a completely unrelated note, I had my one year review at work today. Pretty saddening...I've been there a year and can't really stand it. However, I don't really have any other options open to me right now and they've been pretty accommodating as I search for a police job (they understand that for most people, working as a teller is a stepping stone - either up within the bank or up outside the bank - and since I don't want to go up inside the bank...). But at the end, they asked if I noticed a pay raise on my last paycheck. The sad thing is, I didn't. Now, I probably would have noticed if it were a substantial raise, but it was only $0.35/hour and when you work the occasional Saturday (paid as overtime), you never really notice a $30-$40 increase as one Saturday would give you that nice bump. But I figured that $0.35/hour over a standard 80 hour week is only $28 and after taxes and all that other crap, why would I notice such a paltry sum? I was joking with my coworkers saying that if I didn't get a raise, I'd quit. But $0.35 is pretty darn close to no raise at all in my book. Taking a pay cut and working at Fry's would probably end up making me more money considering the employee discount I'd get.

URL: BB ~ Blake's Blog