Reach Out And Touch Someone

A very long time ago, when AT&T was the only telephone carrier in the nation, their slogan for their long distance commercials was “Reach out and touch someone”. Today for the first time in 75 days, I reached out and telephoned my wife. A simple ordinary piece of equipment like a telephone has been out of my reach for almost 2 ½ months. There hasn’t been a time in my life where I was unable to use a telephone let alone speak to my wife for this long a period of time. At 11:00 am Pacific Daylight Time, I telephoned my wife for my one 15 minute call for today. Never have 15 minutes gone so fast. It was as if we were saying “hello” and the next I knew, the time was over. The call just cut off and we didn’t have time to say “good-bye”.

It was wonderful to hear my wife’s voice. However, she didn’t sound like her usual upbeat self, instead she sounded kind of down. My phone call was somewhat of a surprise to her. She did receive my letter informing her of my transfer and telling her that I will be calling her very soon. I was very happy to reach her and even though the time was very short it meant the world to me just to hear her voice. We each had so much to say, the time elapsed before either one of us could get out 10% of what we wanted to say.

I believe my wife was a little down because she has been “chasing” my attorney for the past three months. She is no closer to any solutions to the outstanding questions we have than she was over three months ago. She is receiving the proverbial “runaround” and I know it is frustrating her. Unfortunately, my attorney is not very good at following through and now that my case has been sentenced, he has not cleaned up the loose ends. My poor wife has been left “holding the bag” so to speak, because of my actions and it seems to be taking a toll on her. Hopefully, now that I can call, we can work through some of these difficulties together.

I have to schedule my telephone call two days in advance. I set up tomorrow’s phone call for 3:00 pm Pacific time. I was not aware that my children have soccer practice at this time so I will have to wait until Thursday to hear their voices. Unfortunately, 15 minutes is nowhere near enough time, but it is yet another thing out of my control. I have to make the best of it and unfortunately so does my wife. For the next 20 plus months (hopefully this will be reduced when I get to the fire camp) I am at the mercy of the Ca Department of Corrections and must abide by their rules. I will and will also make the best of this time.

One disappointment of the telephone today was that I didn’t get a chance to say “I love you” to my wife. The call automatically ends at exactly 15 minutes. There was a “120 second” and “60 second” notice given. The last 60 seconds was over in a heartbeat and the call disconnected with my wife in mid sentence. I am sure we will work out a more efficient system for our phone calls as time goes by. We will be able to say what we need to say and I will be able to hear my children’s voices at the very least weekly. Again, my situation is temporary and before I know it, I will be seeing my wife and children in person.

These telephone calls will become part of my routine for the next few weeks. I cannot obtain a job until I go to classification. I should be going next week (the operative word “should” because we all know what should happen and what actually does happen are two entirely different things). This is where I will meet my new counselor and find out more about how this process works. The counselor needs to clear me so I can work and move forward to the Fire Camp training. Also, during the session, I will ask the counselor about how I obtain a “family visit” which is different than a regular visit. A “family visit” is where my wife can visit me for 72 straight hours – I hope we don’t run out of things to say to each other – and we stay in a bungalow for that period of time. There is a special form that she needs to fill out and I will need to ascertain if it makes sense for her to have a family visit here or at an actual camp. I did mention this visit to my wife today and she seemed pleasantly surprised to hear about it. Whatever type I receive I am looking forward to seeing my lovely wife soon.

I am still trying to figure out my temporary routine. I need to keep exercising and I do have ample yard time to keep doing my exercises. Prior to the phone call this morning, I ran four miles. The keyword is “ran” because I normally jog 8 to 10 miles, but I wanted to test my speed. Part of the physical training is being able to run a mile in less than 8 minutes and 30 seconds. This should not be a problem for me because I ran 26.2 miles averaging less time than this. However, I am not a fast runner and wanted to test my speed today. I ran my first mile in less than 7 minutes and I ran all 4 miles in less than 28 minutes. This is okay and I know I can do better. There is no way I can break the fire camp record for the mile which is 5 minutes and 15 seconds. This is an excellent time by anyone let alone a convict on an asphalt track. I do hope to be in the 6 ½ minute range. I have to keep in mind that I am not getting any younger and all I have to do is run under the allotted time to qualify.

Running the mile is one of the several physical requirements. The only one I am concerned about is the pull-ups. I have to do 20 of these and thankfully these are not 20 consecutive pull-ups. They have to be performed over a few minutes. I can get seven pull-ups in one set and it takes me 3 minutes to do 3 sets of 7. I do need to practice so I can get stronger. I am fairly strong for someone my size but this does not mean I AM strong. I have no problem lifting my body weight because let’s face it, there is not a great deal of weight to lift! I am looking forward to starting the actual training but I do need to be patient because it may take awhile.

I keep receiving all different types of information regarding how long it takes to get to an actual fire camp. There are some inmates who start their training a few weeks after they arrive here. Then there are other inmates who wait 5 and 6 months to start. I have heard that inmates who have half-time on their sentences are moving to fire camps quicker than those who have 80% of their sentences to serve. According to this information, those who have half time are moving to fire camps in 3 months or less - whereas the 80% are moving in 6 months or more. Why there is a difference? I don’t know. Whatever the case, only time will provide me with the proper answers.

There is something I need to have done prior to starting my physical training that may hold up the process. I am over 40 and all fire camp candidates over that age must have an EKG before starting the physical training. Obtaining an EKG is very difficult in prison. I have received some inside information to start the process sooner than later for this. I will follow this advice which may or may not expedite things but it beats waiting around not doing anything.

The only way I learn is by asking questions. Sometimes the more answers I receive the more confused I become. However, with all of the answers I receive, there is about 10% which has the potential to help me. It is up to me whether or not to act on this information. Most times, I do not, but in circumstances where the information will only help me, I do take advantage of it. Right now I have to wait to see my counselor for classification before I can do anything. I do hope this counselor meeting is more timely than my other meeting at the reception center. Also, I do hope this goes better than the last one. Since I got placed here at SCC – which is what I wanted – I guess the previous counselor session didn’t go as badly as I thought.

Right now the key is to find a routine and make it work everyday. These next few weeks will be more difficult than the past because I am waiting for the classification meeting to spring-board a solid routine. In the mean time I will sit back and observe. I would like to start reading again but unfortunately all of the books in the dorm I have already read. I was able to borrow some newspapers that were less than two weeks old and some fairly recent magazines. Also, I do finally get to not only watch the news on TV, but now I can actually hear it. I don’t feel as disconnected with the outside world as I felt when I was at the reception center. The big positive is having the ability of making that one telephone call per day so I can find out what is going on in my family’s life on a real time basis. Also, hearing the voices of my family makes my day!

I would be remiss if I didn’t wish my niece a very Happy Sweet Sixteen! I understand she had a great party earlier this month and everyone had a wonderful time. It seems just like yesterday this stunning girl was born in Pennsylvania.