My Ramblings

Christmas 2013 This Christmas was very different for Linda and I. Usually, all the kids and grandchildren are here for a couple of days, including Christmas day. This year, Heather and here four were here a couple of days prior to Christmas. Holly, Bryan and Judah were back and forth from their house a few miles away, Meagan came also  and we all spent Christmas eve together. We let the grandkids open a couple of presents that evening. Holly started off the crying while she was taking photos of all the goings-on. I asked her if she was crying because she missed Daniel and she said yes. The thought of Daniel made me fondly recall his little smile when he opened a present and saw it was something he really liked such as a knife, a tool of some kind or a gift card to Bass Pro Shops. I told Heather, Holly and Meagan I wanted them to open the present we got for them last and all in unison. That’s when the tears really flowed because inside the packages were quilt tops that Linda h

The Job From the Santa Clara County Probation website regarding the duties of Group Counselors which, by the way, now starts at $21.94 per hour for part-timers:  Assist in the supervision of a group of juveniles or adults detained in a detention facility.  Learn to organize and/or supervise leisure time activities, such as games, athletics, and crafts and encourage participation. Prepare observation or incident reports on detainees' attitudes, behavior, appearance, interests, skills, progress, and needs. Maintain security and safety of the facility at all times. The Units Since I worked in the Hall, the units we had then have been torn down and new ones constructed in place of them. The three units I worked the most were identical in style and I’ll try to describe them. Upon entering the unit door from the main hallway one would see  a long hallway lined with cells on each side. There were a total of 26 rooms each designed to hold two minors and had metal bunk beds

In 1988, my friend Rick Criscione and I went to Hong Kong. Our travels were full of excitement as you will see. We tried to do the trip as cheaply as possible and only paid $400 for our round trip airfares. We stayed at a rundown place called the Chunking Mansions in Kowloon which was a group of five towers and cost us $8 a night to stay there.  Lonely Planet travel books says this about the place: Say ‘budget accommodation’ and ‘Hong Kong’ in one breath and everyone thinks of Chungking Mansions. Built in 1961, CKM is a labyrinth of homes, guesthouses, Indian restaurants, souvenir stalls and foreign-exchange shops spread over five 17-storey blocks in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui. According to Gordon Mathews, an anthropologist who studies the place, it has a resident population of about 4000 and an estimated 10,000 daily visitors. Over 120 different nationalities – predominantly South Asian and African – pass through its doors in a single year. CKM has a unique TV line-up, consisti

Here is the next installment of my years as a P.O. These are a few of the characters I ran across when I worked there. Eddie Carson One day, I was working in Boys Receiving (BR) on the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift. Boys Receiving was where kids were processed in and out of Juvenile Hall (JH). When a minor was admitted to JH, he was required to put all his own clothes, shoes and belongings in lockers and change into the Hall’s clothes. These included underwear, brown pants with an elastic waist band, a t-shirt and slip on deck shoes because shoelaces were not allowed. Upon being released the minors were dressed out in the clothes they had left in the locker. Shortly before each meal, a cafeteria worker would wheel in a cart containing food trays and milk. These were used for feeding new admits and other kids who would be sent there for disciplinary reasons during meal times. That evening I received a telephone call from one of the units GC's named Frank Marsh advising me he wa

By far, the most fun I had in Juvenile Hall was when I worked with  Dario Lerma. He was a veteran of the Hall and the good times we had made the eight hour shifts feel shorter. The kids loved him even though he made them toe the line. His humor was the best and we spent a lot of the time joking. The primary thing I learned from him was how to interact with the minors. W e had fun with them, but never at their expense. I also learned a  lot about Mexican culture from Dario; about their work ethic and familial customs. One day he brought in to work some burritos his wife, Ramona had made for us. It was my first taste of chorizo con papa and huevos burritos (sausage, potato and egg). Sometimes he would button up his flannel shirt to the top button and act out being a “lowrider” calling everyone “esse” and “homes.”  Dario was about ten years older than I and had worked there for ten years by the time I arrived. He is Mexican, born in El Paso, Texas and raised in Corcoran, California w

A number of months back I decided I wanted to write a book about my years as a probation worker in Santa Clara County. I started off strong and then lost interest. I don't know if I will ever finish the book but I already have too many interesting things written down to not share them with others. As a result, I have decided to post some of those chapters here on the blog. The working title of the book is “Diary of a Probation Officer.” Following is the beginning of the book: And So It Begins - Part One Working in Juvenile Hall This book is a memoir of my years working for the Santa Clara County Probation Department. My tenure ran from October 1984 to April 2011 and I held a number of job titles and assignments during those years. The book is a true account of my work experiences and observations at the Department. Only some names of my former coworkers have been changed in order to protect their privacy. Those whose true names are used gave me permission to do so. All

I started this post a few days ago and was unable to finish it because my thoughts were pretty jumbled that day. I just didn’t know what I was wanting to get across. Today, as I go back to it again, I still don’t know what I want to say so I’l probably  just leave it as is.  Forty-five years ago today, on November 20, 1968, my father passed away. I always think about him on this date as well as a few other days of the year. I guess it’s only natural that, as the years go by, I think of him less and less. But I always seem to remember him on this date. Over the years, I have compared myself as a father to my own father. We are very different men. Whereas he taught me to fight at the drop of a hat and defend the Faddis name, I did not do that with my son. One way in which we are the same is that we both held steady jobs and provided for our families. As I have written here before, my dad spent very little time with his family because he was either at work or out chasing around in th

I posted this on Facebook yesterday: I often tell my wife, Linda, how much I appreciate her. Today, I want to make my praise public here on FB because she deserves the recognition. I call her Iron Woman because of how hard she works. The degree of help and compassion she has for others is immeasurable. Linda works in our church office 11-16 hours a week, she leads two weekly women’s Bible studies, takes care of me (which is a full-time job) and is the BEST mother and grandmother that there is. She is always ready and willing to help those in need and has become a pillar for several women in our church. Today she spent hours at church helping out with a memorial service, feeding the attendees and then helped clean up. I couldn’t be more proud of her. She fits the below description to a T. Proverbs 31: 25-30 25 She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. 26 She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 27 She watches over t

I got a  text message today from Brad Dack, a former San Jose Bible College classmate, asking me to call him. We have not spoken to one another in approximately 30 years since we were on staff at Heavenly Hill Christian Camp. The text was a surprise and I quickly called him. I didn’t ask, but I presume he got my number from another classmate, Lee Roberts. Brad explained he is going up to Yosemite this coming weekend with three men he knew at SJBC and he wants to park his car at my house on Friday while he’s gone. He said Lee would pick him up here to continue the journey. He stated that he gets tired easily because he has pancreatic cancer. Brad said, “Finding out I have cancer was as surprising as an earthquake.”  We chatted for a bit about this and that. I asked him if he had heard about the “surprising” event that Linda and I had in June 2012 when Daniel died. He said he had not and expressed his sympathy.  He then related that he had also lost his son to Muscular Dystrophy so

One of my favorite bands is DeGarmo and Key who was very popular in the 1980's. Dana Key has since gone on to be with the Lord but the message of the song is still alive. Today, I was listening to their song "I'm Accepted" and it caused me to cry with thankfulness. The song's message is that GOD, the Creator, Savior, King of Kings and Lord of Lords loves and accepts me even though I am not acceptable by the world's standards. Thank you, Jesus! I have included the lyrics as well as a link to the song on youTube. Take a minute to listen. It will bless and give you hope. I may not be rich Don't wear fashion clothes Don't live in a mansion Don't have much that shows Never won a contest in popularity Don't have much to offer But Jesus loves me I'm accepted, accepted I'm accepted by the One who matters most Never set a record in sports agility Never was magnetic in personality That don't really matter I'll do the best I can 'Cau

After retiring about 31 months ago from the Santa Clara County Probation Department, the monotony of doing not much of anything has really gotten under my skin. My days have been filled with too much TV, sleeping, web surfing and reading. It was satisfactory for awhile but no more!  TV has been my biggest vice To give you an example of how much time I have wasted... I have watched every episode of Mad Men, The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Justified, Revolution, Person of Interest, Boardwalk Empire, The Americans, Homeland, Southland, Brooklyn 99, Chicago Fire, The Blacklist and Duck Dynasty to name a few. I also admit to watching The Ellen Show, 287 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show and countless old westerns on TMC.  I also spend as much time as possible with our five, soon to be six grandchildren. I’m involved with my church and I write quite a lot for this blog and what will (hopefully) be a book of my memoirs someday.  But I now need something new to take up this huge amoun