Statcounter has introduced a new feature for the people that use their service called IP Tagging. What it allows you to do is to name certain IP addresses (or ranges) with a "tag" that makes sense. For example, I can tag Landsharks IP address range with "Landshark" so when he visits my page, I will know it without digging into the log file too deeply. The features is meant to save time for those of us who like to see who is viewing our blogs. I have a few of those tags set up for the people who visit my page regularly, mainly Knightmare, Rycherox, and Landshark. While I know there are a few other regular readers of my blog, I do not know who they are, only where they are coming from. I am reasonably sure they are "regular" readers since they did not get to my page via a search (like most people do) and the logs show it was bookmarked or typed directly in the address bar.
I like looking at the logs mainly to see how many people are finding my page...not the numbers but the diverse locations as well. I get a lot of hits from the Middle East and China...mostly from obscure searches on old subjects. It is funny when I see hits from government organizations or major company intranets. Someday I am going to have to compile a list of all the odd ones I have seen.
Well, I am off to a 10:00 AM meeting regarding the account I work on. It should be entertaining.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Potluck
It has been very non-eventful the past couple of days, so there is not a lot to write about. I have been added info to my "Chronicles" and the comments that have been e-mailed to me have been interesting. I appreciate all who have e-mailed me.
Work has been generally slow, which has allowed me to help others do research on issues they do not have time to research. I still have not heard.
The Golden is doing better after her ACL surgery. As with most retrievers, she cannot stand being cooped up in the house and is doing everything in her power to sneak out when a door is opened. Her incision looks pretty good although her leg is swollen some. I am sure this is normal. I am still upset that the surgery center did not have anyone to help my wife load the dog into the van when she went to pick her up on Saturday...the day THEY requested to pick the dog up. My wife was trying to get a very medicated dog into the van via a ramp we bought especially for this and in her drugged state, the dog slipped a little, but my wife was able to keep her from falling.
I went to lunch with Peder at Quiznos. I cannot understand why their food is so expensive. We had coupons and the bill was still almost $9.00. He got his "small" sandwich free with the purchase of chips and a drink and I received my chips and drink free with the purchase of a "regular" sandwich. His total was $2.25 while mine was $6.27. Six bucks for a "regualar" sized sandwich? It would have been more had I gotten a "special" sandwich. And people wonder why I do not eat lunch out very often.
"24" was on last night and that occupied me for a little while. When that was over I watched Sunday's episode of Battlestar Galactica. It really did not hold my attention so I just went to bed after that was over.
Well, maybe it is time to look for another job. The regional manager for our account just accepted another job on a different account. Interesting!
Work has been generally slow, which has allowed me to help others do research on issues they do not have time to research. I still have not heard.
The Golden is doing better after her ACL surgery. As with most retrievers, she cannot stand being cooped up in the house and is doing everything in her power to sneak out when a door is opened. Her incision looks pretty good although her leg is swollen some. I am sure this is normal. I am still upset that the surgery center did not have anyone to help my wife load the dog into the van when she went to pick her up on Saturday...the day THEY requested to pick the dog up. My wife was trying to get a very medicated dog into the van via a ramp we bought especially for this and in her drugged state, the dog slipped a little, but my wife was able to keep her from falling.
I went to lunch with Peder at Quiznos. I cannot understand why their food is so expensive. We had coupons and the bill was still almost $9.00. He got his "small" sandwich free with the purchase of chips and a drink and I received my chips and drink free with the purchase of a "regular" sandwich. His total was $2.25 while mine was $6.27. Six bucks for a "regualar" sized sandwich? It would have been more had I gotten a "special" sandwich. And people wonder why I do not eat lunch out very often.
"24" was on last night and that occupied me for a little while. When that was over I watched Sunday's episode of Battlestar Galactica. It really did not hold my attention so I just went to bed after that was over.
Well, maybe it is time to look for another job. The regional manager for our account just accepted another job on a different account. Interesting!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Updated - On With The Show and Turning Japanese
I made some changes to a couple of the "Chronicles" entries. Added some info and changed a nickname.
Knightmare Duck has been a real trooper filling in a lot of gaps I had with entry. Thanx to him I was able to flesh out "On With The SHow" even more.
As usual, any comments via e-mail are welcome.
Knightmare Duck has been a real trooper filling in a lot of gaps I had with entry. Thanx to him I was able to flesh out "On With The SHow" even more.
As usual, any comments via e-mail are welcome.
Chronicles, "Girls, Girls, Girls"
Writing about my personal (Read: girlfriends) life is not easy. For some guys this would be a chance to brag about all the notches on their bedposts, maybe dishing up a little dirt here and there, dropping a few names to make others jealous, or just out right lying about their adventures in romance land. I cannot and will not do that. There are a lot of reasons but no matter what the reason, it just is not me.
The first "love interest" I ever had was when I was about 12 or 13 years old. Her name was Rebecka and she was a tomboy. Neither cute nor unattractive...she was strictly "plain Jane". I knew her from school, but I do not remember seeing her there all that often. We used to perform science experiments on her porch with plants and insects that we collected nearby. While the memories of our friendship are pretty vague, I do remember that she pursued me (and I have no idea why) and we eventually started discovering little out of the way places to be alone. The first place we used was the back seat of her mother's garaged car. I remember that the car was not driven much and was stored in a large garage with several other cars. She would get the key and we would go in the back seat to be alone. This went on for a few months and then it just stopped. There was never a mention of a girlfriend/boyfriend relationship and it was only kissing. No feelings were hurt and I get the feeling that we were just testing the waters. As a matter of fact, we spoke to each other regularly over the next 4 years or so.
Over the next few summers, my interest in girls began to grow but my lack of confidence and understanding of them did not. By the next summer I was pursued again, this time by one of a set of twin's...sisters of a local tough guy, Joe. At first I was a bit worried about spending time with the her (I did not need my skull caved in), but it was all good. I guess he did not really have much to worry about. I only spent part of the summer hanging out with her. Her family ended up moving later on that year and I was out a lip locking partner again.
My romances were limited over the next few summers to vacation acquaintances. Every year when my family went camping or visited my half brother in Ohio, I usually met someone I could hang with until I came back home. The encounters never amounted to anything very memorable but they did help me grow some. Rebecka and I found some time to be alone a couple of times during this period as well, but not in the garage. We retreated to the woods where there were plenty of places to be alone.
During my freshman year of junior high school I became a bit enamored with a girl a couple of years younger than me. She was the sister of a guy whom I befriended a couple of years before. I thought she was very cute and actually pursued her for a while. Nothing ever became of it, but it was the first time I took the initiative. I kept my eyes open, just in case.
When I was 16, Rebecka and I crossed paths again. To make a long and very personal story short, I spent the night with her at her sister's mobile home. It was a cold winter night and it had been snowing off and on all evening. I got up very early the next day and walked the 3+ miles back to my house in the cold. Many boys would have been on cloud nine, but I wasn't. I felt tainted.
My senior year in high school ushered in my first real "girlfriend". She was on the color guard at our high school and being associated with her put a nice feather in my cap. I watched her in the parades, we spent time at her house, she came to my house...all the normal things. I even got her an Agnor belt...something very stylish at the time. However, things did not progress as I had hoped and we broke up about 3 months later. For the first time in my life, I actually hurt from a relationship.
1983, during the last half of my senior year, I began watching soap operas (what was I thinking) with a couple of girls (Ellen and Julia) I had met the previous summer. During the course of the summer, I became infatuated with Ellen and to complicate matters, Julia became infatuated with me. Julia never told me directly that she liked me, but she made very strong hints. I largely ignored the hints and kept on pursuing Ellen. Ellen confused me...she appeared to be playing hard to get, but at the same time she appeared to be hiding something. She eventually ended up helping me get a job at McDonald's, but she still never went out with me. Later on I found out why. She was leading a bit of a double life by dating a drug dealer who lived in a very bad part of town. She enjoyed the bad boy types, but did not want anyone to know that is who she was dating. In her own weird way, she was protecting me.
Over the next few years I dated here and there, mostly girls I met at work. I started working at McDonald's shortly after I turned 18 and that opened up a whole new social environment to me. On several occasions, I was scheduled to help a new female employee through orientation and in the process of orientation or training, one of us would ask the other one out. Most of the time it was pretty low key...one or two dates then we would both move on. A few times one of the managers that I got along with pretty well warned me about a girl I was interested in. While I was not sure why, I heeded the advice and stayed clear. It did not take too long to find out why I was warned. In one case, the girl was trying to make her boyfriend jealous (she had told me that she had broken up with him) and in another, I was being warned to steer clear of my former high school sweetheart who had just gotten a job where I worked. I think all that did was delay the inevitable.
There was one girl I dated at McDonald's that did not end after a couple of dates. Shelly was a little bit different than most of the girls I went out with. She was funny redhead, a little "bigger boned" than I normally was attracted to, and divorced. We hit it off very well and it was not long before we went out. We had drinks a few times and took drives (she even was my co-pilot during a game of "cat and mouse"), but we spent a lot of time at at my parent's house, her apartment, or at her parent's house. We had a good time whenever we went out. It was not too long before we rented a house (not to far from where KD lives now) and moved in together. That living arrangement lasted a little over a month. She quit her job and since I could not afford the place on my own, I moved back in with my parents. I believe she did the same. There is more to this saga, but it becomes personal and painful. I draw the line at posting it. Sorry, my blog, my rules.
The intermittent dating continued with gals from work and friends of friends. I went on a few double dates with Stupid Bill (SB), his girlfriend and her sister. Later on, SB's girlfriend introduced me to one of her friends and we went out a time or two, but again...nothing clicked. I began to get a bit depressed because I was not able to find a girlfriend. I spent far too many evenings wandering the mall, wasting time. Alone.
One of those late evenings as the mall was closing, I walked by a small engraving shop and saw my HSS (High School Sweetheart - the third and final time she would be in my life). She was just closing up shop and I stopped to say hi to her. She needed a ride home and I obliged. Another long story made short...I should have listened to that manager back at McDonald's. About six months later, my HSS and I were married and had a child on the way. The marriage lasted 5 years and spanned 2 different states. What I thought was love...that must have been lust.
After my HSS and I parted company (READ: Divorced), I dated very infrequently. I had been burned so bad that the last thing I wanted was romance in my life. I tried to get back into a regular dating routine, but every woman I went out with just did not click with me. With the few women I dated over the next couple of years, I went out with each less than three times. Every single one of them was either looking for a father for their kids or they wanted some quick action. While this may sound strange, I did not want either. I still had an emotional attachment to my last relationship and I could not bring myself to be intimate with someone at that time.
I was about to give up and become a social recluse when a co-worker arranged a blind date with a female friend of his. This co-worker was "an inhabitant of rural America" (READ: redneck) and any date he could set up had the potential for disaster, but I allowed him to talk me into going out with the woman. In all honesty I am glad he did and I am glad I accepted. I met he friend Stacy at his place (go ahead and laugh...he lived in a mobile home in the country) and I was blown away. She was very attractive and had a southern drawl that I find so endearing. I asked her if she had eaten and when I found that she was as hungry as I was, we went to Chili's. We talked for quite some time before I returned her to her car. That started a 3-4 month dating relationship that helped convince me that all women were not whores. My had really been burned by my ex and was not thinking too highly of the fairer sex at that time.
I am sure that Stacy and I would have dated longer and gotten very serious had it not been for one thing...the fact that I had been married before. He father was a stickler for traditions and he viewed me as damaged goods. I knew better than to argue with "Daddy" so we agreed to stop dating. While I was hurt, I was not dejected. As a matter of fact, a month or two later, I was asked by one of my room mates to if I would mind joining him, his date, and his date's good friend on a double date. I agreed and had a rather enjoyable evening with them.
I had decided I was just going to take life one day at a time and not stress over the fact that I did not have a girlfriend to spend time with. I was very comfortable with when out of nowhere love found me. Cliche, yes, but it is true. A few months after I moved in with the "2 Live Jews" (inside joke), I started attending community college to further my education, at the behest of one of my house mates. During my very first class, a married female student who was born and raised in my home state, introduced me to a friend of hers. Yet another long story made short, I married that "friend" about a year and a half later. For the first time in my life, I was in love.
The readers of my blog who know me personally will undoubtedly notice the lack of intimate details. There are several reasons for that: 1) I want to keep this blog at a PG level when possible. 2) My sexual history is my business. Yes, I have had a few one night stands but I am not proud of them. 3) No one wants to be compared to another person. Some feelings were probably hurt during at least one (and most likely more) of my relationships and I do not want to add to that hurt.
The first "love interest" I ever had was when I was about 12 or 13 years old. Her name was Rebecka and she was a tomboy. Neither cute nor unattractive...she was strictly "plain Jane". I knew her from school, but I do not remember seeing her there all that often. We used to perform science experiments on her porch with plants and insects that we collected nearby. While the memories of our friendship are pretty vague, I do remember that she pursued me (and I have no idea why) and we eventually started discovering little out of the way places to be alone. The first place we used was the back seat of her mother's garaged car. I remember that the car was not driven much and was stored in a large garage with several other cars. She would get the key and we would go in the back seat to be alone. This went on for a few months and then it just stopped. There was never a mention of a girlfriend/boyfriend relationship and it was only kissing. No feelings were hurt and I get the feeling that we were just testing the waters. As a matter of fact, we spoke to each other regularly over the next 4 years or so.
Over the next few summers, my interest in girls began to grow but my lack of confidence and understanding of them did not. By the next summer I was pursued again, this time by one of a set of twin's...sisters of a local tough guy, Joe. At first I was a bit worried about spending time with the her (I did not need my skull caved in), but it was all good. I guess he did not really have much to worry about. I only spent part of the summer hanging out with her. Her family ended up moving later on that year and I was out a lip locking partner again.
My romances were limited over the next few summers to vacation acquaintances. Every year when my family went camping or visited my half brother in Ohio, I usually met someone I could hang with until I came back home. The encounters never amounted to anything very memorable but they did help me grow some. Rebecka and I found some time to be alone a couple of times during this period as well, but not in the garage. We retreated to the woods where there were plenty of places to be alone.
During my freshman year of junior high school I became a bit enamored with a girl a couple of years younger than me. She was the sister of a guy whom I befriended a couple of years before. I thought she was very cute and actually pursued her for a while. Nothing ever became of it, but it was the first time I took the initiative. I kept my eyes open, just in case.
When I was 16, Rebecka and I crossed paths again. To make a long and very personal story short, I spent the night with her at her sister's mobile home. It was a cold winter night and it had been snowing off and on all evening. I got up very early the next day and walked the 3+ miles back to my house in the cold. Many boys would have been on cloud nine, but I wasn't. I felt tainted.
My senior year in high school ushered in my first real "girlfriend". She was on the color guard at our high school and being associated with her put a nice feather in my cap. I watched her in the parades, we spent time at her house, she came to my house...all the normal things. I even got her an Agnor belt...something very stylish at the time. However, things did not progress as I had hoped and we broke up about 3 months later. For the first time in my life, I actually hurt from a relationship.
1983, during the last half of my senior year, I began watching soap operas (what was I thinking) with a couple of girls (Ellen and Julia) I had met the previous summer. During the course of the summer, I became infatuated with Ellen and to complicate matters, Julia became infatuated with me. Julia never told me directly that she liked me, but she made very strong hints. I largely ignored the hints and kept on pursuing Ellen. Ellen confused me...she appeared to be playing hard to get, but at the same time she appeared to be hiding something. She eventually ended up helping me get a job at McDonald's, but she still never went out with me. Later on I found out why. She was leading a bit of a double life by dating a drug dealer who lived in a very bad part of town. She enjoyed the bad boy types, but did not want anyone to know that is who she was dating. In her own weird way, she was protecting me.
Over the next few years I dated here and there, mostly girls I met at work. I started working at McDonald's shortly after I turned 18 and that opened up a whole new social environment to me. On several occasions, I was scheduled to help a new female employee through orientation and in the process of orientation or training, one of us would ask the other one out. Most of the time it was pretty low key...one or two dates then we would both move on. A few times one of the managers that I got along with pretty well warned me about a girl I was interested in. While I was not sure why, I heeded the advice and stayed clear. It did not take too long to find out why I was warned. In one case, the girl was trying to make her boyfriend jealous (she had told me that she had broken up with him) and in another, I was being warned to steer clear of my former high school sweetheart who had just gotten a job where I worked. I think all that did was delay the inevitable.
There was one girl I dated at McDonald's that did not end after a couple of dates. Shelly was a little bit different than most of the girls I went out with. She was funny redhead, a little "bigger boned" than I normally was attracted to, and divorced. We hit it off very well and it was not long before we went out. We had drinks a few times and took drives (she even was my co-pilot during a game of "cat and mouse"), but we spent a lot of time at at my parent's house, her apartment, or at her parent's house. We had a good time whenever we went out. It was not too long before we rented a house (not to far from where KD lives now) and moved in together. That living arrangement lasted a little over a month. She quit her job and since I could not afford the place on my own, I moved back in with my parents. I believe she did the same. There is more to this saga, but it becomes personal and painful. I draw the line at posting it. Sorry, my blog, my rules.
The intermittent dating continued with gals from work and friends of friends. I went on a few double dates with Stupid Bill (SB), his girlfriend and her sister. Later on, SB's girlfriend introduced me to one of her friends and we went out a time or two, but again...nothing clicked. I began to get a bit depressed because I was not able to find a girlfriend. I spent far too many evenings wandering the mall, wasting time. Alone.
One of those late evenings as the mall was closing, I walked by a small engraving shop and saw my HSS (High School Sweetheart - the third and final time she would be in my life). She was just closing up shop and I stopped to say hi to her. She needed a ride home and I obliged. Another long story made short...I should have listened to that manager back at McDonald's. About six months later, my HSS and I were married and had a child on the way. The marriage lasted 5 years and spanned 2 different states. What I thought was love...that must have been lust.
After my HSS and I parted company (READ: Divorced), I dated very infrequently. I had been burned so bad that the last thing I wanted was romance in my life. I tried to get back into a regular dating routine, but every woman I went out with just did not click with me. With the few women I dated over the next couple of years, I went out with each less than three times. Every single one of them was either looking for a father for their kids or they wanted some quick action. While this may sound strange, I did not want either. I still had an emotional attachment to my last relationship and I could not bring myself to be intimate with someone at that time.
I was about to give up and become a social recluse when a co-worker arranged a blind date with a female friend of his. This co-worker was "an inhabitant of rural America" (READ: redneck) and any date he could set up had the potential for disaster, but I allowed him to talk me into going out with the woman. In all honesty I am glad he did and I am glad I accepted. I met he friend Stacy at his place (go ahead and laugh...he lived in a mobile home in the country) and I was blown away. She was very attractive and had a southern drawl that I find so endearing. I asked her if she had eaten and when I found that she was as hungry as I was, we went to Chili's. We talked for quite some time before I returned her to her car. That started a 3-4 month dating relationship that helped convince me that all women were not whores. My had really been burned by my ex and was not thinking too highly of the fairer sex at that time.
I am sure that Stacy and I would have dated longer and gotten very serious had it not been for one thing...the fact that I had been married before. He father was a stickler for traditions and he viewed me as damaged goods. I knew better than to argue with "Daddy" so we agreed to stop dating. While I was hurt, I was not dejected. As a matter of fact, a month or two later, I was asked by one of my room mates to if I would mind joining him, his date, and his date's good friend on a double date. I agreed and had a rather enjoyable evening with them.
I had decided I was just going to take life one day at a time and not stress over the fact that I did not have a girlfriend to spend time with. I was very comfortable with when out of nowhere love found me. Cliche, yes, but it is true. A few months after I moved in with the "2 Live Jews" (inside joke), I started attending community college to further my education, at the behest of one of my house mates. During my very first class, a married female student who was born and raised in my home state, introduced me to a friend of hers. Yet another long story made short, I married that "friend" about a year and a half later. For the first time in my life, I was in love.
The readers of my blog who know me personally will undoubtedly notice the lack of intimate details. There are several reasons for that: 1) I want to keep this blog at a PG level when possible. 2) My sexual history is my business. Yes, I have had a few one night stands but I am not proud of them. 3) No one wants to be compared to another person. Some feelings were probably hurt during at least one (and most likely more) of my relationships and I do not want to add to that hurt.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
In The Wind
Today has been...interesting. As previously stated, the Golden came home from the surgery center today so we have been "keeping the patient comfortable" which as anyone will tell you will aid in healing. She started off very sluggish but as the day went on, she was less likely to sit still. She has been trying her hardest to walk around the house and stopping a 75 lb Golden Retriever that has frolicking on her mind is a tad tough. At least my bad is not as sore as I thought it would be. Aleve is a Godsend.
If you have not heard, the north central Texas region has been under a wind advisory all day long. Winds have been blowing all day at 30 mph and gusting to over 50 mph. The wind was bad enough that it blew over the steeple on the church. The pastor and I (with the aid of a couple others) managed to secure it as best as we can, but it will need replaced. Word to the wise...climbing on a metal roof when it is windy out is a dangerous thing to do. No, no one was hurt, but it was a bit exciting. I got a small cut from the sheet metal but it does not need stitches.
My wife and I just got done watching "Facing the Giants". It is a good story that enforces that we need to let go and let God. My only gripe was the acting. for a low budget film all the other aspects of it (sound, cinematography, art, costumes, etc were all great. You could tell that the actors we not "A" grade, but that was my only gripe...that and the ending was rather predictable from about the last 30 minutes or so.
After the movie I walked little man while my wife worked with her patient, the Golden. As I was walking I saw evidence of a lot of wind damage: torn shingles in yards, downed fences, and garbage in the road blowing around from turned over trash cans. I surveyed our place as best as I could but I did not find much (if any) in the way of wind damage. Thank you, Jesus. We cannot afford any more big bills until the $6,000 dog is paid off :) ... knee surgery (x2) is expensive.
If you have not heard, the north central Texas region has been under a wind advisory all day long. Winds have been blowing all day at 30 mph and gusting to over 50 mph. The wind was bad enough that it blew over the steeple on the church. The pastor and I (with the aid of a couple others) managed to secure it as best as we can, but it will need replaced. Word to the wise...climbing on a metal roof when it is windy out is a dangerous thing to do. No, no one was hurt, but it was a bit exciting. I got a small cut from the sheet metal but it does not need stitches.
My wife and I just got done watching "Facing the Giants". It is a good story that enforces that we need to let go and let God. My only gripe was the acting. for a low budget film all the other aspects of it (sound, cinematography, art, costumes, etc were all great. You could tell that the actors we not "A" grade, but that was my only gripe...that and the ending was rather predictable from about the last 30 minutes or so.
After the movie I walked little man while my wife worked with her patient, the Golden. As I was walking I saw evidence of a lot of wind damage: torn shingles in yards, downed fences, and garbage in the road blowing around from turned over trash cans. I surveyed our place as best as I could but I did not find much (if any) in the way of wind damage. Thank you, Jesus. We cannot afford any more big bills until the $6,000 dog is paid off :) ... knee surgery (x2) is expensive.
Back Home Again
Just a quick post to let everyone know that The Golden is back from the surgery center. My wife picked her up around 9:00 AM. The dog is resting...she is still very whacked out from the drugs. The surgery went very well and the surgeon expects a full recovery within 6 months. She has two new knees now. All that is the good news.
The bad news: The Golden was so whacked out that she would not get out of the van so I had to carry her out. She weighs 75 lbs. I am not supposed to lift more than 50 lbs. I had to stoop to carry her out and my back is killing me. Naproxen Sodium, help me!
The bad news: The Golden was so whacked out that she would not get out of the van so I had to carry her out. She weighs 75 lbs. I am not supposed to lift more than 50 lbs. I had to stoop to carry her out and my back is killing me. Naproxen Sodium, help me!
Shmoozing and A Gathering
Yesterday I was informed by Peder the Great (one of the cool Swedes I work with) that there was a meet and greet with on of the VP's of my company. I had watched a webcast a few days earlier and had deemed the VP was worth my time, so I agreed to go with Peder to the function. It was being held at 3:00 PM at the $City_Site. This angered Peder and I a bit since there are TWO $City_Sites...however we are the red headed stepchild of the main site so we are often ignored. With this in mind, Peder and I decided to let the VP know there were TWO $City_sites and would invite him over for a visit.
We arrived and found our way to the caf...we normally have no reason to be at this site..where we signed in (I was not on the list even though I got an invite). We enter and see a small crowd huddled around food and beverages. Peder noticed they were serving Shiner Bock so he had his alloted TWO cups. I declined...I did not need the hassle of Dallas County/City Police pulling me over for a seatbelt check and smelling the tiniest bit of brew on me. Been there, done that and I have the T-shirt to prove it (albeit this happened in NC, not TX), but I digress.
We stayed, chatted with a couple of the senior mgmt (one of which was very new), invited them to visit, listened to a short but informative speech, then headed back to the office. We were gone about 1.5 hours...tops.
I got back, checked my mailbox, my ticket queues and upon finding nothing new to handle, I headed down to Microcenter to see what was on sale. Not that I could afford anything, the surgery bill for the Golden's new knee was $2900...$1000 down, and a charge for the rest...but I can always look. As usual the non-sale prices were high but the selection was pretty good. They had good prices on PSU's and I liked a lot of the PC cases, but I need for nothing right now...my wants are on the back burner.
After killing as much time as I could at Microcenter, I headed over to Razzoo's to meet up with a few of the CoG'ers who were in the area, one who was visiting from SoCal. I was bit early, so I played Spider Solitaire on my PDA until the meet time.
I got in and headed for the toilet to let out some of the fluid I had taken in over the past 2-3 hours and when I returned, Force10 was in the lobby on the phone. I greeted him with a firm handshake and we chatted for about 10 minutes until Stetson and his wife arrived. Introductions were made and held off getting a table until the last members of the group, Hresh and his fiance, arrived . When they walked in, more introductions were made and we were ushered to our table.
Razzoo's has remodeled a bit since I was there last and the new design is not as sound absorbing as I would like. I had to have Stetson and Hresh's better halve's (they were the farthest from me) repeat themselves often...sorry ladies, it was LOUD in there.
It is amazing how when you meet people they can resemble people you know from other areas of the world. I have been told more times than I can count that I look just like so and so from you know where when we first meet. Last night, I noticed that Hresh looks and acts so much like my buddy Knightmare Duck, it was like being back home. I had the feeling before I met him that he and I were not going to get along...but it appears I was wrong (at least from my point of view). He was easy to talk to and since he and KD could pass for brothers, that was ll the better.
Hresh's fiance reminded me a lot of a woman I worked with back in NC named Leslie. She only reminded me of her in her appearance (light colored hair, glasses, height/weight), FMH (as Hresh's finace was introduced to us) is quite a bit more intelligent than Leslie was. No slam on Leslie...she was smart as well, but FMH is a notch or three above that.
Stetson and his wife, while not reminding me of anyone I know, did remind me a lot of the people I grew up with in general...no nonsense, basic, what you see is what you get people. Steston's wife was pretty quiet but he told us it was nothing personal...she had a bad day. Stetson, I hope the move goes well. My wife and I prayed for things to go smoothly.
The first time I met Force10 (a couple of Christmases ago in Dallas at Dave and Buster's), I noticed he looked like an old employee of mine, Jason. I liked Jason and the other members of "Tres Amigos" ... the three dedicated guys who worked my help desk until we were forced to close when we were consolidated to the group in Dallas. I will never forget that. They could have left, but stayed until the last day. Great guys and Force 10 reminds me of that.
We all enjoyed our meal and a memorial photo was taken by our waiter with Force10's camera. No one ordered dessert with the exception of Stetson's wife, who needed a chocolate fix, I know what that feels like...I have been there myself many times. The conversation was rather diverse, but it went back towards I/T many times. Most of us do some sort of support or are very computer savvy so we tended to gravitate towards that. It only stands to reason...that is what brought us together in the first place and the fact that we are all very different. Hresh and FMH are young, are post graduate, and highly intelligent people from Mississippi. Stetson and his wife are basic, no nonsense hard working people who have a few years under their belt (like I do) who hail from Colorado, Force 10 is still looking for "the job" and that hot geek girl to complete his life. He is currently living in SoCal. Me, well you know me. I live by my faith in God. I stumble but I am not foolish enough to dwell on it. I ask God to forgive me and I move on, praying that I do not repeat the mistakes.
The evening (as a group) ended about 9:30 or so standing outside Razzoo's in a light mist talking and laughing. I tried 3 times to leave and failed 2 of them. On my last attempt, FMH asked me if we were going to actually leave after saying goodbye that last time, so I took it as challenge. I turned, wished them safe travels, and headed back to the office to pick up my laptop.
After I got to the office, I noticed that my former manager was there so I said hi to him. We made small talk for about 5 minutes then he went off on a tangent that I still do not understand. Sometimes highly intelligent people have trouble making themselves clear to us common folk. After finally getting away from him (it too 20 minutes), I grabbed my laptop and came home to my lovely wife. She said that little man still needed a walk so I took him and was back in a short while. After wiping him down and then brushing my teeth, I finally got to bed for the night.
It was quite an enjoyable evening and I hope to do it again sometime.
We arrived and found our way to the caf...we normally have no reason to be at this site..where we signed in (I was not on the list even though I got an invite). We enter and see a small crowd huddled around food and beverages. Peder noticed they were serving Shiner Bock so he had his alloted TWO cups. I declined...I did not need the hassle of Dallas County/City Police pulling me over for a seatbelt check and smelling the tiniest bit of brew on me. Been there, done that and I have the T-shirt to prove it (albeit this happened in NC, not TX), but I digress.
We stayed, chatted with a couple of the senior mgmt (one of which was very new), invited them to visit, listened to a short but informative speech, then headed back to the office. We were gone about 1.5 hours...tops.
I got back, checked my mailbox, my ticket queues and upon finding nothing new to handle, I headed down to Microcenter to see what was on sale. Not that I could afford anything, the surgery bill for the Golden's new knee was $2900...$1000 down, and a charge for the rest...but I can always look. As usual the non-sale prices were high but the selection was pretty good. They had good prices on PSU's and I liked a lot of the PC cases, but I need for nothing right now...my wants are on the back burner.
After killing as much time as I could at Microcenter, I headed over to Razzoo's to meet up with a few of the CoG'ers who were in the area, one who was visiting from SoCal. I was bit early, so I played Spider Solitaire on my PDA until the meet time.
I got in and headed for the toilet to let out some of the fluid I had taken in over the past 2-3 hours and when I returned, Force10 was in the lobby on the phone. I greeted him with a firm handshake and we chatted for about 10 minutes until Stetson and his wife arrived. Introductions were made and held off getting a table until the last members of the group, Hresh and his fiance, arrived . When they walked in, more introductions were made and we were ushered to our table.
Razzoo's has remodeled a bit since I was there last and the new design is not as sound absorbing as I would like. I had to have Stetson and Hresh's better halve's (they were the farthest from me) repeat themselves often...sorry ladies, it was LOUD in there.
It is amazing how when you meet people they can resemble people you know from other areas of the world. I have been told more times than I can count that I look just like so and so from you know where when we first meet. Last night, I noticed that Hresh looks and acts so much like my buddy Knightmare Duck, it was like being back home. I had the feeling before I met him that he and I were not going to get along...but it appears I was wrong (at least from my point of view). He was easy to talk to and since he and KD could pass for brothers, that was ll the better.
Hresh's fiance reminded me a lot of a woman I worked with back in NC named Leslie. She only reminded me of her in her appearance (light colored hair, glasses, height/weight), FMH (as Hresh's finace was introduced to us) is quite a bit more intelligent than Leslie was. No slam on Leslie...she was smart as well, but FMH is a notch or three above that.
Stetson and his wife, while not reminding me of anyone I know, did remind me a lot of the people I grew up with in general...no nonsense, basic, what you see is what you get people. Steston's wife was pretty quiet but he told us it was nothing personal...she had a bad day. Stetson, I hope the move goes well. My wife and I prayed for things to go smoothly.
The first time I met Force10 (a couple of Christmases ago in Dallas at Dave and Buster's), I noticed he looked like an old employee of mine, Jason. I liked Jason and the other members of "Tres Amigos" ... the three dedicated guys who worked my help desk until we were forced to close when we were consolidated to the group in Dallas. I will never forget that. They could have left, but stayed until the last day. Great guys and Force 10 reminds me of that.
We all enjoyed our meal and a memorial photo was taken by our waiter with Force10's camera. No one ordered dessert with the exception of Stetson's wife, who needed a chocolate fix, I know what that feels like...I have been there myself many times. The conversation was rather diverse, but it went back towards I/T many times. Most of us do some sort of support or are very computer savvy so we tended to gravitate towards that. It only stands to reason...that is what brought us together in the first place and the fact that we are all very different. Hresh and FMH are young, are post graduate, and highly intelligent people from Mississippi. Stetson and his wife are basic, no nonsense hard working people who have a few years under their belt (like I do) who hail from Colorado, Force 10 is still looking for "the job" and that hot geek girl to complete his life. He is currently living in SoCal. Me, well you know me. I live by my faith in God. I stumble but I am not foolish enough to dwell on it. I ask God to forgive me and I move on, praying that I do not repeat the mistakes.
The evening (as a group) ended about 9:30 or so standing outside Razzoo's in a light mist talking and laughing. I tried 3 times to leave and failed 2 of them. On my last attempt, FMH asked me if we were going to actually leave after saying goodbye that last time, so I took it as challenge. I turned, wished them safe travels, and headed back to the office to pick up my laptop.
After I got to the office, I noticed that my former manager was there so I said hi to him. We made small talk for about 5 minutes then he went off on a tangent that I still do not understand. Sometimes highly intelligent people have trouble making themselves clear to us common folk. After finally getting away from him (it too 20 minutes), I grabbed my laptop and came home to my lovely wife. She said that little man still needed a walk so I took him and was back in a short while. After wiping him down and then brushing my teeth, I finally got to bed for the night.
It was quite an enjoyable evening and I hope to do it again sometime.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Waiting For The Roar
Well today I learned a few things that could make my life very interesting in the upcoming weeks.
The first is that my job as an Escalation Mgr may be coming to and end. I had recently talked to my boss about it and he is all for it, but a few e-mails that came down the pike this week and a last lead me to believe they are phasing out my part of the process. I did not catch it at first but when I put them all together and add the fact that 3 of the 5 escalation managers are changing jobs and the replacements were not announced, I think I get the picture.
If that is indeed true, I will lose my "gap pay" (on call pay) but I also regain my nights, weekends and holidays. I can handle that...I think. Sound fair to you?
The other thing I found out today is that out of the 20-25 people in our building who work on the same account as I do, at least 6 qualify for my company's early retirement plan. Neat plan...you add your age to your service years and if they add up to 65 or more, you qualify. I only add up to 52, so I am not one of them.
Add to that 3 of the 4 members of my old group qualify for this and if they all take it, that is gonna put a lot of work on the last man standing. Ouch.
Well, I was all ready to walk little man but my wife decided she needed the exercise so she took him. I am glad I have started walking at lunchtime. I need to go inquire about the cost of joining the rec center across the street from my house. It used to be about$60 a year but I think that price has gone up some. No worries, as long as it is less than $100 year it is still cheaper (and clsoer) than Express Fitness where my wife goes.
The first is that my job as an Escalation Mgr may be coming to and end. I had recently talked to my boss about it and he is all for it, but a few e-mails that came down the pike this week and a last lead me to believe they are phasing out my part of the process. I did not catch it at first but when I put them all together and add the fact that 3 of the 5 escalation managers are changing jobs and the replacements were not announced, I think I get the picture.
If that is indeed true, I will lose my "gap pay" (on call pay) but I also regain my nights, weekends and holidays. I can handle that...I think. Sound fair to you?
The other thing I found out today is that out of the 20-25 people in our building who work on the same account as I do, at least 6 qualify for my company's early retirement plan. Neat plan...you add your age to your service years and if they add up to 65 or more, you qualify. I only add up to 52, so I am not one of them.
Add to that 3 of the 4 members of my old group qualify for this and if they all take it, that is gonna put a lot of work on the last man standing. Ouch.
Well, I was all ready to walk little man but my wife decided she needed the exercise so she took him. I am glad I have started walking at lunchtime. I need to go inquire about the cost of joining the rec center across the street from my house. It used to be about$60 a year but I think that price has gone up some. No worries, as long as it is less than $100 year it is still cheaper (and clsoer) than Express Fitness where my wife goes.
Dog Update and For The Love Of Money
My wife tearfully took the Golden to the vet yesterday morning. The dog was sedated and x-rayed and no surprise, she had torn her ACL. the vet seems to think that the ACL had been stressed a few weeks ago and finally gave out the other day. My wife told the vet that she did not want the dog to live her, that if she was suffering she wanted to put her down as painful as that would be. The vet smiled at her and told her that even though she had hip issues the Golden was still very strong and she did not recommend putting the animal down. That made my wife happy, but then she came to the realization of the cost. The vet told her that the Golden did not have to have the surgery since dogs have 4 legs and can carry themselves on three of them, but she would be more comfortable later on if we did. the last surgery we had performed on her (the other ACL) was the more expensive of the two surgeries and we borrowed the money to have it done. We have discussed it and prefer to have the less expensive surgery this time for two reasons. 1) we still owe on the last surger (about another year) and 2) we will have the cash to have the other one done in about a week or so. While our finances are getting better, they are far from rosy. Anyhoo...my wife has scheduled an appointment for a Friday morning appointment at the pet surgery center wit ha possible Friday afternoon operating time. Please, if you pray, pray for emotional peace for my wife and that the surgeon performs to the best of their ability. It is not really fair to pray for the dog to come through without a hitch because we do not know when it is time for any of us (including our pets) to leave this earth.
I have received some encouraging words from Landshark, who now appears to be a regular reader if my web logs are correct. His dog is in need of surgery as well and since they are sans children, the pets in their home hold special places in his and his wife's heart. I appreciate the caring words.
Last night at our care group, we had guests attending. The associate pastor and his wife (who actually were part of our group one time) joined us for a meal and a biblical lesson on finance. It seems then faith and finances are spoken in the same sentence, many of us get the wrong impression. "Oh, boy, it looks like $Pastor is going to give us the "we need your money" speech again." Actually, if that is the mindset, then one of two things is wrong, but I will cover that later...
The lesson is part of a video series pertaining to margin. Every day we live life as if there are 25 hours in a day. We do this in almost all aspects of our life (time, money, etc). The premise is that if we cut back on things that are not important, we create margin so we can do other things. For those (like myself) who are workaholics, this can be difficult because we feel everything is important. The idea is to start off every morning to let God guide your day and put those things in your path that he wants you to focus on and the discernment to avoid the fluff. DOing so will give you more time to share with family and spend on the important things in your life.
In regards to finance, the lesson was very simple, very scriptural. He gave a long series of formulas for all the math/finance geeks but at the end he broke it down to a simple demonstration. He held up ten, $1 bills, representing our wages. Christian or Jew, you know the Torah/pentatuch/Old Testament well enough that God asked us to give him 1/10, save 1/10, pay our taxes, pay our debts, then live on the rest. He took one of the bills and put it God's pile, he took one and put it in the savings pile, he took two and put it in the tax pile (oddly enough, if you give to the church and save properly, your taxes go down), and finally took out one for debt (debt defined as money you borrow - Credit cards, car loans, mortgage, student loans, etc) and that left five bills left to live on (monthly expenses, etc). The man on the DVD was explaining that we have as a people (Christian, Jew, and unchurched) live our financial lives with little margin. We do not give God his share, we tend not to save as much as God wants us to, we cheat on our taxes and we augment that by borrowing a lot more money for stuff we do not need. That in turn throws all of God's plan out of balance.
That video in turn led to a spirited debate over tithing (tithe means 1/10). Many people do not tithe...they give an offering. One comment was "well, it is plain to see that we are to tithe. Scripture says give unto Caesar what is his and give to the lord what belongs to him." I spoke up and told the person that while I admired his heart, that scripture did not endorse tithing. God is not interested in our money, he is interested in our heart. It has been said that you can tell where a person's heart is by looking at what they spend their money on. Now that can be a little confusing so let me break it down a little. If I made $100,000 and gave CHEERFULLY $10,000 a year to our church, then my heart is in line with God's spirit. If I only gave $5,000 but spent the other $5,000 on a plasma TV, then what am I saying? I am saying that "stuff" and my entertainment is more important to me.
With that in mind, I went home and looked at where our money went last year (finance programs are great at helping us do this). We gave just a smidgen less than 10% of our (mine and my wife's) gross income. We spent 18% towards our home (less than the national average) and about 18% towards other debt. That is almost half our salary and that is not counting taxes. We effectively pay about 10% in taxes and I save about 6% each year. That comes to about 62%. Not bad. That means that my wife and I can live on 38% of of our salary on month to month items (food, car insurance, utilities, gasoline, etc). Interesting, no? How about you?
I said earlier that if you have negative thoughts when money and faith are mentioned together that one of two things is wrong. One is that the person who is bringing it up is not doing so in a Christian manner. The other is that we are not right with God. We are called to be cheerful givers. While the idea is to give 10%, if you can only give 5% due to an abnormally heavy debt load and you can give it cheerfully, it means more to God than giving 10% and moaning about it.
I challenge you to give spiritual finance management a try (if you are a Christian who is a member of a church). First, look at what you spend your money on. If you do not have any idea, then start tracking it using the categories I gave earlier (God, savings, taxes, debt, and normal monthly expenses) and see how you stack up with God's plan (10% for him, 10% savings, 10-20% taxes, 10% debt, and the rest is what you live on). As you can see my wife and I need to make a few changes. We need to give a little more, save more, and decrease debt but I am happy to say that we are doing better. If all things go as planned, we will only have a house payment this time next year. If we stay true to God's plan, it can happen.
I have received some encouraging words from Landshark, who now appears to be a regular reader if my web logs are correct. His dog is in need of surgery as well and since they are sans children, the pets in their home hold special places in his and his wife's heart. I appreciate the caring words.
Last night at our care group, we had guests attending. The associate pastor and his wife (who actually were part of our group one time) joined us for a meal and a biblical lesson on finance. It seems then faith and finances are spoken in the same sentence, many of us get the wrong impression. "Oh, boy, it looks like $Pastor is going to give us the "we need your money" speech again." Actually, if that is the mindset, then one of two things is wrong, but I will cover that later...
The lesson is part of a video series pertaining to margin. Every day we live life as if there are 25 hours in a day. We do this in almost all aspects of our life (time, money, etc). The premise is that if we cut back on things that are not important, we create margin so we can do other things. For those (like myself) who are workaholics, this can be difficult because we feel everything is important. The idea is to start off every morning to let God guide your day and put those things in your path that he wants you to focus on and the discernment to avoid the fluff. DOing so will give you more time to share with family and spend on the important things in your life.
In regards to finance, the lesson was very simple, very scriptural. He gave a long series of formulas for all the math/finance geeks but at the end he broke it down to a simple demonstration. He held up ten, $1 bills, representing our wages. Christian or Jew, you know the Torah/pentatuch/Old Testament well enough that God asked us to give him 1/10, save 1/10, pay our taxes, pay our debts, then live on the rest. He took one of the bills and put it God's pile, he took one and put it in the savings pile, he took two and put it in the tax pile (oddly enough, if you give to the church and save properly, your taxes go down), and finally took out one for debt (debt defined as money you borrow - Credit cards, car loans, mortgage, student loans, etc) and that left five bills left to live on (monthly expenses, etc). The man on the DVD was explaining that we have as a people (Christian, Jew, and unchurched) live our financial lives with little margin. We do not give God his share, we tend not to save as much as God wants us to, we cheat on our taxes and we augment that by borrowing a lot more money for stuff we do not need. That in turn throws all of God's plan out of balance.
That video in turn led to a spirited debate over tithing (tithe means 1/10). Many people do not tithe...they give an offering. One comment was "well, it is plain to see that we are to tithe. Scripture says give unto Caesar what is his and give to the lord what belongs to him." I spoke up and told the person that while I admired his heart, that scripture did not endorse tithing. God is not interested in our money, he is interested in our heart. It has been said that you can tell where a person's heart is by looking at what they spend their money on. Now that can be a little confusing so let me break it down a little. If I made $100,000 and gave CHEERFULLY $10,000 a year to our church, then my heart is in line with God's spirit. If I only gave $5,000 but spent the other $5,000 on a plasma TV, then what am I saying? I am saying that "stuff" and my entertainment is more important to me.
With that in mind, I went home and looked at where our money went last year (finance programs are great at helping us do this). We gave just a smidgen less than 10% of our (mine and my wife's) gross income. We spent 18% towards our home (less than the national average) and about 18% towards other debt. That is almost half our salary and that is not counting taxes. We effectively pay about 10% in taxes and I save about 6% each year. That comes to about 62%. Not bad. That means that my wife and I can live on 38% of of our salary on month to month items (food, car insurance, utilities, gasoline, etc). Interesting, no? How about you?
I said earlier that if you have negative thoughts when money and faith are mentioned together that one of two things is wrong. One is that the person who is bringing it up is not doing so in a Christian manner. The other is that we are not right with God. We are called to be cheerful givers. While the idea is to give 10%, if you can only give 5% due to an abnormally heavy debt load and you can give it cheerfully, it means more to God than giving 10% and moaning about it.
I challenge you to give spiritual finance management a try (if you are a Christian who is a member of a church). First, look at what you spend your money on. If you do not have any idea, then start tracking it using the categories I gave earlier (God, savings, taxes, debt, and normal monthly expenses) and see how you stack up with God's plan (10% for him, 10% savings, 10-20% taxes, 10% debt, and the rest is what you live on). As you can see my wife and I need to make a few changes. We need to give a little more, save more, and decrease debt but I am happy to say that we are doing better. If all things go as planned, we will only have a house payment this time next year. If we stay true to God's plan, it can happen.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Chronicles, "Turning Japanese"
I think we all know someone who refuses to act their age. They may be like me and still listen to heavy metal or they may read comic books or watch cartoons. Whatever the behavior, most of us know someone like that. This installment is about a guy that I know that refuses to act his age. Let me tell you about "Mwonga".
I met Mwonga when I met Holmes, either the same day or shortly thereafter. Mwonga is a couple of years older than I am but he has a child's heart. Now that would not be bad if he still did not act like a child and at times play RPG's with them...but I am getting ahead of myself.
Mwonga and Holmes recorded parodies on audio tape as a past time and they were pretty good at it (when asked how the two met, Holmes stated that Mwonga sort of just appears when Holmes was in 6th grade. He never left). Mwonga was a huge fan of the original Dr. Who on PBS and was the inspiration for one of the funniest and oddest BSOB films ever, "Dr. Who vs the Krelnoid". Mwonga, the son of an American soldier and Japanese woman, starred as the scarfed hero in this action comedy that included the fearsome pig faced Krelnoid. Need I say more?
Mwonga was not around as much as the other in the group, but when he was he made up for the times he was absent. IIRC, Mwonga was attending Fairmont State College part time. I am sure he was not working so something had to be occupying his time. I knew it was girls. He never showed any interest at that time in the fairer sex.
When I met Mwonga he professed to be a Christian and since I did not know much about Christianity, I thought maybe all Christians were as nutty as he was. He did not drink or smoke and he did not swear. He was honest and we trusted him because he never gave us a reason not to. He did not get involved with the activities we did (drinking, girl chasing, the antics with our cars, etc) and for that I am proud of him. He was smarter than we were at that time.
Mwonga was a pretty good actor and made a great addition to the BSOB stable. He was a bit like Johnny Depp in that he was always given the odd role and he seemed to made it work. He was given the role of Mwonga (hense the nickname) in the BSOB film, "The Dumb Ones" (A spoof of "The Young Ones" on BBC). Mwonga was supposed to be an African exchange student living with an eclectic group of college students in the US. Mwonga (while dark skinned) did not even come close to passing for a black man, but he did not care. He played the part just like it had been written for him. My only complaint was that he kept slipping into an Irish accent during filming. We got tired of reshooting so we eventually just left the take as it was.
Towards the end of BSOB's short but prolific run, Mwonga started playing role playing games (RPG's) such as D&D and Marvel Super Heroes. While I had fun for a while, I got tired of playing and also work kept me from joining in most of the campaigns. Holmes picked up the slack but after a while even he tired of the games so Mwonga went in search of other players. He eventually found some kids to play RPG's with...a group of 12 year old kids who lived nearby. Mwonga was now about 20 or so and he was playing RPG's with 12 year olds. This struck me as odd and I was a bit concerned. How many 20 year olds play 12 year olds?
Sometime later after he moved to Ohio and began working at a variety of companies. At one point he worked at Ace Hardware and then later on at an automotive plant building Honda Elements. While in Ohio, Mwonga continued his rather unique lifestyle. At one point he was living with two lesbians (I am sure that was interesting) and later on he joined a Star Trek Fan organization where he was a former captain and to quote the web site "Chief of Shuttle Operations - Former Captain - Advisory Staff". Needless to say Mwonga is passionate about Star Trek.
I may pick on him but to be honest, I like him. We catch each other on AIM every now and then and the next time I see him online, I am going to have to let him knw about the "Chronicles". I am sure he can add a few things to the collection.
I met Mwonga when I met Holmes, either the same day or shortly thereafter. Mwonga is a couple of years older than I am but he has a child's heart. Now that would not be bad if he still did not act like a child and at times play RPG's with them...but I am getting ahead of myself.
Mwonga and Holmes recorded parodies on audio tape as a past time and they were pretty good at it (when asked how the two met, Holmes stated that Mwonga sort of just appears when Holmes was in 6th grade. He never left). Mwonga was a huge fan of the original Dr. Who on PBS and was the inspiration for one of the funniest and oddest BSOB films ever, "Dr. Who vs the Krelnoid". Mwonga, the son of an American soldier and Japanese woman, starred as the scarfed hero in this action comedy that included the fearsome pig faced Krelnoid. Need I say more?
Mwonga was not around as much as the other in the group, but when he was he made up for the times he was absent. IIRC, Mwonga was attending Fairmont State College part time. I am sure he was not working so something had to be occupying his time. I knew it was girls. He never showed any interest at that time in the fairer sex.
When I met Mwonga he professed to be a Christian and since I did not know much about Christianity, I thought maybe all Christians were as nutty as he was. He did not drink or smoke and he did not swear. He was honest and we trusted him because he never gave us a reason not to. He did not get involved with the activities we did (drinking, girl chasing, the antics with our cars, etc) and for that I am proud of him. He was smarter than we were at that time.
Mwonga was a pretty good actor and made a great addition to the BSOB stable. He was a bit like Johnny Depp in that he was always given the odd role and he seemed to made it work. He was given the role of Mwonga (hense the nickname) in the BSOB film, "The Dumb Ones" (A spoof of "The Young Ones" on BBC). Mwonga was supposed to be an African exchange student living with an eclectic group of college students in the US. Mwonga (while dark skinned) did not even come close to passing for a black man, but he did not care. He played the part just like it had been written for him. My only complaint was that he kept slipping into an Irish accent during filming. We got tired of reshooting so we eventually just left the take as it was.
Towards the end of BSOB's short but prolific run, Mwonga started playing role playing games (RPG's) such as D&D and Marvel Super Heroes. While I had fun for a while, I got tired of playing and also work kept me from joining in most of the campaigns. Holmes picked up the slack but after a while even he tired of the games so Mwonga went in search of other players. He eventually found some kids to play RPG's with...a group of 12 year old kids who lived nearby. Mwonga was now about 20 or so and he was playing RPG's with 12 year olds. This struck me as odd and I was a bit concerned. How many 20 year olds play 12 year olds?
Sometime later after he moved to Ohio and began working at a variety of companies. At one point he worked at Ace Hardware and then later on at an automotive plant building Honda Elements. While in Ohio, Mwonga continued his rather unique lifestyle. At one point he was living with two lesbians (I am sure that was interesting) and later on he joined a Star Trek Fan organization where he was a former captain and to quote the web site "Chief of Shuttle Operations - Former Captain - Advisory Staff". Needless to say Mwonga is passionate about Star Trek.
I may pick on him but to be honest, I like him. We catch each other on AIM every now and then and the next time I see him online, I am going to have to let him knw about the "Chronicles". I am sure he can add a few things to the collection.
The Gods Of War
In the great OS wars, Mac and Windows have been waging a battle that is often quite comical. While both OS's have their strong points, I have decided to use Linux as my main OS. I thought that going to Linux would keep me away from the Gods of War. I was wrong.
There are actually a few battles being waged in Linux Land and they can be almost as amusing as the Mac/Windows scuffles. The war I want comment about is the Gnome/KDE desktop battle. Gnome and KDE are the two biggies in this arena, although there are many, many others. These two make up the default desktop of about 90% of the current Linux distributions. While it is normally quite simple to change which DE (desktop environment) you want to use, most distro's have a favorite and center their product around it.
The other day I was reading an article on slashdot about Linus Torvalds and his disdain for Gnome. I realize that I currently prefer Gnome because it is very easy to navigate. When I use KDE, I feel like I am relearning WIndows again...things are scattered and hidden and while they work well and are very configurable, it just isn't for me. I cannot understand why a group of people who thumb their noses at Microsoft have to get bogged down in a petty debate over which DE is better. Come on, at least you can easily change the DE in Linux and it stays stable. Try that with Windows.
I have been using Linux for about two or two and half years. I started using Gnome because it was the default DE of Ubuntu, the distro I prefer to use. I have tried other distros, and I used whatever DE was the default, but I always came back to Ubuntu. I also have used other DE's (IceWM and XFCE) on machines that do not have enough horsepower to run a "heavy" DE and like them well enough to keep using them, although for servers IcwWM is plenty for me.
I installed Mepis on an old laptop and liked it but I thought KDE was too confusing...like I said earlier, it is like relearning Windows. However last night I installed the kubuntu-desktop package in Ubuntu and gave it a spin. I will admit two things: It is shiny but I have NO idea where anything is yet. I will keep working it and see if I like it. Maybe I will do a "30 days of KDE" to give it a fair shake.
I am not going to chose sides in the war...I plan on playing Switzerland. The battle is over OS's, not DE's. Why don't we get along and sell the point that with Linux, YOU HAVE A CHOICE and the choices are many.
There are actually a few battles being waged in Linux Land and they can be almost as amusing as the Mac/Windows scuffles. The war I want comment about is the Gnome/KDE desktop battle. Gnome and KDE are the two biggies in this arena, although there are many, many others. These two make up the default desktop of about 90% of the current Linux distributions. While it is normally quite simple to change which DE (desktop environment) you want to use, most distro's have a favorite and center their product around it.
The other day I was reading an article on slashdot about Linus Torvalds and his disdain for Gnome. I realize that I currently prefer Gnome because it is very easy to navigate. When I use KDE, I feel like I am relearning WIndows again...things are scattered and hidden and while they work well and are very configurable, it just isn't for me. I cannot understand why a group of people who thumb their noses at Microsoft have to get bogged down in a petty debate over which DE is better. Come on, at least you can easily change the DE in Linux and it stays stable. Try that with Windows.
I have been using Linux for about two or two and half years. I started using Gnome because it was the default DE of Ubuntu, the distro I prefer to use. I have tried other distros, and I used whatever DE was the default, but I always came back to Ubuntu. I also have used other DE's (IceWM and XFCE) on machines that do not have enough horsepower to run a "heavy" DE and like them well enough to keep using them, although for servers IcwWM is plenty for me.
I installed Mepis on an old laptop and liked it but I thought KDE was too confusing...like I said earlier, it is like relearning Windows. However last night I installed the kubuntu-desktop package in Ubuntu and gave it a spin. I will admit two things: It is shiny but I have NO idea where anything is yet. I will keep working it and see if I like it. Maybe I will do a "30 days of KDE" to give it a fair shake.
I am not going to chose sides in the war...I plan on playing Switzerland. The battle is over OS's, not DE's. Why don't we get along and sell the point that with Linux, YOU HAVE A CHOICE and the choices are many.
Land Of Confusion
Yesterday started out as a blah day. Nothing went on and I was looking forward to coming home and eating dinner with my wife, maybe taking a walk while it was still daylight, and finally settling down to two hours of "Law and Order". Well, that did not happen. While the majority of the day was uneventful, things got interesting around 3 PM my time.
At 3:09 PM CST, I received an e-mail (not a phone call, but an E-MAIL) from our customer's internal escalation group. They were asking to have a ticket raised from medium to high severity. Well there are so many things wrong with that I do not know where to begin. Everything we do has a process and we are under contract to follow those processes. If an issue needs reviewed to see if it needs raised in severity, the customer normally calls the help desk and explains the issue. The HD contacts the incident mgr to see if the severity needs raised. if so, he raises the severity and contacts the tech. If not, the customer is informed and that is that. Nowhere am I involved in this process. The customer in question was in Russia and it was past midnight there. However, that is not the worst of it. I was notified SIX HOURS LATER by E-MAIL that the issue needed raised. Not only was the e-mail six hours late, it was sent to the wrong group/person. Rather than responding, I did the politically correct thing and notified the Incident Mgr on duty. No answer on the phone, so I e-mailed them the issue, CC'ing the tech who worked on it and the mgr for the region (Even if this was an escalation, it should not have gone to me...I am only responsible for global issues and my region. This was in Russia and affected 1 person). Since I had not heard from anyone by quitting time (4:30 for me), I drove home. Just as I got home and started feeding the dogs, the Incident Mgr called me and asked me what he wanted me to do about the case. I wanted to say something but I held my tongue. I just told him the customer needed to be notified and the solution put into place. It was a formality, but the tech was just following protocol by asking for the customer to follow the rules. After confirmation that the issue would be looked into, I ended the call.
My wife came home and said she was hungry, but we did not have time to "cook" anything, so she nuked a bag of chicken fried rice and we ate it on the patio, since the weather was nice. We took the dogs out and the Golden wanted to play. She has bad hips and has had one of her ACL's repaired,so running is a no-no. She did her "play bow" and wanted me to chase her and I told her "no!" She was not taking no for an answer so she took off running. Suring her first step, she let out a yelp and started limping. We both knew what it was...
My wife loves that dog more than anything other than God, me, and our son. Seeing the dog in pain and limping broker her heart. The dog is seven years old and has had one ACL surgery. She has the heart of a Golden but not the healthy body of one. Even before she hurt herself last night, she had trouble walking and getting up off the floor. She takes pain pills a few times a week when we see her in greater pain, but we do not want her to live on them.
My wife is taking the dog to the vet to have her x-rayed. She told me that if the ACL is blown, she is going to have the Golden euthanized/put down/put to sleep...whatever term you are comfortable with. My does not feel that she is strong enough to handle ACL and hip surgery. If this happens, my wife is going to have a broken heart and she will grieve for a long time. The Golden is the little girl my wife never had. I like the dog, but my wife is the one who is attached to her. She trained her, she grooms her, she cares for her. I just feed her and let her out a few times each day.
Our other dog, while in good physical health, has issues that I think are similar/related to doggie dementia. He can be sweet one minute and act very weird the next. He stares at blank walls and he lays in the middle of the hallway, causing me to step on him if I am not on the lookout. He is almost twice as old as the Golden. We have had him a long time. When it is his time to go, I am gonna be the one who cries like a baby.
My wife is supposed to call me if the dog has to be put down. I am not looking forward to that call. I almost would welcome the expense over the pain this is going to bring. I know that all things happen for a reason...it may be time for my wife to let go so she can be stronger the next time a major issue arises.
This is going to be a prayer day...and a long one at that.
At 3:09 PM CST, I received an e-mail (not a phone call, but an E-MAIL) from our customer's internal escalation group. They were asking to have a ticket raised from medium to high severity. Well there are so many things wrong with that I do not know where to begin. Everything we do has a process and we are under contract to follow those processes. If an issue needs reviewed to see if it needs raised in severity, the customer normally calls the help desk and explains the issue. The HD contacts the incident mgr to see if the severity needs raised. if so, he raises the severity and contacts the tech. If not, the customer is informed and that is that. Nowhere am I involved in this process. The customer in question was in Russia and it was past midnight there. However, that is not the worst of it. I was notified SIX HOURS LATER by E-MAIL that the issue needed raised. Not only was the e-mail six hours late, it was sent to the wrong group/person. Rather than responding, I did the politically correct thing and notified the Incident Mgr on duty. No answer on the phone, so I e-mailed them the issue, CC'ing the tech who worked on it and the mgr for the region (Even if this was an escalation, it should not have gone to me...I am only responsible for global issues and my region. This was in Russia and affected 1 person). Since I had not heard from anyone by quitting time (4:30 for me), I drove home. Just as I got home and started feeding the dogs, the Incident Mgr called me and asked me what he wanted me to do about the case. I wanted to say something but I held my tongue. I just told him the customer needed to be notified and the solution put into place. It was a formality, but the tech was just following protocol by asking for the customer to follow the rules. After confirmation that the issue would be looked into, I ended the call.
My wife came home and said she was hungry, but we did not have time to "cook" anything, so she nuked a bag of chicken fried rice and we ate it on the patio, since the weather was nice. We took the dogs out and the Golden wanted to play. She has bad hips and has had one of her ACL's repaired,so running is a no-no. She did her "play bow" and wanted me to chase her and I told her "no!" She was not taking no for an answer so she took off running. Suring her first step, she let out a yelp and started limping. We both knew what it was...
My wife loves that dog more than anything other than God, me, and our son. Seeing the dog in pain and limping broker her heart. The dog is seven years old and has had one ACL surgery. She has the heart of a Golden but not the healthy body of one. Even before she hurt herself last night, she had trouble walking and getting up off the floor. She takes pain pills a few times a week when we see her in greater pain, but we do not want her to live on them.
My wife is taking the dog to the vet to have her x-rayed. She told me that if the ACL is blown, she is going to have the Golden euthanized/put down/put to sleep...whatever term you are comfortable with. My does not feel that she is strong enough to handle ACL and hip surgery. If this happens, my wife is going to have a broken heart and she will grieve for a long time. The Golden is the little girl my wife never had. I like the dog, but my wife is the one who is attached to her. She trained her, she grooms her, she cares for her. I just feed her and let her out a few times each day.
Our other dog, while in good physical health, has issues that I think are similar/related to doggie dementia. He can be sweet one minute and act very weird the next. He stares at blank walls and he lays in the middle of the hallway, causing me to step on him if I am not on the lookout. He is almost twice as old as the Golden. We have had him a long time. When it is his time to go, I am gonna be the one who cries like a baby.
My wife is supposed to call me if the dog has to be put down. I am not looking forward to that call. I almost would welcome the expense over the pain this is going to bring. I know that all things happen for a reason...it may be time for my wife to let go so she can be stronger the next time a major issue arises.
This is going to be a prayer day...and a long one at that.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Chronicles, "On With The Show"
Knightmare Duck made an astute observation a few weeks ago. While he commended me on the "Chronicles" so far, he also reminded me that I was missing some people from my stories. I got to thinking about it and realized he was right. So far I have dedicated chapters to those who were part core to my teen years. I did not have any intention of writing a chapter each about everyone I ever ran associated with. However, KD had his thinking cap on and suggested that I write a chapter about the "cast of thousands" that made up the part of my life outside of the BSOB gang. While this is not a complete list, it is a good summery (e-mail me if you can think of people I hung out with that I missed that are memorable).
One last thought, After editing this some (thanx to KD for the memory jog) I still did not include everyone. While shows have stars and co-stars, there are minor characters and even "extras" that color the story. I am not going to try to mention all of them, that is insane. Again of you think of someone who should be listed, then drop me a line and I will see what I can do.
So without further delay let me introduce you to... the supporting cast:
Dave and Amy - Brother and sister who lived on the street above me at the corner (I grew up in the hills of WV, everything is either above you or below you). They lived in a small house on the corner until I was 13 or so. Dave and I used to go shoot pellet guns in the woods behind his house. After he moved to another part of town (to a custom home his father built), I did not see him much. Every now and then I would walk through the woods to his house once to go sledding. or bird hunting.
Denise and Tiffany - Denise was my age and Tiffany was her little sister. Denise was *the* cutest girl in the neighborhood (petite, blonde hair, blue eyes) and all the guys liked her (although none would admit it). The day she moved was one of the saddest days of my life. Her dad packed them up and moved them to Ohio, but they ended up moving back in about a year or so later. Denise played kickball and rode bikes with us. We ended up attending high school together but by that time she was not the same person. I still thought she was cute, though.
Keith (Known elsewhere as KG), Carrie, Rachel, Curtis - Keith, KD and I were pretty close friends for quite a while, until he dissed my mom on the phone, (He called her a b*tch). He looked down on me because my family was poor. Keith was a natural athlete but after a while, the preppy fad kicked in and KD lost track of him. There were two or three summers before we parted ways that hanging out at his house was the best thing to do (he had a real basement and that was unique to us at the time). When a baby sitter was needed, a female neighbor (who was 5 or so years older than us) was hired and she only added to the hilarity that was already rampant. She busted on Keith ("I am never going to get those brown stains out of your underwear") and at times would blurt out the strangest things without any provocation ("I don't have crabs, you know"). Carrie was KG's older sister and she had to be one of the most annoying and obnoxious girls I ever met. Keith's dad was a high school teacher and his mom was a pharmacist. His dad was very intelligent and funny and used to pick on Carrie something fierce (Carrie was a bit "big boned" and he never let her forget it). Rachel and Curtis were the little siblings.
Lori and Missy - Cousins to Denise and Tiffany. They did not associate much with the rest of the group much, although KD did get along with Lori rather well at times. Lori was attractive in a prim and proper sort of way, but not cute. I always took her for being stuck up since she hardly associated with most of us. I seem to recall her sister Missy squealed/screamed a lot when she wanted attention. They lived in a small house next to KD's.
Robert - Only lived in our neighborhood a short time. His mother used to stand on the back porch and yell for him when it was time to come home (bed, dinner, homework) and after a short time, I was able to imitate her voice. I used to call him and watch him come running. Robert was an only child and his mother and father spoiled him rotten. He had a ton of toys (and a baseball card collection second to none), yet he would still steal some of mine from my house when he came over, prompting my parents to bar from returning. Robert did not learn to ride a bike while he lived in our neighborhood...instead he pushed his bike around.
Kevin - Was a lot younger than any other kid I played with. He spent a lot if time at his grandparents on the weekends and spoiled him rotten. He always had a ton of toys to play with including a wooden skateboard with metal wheels. His grandfather worried me when I saw him wearing an old prison inmate's shirt while he was working on his car. These people lived next to Jim.
Julie - Knightmare's sister. One tough little girl. Once stabbed someone with a pocket knife (KD swears it was me, but I do not remember it) and bonked KD with a golf club.
Scottie - Not from our 'hood but I spent some time hanging with him when he came to visit his cousin, Knightmare Duck. My (then) bigotry of blacks got me into a fight with Scottie when I was about 12 or so, which I promptly lost. I deserved a lot more than just losing, but Scottie was a lot more gracious to me than I deserved at that time. I think that whooping helped clear my head of my racist thoughts.
Jerry - My younger brother. I did not get along with him at all. He was very disrespectful of my dad and mom as well as had some very disgusting hygiene issues. Jerry has had a tough life and refuses to straighten up. He and my dad never reconciled. He is three years younger than me.
Dawn - My sister. Only girl in the family, and the youngest. Being the only girl and the youngest child gave her a few more privileges than I got, but I don't hold any grudges. She is 10 years younger than I am and she was born on Jerry's birthday. Wow.
No neighborhood would be complete without a bully or two to keep things interesting. I was the recipient of a far amount of bullying, so this is not easy. I had planned to make a separate chapter on this, but maybe KD is right, it belongs here.
Dickie - Dickie lived one street below me at the end of what we called "The Rocky Road" with his single mother. He bummed money from everyone and while he never hurt me, I was pretty scared of him a bigger part of my youth. I avoided areas he lived in like the plague. He was in and out of youth homes and later jail so much they put in a revolving door for him.
Frankie, Jimmy, Jerry, and Melissa - Jerry was the mentally handicapped one who acted like Wonder Woman (or the Bionic Woman, depending on the day) and also had a speech impediment. I felt sorry for him. Jimmy was a kleptomaniac who would pick up anything and shove it in his pockets. He tried to be like Frankie (a bully), but he could not pull it off. He got his butt kicked more often than not. Melissa was the oldest and wanted a baby so bad, she would try to rape guys to get that way. She eventually convinced herself that she was pregnant and took on all the symptoms of a woman with child except she never gave birth. It was all in her head.
Frankie was the bully. He did everything in his power to hurt me or my brother. The first run in with him was when I was 11. He followed behind me one day after school and beat the tar out of me...I though he broke my nose. I had never been in a real fight before I was scared. I went home a bloody mess. Mom and dad were not thrilled. I was told by the principal that Frankie was jealous of me and wanted to hurt me because of that jealousy. Lessee, I was poor, had hand-me-down clothes, and had a misfit for a younger brother and he was jealous of me? Oooookkaaaaay.
After that Frankie took every pot shot he could at me but I was not able to mentally fight him. The first fight (with all that blood) scarred me and it was not until 5 or 6 years later that I was able to face him. Just as I got the courage to face him man to man, he turned and ran. KD swears there was another fight where I pummeled him so hard he fell through some hedges, but I do not remember that happening.
Frankie too, spent a lot of time in juvi hall and jail. KD informs me he is in for a very long stretch this time.
In my early teen years we had a group hang out with us that I called "The Seasonals". The "Seasonals" were people that only hung out in our neighborhood at certain times of the year, mainly when KD's cousin came to visit.
Camela - Cammie was an attractive girl (who was also KD's cousin) who came in once a year for a couple of weeks to visit her grandmother who lived across from Dave and Amy. She lived in a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA and had that "Pittsboyg" accent that I found so adorable at that time. She was very tan and had very dark blonde (almost brown) hair. She liked to flirt and while I knew she was not serious, I liked it. We kept in touch via snail mail for a couple of years but eventually the letters stopped. Cammie allowed most of us to live a little while she was visiting. KD asked me why she stuck out in my mind so much and I finally realized why. She encouraged me to push the envelope of what I was willing to do and how far I was willing to go. While what some of us did was not all the wholesome, it did get us out of our comfort zone.
Gary - Lived at the end of my street (about a 1/4 mile away) and had his own circle of friends. He only hung around when Cammie was in town. He tried really hard to hook up with her, but she just blew him off. He tried again the next year with the same result, so he stopped coming around. Gary lived with his sister Kim, who was cute but never associated with the poor folks at the other end of the block.
Jim - I have known Jim longer than anyone else in the Chronicles. I met Jim when I was 6 or so. He is a second generation American who's grandparents were born in Italy. Jim was an athlete who stayed out of trouble (most of the time) and was fun to be around when he was sober. I made the mistake once of making him mad when he was drunk and all I will say is that I am glad that guns have a safety switch. He dated Cammie one or two summers but decided he wanted to participate in sports instead of wasting time with us.
Mike - Gary's half brother. At first I liked Mike but the longer I knew him the bigger phony I realized he was. He came to live Gary's family when I was 14 or so but he never fit in. During the 6 months or so I hung out with him, he told the most outrageous lies I had ever heard. Gary could not stand him and refused to acknowledge him. I do not remember what happened to him, but I do seem to recall him getting beat up rather seriously and moving back in with his mom.
Many of the kids in the neighborhood had moved away and not long after that, Cammie stopped coming in, so the time had come to find a new group of people to hang out with. Shortly after meeting Holmes, I was introduced to a motley group we affectionately called, "The Chunki Junkies".
The CJ's were a group of guys and girls that met at a local pizza joint/game room (Chunki's) almost every night during the "BSOB Years". We all played video games, some smoked, some drank a little, and we even ordered a pizza once in a while (not often though, the pizza was expensive). Many of the CJ's were used in the various films we made and oddly enough, we never saw them again!
The group line up fluctuated, but the core group consisted of me, KD, Holmes, and:
Lou Ellen and Jan - Brother and sister. He was still in high school (although he did not look like), loud and obnoxious. I had a thing for Ellen, but I am not sure why...she was not my type at all. I guess it was the thrill of the chase. Not too many people admitted to liking Jan.
Julia and Marlyn - Sisters who lived across the street from John and Ellen. Mary was still in school and Julia had already graduated. Julia was our "connection" until I was of legal age and she also dated KD for a while. Julia had a crush on me while I was pursuing Lou Ellen.
Jake - Holmes' little brother. He was short, stocky, and strong as an ox. The two things that I remember most about him was his smile (permanent grin) and the one time he walked down to Chunki's from the apartment he lived in with his mom and brother in a just a t-shirt and his underwear. He was in such a hurry that he forgot to put on his shorts (it was summer time). Red faced, he ran back to the apartment to get the rest of his clothes. We laughed about that for weeks.
Henry - Dirty old man. He took us out once or twice but it was not very much fun. He gave Ellen the creeps and hit on Julia at least once. Henry would shout, "HONK! Get it!" while he played Ms Pacman. I think he needed friends his own age. I wonder what his wife thought about him hanging out with a bunch of teenagers?
Red - Former military (not sure which branch...but I want to say Air Force) who loved to play Mappy with Holmes. He rode a motorcycle and would give me a ride home once in a while when he was in a good mood. Somewhere along the way he started dating Julia and then became very upset with me. I eventually found out that someone was harassing her over the phone and she thought it was me. Red eventually married Julia and they have a child together. The most memorable event regarding Red was when he let me crash at his apartment after a night of very hard drinking and I threw up all over it making a mess everywhere.
After the "BSOB Years" I got married to my HSS so my friendship base changed. The old gang was out (for a time) and a new "wife approved" group was found:
John and Rob - I worked with John at McDonald's. He and his slightly younger brother were into hardcore heavy metal (ala SOD, MOD, etc...they created something they called Saltwell Hardcore) and we recorded a few songs (Rob played guitar, John played drums and I did vocals...what a joke!) at his home and eventually mine. We parted company after he was seen at my house (on multiple occasions) with my HSS while I was at work. Bad move, John. I have a short fuse.
Joe and Tammy - Tammy was the niece of one of the local magistrates and Joe was her certifiable husband. Tammy was actually quite a bit taller than Joe and reminded me of a very tall Joan Jett. While Joe was a bit of a loose cannon, he was mostly harmless to Tammy, me and my HSS.
Leisha - Worked in the mall where my HSS worked. Alisha was the one who first warned me that my HSS was cheating on me with another mall employee. She was tall and giggly (what is it with all the tall chicks?) and had a very wild streak in her. She eventually settled down and got married. I still get Christmas cards from her.
JR - Was a guy I knew in high school who became my roommate after my HSS moved to NC. He liked to party and held a couple in the short time he lived with me. We parted on bad terms when I decided to try to reconcile with my HSS.
If you want to see how well you make friends, move to another state. I think that is one of the best ways to find out how well you network. When I moved to NC, I struggled making friends. The majority of them were centered around work...I did not make many outside that area.
Landshark - My first boss in NC. There is an old saying amongst us geeks, "Friends help you move. REAL friends help you move bodies." No, we did not do anything illegal, but he went beyond the call of duty for me. He helped me move my junk from the apartment when I left my ex-wife, convinced "The Axe Murderer" to let me stay with him until I could find a place of my own, introduced me to the "2 Live Jews", and treated me right when I helped him move to Richmond. He is good people.
Rob the Slob and Dr. Dave (aka The 2 Live Jews) - Rob and Dave were Landshark's house mates for a couple of years before he moved out and I moved in. Rob was (still is) a workaholic while Dr. Dave was a med student at the time. They were the perfect house mates...I hardly saw them (j/k). We actually had a lot in common considering how different we were. Sundays were spent drinking coffee, getting bagels from Brugar's, going to the movies and watching PBS, Star Trek - TNG, and Silk Stalkings.
Fleck - Co-worker. Fleck was one of the first guys I met in NC. He was originally from Wisconsin but moved to NC a right before I did. He worked in the warehouse with me moved over to the customer service department after he cut himself with a metal shipping strap. Fleck reminded me of a smaller built Rick Flair.
Andy - Co-worker/student at UNC - Chapel Hill. About the only thing Andy did with us was drink and eat...and he did both very well. What else does a college boy do?
Ed - Co-worker/drinking buddy of Andy, Fleck and myself. He could consume copious amounts of alcohol without getting sick or hung over. He might pass out on you, but he never got sick. He used to joke that he was the "token black guy" of the group. Ed was black?
Ken - Co-worker. Ken was life long salesman. He had a run of bad luck that kept him from ever getting ahead. Like me, he was divorced and we used to share war stories. It was one of those "misery loves company" deals that took forever to escape from. He used to come over and do laundry on Sunday night or Monday morning on my days off and it drove The 2 Live Jews crazy. Ken was always looking for love in all the wrong places (most notably strip clubs and personal ads) and was single as long as I knew him. I lost track of him mostly because me made some derogatory comment towards my wife. While he did not mean for it to be, he refused to apologize so I never bothered returning his calls. I have thought about looking him up, but I am not sure I am ready for that.
Brian - Co-worker. Dubbed "The Axe Murderer" by the Landshark, Brian was very lucky. Unfortunately it was all bad. An impossibly thin white guy that had a habit of letting his mouth write checks his thin butt could not cash, he left the warehouse where we worked to begin a job as a salesman. He lost the sales job not long after that, causing him to have his Hyundai repo'd (I find that so sad....the car cost all of $5,ooo). He did two things that mad me laugh. The first was when he felt the need to tell one of our delivery drivers (who happened to be HUGE...the man was a monster) how to do his job on a day that was pretty stressful for both of them. It was comical to see little skinny Brian shouting at a tall muscular delivery driver. I thought the driver was going to kill him.
The second was when was a salesman. Near closing time he went into the men's bathroom and fell asleep on the toilet. They closed the store and locked it up with him in it. Brian wondered what to do and then IIRC he called Landshark to let him out. Oddly enough Brian never set off the motion detectors in the store as he wandered around from department to department. I told you he was skinny.
During the first few years in NC, I came back to WV to visit as often as I could (my son was living there) and renewed some old friendships as well as made some new ones:
Blockhead - I knew Block back in high school, but we were not very close. Once I moved to NC and started coming in for visits, we hung out quite a bit and played D&D together with some of his friends who were now my friends as well. Block moved to TN in January of 2007.
Bobby and Bren - Two of the sweetest people I have ever met. If you were in their home, you were family. What they had they shared. I remember the first time I came in at Christmas time, they packed me a huge goody box loaded with home made cookies and candy. Strong Christian people who at one time were some of my best D&D players. The own their own cleaning business and reside in WV.
As my NC friends got married and moved away, the sands began to shift again. My new bride had a nice group of friends and as her new hubby, I was immediately accepted by them. During this phase of my life I was really becoming a workaholic so I did not have much time for friends. If I was not working or at church, I was in class. My days were very full.
Carla and Bill - Carla was born in WV about 25 minutes north of where I lived and her husband was born in New Jersey. Carla was very bubbly and her husband was the serious one. They initially moved to Henderson, NC and just recently move to Minnesota. They have two kids (1 boy, 1 girl) and have settled into family life quite well. I went to CommColl with Carla and she was the one who actually introduced me to my wife.
Bob and Candy - Candy is one of my wife's oldest friends and Bob is her husband. Candy's uncle sold us a Celica GT that I learned to drive a stick on. Hint, do not let me drive your sports car. We lost touch after they moved a bit further north and had kids. Most of our get togethers were centered around food.
In 2001 me and my family moved to Texas and we had to start making friends all over again. My wife proved once again that she can go anywhere and find friends and that I can't. It probably took me two years before I had any real friends here. I realized the other day that every single person who I call a friend here in Texas I have met through our church. I guess when you spend all your time at work, at church, and with family, that is going to happen ;-) .
Most (if not all) my Texas peeps are in mentioned in my blog here and there, so if you are a regular you already know them . If not, then shame on you.
One last thought, After editing this some (thanx to KD for the memory jog) I still did not include everyone. While shows have stars and co-stars, there are minor characters and even "extras" that color the story. I am not going to try to mention all of them, that is insane. Again of you think of someone who should be listed, then drop me a line and I will see what I can do.
So without further delay let me introduce you to... the supporting cast:
Dave and Amy - Brother and sister who lived on the street above me at the corner (I grew up in the hills of WV, everything is either above you or below you). They lived in a small house on the corner until I was 13 or so. Dave and I used to go shoot pellet guns in the woods behind his house. After he moved to another part of town (to a custom home his father built), I did not see him much. Every now and then I would walk through the woods to his house once to go sledding. or bird hunting.
Denise and Tiffany - Denise was my age and Tiffany was her little sister. Denise was *the* cutest girl in the neighborhood (petite, blonde hair, blue eyes) and all the guys liked her (although none would admit it). The day she moved was one of the saddest days of my life. Her dad packed them up and moved them to Ohio, but they ended up moving back in about a year or so later. Denise played kickball and rode bikes with us. We ended up attending high school together but by that time she was not the same person. I still thought she was cute, though.
Keith (Known elsewhere as KG), Carrie, Rachel, Curtis - Keith, KD and I were pretty close friends for quite a while, until he dissed my mom on the phone, (He called her a b*tch). He looked down on me because my family was poor. Keith was a natural athlete but after a while, the preppy fad kicked in and KD lost track of him. There were two or three summers before we parted ways that hanging out at his house was the best thing to do (he had a real basement and that was unique to us at the time). When a baby sitter was needed, a female neighbor (who was 5 or so years older than us) was hired and she only added to the hilarity that was already rampant. She busted on Keith ("I am never going to get those brown stains out of your underwear") and at times would blurt out the strangest things without any provocation ("I don't have crabs, you know"). Carrie was KG's older sister and she had to be one of the most annoying and obnoxious girls I ever met. Keith's dad was a high school teacher and his mom was a pharmacist. His dad was very intelligent and funny and used to pick on Carrie something fierce (Carrie was a bit "big boned" and he never let her forget it). Rachel and Curtis were the little siblings.
Lori and Missy - Cousins to Denise and Tiffany. They did not associate much with the rest of the group much, although KD did get along with Lori rather well at times. Lori was attractive in a prim and proper sort of way, but not cute. I always took her for being stuck up since she hardly associated with most of us. I seem to recall her sister Missy squealed/screamed a lot when she wanted attention. They lived in a small house next to KD's.
Robert - Only lived in our neighborhood a short time. His mother used to stand on the back porch and yell for him when it was time to come home (bed, dinner, homework) and after a short time, I was able to imitate her voice. I used to call him and watch him come running. Robert was an only child and his mother and father spoiled him rotten. He had a ton of toys (and a baseball card collection second to none), yet he would still steal some of mine from my house when he came over, prompting my parents to bar from returning. Robert did not learn to ride a bike while he lived in our neighborhood...instead he pushed his bike around.
Kevin - Was a lot younger than any other kid I played with. He spent a lot if time at his grandparents on the weekends and spoiled him rotten. He always had a ton of toys to play with including a wooden skateboard with metal wheels. His grandfather worried me when I saw him wearing an old prison inmate's shirt while he was working on his car. These people lived next to Jim.
Julie - Knightmare's sister. One tough little girl. Once stabbed someone with a pocket knife (KD swears it was me, but I do not remember it) and bonked KD with a golf club.
Scottie - Not from our 'hood but I spent some time hanging with him when he came to visit his cousin, Knightmare Duck. My (then) bigotry of blacks got me into a fight with Scottie when I was about 12 or so, which I promptly lost. I deserved a lot more than just losing, but Scottie was a lot more gracious to me than I deserved at that time. I think that whooping helped clear my head of my racist thoughts.
Jerry - My younger brother. I did not get along with him at all. He was very disrespectful of my dad and mom as well as had some very disgusting hygiene issues. Jerry has had a tough life and refuses to straighten up. He and my dad never reconciled. He is three years younger than me.
Dawn - My sister. Only girl in the family, and the youngest. Being the only girl and the youngest child gave her a few more privileges than I got, but I don't hold any grudges. She is 10 years younger than I am and she was born on Jerry's birthday. Wow.
No neighborhood would be complete without a bully or two to keep things interesting. I was the recipient of a far amount of bullying, so this is not easy. I had planned to make a separate chapter on this, but maybe KD is right, it belongs here.
Dickie - Dickie lived one street below me at the end of what we called "The Rocky Road" with his single mother. He bummed money from everyone and while he never hurt me, I was pretty scared of him a bigger part of my youth. I avoided areas he lived in like the plague. He was in and out of youth homes and later jail so much they put in a revolving door for him.
Frankie, Jimmy, Jerry, and Melissa - Jerry was the mentally handicapped one who acted like Wonder Woman (or the Bionic Woman, depending on the day) and also had a speech impediment. I felt sorry for him. Jimmy was a kleptomaniac who would pick up anything and shove it in his pockets. He tried to be like Frankie (a bully), but he could not pull it off. He got his butt kicked more often than not. Melissa was the oldest and wanted a baby so bad, she would try to rape guys to get that way. She eventually convinced herself that she was pregnant and took on all the symptoms of a woman with child except she never gave birth. It was all in her head.
Frankie was the bully. He did everything in his power to hurt me or my brother. The first run in with him was when I was 11. He followed behind me one day after school and beat the tar out of me...I though he broke my nose. I had never been in a real fight before I was scared. I went home a bloody mess. Mom and dad were not thrilled. I was told by the principal that Frankie was jealous of me and wanted to hurt me because of that jealousy. Lessee, I was poor, had hand-me-down clothes, and had a misfit for a younger brother and he was jealous of me? Oooookkaaaaay.
After that Frankie took every pot shot he could at me but I was not able to mentally fight him. The first fight (with all that blood) scarred me and it was not until 5 or 6 years later that I was able to face him. Just as I got the courage to face him man to man, he turned and ran. KD swears there was another fight where I pummeled him so hard he fell through some hedges, but I do not remember that happening.
Frankie too, spent a lot of time in juvi hall and jail. KD informs me he is in for a very long stretch this time.
In my early teen years we had a group hang out with us that I called "The Seasonals". The "Seasonals" were people that only hung out in our neighborhood at certain times of the year, mainly when KD's cousin came to visit.
Camela - Cammie was an attractive girl (who was also KD's cousin) who came in once a year for a couple of weeks to visit her grandmother who lived across from Dave and Amy. She lived in a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA and had that "Pittsboyg" accent that I found so adorable at that time. She was very tan and had very dark blonde (almost brown) hair. She liked to flirt and while I knew she was not serious, I liked it. We kept in touch via snail mail for a couple of years but eventually the letters stopped. Cammie allowed most of us to live a little while she was visiting. KD asked me why she stuck out in my mind so much and I finally realized why. She encouraged me to push the envelope of what I was willing to do and how far I was willing to go. While what some of us did was not all the wholesome, it did get us out of our comfort zone.
Gary - Lived at the end of my street (about a 1/4 mile away) and had his own circle of friends. He only hung around when Cammie was in town. He tried really hard to hook up with her, but she just blew him off. He tried again the next year with the same result, so he stopped coming around. Gary lived with his sister Kim, who was cute but never associated with the poor folks at the other end of the block.
Jim - I have known Jim longer than anyone else in the Chronicles. I met Jim when I was 6 or so. He is a second generation American who's grandparents were born in Italy. Jim was an athlete who stayed out of trouble (most of the time) and was fun to be around when he was sober. I made the mistake once of making him mad when he was drunk and all I will say is that I am glad that guns have a safety switch. He dated Cammie one or two summers but decided he wanted to participate in sports instead of wasting time with us.
Mike - Gary's half brother. At first I liked Mike but the longer I knew him the bigger phony I realized he was. He came to live Gary's family when I was 14 or so but he never fit in. During the 6 months or so I hung out with him, he told the most outrageous lies I had ever heard. Gary could not stand him and refused to acknowledge him. I do not remember what happened to him, but I do seem to recall him getting beat up rather seriously and moving back in with his mom.
Many of the kids in the neighborhood had moved away and not long after that, Cammie stopped coming in, so the time had come to find a new group of people to hang out with. Shortly after meeting Holmes, I was introduced to a motley group we affectionately called, "The Chunki Junkies".
The CJ's were a group of guys and girls that met at a local pizza joint/game room (Chunki's) almost every night during the "BSOB Years". We all played video games, some smoked, some drank a little, and we even ordered a pizza once in a while (not often though, the pizza was expensive). Many of the CJ's were used in the various films we made and oddly enough, we never saw them again!The group line up fluctuated, but the core group consisted of me, KD, Holmes, and:
Lou Ellen and Jan - Brother and sister. He was still in high school (although he did not look like), loud and obnoxious. I had a thing for Ellen, but I am not sure why...she was not my type at all. I guess it was the thrill of the chase. Not too many people admitted to liking Jan.
Julia and Marlyn - Sisters who lived across the street from John and Ellen. Mary was still in school and Julia had already graduated. Julia was our "connection" until I was of legal age and she also dated KD for a while. Julia had a crush on me while I was pursuing Lou Ellen.
Jake - Holmes' little brother. He was short, stocky, and strong as an ox. The two things that I remember most about him was his smile (permanent grin) and the one time he walked down to Chunki's from the apartment he lived in with his mom and brother in a just a t-shirt and his underwear. He was in such a hurry that he forgot to put on his shorts (it was summer time). Red faced, he ran back to the apartment to get the rest of his clothes. We laughed about that for weeks.
Henry - Dirty old man. He took us out once or twice but it was not very much fun. He gave Ellen the creeps and hit on Julia at least once. Henry would shout, "HONK! Get it!" while he played Ms Pacman. I think he needed friends his own age. I wonder what his wife thought about him hanging out with a bunch of teenagers?
Red - Former military (not sure which branch...but I want to say Air Force) who loved to play Mappy with Holmes. He rode a motorcycle and would give me a ride home once in a while when he was in a good mood. Somewhere along the way he started dating Julia and then became very upset with me. I eventually found out that someone was harassing her over the phone and she thought it was me. Red eventually married Julia and they have a child together. The most memorable event regarding Red was when he let me crash at his apartment after a night of very hard drinking and I threw up all over it making a mess everywhere.
After the "BSOB Years" I got married to my HSS so my friendship base changed. The old gang was out (for a time) and a new "wife approved" group was found:
John and Rob - I worked with John at McDonald's. He and his slightly younger brother were into hardcore heavy metal (ala SOD, MOD, etc...they created something they called Saltwell Hardcore) and we recorded a few songs (Rob played guitar, John played drums and I did vocals...what a joke!) at his home and eventually mine. We parted company after he was seen at my house (on multiple occasions) with my HSS while I was at work. Bad move, John. I have a short fuse.
Joe and Tammy - Tammy was the niece of one of the local magistrates and Joe was her certifiable husband. Tammy was actually quite a bit taller than Joe and reminded me of a very tall Joan Jett. While Joe was a bit of a loose cannon, he was mostly harmless to Tammy, me and my HSS.
Leisha - Worked in the mall where my HSS worked. Alisha was the one who first warned me that my HSS was cheating on me with another mall employee. She was tall and giggly (what is it with all the tall chicks?) and had a very wild streak in her. She eventually settled down and got married. I still get Christmas cards from her.
JR - Was a guy I knew in high school who became my roommate after my HSS moved to NC. He liked to party and held a couple in the short time he lived with me. We parted on bad terms when I decided to try to reconcile with my HSS.
If you want to see how well you make friends, move to another state. I think that is one of the best ways to find out how well you network. When I moved to NC, I struggled making friends. The majority of them were centered around work...I did not make many outside that area.
Landshark - My first boss in NC. There is an old saying amongst us geeks, "Friends help you move. REAL friends help you move bodies." No, we did not do anything illegal, but he went beyond the call of duty for me. He helped me move my junk from the apartment when I left my ex-wife, convinced "The Axe Murderer" to let me stay with him until I could find a place of my own, introduced me to the "2 Live Jews", and treated me right when I helped him move to Richmond. He is good people.
Rob the Slob and Dr. Dave (aka The 2 Live Jews) - Rob and Dave were Landshark's house mates for a couple of years before he moved out and I moved in. Rob was (still is) a workaholic while Dr. Dave was a med student at the time. They were the perfect house mates...I hardly saw them (j/k). We actually had a lot in common considering how different we were. Sundays were spent drinking coffee, getting bagels from Brugar's, going to the movies and watching PBS, Star Trek - TNG, and Silk Stalkings.
Fleck - Co-worker. Fleck was one of the first guys I met in NC. He was originally from Wisconsin but moved to NC a right before I did. He worked in the warehouse with me moved over to the customer service department after he cut himself with a metal shipping strap. Fleck reminded me of a smaller built Rick Flair.
Andy - Co-worker/student at UNC - Chapel Hill. About the only thing Andy did with us was drink and eat...and he did both very well. What else does a college boy do?
Ed - Co-worker/drinking buddy of Andy, Fleck and myself. He could consume copious amounts of alcohol without getting sick or hung over. He might pass out on you, but he never got sick. He used to joke that he was the "token black guy" of the group. Ed was black?
Ken - Co-worker. Ken was life long salesman. He had a run of bad luck that kept him from ever getting ahead. Like me, he was divorced and we used to share war stories. It was one of those "misery loves company" deals that took forever to escape from. He used to come over and do laundry on Sunday night or Monday morning on my days off and it drove The 2 Live Jews crazy. Ken was always looking for love in all the wrong places (most notably strip clubs and personal ads) and was single as long as I knew him. I lost track of him mostly because me made some derogatory comment towards my wife. While he did not mean for it to be, he refused to apologize so I never bothered returning his calls. I have thought about looking him up, but I am not sure I am ready for that.
Brian - Co-worker. Dubbed "The Axe Murderer" by the Landshark, Brian was very lucky. Unfortunately it was all bad. An impossibly thin white guy that had a habit of letting his mouth write checks his thin butt could not cash, he left the warehouse where we worked to begin a job as a salesman. He lost the sales job not long after that, causing him to have his Hyundai repo'd (I find that so sad....the car cost all of $5,ooo). He did two things that mad me laugh. The first was when he felt the need to tell one of our delivery drivers (who happened to be HUGE...the man was a monster) how to do his job on a day that was pretty stressful for both of them. It was comical to see little skinny Brian shouting at a tall muscular delivery driver. I thought the driver was going to kill him.
The second was when was a salesman. Near closing time he went into the men's bathroom and fell asleep on the toilet. They closed the store and locked it up with him in it. Brian wondered what to do and then IIRC he called Landshark to let him out. Oddly enough Brian never set off the motion detectors in the store as he wandered around from department to department. I told you he was skinny.
During the first few years in NC, I came back to WV to visit as often as I could (my son was living there) and renewed some old friendships as well as made some new ones:
Blockhead - I knew Block back in high school, but we were not very close. Once I moved to NC and started coming in for visits, we hung out quite a bit and played D&D together with some of his friends who were now my friends as well. Block moved to TN in January of 2007.
Bobby and Bren - Two of the sweetest people I have ever met. If you were in their home, you were family. What they had they shared. I remember the first time I came in at Christmas time, they packed me a huge goody box loaded with home made cookies and candy. Strong Christian people who at one time were some of my best D&D players. The own their own cleaning business and reside in WV.
As my NC friends got married and moved away, the sands began to shift again. My new bride had a nice group of friends and as her new hubby, I was immediately accepted by them. During this phase of my life I was really becoming a workaholic so I did not have much time for friends. If I was not working or at church, I was in class. My days were very full.
Carla and Bill - Carla was born in WV about 25 minutes north of where I lived and her husband was born in New Jersey. Carla was very bubbly and her husband was the serious one. They initially moved to Henderson, NC and just recently move to Minnesota. They have two kids (1 boy, 1 girl) and have settled into family life quite well. I went to CommColl with Carla and she was the one who actually introduced me to my wife.
Bob and Candy - Candy is one of my wife's oldest friends and Bob is her husband. Candy's uncle sold us a Celica GT that I learned to drive a stick on. Hint, do not let me drive your sports car. We lost touch after they moved a bit further north and had kids. Most of our get togethers were centered around food.
In 2001 me and my family moved to Texas and we had to start making friends all over again. My wife proved once again that she can go anywhere and find friends and that I can't. It probably took me two years before I had any real friends here. I realized the other day that every single person who I call a friend here in Texas I have met through our church. I guess when you spend all your time at work, at church, and with family, that is going to happen ;-) .
Most (if not all) my Texas peeps are in mentioned in my blog here and there, so if you are a regular you already know them . If not, then shame on you.
Holiday, Shmoliday
Yesterday was a company holiday and I dot realize it until I got to work and saw that no one else (okay, 4 other people) was here. I decided that going right back home was going to be a waste so I decided to stick around and see what I could do to keep me busy. That lasted until about 11:15. I packed up my gear and left at 11:30, surprising my wife in the process when I got home. I gave her the "Reader's Digest" version and unloaded my work gear. I had no plans to turn it back on until the following day.
I fired up the home PC and downloaded our tax files from turbotax.com and printed up copy of our return for our records, paid a couple of bills online, checked and responded to a few e-mails, and then went to see what I could help my wife with. There was nothing she would let me do, so I had to find things to do on my own. I started by shredding some old documents that were past the date I normally keep them, then I decided to see if the dump was open so I could take a few things that had been accumulating. I loaded up the truck and headed into Plano and was pleasantly surprised to see the dump was open (being a federal holiday, I assumed it would be closed) and doing brisk business. It took longer to drive to the dump than it did to unload, but that was okay...getting out was good. The weather was nice, albeit very windy. I was hoping to do some spraying for weeds and/or some seeding, but the wind was just too strong. So I ended up doing very little except work on the PC, sweeping the porch, and watching TV.
"24" was on last night and that is a show that my wife and I try not to miss. While it can be predictable at times, it still is very entertaining. I am, however getting tired of "You are going to have to trust me" and "That is unacceptable" being said in almost every episode.
I did not stay up late...I figured that more sleep could not hurt since I am not getting my 7-8 hours each night. Last night I clocked in 8 hours and that seemed to help.
I received a brief "I wish your son well' e-mail from Dr. Dave. I was hoping for a bit more meat but maybe DD is not ready for that yet.
I fired up the home PC and downloaded our tax files from turbotax.com and printed up copy of our return for our records, paid a couple of bills online, checked and responded to a few e-mails, and then went to see what I could help my wife with. There was nothing she would let me do, so I had to find things to do on my own. I started by shredding some old documents that were past the date I normally keep them, then I decided to see if the dump was open so I could take a few things that had been accumulating. I loaded up the truck and headed into Plano and was pleasantly surprised to see the dump was open (being a federal holiday, I assumed it would be closed) and doing brisk business. It took longer to drive to the dump than it did to unload, but that was okay...getting out was good. The weather was nice, albeit very windy. I was hoping to do some spraying for weeds and/or some seeding, but the wind was just too strong. So I ended up doing very little except work on the PC, sweeping the porch, and watching TV.
"24" was on last night and that is a show that my wife and I try not to miss. While it can be predictable at times, it still is very entertaining. I am, however getting tired of "You are going to have to trust me" and "That is unacceptable" being said in almost every episode.
I did not stay up late...I figured that more sleep could not hurt since I am not getting my 7-8 hours each night. Last night I clocked in 8 hours and that seemed to help.
I received a brief "I wish your son well' e-mail from Dr. Dave. I was hoping for a bit more meat but maybe DD is not ready for that yet.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Pet Peave Rant and "Way To Go Genius"
I try not to harp on the little things in life. I have learned to let them slide most of the time, but sometimes they pile up and you just need to vent. Today is one of those days.
Yesterday there was enough milk for my wife and I each to have a glass. She drinks about 2 to 3 times more milk than I do, so I kind of expect her to keep tabs on it. Yesterday evening, right before bed, my wife tells me we do not have any milk. I was not going to get dressed to go to the store and get it that moment, but I decided that I could get some the next morning. When I got up this morning, I did my normal routine and settled in with my coffee (to wake up) and check my e-mail. After I was done with that I grabbed my bible and read the scripture for today (Lev. 19-21) then hopped into the shower. After getting out and getting dressed, I had exactly 30 minutes to eat and take out the trash and recycleables, and wash the dishes from the night before. That is when I realized that we did not have any milk. No biggie...I can eat almost anything so I had some yogurt, a granola bar, and a banana. My wife then says, "Oh, we are out of milk." Yeah, realized that, but I do not have the time to get it...so she gets dressed to get it herself. Will she be a bit ill at me for not doing it? Maybe. Could I have gotten it? Maybe, but that would mean getting to work later (I still had to stop and get gasoline...I was on vapors). Was it poor planning? Yes, but I am not going to get upset about it.
The next pet peave has to do with garbage. I take out the garbage most of the time. I like to wait until the bag is full so we do not waste them. My wife's rule of thumb is to take it out if it has something smelly in it. Well, she started putting the smelly stuff (meat trimmings, onions, etc) in a small plastic grocery bag and putting it outside in the garage so the next person who leaves can take it to the can. Yesterday, I was putting something (coffee grinds maybe) in the kitchen can and my wife tells me to put in the bag in the garage. I told her that I did not know there was one out there and she said something about being tired of the garbage smelling up the house. Well, if that is such a big worry, then why do we have trash cans in almost every room? I have one in my office (which never gets used) one in our bathroom and one in our bedroom (they are only 5 ft apart). I think it is a waste of time but my wife is as adamant about that as I used to be with clocks. Back in my overly obsessive-compulsive days, I had a clock in every room. Now, I try to not put up clocks. I have cell phone, the VCR has one, the PC has one...heck we have THREE in the small kitchen we have (the stove, microwave, and a wall clock). Not my idea, but that is the way it is.
One more...recycling. I think recycling is a great idea, but it can be a bit of a hassle. The community we live in offers curbside recycling and they have strict , but well defined rules on why can and cannot be recycled with them. My wife really has been a great proponent of this and has kept us with a full bin (it is the same size as our garbage can, 55 gallons) all the time. As a matter of fact, our bin (which is picked up every other week) is half full the first week and we only have 2 bags of garbage during that time) and it is packed by week 2. Sounds goof, right? Well, we have the habit of rinsing the recycleable products and putting them in the garage along the wall so the next person leaving can take them to the recycle bin. That is not a bad thing but by the time someone leaves, there is usually a nice pile to take out to the bin. Trying to take care of that carrying my PC bag and lunch (I tend to collect the stuff on my way to work), squeeze past her van )we have her van and my truck in the 2 car garage...it is tight) without dropping anything is difficult. I have suggested a couple of things but my wife is not keen on them. I asked her if we could put the big bin on the patio so all we had to do was open the patio door and put it in, but she did not like that idea. Since she was big into putting the stuff in the garage for the next person to take out I suggested hanging a bag on the wall in the garage to put the stuff in and take it to the bin a few times a week. I know it adds a bit more clutter, but I thought it might be safer. She liked the idea, but she does not remember to use it and things still end up on the floor in the garage. Once in a while (actually she is getting better at this) she will put all the stuff in a plastic grocery bag and that is pretty easy to deal with, but she does not do it all the time.
She still likes to activate my OCD by leaving the drawers to the dresser, chest of drawers, or the cabinets open just a n inch or two instead of shutting them all the way. She also does this with closet doors...she knows how this bugs me. Doors are either open or closed...there is no in between. I hate doors in my home that are ajar. I guess we all have our OC issues. Mine are just a bit more pronounced at home :)
Mind you these are just pet peaves. I love my wife more than anything and she really is not trying to be ugly about it. I am sure she has a much longer laundry list of things that I do that irk her than what she does that irks me.
I got to work today and realized (after I got here) that it was a company holiday. Well, going right back home would be stupid, so I decided I would stay at work for half a day and if all was clear, I would go home. Our customer does not have the day as a holiday in the US, but there are other holidays worldwide that are being observed, so I doubt it will be busy. I think I have few little things I can do outside today as long I have some sunlight to do them. The weeds are starting to spring up and I want to keep them under control as much as possible.
Yesterday there was enough milk for my wife and I each to have a glass. She drinks about 2 to 3 times more milk than I do, so I kind of expect her to keep tabs on it. Yesterday evening, right before bed, my wife tells me we do not have any milk. I was not going to get dressed to go to the store and get it that moment, but I decided that I could get some the next morning. When I got up this morning, I did my normal routine and settled in with my coffee (to wake up) and check my e-mail. After I was done with that I grabbed my bible and read the scripture for today (Lev. 19-21) then hopped into the shower. After getting out and getting dressed, I had exactly 30 minutes to eat and take out the trash and recycleables, and wash the dishes from the night before. That is when I realized that we did not have any milk. No biggie...I can eat almost anything so I had some yogurt, a granola bar, and a banana. My wife then says, "Oh, we are out of milk." Yeah, realized that, but I do not have the time to get it...so she gets dressed to get it herself. Will she be a bit ill at me for not doing it? Maybe. Could I have gotten it? Maybe, but that would mean getting to work later (I still had to stop and get gasoline...I was on vapors). Was it poor planning? Yes, but I am not going to get upset about it.
The next pet peave has to do with garbage. I take out the garbage most of the time. I like to wait until the bag is full so we do not waste them. My wife's rule of thumb is to take it out if it has something smelly in it. Well, she started putting the smelly stuff (meat trimmings, onions, etc) in a small plastic grocery bag and putting it outside in the garage so the next person who leaves can take it to the can. Yesterday, I was putting something (coffee grinds maybe) in the kitchen can and my wife tells me to put in the bag in the garage. I told her that I did not know there was one out there and she said something about being tired of the garbage smelling up the house. Well, if that is such a big worry, then why do we have trash cans in almost every room? I have one in my office (which never gets used) one in our bathroom and one in our bedroom (they are only 5 ft apart). I think it is a waste of time but my wife is as adamant about that as I used to be with clocks. Back in my overly obsessive-compulsive days, I had a clock in every room. Now, I try to not put up clocks. I have cell phone, the VCR has one, the PC has one...heck we have THREE in the small kitchen we have (the stove, microwave, and a wall clock). Not my idea, but that is the way it is.
One more...recycling. I think recycling is a great idea, but it can be a bit of a hassle. The community we live in offers curbside recycling and they have strict , but well defined rules on why can and cannot be recycled with them. My wife really has been a great proponent of this and has kept us with a full bin (it is the same size as our garbage can, 55 gallons) all the time. As a matter of fact, our bin (which is picked up every other week) is half full the first week and we only have 2 bags of garbage during that time) and it is packed by week 2. Sounds goof, right? Well, we have the habit of rinsing the recycleable products and putting them in the garage along the wall so the next person leaving can take them to the recycle bin. That is not a bad thing but by the time someone leaves, there is usually a nice pile to take out to the bin. Trying to take care of that carrying my PC bag and lunch (I tend to collect the stuff on my way to work), squeeze past her van )we have her van and my truck in the 2 car garage...it is tight) without dropping anything is difficult. I have suggested a couple of things but my wife is not keen on them. I asked her if we could put the big bin on the patio so all we had to do was open the patio door and put it in, but she did not like that idea. Since she was big into putting the stuff in the garage for the next person to take out I suggested hanging a bag on the wall in the garage to put the stuff in and take it to the bin a few times a week. I know it adds a bit more clutter, but I thought it might be safer. She liked the idea, but she does not remember to use it and things still end up on the floor in the garage. Once in a while (actually she is getting better at this) she will put all the stuff in a plastic grocery bag and that is pretty easy to deal with, but she does not do it all the time.
She still likes to activate my OCD by leaving the drawers to the dresser, chest of drawers, or the cabinets open just a n inch or two instead of shutting them all the way. She also does this with closet doors...she knows how this bugs me. Doors are either open or closed...there is no in between. I hate doors in my home that are ajar. I guess we all have our OC issues. Mine are just a bit more pronounced at home :)
Mind you these are just pet peaves. I love my wife more than anything and she really is not trying to be ugly about it. I am sure she has a much longer laundry list of things that I do that irk her than what she does that irks me.
I got to work today and realized (after I got here) that it was a company holiday. Well, going right back home would be stupid, so I decided I would stay at work for half a day and if all was clear, I would go home. Our customer does not have the day as a holiday in the US, but there are other holidays worldwide that are being observed, so I doubt it will be busy. I think I have few little things I can do outside today as long I have some sunlight to do them. The weeds are starting to spring up and I want to keep them under control as much as possible.
No Rest For The Wicked
I had scheduled myself a very full Saturday, knowing that all of it needed to be done, but my tale starts on Friday.
Friday night my wife and I cooked a meal and served the "tweenagers", cleaning up afterwards. We went home and I grabbed Little Man and walked him and was able to get back before "Law and Order" came on. After watching a pretty good episode of that, I hit the hay. My wife stayed up since she was not as tired as I was and also I had a busier day than she did.
My normal routine was in place for the weekend (up at 6 AM, walk, feed, and water dogs, coffee, and shower) but Saturday morning was the day of the monthly men's breakfast. I got there and enjoyed a pretty good breakfast and after a brief lesson, I started to help clean up. I noticed people were not jumping at the chance to do that, but I did not mind...I only wish we had better pots and pans...the old ones we have are in pretty bad shape. I stayed until after 11:00 AM cleaning, mostly by myself. I did have help but it floated in and out. I did not want to ask the cooking crew to help since they spent all morning preparing for the feast we all enjoyed, but it would have been nice to have a few other guys pitch in.
After I got home at 11:30 or so, I started my chores around the the house (stripping the beds, vacuuming, trash, help with laundry, etc). My wife had been painting so the hall bath did not need to be touched (not that it is that hard to clean, but it was nice to have one less room) and she was currently dusting rooms I had not gotten to vacuum yet.
After we were done (2 PM or so, I took a breather and realized I had less than an hour until my One on One Discipleship lesson with Jerry. We had plans to meet at the park, but it was too windy so we decided on the library instead. I grabbed my bible, the course book and and my notebook at left at about 2:40. I had to stop by the store to pick up a few things for later on and I figured that it would be best to do it now.
Jerry and I went to the libary, grabbed one of the private meeting rooms and began our lesson. It took a bit longer than I hoped, but it was time well spent and I wanted to make sure our first meeting went well. Jerry seemed eager to get started on his task and even though he has a full schedule, he promised to make time for this.
At about 5:15 or so we finished the lesson. I got him back on the road to his apartment and I went off to my last appointment. A few of the guys from church were going to meet at PapaKilo's house to grill some brats and watch "We Were Soldiers". Everyone who attended is ex military except me, but since I have ties to the military (son, father, half-brother) I fit in well enough. PK manages a Wal-Mart in a very bad section of town and has to work every weekend, but this week he is on vacation so we decided to hang out and have a good time. The food was great (hot links, brats, chips and queso, raw veggies and dip,soda, beer, cake and brownies) and the movie was very good. War movies are a mixed blessing in many ways. Very entertaining but at the same time, reminding us the price we pay for freedom as well as the fact that not all wars are justified.
I got home about 9 PM or so and was very, very tired. The only major plans for us was church and then lunch. After than I was going to veg out as much as possible. I had a ton of e-mail I wanted to respond to (Landshark, KD and a few others) but I just did not have the motivation to do so properly. Sorry guys...I am still exhausted, but I will be back in the swing of things real soon.
Sunday was more of a normal Sunday with church and then lunch out. We came back and took a long nap then I got up and watched most of "Tears of the Sun" with Bruce Willis before little man made it very clear that he needed to be walked, fed and watered. So I got him ready and took him for a short walk and let my wife do the feeding and watering while I called mom. I talk to her every week so I can make sure she is doing okay. She usually is but since she does not talk to too many adults, she likes to vent when I call. For the most part, the conversation is about 75-90% her, with me listening.
After all that was done I finalized our tax returns (we get back enough to allow my wife to get the dining room table and chairs she wants) and then went into the bedroom to pray with my wife and read a bit. I finally turned off the light at 10:00 PM.
Friday night my wife and I cooked a meal and served the "tweenagers", cleaning up afterwards. We went home and I grabbed Little Man and walked him and was able to get back before "Law and Order" came on. After watching a pretty good episode of that, I hit the hay. My wife stayed up since she was not as tired as I was and also I had a busier day than she did.
My normal routine was in place for the weekend (up at 6 AM, walk, feed, and water dogs, coffee, and shower) but Saturday morning was the day of the monthly men's breakfast. I got there and enjoyed a pretty good breakfast and after a brief lesson, I started to help clean up. I noticed people were not jumping at the chance to do that, but I did not mind...I only wish we had better pots and pans...the old ones we have are in pretty bad shape. I stayed until after 11:00 AM cleaning, mostly by myself. I did have help but it floated in and out. I did not want to ask the cooking crew to help since they spent all morning preparing for the feast we all enjoyed, but it would have been nice to have a few other guys pitch in.
After I got home at 11:30 or so, I started my chores around the the house (stripping the beds, vacuuming, trash, help with laundry, etc). My wife had been painting so the hall bath did not need to be touched (not that it is that hard to clean, but it was nice to have one less room) and she was currently dusting rooms I had not gotten to vacuum yet.
After we were done (2 PM or so, I took a breather and realized I had less than an hour until my One on One Discipleship lesson with Jerry. We had plans to meet at the park, but it was too windy so we decided on the library instead. I grabbed my bible, the course book and and my notebook at left at about 2:40. I had to stop by the store to pick up a few things for later on and I figured that it would be best to do it now.
Jerry and I went to the libary, grabbed one of the private meeting rooms and began our lesson. It took a bit longer than I hoped, but it was time well spent and I wanted to make sure our first meeting went well. Jerry seemed eager to get started on his task and even though he has a full schedule, he promised to make time for this.
At about 5:15 or so we finished the lesson. I got him back on the road to his apartment and I went off to my last appointment. A few of the guys from church were going to meet at PapaKilo's house to grill some brats and watch "We Were Soldiers". Everyone who attended is ex military except me, but since I have ties to the military (son, father, half-brother) I fit in well enough. PK manages a Wal-Mart in a very bad section of town and has to work every weekend, but this week he is on vacation so we decided to hang out and have a good time. The food was great (hot links, brats, chips and queso, raw veggies and dip,soda, beer, cake and brownies) and the movie was very good. War movies are a mixed blessing in many ways. Very entertaining but at the same time, reminding us the price we pay for freedom as well as the fact that not all wars are justified.
I got home about 9 PM or so and was very, very tired. The only major plans for us was church and then lunch. After than I was going to veg out as much as possible. I had a ton of e-mail I wanted to respond to (Landshark, KD and a few others) but I just did not have the motivation to do so properly. Sorry guys...I am still exhausted, but I will be back in the swing of things real soon.
Sunday was more of a normal Sunday with church and then lunch out. We came back and took a long nap then I got up and watched most of "Tears of the Sun" with Bruce Willis before little man made it very clear that he needed to be walked, fed and watered. So I got him ready and took him for a short walk and let my wife do the feeding and watering while I called mom. I talk to her every week so I can make sure she is doing okay. She usually is but since she does not talk to too many adults, she likes to vent when I call. For the most part, the conversation is about 75-90% her, with me listening.
After all that was done I finalized our tax returns (we get back enough to allow my wife to get the dining room table and chairs she wants) and then went into the bedroom to pray with my wife and read a bit. I finally turned off the light at 10:00 PM.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Creeping Death
I gave The Swede a ride home last night after I halfway finished a project that was given to me 40 minutes before quitting time. Had he given me the project on a Monday or on a day that I had not promised to give someone a ride, I would have stayed to complete the job properly, but what I did sufficed. Poor planning on your part does not make it an emergency on my part. Anyhoo the swede thanked me and told me his wife had a gift for me. I told him it was not needed but I am sure those words will fall on deaf ears.
I got home and my wife informed me that the PC I was supposed to look at was in her van so I got it out for her and put it in my office. It was fend for yourself night with regards to food, so I opted for a roast beef Po' Boy from Kroger ($2.99 and it has almost a half pound of beef), a bag of Zap's Crawtator chips, and a AriZona blueberry green tea while I looked at the PC. My wife was going to work out and then to the store so I had 3 hours or so to get this done.
I turned the PC on and I swear I have never seen a 2.2 gig machine with 512 meg RAM run so slow (It took about 5-7 minutes to become stable enough to work on). I knew something was up, so I grabbed my USB stick with Adaware, Spybot, and Avira on it and started to work. I went to the process manager and found svchost taking 80-90% of the CPU power. As I was cleaning I found 10 instances of spyware/malware and two viruses. One of the viruses had turned off the anti-virus that was installed (actually, there were THREE AV's installed, none of them had been updated or were working at all). I removed all three AV proggies and installed Avira Anti-vir, cleaned about 1000 entries in the registry caused by AOL, ran every update that was required by windows, updated and ran Windows Defender and the malicious software removal tool from Microsoft. but before I could do that, I had to repair the TCP/IP stack...it was corrupted and was not allowing ANY TCP/IP traffic at all. MS does not allow the TCP/IP stack to be removed from XP since it is "a core component of the operating system" so I had to use the script that comes buried in the OS to repair it. One would think that this script would be included in the options to repair a network connection, but it is not. Instead you have two commands to run, then reboot:
netsh winsock reset log_file_name.txt
netsh int ip reset reset_log.txt
You have to put a name for a log file or the tool does nothing that I can see. You can call the file anything you wish.
I was very surprised that you could not remove the TCP/IP stack, but XP is "different".
The original complaint was that the family could dial-up to the internet (yes...dial-up) but could not get any web pages. The asked another guy from our church to look at it and he tried all kinds of things: Installed a new modem, tried another phone line, another ISP (AOL ... grrrrrrr) but failed to run a spyware check or a virus check. When he told me he could not get the PC to connect to his network (Fiber Optic from Verizon), I was sure it was a TCP/IP issue. The people called me up and I looked at it but it ran so slow that I could not get it to do much. They said the slowness was new and that she was sure she had a virus but a third guy who looked at her PC said there was no virus on the machine (I found two). The reason why he did not find a virus was that he used the AV tool installed on the machine which had already been disabled by the virus not to detect any. That is why I run a spyware check (ad-aware and spybot) THEN my AV from my USB stick.
This morning while I was getting a shower and reading my bible, I ran the last two scans (Windows Defender and the malicious software removal tool) and declared the machine clean. I cannot test dial-up (the original complaint) because I do not have a phone line, but Windoze and the modem are communicating and the machine's TCP/IP stack is repaired. The family should be happy because I did not have to re-roll the machine like I had originally thought. The virus was contained and the spyware removed.
I hope to give them back the PC tomorrow or Sunday. I still have at least 2 more machines to do (one re-roll to Windoze and a fresh install of Linux (Ubuntu), and the possibility of 1 more to set up and desk to assemble.
I got home and my wife informed me that the PC I was supposed to look at was in her van so I got it out for her and put it in my office. It was fend for yourself night with regards to food, so I opted for a roast beef Po' Boy from Kroger ($2.99 and it has almost a half pound of beef), a bag of Zap's Crawtator chips, and a AriZona blueberry green tea while I looked at the PC. My wife was going to work out and then to the store so I had 3 hours or so to get this done.
I turned the PC on and I swear I have never seen a 2.2 gig machine with 512 meg RAM run so slow (It took about 5-7 minutes to become stable enough to work on). I knew something was up, so I grabbed my USB stick with Adaware, Spybot, and Avira on it and started to work. I went to the process manager and found svchost taking 80-90% of the CPU power. As I was cleaning I found 10 instances of spyware/malware and two viruses. One of the viruses had turned off the anti-virus that was installed (actually, there were THREE AV's installed, none of them had been updated or were working at all). I removed all three AV proggies and installed Avira Anti-vir, cleaned about 1000 entries in the registry caused by AOL, ran every update that was required by windows, updated and ran Windows Defender and the malicious software removal tool from Microsoft. but before I could do that, I had to repair the TCP/IP stack...it was corrupted and was not allowing ANY TCP/IP traffic at all. MS does not allow the TCP/IP stack to be removed from XP since it is "a core component of the operating system" so I had to use the script that comes buried in the OS to repair it. One would think that this script would be included in the options to repair a network connection, but it is not. Instead you have two commands to run, then reboot:
netsh winsock reset log_file_name.txt
netsh int ip reset reset_log.txt
You have to put a name for a log file or the tool does nothing that I can see. You can call the file anything you wish.
I was very surprised that you could not remove the TCP/IP stack, but XP is "different".
The original complaint was that the family could dial-up to the internet (yes...dial-up) but could not get any web pages. The asked another guy from our church to look at it and he tried all kinds of things: Installed a new modem, tried another phone line, another ISP (AOL ... grrrrrrr) but failed to run a spyware check or a virus check. When he told me he could not get the PC to connect to his network (Fiber Optic from Verizon), I was sure it was a TCP/IP issue. The people called me up and I looked at it but it ran so slow that I could not get it to do much. They said the slowness was new and that she was sure she had a virus but a third guy who looked at her PC said there was no virus on the machine (I found two). The reason why he did not find a virus was that he used the AV tool installed on the machine which had already been disabled by the virus not to detect any. That is why I run a spyware check (ad-aware and spybot) THEN my AV from my USB stick.
This morning while I was getting a shower and reading my bible, I ran the last two scans (Windows Defender and the malicious software removal tool) and declared the machine clean. I cannot test dial-up (the original complaint) because I do not have a phone line, but Windoze and the modem are communicating and the machine's TCP/IP stack is repaired. The family should be happy because I did not have to re-roll the machine like I had originally thought. The virus was contained and the spyware removed.
I hope to give them back the PC tomorrow or Sunday. I still have at least 2 more machines to do (one re-roll to Windoze and a fresh install of Linux (Ubuntu), and the possibility of 1 more to set up and desk to assemble.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
What I Like About You
Yesterday evening about an hour before I was planned on going home for the day, I get a meeting request from my boss. It was time for my annual performance review/employee evaluation...the first formal one in two years. I think I mentioned earlier that last year my review was given to me verbally in the men's room while standing at the urinal. I am not kidding. I never received anything to sign nor was I asked for my input. The review lasted less than two minutes and consisted of , "El, you make me look good in this company so I have no complaints. Keep up the good work." That was last year. Some things have changed since then. I changed job roles and I also have a new boss, who by the way, was my old boss 2 positions ago. Round and round and round she goes...
This year I got a formal sit down (which is required and customary) , which is face time with the boss. I was not really looking forward to this eval because I hate my current role. I really did not want to go into a review with a bad attitude so I let my boss (who really should be a salesman...he has such a silver tongue) do all the talking. I only added info when asked. To make a long story short, I:
* was given a glowing review
* was given a 1.8% raise (max allowed was 2.2% this year)
* found out that I am now 103% of max pay for my band/level
* am a candidate to move up a level with a different role/pay grade.
One of my "strengths" was the way I treat all the techs as well as our customer with respect. I have the ability, when I chose to use it, to be very diplomatic while offering just a hint of sarcasm to make my point. Word to the wise. This works in the corporate world...do not try it at home on your wife.
I told my boss that my current role, while not difficult, requires me to be available 24x7 with no back up available (Okay, I do have backups, but you try to get 2 mgrs who have more seniority than you do to work a holiday) and it is beginning to be taxing. He agreed and that is where point 4 came in. He asked what I thought about giving some SLO mgmt (over the teams in KL) a try when he could get it set up. I told him I was all for it if he could offload escalation mgmt to KL. He told me that he thought that was doable.
So I went home in a much better mood than I came to work in. I am sure for a little while I will have to pull double duty, but I think I can handle that as long as it is not longer than a couple months. I would like to be off the escalation mgmt by May (vacation time).
On a side note, I have now been told twice in three days that it must take a lot of my time to post my blog entries. Actually it does take some time, but not as much as it may appear. Most of my posts I can write in one sitting. I can multi-task (check tickets, run reports, talk on the phone, do e-mail) while entering them. I have enjoyed writing for years...ever since community college in NC. I even had one instructor (my second year English teacher) encourage me to get some of my stories published, or at least submit them to magazines. I realize that what I post is not very professionally written, but I do not spend time proofing them like I do my "work".
The "Chronicles" posts are a different story (no pun intended). I have been working on eight or so chapters all at one time for over a month now. They require a lot of thought and while they still are not as polished as my unpublished short stories, my style is still evident. One of my teachers in ComColl described it as "grammatically dangerous but entertaining". Oooooookaaaaayyyy.
I tend to write/post during lunch, breaks, and slow periods saving the drafts until I finish. I cannot help it. Once I got bitten by the blogging bug I was hooked. I have plans to start another one for my church (unofficially) called "The Christian Geek Times"...geared on helping and educating people in our church about technology, mostly geared towards PC's. It is still in the planning phase.
This year I got a formal sit down (which is required and customary) , which is face time with the boss. I was not really looking forward to this eval because I hate my current role. I really did not want to go into a review with a bad attitude so I let my boss (who really should be a salesman...he has such a silver tongue) do all the talking. I only added info when asked. To make a long story short, I:
* was given a glowing review
* was given a 1.8% raise (max allowed was 2.2% this year)
* found out that I am now 103% of max pay for my band/level
* am a candidate to move up a level with a different role/pay grade.
One of my "strengths" was the way I treat all the techs as well as our customer with respect. I have the ability, when I chose to use it, to be very diplomatic while offering just a hint of sarcasm to make my point. Word to the wise. This works in the corporate world...do not try it at home on your wife.
I told my boss that my current role, while not difficult, requires me to be available 24x7 with no back up available (Okay, I do have backups, but you try to get 2 mgrs who have more seniority than you do to work a holiday) and it is beginning to be taxing. He agreed and that is where point 4 came in. He asked what I thought about giving some SLO mgmt (over the teams in KL) a try when he could get it set up. I told him I was all for it if he could offload escalation mgmt to KL. He told me that he thought that was doable.
So I went home in a much better mood than I came to work in. I am sure for a little while I will have to pull double duty, but I think I can handle that as long as it is not longer than a couple months. I would like to be off the escalation mgmt by May (vacation time).
On a side note, I have now been told twice in three days that it must take a lot of my time to post my blog entries. Actually it does take some time, but not as much as it may appear. Most of my posts I can write in one sitting. I can multi-task (check tickets, run reports, talk on the phone, do e-mail) while entering them. I have enjoyed writing for years...ever since community college in NC. I even had one instructor (my second year English teacher) encourage me to get some of my stories published, or at least submit them to magazines. I realize that what I post is not very professionally written, but I do not spend time proofing them like I do my "work".
The "Chronicles" posts are a different story (no pun intended). I have been working on eight or so chapters all at one time for over a month now. They require a lot of thought and while they still are not as polished as my unpublished short stories, my style is still evident. One of my teachers in ComColl described it as "grammatically dangerous but entertaining". Oooooookaaaaayyyy.
I tend to write/post during lunch, breaks, and slow periods saving the drafts until I finish. I cannot help it. Once I got bitten by the blogging bug I was hooked. I have plans to start another one for my church (unofficially) called "The Christian Geek Times"...geared on helping and educating people in our church about technology, mostly geared towards PC's. It is still in the planning phase.
Long Cold Winter and For The Love Of Money
Texas is not known for cold weather. If you look at the median temperature for area it is a lot warmer than a lot of places in the US. That does not mean that it does not get cold once in a while. February is one of those times. Ever since I have lived here, February has been historically the snow, ice, and cold month. So far this month that is holding true. We had ice the beginning of the month and below freezing temperatures many nights and days since then. Yesterday it did not get above freezing and today it appears we will be only a degree or two above that. As I was driving to work, it was spitting snow (nothing will accumulate...it rarely does) making the drive more interesting than normal.
Texas weather is all about extremes. We had one of the driest summers on record last year and so far this year we are having some really cold weather (for this area). We have had more moisture than expected so far this year and I hope that we continue to get above average so we reclaim what we have lost. Global warming? Ha!
Last night I was made aware of an issue that reinforces an opinion (actually a few) of mine.
* "Beautiful people" have as many or more problems than we do.
* Money cannot buy happiness.
* God is in control and until you let him, you are not going to be truly happy.
The story is common. Affluent couple (both are very attractive people), husband makes MAD amounts of money, wife stays at home with child/ren ... wants for no material thing. Big house. Nice car(s). Wife is miserable. Husband admits to having an affair with another woman. Husband has deep-rooted issues from childhood that he takes out on wife. Wife questions her own sanity. Both want changes to be made, neither will take the first UNCONDITIONAL step towards God (Old saying, "let go and let God" comes to mind). Both of them profess to be Christian but it does not appear that Christ is in the center of their life.
I have often wondered what it would be like to wealthy. I have my own fantasies about being debt free, nice vacations, fun cars, guy toys, etc but when I really get into thinking about it and seeing what wealth can do, I cringe. Money is a means in which we survive. It is a tool, nothing more. We use it to acquire the things that we need and want. We control the money...it does not control us. I would rather be poor and happy than wealthy and miserable.
Texas weather is all about extremes. We had one of the driest summers on record last year and so far this year we are having some really cold weather (for this area). We have had more moisture than expected so far this year and I hope that we continue to get above average so we reclaim what we have lost. Global warming? Ha!
Last night I was made aware of an issue that reinforces an opinion (actually a few) of mine.
* "Beautiful people" have as many or more problems than we do.
* Money cannot buy happiness.
* God is in control and until you let him, you are not going to be truly happy.
The story is common. Affluent couple (both are very attractive people), husband makes MAD amounts of money, wife stays at home with child/ren ... wants for no material thing. Big house. Nice car(s). Wife is miserable. Husband admits to having an affair with another woman. Husband has deep-rooted issues from childhood that he takes out on wife. Wife questions her own sanity. Both want changes to be made, neither will take the first UNCONDITIONAL step towards God (Old saying, "let go and let God" comes to mind). Both of them profess to be Christian but it does not appear that Christ is in the center of their life.
I have often wondered what it would be like to wealthy. I have my own fantasies about being debt free, nice vacations, fun cars, guy toys, etc but when I really get into thinking about it and seeing what wealth can do, I cringe. Money is a means in which we survive. It is a tool, nothing more. We use it to acquire the things that we need and want. We control the money...it does not control us. I would rather be poor and happy than wealthy and miserable.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Chronicles, "Sad But True"
This entry has the potential to be the most painful of all the "Chronicles". It is painful on many levels and I am not sure how much I can get into without either betraying a friend, breaking down and crying, or both. The subject of this chapter is one of the most entertaining people I have ever met and became a tragic hero of sorts. Carp provided us with more entertaining memories than any other member of the group. He was our red-headed stepchild, our whipping boy, and our clown prince. If something embarrassing was going to be done, you could bet Carp was going to be involved. From "Bat Dude", to his portrayal of the flaming homosexual "Biff" in "The Dumb Ones", to his overly dysfunctional family, Carp made us laugh. Tragically though, he made us cry in the end by taking his own life.
My earliest memories of Carp are from about 30 years ago when he was a young entrepreneur. Our beloved fish lipped friend was going door to door selling zucchini from a wagon he pulled behind him. A few of us began picking on and teasing him about selling vegetables to make money. He kept his cool and never tried to retaliate. While I do not know how it happened, he was eventually integrated into the group...and we were forever changed by him and his brand of humor.
I guess the best place to begin would be with Carp's family. Carp lived with his father (a transmission specialist) and his step mother, a horribly mean woman we called "Boots", after her preferred footwear (I swear I never saw the at woman wear sneakers). Carp's father verbally abused him however I do not know if that was because Boots treated Carp so poorly or if it was just the way his dad always treated him. Needless to say, Carp did not like living with his dad and Boots in the little rundown house/transmission shop by the river, so much so he spent most of his time at his grandparents (who lived down the street from me and KD). Whenever Carp was at home, calling him was useless because when he was allowed to talk, Boots would yell to him, "Five F$%king minutes, Carp!" If we drove down to talk to him, Boots would come outside in her "boots du jour" and tell us he was busy. I am not kidding when I tell you this hillbilly woman only wore boots. Even if she was wearing shorts (OH, MY EYES, MY EYES!) she wore boots. I wonder what her slippers looked like...but I digress.
As bad as it was to pick on him, Carp gave us so much ammo that it was hard (in my pre-Christian days) not to. He had a very dysfunctional family that Jeff Foxworthy could use for material (all of these are true):
* If you have ever named your baby girl after a store brand dish washing liquid, you might be a redneck.
* If you have ever made a pass at your son's teen-age girlfriend, you might be a redneck.
* If you have ever urinated in your empty beer bottle because you were too lazy to get up to go to the toilet, you might be a redneck.
The house that Carp and his family lived in was by a river that meandered through our small town. This river was very disgusting..it had crud in it from years and years of littering, as well as raw sewage being dumped into it daily. Carp was always (I gag recalling this) fishing, wading, swimming, or canoing in that stream of noxious waste. He spent so much time in that filth that KD started a rumor that Carp was not born of woman, but he was spawned in that river. Henceforth the nickname, "Carp" (Real carp can easily survive as well as thrive in polluted water).
Since he was spending most of his free time with his grandparents, Carp had a greater degree of freedom than he did when he was at home. This freedom eventually allowed him to spend time with the gang and we appreciated it. As KD reminded me, we were pretty poor and Carp's grandparents tended to spoil him and his siblings. His Grandma's house hosted several D&D gatherings for us...something we greatly appreciated. Grandma had great snacks (Soft Batch cookies, Pepsi, chips. ice cream) and the entire basement was usable as our gathering area. This was a very nice set-up for a bunch of teens needing a place to gather out of the elements and stay out of trouble.
Many of Carp's dares (which by the way he never backed down from) led to some of the more memorable events we had as a group. Case in point, Carp once dressed up in a lone ranger mask (the kind that looks like a blindfold with holes cut out for eyes), dark clothes, and a cape and walked into Kroger's to buy at Batman comic book. We filmed it. Later on, Bat Dude made guest appearances at Long John Silver's, McDonald's, and Wendy's. When I go back and look at that video, I cannot help but laugh. I am surprised we did not get arrested. There were others but in an effort to keep this blog "PG", I will not include those. Needless to say, those who knew him, know exactly what I am talking about.
Carp evolved (no pun intended) into something of a metrosexual before it was the fad that it is today. It was this behavior that led Holmes to cast him as "Biff" in the BSOB short film, "The Dumb Ones". Carp had no problem at all playing a homosexual during an era of incredible homophobia, especially in small town America. He actually seemed to enjoy the role and had fun with it. Carp was a good actor. He also was a hard guy to figure out...just when you thought you knew what made him tick, he would change. Once we were using wooden swords to beat each other senseless (physical D&D), Carp decided to change allegiance from KD's side to mine and Holmes' side. We did not think he was serious, so we gave him a quest that we were sure he would fail. Carp was told to steal a "treasure" from KD and bring it back to us as a sign of loyalty. He did us one better. He told us to follow him and asked us to watch as he broke KD's most valued treasure (I think it was a large glass globe of some kind) into about a million pieces by throwing a "war hammer" at it (if you have ever heard someone say that an event appeared to happen in slow motion...believe them. That is exactly what happened when Carp threw the hammer). KD was furious and nearly speechless. He pulled out his ever present wrist rocket sling shot, picked up a small crab apple, and pulled back, taking aim. Carp, wanting to avoid getting hit with a small but painful crab apple, hid behind a tree. KD fired, hoping to hit Carp in the leg or shoulder and cause him great pain (apples HURT when used as weapons). What happened next amazed us then and still does to this day. The crab apple curved impossibly around the tree and hit Carp in the mouth, causing him to choke. We had to do the Heimlich maneuver on him so he would not die! Weird stuff.
There were other things that Carp did that will remain in my thoughts for many years. One night at a party that was being held up a "holler" (a "hollow" -- deserted country road for all you city folks), Carp did some very strange things. The first thing I recall was Carp trying to be debonair with some young women and in the process of trying to get one to give him her number, he puked in her shoes that she had sitting outside her car (The hollow was muddy, so she got back in the car sans her shoes). With that event firmly planted in everyone's mind, a drunken Carp walks through a small bonfire (about 6 ft x 3 ft) unscathed. Later on that evening, the police came to raid the party and Carp, unable to find a ride, dives into the back of a pick-up truck. Since the truck's owner was no where in site, Carp was forced to make his escape on foot. He ran over the hill into the woods and headed in the general direction of KD's grandmother's house. A couple of hours later, Carp arrived there cold and wet. According to the story told by KD, Carp "Rambo'd" it home, falling into a sulfur creek (common in mining towns) along the way. He had taken his shirt off and was very scratched up from the briars and brush. KD explained that Carp pecked on the glass crying out, "KD, I am cold...let me in"...still obviously very drunk.
Not all Carp's escapades were alcohol fueled. There were a few memorable moments where we all were sober... as hard as that is to believe. A few of them revolve around Carp's Mustang. I do not know what year it was...all I know is that it was primer black and had a 4 cylinder engine that leaked oil like a sieve.
I was the only car owner for a while. KD was able to borrow a car from his parents every now and then (he did not get one of his own until later) and Holmes' car had a bad exhaust leak and the vehicle that replaced it, well it overheated...a lot. Carp had a Dodge Omni but that was totaled in a near fatal car accident that banged up Holmes pretty good...I do not remember the injuries to Carp and KD. The Mustang was a beater...in every sense of the word and Carp used it that way. Carp drove it at high rates of speed (well as fast it could go having a four banger and loaded with 4 guys) over a set of railroad tracks in the warehouse district of town...just to see if it would get air born, and it did. He also would drive it down to the trailer yard (where empty semi trailers were parked) UNDER the parked trailers...at high rats of speed. There was not a lot of room to spare when he did this which is why he ended up tearing up part of the roof of the car when he went under one with only one passenger instead of the 2-3 he normally had.
Carp was also the driver the night that we got chased by an angry country boy. Not that I blame him for being angry...KD didn't ask him before he played home run derby with his...mailbox. I honestly thought that we were going to die that night. The country boy did not give up chasing us for quite some time. We did not know the roads we were on and we could have easily ended up at a dead end...literally. After what seemed like an eternity, the chase was over and we escaped. We ended up at a local party location, but there were none to be found. After a few minutes of joking with each other, we drove back home.
After I was married and moved to NC, I lost track of Carp. I managed to visit him once at his new home after he got married. We chatted for a bit but I felt a uncomfortable around his new wife so I cut our visit short. That was the last time I ever saw him. When I learned of his death, I went numb. I had trouble grasping the idea that I would never get to joke around with him ever again. Not surprising, KD and Holmes were visibly shaken by this as well.
I am sure there are many more stories that I have forgotten that KD and Holmes will touch on. Those may or may not be included depending on content and my mood. I may have not known Carp very long but he made a lasting impression on me as well as the rest of the BSOB gang.
Be at peace, Carp.
My earliest memories of Carp are from about 30 years ago when he was a young entrepreneur. Our beloved fish lipped friend was going door to door selling zucchini from a wagon he pulled behind him. A few of us began picking on and teasing him about selling vegetables to make money. He kept his cool and never tried to retaliate. While I do not know how it happened, he was eventually integrated into the group...and we were forever changed by him and his brand of humor.
I guess the best place to begin would be with Carp's family. Carp lived with his father (a transmission specialist) and his step mother, a horribly mean woman we called "Boots", after her preferred footwear (I swear I never saw the at woman wear sneakers). Carp's father verbally abused him however I do not know if that was because Boots treated Carp so poorly or if it was just the way his dad always treated him. Needless to say, Carp did not like living with his dad and Boots in the little rundown house/transmission shop by the river, so much so he spent most of his time at his grandparents (who lived down the street from me and KD). Whenever Carp was at home, calling him was useless because when he was allowed to talk, Boots would yell to him, "Five F$%king minutes, Carp!" If we drove down to talk to him, Boots would come outside in her "boots du jour" and tell us he was busy. I am not kidding when I tell you this hillbilly woman only wore boots. Even if she was wearing shorts (OH, MY EYES, MY EYES!) she wore boots. I wonder what her slippers looked like...but I digress.
As bad as it was to pick on him, Carp gave us so much ammo that it was hard (in my pre-Christian days) not to. He had a very dysfunctional family that Jeff Foxworthy could use for material (all of these are true):
* If you have ever named your baby girl after a store brand dish washing liquid, you might be a redneck.
* If you have ever made a pass at your son's teen-age girlfriend, you might be a redneck.
* If you have ever urinated in your empty beer bottle because you were too lazy to get up to go to the toilet, you might be a redneck.
The house that Carp and his family lived in was by a river that meandered through our small town. This river was very disgusting..it had crud in it from years and years of littering, as well as raw sewage being dumped into it daily. Carp was always (I gag recalling this) fishing, wading, swimming, or canoing in that stream of noxious waste. He spent so much time in that filth that KD started a rumor that Carp was not born of woman, but he was spawned in that river. Henceforth the nickname, "Carp" (Real carp can easily survive as well as thrive in polluted water).
Since he was spending most of his free time with his grandparents, Carp had a greater degree of freedom than he did when he was at home. This freedom eventually allowed him to spend time with the gang and we appreciated it. As KD reminded me, we were pretty poor and Carp's grandparents tended to spoil him and his siblings. His Grandma's house hosted several D&D gatherings for us...something we greatly appreciated. Grandma had great snacks (Soft Batch cookies, Pepsi, chips. ice cream) and the entire basement was usable as our gathering area. This was a very nice set-up for a bunch of teens needing a place to gather out of the elements and stay out of trouble.
Many of Carp's dares (which by the way he never backed down from) led to some of the more memorable events we had as a group. Case in point, Carp once dressed up in a lone ranger mask (the kind that looks like a blindfold with holes cut out for eyes), dark clothes, and a cape and walked into Kroger's to buy at Batman comic book. We filmed it. Later on, Bat Dude made guest appearances at Long John Silver's, McDonald's, and Wendy's. When I go back and look at that video, I cannot help but laugh. I am surprised we did not get arrested. There were others but in an effort to keep this blog "PG", I will not include those. Needless to say, those who knew him, know exactly what I am talking about.
Carp evolved (no pun intended) into something of a metrosexual before it was the fad that it is today. It was this behavior that led Holmes to cast him as "Biff" in the BSOB short film, "The Dumb Ones". Carp had no problem at all playing a homosexual during an era of incredible homophobia, especially in small town America. He actually seemed to enjoy the role and had fun with it. Carp was a good actor. He also was a hard guy to figure out...just when you thought you knew what made him tick, he would change. Once we were using wooden swords to beat each other senseless (physical D&D), Carp decided to change allegiance from KD's side to mine and Holmes' side. We did not think he was serious, so we gave him a quest that we were sure he would fail. Carp was told to steal a "treasure" from KD and bring it back to us as a sign of loyalty. He did us one better. He told us to follow him and asked us to watch as he broke KD's most valued treasure (I think it was a large glass globe of some kind) into about a million pieces by throwing a "war hammer" at it (if you have ever heard someone say that an event appeared to happen in slow motion...believe them. That is exactly what happened when Carp threw the hammer). KD was furious and nearly speechless. He pulled out his ever present wrist rocket sling shot, picked up a small crab apple, and pulled back, taking aim. Carp, wanting to avoid getting hit with a small but painful crab apple, hid behind a tree. KD fired, hoping to hit Carp in the leg or shoulder and cause him great pain (apples HURT when used as weapons). What happened next amazed us then and still does to this day. The crab apple curved impossibly around the tree and hit Carp in the mouth, causing him to choke. We had to do the Heimlich maneuver on him so he would not die! Weird stuff.
There were other things that Carp did that will remain in my thoughts for many years. One night at a party that was being held up a "holler" (a "hollow" -- deserted country road for all you city folks), Carp did some very strange things. The first thing I recall was Carp trying to be debonair with some young women and in the process of trying to get one to give him her number, he puked in her shoes that she had sitting outside her car (The hollow was muddy, so she got back in the car sans her shoes). With that event firmly planted in everyone's mind, a drunken Carp walks through a small bonfire (about 6 ft x 3 ft) unscathed. Later on that evening, the police came to raid the party and Carp, unable to find a ride, dives into the back of a pick-up truck. Since the truck's owner was no where in site, Carp was forced to make his escape on foot. He ran over the hill into the woods and headed in the general direction of KD's grandmother's house. A couple of hours later, Carp arrived there cold and wet. According to the story told by KD, Carp "Rambo'd" it home, falling into a sulfur creek (common in mining towns) along the way. He had taken his shirt off and was very scratched up from the briars and brush. KD explained that Carp pecked on the glass crying out, "KD, I am cold...let me in"...still obviously very drunk.
Not all Carp's escapades were alcohol fueled. There were a few memorable moments where we all were sober... as hard as that is to believe. A few of them revolve around Carp's Mustang. I do not know what year it was...all I know is that it was primer black and had a 4 cylinder engine that leaked oil like a sieve.
I was the only car owner for a while. KD was able to borrow a car from his parents every now and then (he did not get one of his own until later) and Holmes' car had a bad exhaust leak and the vehicle that replaced it, well it overheated...a lot. Carp had a Dodge Omni but that was totaled in a near fatal car accident that banged up Holmes pretty good...I do not remember the injuries to Carp and KD. The Mustang was a beater...in every sense of the word and Carp used it that way. Carp drove it at high rates of speed (well as fast it could go having a four banger and loaded with 4 guys) over a set of railroad tracks in the warehouse district of town...just to see if it would get air born, and it did. He also would drive it down to the trailer yard (where empty semi trailers were parked) UNDER the parked trailers...at high rats of speed. There was not a lot of room to spare when he did this which is why he ended up tearing up part of the roof of the car when he went under one with only one passenger instead of the 2-3 he normally had.
Carp was also the driver the night that we got chased by an angry country boy. Not that I blame him for being angry...KD didn't ask him before he played home run derby with his...mailbox. I honestly thought that we were going to die that night. The country boy did not give up chasing us for quite some time. We did not know the roads we were on and we could have easily ended up at a dead end...literally. After what seemed like an eternity, the chase was over and we escaped. We ended up at a local party location, but there were none to be found. After a few minutes of joking with each other, we drove back home.
After I was married and moved to NC, I lost track of Carp. I managed to visit him once at his new home after he got married. We chatted for a bit but I felt a uncomfortable around his new wife so I cut our visit short. That was the last time I ever saw him. When I learned of his death, I went numb. I had trouble grasping the idea that I would never get to joke around with him ever again. Not surprising, KD and Holmes were visibly shaken by this as well.
I am sure there are many more stories that I have forgotten that KD and Holmes will touch on. Those may or may not be included depending on content and my mood. I may have not known Carp very long but he made a lasting impression on me as well as the rest of the BSOB gang.
Be at peace, Carp.
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