One of the bad things about living in Texas is the summer heat. Summer days can reach 100+ degrees (38+ degrees for my non-American readers) and the heat lasts way into the night (I routinely go to bed when it is still 85+ degrees out).
With the summer heat come the use of the air conditioner and with the use of the AC comes the increase in electricity usage. Electricity rates in Texas are, in a word, high. I am not sure how they compare to other states but I know my mom pays a lot less for electricity than I do (last year she was paying about eight cents /Kwh). We were blessed to be locked into a low rate several years ago. That rate lasted three years and by the time the contract was over, rates had DOUBLED...so my eight cent per kilowatt hour was now 16 cents. While this hurt, we were able to shop around and get electricity for 14.5 cents for a year (Texas has deregulated electricity so you can shop around for the best rates).
After our contract was over we continued to use Direct Energy until their rates became higher than other providers, so switched to Texas Power, a small but popular service provider in our area. They were offering 14.5 cents when Direct Energy went up to 16 cents. We stayed with them for a while but after noticing that our last two bills went up considerably (from 15 cents to 18 cents then the next month from 18 cents to 20 cents) my wife changed providers so we are getting in the 15 cent range again for one year.
Is it really worth shopping around for good rates? You be the judge. When I was with Direct Energy at eight cents/Kwh my largest electric bill was $150...and that was during a drought with several 100+ days...in August. Now if my rate /Kwh doubles...my bill doubles. My first real bill on the new rate at 16 cents was...$300.
I bring this up because our last bill we received was $315...that was AFTER I made changes to the thermostat and started using a laptop instead of the power hungrier desktop...not to mention using more natural sunlight and changing light bulbs to something a little more energy efficient. I do not want to see what my bill would have been in August had we stayed at 20 cents /Kwh. At least at 15 cents my electricity bill shold be less than $300 next month. Insane, but managable.
Oh, if you think my bills are high, let me inform you that I have a modest 1650 sq ft, 10 year old home. I know many people who pay a lot more per month than we do for electricity simply because they have bigger homes and keep the thermostat set cooler than we do (we are currently set at 77 in the day and 79 at night). I know one lady who has her thermostat set to 81 in the summer...she just cannot afford to pay $400 electricity bills. While her home is warmer than ours, she makes good use of ceiling fans, which we do as well. I just turned them up to medium so they move more air and make the house feel comfortable.
Amything to keep the bills down.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Upswing
Sunday came and went without a hitch. All went well and I even was able to take a nap. Life can be good sometimes.
Monday my wife had the carpet cleaning guy over to take care of a spot he missed and the guy brought his late teen/early adult aged son with him. My wife told me the father is obviously not pleased with his lazy son who, upon entering our humble abode immediately asked for something to drink. Not a glass of water but "something to drink". Not that I mind but my wife said the father was visibly miffed.
Work we went well. I finished up the paperwork on the items I had been working on and was rather miffed when I found out that the 12+ hours I spent working on an issue Saturday was for naught...the customer asked to have the ticket closed stating that all was working fine now. I know for a fact my team and the third party we worked with did nothing...we were told to gather data for the customer (which we did) and then they said "close the case". I love my job!
I got home and my wife said she was feeling much better. I had to fend for myself for dinner but that was not a major issue since we had a few leftovers still in the fridge thanx to all the kind souls who brought food by our house while my wife was down. After dinner I washed a mound of dishes then went over to Kroger's to get a few things (milk, juice, yogurt, etc). When I got back I sat down and watched "King of the Hill" and then worked on a few geocache containers and paid some bills online. The electric bill went up $50 and is now over $300. Things are getting tight.
There was nothing on TV last night so my wife and I took the dogs for a walk to the park and back then we settled in and read for a while before calling it a night. She fell asleep holding my hand.
My wife woke up this morning stating that felt really good and thinks she may have most of her strength back. For that I am thankful. She has a busy day today and I hope she does not get too tired before she finishes.
When I got to work I did not see anything new to work on. I am not sure what we are going to do about the paperwork for the issue we worked on Saturday. Our processes dictate that we create a report and assign it to the group that resolved the problem but in this case, the group who "solved" the problem is an external customer to our customer. We could assign the report to our customer and make them deal with it (it is their process we follow) but that would be a tad arrogant. I guess I will let my TL deal with that!
Monday my wife had the carpet cleaning guy over to take care of a spot he missed and the guy brought his late teen/early adult aged son with him. My wife told me the father is obviously not pleased with his lazy son who, upon entering our humble abode immediately asked for something to drink. Not a glass of water but "something to drink". Not that I mind but my wife said the father was visibly miffed.
Work we went well. I finished up the paperwork on the items I had been working on and was rather miffed when I found out that the 12+ hours I spent working on an issue Saturday was for naught...the customer asked to have the ticket closed stating that all was working fine now. I know for a fact my team and the third party we worked with did nothing...we were told to gather data for the customer (which we did) and then they said "close the case". I love my job!
I got home and my wife said she was feeling much better. I had to fend for myself for dinner but that was not a major issue since we had a few leftovers still in the fridge thanx to all the kind souls who brought food by our house while my wife was down. After dinner I washed a mound of dishes then went over to Kroger's to get a few things (milk, juice, yogurt, etc). When I got back I sat down and watched "King of the Hill" and then worked on a few geocache containers and paid some bills online. The electric bill went up $50 and is now over $300. Things are getting tight.
There was nothing on TV last night so my wife and I took the dogs for a walk to the park and back then we settled in and read for a while before calling it a night. She fell asleep holding my hand.
My wife woke up this morning stating that felt really good and thinks she may have most of her strength back. For that I am thankful. She has a busy day today and I hope she does not get too tired before she finishes.
When I got to work I did not see anything new to work on. I am not sure what we are going to do about the paperwork for the issue we worked on Saturday. Our processes dictate that we create a report and assign it to the group that resolved the problem but in this case, the group who "solved" the problem is an external customer to our customer. We could assign the report to our customer and make them deal with it (it is their process we follow) but that would be a tad arrogant. I guess I will let my TL deal with that!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Will This Day EVER End?
That was the question I asked myself Saturday. I went on call at 8:00 AM and my day started immediately as my TL handed over an issue from the night before (actually it was a long running issue that had finally come to a head). I spent all day on the phone and on the internal messaging client (Jabber) with techs all over the world trying to get an issue resolved. To add to the complexity, we had to coordinate with our customer's external partner and they had not been very responsive so far.
The issue had finally settled and we were waiting on the external parter to respond (we still are today) when another call came in. It looked pretty cut and dried...SAP was not communicating with the middleware that another external vendor connects with. We have seen this before and it is usually one of three things, so I started with the easiest one. To make a long story short, the entire time this was being worked on, every tech who touched it treated it like a hot potato. No one wanted to hold on to it for long and they all kept saying it was someone else's issue to solve. O put up with that for 5-6 hours when finally it appeared to be resolved. Just as I was ready to go to bed, the phone rang. The issue was not resolved and we had to go back and see what the issue was. I was pretty tired but I got with the right team and tech and he agreed to look into it. About midnight he called and said the majority of the issue had been fixed (past messages that had been stuck had cleared...confirmed by the customer) but we had no way to tell if new ones would make it. The customer told us to put the ticket on hold and it could be worked on later since no new messages would be sent until Monday. I breathed a sigh of relief and went to bed.
Even though I was busy with work from 8:00 AM until midnight, God did bless me with the ability to get my Sunday School lesson completed (which was a success!) and 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night.
I woke up this morning hald expecting the worst but when I checked, the issue that was place on hold until Monday had been completely resolved by the third party who supports the software and does account maintenence. That was a shock since they had been rather standoffish most of the week when we gave them issues to work on.
I got ready for Sunday School and church and much to my surprise, I was able to get through my entire morning and afternoon without any interruptions. That meant that SS, church, lunch, and my afternoon nap (which I really enjoyed) was peaceful. Now if I can only get through the night...
I was on call Wednesday, Saturday, and will be on call tonight to make up for my TL doing on call duties for me last weekend while I was at the marriage confernce with my wife. I am not sure who got the worst end of the bargain but we both survived. Being on call is hard on a body.
The issue had finally settled and we were waiting on the external parter to respond (we still are today) when another call came in. It looked pretty cut and dried...SAP was not communicating with the middleware that another external vendor connects with. We have seen this before and it is usually one of three things, so I started with the easiest one. To make a long story short, the entire time this was being worked on, every tech who touched it treated it like a hot potato. No one wanted to hold on to it for long and they all kept saying it was someone else's issue to solve. O put up with that for 5-6 hours when finally it appeared to be resolved. Just as I was ready to go to bed, the phone rang. The issue was not resolved and we had to go back and see what the issue was. I was pretty tired but I got with the right team and tech and he agreed to look into it. About midnight he called and said the majority of the issue had been fixed (past messages that had been stuck had cleared...confirmed by the customer) but we had no way to tell if new ones would make it. The customer told us to put the ticket on hold and it could be worked on later since no new messages would be sent until Monday. I breathed a sigh of relief and went to bed.
Even though I was busy with work from 8:00 AM until midnight, God did bless me with the ability to get my Sunday School lesson completed (which was a success!) and 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night.
I woke up this morning hald expecting the worst but when I checked, the issue that was place on hold until Monday had been completely resolved by the third party who supports the software and does account maintenence. That was a shock since they had been rather standoffish most of the week when we gave them issues to work on.
I got ready for Sunday School and church and much to my surprise, I was able to get through my entire morning and afternoon without any interruptions. That meant that SS, church, lunch, and my afternoon nap (which I really enjoyed) was peaceful. Now if I can only get through the night...
I was on call Wednesday, Saturday, and will be on call tonight to make up for my TL doing on call duties for me last weekend while I was at the marriage confernce with my wife. I am not sure who got the worst end of the bargain but we both survived. Being on call is hard on a body.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Good News, Bad News.
My wife and I just got back from her doc a couple of hours ago. We had gotten a call that they wanted us to come in so the doc could go over the pathology report on her thyroid that they removed.
The bad news - It had a cancer tumor on it.
The good news - There was only one and it was only one mm (one millimeter) in diameter.
Now she has to get an appointment with an endocrinologist to see what the next course of action. The prognosis is good. It was only one tumor but that is not saying that she could not have more, although we are trying to stay positive.
My wife is pleased. She listened to God when she felt that he was telling her to have the surgery (the tumor was so small it was missed in the biopsy) and she has avoided a major problem later.
I will continue to thank God for his mercies.
The bad news - It had a cancer tumor on it.
The good news - There was only one and it was only one mm (one millimeter) in diameter.
Now she has to get an appointment with an endocrinologist to see what the next course of action. The prognosis is good. It was only one tumor but that is not saying that she could not have more, although we are trying to stay positive.
My wife is pleased. She listened to God when she felt that he was telling her to have the surgery (the tumor was so small it was missed in the biopsy) and she has avoided a major problem later.
I will continue to thank God for his mercies.
On My Mind
The phrase, "Fight the Good Fight" has been on my mind the last 18 hours or so and I think that it is because our church is under spiritual attack. There are several members of our church who are in very bad physical health and that is contributing to an overall feeling of desperation.
With that in mind, I looked up this on Youtube. While, not Christian, it is uplifting in some ways.
With that in mind, I looked up this on Youtube. While, not Christian, it is uplifting in some ways.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Dragging Today
I am really dragging today. Yesterday was my first day back to work after my wife's surgery and it was busy. To top that off, my TL's wife had a medical emergency and he had to leave work early and that left me to fill in for him on call. Not a bad thing...I had no reservations about doing it. The only problem was that the calls we got were for other regions and also for things that really did not warrant me getting involved but when the boss says "jump!" you have to ask how high. Needless to say I got to bed at 23:00 and I was woken up at 1:30 AM the next morning. While on that call, I got another call that I had to respond to. I took care of one and the other I put on the back burner until 5:30 AM. I took care of that and laid back down until 7:00 AM.
When I logged on to the internal chat program, I noticed my TL was already online so I asked him how his wife was and he told me that she either had an intestinal infection or Salmonella.
WHOA!
He said he was up a while too and his wife has to go to the doctor again today. He said while she is feeling better, she still feels sick. I bet.
My wife is recovering well from her surgery and has an appointment tomorrow with her doctor. I am going with her since she is still kinda weak.
Today has been slow earlier on but we have gotten two requests for us to look at. One I am working on now and the other I pushed back to the helpdesk to gather more info. I hate having to go to the techs with little or no info.
We have had meals delivered every day and that has been nice. The food is rather bland but spices I have on hand help :-)
We have Thursday night small group tonight. I am going to be so drained. I also have a Sunday School lesson to prep and a testimony to give. What was I thinking? We are far from back to normal...but at least I have God on my side. He and I have been talking a lot lately.
When I logged on to the internal chat program, I noticed my TL was already online so I asked him how his wife was and he told me that she either had an intestinal infection or Salmonella.
WHOA!
He said he was up a while too and his wife has to go to the doctor again today. He said while she is feeling better, she still feels sick. I bet.
My wife is recovering well from her surgery and has an appointment tomorrow with her doctor. I am going with her since she is still kinda weak.
Today has been slow earlier on but we have gotten two requests for us to look at. One I am working on now and the other I pushed back to the helpdesk to gather more info. I hate having to go to the techs with little or no info.
We have had meals delivered every day and that has been nice. The food is rather bland but spices I have on hand help :-)
We have Thursday night small group tonight. I am going to be so drained. I also have a Sunday School lesson to prep and a testimony to give. What was I thinking? We are far from back to normal...but at least I have God on my side. He and I have been talking a lot lately.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Almost Back To Normal
Well, my wife came home yesterday. She was in the hospital about 18 hours total and she is recovering well. She was worried that she might have to stay one more day but they let her go after the last test she took came back optimistic. It was a calcium level test.
So my wife is home now, sans her thyroid gland. The parathyroid was not damage (hence the last test) so as long as she continues taking supplements, she will be okay.
I cannot say enough about the staff at Baylor in Frisco,TX. The lobby was like a mid grade hotel lobby (maybe a bit more upscale) with gourmet coffee and fresh pastries. The staff was helpful and polite and the rooms were as good as they would be in a mid grade hotel. I was given free meals while I was there (and the food was actually good) plus a voucher for an extra free meal.
Most of her nurses were very attentive and polite. One who came in to draw blood in the middle of the night was not so great but everyone of the others was. My wife enjoyed it, well as much as anyone can enjoy having their throat slit and a gland removed. At least she was comfortable.
I was surprised to see that this level of service was actually covered by our insurance.
So my wife is home now, sans her thyroid gland. The parathyroid was not damage (hence the last test) so as long as she continues taking supplements, she will be okay.
I cannot say enough about the staff at Baylor in Frisco,TX. The lobby was like a mid grade hotel lobby (maybe a bit more upscale) with gourmet coffee and fresh pastries. The staff was helpful and polite and the rooms were as good as they would be in a mid grade hotel. I was given free meals while I was there (and the food was actually good) plus a voucher for an extra free meal.
Most of her nurses were very attentive and polite. One who came in to draw blood in the middle of the night was not so great but everyone of the others was. My wife enjoyed it, well as much as anyone can enjoy having their throat slit and a gland removed. At least she was comfortable.
I was surprised to see that this level of service was actually covered by our insurance.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Getting You Caught Up
Okay, I need to make this quick, since I am on a tight time table this week. Okay, I was on a tight time table last week, too...what else is new?
First, we (my wife and I, as well as eight other couples) went to a marriage conference at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas on Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday morning. In a nutshell it was really good. The speakers, Dr. Gary Smalley and one of his son's, Greg were very entertaining and informative. My only complaint is two fold. First, we PAID to go see this and I hate having someone constantly hawking books, CD's, DVD's every time they can. Set up your booth, make you announcement, and get on with it.
The second is that Dr. Gary is ADHD and it is difficult to listen to him as a speaker. He bounces around so much he lost me many times and lost his place so he had to back track many times. Good material...VERY GOOD material that I suggest to anyone who wants to understand their mate better, but Dr. Gary is just too ADHD for me to listen to. It was like listening to my wife talk. When she tells a story, I just cannot follow her because she takes so many side trips on other stories that are related (to her) before getting back to the main point.
After I got back on Saturday, I took a nap and then mowed grass. Once I got done it was time to walk the dogs, shower, and get to bed...I was bushed. Oh I forgot to add that we drove with a couple on Friday and did not get back to our home until 10:00 PM. We were slotted to drive on Saturday which meant I had to put the middle bench back in the van (not the easiest task on the planet), quickly clean it out, and feed, water, and walk both dogs. I was able to do my part and get into bed by 11:00 PM. My wife was 30 minutes behind me. We had to get up at 5:00 AM to drive over to pick up the othe two couples that would be attending we us on Saturday. Let me tell you 5:00 AM came very quickly.
On Sunday my wife and I went to Sunday school and church, with lunch afterwards. We did not get back home until after 2:00 and I still had to vacuum. I managed to get done about 4:00 PM and since I had not gotten my weekly geocaching fix, I decided to head out. Yes, it was 100 degrees but I have found out that it was a great time to go. Most people were not out so I was able to cache in relatively peace. I was out for about four hours and grabbed 14 caches. I will elaborate later on my geocaching blog.
While I was on my last two finds, I decided to call mom and chat with her. After my oblitory 90 minute call, I hung up, showered, ate, and went to bed...Monday was going to be busy.
Monday morning I got up at 6:00 instead of 5:00 AM. My wife was having surgery and I took Monday off to be with her. We ran a couple of errands after we both got ready and were at the hospital at 11:00 AM. We had a small group of people there to pray for her and they all stayed until she was out of surgery (which, BTW went well). Only one person could stay until she made it out of recovery (the associate pastor's wife...a sick woman in her own right) at 5:00 PM. She was obviously groggy and slept a lot until food was delivered and she perked up but then fell asleep again. I stayed until 7:30 PM (I had to get home and take care of the dogs) and did not get to bed until 11:00 PM last night. I still need to get back to the hospital shortly and also work on a Sunday School lesson for next Sunday and get the meeting minutes prepped to go out from last weeks meeting. Yeah, I am behind but it will get done.
I am thankful that my team lead switched on call weekends with me. He started his on call early for me and I will take it back from him on Friday night. He is also working solo today (as well as yesterday) while I attend to my wife.
What kind of surgery? Sorry...I failed to mention that my wife had her thyroid removed. It appears all went well and the scarring will be minimal. The surgeon is highly rated so we were at peace with this. My wife's voice was not harmed although she said she was a little sore from the surgery.
Well, I still have to eat, shower and get out of here. My wife is scheduled to be examined at noon but I want to get over there to be with her this morning as soon as I can get things in order here.
First, we (my wife and I, as well as eight other couples) went to a marriage conference at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas on Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday morning. In a nutshell it was really good. The speakers, Dr. Gary Smalley and one of his son's, Greg were very entertaining and informative. My only complaint is two fold. First, we PAID to go see this and I hate having someone constantly hawking books, CD's, DVD's every time they can. Set up your booth, make you announcement, and get on with it.
The second is that Dr. Gary is ADHD and it is difficult to listen to him as a speaker. He bounces around so much he lost me many times and lost his place so he had to back track many times. Good material...VERY GOOD material that I suggest to anyone who wants to understand their mate better, but Dr. Gary is just too ADHD for me to listen to. It was like listening to my wife talk. When she tells a story, I just cannot follow her because she takes so many side trips on other stories that are related (to her) before getting back to the main point.
After I got back on Saturday, I took a nap and then mowed grass. Once I got done it was time to walk the dogs, shower, and get to bed...I was bushed. Oh I forgot to add that we drove with a couple on Friday and did not get back to our home until 10:00 PM. We were slotted to drive on Saturday which meant I had to put the middle bench back in the van (not the easiest task on the planet), quickly clean it out, and feed, water, and walk both dogs. I was able to do my part and get into bed by 11:00 PM. My wife was 30 minutes behind me. We had to get up at 5:00 AM to drive over to pick up the othe two couples that would be attending we us on Saturday. Let me tell you 5:00 AM came very quickly.
On Sunday my wife and I went to Sunday school and church, with lunch afterwards. We did not get back home until after 2:00 and I still had to vacuum. I managed to get done about 4:00 PM and since I had not gotten my weekly geocaching fix, I decided to head out. Yes, it was 100 degrees but I have found out that it was a great time to go. Most people were not out so I was able to cache in relatively peace. I was out for about four hours and grabbed 14 caches. I will elaborate later on my geocaching blog.
While I was on my last two finds, I decided to call mom and chat with her. After my oblitory 90 minute call, I hung up, showered, ate, and went to bed...Monday was going to be busy.
Monday morning I got up at 6:00 instead of 5:00 AM. My wife was having surgery and I took Monday off to be with her. We ran a couple of errands after we both got ready and were at the hospital at 11:00 AM. We had a small group of people there to pray for her and they all stayed until she was out of surgery (which, BTW went well). Only one person could stay until she made it out of recovery (the associate pastor's wife...a sick woman in her own right) at 5:00 PM. She was obviously groggy and slept a lot until food was delivered and she perked up but then fell asleep again. I stayed until 7:30 PM (I had to get home and take care of the dogs) and did not get to bed until 11:00 PM last night. I still need to get back to the hospital shortly and also work on a Sunday School lesson for next Sunday and get the meeting minutes prepped to go out from last weeks meeting. Yeah, I am behind but it will get done.
I am thankful that my team lead switched on call weekends with me. He started his on call early for me and I will take it back from him on Friday night. He is also working solo today (as well as yesterday) while I attend to my wife.
What kind of surgery? Sorry...I failed to mention that my wife had her thyroid removed. It appears all went well and the scarring will be minimal. The surgeon is highly rated so we were at peace with this. My wife's voice was not harmed although she said she was a little sore from the surgery.
Well, I still have to eat, shower and get out of here. My wife is scheduled to be examined at noon but I want to get over there to be with her this morning as soon as I can get things in order here.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Geocaching Blog
I have just set up a geocaching blog as a test.
Link
It is still very sparse and I will populate it with articles as I get time.
Link
It is still very sparse and I will populate it with articles as I get time.
How NOT To Make Friends
This quote was posted (in the comments) on slashdot :
"First, anyone who can't get Windows to run decently should be turning in their geek card already..."
I have been using and supporting Windows for 15+ and 11 years respectively. I can make Windows run decently, but it can be a pain sometimes! Being good at making Windows run is not the sign of a geek in my opinion and making a statement like the one above will get you a lot of flak from *nix people.
"First, anyone who can't get Windows to run decently should be turning in their geek card already..."
I have been using and supporting Windows for 15+ and 11 years respectively. I can make Windows run decently, but it can be a pain sometimes! Being good at making Windows run is not the sign of a geek in my opinion and making a statement like the one above will get you a lot of flak from *nix people.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Eventful Week
Well this has all the makings of an eventful week which is a good thing. I like to keep busy as long as it does not bear down on me and keep me from doing some fun things. I take my entertainment seriously...most of the time.
Monday started with an issue at work and ended with the monthly Trustee meeting at church. I am on call so I half expected to be contacted during the meeting in which I was taking notes and chairing. All went well...no call from work and the meeting did not last too long even though we had a full agenda.
Tuesday started with my boss coming into the office I share with my TL and discussing upcoming changes to the way we work. True to form he had no concrete information, but he did let us know that changes are coming. One big one is the possibility of switching from "on call" to "follow the sun" 24 hour coverage. He did not go into details. I hate when he does that!
The evening ended with the monthly Church Board meeting. Coming back to back with the Trustee meeting only happens a few times a year and this time it just happened to be while I was on call. The meeting lasted a couple of hours and we had some good points brought up. I came home and did a quick vacuum at my wife's request before I reassembled my office for work today. We made it to bed by 10:30 PM.
I am still fasting on Mon-Wed-Fri, and "recovering" on Tue-Thu-Sat-Sun. TO be honest I have found myself nibbling more on my "recover" days and that makes me feel sick. I feel fine on my fasting days (hungry but healthy) but on my recovery days I eat little bits of EVERYTHING...good and bad. I guess I need to pay attention to that.
I am on call until Friday morning and work half a day. My TL is switching the weekend on call with me so my wife and I can go to a marriage retreat/conference on Friday and Saturday. My TL officially goes on call next week but I will take his weekend for him to repay what he did for me. Then we go back to the regular schedule.
I work from home today and Thursday and I am going to see if my TL will allow us to work from home on Friday. No matter what, I need to leave early so I can make the conference.
Monday started with an issue at work and ended with the monthly Trustee meeting at church. I am on call so I half expected to be contacted during the meeting in which I was taking notes and chairing. All went well...no call from work and the meeting did not last too long even though we had a full agenda.
Tuesday started with my boss coming into the office I share with my TL and discussing upcoming changes to the way we work. True to form he had no concrete information, but he did let us know that changes are coming. One big one is the possibility of switching from "on call" to "follow the sun" 24 hour coverage. He did not go into details. I hate when he does that!
The evening ended with the monthly Church Board meeting. Coming back to back with the Trustee meeting only happens a few times a year and this time it just happened to be while I was on call. The meeting lasted a couple of hours and we had some good points brought up. I came home and did a quick vacuum at my wife's request before I reassembled my office for work today. We made it to bed by 10:30 PM.
I am still fasting on Mon-Wed-Fri, and "recovering" on Tue-Thu-Sat-Sun. TO be honest I have found myself nibbling more on my "recover" days and that makes me feel sick. I feel fine on my fasting days (hungry but healthy) but on my recovery days I eat little bits of EVERYTHING...good and bad. I guess I need to pay attention to that.
I am on call until Friday morning and work half a day. My TL is switching the weekend on call with me so my wife and I can go to a marriage retreat/conference on Friday and Saturday. My TL officially goes on call next week but I will take his weekend for him to repay what he did for me. Then we go back to the regular schedule.
I work from home today and Thursday and I am going to see if my TL will allow us to work from home on Friday. No matter what, I need to leave early so I can make the conference.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Busy, But Not Bad
This weekend was fairly busy overall but it didn't turn out too bad. It started out with me meeting a BiC at a local coffee shop to go over his ideas for a small home based business and his needs for a web site. I acted more as a friend than anything...I cannot design web sites but I know what steps are needed to get on started. He will need more than just a "basic" web site so he will need some help. I am investigating some leads to see if they can either help or if they know or can recommend someone for the job. That meeting over coffee lasted a couple of hours.
I got back home and my wife was gone but left a note saying she would be back later. She was volunteering at a local youth shelter in Plano with the women of our church for the afternoon so I decided to go out geocaching but put a 3 hour time limit on th trip because we had a dinner arrangement in Anna with friends at 5:00 PM and I did not want to keep them waiting.
Caching was a success...I only DNF'd on one and I wasted way too much time on it. I am not 100% sure it is there but it most likely is. Camo'd match stick holders ON THE GROUND in hedges are not fun, especially when the coords are not accurate and the hider refuses to update them. Oh well.
I made it back home and my wife was right behind me. As a matter of fact I passed her on the way back. I got cleaned up let the dogs out and as soon as she freshened up, we headed to Anna to meet and eat with friends.
I took my GPSr unit with me to grab a couple of caches that were along the way but they both were in thickets and I did not want to get dirty before dinner so I just left them. My wife marveled at the accuracy of the GPSr unit in regards to her speed and the distance traveled. It not only can be used for my hobby, but we can take it on trips and use it when we bike. Not bad, I guess.
After dinner we came home to walk the dogs then we both headed to bed.
Sunday was the usual Sunday school, church, and lunch routine that we normally follow, but we had the added pressures of prepping the house to have the carpets cleaned today. The entire house had to be vacuumed and edged as well as all the items that we could had to me moved into the bathroom and kitchen. We left most of the furniture where they were and my wife will have to make sure the cleaning crew is careful not to damage them.
After the prepping was done, we were both tired so we grabbed a nap. I was expecting a buddy of mine to give me a call so we could hide a cache together as a team but he never called so I am not sure if he did it by himself or he will just wait...my guess is that he did it by himself since I am on call all this week...well most of this week.
When the nap was over with we had to get ready for Sunday evening service. Our church only holds this once a month and it is not very well attended. I guess people are just too busy for things like this.
We got back from the service about 8:00 PM and I called my mom and chatted with her for about 75-80 minutes. She is looking forward to me coming up to visit and I am too, but I am not looking forward to paying for the gas. At last check it was going to cost me about $500 just in gasoline, not counting food and camping fees.
I was getting pretty tired once I got off the phone with mom so I got ready for bed. It was not long before I was out...it was a busy weekend.
I start call today and thankfully I am only on call until Thursday...Fri and Sat my wife and I are going on a marriage retreat in Southlake while my TL covers on call for me. I have to cover for him the following week but it is only Fri-Sat-Sun like he will do for me. Not bad...I am on call more frequently but for less time. I just hope there are no complications from my wife's surgery.
Keep her in your prayers, will you?
I got back home and my wife was gone but left a note saying she would be back later. She was volunteering at a local youth shelter in Plano with the women of our church for the afternoon so I decided to go out geocaching but put a 3 hour time limit on th trip because we had a dinner arrangement in Anna with friends at 5:00 PM and I did not want to keep them waiting.
Caching was a success...I only DNF'd on one and I wasted way too much time on it. I am not 100% sure it is there but it most likely is. Camo'd match stick holders ON THE GROUND in hedges are not fun, especially when the coords are not accurate and the hider refuses to update them. Oh well.
I made it back home and my wife was right behind me. As a matter of fact I passed her on the way back. I got cleaned up let the dogs out and as soon as she freshened up, we headed to Anna to meet and eat with friends.
I took my GPSr unit with me to grab a couple of caches that were along the way but they both were in thickets and I did not want to get dirty before dinner so I just left them. My wife marveled at the accuracy of the GPSr unit in regards to her speed and the distance traveled. It not only can be used for my hobby, but we can take it on trips and use it when we bike. Not bad, I guess.
After dinner we came home to walk the dogs then we both headed to bed.
Sunday was the usual Sunday school, church, and lunch routine that we normally follow, but we had the added pressures of prepping the house to have the carpets cleaned today. The entire house had to be vacuumed and edged as well as all the items that we could had to me moved into the bathroom and kitchen. We left most of the furniture where they were and my wife will have to make sure the cleaning crew is careful not to damage them.
After the prepping was done, we were both tired so we grabbed a nap. I was expecting a buddy of mine to give me a call so we could hide a cache together as a team but he never called so I am not sure if he did it by himself or he will just wait...my guess is that he did it by himself since I am on call all this week...well most of this week.
When the nap was over with we had to get ready for Sunday evening service. Our church only holds this once a month and it is not very well attended. I guess people are just too busy for things like this.
We got back from the service about 8:00 PM and I called my mom and chatted with her for about 75-80 minutes. She is looking forward to me coming up to visit and I am too, but I am not looking forward to paying for the gas. At last check it was going to cost me about $500 just in gasoline, not counting food and camping fees.
I was getting pretty tired once I got off the phone with mom so I got ready for bed. It was not long before I was out...it was a busy weekend.
I start call today and thankfully I am only on call until Thursday...Fri and Sat my wife and I are going on a marriage retreat in Southlake while my TL covers on call for me. I have to cover for him the following week but it is only Fri-Sat-Sun like he will do for me. Not bad...I am on call more frequently but for less time. I just hope there are no complications from my wife's surgery.
Keep her in your prayers, will you?
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The Fasting Continues
Well Thursday (my "off" day) came and went and before I knew it, Friday had arrive...time for another day of fasting. I got up early enough to have a bowl of cereal for breakfast and after completing my normal routine, I went to work.
Work went well up until about 4:00 PM when our help desk team Jabbered (internal instant message client) me and asked me to help with an issue that a customer was reporting. It seems that a ticket for a "critical" issue was opened up the day before and had still not been resolved and the customer wanted resolution. The vendor providing the service was external to us (actually it was a subsidiary of our customer) and they were passing the buck back to us. After about an hour of phone calls, I go the subsidiary to look at the issue. The bad news was that I was clocking off and handing the issue over to the on call guy...which meant no rest for him this weekend. I have not gotten the nerve to log on to work to check and see what the progress has been.
From a fasting standpoint I did real well. No headaches (a little grouchiness) and my hunger was manageable. I pray during lunch, napped a little and pray a little on the way home and during meal time.
I ended up eating leftovers last night (I still do not have the heart to tell my wife that they were not good...I am not sure what she did to the Shrimp Normandy Pasta but it really tasted odd) while trying to watch "The Fifth Element" on Hulu last night. Word of advice, if you have not seen that movie (with Bruce Willis) do not waste your time. I had to stop it less than half way through. Yes, it was that bad.
I slept well but my foot still hurts from the stupid martial arts kick I threw improperly and hit the top of my foot instead of using my shin. I have lousy hand-eye coordination (or is that foot-eye?) and have done this twice now. Bruce Lee I am not.
I take today and tomorrow off from fasting but I will resume next Monday...when I start my on call. I love on call. The good thing is that I only am on call Mon-Thu next week while my wife and I go to a conference on Fri and Sat. My TL is covering for me and I will return the favor following week for him.
Work went well up until about 4:00 PM when our help desk team Jabbered (internal instant message client) me and asked me to help with an issue that a customer was reporting. It seems that a ticket for a "critical" issue was opened up the day before and had still not been resolved and the customer wanted resolution. The vendor providing the service was external to us (actually it was a subsidiary of our customer) and they were passing the buck back to us. After about an hour of phone calls, I go the subsidiary to look at the issue. The bad news was that I was clocking off and handing the issue over to the on call guy...which meant no rest for him this weekend. I have not gotten the nerve to log on to work to check and see what the progress has been.
From a fasting standpoint I did real well. No headaches (a little grouchiness) and my hunger was manageable. I pray during lunch, napped a little and pray a little on the way home and during meal time.
I ended up eating leftovers last night (I still do not have the heart to tell my wife that they were not good...I am not sure what she did to the Shrimp Normandy Pasta but it really tasted odd) while trying to watch "The Fifth Element" on Hulu last night. Word of advice, if you have not seen that movie (with Bruce Willis) do not waste your time. I had to stop it less than half way through. Yes, it was that bad.
I slept well but my foot still hurts from the stupid martial arts kick I threw improperly and hit the top of my foot instead of using my shin. I have lousy hand-eye coordination (or is that foot-eye?) and have done this twice now. Bruce Lee I am not.
I take today and tomorrow off from fasting but I will resume next Monday...when I start my on call. I love on call. The good thing is that I only am on call Mon-Thu next week while my wife and I go to a conference on Fri and Sat. My TL is covering for me and I will return the favor following week for him.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday - Work And Fast
Thank you GOD! As previously stated I am fasting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays while enjoying a "normal" lifestyle on Tuesday and Thursday. I start my fast at sun up and continue until sun down when I allow myself small to medium sized meals. So when I get up at 5:00 AM I will have a small breakfast (a bowl of cereal and my vitamin/supplements) and then I will not eat again until 9 PM that night, which would be a medium sized supper. Well, yesterday my PDA alarm went off but did not chime (I had to do a warm reset to fix it) and I did not get up until after sunrise. Since I got up late that meant no light breakfast. Well, God was good and gave me the will power and strength to make it through the entire day until 9 PM before I had any food...no headaches or grumpiness. I was tad run down, but other than that I was fine.
Today is a "normal" day so I am having decaf coffee and will eat a light breakfast in about an hour after prayer and bible time.
I worked from home yesterday (as I will today) and it went pretty well. Not too busy but the calls we did get were, as usual, annoying. Our help desk leads (who are the ones who call me) seem to be very stressed lately. They only seem to be concerned with their metrics instead of actually helping the customer. Is the corporate strategy we have adopted to blame?
I know this stress must be wide spread because I overheard one of the managers on our account talking to another manager (quite loudly on speaker phone just across the hall...with the office door open) about how the help desk wants more money (internal billing) when they get busier, in effect charging more money for less service. I hope this mentality gets taken care of soon. It makes work difficult.
Today is a "normal" day so I am having decaf coffee and will eat a light breakfast in about an hour after prayer and bible time.
I worked from home yesterday (as I will today) and it went pretty well. Not too busy but the calls we did get were, as usual, annoying. Our help desk leads (who are the ones who call me) seem to be very stressed lately. They only seem to be concerned with their metrics instead of actually helping the customer. Is the corporate strategy we have adopted to blame?
I know this stress must be wide spread because I overheard one of the managers on our account talking to another manager (quite loudly on speaker phone just across the hall...with the office door open) about how the help desk wants more money (internal billing) when they get busier, in effect charging more money for less service. I hope this mentality gets taken care of soon. It makes work difficult.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Of Prayer And Fasting
Our church has decided on a corporate 21 days of prayer and fasting. Fasting for me is not easy. I like to eat and I eat all day long (in small amounts, mostly). To stop eating for any length of time is not very pleasant for me. Yes, I know that fasting is not supposed to be "fun"...it is a time to reflect and pray for specific things, but the main reason we fast (to become closer to God) is missed for me because when I am hungry, I have trouble concentrating on anything. Yes I am a spoiled eater.
I have fasted for 24 and 36 hours in the past (no food, only water) and the results have always been the same: Headaches, irritability, nausea. This time I thought I would try a different spin on fasting during this 21 days: a dawn until dusk fast without food, drinking only water, three days a week. Our pastor had informed us that if we chose to fast (it is completely optional) that we needed to listen to our bodies and if we needed something, then we should consume it. It gets hot in Texas during the summer so I felt I needed the water, so I had a about a gallon all day long which is twice as much as I normally drink. I spent my lunchtime in prayer and finished out my shift and went home. My wife was eating a burger (she chose not to participate in this fast) and apologized for not being done before I got home. I was not too worried and went in to watch "King of the Hill" until it was time to go to church and pray there. Once prayer was over and we went back home I walked Little Man and watched another episode of Firefly on Hulu.com . When the sun went down I grabbed one of the burgers and an ear of fresh grilled corn and a small glass of juice. I tried to eat slowly (I really was hungry) and also keep the portions down. I went to bed shortly after eating and slept pretty well.
Today will be a normal day of eating, but I plan on spending some of my lunch in prayer. Tomorrow I will return to my Mon, Wed, Fri dawn to dusk fast and end my day at church in prayer then with a small evening meal.
I know there are a lot of purists who are scoffing at my fast...but try as I may I cannot go long periods without eating unless I want to pay the price.
For those of you who pray, pray that I will be strong enough to stick with the 3 day, dawn to dusk fast. For me, one who likes to eat, this will be a challenge. Also pray that I will receive enlightenment from my prayers regarding finances and the direction God wants me and my family to go.
I have fasted for 24 and 36 hours in the past (no food, only water) and the results have always been the same: Headaches, irritability, nausea. This time I thought I would try a different spin on fasting during this 21 days: a dawn until dusk fast without food, drinking only water, three days a week. Our pastor had informed us that if we chose to fast (it is completely optional) that we needed to listen to our bodies and if we needed something, then we should consume it. It gets hot in Texas during the summer so I felt I needed the water, so I had a about a gallon all day long which is twice as much as I normally drink. I spent my lunchtime in prayer and finished out my shift and went home. My wife was eating a burger (she chose not to participate in this fast) and apologized for not being done before I got home. I was not too worried and went in to watch "King of the Hill" until it was time to go to church and pray there. Once prayer was over and we went back home I walked Little Man and watched another episode of Firefly on Hulu.com . When the sun went down I grabbed one of the burgers and an ear of fresh grilled corn and a small glass of juice. I tried to eat slowly (I really was hungry) and also keep the portions down. I went to bed shortly after eating and slept pretty well.
Today will be a normal day of eating, but I plan on spending some of my lunch in prayer. Tomorrow I will return to my Mon, Wed, Fri dawn to dusk fast and end my day at church in prayer then with a small evening meal.
I know there are a lot of purists who are scoffing at my fast...but try as I may I cannot go long periods without eating unless I want to pay the price.
For those of you who pray, pray that I will be strong enough to stick with the 3 day, dawn to dusk fast. For me, one who likes to eat, this will be a challenge. Also pray that I will receive enlightenment from my prayers regarding finances and the direction God wants me and my family to go.
Welcome New Readers
I would like to interrupt my normal babbling to welcome my new reader(s) from Texas. I was scanning my logs the other day and noticed a huge spike in traffic from Verizon FIOS in Texas. It seems a couple of my posts have been popular enough to warrant repeat visits with one in particular getting several hits (one that centers around one of the local Geocachers to the Dallas area). Whether you are a fan of geocaching or just a friend of the cacher I mentioned, glad you found my little corner of the web.
Enjoy the show.
Enjoy the show.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Can't Argue With This Logic
Michelle Malkin yet again hits us with a good dose of logic regarding gas prices, SUV's, and the mortgage bailout issues...not that I am going to push for this...I bought a V8 and I will live with my choice...the same goes to those who bought much bigger homes than they normally afford and now want help with the bills.
Read here.
Read here.
Too Hot For This!
I enjoy Sunday simply because I am never sure what it is going to bring. Of course there is the normal church and Sunday school and most likely dinner afterwards, but after lunch, the day is wide open.
Yesterday my wife surprised me and asked if we could geocache a bit together. I really was not planning to, but there were a few harder/puzzle caches I was itching to knock off the list so I got my gear together and we left as soon as we were dressed in more appropriate attire.
I had four on my list and I bombed on the very firs one. It was a puzzle that I had solved and later verified with the cache owner. I went to GZ (ground zero) and it was over run with briars, so I carefully poked and prodded while my wife stayed back into the vehicle. I spent about 20 minutes looking but never found it. Oh well, off to the next one.
The next one was well hidden but I found it quick enough. Again, my wife stayed in the van while I sat down at a table near a bush and retrieved the prize...all under the watchful eye of the drive through attendant.
The next two were doozies. One was a Jake in Texas hide and the other was a devious little 9key camo job. We spent at least 20 minutes on each before I finally spotted them. My wife helped me look but only noticed them hides after I saw them. To her credit she saw Jake's before I did but did not think it was the cache. Both were great hides.
One the way home my wife and I nabbed a Tizom hide...only because it was on the right side of the street and it was on the way. I also knew what to look for since Tizom hides tend to have a theme.
We got back and we were both hot and sweaty. It was just too hot to be out caching.
At least we brought lots of water.
Yesterday my wife surprised me and asked if we could geocache a bit together. I really was not planning to, but there were a few harder/puzzle caches I was itching to knock off the list so I got my gear together and we left as soon as we were dressed in more appropriate attire.
I had four on my list and I bombed on the very firs one. It was a puzzle that I had solved and later verified with the cache owner. I went to GZ (ground zero) and it was over run with briars, so I carefully poked and prodded while my wife stayed back into the vehicle. I spent about 20 minutes looking but never found it. Oh well, off to the next one.
The next one was well hidden but I found it quick enough. Again, my wife stayed in the van while I sat down at a table near a bush and retrieved the prize...all under the watchful eye of the drive through attendant.
The next two were doozies. One was a Jake in Texas hide and the other was a devious little 9key camo job. We spent at least 20 minutes on each before I finally spotted them. My wife helped me look but only noticed them hides after I saw them. To her credit she saw Jake's before I did but did not think it was the cache. Both were great hides.
One the way home my wife and I nabbed a Tizom hide...only because it was on the right side of the street and it was on the way. I also knew what to look for since Tizom hides tend to have a theme.
We got back and we were both hot and sweaty. It was just too hot to be out caching.
At least we brought lots of water.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
An Extra Day To Rest
Friday was a holiday, Independence Day in the USA. Most people have the day off and most celebrate one of the most important holidays of the year but sadly, many don't.
I had the day off while my counterpart in Brazil covered for us "just in case". I did not do much but we had given some thought to going to East Texas to hang with some people from church. However there were storm clouds and I did not want to chance it. Instead, we stayed home, rested and went to see some fireworks later that night. There was no grilling out (we do this so much that not doing it seems odd), opting for baked potatoes from Jason's Deli (The Texas Style Spud, sans the butter for my wife...regular for me). It was a day of rest and for me, reflection. We live in the United States of America. An experiment in government that while is still young (232 years young), The US of A is a shining light that draws millions to our shores every year looking for a better life.
I got to bed early so I would be refreshed and ready to hit the geocaching trail by 7:30 AM the next morning. I was tired and had no trouble falling asleep.
I woke up the next morning and took the dogs for a walk and came back to the house to feed them. After they had been fed and watered, I gather up my gear and changed into some older clothes before I kissed my wife and headed out. My plan and route was simple but true to form, the plan changed.
I left and headed to Murphy to pick up three new caches placed by a newer member of the geocaching community, Txlabguy. After those I headed east to Sachse (pronounced, "Sax See") and grabbed a few more. I passed on a lot of caches in Sachse since they were placed by people in the geocaching community that I am not overly fond of and headed on to Wylie to knock out as many as possible there. Once I used up my ration of gas for the day, I headed back the shortest way which was through St. Paul and Lucas where I grabbed two more caches before heading home. A pretty good day with 18 caches and one travel bug that I need to drop off the the TB hotel after lunch. I still have several in West Plano I want to grab and would love to do that today but my guess is that I will have to wait until next week to do those.
I came home hot and sweaty but feeling pretty good. I hosed off outside then came in to put some clothes in the dryer and enter my finds into the geocaching.com web site. Hmm, I am up to 543 finds...not bad at all. 800 by the end of the year IS doable...maybe I can get 1000 before the end of the 2008.
After entering my stats the clothes were done, so my wife (who was napping) and I folded them. Once that was done I started vacuuming and after that, I worked on the yard until supper was ready. My wife handled the grilling and the sides while I got a shower...I was a sweaty mess as usual.
After dinner, we walked the dogs and then watched some TV. I recently discovered hulu.com and have watched the first five episodes of "Firefly" again, plus a few movies that they have as well. Whil not rich in content, it is not bad for free.
I finished up the book I was reading, "Monster" by Frank Peretti. He is a Christian author who writes some good thrillers. No language, no sexual encounters...just a good scare. I like his style.
I had the day off while my counterpart in Brazil covered for us "just in case". I did not do much but we had given some thought to going to East Texas to hang with some people from church. However there were storm clouds and I did not want to chance it. Instead, we stayed home, rested and went to see some fireworks later that night. There was no grilling out (we do this so much that not doing it seems odd), opting for baked potatoes from Jason's Deli (The Texas Style Spud, sans the butter for my wife...regular for me). It was a day of rest and for me, reflection. We live in the United States of America. An experiment in government that while is still young (232 years young), The US of A is a shining light that draws millions to our shores every year looking for a better life.
I got to bed early so I would be refreshed and ready to hit the geocaching trail by 7:30 AM the next morning. I was tired and had no trouble falling asleep.
I woke up the next morning and took the dogs for a walk and came back to the house to feed them. After they had been fed and watered, I gather up my gear and changed into some older clothes before I kissed my wife and headed out. My plan and route was simple but true to form, the plan changed.
I left and headed to Murphy to pick up three new caches placed by a newer member of the geocaching community, Txlabguy. After those I headed east to Sachse (pronounced, "Sax See") and grabbed a few more. I passed on a lot of caches in Sachse since they were placed by people in the geocaching community that I am not overly fond of and headed on to Wylie to knock out as many as possible there. Once I used up my ration of gas for the day, I headed back the shortest way which was through St. Paul and Lucas where I grabbed two more caches before heading home. A pretty good day with 18 caches and one travel bug that I need to drop off the the TB hotel after lunch. I still have several in West Plano I want to grab and would love to do that today but my guess is that I will have to wait until next week to do those.
I came home hot and sweaty but feeling pretty good. I hosed off outside then came in to put some clothes in the dryer and enter my finds into the geocaching.com web site. Hmm, I am up to 543 finds...not bad at all. 800 by the end of the year IS doable...maybe I can get 1000 before the end of the 2008.
After entering my stats the clothes were done, so my wife (who was napping) and I folded them. Once that was done I started vacuuming and after that, I worked on the yard until supper was ready. My wife handled the grilling and the sides while I got a shower...I was a sweaty mess as usual.
After dinner, we walked the dogs and then watched some TV. I recently discovered hulu.com and have watched the first five episodes of "Firefly" again, plus a few movies that they have as well. Whil not rich in content, it is not bad for free.
I finished up the book I was reading, "Monster" by Frank Peretti. He is a Christian author who writes some good thrillers. No language, no sexual encounters...just a good scare. I like his style.
Sobering
There is a Geocacher saying that is printed on stickers and t-shirts that goes, "Geocachers know where all the bodies are hidden", meaning that we are good at hiding things, many times in plain site. Well that saying took on new meaning in Dallas over the holiday weekend when a duo of veteran cachers found the body of homeless man, several days old in an abandoned part of Grove Hill Memorial Park Cemetery. Here is the log entry for the cache they were looking for when they made the grisly discovery:
9:21 am - It was bound to happen sooner or later... We all hunt for caches in cemeteries and in some pretty remote places, so it wouldn't have surprised me to find out that a cacher had discovered a dead body - I just didn't expect it to be me, though I am one of those people that things just seem to happen to. I've even seen t-shirts that say "Geocachers know where all the bodies are hidden" and that seems to be very true.
I was caching in the Dallas area with (caching friend) and we were excited to have some of (Popular caching team) caches on our to-do list. In addition, (prolific cacher) has a cache very nearby called "Stuck on You - In the Middle" and that was on our list first. So, we pulled up to the outside gate of Grove Hill Memorial Park and started chasing the needle (following the GPSr). It led us toward the corner at first where we found a homeless guy "sleeping." He was surrounded by beer cans so we just thought he was passed out and sleeping it off. We then went into Super Silent Stealth Mode because we didn't want to wake him up and tiptoed over to where the cache actually was. I found the cache and took it over to (other cacher) so that he could do the paperwork and (yet another cacher) and I decided to check on the homeless guy. Hmmm...he doesn't appear to be breathing...and on closer inspection (which I will save you from because it was really GROSS!) it became apparent that this poor guy was dead. Dang! Time to call 911.
NG: We're at the corner of Samuel and Grove Hill and we've found a homeless man in the cemetery and he's dead.
911: Is he injured? What makes you think he's dead?
NG: He's not breathing (and I also told her about the GROSS stuff)
911: Is he Hispanic, Black, or White?
NG: He's Hispanic or White - it's kind of hard to tell. (What difference does that make? Dang!)
911: What's he wearing?
NG: A green t-shirt and khaki pants (Dang woman! He's not fleeing - he's dead! He's the only dead guy on top of the ground in the cemetery - why do you need to know what he's wearing?)
911: We'll dispatch someone right away.
It's the fourth of July and there's no telling how long it's going to take for them to get here and the dead body was really starting to creep us out, so we decide to move to the inside of the cemetery where the other caches are and wait for the sirens. We went right by one of the caches so we made the find and were doing the paperwork when we heard the sirens, so we went back to the gate to wait. We flagged down the firetruck (why did they send a firetruck?) and ambulance (it's a little late for that!) just as my phone was ringing. It was a police officer on the way to the scene.
PO: Why is someone from East Texas calling in a dead body in Dallas?
NG: Uh...we're up here "visiting" (boy, am I glad I didn't have to explain that one! Who just "visits" in a cemetery?) and just happened to find it.
PO: Is he injured or traumatized?
NG: No sir, he's dead.
PO: Well, I guess he decided to cut out the middle man.
NG: Yes sir, I guess he did. (It was all I could do to not burst out laughing - I couldn't believe he said that!!!) The firetruck and ambulance are already here.
PO: I'm about 20 minutes out so I'll be there soon.At this point, we asked the fire department guys if they needed us to stay and they said no, so we went on to the other caches inside the cemetery. We were a little shaken up but there was nothing we could do for the poor guy, so we decided to not let this ruin our caching day. After we finished the rest of the caches inside, we drove back out the way we came in. The firetruck was gone, the ambulance was gone, there were now 2 police cars there, and the dead body was STILL THERE!!! Oh my gosh! We couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Today was a day that we will never forget. (Cacher) hit 3000 (finds), I hit 4400, and we were FTF (First to Find) on a dead body. Do you think geocaching.com will give us a special icon for it?
I always wondered when something like this would happen close to home.
Anyone have any ideas WHY I do not like going into Dallas?
9:21 am - It was bound to happen sooner or later... We all hunt for caches in cemeteries and in some pretty remote places, so it wouldn't have surprised me to find out that a cacher had discovered a dead body - I just didn't expect it to be me, though I am one of those people that things just seem to happen to. I've even seen t-shirts that say "Geocachers know where all the bodies are hidden" and that seems to be very true.
I was caching in the Dallas area with (caching friend) and we were excited to have some of (Popular caching team) caches on our to-do list. In addition, (prolific cacher) has a cache very nearby called "Stuck on You - In the Middle" and that was on our list first. So, we pulled up to the outside gate of Grove Hill Memorial Park and started chasing the needle (following the GPSr). It led us toward the corner at first where we found a homeless guy "sleeping." He was surrounded by beer cans so we just thought he was passed out and sleeping it off. We then went into Super Silent Stealth Mode because we didn't want to wake him up and tiptoed over to where the cache actually was. I found the cache and took it over to (other cacher) so that he could do the paperwork and (yet another cacher) and I decided to check on the homeless guy. Hmmm...he doesn't appear to be breathing...and on closer inspection (which I will save you from because it was really GROSS!) it became apparent that this poor guy was dead. Dang! Time to call 911.
NG: We're at the corner of Samuel and Grove Hill and we've found a homeless man in the cemetery and he's dead.
911: Is he injured? What makes you think he's dead?
NG: He's not breathing (and I also told her about the GROSS stuff)
911: Is he Hispanic, Black, or White?
NG: He's Hispanic or White - it's kind of hard to tell. (What difference does that make? Dang!)
911: What's he wearing?
NG: A green t-shirt and khaki pants (Dang woman! He's not fleeing - he's dead! He's the only dead guy on top of the ground in the cemetery - why do you need to know what he's wearing?)
911: We'll dispatch someone right away.
It's the fourth of July and there's no telling how long it's going to take for them to get here and the dead body was really starting to creep us out, so we decide to move to the inside of the cemetery where the other caches are and wait for the sirens. We went right by one of the caches so we made the find and were doing the paperwork when we heard the sirens, so we went back to the gate to wait. We flagged down the firetruck (why did they send a firetruck?) and ambulance (it's a little late for that!) just as my phone was ringing. It was a police officer on the way to the scene.
PO: Why is someone from East Texas calling in a dead body in Dallas?
NG: Uh...we're up here "visiting" (boy, am I glad I didn't have to explain that one! Who just "visits" in a cemetery?) and just happened to find it.
PO: Is he injured or traumatized?
NG: No sir, he's dead.
PO: Well, I guess he decided to cut out the middle man.
NG: Yes sir, I guess he did. (It was all I could do to not burst out laughing - I couldn't believe he said that!!!) The firetruck and ambulance are already here.
PO: I'm about 20 minutes out so I'll be there soon.At this point, we asked the fire department guys if they needed us to stay and they said no, so we went on to the other caches inside the cemetery. We were a little shaken up but there was nothing we could do for the poor guy, so we decided to not let this ruin our caching day. After we finished the rest of the caches inside, we drove back out the way we came in. The firetruck was gone, the ambulance was gone, there were now 2 police cars there, and the dead body was STILL THERE!!! Oh my gosh! We couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Today was a day that we will never forget. (Cacher) hit 3000 (finds), I hit 4400, and we were FTF (First to Find) on a dead body. Do you think geocaching.com will give us a special icon for it?
I always wondered when something like this would happen close to home.
Anyone have any ideas WHY I do not like going into Dallas?
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
I Realize I Am Not Perfect But...
Does anyone who posts on message boards via the internet every use punctuation? I realize mine is far from perfect and that my grammar and spelling (at times) causes a few of you to cringe, but at least I use punctuation.
I read a lot of message boards from tech stuff to politics to MMA (mixed martial arts). And while some boards are better than others, the rampant lack of punctuation phenomenal.
Pot: "Hi Kettle, you are black". Okay, I am not perfect. I use spell check but sometimes it does not pick up all the misspelled words. My grammar can get a little "dangerous" as my CommColl English teachers used to say. I am not a great writer and I never claimed to be but Father in Heaven, at least I use a comma, colon, and periods...maybe more than I need but I do try.
I was reading an MMA board today and one of the responders to a fight question went on rambling without punctuation for 50+ words. It was almost too hard to unders stand.
That also brings me to the use of internet shortcut words/phrases like "cuz" (because) and u no (you know) plus tens of others that DRIVE ME UP THE WALL. I have read that this culture has permiated our schools and kids are writing papers using this lingo and are upset when the grade is less than what they expected! It reminds me of the Ebonics controversy that cropped up many years ago. Certain black educators thought that Ebonics was an official language of black people...a notion I had to laugh at.
I am not perfect and I do make mistakes, I fully acknowledge that. All I ask is that if you post something for someone else to read try to make the mistakes the exception and not the rule.
I read a lot of message boards from tech stuff to politics to MMA (mixed martial arts). And while some boards are better than others, the rampant lack of punctuation phenomenal.
Pot: "Hi Kettle, you are black". Okay, I am not perfect. I use spell check but sometimes it does not pick up all the misspelled words. My grammar can get a little "dangerous" as my CommColl English teachers used to say. I am not a great writer and I never claimed to be but Father in Heaven, at least I use a comma, colon, and periods...maybe more than I need but I do try.
I was reading an MMA board today and one of the responders to a fight question went on rambling without punctuation for 50+ words. It was almost too hard to unders stand.
That also brings me to the use of internet shortcut words/phrases like "cuz" (because) and u no (you know) plus tens of others that DRIVE ME UP THE WALL. I have read that this culture has permiated our schools and kids are writing papers using this lingo and are upset when the grade is less than what they expected! It reminds me of the Ebonics controversy that cropped up many years ago. Certain black educators thought that Ebonics was an official language of black people...a notion I had to laugh at.
I am not perfect and I do make mistakes, I fully acknowledge that. All I ask is that if you post something for someone else to read try to make the mistakes the exception and not the rule.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
So Far, So Good
Last night I took another medium length bike ride on the new tubes. The first one was 17 miles and last night's was 10. It seems when I change bike tubes due to flats, I tend to have more flats more often. Getting out and putting some miles on the bike will give me some assurance that the tubes will last some.
I was checking the geocaching web pages and have noticed that Murphy has several new caches published by "txlabguy", a newer member to the caching community. I always like it when someone new comes along, seeks several caches then decides to give back to the geocaching community by placing a few of their own. "Golfwormer" just started placing a few in the McKinney area (I got most of those) and now it looks like I can head back to Murphy and get these newly published ones as well as a few in Wiley/St. Paul that I have been putting off. I need to see if I can persuade Robert to go out with me...he lives in Wiley...
I was checking the geocaching web pages and have noticed that Murphy has several new caches published by "txlabguy", a newer member to the caching community. I always like it when someone new comes along, seeks several caches then decides to give back to the geocaching community by placing a few of their own. "Golfwormer" just started placing a few in the McKinney area (I got most of those) and now it looks like I can head back to Murphy and get these newly published ones as well as a few in Wiley/St. Paul that I have been putting off. I need to see if I can persuade Robert to go out with me...he lives in Wiley...
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