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 |  If you havent ever read my blogs, give them a go! You will be amused at my journey! |
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Me and Holo-Zoo are building a submarine here next to the pond. We're determined that we're gonna find out what's at the bottom of this damn thing... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ... If you're new to my journal, you've got a lot of catching up to do. So, don't be a slacker, get the full story. Here are my first two journals for your reading torture.
You don't have to read them all at once. Print 'em, and take them to that little reading room with the white chair. You know you love to read in there. Or print 'em out and use them as doorstops, bookends, or paperweights. You may prefer to leave a message on my voice mail. I award weekly Gift Points for clever, and or entertaining messages left there.
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| Today I had a teleconference with the branch offices about July's numbers and August's progress thus far. It will be the LAST time I ever have those meetings again. I won't miss being on the spot for these things, explaining every last detail of why this isn't collected and why that isn't cancelled. I won't miss that part at all, but I'll miss dealing with Ken in the Blue Bell office. He's always been really kind and down to earth, a pleasure to work with. Ken had some good things to say about me and my work. It was nice to hear him spouting off about how hard it will be to replace me, especially since my manager was on the phone, too. Sarasota looms large next week. Kelly better be booking my hotel and airfare soon- today, preferably with godspeed. Once I'm in the sunshine state, I'll get to see my old golf buddy, Martin, the Audit Manger who sometimes would slip his head around the corner of my cube and say, "Psst. Let's go play a round of golf this afternoon," and off we'd go. Who am I to disobey a direct order from a manager? But he split to Florida a year or more ago. I haven't seen him in forever. It would be nice to play golf in Florida while I am there, but I can't take my clubs with me. I don't have a travel case for them for one thing, and secondly, they are in horrible shape. I'd be embarrassed to take them out of the bag. "You went to all the trouble to travel with golf clubs, and you show up with these.... ? Why didn't you just saw off a few tree limbs at the course, and use those to hit the ball with?" My golf clubs are pathetic. But that's okay, so is my game, although I did manage to par the last two holes of my round on Saturday. 98. Zoo - Salted and Roasted   ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Zoo - Salted and Roasted ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Did anyone catch what I did with the previous entry? 5000 gps to the first person to tell me what I did, how many times I did it, and what those instances were. Zoo - Salted and Roasted ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| The family wants cable TV. They haven't exactly been knocking on our bedroom door at all hours of the night and day asking for it, but I can see that they think it'll be coming soon, that this is finally the year when Dad hauls us all up out of the Iron Age and subscribes to satellite or cable or something. It's almost like we've been living in another world, or on a different planet, or something. But everyone is being rational and levelheaded about it, so- so far so good. They are being really patient actually, but I wonder how well all my children understand- I mean really understand that the nice little raises Marv and I got this year won't do much more than keep our refrigerator stocked the way it should be (if we can somehow overcome the phobia of actual grocery shopping), and pay for things that we should have been doing all along, like general hospital and dental visits, not just appointments made when something flares up like a gall bladder or a hydrocele rupture. We want to cut the shackles that bind us to Sears and Bealls. Those things will have to come first. We owe money on a dining room table and a keyboard, too, and we'll be paying those off before long as well... no time like the present, I guess. You only have one life to live, might as well try to do it without a mountain of debt on your back. They're all being patient about it, yet, I know that in the back of the family's mind, they're thinking, "Oh yeah. Mom and Dad got a promotion. We're getting cable! And cell phones!" Must be nice to be young and restless like that.. As we go through these new days of our lives, we probably will get cable tv, but we've been without it for so long now, I don't really think I'll ever need it. Although it would be nice to watch anything on the tube without having to adjust the rabbit ears, or turn off whatever device is plugged into the same outlet as the antenna. You think watching golf on TV sucks? Try watching it when you're not even sure which one of those little moving white dots is the ball, and which are just being caused by bad reception. Having said that, still- we are not going to go nuts and start adding new monthly bills, or we'll need promotions again next year to pay for it all. No, Marv and I will just have to keep the lid on things and be the guiding light for the rest of the family. "Reasonable and Flexible" is our new family motto for new beginnings. The first day of school was today, as the world turns. Zoo - Salted and Roasted ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hell in a handbasket. That's where we're headed. I know that I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing, and I'll move on down the road like a good little soldier and keep my lip zipped. But when I watch the news, what I do on a daily basis, and what everyone else does from day to day seems so small and meaningless to me. Maybe it's all true, these stories of global warming spelling certain destruction of the species, and maybe these new improved hairspray terrorists really are the beginning of the end for Western Civilization. It makes me sick to think about our nation telling other nations that they are not allowed to build certain bombs and weapons of mass destruction. Who do we think we are fooling? We have no more control over what other countries do than they have over us. We'd be really stupid to think that just because we give a country a clean bill of nuclear health, we are safe from them. People are going to use technology to kill each other, and there isn't a damn thing we can do to stop them in my opinion. People will always have disagreements with others, and people will always hide things from others in the name of national defense. Do you believe for a minute that the US doesn't have weapons of mass destruction stashed away somewhere... just in case? Don't kid yourself. "Sir, do you have any guns in your house?" "No, I do not." "Good boy. Thank you for cooperating." "Sucker." *BANG* I think the world has already jumped in the proverbial handbasket, and we are bobbing along on a river of fire, heading for warmer climates. But what little can I do about that? It must not be my battle to fight, because I didn't grow up to be a politician or an activist. That's where the zipped lip comes in, because I don't have enough energy or time or patience to worry about things that I have no influence over. Like the Japanese. It wasn't that long ago that we trashed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in response to Pearl Harbor being attacked. If I were the Japanese, I'd still be pissed off about that. They don't seem to be holding a grudge about it, maybe because they had it coming, but still- we didn't just lob grenades over the fence at them, we unleashed the freakin' atomic bomb on their asses. Should we, as an advanced society, feel remorse for that act of mass destruction? As I go through my daily routine, I really don't know the answer. I just find it curious that we were the first ones to use this brutal method of warfare, and now we're the ones heralding the destruction of these weapons, telling the world that nobody should have them. I'm going to beat your ass with the biggest stick I can find, and then I'm going to go around the neighborhood telling everyone how horrible big sticks are, meanwhile making sure nobody has a bigger one than I do. Riduculous. But what can I do? Ehhh. I have phone calls to make. Zoo - Salted and Roasted ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| He's been having a dream lately, where he is crouching in the middle of an eight-lane highway, trying desperately to siphon gas from an abandoned, red moped. The highway is mysteriously quiet and free of traffic, a huge wasted expanse of heat and concrete smothering the landscape, marching for miles. It's too quiet. And too hot. He knows it's the middle of the day by the position of the sun overhead, and yet he can't understand why the highway is void of cars. As he leans over the moped, hose in his sucking mouth, sweat rolls along the bridge of his nose and evaporates when it hits the pavement. Just as he tastes gasoline on the tip of his tongue, an entire phalanx of cars appear, shimmering in the heat of the atmospheric distortion, bearing down on him over the crest of a hill like a wartribe of Cherokee Indians appearing on a distant bluff. In just that instant, fumbling with the spurting hose of fuel, he realizes that he'll be run over before he can fill his gas can, and he doesn't even remember where his car is, or how he came to be standing in the middle of the highway in the first place. It seems to him that this has all been thrust upon him suddenly, and he panics, stands up and backs away from the oncoming traffic, falls down and gets back up, stumbling, sneakered feet scrambling on the pavement, trying to move, unable to move... And the first wave is upon him, Chryslers, Buicks, Toyotas, and Nissans, all shining silver chrome and tint, bearing down on him, his look of horror reflected back at him in their metallic painted grills. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sometimes change seems unsettling. Especially BIG change. But as I look around me today, as I watch the cats chase things in the pine trees, as I hear the phone ring in the kitchen, as I watch clouds floating by, as I feel the dryer vent filling the porch with humidity, I know that for whatever changes may happen, big or small, in my little insignificant life, the world will still go on around me. Time marches on with or without me. So the least I can do is accept my lot in life and take what is given to me. If time is going to keep marching on, and it appears as though it is, I might as well be making more money along the way. Still, as much travelling as that entails, I can't help but think that someday, maybe we all will look outdoors one day to find that there are weeds and flowers growing out of cracks in the superhighways, and that our century-old love affair with the automobile is over. People that travel for a living say the road is a very lonely place. It'll be even lonier when the day comes that nobody uses them anymore. I can't get that idea out of my head. Mysteriously quiet and free of traffic, the lonely relic marches on, a vast expanse of wasted concrete, smothering the landscape. Zoo - Salted and Roasted ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
I'm looking around my cubicle at all the notes and memos pinned up on the walls. All of this stuff will be useless information to me in a few weeks. I won't need to know how to operate the cybersource credit card terminal any longer. Nor will I give a hill of beans about the Cash inquiry screen and how to use it or the Invoice Aging report, or the Premium Checks procedure , or the EDA or the QFL or the TRO or the TDA. I won't need to have a phone list for the people in the Blue Bell office or the Lisle office, or even the Austin Branch office. . I won't need the huge stash of envelopes that I ripped off from the mailroom, or the certified mailing supplies or the accordion style organizer sitting in the corner of my desk. They certainly are serious about moving me into this position, though. Out with all of my old equipment, and in with the new stuff. They got very insistent with me that I requisition the things that I'll need right away, today, no- yesterday! It wouldn't suprise me to see it all next week, the car, the blackberry, the cell phone, the AMEX. Okay, maybe not the AMEX so soon, but everything else. I'll be needing that AMEX soon, though. One of the first things that I'm doing is traveling to Sarasota, FL for meet with the Audit reviewers and my new managers and others. I'll need that AMeX to book my stay at the Lito Beach Resort, where all the cool audit people will be staying. I'm so full of myself, aren't I? Thank ya' Jesus. That's what we say down around these parts. Good, bad or indifferent, it's always,"Thank ya' Jesus". Zoo - Salted and Roasted ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Flying by the seat of my pants today. Much to do, and not enough time to do it. Barely enough time to journal... Ahhhh, who am I kidding? I've already answered my 25 voice mails, and replied to my 46 emails, handled the 15 real pieces of traditional mail, and "thank you'd" all the coworkers who have been congratulating me today. I officially start the new job on 9/1/06, but until then I will be splitting my time between both jobs. I'm going to go with either the Honda Accord or the Nissan Altima. I haven't really decided yet, but I submitted my paperwork for the company AMEX, the car, the laptop and the blackberry today. A little nervous, a little excited, but nothing major. Once I figure out the ropes, it'll be like falling off a log. As for the last few days, I was home with the kiddos teaching Zach to drive a manual transmission (Mom-remember when I almost ran over the little brother trying to back up the Honda Civic? He's a spry little guy, ain't he?), getting Stephanie her Tetanus, and Hepatitis boosters for school, buying Zach some new shoes, etc., etc... These were vacation days that I scheduled about amonth ago, before I knew about the new job. So Monday, I accepted the position and then promptly took off work the next three days! Take that, Corporate America! Zoo - Salted and Roasted ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| The cardinal rule in negotiating is to ask for more than what you really need or want. Bottom line : no asky no getty. I can only hope the rest of my career is as easy as choosing between Toyota Higlander, Nissan Pathfinder, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Toyota Camry LE, Honda Accord LX, and Nissan Altima S. Upward mobility, at last  Zoo - Salted and Roasted ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| The horseshoes are laying in the sand, rusting. They've been sitting there for a couple of weeks now, and occassional rain showers have caused them to settle in a little bit, like heavy flagstone embedded into a walkway. The watercolors have been temporarily put away and their table dismantled in favor of drumset, keyboard and music computer. I tinkered around on the KORG this weekend, trying to distract myself from thoughts of work. On Sunday morning, early to rise, I pulled aside the Indian horse blanket-turned curtain, and opened the window behind the keyboard to let some morning light in across the keys. It's been a few years. My fingers remember piano chords almost as well as they remember guitar chords, but as I played.... It ain't for lack of inspiration, I can't see what's in my mind's eye... ... all my limitations on piano came rushing back to me, and everything I played sounded the same, too major, or too minor, heavy on chords and not enough versatility in the melody to keep me interested for very long. and I'll never..... last a day, without you. without you... without you. It's a nice keyboard though. Touch sensitive keys, thousands of preprogrammed sounds, and the ability to manipulate the wavelengths of any of them. I remember that night at Steamboat when Big Tiny and the Lost Dogs made their debut, and we raced up to the balcony to hang our homemade banner over the edge. People from work showed up along with friends and family, and I played the one song we did that had me playing drums and keyboard at the same time. A three-finger synth chord with the right hand, while mixing up hi-hat and snare with the left, and singing backup, too. When it came time for my drum-solo, Steamboat roared with approval. I was never clear on if the crowd was drunk, or if I'd actually played well. It didn't matter at the time. I was Buddy Rich and Phil Collins that night, whether I deserved it or not. And man, what a night that was. High-fives all around in the alley after the show, hugs between band members and the whole nine yards. Turns out, we probably only impressed our friends and co-workers, as nobody from the club's management asked us back or booked us for a string of nights in the future. We were still just rock stars in our own minds, and in the hearts of family and friends only. I don't know that we cared all that much. The journey was the fun part. All those days and nights stuck in garages and sweaty storage units, rehearsing with each other until down beats nearly became body blows, and the bridge was the music we built that brought us all back again the next day for more punishment. And if it all culminated in a twenty minute set under the lights to the screams of a drunken crowd, well, I guess you get what you ask for, and that's all any of us ever wanted. I haven't played golf in forever, either. But that's the story of my life. Too many interests, and not enough time to give them each the attention they need to grow and flourish. Back in college, this girl in one of my art classes taught me how to juggle three bean bags. She could ride a unicycle at the same time. I never learned to ride the uni, but I did learn to juggle the bean bags. Today I have no idea where my bean bags have gotten off to. I'm not trying to be symbolic with that remark- I really don't know where they are. But I'm still juggling regardless. Everything is still very much up in the air. Zoo - Salted and Roasted ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Riding the bull takes talent and imagination. It was a no-tax weekend, and I stuck out like a fart in a spacesuit trying to find a fairy shirt at Hot Topic. Dressed for the office, I was called "sir" way too many times at the mall, by pierced and studded bouncing butt-cracks and cleavages clothed mostly in black. I talked to God this weekend. A few different times I found myself trying to clear my mind of all extraneous rubble and directing my thoughts towards space. I've tried praying for signs before and had little success interpreting the feedback, so this time I'm leaving it in His capable hands. If there is change on the horizon, and if this is meant to be, it will all fall into place today, and it will be an easy, no brainer decision. In my head, I've already set the parameters of what I'll accept. It'll either be there, or it won't. It was a taxing weekend, trying to keep thoughts of my job away from Stephanie's birthday activities. We took her and her friend to the carnival/rodeo at the American Legion Hall in Assdrop. Stephanie managed to get one out of 30 ping pong balls to land in a glass dish floating around in a kiddy pool. She won a twenty foot-long stuffed snake, that I had the privelege of carrying back to the car. Marv and I stood around, watching the carnies, drinking lemonade, keeping an eye on S and her friend as they went from ride to ride to ride. We tried to pretend that we weren't, but we followed them the whole night, keeping a proper stalking distance, dodging piles of puke and trying to remain out of sight. Marv rode the mechanical bull surprisingly well, at least as far as the girls know, even when the operator cranked it up a few notches. She was swinging that arm like a seasoned rodeo veteran. That's what we told the girls anyway. Stephanie's friend bought it, but I think our baby girl knew better than to believe us. I love the harmless little playful lies, the ones that make kids stare at you, wide-eyed, wondering if they're being fed a line or not. No, Marv didn't ride the bull. What are you crazy? She broke both her arms roller skating last year. It hasn't even been a year since that happened. We don't even let her walk unchaperoned across the street to check the mailbox, let alone ride a mechanical bull. I rode the bull, though. As always... Anyway, today I'm a little nervous about what the day holds in store for me. But for the most part, I've resigned myself to not worrying too much about it. I'm really just sick and tired of waiting, not knowing, and wondering, so I'm trying like hell to put it out of my mind. It's not easy. debsey sent me a review on a short fiction piece that I wrote in May of this year. It's suprisingly relevant, and coincidental that she would find this piece. It turns out to be a little spooky in its foreshadowing. I like the piece. Almost as much as I like riding the bull. Come to think of it, it's no wonder I like riding the bull so much. I've been doing it since I was a kid. Ask my Mom if you don't believe me. I hopped on his back when I was nine, and I've been riding him ever since. It's fun, and it's pretty good excercise, too. The only thing you have to be careful about is stepping in your own piles. yeehaw, buckaroo. look, ma. no hands. Zoo - Salted and Roasted ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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