On a sad note

For anyone who doesn't know, Southern California is burning. These fires are out of control and have already burned thousands of homes.

Even though I'm on the other side of the country, these fires hit close to home. Unfortunately, Daughter of night lives in San Diego, California. Last time she posted the fire was within a half mile of her home. She even took a few pictures from her house.

So please say a little prayer for her, her family, the people of California and the brave men and women who risk their lives to fight these fires. Some have already lost everything.

Daughter, please be careful!

Just a few pics

I've been too busy to post about a few subjects that have been on my mind. Since I haven't posted anything about my children in awhile, I thought I'd put up a few of photos from them at Disney World last week. So, just in case anybody thought I was finished posting about my children,WRONG!

My New Toy

I know that Palms Pilots are old school and not as exciting as say an iPhone or a crackberry a blackberry but I just bought a new one and I couldn't be happier.

The only reason I have it is to keep phone numbers and contacts with me. I know you can do that with a cell phone but it's a pain in the ass when I switch services or don't have my phone with me.

My Palm syncs with my computer at home and work so I can easily update my contacts in both locations. I can also carry around pictures of equipment I'm selling so I can whip them out in a moments notice at an unsuspecting customer. For anyone who carries a palm I can also beam pictures and files into theirs from mine.

Another nifty feature I like is that it has WiFi so I can browse the internet and check my email whenever I'm near a network, which is pretty much all the time these days. Yes, cell phones can do this anywhere but WiFi is F.R.E.E. So now I can grab my work email before I leave the house and look it over when I'm stuck in traffic. So by the time I get to work all the spam promising me a larger penis, terrific stock tips and Canadian grade Viagra are Deeeeleted. It even scans for active WiFi so I've managed to find some connections to the internet while sitting in traffic. I hope no one minds, tuff stuff if they do.

It still has the old standard features like being able to write notes on the screen, a calender, a calculator, mp3 player with video and the ability to work with Word and Excel documents. The steel pen that is neatly hidden in the side gives me a ninja aspect against any attacker who doesn't realize the power of the Palm. I'm sure I could easily put an eye out with it.

Yep, I'm pleased as plumb with my new old school device.

Impact

In my line of work I get to meet a lot of people. Most come and go without making much impact on my life. But every once in a while you meet a customer that stays with you. At first you don't notice that much. Then you start to appreciate their loyalty. As time passes you get to know them. Then when they show up at you business it's not like dealing with a customer at all.

These people become part of your business. You may ask them to answer the phone if you're stuck on a call or give them a key to your gate because they need to pick something up on the weekend. Sometimes they stop by for no reason at all except to hang out and you don't even notice that they aren't there for business.

I have about five or six customers that fit this category. One of them died this past weekend. It's sad but not unexpected. He had been sick for a few months with cancer and he was in his 70s, I will miss him though. He was very old school, hard working and kind hearted. I was surprised to learn he had done three tours of duty in Vietnam as a tunnel rat. Bits of information like that are what make these customers real people.

A few weeks ago I learned how much of an impact we had on his life. While he laid on his death bed his family began to quarrel over his possessions. They were asking him about his will and wanted to know who would get what. Frustrated he turned to us and asked if we could help manage some of his assets after he passed.

When his sister brought the legal documents she explained how much pride he took in being part of our business. She told us that he often boasted about being able to come behind our counters, having a key to our gate and being able to take any equipment he wanted by just simply telling us he would make arrangements later. I had no idea. I guess we don't always know the impact we have on other peoples lives but it's nice to know we do.

Sweet tea & pop tarts

I feel like a jerk for writing this but this is why I started my blog so screw it.

The wife and the kids went to Disney World this weekend. They left Friday and won't be back until Monday. I will miss them but honestly, since getting time to myself is a rare event, I was giddy at the prospects.

Now some people may take the opportunity to go out and have some fun but not me. No I just wanted to be at the house alone. I had a lot of projects I wanted to complete and while some would call them chores, I enjoy doing them when I have the time to do them right. At night a glass of wine, a movie of my choosing or a good football game sounded perfect. Sunday, no work, no kids, so sleeping late was the plan. It's been years since I've been in bed when 8:00 am rolled around. So I thought I would give it a try.

So Friday night, after turning down many request from co-works to do something, I headed to the house. I jumped on the lawn mower and cut grass until I ran out of daylight. The evening went well and I was ahead of my weekend plans.

Since I have to work Saturdays, I got up and headed in, anxious for the clock to strike twelve so I could go home and really get started. Then it happened. My best friend showed up at work a few minutes before I was going to leave. It seems the wife had mentioned to him that I would be alone this weekend and might want some company. Grrrr!

So he asked me to lunch and to go see a house he's remodeling to see if I can help him with any ideas. Since he knew I didn't have the family waiting on me and the whole weekend in front of me I saw no way out without hurting his feelings. So I said yes, damn it.

It only took a few hours and then I zipped home to get started. I jumped on the lawn mower again to finish the grass. It didn't take long before I noticed my dad driving up to talk to me. My mom went with the wife so he knew I was home alone too. He asked if I wanted to go to supper? I tried to explain I had some chores planned but he wasn't letting it go. Luckily I didn't give in. He left disappointed, I felt guilty but I was gaining ground on my projects. So I spent the rest of the day working my ass off because Sunday was going to be mine, all mine. With everything done I would sleep late, watch football and make the couch my home.

That night I was absolutely wore out. I poured a glass of wine and sat back to watch some college football. Of course the phone rings. It was the wife and she's having a hard time with my mom at Disney World. She vents for 20 minutes then slips in that she heard I pissed my dad off about supper. Great, as if I didn't feel guilty enough. Screw it, I was tired, so I went to bed early because tomorrow is veg-out day.

The phone rings. It's my dad. "You want to get some breakfast?" "um, sure dad, what time?" "As soon as you get ready" I hung up and rolled over, the clock said 7:30 am, SHIIIIITTTT! Now this may sound odd put I'm not a big breakfast eater and anybody that knows me knows that about me but occasionally I love having Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts with a glass of sweet tea, no ice, for breakfast. I was very much looking forward to that this morning, oh well.

So I go to breakfast with dad, he buys, thanks dad. When I get back home there's a message on the machine. It's my best friend again and he says he's heading over. OMG!!!! I guess I'll be doing some house cleaning. When he arrives he has season three of The Office. I love The Office but I've seen them all. We watch all 9 or 10 episodes, then go bowling. On the way to go bowling my dad calls. "You want me to cook us some supper?" "No, I'm with my best friend." An hour later the wife calls my cell to bitch about my mom some more. She also mentions " I hear you pissed your dad off about supper again." So I call dad and ask if we can pick him up something. He says yes and we all eat at his house. My best friend leaves me at 10:00 pm.

So that was MY weekend. I know I should be grateful that people were willing to keep me company but DAMN. Give a man some room. When the wife gets home she will ask how I enjoyed all that time to MYSELF.

I wish I knew...

Hidden message?

The wife likes to rent DVDs every now and again. When she does she always picks herself up a chick flick. She knows I don't watch them so she always picks me up some kind of action flick to compensate. The last five times she went to the rental store she grabbed me something a little different. Here is a list of the movies she picked up for me to watch while she enjoyed her girly movies.

Saw = horror and gore

Saw II = horror and gore

Saw 3 = horror and gore

Vacancy = horror and gore

1408 = Horror

The strange thing about this list, I'm no horror movie fan and I'm not a big fan of blood and guts movies either. When I asked why she keeps getting me these extreme movies she just says she thought I would like them. WTF? If she trying to send me a hidden message? If so I'm not getting it. All I'm getting is creeped out.

No need for a divorce, the new 7 month plan

On March 22, 2006 Mary Winkler took a shotgun and shot and killed her unarmed husband in the back while he was laying in their bed. She then took their three young children and disappeared. Later, she was found in Alabama where she had rented a hotel room for her and her children before the shooting had even occurred. She was then returned to Tennessee to stand trial for murder.

She was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 210 days in jail. She was given credit for serving 5 months before the trial and was allowed to serve the remaining 60 days in a mental health facility. She is now free, yes free, and seeking visitation with her children.

There is no doubt of her guilt because she did confess to killing her husband, claiming he had abused her, although there is almost no evidence to support that claim. There is evidence however that she was writing bad checks and did not want her husband to find out. Kind of sounds like a motive to me.

Now I've never been the victim of abuse. I know that escaping abuse can be more complicated than picking up the phone and calling the police or packing a bag and leaving. I'm aware that in some cases your legs just don't have enough power to get you far enough away from a bad situation. Still, I have to think there shouldn't be such a straight line between abuse and death.

Isn't there a level of personal responsibility one must first exercise before murder becomes the only option? Can society really accept her actions as a reasonable response to her situation? With all the information that is available today it's hard for me to believe that most people can't reach out for some kind of help first.

It's a horrible precedent that has now been set. Not because Mary Winkler got away with murder like O.J. Simpson but because she did not. To be honest, had she been found innocent I could have accepted this situation a little easier. The fact that she was CONVICTED of voluntary manslaughter and only served seven months scares the hell out of me and pisses me off. What is happening to our legal system? What is happening to our society?

SHHHhhhh

A funny little story that the wife wouldn't want me to share, so lets not tell her.

Last night as I lay sleeping in my nice, warm, comfortable bed I was woken by a the yank of my blanket and the wife shrieking something very loud. From past experience, even in my dazed sleepy state, I knew that the wife was still a sleep.

I couldn't see but I could tell she was standing by the bed pulling the covers off the bed. I didn't hear what she said when she woke me up but I loudly said, "Honey, you're asleep, please wake up." Then she screams, "There's somebody in our bed!" I guess I was still asleep myself because I ran my hand over to her side of the bed to find it touching a warm body.

A little scared I grabbed the body by both arms and held on. The wife was still screaming. Finally I realized one of the boys had climbed into the bed with us. I told the wife it was one of the children but she kept screaming that it wasn't and that somebody was in our bed.

I couldn't see but I asked the child "who are you?" I guess by this point he was scared and decided to play possum and didn't reply. Well this just threw my wife into hysterics. Finally, I half way woke up and realized the wife was standing by the light switch, so yelled for her to turn it on. She flicked it on for a second and I saw that I was holding my four year old down by his arms. The light was only on for a second but the wife must have seen him as well.

I rolled back over with my heart racing. The whole event took all of 20 seconds from beginning to end. The wife climbed back into bed without saying another word. I sat thinking how stupid I was for believing a stranger would crawl into bed with us and just lay there.

Within a few minutes I could tell by the sound of their breathing that the wife and my son had already fallen asleep. On the other hand, I was up for another three hours trying get back to sleep. When we woke in the morning she had a big laugh as I recounted what had happened because, as usual, she didn't remember a thing. I laughed too but damn I'm tired.

You think you know somebody

A few months ago I lost one of my gym partners. We had been lifting together for about five years. He was a good training partner but more important, he was a good friend.

One night after a work-out he announced that, with a heavy heart, he had cancelled his gym membership and wouldn't be lifting with us anymore. We were very surprised to hear this but even more surprised when we realized he had known for a month and didn't say anything.

He genuinely seemed upset by his decision but said the driving distance was just too much to overcome. We told him we understood but that we weren't happy about him leaving and if he could work it out, please come back. He said he would. He emailed me jokes about 5 or 6 times a week so I made the offhand remark that even though we wouldn't be working-out together I wouldn't remove him from my email list. We all laughed about it.

The next week he showed up in the parking lot to tell us he had received a promotion at work and he would be rejoining the gym soon. That was it. That was the last time we talked to him. He removed us from his email list and doesn't reply to the emails we send him. My other partner, who was friends with him before we met, is upset by his actions. He sent him an email telling him we would pay the initiation fee for him to come back to the gym but received no reply.

The whole situation has me wondering, did the guy like us at all? We broke bread with this guy a few times, played a few team sports together and shared personal parts of our lives with each other. Did I get used here? Was I just a free personal trainer for this guy for the past five years? I've always thought I was a good judge of people but this guy is making me wonder.

It's not that I miss the emails, although they were funny and I can find plenty of other training partners but you think you know somebody... maybe we never truly do.

Just to make myself happy

College football has been flipped upside down!

Well it doesn't happen often but it did happen this weekend. Every team I wanted to win this weekend won and almost every team I hate lost. So as a tribute to the perfect sports weekend I shall list the numerous victories so that I may return to this page and bask in the glory of victory.




All my state's teams won



BC

Georgia Southern

Georgia Tech

University of Georgia

Atlanta Falcons

plus one

Indianapolis Colts

Most of the teams I hate lost

West Virgina

Pen State

Notre Dame

Rutgers

Texas

Clemson

University of Florida

Yes, 7 of the top 13 college teams lost this weekend. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if USC had lost to unranked Washington, which they damn near did.

But by far the best gift of the weekend was the New York Mets blowing a huge division lead to miss the play-offs by one game.

I'm honestly giddy.