I don't get it ...

I work for a publicly traded company ... a big one. Part of that is accountability and standards thereof. The way we choose to measure our own accountability toward goals that our investors and shareholders like to see is by means of internal audits. We audit our own stores twice a quarter, and my boss comes in and audits us once a quarter. We have an internal audit committee who audits entire districts randomly each year.

Today my boss performed the audit on my store. The minimum passing standard this month is 85%, with the new goal of next month being 90%. We did well enough to get a 90.7% today, which is a real relief for me. I missed stupid shit, which bothers me. By stupid stuff I mean a signature on a piece of paper, the original receipt in a refund ... stupid shit. I'll have it corrected before next time.

What I DON'T get is people who don't even TRY for things like that. After my audit I went to assist with another one nearby. Now, these were not surprise audits. My boss told us much earlier in the month WHEN he would be here, and we know he comes the 3rd quarter of every month anyway. So why then would someone not even CLEAN for an audit. It's the first question on the damn thing. I just don't get it. To me, that is disrespectful AND self destructive.

I look at my boss' visits, whether he is performing an audit or not, as a guest coming over. When I have guests at my apartment, I clean. Whether it is my mother or friends or neighbors, we clean. I mean, that's common courtesy. That is ESPECIALLY true when you KNOW the person who is coming has a higher level of expectation than that to which you hold yourself. How is that not just giving your guest the finger?


My mother doesn't expect me to clean for her, but I know she appreciates cleanliness, so I do a lot of it. Ok, so maybe I'm a clean person and I do it just as much for me, but that doesn't matter. I'd do it even if I wasn't. It's about respecting the person who is visiting.

I don't know why it bothers me so much. Maybe it's because I have higher expectations for cleanliness than my boss and I had to wallow in that filth today. But to me, if an audit is happening I think you should do what it takes to be the very best. Yes, I made stupid mistakes, but I'm going to correct them. Is the cleanliness portion of the next audit going to be taken care of? Probably not. That bothers me.

In a recent interview, I was asked what my motivation was to succeed in business and what it would be to succeed in that new position. I kinda stumbled on that. I really don't know what my motivation to succeed is because I can't imagine not trying to succeed. I mean, what else would someone want to do other than succeed? I don't get it. I guess my motivation to succeed is the sheer thought of NOT succeeding.

That isn't to say that I'm successful in everything I do in my job, but I think the question is based on overall success. I think I can claim I am a success thus far. Did I score a 100 on my audit? No. But, when many people set their goal at passing, I set mine at perfect. I think that attributes to my success.

If one is going to do something, they should want to do it well or better than anyone else. That is the kind of drive that pushes societies higher, careers farther, elevates quality of life and just helps add meaning to life. Or at least that's what I think.

Ummm, yeah.

I have been so boring and blah and just overall uninspired lately, it's frustrating. I haven't felt like writing or talking or doing anything.

I've not been reading and studying. I've not been social. Okay, well I am not social down here very often, so that's not much of a change, but it still bothers me.

I've gone to work, the gym and home. I've gone to Starbucks and the bank and the grocery store. That is is life right now.

I've organized some pictures, I've got new pictures for the wall, I've talked on the phone. But how interesting is it all?

I've had things that I have thought "oh, I should blog about that" but then my boredom with my own daily life sucks the enthusiasm from whatever piqued my interest.

I'm in a rut and I need to get out.

*Yawn*

Finally, I woke up this morning with the urge to write something. Granted, it's not anything profound or interesting, but it sure beats not feeling motivated to write anything at all. I may very well be the only person reading what I write, but I'm not really concerned with that.

I'm usually emotionally provoked into blogging. Be the motivation good or bad, I usually don't write out of boredom. I think that's been my problem over the last week or so, actually. I'm just bored. I don't derive a lot of pleasure out of work lately with the exception of the leadership training I'm providing my team. I go to the gym and come home and study my Russian. I mean, it's interesting and all but I can only blog about losing weight and Russian words so many times before I start to crave other things to discuss.

Today will be a bit different. I have to fly to Houston tonight for a meeting tomorrow. I'll get to stay with Granny & Paw-Paw, which is always good. I like getting to see them once every month or so. I also got a call from the senior recruiter in Austin in reference to the application I put in almost two weeks ago. There is a position there for which I've applied and I'm going to have an interview next week. I'm actually a little worried about that position. It's not so much about whether or not I will get it as it is what I will do if I DO get it. I'll get into that on another post.

Anyway, I need to take a shower and pack my overnight stuff and all that jazz. I had a dream that I forgot my luggage and had to buy all new clothes when I got to Houston. Maybe that was a fantasy. ;)

Englussiarenchgermitallianish

My Russian studies are taking me slightly longer than I was originally intending, but with good reason. I really want to be able to understand the language. Now, I'm neither wanting to be able to write professionally in Russian, nor do I wish to carry on technical conversations that involve detailed vocabulary particular to a specific trade. However, I would like to have a true understanding of the words I learn.

If someone were to approach me on the street and say "excuse me young man, what is your name?" I would know exactly what they meant. Most people who learn a second language have to translate in their head. The same query in Russian would be "Извините молодой человек, чем Вас называют?" I don't want to be going in my mind "ok, 'Извините' is excuse me. 'молодой человек' is young man. 'Excuse me young man.' Ok, got it. 'чем' ..." If I were to do that it would take forever and the Russian asking my identity might think I rode the short bus to Москва (Moscow).

So, that's what I'm doing in the evening. I will say that with the increased speed at which I can read Cyrillic, my progress is moving faster and faster. I've been neglecting my cultural reading and studies though because I find myself hungry for more language study. It's nice to have found something to capture my interest and keep me from thinking about work. To take this to it's logical conclusion, if I accomplish my goal of fluently understanding basic conversation in 6-7 languages I might end up combining all of them to speak Englussiarenchgermitallianish.

Happy Birthday to Me!

We had a good time this weekend. Like most of her visits, Mom's trip seemed too short-lived. I always try to mix up her visit with two distinct days. Friday night is typically used for catching up. Saturday is used to go out and about, usually to Brownsville, McAllen or South Padre Island. Sunday we try to do nothing. Mom's schedule is more hectic than mine, so her ability to sit and do nothing is rare. I like to offer her the chance to do that on her visits. I know she appreciates it.

Saturday was my birthday. As my sister reminded me when she called (a day late), I'm only one year from thirty! That's okay, I'll get over it. The last year of my twenties will hopefully be eventful.

I liked the fact that I got to spend my birthday with my mother. We haven't been able to do that in YEARS. It was a great present. Buddy made me a fantastic breakfast! He made avocado scrambled eggs and French Toast. He was trying different ways of making the two common dishes. He did VERY well. We then went to McAllen to mill about for the day.

I got a couple of books at Barnes & Noble. He got another Toronto travel guide for our trip. With Paw-Paw's extension of the vacation to 10 days, we should be quite armed with things to do. We might even teach Anthony and Kim some things about their city. Mom also got an arm-full of books that she bought. Maybe that's where I get my late-bloomed love of reading.

We then took a turn to Bed, Bath & Beyond. Mom gave me a choice of either a check or buying the check's dollar amount worth of gifts all day. I chose the latter, but didn't use the money on the books! Everything was spent at BB&B. I got a wicker basket for Buddy and I to put our things (laptops, cases, etc.) in when we're home so they don't sit out on the floor. I got those nifty Dream Drawer organizing tools, some Hercules Hooks, two photo albums for keeping some of our photos out on the coffee table, two frames for pictures of my trip to Europe and four different boxes for organizing the rest of our photos that don't end up on walls or in albums. I was truly happy with that trip.

Finally, we ended up going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. The wait was forty five minutes, which was fine since we had thirteen fist-fulls of peanuts each. We all had a great dinner, and despite my warning not to, Buddy told them it was my birthday. I had to get on a saddle. A saddle. Me, on a saddle. My mother took a picture on her camera phone. I'm going to find THE most embarrassing place to have a birthday for Buddy next year and go there ... and for good measure, I might do that sometime next month too.


Anywho, after we got home I went crazy hanging up picture frames, moving picture frames, measuring for a new 18x24 of Big Ben, etc. Actually, I have to decide which picture I want to enlarge. It will either be a photo of Big Ben or an AWESOME picture I took in Belgium of the sun setting over the English Channel. The Big Ben pic would be unmistakably Europe, but the sunset picture is so cool. I'll figure it out, I guess. But, I had a lot of fun doing all of that yesterday.

It was a great weekend. :) Now I'm SUPER ready for Toronto!

I'm a big dummy ...

"Shut up, 'ya big dummy." I'm having flashbacks to Sanford & Son. Awwww, good 'ole paternal verbal abuse. :)

But really, I am a big dummy. We've done this beautiful collage of pictures on our wall from vacations we took this year. I've been wanting to have more pictures on the walls of various types. For example, we're going to put up quite a few pics from our trip to Toronto this March.

I've been thinking about some other things to put up. I have so many pictures from my past, but I've been a bit bewildered about what to frame for display. On a recent customer visit, I recalled seeing a TexMex cafe when I was in Belgium. The customer and I had a fantastic laugh and then it hit me! Pictures from Europe do me NO good in a box in my closet, I should have them on display! So, I've got two half walls in my apartment in need of some memories.

Of course, the hard part is going to be picking which ones!

Boundless laziness

The human capacity for laziness is amazing. Isn't it? Really. We are inherently lazy in ways over which we have direct and indirect control. It's the people who rise above that laziness which we tend to admire ... usually while sitting on the couch holding our favorite ultra-fattening beverage.

Think about it, we start off at a physiological disadvantage, don't we? If someone goes to the gym and works and works and works and builds layer upon layer of undeniably hot muscle, we admire that person, don't we? Do we all go out and do the same? Generally not. But, think about that same person if they were to stop going to the gym? Even if it was an involuntary stoppage, what happens to their beautiful muscles? Natural laziness; the muscle deflates, the blood goes other places and the strength is eventually lost as fat starts to fill in the vacated space. Is it because the person wants that? No, s/he can't help it, that is just how it works.

Mentally it is the same way. I was a music major in college. I spent a very large portion of my life-to-date studying and immersing myself in music. I forged millions of neural pathways in the practice rooms, in the books, etc. Seven years later, after not studying for so long, would I be able to do/remember all of those things? No. Okay, maybe some of it, but definitely not all. Why? Because the body is lazy. I would have to jumpstart those neurons to get them pumping again.

And then there is the conscious laziness. It is the worst of all, and manifests itself in the most annoying ways. Apathy over where the trash lands, inconsiderate placement of the grocery shopping cart when one is only twenty feet from the cart return bin, endless hours of television and games ... all of those things are leading indicators of our expanding waistlines and vanishing cultural uniqueness.

I had a moment of laziness yesterday, but I caught it in time. It was habitual more than anything else. When I got to the gym parking lot yesterday evening it was a little packed. I saw two people leaving, both of whom were walking to cars fairly close to the door. I was excited about close parking! So, these two apparent buddies started talking next to their cars. I was a little annoyed because I wanted to get inside, so I turned on my blinker to signal they should expedite their conversation. Of course, they didn't. At the same moment that I started becoming very annoyed, it hit me; I'm at the GYM to WORK OUT and am now angry because I can't park close to the door. Really? So, I laughed at myself as I backed up the car, parked really far away and hiked that extra 200 feet to go in.

A motley collection of thoughts ...

There is no reason for today's post. I'm just reaching into the soupy cauldron of thought which is my mind and discussing what I find.

Buddy - I chose not to sit at home to play out my weekend morning ritual (coffee, reading and the internet) but instead chose to shower early and go up to Starbucks since Buddy was working. I ground up the portion of coffee I wanted to drink this morning, packed it in the French press, grabbed a coffee mug, my laptop, a book and went on my way. While I was there reading, Buddy took his lunch (he got to work at 5:30, so his lunch was at 10). I said all of that to say this: One of Buddy's abilities which never ceases to amaze me is that of being able to sleep anywhere.

We were in one of the lovely, large comfy, "it hugs me when I sit in it" chairs at Starbucks and he said "wake me up in 15 minutes." Before my brain could process what he meant, he'd removed his glasses and fallen asleep. The music was playing, the espresso machines were foaming, customers were talking, and he was oblivious to all of it. He's like a puppy. Last week he got down on the floor to cuddle with Chloe and accidentally fell asleep. A couple of times I know of, he's sat down in the shower and fallen asleep. Really? Seriously? I think somewhere in his brain is a neuron which acts as a snooze button. Honestly, I wish I had one.

Говорение по-русски (Ga-va-ryen-EE-ye po-russkee) - "speaking Russian": It is becoming increasingly apparent that I chose a fantastic starting point for my linguistic adventures. The language itself has very similar attributes to other languages. For example, gender specific nouns affect adjectives and other words associated with them. While not popular in English, it is a common practice in other romantic languages.

Russian is also sprinkled with cognates, or words which are borrowed from another language and adapted for itself. An example of an English/Russian cognate is Парашют (pah-ra-SHYOOT) - parachute. But, English isn't the only language from which Russians have borrowed. A Spanish/Russian cognate would be Библиотека (beeb-lee-oh-teh-ka) - biblioteca (library). So not only are there words which will help me in other languages, but linguistic concepts that will help as well.

Finally, the Cyrillic alphabet in and of itself has been a bona fide mental triathlon. I predict it will make reading French that much easier when Buddy and I take that up around January of 2008. As I started Russian in November it will get the longest amount of study so I can juxtapose each new cultural endeavor with a calendar New Year.

Toronto Vacation - Mandy has her passport, Buddy's is on the way and round-trip ticket prices for direct flights via Continental just plummeted to $271! What a fantastic coincidence! I sent Paw-Paw the e-mail this morning asking for the tickets for Mandy, Buddy and I for our Christmas/birthday presents. March is still a month off but my excitement is growing. I think the trip will be brilliant. Buddy has armed himself with a tourist book of the city so we can list the places we want to see and experience while we're there. Toronto has been much warmer this winter (global warming and all), so I am hoping that it will be more spring-like during this trip. That will afford us more time outside. Having a digital camera with a much higher number of mega-pixels will also allow better quality pictures. I'd like to add another 18x24 and assortment of smaller pictures to the living room. I'm excited. :)

Mom's Visit - My mother is coming to visit next weekend and I'm excited. She treks down here twice yearly for a weekend with us, and her first trip of 2007 will be for my birthday. It's always a fantastic way to break up the monotony of our weekend lives as well as a lot of quality time with Mom. Honestly, we see her more with those trips here than we did when we lived in Houston. We're going to make her a deal ... she buys dinner Saturday and Sunday and Buddy will make fantastic meals for dinner Friday and breakfast Saturday & Sunday. If you ask me, she's getting the better end of the deal. *grin*

Last Night's Dinner - Buddy did REALLY well. I have horded away two years worth of recipies from Martha Stewart Living. They are all at my store awaiting lamination and collecting dust. Thankfully, I remembered them yesterday when Buddy asked what I'd like him to make for dinner. So, we had baked chicken with onions and garlic, lemon and caper mashed potatoes and rice pilaf. The chicken was SO moist and flavorful and the rice pilaf (made with fresh angel hair pasta) was also wonderful, but the lemon an caper mashed potatoes REALLY floored me! The light, flowery texture of the lemons and capers combined with the creamy texture of the mashed potatoes was intoxicating. We were both wowed by that meal. We can't, however, make a habit of it. While it is cheaper to cook that at home than eat it out (and it WAS restaurant quality), it was still relatively expensive as far as meals at home go. But, it is a great Friday night meal ... and Saturday lunch.

Speaking of Saturday lunch, I'm hungry now. Time for chicken and rice.

Wants and needs

When I was growing up I would tell my mother I needed something. "I need that toy" or "I need that dog" or "I need to go to Sea World." Her typical response would be to ask a very simple question: Do you need it or do you want it? Well, I was a child, so in my mind it was all need; how would I go on without the toy, dog, Shamu, etc.? Those types of situations taught me a lesson though about wants and needs. Wants typically resolve a superficial or materialistic urge whereas needs are necessities for survival.

Now, as a supposed adult, I find myself wondering about my wants and needs this morning. Once again I'm faced with the possibility of not having the money to do some of the things we want to do so I'm having this same internal conversation with myself. But this time it's a bit more broad.

I find myself craving more down time from my chores. I view work as a chore right now. I view working out as a chore right now. I have to do both as they are both needs. I need to work because I need money. Working out may not sound like a need at first, but when you think of the physical ramifications on my future self if I choose not to stay in shape, you understand why it is in the need category.

But work as a chore? I have enjoyed my job and not thought of it as a chore for quite some time. I think it usually happens when I get bored. I have been bored lately. When I'm at work, it all seems so routine. I shocked my routine a little bit yesterday with some organizational enhancements at work. I went crazy with my label maker. *g* I'm preparing for meetings, I'm working on development plans for my team members, etc. I ordered three copies of a great management book I read when in our leadership development program and I'm going to use it to teach my assistant manager and senior project coordinator those great management lessons and philosophies now as opposed to making them wait to learn those lessons later. But, really, the challenge of doing my job is dwindling. Sure, I have an audit that I need to do well on when I perform it Friday, but I think we'll be fine. My sales aren't where they need to be at the moment but sales are out of my hand so all I can worry about is customer service, and my customer service levels this month are over 99.6%.

When I'm at work I find myself wishing I was doing something else. I want to be reading, I want to be studying, I want to be listening to music, I want to be doing ... well ... other stuff. I don't think that's a bad thing because when I can satisfy those wants, I'm making myself a more well-rounded person. I'm just concerned that this is just the sapling of a huge oak of disenchantment in my job if I don't get moved or challenged more soon.

So are all these things I wish I were doing outside of work wants or needs? Do I want to do them because I'm bored or do I NEED to be doing them to keep my mind occupied and maintain my sanity? I guess I haven't figured that part out yet. Oh well, off to work. :)

Musical giggles

I don't know why, but I've had the first movement of Beethoven's 7th symphony stuck in my head since I woke up in the middle of the night to go pee. I know, it doesn't seem like a good "pee theme", but it was for me this morning. Odd you say? Perhaps. I haven't listened to it in quite some time. Besides the 5th, the 7th is my favorite. Okay, that is a difficult statement to make since I like all of them so much. We studied them so much in college that have very distinct memories brought back by almost all of them. It's a very happy piece that makes me kinda giggly. It's like my musical interpretation of Buddy. :)

Speaking of Buddy, he's been cooking a lot lately. He made dinner for us the last few nights in a row, and I could really get used to this! I like when he works mornings. Not only do I get to see him more, he can do things like cook for me. *grin* Tonight we're either having seafood gumbo or grilled salmon in a lemon caper sauce flanked by bacon-wrapped asparagus and steamed cauliflower. He's been on a seafood kick lately. We don't have many good restaurants down here for that (not less than 40 minutes away), so he has decided to make his own.

Pangs of Guilt

I had an odd but alarmingly realistic dream last night. Ok, it wasn't THAT realistic because there is no way what happened in my dream would be happening in actuality, but nobody was wearing giant purple hats or had crazy Bozo-hair, as is the case with many of my dreams.

I know why I had a dream about this person, it is fairly obvious. It was brought on by thinking about him more lately because of a personal endeavor. It was also a manifestation of my feelings for guilt surrounding our relationship in the past as it were. What I don't understand is why those feelings surface now?

All of this Russian speak and study has me thinking about Glenn a lot. I've always thought back on Glenn with great affection. He was my favorite college roommate and I lived with him and Evan for a year. It was a great time for me, but now that I think back on it, I don't know if it was for him. I really was an awful roommate!

I paid my rent and all, but I was so inconsiderate. I had strange boys over and drank at all hours of the night ... but hey, it was college. I also wasn't very considerate of his space and belongings. I got a brand new dog and left this untrained puppy with him to deal with while I went to Europe for two weeks. Granted, we had a long talk about that, but how could I have been so inconsiderate as to think that was ok in the first place? There were just so many things I did like that. I honestly don't know how he put up with me, but he did.

Honestly, Glenn taught me a lot about being responsible and considerate. He is so very intelligent and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. Glenn seems to know something about everything. He was on the HRC bandwagon before most other gay folk I knew had any idea what it was. He had lived in London as a welder. He's been just about everywhere one could think of and had great stories to tell about all of the places. He took the opportunity to educate himself on things most people don't; music, art, books and cultural lessons were all points of interest of his. I had a fantastic opportunity to learn a tremendous amount more from him, but I squandered it in my youth.

In my dream, both Glenn and I were at a party of some kind. I asked him into a back room and we started discussing the past and I just started apologizing. I put myself in his position and started listing the things that, had someone done them to me I would have beaten them senseless. My alarm went off before I could finish such a list.

Glenn and I would probably get along much better now than we did then. I would probably appreciate him a lot more now than I did then, which is a travesty in itself. He is a school teacher in New York now, and I don't know if our paths will ever cross in person again, but I really hope so. It is funny ... I don't miss so much what we did have but more what we SHOULD have had in our friendship.

...

I had fun this last week. I was in Corpus giving a helping hand to take some actions to start that particular store back on the right track. It was a task given to me by my boss and I appreciate it. I think he wanted to see what I would see. I saw a lot. In typical "me" fashion, my end-of-week wrap-up was five pages long ... single spaced. But, I think I got things set on the right path and had a lot of ideas on how to develop continued improvements. We'll see how it pans out.

A week away in a store with a LOT of problems put some things in perspective for me. I was instantly reminded of how far my store has come and how much better (and better off) my team is than others. I'm going to make sure I tell them that in our meeting on Sunday. I was at the Corpus store 10-12 hours a day scheming, planning, cleaning, moving fixtures, talking to the team, giving ideas, suggestions, etc. That was a lot of work. Corpus has a good team, but mine really rocks!

So, this weekend is all about relaxation and reading and whatnot. I have done a lot of reading (русский of course) and spent some time with Buddy when he wasn't at work. We watched the first DVD of season 4 of Family Guy last night. I love that show. :)

Ok, that's it. Unimaginative posting today. Sorry

Здравствуйте друзья!

That is Russian for "Hello Friends!" Hooray for Canadians! I was reading an article this morning that showed that researchers in Toronto found that bilingual people have a delayed onset of dementia of up to 4 years. I think that's well timed with my efforts to delve back into the cultural and linguistic studies that I started before Peak.

I knew that I was getting out of the learning that I've invested so much time and financial resources in, but I think that there are going to be those times of the year when exceptions are made. I enjoy this process of learning a new language. It isn't something that seems to come easily to me, so I enjoy having to think and concentrate on it. Also, language is something where you can tell immediate progress. If you start listening to native speakers and you find yourself able to understand more and more of what they are saying, there is a certain sense of accomplishment.

So yesterday, Buddy and I decided that after I go through my Russian indulgence for a year, we're going to move on to French. Number one, it will be very easy to find people with whom to practice our new language; Kim and Liberty both immediately came to mind. Also, I love me some French music. Impressionism is one of my favorite things ever, both in art and music. Plus, Buddy had two years of French in high school so there will probably be a lot of things coming back to him. It will be fun to do it together.

But for now, I'm focusing on my Russian. On language I have two books, two audio books and a podcast to which I subscribe. On culture, I have a book that is sort of a "hit you over the head with facts" book. I also have a book that is really a historical essay that uses the past to explain the foundations of Russian culture. I really like it. Another book like that is a bit of a hybrid between the two. Finally, I have a book about the history of Russian music.

Obviously I'm not reading all of them at once. I am using all the language books together, however. The podcast and audiobooks are great for proper pronunciation, while one of the books is great for daily conversation and the other has more formal grammatical rules. It's a great approach for me.

Yea for brain usage!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!

Today is Buddy's birthday! I was nice and decided tho choose one of his flattering pictures. ;) I took this during breakfast at the poolside restaurant at Bellagio in July.

I prefer the music ...

My alarm went off this morning and I was not a happy camper. Well, considering I don't like camping, I'd never actually be a happy camper, but that's beside the point. Typically around 6am my alarm goes off sounding the opening chords of the Mozart Requiem. It's a gentle, rolling awake that doesn't startle me too much. Startling me in the morning is bad. Startling me gets my day started on the wrong foot because my preferred foot is kicking who/whatever startled me.

At 5am, I was awakened to the sounds of Chloe getting sick to her stomach. She was kind enough to do it so that her mess was 3/4 of the way in the bathroom and on a tile floor. She's a very considerate puppy. But, I still had to get the paper towels and the Oxy Clean and regular towels and rags and get to work. I think this is somehow my fault ... yesterday morning I told myself that I should wake up earlier so I can have an earlier start to my day at work. I'm going to try to start leaving later by getting there earlier; at least that is my plan as I have it now. Reality will be that I'll get to work earlier and leave at the same time, thus increasing the length of my day by an hour. Oh well.

I put up an older picture of Chloe because I realized I don't have a newer one. I think Buddy has taken all the new pics on his camera phone and I don't have them. I'll have to change that. She's such a pretty dog ... even with only one eye now. :) One of the cutest things I have EVER seen is when Chloe is laying on the recliner with Buddy staring at him as he sings "You Are My Sunshine" to her.

iLust

Since Christmas, since I saw that Apple had an empty PDA section on their website, I've been saying that they are going to revolutionize the PDA industry. But, Apple being Apple, they decided to go a different direction: they are going to revolutionize the cell phone industry. They announced yesterday that they are launching the iPhone ... and I WANT ONE! I'm a dork though ... Buddy and I stayed up until almost midnight watching Steve Jobs' keynote speech introducing this product at MacWorld 2007. The phones won't be available until June, but this thing looks HOT. You can read more about the all new Hotness at: http://www.apple.com/iphone/

Why are you so good to me?

My secret lover ... my morning ritual. Twenty ounces of your steaming black hotness and I'm satisfied all day. You awaken my senses. You brighten my mind. You lure me in with your seductive smell and then you've got me.

Da Scoots ...

Scoot recently had surgery for stones in her bladder. After she had breakfast this morning she started shivering because she was laying on the tile. She had her tummy shaved for the surgery, so she was really cold. I got Chloe's bed and put it on the floor and wrapped her in a blanket so she could get warm. She looked so cute I took a picture. :)

Can someone get my soapbox?

Yesterday I received an e-mail from an online buddy of mine that I've been talking to for quite some time now. HE received an e-mail from an online buddy of HIS who lives in Denver. He sent the e-mail out to see what kind of reaction it would garner. I was passionate enough about it to decide to make it a discussion point with you, my BILLIONS of non-readers. The e-mail is as follows:

WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here, in the "Mile-Hi City" (Denver), we just recovered from a historic event---may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions"--with a historic blizzard with up to 44" of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI:
-George Bush did not come
-FEMA did nothing
-No one howled for the government
-No one blamed the government
-No one even uttered an expletive on TV
-Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit
-Our mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else
-Our governor did not blame Bush or anyone else either.

CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit or report extensively on this category 5 snowstorm, nor do we expect they will in the years to come in the aftermath.

Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards. No one asked FEMA for a trailer house. No one looted. Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something. Nobody expected the government to do anything either.

No Larry King, no Bill O'Riley, no Oprah, no Chris Matthews, and no Geraldo Rivera. No Sean Penn (thank God!), no Barbra Streisand, no HOLLYWOOD TYPES TO BE FOUND.

Nope, we just melted the snow for water. Sent out caravans of SUVs to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars. The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny. Local restaurants made food and the police and fire department delivered it to snowbound families. Families took in the stranded people-total strangers.

We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns. We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it's "Work or Die". We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for "sittin' at home" checks. Even though a category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate." It does seem that way, at least to me. I hope this gets passed on.

Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does not owe you a living.

ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE UNIQUE; JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.

I think the first obvious reaction is that there is NO way to compare the destruction and chaos of New Orleans the days following Katrina to what just happened in Denver. Seriously, how could you? Comparing the situation in Denver to what happened on the Gulf Coast is like comparing a campfire to a 5 alarm blazing building, don't you think?

And since when is it so devious that the country leaps into action to help those in need? Does the author feel we wasted time, energy and money helping the victims of the Indian Ocean Tsunami when it occurred? Truly, if any part of the world has a "work or die" attitude it must be that one; you will quite literally die if you don't work. What if a Richter 9 earthquake were to hit and level San Francisco? Should our "affirmative action government" just let them deal with it?

But that isn't all the writer was trying to discuss. I also see a social commentary on the people of the area that was hit. It was a blatant attack on "them." Who are "they?" Well, considering New Orleans has a very high black population, I might say that group is the target. But really, this goes to generalizations and stereotyping. You could type "_____ population" and there would be people who would insert any race they wanted. Some people would insert EVERY race except their own.

Those are very small-minded and inexperienced people. How can you say "black people" in that kind of context? Do the blacks in Germany, France, Hungary, England, Canada, Japan, Russia, etc. all act the same way? No. Neither do the whites.

Now, if you want to say that certain people of a like mindset in a certain area tend to act the same, that seems to be fine. After all, birds of a feather do indeed tend to flock together. So if there are segments of our society that tend toward a feeling of self-entitlement, they are just that: segments of OUR society. Yes, there ARE lazy people who will use the system to their advantage. No, they are not of a specific race.

What do we do about those people? Well, it comes with upbringing. If a person is taught that they should expect something from the government because they have greater pigmentation of the skin than other people then they will grow up believing that. It all comes with education of children. Do we treat all those children the same way? Are we doing what we can to lift the living condition of those people? I'd say not.

If we want to raise the standard of society, we must start with how we treat and educate the children because they are the foundation of the future. Think of society like a VERY heavy sack of groceries. Would you just yank up by the handles on the bag and hope for the best or would you bend over, grab from the bottom and lift carefully? Personally, I'd do the latter as to prevent myself from spending extra time picking up what spills out and extra money replacing it.

Bill Gates spends a lot of his money on the education of children and funding programs to do such. Oprah Winfrey just spent $40M on building a school in South Africa to do the same thing. They have the right idea, in my opinion. I recently listened to a story on NPR about a program in Brazil that establishes learning centers for classical music in the most downtrodden and poor areas of the country. The goal is to take children off the street from an early age and put them into learning something that will engage them and teach them about the world. It has 250,000 participants. We have similar programs through the Boys & Girls clubs, YMCA, etcetera, but we could always use more.

If everyone in North America who made over $1M a year gave 1% of $1M ($10,000) toward educating children, that would be a total contribution of $29 BILLION dollars to educating the children of North America. If you put that into a global perspective and asked the number of world-wide millionaires to make that contribution to a world education fund, you would see a pot of $87 BILLION dollars. If you ask the world's billionaires to make the same 1% contribution, that would be an additional $26 BILLION dollars. How far would $1 Trillion dollars go toward educating the children of the world and lifting our common society? I don't know, but I'd sure like to find out.

I hate being right ...

I finally received the telephone call I've been dreading yesterday. As was my prediction, I didn't get the promotion for which I applied. Unfortunately, I found out because the position my competition held was posted as vacant before I'd been called and told I did not get the job. So, I did the math and figured it out before my boss called me. That was definitely not his intention and he apologized profusely for it. He gave his reasons for why I wasn't picked and said it was the hardest decision of his DM career thus far. I'm not judging that reasoning, nor am I going to go into it on here. If you have questions, ask and I'll discuss it one-on-one.

So, I have no plans for now other than to be the best I can be at my job, improve the area he said was the deciding factor in the decision, and make President's Club again. I've got a good chance of it considering how we're doing thus far. The trip for managers this year is to the Ritz Carlton on Grand Cayman (see above picture). I'm not actively looking to move until I know whether or not I make it. I'm eligible as long as I'm hear through the end of March. Buddy and I are both content to stay here that long if we suspect we will get such a fantastic trip out of our patience. We'll see.