Things have been really hopping for me lately. I was dating someone and that relationship ended. Job interviews that ended up landing me a sales job. The need to find a new place to live and packing both for moves at work and home.
This makes for very busy days but I am trying to stay grounded through the whole process. Trying to get a good balance between fun things and things that have to be done. Balance between work and family. It is not an easy thing to do.
Thursday evening I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I was buying new shirts for my impending interview the next day with the store. Prettying myself up and getting myself mentally prepared. Friday brought my normal work day followed quickly by changing at work for the interview and rushing to the store location for my interview followed by band practice.
Saturday night Tempus had her school choir performing at the Tulsa 66ers game. I went over early and Karma and I headed down for dinner early. Ate at Spaghetti Warehouse and had a pretty good time. We headed to the game and got to watch Tempus perform. The game was okay but Tulsa ended up losing.
Sunday I had promised Tempus that I would take her to go see Beauty and the Beast (BatB) in 3D since they re-released it. She loved it all through her childhood and was very excited to go see it with me. It was great to be able to spend time with her. All my time here lately feels like it is slipping away and before long she will be gone for school somewhere and time with her will be even harder to get as she slowly starts to build a life of her own.
When I was in college I was in the college production of BatB and played Belle's father. It was night to see the movie and replay some of the fun times in my head.
There is something about the scene where Mrs Potts(Angela Lansbury) sings the title song as Belle and the Beast dance around the glitsy ballroom. As they danced around the ballroom, I was suddenly hit with realization that my little girl was growing up. She was sitting the seat next in some way seemed like she was a million miles away. I started to tear up but didn't want her to see it. I wiped away the tears and tried to hide it, if she saw she didn't say anything.
The movie continued and I recomposed myself. The finale was coming up and the rose was dropping it's final petal. The Beast was dying after he had saved Belle and made sure she was safe. I teared up again when Belle cried and begged a lifeless Beast to not go because she love him. I guess I am just becoming a softy as I get older.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Roy's big adventure
In deciding to make a trip across the country you have to decide on just how you are going to get there. Budget was a big part of my concern as most airlines wanted about $300 for tickets, bus fare just to a town nearby was $89 one way and then I would have to be dependent on people giving me rides to where I needed to go (I hate having to depend on others, it makes me feel needy). I found a good deal on a weekly car rental through work and figure it would be better to just drive out. Road trip with the tunes cranked up couldn't be a bad idea. It was going to be 12 and a half hours.
When I went to reserve the car I had an opportunity to get one with a navigation system in it but they wanted an additional $93 dollars to have one in the car for a week. I was thinking, hey I have an Android phone that should be able to give me directions plus I couldn't really afford to spend money on something like that. I could have bought a GPS system at Best Buy for about the same price and then it would be mine, the pricing on it was ridiculous. I lucked out that the car that I rented had the system already in it. The guy at the office told me that since I didn't request it that I would not be billed for it but I could use it if I wanted.
Well, I made the trip to Tennessee. It was actually alot of fun. It was 12 and a half hours out there and back but I think the trip did a lot of things to clear up my head. It gave me an opportunity and excuse to get out of town.
There is something about no longer looking at the same 4 walls everyday and putting some new surroundings around you. It helps to open your eyes. This is something that I haven't really done over the last 13 years of my marriage. I confined myself and slowly withdrew from the world and in the process closed myself off from the rest of the world. I have got to continue to work on getting out and doing things.
I got to my destination on Tuesday evening and called to let my friend know I was there. He came over with his fiancee (Jill) and they took me out to eat. I got to finally talk with his fiancee for the first time. I am friends with her Facebook since Raj doesn't have one. She was a pretty cool gal. We ended up dropping by a craft store for some ribbon that was being used to wrap fudge. We then dropped by her parent's house and hung around there listening to her dad playing sounds off of his iPod and playing name that band to a lot of older tunes. We didn't fare very well.
The next day they were all busy with the wedding and I woke up and watched some TV. I didn't have anything really planned for the day. I was spending time with my old friend (the television) and started to think about how I was in a completely different part of the country, did I really want part of my memory of being there to be how TV was still entertaining there? I knew that I needed to do something and the drive in through the really high hills and mountains was really pretty.
I had brought my laptop with me and the hotel had wifi so I typed in a search for scenic views in the area. I happened to catch a site that talked about something called "America's first scenic highway" that was only about a half hour's drive away from where I was. I figured that I needed to go and check it out. It a road that was created when the Tennessee Valley Authority was created decades ago. It was so pretty through there. I actually took some pictures through there and posted them on Facebook. Once I got through that highway it was only about another 20 miles to the North Carolina state line, since I was that close I figured I would go just so I could say that I did (and I did). I ended up going through 6 states in total (North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas).
Thursday was the wedding and I finally got to see the place that this happy occasion was taking place. It was a place called the Old Woolen Mill, it was a very industrial looking building that was run down but the inside hall was redone for receptions.
Throughout the course of the day I was asked several times by Jill's dad to help out, I found it an honor to be trusted to do all these things. The ceremony was gorgeous and to think that Raj have been friends over the phone but never saw each other in person until this trip out was pretty amazing. What a way to meet a good friend.
I plan on going back out that way sometime within the next few years on my bike. I will be a great way to spend a vacation. Perhaps even swing through Charlotte and see my favorite team's stadium and then off to the Smoky Mountains, very pretty country through there.
I drove back on Friday and I made a stop over in Little Rock. I got to meet another person that I was on the phone with at work all the time. (Sara). It was good to meet her. We ate at a little place called Great Wraps (they don't have one in Tulsa but they should because they were very good). I got to catch up with her. It was a lot of fun.
I traveled the rest of the way back to T-town. Got in rather late but it was good to be back home, back around my friends. Dropped by and took Karma for a ride in the car. She was kind enough to give me ride back to my car from the rental place on Saturday. That marked the end of my trip but surely not the end of my journey called life. It may be in mid-cycle but it is only the beginning...
When I went to reserve the car I had an opportunity to get one with a navigation system in it but they wanted an additional $93 dollars to have one in the car for a week. I was thinking, hey I have an Android phone that should be able to give me directions plus I couldn't really afford to spend money on something like that. I could have bought a GPS system at Best Buy for about the same price and then it would be mine, the pricing on it was ridiculous. I lucked out that the car that I rented had the system already in it. The guy at the office told me that since I didn't request it that I would not be billed for it but I could use it if I wanted.
Well, I made the trip to Tennessee. It was actually alot of fun. It was 12 and a half hours out there and back but I think the trip did a lot of things to clear up my head. It gave me an opportunity and excuse to get out of town.
There is something about no longer looking at the same 4 walls everyday and putting some new surroundings around you. It helps to open your eyes. This is something that I haven't really done over the last 13 years of my marriage. I confined myself and slowly withdrew from the world and in the process closed myself off from the rest of the world. I have got to continue to work on getting out and doing things.
I got to my destination on Tuesday evening and called to let my friend know I was there. He came over with his fiancee (Jill) and they took me out to eat. I got to finally talk with his fiancee for the first time. I am friends with her Facebook since Raj doesn't have one. She was a pretty cool gal. We ended up dropping by a craft store for some ribbon that was being used to wrap fudge. We then dropped by her parent's house and hung around there listening to her dad playing sounds off of his iPod and playing name that band to a lot of older tunes. We didn't fare very well.
The next day they were all busy with the wedding and I woke up and watched some TV. I didn't have anything really planned for the day. I was spending time with my old friend (the television) and started to think about how I was in a completely different part of the country, did I really want part of my memory of being there to be how TV was still entertaining there? I knew that I needed to do something and the drive in through the really high hills and mountains was really pretty.
I had brought my laptop with me and the hotel had wifi so I typed in a search for scenic views in the area. I happened to catch a site that talked about something called "America's first scenic highway" that was only about a half hour's drive away from where I was. I figured that I needed to go and check it out. It a road that was created when the Tennessee Valley Authority was created decades ago. It was so pretty through there. I actually took some pictures through there and posted them on Facebook. Once I got through that highway it was only about another 20 miles to the North Carolina state line, since I was that close I figured I would go just so I could say that I did (and I did). I ended up going through 6 states in total (North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas).
Thursday was the wedding and I finally got to see the place that this happy occasion was taking place. It was a place called the Old Woolen Mill, it was a very industrial looking building that was run down but the inside hall was redone for receptions.
Throughout the course of the day I was asked several times by Jill's dad to help out, I found it an honor to be trusted to do all these things. The ceremony was gorgeous and to think that Raj have been friends over the phone but never saw each other in person until this trip out was pretty amazing. What a way to meet a good friend.
I plan on going back out that way sometime within the next few years on my bike. I will be a great way to spend a vacation. Perhaps even swing through Charlotte and see my favorite team's stadium and then off to the Smoky Mountains, very pretty country through there.
I drove back on Friday and I made a stop over in Little Rock. I got to meet another person that I was on the phone with at work all the time. (Sara). It was good to meet her. We ate at a little place called Great Wraps (they don't have one in Tulsa but they should because they were very good). I got to catch up with her. It was a lot of fun.
I traveled the rest of the way back to T-town. Got in rather late but it was good to be back home, back around my friends. Dropped by and took Karma for a ride in the car. She was kind enough to give me ride back to my car from the rental place on Saturday. That marked the end of my trip but surely not the end of my journey called life. It may be in mid-cycle but it is only the beginning...
Sunday, September 18, 2011
The Decision
Where to start?
Back in March, Karma and I had an initial conversation about how we were as a couple. Things just didn't seem right and hadn't seemed that way in a long time. We decided at that point that we would continue to work on things in our marriage and take things a day at a time. We continued to go through our daily rituals and things stayed pretty much the same.
About 2 months ago Karma and I talked again about how things were going and things were not improving. I made a decision that I needed to move out. Many tears were shed on both our parts but it seemed to be the right decision. Granted there was no rush to have this done. We don't hate each other after all but we both know that there seems to be something missing. After this decision to move out was made we seem to be getting along better than we ever have, the pressure seemed to be off but we also knew this was from the fact that I was not going to be staying there much longer.
We told the kids and there seemed to be little to no reaction from them. I guess sometimes they see things happening before we do.
I tried to find a room to rent. Craigslist had a lot of listing but nothing really came out and grabbed me. I was lucky enough that a friend came to my aid and is letting me rent out his extra room. I moved in on August 31.
Karma and I continue to stays friends and that will not change. We are not completely sure where this will lead us. It could lead us back to each other or cause us to separate, only time will be the ultimate determiner.
We want to thank all of friends for sticking by us through this. Please realize that there will be changes and we will depend on you for a sympathetic ear to listen, a shoulder to lean or even possibly cry on sometimes as we grow as individuals.
We also ask for some privacy when it comes to this. We don't want to be constantly asked questions about this but felt that we needed to let friends and some family know what is going on. If we want to talk about it, we will bring it up to you.
Back in March, Karma and I had an initial conversation about how we were as a couple. Things just didn't seem right and hadn't seemed that way in a long time. We decided at that point that we would continue to work on things in our marriage and take things a day at a time. We continued to go through our daily rituals and things stayed pretty much the same.
About 2 months ago Karma and I talked again about how things were going and things were not improving. I made a decision that I needed to move out. Many tears were shed on both our parts but it seemed to be the right decision. Granted there was no rush to have this done. We don't hate each other after all but we both know that there seems to be something missing. After this decision to move out was made we seem to be getting along better than we ever have, the pressure seemed to be off but we also knew this was from the fact that I was not going to be staying there much longer.
We told the kids and there seemed to be little to no reaction from them. I guess sometimes they see things happening before we do.
I tried to find a room to rent. Craigslist had a lot of listing but nothing really came out and grabbed me. I was lucky enough that a friend came to my aid and is letting me rent out his extra room. I moved in on August 31.
Karma and I continue to stays friends and that will not change. We are not completely sure where this will lead us. It could lead us back to each other or cause us to separate, only time will be the ultimate determiner.
We want to thank all of friends for sticking by us through this. Please realize that there will be changes and we will depend on you for a sympathetic ear to listen, a shoulder to lean or even possibly cry on sometimes as we grow as individuals.
We also ask for some privacy when it comes to this. We don't want to be constantly asked questions about this but felt that we needed to let friends and some family know what is going on. If we want to talk about it, we will bring it up to you.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
In case you didn't know...
For those of you who don't know I figured I would share what is going on. Back on March 13th I had a mental breakdown and started crying. It was the worst bout of depression that I have ever been through. I cried off and on for several hours.
It was like I had been wearing masks and they shattered all at once. It left me exposed, I felt so vulnerable. I started to examine everything that was going on in my life. A flood of thoughts came through my head and I was overwhelmed. Karma was out with the kids and when she got back home I told her that I needed to see a professional and get some help. Since then the depression has lessened but it is still there.
Why this came on suddenly? I don't know. I am lucky enough to work for a company that has some pretty good mental health benefits so several sessions will be covered.
Keep in mind it is not a debilitating kind of depression but I am down a lot of the time now. I AM NOT SUICIDAL. Luckily, I will have my first session with a therapist tomorrow.
I am a little nervous going into all of this. I am not completely sure what to expect. I hope that things will all go well. Being depressed sucks and now more than ever I don't know what the future holds for me but I am staying positive and know that eventually the future will be brighter than it seems to me right now.
It was like I had been wearing masks and they shattered all at once. It left me exposed, I felt so vulnerable. I started to examine everything that was going on in my life. A flood of thoughts came through my head and I was overwhelmed. Karma was out with the kids and when she got back home I told her that I needed to see a professional and get some help. Since then the depression has lessened but it is still there.
Why this came on suddenly? I don't know. I am lucky enough to work for a company that has some pretty good mental health benefits so several sessions will be covered.
Keep in mind it is not a debilitating kind of depression but I am down a lot of the time now. I AM NOT SUICIDAL. Luckily, I will have my first session with a therapist tomorrow.
I am a little nervous going into all of this. I am not completely sure what to expect. I hope that things will all go well. Being depressed sucks and now more than ever I don't know what the future holds for me but I am staying positive and know that eventually the future will be brighter than it seems to me right now.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The 23rd Snow Shovel
(The re-writing of the 23rd Psalm, sometimes you get bored being snowed in. Re-write by Roy Helton)
The snow shovel is my helper; I shall not want.
It helpth me to dig down to brown pastures:
It breaketh the ice down to still waters.
It helps restoreth my calm:
It helps createth the paths of escape for my sanity's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of snow up to my eyeballs,
I will fear no snowdrift: For thou art with me;
Thy shovel head and thy shaft, they comfort me.
Thou bringth me to tables, hopefully with food in the pantry;
I shall annointest my body with sport creme; My snow cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of the snow,
and I will dwell in the House of Warmth until you melt (off the roads, at least)
The snow shovel is my helper; I shall not want.
It helpth me to dig down to brown pastures:
It breaketh the ice down to still waters.
It helps restoreth my calm:
It helps createth the paths of escape for my sanity's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of snow up to my eyeballs,
I will fear no snowdrift: For thou art with me;
Thy shovel head and thy shaft, they comfort me.
Thou bringth me to tables, hopefully with food in the pantry;
I shall annointest my body with sport creme; My snow cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of the snow,
and I will dwell in the House of Warmth until you melt (off the roads, at least)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
February 1 - My experience through the blizzard (aka - Don't be an idiot like me and stay in)
The day started really early. I got up at 4:40 to make sure that I had plenty of time to get ready and be at the call center. From the looks of the road I told Karma that she would be staying home. I took her car as the fan in mine is not working (making defrost impossible).
First sign that I should have stayed home was the fact that it took me 7 minutes just to get out of the driveway but my stubbornness took over.
I was driving down the back road I normally take it didn't look too bad then I saw there was a plow going down that road. It turned off on an access road and I went to go down the road as normal. As soon as I did the car slowed down and a voice in the back of my head told me, "You will never make it this way." I decided to follow the plow back to Pine St.
It took me 2 runs to get up onto 193rd from Pine (sign #3 that I should have headed back home). I continued down 193rd and saw several cars stalled and abandoned but I was too focused on getting around them and getting to work. I finally made it up on the highway and there was a space to drive only wider than Karma's car. When I got off at the 161st exit I didn't stop for fear that I wouldn't get started again.
As I got into the parking lot at the call center there were people trying to plow it but it was a futile attempt as the snow would blow back in with 10-20 minutes.
See all these signs telling me it was not safe and yet I still decided to stay.
There were only like 8 people in the center that I could see. Why they didn't close it before it really opened is beyond me. Not sure who makes the decision on that but they apparently don't care if someone dies or gets hurt.
They finally decided at 10:30 to close the center. The plows were working in the parking lot to clear a path out for us. I helped some people get unstuck.
I decided the best path home was to get up on the highway. So I get by the Oklahoma Welcome Center and got stuck there. A couple of guys came by and helped to scoop me out and I was on my way again.
Just on the other side of the 161st St bridge I got stuck again. Keep in mind I didn't have a shovel with me, I only had the ice scraper and I had forgotten my deerskin gloves at home so moving the snow and ice from under the car was quite a chore.
After cleaning out from under the car and rocking it back and forth I was able to get away from the intersection but I couldn't get up on the highway as there was a jack-knifed semi and 3 SUVs blocking the way. There was a semi completely blocking Admiral so my exits south and east were completely gone, I would either have to go north or west. North had not been plowed so West on 44 seemed the only viable option.
As I was coming up to the turn off onto westbound 44 at 161st I noticed there was a snow plow behind me. I waved him past and was trying to get into the path behind him. I got stuck again. Luckily a couple of people from the call center were there and one had a snow shovel. They helped me to get pushed out and up on the highway I went.
The blizzard conditions kept the snow blowing across the road, I was having trouble seeing where I could go. When I got to the 44/244 split it was decision time again. 44 looked at least partially plowed, 244 looked like it hadn't been touched. I decide 44 was the best path but none of the exits seemed to be plowed, no way to get off the road. I stopped on the highway a couple of times to get some bearings.
Finally I saw that the ramp at 41st seemed fairly clear. I made it up it only to see that to turn left across the bridge was going to be impossible. I just kept seeming to make decisions that were taking me farther and farther away from home. There were people walking in the road. When I got down to Yale I decided it was the best place to turn around. So I was now heading back in the right direction but I still had to get back on 44 to head back home and the ramp looked to be blocked. When driving down it I saw a way through and was able to get back onto 44.
At one point I started to follow a pickup driving down the highway but they got off at 11th St. I was doing really well on 44 but after I crested the top of the hill past 161st St the snow was blowing in a whiteout condition. I lost track of the road and ended up in a snowdrift to the left of the path. There wasn't much traffic on the road then and a pickup driver asked if I had anywhere to hook onto to tow me out. He got me a tow rope and was able to get me out. I was able to make it to the bottom of the hill right by the 193rd St exit. There were semis backed up as far as the eye could see. There were reports that the old Hard Rock Casino roof had collapsed.
So close yet so far away...
I walked down to the QT and grabbed some gloves a couple of hot dogs and a purple NOS (loves me the purple) for lunch.
By the time that I got back to the car there was a OHP car stuck not more than 100 yards behind where I was. He indicated he didn't know when any help would be there.
I took a trip back down to the QT and stayed there to stay warm. The more I thought about being stuck there on the highway, the more and more pissed I became. If only I could get the car off the road then I could walk home or at least to the casino and get a room.
I made several calls and messaged a lot of friends to let them know how I was doing. One of them is Jeff who doesn't live too far away. He told me he could bring down a shovel and help me to get out. I decided to take him up on the offer.
Him and his son walked down with a shovel and a gas can. We got to work. Between me, Jeff and his son and an older truck driver we were able to finally get me into the snow plow trail that happened after I had gotten stuck.
I decided to risk making it home as I live right behind a firehouse and they would have paved those roads for the emergency vehicles. I was able to make it home but the driveway was one huge snowdrift. I tried to pull the car under the tree but didn't get very far under the tree but at least I could come inside if I needed to. It took another half an hour to get the car pulled up enough to make sure it was not in the road. I know there are some ruts in the yard now but I can fill them in in the spring.
So a trip that usually only takes me 10 minutes only took 8 and a half (not including the last half hour to move the car up more).
My lower pant's legs were completely snow covered and were stiff, they could have stood on there own. As I finally got each leg over the foot they fell to the floor with a thud.
Then after finally making it home I had to fix a shower that wouldn't stop running. All and all I would like to start over February and do some things different but we don't have a time machine. :(
First sign that I should have stayed home was the fact that it took me 7 minutes just to get out of the driveway but my stubbornness took over.
I was driving down the back road I normally take it didn't look too bad then I saw there was a plow going down that road. It turned off on an access road and I went to go down the road as normal. As soon as I did the car slowed down and a voice in the back of my head told me, "You will never make it this way." I decided to follow the plow back to Pine St.
It took me 2 runs to get up onto 193rd from Pine (sign #3 that I should have headed back home). I continued down 193rd and saw several cars stalled and abandoned but I was too focused on getting around them and getting to work. I finally made it up on the highway and there was a space to drive only wider than Karma's car. When I got off at the 161st exit I didn't stop for fear that I wouldn't get started again.
As I got into the parking lot at the call center there were people trying to plow it but it was a futile attempt as the snow would blow back in with 10-20 minutes.
See all these signs telling me it was not safe and yet I still decided to stay.
There were only like 8 people in the center that I could see. Why they didn't close it before it really opened is beyond me. Not sure who makes the decision on that but they apparently don't care if someone dies or gets hurt.
They finally decided at 10:30 to close the center. The plows were working in the parking lot to clear a path out for us. I helped some people get unstuck.
I decided the best path home was to get up on the highway. So I get by the Oklahoma Welcome Center and got stuck there. A couple of guys came by and helped to scoop me out and I was on my way again.
Just on the other side of the 161st St bridge I got stuck again. Keep in mind I didn't have a shovel with me, I only had the ice scraper and I had forgotten my deerskin gloves at home so moving the snow and ice from under the car was quite a chore.
After cleaning out from under the car and rocking it back and forth I was able to get away from the intersection but I couldn't get up on the highway as there was a jack-knifed semi and 3 SUVs blocking the way. There was a semi completely blocking Admiral so my exits south and east were completely gone, I would either have to go north or west. North had not been plowed so West on 44 seemed the only viable option.
As I was coming up to the turn off onto westbound 44 at 161st I noticed there was a snow plow behind me. I waved him past and was trying to get into the path behind him. I got stuck again. Luckily a couple of people from the call center were there and one had a snow shovel. They helped me to get pushed out and up on the highway I went.
The blizzard conditions kept the snow blowing across the road, I was having trouble seeing where I could go. When I got to the 44/244 split it was decision time again. 44 looked at least partially plowed, 244 looked like it hadn't been touched. I decide 44 was the best path but none of the exits seemed to be plowed, no way to get off the road. I stopped on the highway a couple of times to get some bearings.
Finally I saw that the ramp at 41st seemed fairly clear. I made it up it only to see that to turn left across the bridge was going to be impossible. I just kept seeming to make decisions that were taking me farther and farther away from home. There were people walking in the road. When I got down to Yale I decided it was the best place to turn around. So I was now heading back in the right direction but I still had to get back on 44 to head back home and the ramp looked to be blocked. When driving down it I saw a way through and was able to get back onto 44.
At one point I started to follow a pickup driving down the highway but they got off at 11th St. I was doing really well on 44 but after I crested the top of the hill past 161st St the snow was blowing in a whiteout condition. I lost track of the road and ended up in a snowdrift to the left of the path. There wasn't much traffic on the road then and a pickup driver asked if I had anywhere to hook onto to tow me out. He got me a tow rope and was able to get me out. I was able to make it to the bottom of the hill right by the 193rd St exit. There were semis backed up as far as the eye could see. There were reports that the old Hard Rock Casino roof had collapsed.
So close yet so far away...
I walked down to the QT and grabbed some gloves a couple of hot dogs and a purple NOS (loves me the purple) for lunch.
By the time that I got back to the car there was a OHP car stuck not more than 100 yards behind where I was. He indicated he didn't know when any help would be there.
I took a trip back down to the QT and stayed there to stay warm. The more I thought about being stuck there on the highway, the more and more pissed I became. If only I could get the car off the road then I could walk home or at least to the casino and get a room.
I made several calls and messaged a lot of friends to let them know how I was doing. One of them is Jeff who doesn't live too far away. He told me he could bring down a shovel and help me to get out. I decided to take him up on the offer.
Him and his son walked down with a shovel and a gas can. We got to work. Between me, Jeff and his son and an older truck driver we were able to finally get me into the snow plow trail that happened after I had gotten stuck.
I decided to risk making it home as I live right behind a firehouse and they would have paved those roads for the emergency vehicles. I was able to make it home but the driveway was one huge snowdrift. I tried to pull the car under the tree but didn't get very far under the tree but at least I could come inside if I needed to. It took another half an hour to get the car pulled up enough to make sure it was not in the road. I know there are some ruts in the yard now but I can fill them in in the spring.
So a trip that usually only takes me 10 minutes only took 8 and a half (not including the last half hour to move the car up more).
My lower pant's legs were completely snow covered and were stiff, they could have stood on there own. As I finally got each leg over the foot they fell to the floor with a thud.
Then after finally making it home I had to fix a shower that wouldn't stop running. All and all I would like to start over February and do some things different but we don't have a time machine. :(
Inspiration strikes
For those on Facebook, you might have already seen this but I am posting this to my other blogs now. If you would like to know what the inspiration for this was, send me an email and I will share it with you but I won't post it.
Cattle
Cows, together awake but yet they march in slumber
Unaware of their lives, they squander and blunder
Hold onto things they cannot shake
Addiction keeps them in their rut, their place
How can they go? They trudge in worn tracks
Time chips them away with it's wieldy ax
They moo and they stomp, graze and they chew
Step out of those tracks and they will beller at you
How dare you think different? Have you gone mad?!?!?
What could you be thinking? Why aren't you glad?
Just stay with the herd, don't roam by yourself
Things with the herd are always the same, we've only ourselves to blame
Lone cow or herd cow, you be the judge
Lone cow I am choosing to be, am & was
When herd cows look at you, they'll stare and they'll glare
Don't worry about them.... they aren't going nowhere
Cattle
Cows, together awake but yet they march in slumber
Unaware of their lives, they squander and blunder
Hold onto things they cannot shake
Addiction keeps them in their rut, their place
How can they go? They trudge in worn tracks
Time chips them away with it's wieldy ax
They moo and they stomp, graze and they chew
Step out of those tracks and they will beller at you
How dare you think different? Have you gone mad?!?!?
What could you be thinking? Why aren't you glad?
Just stay with the herd, don't roam by yourself
Things with the herd are always the same, we've only ourselves to blame
Lone cow or herd cow, you be the judge
Lone cow I am choosing to be, am & was
When herd cows look at you, they'll stare and they'll glare
Don't worry about them.... they aren't going nowhere
Sunday, September 19, 2010
General update - it has been awhile
As like usual, it has been forever and a day since my last postings. I guess it is time to post so I have something to look back on.
Band - Our guitarist in the band quit a few months ago. He said it was becoming too much of a job. We continue to look for either a guitar player or a drummer (as our current drummer can also play some guitar). Friday we were supposed to have someone come out and try out on drums. He called to let us know his son was in an auto accident but asked if we could move it to Saturday. We all agreed but he was a no call-no show last night. What a bummer.
Scooter - I had an accident on it about 2 months ago. I posted some pics on Facebook not long after it happened. It only got some scraps on the right side of it. I stayed off it for awhile so I could heal up but about a week later I was back to riding it. I have only a few miles and then I will have put on 2000 miles on it since I have gotten it. I really do love riding.
Work - Work has been.... well, work. They had mandatory overtime on the schedule for a long time now. They finally took it off this past week. I am glad as it felt like my soul was being ground up in a meat grinder.
Health - A few months ago I came to the realization that I needed to do something to get into shape. I just wasn't feeling well. I had a huge gut and needed to do something. I started working out to P90X and did ok with it but everytime that I am starting to make progress I seemed to have something happen that caused me to stop for a couple of weeks (bashing my head in a speaker, messing up my leg in the scooter accident). I decided to switch up to Beachbody's Insanity program. This program is intense and meant for those that are already in shape (which I am not). I do what I can in the program and then rest a little and jump right back in. I have been doing this program for 2 weeks now and feel a lot better. I plan on looping back through the first 2 weeks a couple of times so I can get more in shape before trying to continue in the program. I am also trying to change up my diet so I can eat better. Just need to make this change.
Band - Our guitarist in the band quit a few months ago. He said it was becoming too much of a job. We continue to look for either a guitar player or a drummer (as our current drummer can also play some guitar). Friday we were supposed to have someone come out and try out on drums. He called to let us know his son was in an auto accident but asked if we could move it to Saturday. We all agreed but he was a no call-no show last night. What a bummer.
Scooter - I had an accident on it about 2 months ago. I posted some pics on Facebook not long after it happened. It only got some scraps on the right side of it. I stayed off it for awhile so I could heal up but about a week later I was back to riding it. I have only a few miles and then I will have put on 2000 miles on it since I have gotten it. I really do love riding.
Work - Work has been.... well, work. They had mandatory overtime on the schedule for a long time now. They finally took it off this past week. I am glad as it felt like my soul was being ground up in a meat grinder.
Health - A few months ago I came to the realization that I needed to do something to get into shape. I just wasn't feeling well. I had a huge gut and needed to do something. I started working out to P90X and did ok with it but everytime that I am starting to make progress I seemed to have something happen that caused me to stop for a couple of weeks (bashing my head in a speaker, messing up my leg in the scooter accident). I decided to switch up to Beachbody's Insanity program. This program is intense and meant for those that are already in shape (which I am not). I do what I can in the program and then rest a little and jump right back in. I have been doing this program for 2 weeks now and feel a lot better. I plan on looping back through the first 2 weeks a couple of times so I can get more in shape before trying to continue in the program. I am also trying to change up my diet so I can eat better. Just need to make this change.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
900 miles, Papa Rouch and frustration
(To Proclaimer's "I Would Walk 500 Miles")
But I would drive 900 miles
And I would drive 900 more
Just to be that man to drive two thousand miles and so many more
(Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Undela Undela Undela la la)
(Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Undela Undela Undela la la)
Thursday morning I drove my scooter into work. When I was getting ready to leave that evening and I turned the key on I noticed that on the trip odometer that it was sitting at 900.0. My Yamaha has 3 odometers: the overall odometer and 2 trip odometers. One of the trip odometers I reset at every fill up (this is how I know I am getting 60 MPG) and the other I left to roll since the time that I got the scooter.
I have driven the scooter 900 miles now. Of course, the first 250 miles were the trip home. Kind of hard to believe that I have put 750 miles on it around the Tulsa area in less than a month. I have just enjoyed riding it so much. It has given me an excuse to get out of the house. I find that I am more curious about roads that I haven't been down before and when I have the time I have started to explore them. It is just so fun to ride.
Frustration: I went to try and get my license this last Wednesday. They wouldn't allow me to call ahead a drive test since I didn't have a permit already but I could try to get a drive test after taken the written test. I took the written test at 8:30 and once I passed it I asked to take a drive test and they told me they were all full up. They said I could come back and take the test next or so. Apparently in their office they can get time off easy, I only had that day off and getting another day off is maddening as they fill up quickly and weeks in advance. They told me I could take a permit but I couldn't come back to test again for 30 days. I told them to give me the permit as it would probably 30 days before I could get another day off to test.
I took Chris to go see Papa Roach at the Cain's on Tuesday night (which is why I had Wednesday). I had told him that if he got his driver's permit that I would take him. He passed his test on Monday. There were 2 groups that opened for Papa Roach. The first group was entitled Siva Addiction and they are from OKC. They had a pretty good sound. The second group was Mercy Street and they are from Tulsa. I thought they sucked. They are a speed metal band and I am not into that. I am objective enough to know they are good at that style of music. When they were on the stage they seemed to be presenting a theme and the sing kept trying to intro everything. I just wanted him to shut up and get off the stage. Siva played for about 35 minutes and these jokers played for 45 minutes to an hour.
Finally Papa Roach hit the stage and suddenly a mosh pit broke out in front of where Chris and I were standing. I have never completely understood the desire to push others around and be spun in all different directions and trying to knock people down while having spent money to come see this artist. Never been a fan of them. If you wanna beat the crap out of each other to music let me set up my sound system and a ring in a field and you can beat each other to death and pay me $20 a head.
Papa Roach did a really good job but they were only up there for about an hour and 15 minutes. For $28 a ticket I would have hoped for longer show but it was really high energy and I was dripping sweat from all the jumping I had done.
I am sure there are other things that I wanted to share but they escape me at the moment and I gotta run.
Later peeps...
But I would drive 900 miles
And I would drive 900 more
Just to be that man to drive two thousand miles and so many more
(Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Undela Undela Undela la la)
(Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Undela Undela Undela la la)
Thursday morning I drove my scooter into work. When I was getting ready to leave that evening and I turned the key on I noticed that on the trip odometer that it was sitting at 900.0. My Yamaha has 3 odometers: the overall odometer and 2 trip odometers. One of the trip odometers I reset at every fill up (this is how I know I am getting 60 MPG) and the other I left to roll since the time that I got the scooter.
I have driven the scooter 900 miles now. Of course, the first 250 miles were the trip home. Kind of hard to believe that I have put 750 miles on it around the Tulsa area in less than a month. I have just enjoyed riding it so much. It has given me an excuse to get out of the house. I find that I am more curious about roads that I haven't been down before and when I have the time I have started to explore them. It is just so fun to ride.
Frustration: I went to try and get my license this last Wednesday. They wouldn't allow me to call ahead a drive test since I didn't have a permit already but I could try to get a drive test after taken the written test. I took the written test at 8:30 and once I passed it I asked to take a drive test and they told me they were all full up. They said I could come back and take the test next or so. Apparently in their office they can get time off easy, I only had that day off and getting another day off is maddening as they fill up quickly and weeks in advance. They told me I could take a permit but I couldn't come back to test again for 30 days. I told them to give me the permit as it would probably 30 days before I could get another day off to test.
I took Chris to go see Papa Roach at the Cain's on Tuesday night (which is why I had Wednesday). I had told him that if he got his driver's permit that I would take him. He passed his test on Monday. There were 2 groups that opened for Papa Roach. The first group was entitled Siva Addiction and they are from OKC. They had a pretty good sound. The second group was Mercy Street and they are from Tulsa. I thought they sucked. They are a speed metal band and I am not into that. I am objective enough to know they are good at that style of music. When they were on the stage they seemed to be presenting a theme and the sing kept trying to intro everything. I just wanted him to shut up and get off the stage. Siva played for about 35 minutes and these jokers played for 45 minutes to an hour.
Finally Papa Roach hit the stage and suddenly a mosh pit broke out in front of where Chris and I were standing. I have never completely understood the desire to push others around and be spun in all different directions and trying to knock people down while having spent money to come see this artist. Never been a fan of them. If you wanna beat the crap out of each other to music let me set up my sound system and a ring in a field and you can beat each other to death and pay me $20 a head.
Papa Roach did a really good job but they were only up there for about an hour and 15 minutes. For $28 a ticket I would have hoped for longer show but it was really high energy and I was dripping sweat from all the jumping I had done.
I am sure there are other things that I wanted to share but they escape me at the moment and I gotta run.
Later peeps...
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Scooters and authors and books. OH MY!!!!!
Well, yesterday the family got up at 4 in the morning (after I only got 1 1/2 hours of sleep) to make a trip to Conway, Arkansas. There was a 2005 Yamaha Majesty there that I wanted to take a look at.
One of the things that we noticed in driving to Conway was that were a lot of trees lining the highways there in Arkansas. Also the roads in Arkansas were head and shoulders above what we have in Oklahoma, lots of smooth pavement in opposition to the pothole filled monstrosities that we call roads.
We got to Conway about 9:30 and went to find the area where the bike was at. There were some really nice homes in the area. Since I wasn't able to get in contact with the owner we decided to drive around in Conway to kill some time.
While driving around Karma saw a Hasting's store and I figured it would be a good place to kill some time. For those of you who don't know what a Hasting's is, it would be similar to a Border's or Barnes and Noble but it has books and movies.
We got in there and the staff seemed to be busy working on something. I ignored it and went to look at the books. Karma was noticing there were a lot of books by Charlaine Harris on the end caps and she heard the talk about preparing for an author's appearance. She asked the staff and found out that Charlaine was going to be in the store for autographs at 2PM.
Charlaine is one of Karma's favorite authors. She wrote the Sookie Stackhouse books which is the series that HBO's True Blood is based on. Talk about fate, Karma didn't even know that she was making an appearance anywhere that day. We obviously had to go back.
The owner called me with his address and advised that how would be home around noon he had gone camping the night before and wouldn't be back until then.
Around 11 we decided we needed to go to lunch as noon would be about the time to test the bike. We found a place called Pickles Gap and ate there. They was an antiques store there and a fudge shop. An old home type of feel. We really only had time to eat but I was able to get some catfish (it was good). If you are ever in the Conway/Little Rock area I would recommend it if you have some extra time.
By the time that lunch was finish we headed back toward the bike's location and rode around some more to kill some more time. The guy finally called me and we stopped back by to give the scooter a test ride. It was a blast. I decided to buy it.
Now we had to stop back by Hasting's so Karma could get her book signed. I filled up both the car and bike while Karma and Tempus stood in line. Once Karma was done, we stopped by a convenience store for some drinks.
From there we hopped up onto the highway. The Majesty's ride was really smooth and it got up to highway speed quickly. The posted speed for the highway is 70 and I was trying to keep it between 70 and 75 on the speedometer but there were a couple of times that I had it at 80 while not paying close attention. It wanted to run fast.
We had to stop a couple of times on the way back home. I had a couple of times that were a little scary on the way back. I almost pulled into a red sport's car on the way home as I didn't see him coming up on my right until the very last second. Another time there was a car that was merging onto the highway that I had to slow down to make sure to she didn't hit me.
Also, on the way home I had to stop and pay the tolls since I don't have a pikepass for the scooter. When I stopped at the Creek Turnpike northbound at about 31st street I tossed the 85 cents in it and it never registered anything. Even throwing an additional dollar in it never took it. I put over 2 dollars in the machine and it acknowledged nothing. Finally the guys behind me told me to just pull through. He was going to leave a note to let them know the machine was broken.
I was getting closer to home and when I went to take the turn off to get on 44 westbound I noticed that the bike was jostling around a little bit in the slow down. It became more prevalent as I pulled up my street. I pull it into the garage to find that the thread on the back tire had blown out. It looks like the tire might have had some dry rot in it, if nothing else it is another causality of Oklahoma roads.
There is a motorcycle shop right up the road that I will call tomorrow to see if they can get it in to replace the tire on it. Next thing is to get the insurance on it and transfer the title over.
*SIGH* I was hoping to show it off today to some friends and then tomorrow at work. Guess it will have to wait a couple of days.
Later peeps.
One of the things that we noticed in driving to Conway was that were a lot of trees lining the highways there in Arkansas. Also the roads in Arkansas were head and shoulders above what we have in Oklahoma, lots of smooth pavement in opposition to the pothole filled monstrosities that we call roads.
We got to Conway about 9:30 and went to find the area where the bike was at. There were some really nice homes in the area. Since I wasn't able to get in contact with the owner we decided to drive around in Conway to kill some time.
While driving around Karma saw a Hasting's store and I figured it would be a good place to kill some time. For those of you who don't know what a Hasting's is, it would be similar to a Border's or Barnes and Noble but it has books and movies.
We got in there and the staff seemed to be busy working on something. I ignored it and went to look at the books. Karma was noticing there were a lot of books by Charlaine Harris on the end caps and she heard the talk about preparing for an author's appearance. She asked the staff and found out that Charlaine was going to be in the store for autographs at 2PM.
Charlaine is one of Karma's favorite authors. She wrote the Sookie Stackhouse books which is the series that HBO's True Blood is based on. Talk about fate, Karma didn't even know that she was making an appearance anywhere that day. We obviously had to go back.
The owner called me with his address and advised that how would be home around noon he had gone camping the night before and wouldn't be back until then.
Around 11 we decided we needed to go to lunch as noon would be about the time to test the bike. We found a place called Pickles Gap and ate there. They was an antiques store there and a fudge shop. An old home type of feel. We really only had time to eat but I was able to get some catfish (it was good). If you are ever in the Conway/Little Rock area I would recommend it if you have some extra time.
By the time that lunch was finish we headed back toward the bike's location and rode around some more to kill some more time. The guy finally called me and we stopped back by to give the scooter a test ride. It was a blast. I decided to buy it.
Now we had to stop back by Hasting's so Karma could get her book signed. I filled up both the car and bike while Karma and Tempus stood in line. Once Karma was done, we stopped by a convenience store for some drinks.
From there we hopped up onto the highway. The Majesty's ride was really smooth and it got up to highway speed quickly. The posted speed for the highway is 70 and I was trying to keep it between 70 and 75 on the speedometer but there were a couple of times that I had it at 80 while not paying close attention. It wanted to run fast.
We had to stop a couple of times on the way back home. I had a couple of times that were a little scary on the way back. I almost pulled into a red sport's car on the way home as I didn't see him coming up on my right until the very last second. Another time there was a car that was merging onto the highway that I had to slow down to make sure to she didn't hit me.
Also, on the way home I had to stop and pay the tolls since I don't have a pikepass for the scooter. When I stopped at the Creek Turnpike northbound at about 31st street I tossed the 85 cents in it and it never registered anything. Even throwing an additional dollar in it never took it. I put over 2 dollars in the machine and it acknowledged nothing. Finally the guys behind me told me to just pull through. He was going to leave a note to let them know the machine was broken.
I was getting closer to home and when I went to take the turn off to get on 44 westbound I noticed that the bike was jostling around a little bit in the slow down. It became more prevalent as I pulled up my street. I pull it into the garage to find that the thread on the back tire had blown out. It looks like the tire might have had some dry rot in it, if nothing else it is another causality of Oklahoma roads.
There is a motorcycle shop right up the road that I will call tomorrow to see if they can get it in to replace the tire on it. Next thing is to get the insurance on it and transfer the title over.
*SIGH* I was hoping to show it off today to some friends and then tomorrow at work. Guess it will have to wait a couple of days.
Later peeps.
Monday, April 19, 2010
At last it is done….
Well, the change over from being management has finally taken place. I started training for Tech Support today. It was kind of funny to see how things have changed since I last took phone calls for them 4 years ago. I haven’t seen too much that has changed during that time yet, we are going to be going through that over the next 7 days.
It felt a little weird being in a training room. I haven’t had to be in one in the last year and a half. Being on a national team during that time meant I didn’t have to take any of the periodic trainings that reps have to go through.
I got into work a little early since the training class doesn’t start until 9. I stopped by my old desk and saw Judi. She asked me how I felt today. I told her I was still a little torn. I am a loyalist in a lot of things. I told her that I felt a little guilty about moving back as I felt that I was letting my old team down. However I knew that this was the better thing to do for myself in the long run. I told her that the further the taillights go off in the distance I better I will feel.
One of the last conversations that I had with Michelle (the woman who was taking over the UAT duties from me) she was telling me that her boss was telling her that the monthly builds they started this year would need to start to have test scripts written for them and coordination of testers. I just had to laugh at that and made me more thankful that I decided to make the move that I did. That conversation took away some of the guilt that I had on Friday.
This past weekend was fun. I had band practice on Saturday night. It was a strange one as things just seemed to go all wrong before we started. The drummer was plugging in the board and turning on the amps and one of the latest ones that we had started using decided that it was going to fry itself. We switched a couple of things around and were just about to start when the bass players suddenly made a sound that startled everyone and ended up blowing out one of his speakers. We had to push his sound out through the main speakers. The whole practice was loud. I think next time we will need to have everyone turn down. There is no need in me getting a headache due to the overall volume.
In other news, I want to get a 400cc scooter so bad I can taste it. I really want to get a Yamaha Majesty but most that want o sell their used ones are so proud of them it is ridiculous. I had seen one on a site for a motorcycle shop from Muskogee that had it for a pretty good price. The only problem is right now I don’t have a motorcycle endorsement. I think it is absolutely nuts that Oklahoma doesn’t have a permit for motorcycle driving. Basically, you have to break the law to prepare to test and be law abiding. That’s nuts.
One of my friends has a scooter that he is going to let me practice on; I hope to have a license endorsement within the next week or so.
Later peeps…..
It felt a little weird being in a training room. I haven’t had to be in one in the last year and a half. Being on a national team during that time meant I didn’t have to take any of the periodic trainings that reps have to go through.
I got into work a little early since the training class doesn’t start until 9. I stopped by my old desk and saw Judi. She asked me how I felt today. I told her I was still a little torn. I am a loyalist in a lot of things. I told her that I felt a little guilty about moving back as I felt that I was letting my old team down. However I knew that this was the better thing to do for myself in the long run. I told her that the further the taillights go off in the distance I better I will feel.
One of the last conversations that I had with Michelle (the woman who was taking over the UAT duties from me) she was telling me that her boss was telling her that the monthly builds they started this year would need to start to have test scripts written for them and coordination of testers. I just had to laugh at that and made me more thankful that I decided to make the move that I did. That conversation took away some of the guilt that I had on Friday.
This past weekend was fun. I had band practice on Saturday night. It was a strange one as things just seemed to go all wrong before we started. The drummer was plugging in the board and turning on the amps and one of the latest ones that we had started using decided that it was going to fry itself. We switched a couple of things around and were just about to start when the bass players suddenly made a sound that startled everyone and ended up blowing out one of his speakers. We had to push his sound out through the main speakers. The whole practice was loud. I think next time we will need to have everyone turn down. There is no need in me getting a headache due to the overall volume.
In other news, I want to get a 400cc scooter so bad I can taste it. I really want to get a Yamaha Majesty but most that want o sell their used ones are so proud of them it is ridiculous. I had seen one on a site for a motorcycle shop from Muskogee that had it for a pretty good price. The only problem is right now I don’t have a motorcycle endorsement. I think it is absolutely nuts that Oklahoma doesn’t have a permit for motorcycle driving. Basically, you have to break the law to prepare to test and be law abiding. That’s nuts.
One of my friends has a scooter that he is going to let me practice on; I hope to have a license endorsement within the next week or so.
Later peeps…..
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Springtime - BRRRRR!
It seems I am only getting in a blog post update once a month. So, here it goes:
I was able to take vacation a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to get out of the office. I actually turned off the email retrieval on my phone. I still checked it a couple of times a day but I didn't have it chiming at me all the time which was nice. Since I am transitioning away from my job there are not as many emails as there used to be but when they happen it seems to come in waves.
Basically the only thing that I am doing in my job now is training the gal who is taking over the (UAT) product testing. The other part of the job is already being done by Kingsley (a contract worker that was with us last year). I find myself in a lot of cases twiddling my thumbs at my desk. I shouldn't really do the work as Michelle (the replacement) should be doing it and I don't want to work on anything over and above (I believe I have already served my time). I have been mainly forcing myself to go into the office for work as I don't want to get out of the habit as I have to be there as a CSR.
Bryan (my boss) keeps giving me a hard time about wanting to move back but then always tell me that I can change my mind. I have told him repeatedly that I will not be staying. It appears at this point that I will be starting in the new hire class on May 3rd barring any kind of a change.
Today is the last day of Spring Break. Karma took the kids over to visit relatives in NW Oklahoma for a couple of days. It was nice to have the house to myself for a few days. I think I will have to use the term Spring Break loosely. The first part of the week was really nice. Friday it got up to 71 degrees and then Saturday was the first official day of Spring and it snowed almost all day. The great news was that the ground is really warm so there is not as much piled up as there would have been otherwise. It is supposed to be in the mid 50s tomorrow so I figure most if not all of the snow will be gone by tomorrow night. The great time about this snow is that it is slowly seeping moisture into the ground. This should really help things out.
This past Thursday I went over to Rhys and Indi's for a little bit. I got to see their new scooters. Indi let me take her's out for a test spin as I have wanted one for several years now. I had never ridden one before so Rhys gave me a quick rundown of the controls. I took it to the end of the block and then decided that I wanted to try and take it around the block for a spin.
Now the scooter was a 150cc model and I am a hefty guy (last doctor's visit had me at 252 lbs), I was wondering how well this machine would accelerate with someone my size on it. Coming up the next block I have gotten maybe a quarter of the way up the block and decided to give it some gas (I turned the throttle a little and it really picked up speed). My mind was telling me the stop sign would be up soon and told me I might be going too fast and I looked down at the speedometer, I was going 35 MPH. I had to laugh at myself. Rhys was explaining that since I wasn't surrounded by metal and glass that I would seem faster. He said that you get more used to it over time.
He said the place where he got it was supposed to have more of those models out on Saturday but it was snowing or else I would have gone down. Looks like I will have to look at this sometime this next week when the weather is nicer.
Welp, better finish eating lunch. Later peeps.
I was able to take vacation a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to get out of the office. I actually turned off the email retrieval on my phone. I still checked it a couple of times a day but I didn't have it chiming at me all the time which was nice. Since I am transitioning away from my job there are not as many emails as there used to be but when they happen it seems to come in waves.
Basically the only thing that I am doing in my job now is training the gal who is taking over the (UAT) product testing. The other part of the job is already being done by Kingsley (a contract worker that was with us last year). I find myself in a lot of cases twiddling my thumbs at my desk. I shouldn't really do the work as Michelle (the replacement) should be doing it and I don't want to work on anything over and above (I believe I have already served my time). I have been mainly forcing myself to go into the office for work as I don't want to get out of the habit as I have to be there as a CSR.
Bryan (my boss) keeps giving me a hard time about wanting to move back but then always tell me that I can change my mind. I have told him repeatedly that I will not be staying. It appears at this point that I will be starting in the new hire class on May 3rd barring any kind of a change.
Today is the last day of Spring Break. Karma took the kids over to visit relatives in NW Oklahoma for a couple of days. It was nice to have the house to myself for a few days. I think I will have to use the term Spring Break loosely. The first part of the week was really nice. Friday it got up to 71 degrees and then Saturday was the first official day of Spring and it snowed almost all day. The great news was that the ground is really warm so there is not as much piled up as there would have been otherwise. It is supposed to be in the mid 50s tomorrow so I figure most if not all of the snow will be gone by tomorrow night. The great time about this snow is that it is slowly seeping moisture into the ground. This should really help things out.
This past Thursday I went over to Rhys and Indi's for a little bit. I got to see their new scooters. Indi let me take her's out for a test spin as I have wanted one for several years now. I had never ridden one before so Rhys gave me a quick rundown of the controls. I took it to the end of the block and then decided that I wanted to try and take it around the block for a spin.
Now the scooter was a 150cc model and I am a hefty guy (last doctor's visit had me at 252 lbs), I was wondering how well this machine would accelerate with someone my size on it. Coming up the next block I have gotten maybe a quarter of the way up the block and decided to give it some gas (I turned the throttle a little and it really picked up speed). My mind was telling me the stop sign would be up soon and told me I might be going too fast and I looked down at the speedometer, I was going 35 MPH. I had to laugh at myself. Rhys was explaining that since I wasn't surrounded by metal and glass that I would seem faster. He said that you get more used to it over time.
He said the place where he got it was supposed to have more of those models out on Saturday but it was snowing or else I would have gone down. Looks like I will have to look at this sometime this next week when the weather is nicer.
Welp, better finish eating lunch. Later peeps.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Porter and Doelling and laughter, OH MY!!!
Well, once again it has been awhile since I have updated the ol' blog. Valentines Day was last week and I took Karma out to the Cheesecake Factory as we had never been before. It was ok. The food was good but not outstanding and the prices were a little high. The desserts though is where they shine.
I also took her out to the comedy club. I think it is sad when the second comedian is better than the headliner and this was the case. Karma was looking at the upcoming comics and saw that Chris Porter was the following week. For those of you who might not know, Chris was on the last season of Last Comic Standing on NBC. He didn't win but he was a finalist and was pretty funny.
Karma really wanted to see him so we went Friday night. We went to Famous Dave's BBQ for dinner. We had never been there before and I really liked it. I got the "Full Slab" of ribs and ended up bringing some home. It was really tasty.
At the club the MC was a guy named Terry Vonn (I think) and he was ok. He needs to do a little work on his jokes and timing but he was head and shoulders above the MC of the week before. The feature was a comic by the name of John Doelling and he was hilarious. If anyone has an opportunity to see then you should. He was hilarious.
The headliner, Chris Porter, did an excellent job (but I figured he would). After the show he was selling his DVD and CD for $20. Karma stopped by and got a copy of it from him. We haven't watched it yet but I am sure it will be good. By the end of the show on Friday my cheeks were hurting such much from laughing so hard.
Welp, better finish up. The Olympics are on and I have a build to go into work from tomorrow. It will be here too soon.
I also took her out to the comedy club. I think it is sad when the second comedian is better than the headliner and this was the case. Karma was looking at the upcoming comics and saw that Chris Porter was the following week. For those of you who might not know, Chris was on the last season of Last Comic Standing on NBC. He didn't win but he was a finalist and was pretty funny.
Karma really wanted to see him so we went Friday night. We went to Famous Dave's BBQ for dinner. We had never been there before and I really liked it. I got the "Full Slab" of ribs and ended up bringing some home. It was really tasty.
At the club the MC was a guy named Terry Vonn (I think) and he was ok. He needs to do a little work on his jokes and timing but he was head and shoulders above the MC of the week before. The feature was a comic by the name of John Doelling and he was hilarious. If anyone has an opportunity to see then you should. He was hilarious.
The headliner, Chris Porter, did an excellent job (but I figured he would). After the show he was selling his DVD and CD for $20. Karma stopped by and got a copy of it from him. We haven't watched it yet but I am sure it will be good. By the end of the show on Friday my cheeks were hurting such much from laughing so hard.
Welp, better finish up. The Olympics are on and I have a build to go into work from tomorrow. It will be here too soon.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
To Boldly Go Where Others Have Gone Before..... (well I am sure that is the case)
**Warning this post is long and rambly as I haven't posted anything of length since October of last year, just little posts in Facebook**
Well, I did something that I never would have thought I would have a year and a half ago. I called my boss the other night and told him that I wanted to go back to being a rep at the call center.
I took my CS Specialist (management) position in September 2008 and was pretty excited about it. I was going to be working again with a good friend (Indi) and getting away from the call center where they were changing my job priorities daily. I was working as Production Support lead for the Clarify application (customer service software) I have been working with for 7 years (it wasn't there the first 2 years I worked there). Indi was in charge of testing new builds for the application and worked in the same center with me.
Things went ok, I struggled some to do a good job in my new position. Production Support can be like banging a head repeatedly against a brick wall. Indi was going to leave in April of 09 to travel the planet with her husband (Rhys) and they were supposed to be able to hire someone to take her place. Since the economy took a nosedive and AT&T was cutting back positions they decided they were not going to replace Indi with another person. We were able to get a couple of contract workers to fill in and they moved me over to Indi's position. There were supposed to be 4 builds that took place after Indi left in 09 but somehow the first 2 and last 2 got combined (making them large and hard to maintain control over).
I tried as hard as I could to stay on top of things and ended up in October and November putting in 12 and 14 hours in each day to make sure that I stayed on top of it. This happened on the weekdays for 6 weeks, usually I could get some time in on the weekend to get in some rest but there were some weekends in there that I worked an additional 20 hours. During this time Karma kept telling me that I needed to find another job, I am kind of a workaholic and she was really getting concerned over my health. I was watching the news and they said the unemployment rate was 10.2% for our area. I might be able to find another job but it would be starting out at square one all over again and there would be no guarantee that it would be there for very long after I had gotten it. The last build of the year went in on December 6th and I was able to get in the majority of my vacation after that.
I told Karma during the stretch of 12 and 14 hour days that I would look over my job position at the end of January. I would evaluate how things looked for the future and see if I wanted to continue on with the position and if the answer was yes then I would evaluate again every few months. Part of this was to get her to back off as it was only adding to my stress level to think of that and still put in all of my time. She wasn't hounding me about it but things had a tendency to run over repeated in my head during this timeframe as I would analyze and re-analyze things.
I fought a bout with shingles in December. I had never had them before and would like to never have them again, mainly they are brought on by stress and stress is what I had had for a long time. I also had to go to the doctor again the day before Christmas for something else (I won't go into the details on that one to spare you, lol). 2 times to the doctor in a month was something that I hadn't done in forever.
During my time off at the end of December I had a lot of time on my hands to think about my job. During this time I really started to think about how the job was a big stresser and how to make some changes. Lord knows that I can't change the job, I either have to change my perception of the job or change jobs but what could I change to?
1. Did I want to apply outside of the company? The economy is still bad so I would have to worry about being in the same pool as people that have been out of work for 6 months or more. It would mean starting over at a new place, do I want to do that?
2. I could apply for another management job in the company but I haven't finished my training on that as live classes have been short in coming. Also it could be a "out of the frying pan and into the fire" situation where I would end up with worse than what I have.
3. I could try to move back to taking calls in the call center. It would mean demoting myself to do it. I would give up a few things from my present job but I would know that I would be off by a specific time of the day and allocate time to spend working on personal things like working out, studying for a possible different career and spending time with family and friends.
I decided on option 3 but I am kind of a loyalist. One thing that proved that I was making the right decision was that they changed around my duties (due to losing others) to include stuff that basically doubled or tripled my work load. I don't want to leave my boss (Bryan) in the lurch. We have builds coming up in February and June. I told him that I would be willing to stay on until July so a replacement can be found and trained (with my help).
I was really dreading calling Bryan to tell him all of this. I wasn't quite sure how he would take it. He actually took it a lot better than I was imagining. I called him Thursday evening and after giving him the explanation as to why I wanted to move back he said that he understood. I think they are supposed to make an attempt to save you but the only thing that he really did was say that the last 3 months were crazy and not typical of how the work normally is. He did also ask if this was truly what I wanted. My boss indicated he would have to talk with his manager but that if I thought that was the best career path for me then they would not stand in my way of making that happen. After I told him, I felt a little guilty as it still seems a little disloyal even though I have to look out for me and my family.
The next day I was talking with Bryan and he spoke with his boss, John. He said that John was surprised that I wanted to leave and thought that I would "go the distance". Bryan indicated that they might have to move me over before July though. He said he wasn't sure at this point if they would allow for both me and my replacement to be there at the same time due to budget constraints. Someone had told me that if they let me go before the second week of March then they wouldn't have to pay me any bonus but I don't know if that is true or not. Since it was not something that I was planning on I don't really know that I will be missing it. I think that the change of responsibilities will be nice. At least after I leave work I won't have to worry about working late into the evening during UATs or coming in for testing on the weekends (which was only a couple times a year but still it will be nice).
There will be a reduction in pay from what I make now but I should be going back in at top pay for a CSR and keeping my seniority (which since I have been there almost 9 years should mean a good shift). Ultimately I want to go back to working in Tech Support, I always liked working in that group but had to move when they combined the upstairs and downstairs groups and restricted the early shifts so I had to come in later. There are a lot more positions on the team now and I figure I should get a really good shift. I should then be able to plan an outside life easier then.
I guess the best way to put it would be in a list of the things that I will gain or lose and whether they matter:
Gain:
Stable shift (know when I would go in and leave everyday)
Lots of support (others around to help with answers if I don't have them)
Ability to plan outside activities due to the stable shift
Better health care package
Less stress
Getting paid every other Friday instead of twice a month (comes in handy on the months where you have 3 Fridays)
Loss:
Laptop and VPN connection (which I really only need to perform my present job)
Free home phone (it wasn't that bad to pay for anyway)
Ability to work from home (in the year plus I have been in the job I have worked solely from home about 5 times, so not a big loss)
Some flexibility in start time (if I didn't have a meeting or call scheduled early in the morning)
Ability to run errands if not on calls (I have done this only a few times as well but will miss this one but not overly)
Reduction in pay (it won't be overly huge but I am sure it will have an impact, Karma indicated my peace of mind is more important and I agree. If nothing else I can get a part time job to help fill in the gap)
I am sure there are many other adjustments that will take place as well but I either haven't thought of them or just didn't mention them here. I know that some customers are tough to deal with but I don't think it will be that hard to get back in the swing of things. Just knowing that I when my shift ends then my work concerns are over for the day is HUGE. Overall I think it will be the best thing for me.
If you have made it all the way through my ramblings and still have a brain then I congratulate you and would like to offer you an award (although I don't have any). Just thanks for hanging in there with me.
Well, I did something that I never would have thought I would have a year and a half ago. I called my boss the other night and told him that I wanted to go back to being a rep at the call center.
I took my CS Specialist (management) position in September 2008 and was pretty excited about it. I was going to be working again with a good friend (Indi) and getting away from the call center where they were changing my job priorities daily. I was working as Production Support lead for the Clarify application (customer service software) I have been working with for 7 years (it wasn't there the first 2 years I worked there). Indi was in charge of testing new builds for the application and worked in the same center with me.
Things went ok, I struggled some to do a good job in my new position. Production Support can be like banging a head repeatedly against a brick wall. Indi was going to leave in April of 09 to travel the planet with her husband (Rhys) and they were supposed to be able to hire someone to take her place. Since the economy took a nosedive and AT&T was cutting back positions they decided they were not going to replace Indi with another person. We were able to get a couple of contract workers to fill in and they moved me over to Indi's position. There were supposed to be 4 builds that took place after Indi left in 09 but somehow the first 2 and last 2 got combined (making them large and hard to maintain control over).
I tried as hard as I could to stay on top of things and ended up in October and November putting in 12 and 14 hours in each day to make sure that I stayed on top of it. This happened on the weekdays for 6 weeks, usually I could get some time in on the weekend to get in some rest but there were some weekends in there that I worked an additional 20 hours. During this time Karma kept telling me that I needed to find another job, I am kind of a workaholic and she was really getting concerned over my health. I was watching the news and they said the unemployment rate was 10.2% for our area. I might be able to find another job but it would be starting out at square one all over again and there would be no guarantee that it would be there for very long after I had gotten it. The last build of the year went in on December 6th and I was able to get in the majority of my vacation after that.
I told Karma during the stretch of 12 and 14 hour days that I would look over my job position at the end of January. I would evaluate how things looked for the future and see if I wanted to continue on with the position and if the answer was yes then I would evaluate again every few months. Part of this was to get her to back off as it was only adding to my stress level to think of that and still put in all of my time. She wasn't hounding me about it but things had a tendency to run over repeated in my head during this timeframe as I would analyze and re-analyze things.
I fought a bout with shingles in December. I had never had them before and would like to never have them again, mainly they are brought on by stress and stress is what I had had for a long time. I also had to go to the doctor again the day before Christmas for something else (I won't go into the details on that one to spare you, lol). 2 times to the doctor in a month was something that I hadn't done in forever.
During my time off at the end of December I had a lot of time on my hands to think about my job. During this time I really started to think about how the job was a big stresser and how to make some changes. Lord knows that I can't change the job, I either have to change my perception of the job or change jobs but what could I change to?
1. Did I want to apply outside of the company? The economy is still bad so I would have to worry about being in the same pool as people that have been out of work for 6 months or more. It would mean starting over at a new place, do I want to do that?
2. I could apply for another management job in the company but I haven't finished my training on that as live classes have been short in coming. Also it could be a "out of the frying pan and into the fire" situation where I would end up with worse than what I have.
3. I could try to move back to taking calls in the call center. It would mean demoting myself to do it. I would give up a few things from my present job but I would know that I would be off by a specific time of the day and allocate time to spend working on personal things like working out, studying for a possible different career and spending time with family and friends.
I decided on option 3 but I am kind of a loyalist. One thing that proved that I was making the right decision was that they changed around my duties (due to losing others) to include stuff that basically doubled or tripled my work load. I don't want to leave my boss (Bryan) in the lurch. We have builds coming up in February and June. I told him that I would be willing to stay on until July so a replacement can be found and trained (with my help).
I was really dreading calling Bryan to tell him all of this. I wasn't quite sure how he would take it. He actually took it a lot better than I was imagining. I called him Thursday evening and after giving him the explanation as to why I wanted to move back he said that he understood. I think they are supposed to make an attempt to save you but the only thing that he really did was say that the last 3 months were crazy and not typical of how the work normally is. He did also ask if this was truly what I wanted. My boss indicated he would have to talk with his manager but that if I thought that was the best career path for me then they would not stand in my way of making that happen. After I told him, I felt a little guilty as it still seems a little disloyal even though I have to look out for me and my family.
The next day I was talking with Bryan and he spoke with his boss, John. He said that John was surprised that I wanted to leave and thought that I would "go the distance". Bryan indicated that they might have to move me over before July though. He said he wasn't sure at this point if they would allow for both me and my replacement to be there at the same time due to budget constraints. Someone had told me that if they let me go before the second week of March then they wouldn't have to pay me any bonus but I don't know if that is true or not. Since it was not something that I was planning on I don't really know that I will be missing it. I think that the change of responsibilities will be nice. At least after I leave work I won't have to worry about working late into the evening during UATs or coming in for testing on the weekends (which was only a couple times a year but still it will be nice).
There will be a reduction in pay from what I make now but I should be going back in at top pay for a CSR and keeping my seniority (which since I have been there almost 9 years should mean a good shift). Ultimately I want to go back to working in Tech Support, I always liked working in that group but had to move when they combined the upstairs and downstairs groups and restricted the early shifts so I had to come in later. There are a lot more positions on the team now and I figure I should get a really good shift. I should then be able to plan an outside life easier then.
I guess the best way to put it would be in a list of the things that I will gain or lose and whether they matter:
Gain:
Stable shift (know when I would go in and leave everyday)
Lots of support (others around to help with answers if I don't have them)
Ability to plan outside activities due to the stable shift
Better health care package
Less stress
Getting paid every other Friday instead of twice a month (comes in handy on the months where you have 3 Fridays)
Loss:
Laptop and VPN connection (which I really only need to perform my present job)
Free home phone (it wasn't that bad to pay for anyway)
Ability to work from home (in the year plus I have been in the job I have worked solely from home about 5 times, so not a big loss)
Some flexibility in start time (if I didn't have a meeting or call scheduled early in the morning)
Ability to run errands if not on calls (I have done this only a few times as well but will miss this one but not overly)
Reduction in pay (it won't be overly huge but I am sure it will have an impact, Karma indicated my peace of mind is more important and I agree. If nothing else I can get a part time job to help fill in the gap)
I am sure there are many other adjustments that will take place as well but I either haven't thought of them or just didn't mention them here. I know that some customers are tough to deal with but I don't think it will be that hard to get back in the swing of things. Just knowing that I when my shift ends then my work concerns are over for the day is HUGE. Overall I think it will be the best thing for me.
If you have made it all the way through my ramblings and still have a brain then I congratulate you and would like to offer you an award (although I don't have any). Just thanks for hanging in there with me.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Joined Facebook and just haven't posted in forever
**WARNING: This blog is a little rambling**
I have wayyyy too many blogs on the internet. Well, I say too many but I actually have 3 (LiveJournal, MySpace, and Blogger).
I started my blogging adventures on LiveJournal after encouragement from people at work that this was the place to be. So I started one up and occasionally posting about my day, future plans and thoughts that I just couldn't seem to get rid of and wanted to share. It was usually fun as I got things off of my chest.
Slowly I noticed that people just weren't posting like they had used to. In talking with some of my LiveJournal friends they indicated that they had switched over to MySpace. This was the place to be. I resisted the urge for a long time to add another online presence for myself. Eventually I got tired of not being able to catch up with my friends so I made the plunge into MySpace.
MySpace was a big step up from LiveJournal. You could put a picture as your background, share music with the built in music player, etc, etc. I liked MySpace but sometimes you want to post something for just yourself and MySpace kind of failed in this area. You could post something to just your friends or yourself but they always required a title and the title was visible to anyone. I would have lots of people asking why they were not included in the group that could see the post. This irked me. I was posting to both and decided to continue to do so unless I was wanting to create a private post (which I am not even sure that I have done since). Another problem that popped up on MySpace was the apps that everyone wanted you to join, to me they were just a lot of noise.
Once again another site that I signed up for to keep up with my friends was once again seeing a drop off in activities. In speaking with friends they once again informed that I was behind the curve, everyone was moving to Facebook.
I have liked Facebook. It allows me to automagically pull my posting over to it so I don't have to copy and paste my postings to it. I have been able to find and talk to people that in some cases I haven't seen in 20 years. I have loved it. The built in chat has been great. Once again though the apps are creeping in on it like they were on MySpace. If I had more time I am sure that I would take advantage of a lot of them but I don't seem to have much spare time anymore. They have come out with a Facebook Classic that hooks to the same stuff without some of the extra add ons, I might give that a try.
Facebook has a wall that you can post what you are thinking now (status). I guess Twitter is kind of the same but I don't need to know everything that a person does. I make my small update through there. Just haven't fealt much like posting a large blog until now.
Now the next question is, where will people be moving to next? I kind of like it here on Facebook. Let's try to stay put people.
Other than the rant above, work has had me hopping. We just got done with 3 weeks of testing for the new client which has now been push to be deployed the first Sunday of December. I will have to continue testing over the next several weeks. This blows up some of my plans for vacation in mid and late November and early December but I think the rest of it will be ok. I really need a vacation, like no one can truly understand.
I have wayyyy too many blogs on the internet. Well, I say too many but I actually have 3 (LiveJournal, MySpace, and Blogger).
I started my blogging adventures on LiveJournal after encouragement from people at work that this was the place to be. So I started one up and occasionally posting about my day, future plans and thoughts that I just couldn't seem to get rid of and wanted to share. It was usually fun as I got things off of my chest.
Slowly I noticed that people just weren't posting like they had used to. In talking with some of my LiveJournal friends they indicated that they had switched over to MySpace. This was the place to be. I resisted the urge for a long time to add another online presence for myself. Eventually I got tired of not being able to catch up with my friends so I made the plunge into MySpace.
MySpace was a big step up from LiveJournal. You could put a picture as your background, share music with the built in music player, etc, etc. I liked MySpace but sometimes you want to post something for just yourself and MySpace kind of failed in this area. You could post something to just your friends or yourself but they always required a title and the title was visible to anyone. I would have lots of people asking why they were not included in the group that could see the post. This irked me. I was posting to both and decided to continue to do so unless I was wanting to create a private post (which I am not even sure that I have done since). Another problem that popped up on MySpace was the apps that everyone wanted you to join, to me they were just a lot of noise.
Once again another site that I signed up for to keep up with my friends was once again seeing a drop off in activities. In speaking with friends they once again informed that I was behind the curve, everyone was moving to Facebook.
I have liked Facebook. It allows me to automagically pull my posting over to it so I don't have to copy and paste my postings to it. I have been able to find and talk to people that in some cases I haven't seen in 20 years. I have loved it. The built in chat has been great. Once again though the apps are creeping in on it like they were on MySpace. If I had more time I am sure that I would take advantage of a lot of them but I don't seem to have much spare time anymore. They have come out with a Facebook Classic that hooks to the same stuff without some of the extra add ons, I might give that a try.
Facebook has a wall that you can post what you are thinking now (status). I guess Twitter is kind of the same but I don't need to know everything that a person does. I make my small update through there. Just haven't fealt much like posting a large blog until now.
Now the next question is, where will people be moving to next? I kind of like it here on Facebook. Let's try to stay put people.
Other than the rant above, work has had me hopping. We just got done with 3 weeks of testing for the new client which has now been push to be deployed the first Sunday of December. I will have to continue testing over the next several weeks. This blows up some of my plans for vacation in mid and late November and early December but I think the rest of it will be ok. I really need a vacation, like no one can truly understand.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Vacation time
Wow, it has been 15 days since my last post. This means that I am getting better at that time between posts but I seem to have lost the will to post like I thought I would have when I first started.
I went through my first build last weekend and my boss' boss was kind enough to let me have from Wednesday through Friday off. It gave me a nice little break from the stress and non-stop pressure that had been going on. However I still didn't completely get away from it all, perhaps if I had turned off my cell phone then I would have but there are some that need that outside of work to get in contact with me.
Wednesday I sat around all day and played video games. Thursday Karma was off work as well and wanted to go out shopping and hang out with the kids. Friday we went out to see the new Harry Potter movie.
Friday was originally supposed to be the first day that Potter was supposed to be released. Karma was trying to get a bunch of people from work to go out to see it but only one person came out and watched it with us. During the movie I had to keep shushing Karma. She kept talking with her friend during the movie and whenever there was a scene that was scary that was in the book coming up she would look at me and spoil the moment. I told her I couldn't watch any more of the Harry Potter movies with her sitting beside me.
I think she will sit about 2 rows behind me the next time with Chris sitting next to her so I can watch the movie in peace. This will be my hope for the next one or I won't go see the last one with the family.
Saturday was kind of a chill day. Spent the majority of the day at the house and relaxed. I did go to Guitar Center and got me some ear plugs so I could get on the stage and practice with the guys. I have have been practicing on the floor for the most part. Live music gives a much different experience than karoake and I have been missing that.
Today, I have been kind of bummed. I know that I have have to go back to work tomorrow and that has pretty much put a damper on my day. I know that I have about 400 emails to go through tomorrow when I get into the office. I have had a few beers today to try and relax and sleeping should be good this evening.
Later peeps.....
I went through my first build last weekend and my boss' boss was kind enough to let me have from Wednesday through Friday off. It gave me a nice little break from the stress and non-stop pressure that had been going on. However I still didn't completely get away from it all, perhaps if I had turned off my cell phone then I would have but there are some that need that outside of work to get in contact with me.
Wednesday I sat around all day and played video games. Thursday Karma was off work as well and wanted to go out shopping and hang out with the kids. Friday we went out to see the new Harry Potter movie.
Friday was originally supposed to be the first day that Potter was supposed to be released. Karma was trying to get a bunch of people from work to go out to see it but only one person came out and watched it with us. During the movie I had to keep shushing Karma. She kept talking with her friend during the movie and whenever there was a scene that was scary that was in the book coming up she would look at me and spoil the moment. I told her I couldn't watch any more of the Harry Potter movies with her sitting beside me.
I think she will sit about 2 rows behind me the next time with Chris sitting next to her so I can watch the movie in peace. This will be my hope for the next one or I won't go see the last one with the family.
Saturday was kind of a chill day. Spent the majority of the day at the house and relaxed. I did go to Guitar Center and got me some ear plugs so I could get on the stage and practice with the guys. I have have been practicing on the floor for the most part. Live music gives a much different experience than karoake and I have been missing that.
Today, I have been kind of bummed. I know that I have have to go back to work tomorrow and that has pretty much put a damper on my day. I know that I have about 400 emails to go through tomorrow when I get into the office. I have had a few beers today to try and relax and sleeping should be good this evening.
Later peeps.....
Saturday, July 4, 2009
One lucky SOG (Son Of a Gun)
Wow, it really has been awhile since I made my last post. Been almost 2 months....
In my last post I stated that it was time to completely replace the AC unit. Actually we were able to get a different compressor put into it and it has run like a champ. Hopefully it is last good for several years. Saved over a thousand dollars in the process.
Was driving home from band practice several week ago and was taking one of the guitarist's home and he advised to take the turnpike instead of driving through Claremore. He told me that you are more likely to get pulled over. I told him I wasn't worried about it. On the way out of Claremore I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a cop behind me. I pulled over into the right hand lane and slowly he pulling up by me in the left hand lane and then about the moment he was even with my car he hit his brakes and pulled behind me and turned on his lights. (Thank God I didn't have a beer at band practice.) He asked for my license and insurance, I told him that my insurance was at home on kitchen table. He asked if I had an old one in the car. I was looking for it but couldn't seem to find one but I did have a letter from the insurance company with the car's information on it. Keep in mind that Mike (my guitarist/passenger) smelled like a brewery as he had drank a lot at practice. The cop told me that my tag light was out, I asked if I could look at it (to get him away from Mike). I went back to look and the cop told me it would be a $209 ticket on the tag light. I was in complete shock and let the officer know that. He went to run my license and told me to get back in my car. He came back up 5 minutes later and gave me my letter and license and told me he was going to let me off with a warning (the no insurance verification fee was $209 as well) and a piece of advice, "I suggest you go home right now and get your insurance card off of your kitchen table right now before you drop your friend off." Saved $419.
A few weeks back my folks were coming back from a trip to Tunica. They planned on spending the night. I was in luck, my last couple of calls got moved to earlier in the day and I was able to get off early. I came home to straighten up the house and turn the temperature down on the AC to cool the house off a little more (we usually have it set to 79 degrees for the afternoon). I started vacuuming the house and when I was done I was sweating a lot. I didn't feel the house getting any cooler and when I looked at the thermostat it actually had gone up a degree. I went outside to check the unit and I could hear it humming but the fan wasn't spinning. It was about that time that my folks showed up. I told them what was going on and that they might not want to spend the night. They decided to stay awhile and I called our AC guy. I told him what was going on and he said it sounded like one of fuses had gone out on the unit. I sent out and took out the fuses and we ran to Lowes and bought a new set of heavy duty ones. I came back and put them in and the unit kicked on. Total cost about $12, I saved at least $69 for the service visit.
In my last post I stated that it was time to completely replace the AC unit. Actually we were able to get a different compressor put into it and it has run like a champ. Hopefully it is last good for several years. Saved over a thousand dollars in the process.
Was driving home from band practice several week ago and was taking one of the guitarist's home and he advised to take the turnpike instead of driving through Claremore. He told me that you are more likely to get pulled over. I told him I wasn't worried about it. On the way out of Claremore I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a cop behind me. I pulled over into the right hand lane and slowly he pulling up by me in the left hand lane and then about the moment he was even with my car he hit his brakes and pulled behind me and turned on his lights. (Thank God I didn't have a beer at band practice.) He asked for my license and insurance, I told him that my insurance was at home on kitchen table. He asked if I had an old one in the car. I was looking for it but couldn't seem to find one but I did have a letter from the insurance company with the car's information on it. Keep in mind that Mike (my guitarist/passenger) smelled like a brewery as he had drank a lot at practice. The cop told me that my tag light was out, I asked if I could look at it (to get him away from Mike). I went back to look and the cop told me it would be a $209 ticket on the tag light. I was in complete shock and let the officer know that. He went to run my license and told me to get back in my car. He came back up 5 minutes later and gave me my letter and license and told me he was going to let me off with a warning (the no insurance verification fee was $209 as well) and a piece of advice, "I suggest you go home right now and get your insurance card off of your kitchen table right now before you drop your friend off." Saved $419.
A few weeks back my folks were coming back from a trip to Tunica. They planned on spending the night. I was in luck, my last couple of calls got moved to earlier in the day and I was able to get off early. I came home to straighten up the house and turn the temperature down on the AC to cool the house off a little more (we usually have it set to 79 degrees for the afternoon). I started vacuuming the house and when I was done I was sweating a lot. I didn't feel the house getting any cooler and when I looked at the thermostat it actually had gone up a degree. I went outside to check the unit and I could hear it humming but the fan wasn't spinning. It was about that time that my folks showed up. I told them what was going on and that they might not want to spend the night. They decided to stay awhile and I called our AC guy. I told him what was going on and he said it sounded like one of fuses had gone out on the unit. I sent out and took out the fuses and we ran to Lowes and bought a new set of heavy duty ones. I came back and put them in and the unit kicked on. Total cost about $12, I saved at least $69 for the service visit.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Other weekend doin's
Saturday my AC guy came over to look at our unit which hasn't worked since the end of last fall. He checked the first fuse and it was out when he checked the second fuse and saw that it was out then he knew that spelled big trouble. There was a short in the system. He ran through the progressions and ended up where he thought the problem was. There was a short in the compressor that caused it to blow out. Time to completely replace the system, it's going to cost $2500 to replace it. That sucks but being without AC would be even worse.
Friday I finally got my hair cut. Roy is once again sans-ponytail. I only let a few people at work last week know that I was going to cut it. Most people were in shock. It was a good kind of shock but still it was shock. I got a lot of compliments on the new hair style. Most people asked if it was taking me awhile to get used to. Really it didn't take long to get used to, I haven't felt like a large weight was lifted off my shoulders. One of the weirdest things was that after I got home and was getting ready to go to the movie I reached back to pull my ponytail out of inside of my shirt (there was nothing there as it was cut off earlier). I felt like a goob after I did it and had to laugh at myself.
Work goes OK. I need to motivate myself to get some of the things done. Some things I am trying to get really ahead of but other things I have been dragging my feet on. I need to find a good balance but stay ahead of all things. Getting behind before sucked and I don't want to do that again any time soon.
Friday I finally got my hair cut. Roy is once again sans-ponytail. I only let a few people at work last week know that I was going to cut it. Most people were in shock. It was a good kind of shock but still it was shock. I got a lot of compliments on the new hair style. Most people asked if it was taking me awhile to get used to. Really it didn't take long to get used to, I haven't felt like a large weight was lifted off my shoulders. One of the weirdest things was that after I got home and was getting ready to go to the movie I reached back to pull my ponytail out of inside of my shirt (there was nothing there as it was cut off earlier). I felt like a goob after I did it and had to laugh at myself.
Work goes OK. I need to motivate myself to get some of the things done. Some things I am trying to get really ahead of but other things I have been dragging my feet on. I need to find a good balance but stay ahead of all things. Getting behind before sucked and I don't want to do that again any time soon.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Long time no post, Mother's Day
Well, I know that it has been a long time since I posted last. Things were really crazy there for awhile. They have calmed down a little bit but I am still a little on edge.
They pushed back the build that was supposed to go in on May 3 and put it with another build that won't go in now until June 28. That has taken some of the pressure off for now but it could come back as we get closer to the new date.
The last few days have laid some bombshells on the home front. First, the Catoosa Public School system sucks. If you have a child with any kind of problems then they will not help you. Chris failed his English class last semester so he needs to take summer class. Apparently he is completely flunking out of all but one of his classes this semester but we get no notification from the school, they sent home notes with him. What makes them think that if a child is in trouble that they would honestly hand their parents a note that is going to piss them off? We got 8 different phone calls letting us know when there was a bond issue they would like to have passed but nada when it came to telling us our child needed help.
We had already bought tickets to watch the new Star Trek movie. Karma told Chris he wasn't going to go when she called home. He replied that he couldn't be grounded and that we couldn't touch him. We left him at home and took one of Tempus's friends instead. I locked down the internet and the TV in the living room and we went to the movie. Star Trek was pretty good, there was a lot of action to it. Karma loved it.
We came home and saw that Chris had done some cleaning in the kitchen (cleared off the table, scrubbed down the stove, did a load or 2 of laundry). He is trying to suck up, I told Karma this. She said that we should let him.
Today was Mother's Day. We took Karma to Casa Bonita for lunch and the Philbrook Museum after that. Chris was being personable and even joking around. After we got home and Karma called her mother and was talking with her. When Chris found out that he was still not going to be able to go to the Renaissance Fair he started yelling at Karma. Telling her that he was going and when Karma said that he wasn't then he said that we wouldn't be going. I think this is why some animals eat their young.
Chris had said something about how he was going to get a job and was still planning on going to art school in Japan. Karma told him that first off he had to have our permission to get one and 2, that no employer would hire him with the grades that he has as it would show that he can't seem to follow directions well enough to pass his classes. She also told him that the art school wouldn't accept him with the grades that he has. He said that he knows what the requirements are and that he already knows what we are saying and that he doesn't care. At that point I lost it and told him "Then great, good f*cking luck in the future." Chris said, "Thanks" and then left for his room. He is being a complete and total butthead.
I love him to death but I am about at the end of my rope with him. I just don't know what to do. Times like this makes me want to countdown the days until he turns 18 and graduates so he can see exactly what this course of action has in store for him. I only want the best for him but he has to want it and work for it himself.
They pushed back the build that was supposed to go in on May 3 and put it with another build that won't go in now until June 28. That has taken some of the pressure off for now but it could come back as we get closer to the new date.
The last few days have laid some bombshells on the home front. First, the Catoosa Public School system sucks. If you have a child with any kind of problems then they will not help you. Chris failed his English class last semester so he needs to take summer class. Apparently he is completely flunking out of all but one of his classes this semester but we get no notification from the school, they sent home notes with him. What makes them think that if a child is in trouble that they would honestly hand their parents a note that is going to piss them off? We got 8 different phone calls letting us know when there was a bond issue they would like to have passed but nada when it came to telling us our child needed help.
We had already bought tickets to watch the new Star Trek movie. Karma told Chris he wasn't going to go when she called home. He replied that he couldn't be grounded and that we couldn't touch him. We left him at home and took one of Tempus's friends instead. I locked down the internet and the TV in the living room and we went to the movie. Star Trek was pretty good, there was a lot of action to it. Karma loved it.
We came home and saw that Chris had done some cleaning in the kitchen (cleared off the table, scrubbed down the stove, did a load or 2 of laundry). He is trying to suck up, I told Karma this. She said that we should let him.
Today was Mother's Day. We took Karma to Casa Bonita for lunch and the Philbrook Museum after that. Chris was being personable and even joking around. After we got home and Karma called her mother and was talking with her. When Chris found out that he was still not going to be able to go to the Renaissance Fair he started yelling at Karma. Telling her that he was going and when Karma said that he wasn't then he said that we wouldn't be going. I think this is why some animals eat their young.
Chris had said something about how he was going to get a job and was still planning on going to art school in Japan. Karma told him that first off he had to have our permission to get one and 2, that no employer would hire him with the grades that he has as it would show that he can't seem to follow directions well enough to pass his classes. She also told him that the art school wouldn't accept him with the grades that he has. He said that he knows what the requirements are and that he already knows what we are saying and that he doesn't care. At that point I lost it and told him "Then great, good f*cking luck in the future." Chris said, "Thanks" and then left for his room. He is being a complete and total butthead.
I love him to death but I am about at the end of my rope with him. I just don't know what to do. Times like this makes me want to countdown the days until he turns 18 and graduates so he can see exactly what this course of action has in store for him. I only want the best for him but he has to want it and work for it himself.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Brain overflowing, butterflies in the stomach
I know that it has been a long time since I posted anything to any of my blogs. Things have been so hectic over the last 4 weeks.
One of the people from work (Indi) had her final day of work on Friday. I have been trying to take over her job (to say that I have made mistakes would be an understatement). My stomach has been in knots for the last two weeks knowing that Indi was leaving. I wish her and Rhys well on their travels. I will miss her, she was always really steady in her approach to the job.
The build that we are presently working on has a lot more pieces than normal due to a change in how the client is accessed and I just can't seem to get my mind wrapped around it like I should. Of all of builds in the world, I had to start off with this one? I know that eventually I will be fine but the hump that I have to get over for this one is huge. I guess that this build is good to learn on but the lessons are tough.
I figure I will look back on this in 3 months and have a good laugh at how frightened and scared that I am right now.
I will be sooooooooo glad when this build is finally over.
Later peeps.....
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