So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

This makes me giggle. If you haven't read the book by this title from Douglas Adams, you should. It's part of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Dolphins! Singing "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish"! Read the book here.

What firearms laws?

I mentioned in my last post the impending ownership of a handgun. Being the upstanding citizen that I am I stopped by the police station today to see what I needed to do to legally have a gun in WI. The answer: Nothing. Unless you purchase the firearm here (there is a 48-hour wait on handguns and the federal background check), there is no registration or licensing process here. The clerk seemed suprised that I was even asking. Mr. Heston and the NRA have got to love this. I'm not sure what to think about this, but I'm not going to complain. How is this a Blue state again?

On a different but related note, home is an elusive concept lately. This last week was the first substantial time I have spent at my folks and in MI in awhile. It was not quite home, but then again WI doesn't quite have that feel either. With the people (family, friends and my dog) it had that emotional tie, but while I was out and even just sitting in the house it was not that nested feeling of being here at my apartment (which I continue to modify to my taste) in Sheboygan (heard it referred to as She-Vegas at Rotary...). Even driving around in Oakland County felt surreal as if I was but a ghost momentarily floating through. It was a bit of a shock to visit CVC and see all the new faces there and my desk filled by someone else. At least Barb has it so I know it's in good hands.

There are a lot of definitions of home, but they all relate to having only one. Could it be that we need many words for home today just like Eskimos have for snow? Really. There is the place I live, the place I'm from, the place my family and friends are, and the place(s) I think I might want to settle for a significant amount of time.

I imagine this becomes easier with a family of your own but that isn't on the radar right now, shoot I just need to get to know more people who I don't have to deal with as part of my job. It's not that I don't like them, but as any work-based relationship conversation tends to gravitate back to work which doesn't help in avoiding it. There is also the feeling that I am treading the line of getting to know folks too well to make the right call. Obviously this applies to Brian, but also volunteers and the shop manager. Objectivity is way more difficult with people than circuits, but also a more satisfying challenge.

So what's home? I don't know just now, but I figure it will resolve itself in time.

Third Try

Not that you could see that, but this is the third time I have written a post since yesterday morning only to have two go to cyber la-la-ville after having a hyperlink inserted. Let's see if it works without one.

Happy day after Turkey Day.

So the Lions really suck. Mooch needs to go. It was shameful to watch how badly they played yesterday. Harrington actually played fine, it was the line and receivers that failed him. Garcia is a hack and a putz. You know the game is bad when you put Orlovsky in at the end of the 4th. He threw better than Garcia. A new coach needs to come in and kick-ass with this team and make them a team. The penalties weren't as bad as Sunday but still bad. How hard is it to stay on-sides, really? Shock collars should be fitted and used judiciously. Go Lions...

I'm kind of enjoying having avoided work for the last week with time left until I return to reality. I could however do without the instant winter gig. It was way too bloody cold yesterday. Fifteen degrees, yuck. At least it is supposed to be 60 on Monday, instant spring. As long as my drive back to WI is snow-less I will be happy.

So I went to my 4th professional training last week, the third in Dallas. It was not a bad course. I learned stuff and met some cool folks. I was one of the youngest and juniormost in the class, there were only 4 of us out of 23 that were under 30 and had less than six years in. There was a lot of role-playing and group breakouts for the class so we didn't have to listen to too much lecturing. We were still punchy by the last day. One cool thing was that they took us to the Dallas Stars hockey game on Friday which was fun. The other good thing was that I got to see a buddy from the first professional training. We went to see Jarhead. That was a good movie, but very coarse. Think Full Metal Jacket meets Gulf War part 1.

I was exhausted by the time I got home on Sunday, but no rest for the omnipotent. I packed and headed for MI the next morning bearing gifts of bratwurst (no joke). The drive was much better this trip. I really like the open-road tolling; 55mph through the toll booth with an I-PASS. Sweet.

Tuesday was tire-change-in-the-bloody-cold-practice day. I had the wonderful opportunity to help two different people change their tires. The first was Mike, a new Pon-Man DE, who had a sidewall blowout on the way to work. We couldn't get his spare to drop but Darrin's spare actually fit so that worked out okay. The second was walking into Kennedys' a woman sought help from Barry and I. We took care of it while her male "friend" sat in the car on the phone. Jerk. I'm glad I got the practice.

Otherwise I took time to see the CVC staff. Overall this was good, but I could have passed on a few. What are you supposed to say to folks that had a good deal to do with me realizing that I needed to leave? I stuck to platitudes and dry commentary and tact. I did take Andy to lunch to ask him to consider joining the staff in Bay-Lakes, we'll see what happens there. I don't know what they would think having another Pon-Man Eagle, Chapter Chief, EE major on staff.

Wednesday was a trip to Fenton for my Christmas present. Guns Galore is quite a store. When I go back after Christmas I will be the proud owner of a Browning Buck Mark .22LR pistol with a 6 3/4" barrel and rosewood grips. It's really quite lovely. I'm looking forward to spending quality time on the shooting range in the basement of the high school two block from where I live blasting holes in unsuspecting paper. First, though, I have to figure out what paperwork I have to do to legally take the gun home and own it so I will have to visit the police station to ask.

Have a nice weekend.

What's a weekend?

The big downside to this job is weekends or the lack thereof. I worked longer days this weekend than several days in the week prior. It started with 12 hours of popcorn warehouse. The next day was 8 hours of Pow-Cluster in Fond Du Lac. Sunday was more popcorn and paperwork. This was unpleasant, worse is that the month of January has a work event every weekend.

A little more whining. Popcorn blows. The ordering system here is byzantine--it took me 40 minutes to figure it out and I've done popcorn several times before. The packing slips came with the product listed by container not by the case which meant a bunch of easy math, but easy to screw up too. I can't figure out how stupid people can be that they can count their order twice and then call after getting home to say we counted wrong and in generally a rude fashion. Dumber is that we believe them and give them what they say they are missing without charging them for it. Oh yeah, none of them bothered to come help sort or distribute either so Brian and I did that on our own. Of course I expressed my opinion to the Director of Finance and will now likely be working with the council sale next year in addition to my own. Won't folks be suprised when they are held accountable. I know how the Corn-Meiser feels now.

The upside of things is that I am going out of town for a week and a half starting tomorrow night. Wednesday I catch a 6am (ick!!!) flight to Dallas for more training--this time on staff management. Sunday I return to WI and pack for going home. Monday I drive back to MI and stay until Sunday when I come back. No "work" for a week and a half and no one is giving me crap from the management team. I even get to skip the staff meeting. Weird. It will be really nice to get away. For a while I thought we had a snowball's chance at achieving something in the district this fall, but Murphy keeps rearing his ugly head. It will make next year easier I hope. A break should improve my attitude towards the rest of the year.

On another note, I went to a board meeting for the lodge here. It was strange. I would take the old Chippewa meetings any day. At least there was conversation there. This was almost silent. The officers were really young. I get the impression that the advisers have too much say in things. In fact my chapter adviser figured this out and wants me to participate in some discussions on how to change this. That will be interesting. I'm sure I can make a few red jackets heads' explode, I do well enough in my district on that count.

Enough about work. I saw Barry's questions and thought I would give them a spin:
1) If you won the jackpot, *who* would you spend the money on? (significant others excluded).
Family, I agree. How, I'm not sure. The house thing nad some investments would work for my folks, but I think an endowment would be a better plan for my siblings. That would give them stable income to do what they want from.
2) What 3 charities/organizations/causes would you donate to?
BSA (with strings attached...), Leave No Trace, National Parks Association
3) How big/low would the jackpot have to be before you decided to keep it all for yourself?
$250,000--it pays my debts and gives a nice base to invest from

On another note, who wants to be mayor? Check out the new 18-year old mayor of Hillsdale, MI. That should be interesting. He'll do better than Kwame.

A last question of the day (courtesy of Brian): Do cornrows that go down the back in multiple pony tails constitute a mullet (ala Snoop Dogg)? Check out half of the NBA players to see what we're talking about. What do you think?

Not 18 Anymore

Okay, so I know I am not old and sure as hell look younger than I am, but I forget occasionally that I am not 18. This last week was a great case in point. I managed to survive many weeks and weekends on 5 or 6 hours sleep with several nights where a power nap was all I got (Vigil weekend record 40 straight hours awake including classes, work and OA). As I mentioned previously, I had two events that I was chaperoning last week. The first was with a Rotary leadership seminar for high school juniors and sophmores. That night (Wednesday) was a 4 hour nap (being generous) on the hardest foam matress I can remember sleeping on. I had worked that whole day and then worked the next day as well. I got a good 8 hours on Thursday night and then had a busy day Friday ending up in Green Bay to chaperone a Den Chief training (13 yr old guys predominantly) in a Railroad Museum that was essentially a hangar full of trains with a hard concrete floor and relatively cool. Thinking ahead I brought a cot. That didn't help. It was as hard as the matress I had slept on. That was a restless 5 hour nap--maybe. I made it home alive Saturday and promptly took an hour nap. I slept well Saturday night. The kicker was Sunday. I woke up had breakfast and then sat in my recliner and didn't leave it except for necessary functions and refills for 6 hours. There was nothing left. I felt like a wuss. I think the day off in between the nights did it, but I am still recovering.

A completely different way I remembered I'm not 18 is that there have been several times lately that I would have completely lost my temper that I managed not to even though it would have been fun. I guess this crowd would know that self-righteousness is not something I suffer from so when people cross me on something I know to be right my blood pressure shoots high and I get cranky. This is why I need a good sidekick. Brian is doing his job well and has my back and frankly takes flak for me when he thinks its a good idea--not because I tell him to. I appreciate it. What has been worse lately is some not so great calls that bother my conscience (I have one and it's a guilty one) and then get called out on it. I've given up on excuses for the most part, but just taking it sucks. However, just taking it and agreeing does a wonderful job on rocking folks on their heels. That is fun to watch.

So I'm rambling now. I will work on conquering the world....go Civ.