Windshield Time

There's been a lot of that since I posted last. Popcorn remained a challenge in the week following culminating in a second trip to Appleton to collect extra product. Hopefully that fixes the challenges.

Our new regional director came to speak at an otherwise boring staff meeting. He seems like a good fellow. Part of his talk was about a book that has been purchased for every pro in the region; Monday Morning Leadership. Both Brian and I have started reading it and it's not bad. I purchased copies for my two lead volunteers and we'll be integrating it into our weekly meetings kind of like a reading group.

I started my vacation on the Saturday before Thanksgiving by heading north to the farm for another visit. This time my brother and another uncle were also there and were wrapping up deer camp. I walked in to the kitchen to find the rear quarter of a deer being portioned on the dinner table and the U of M / OSU game on. The ugly part of this leg of the trip was awakening at 5am the next morning for breakfast. The upside was that we were on the road bound for Lake Orion before the sun came up.

The drive home was scenic along the Lake Michigan shoreline through the UP. Crossing the Mighty Mac for the first time driving was special. Along the route we saw many deceased deer in the other vehicles on the road. My favorite pose was with the front hoofs lashed behind the antlers with the tounge out. We made a brief stop in Birch Run but I had no success in finding new low-top hikers (this was true with all of the trips while I was home).

While I was home it was good to visit a lot of good friends, although I spent a lot of time in Farmington/Novi doing so. Driving to and fro I realized how little I miss traffic and just how bad MI drivers are. I saw the new Bond movie with Julie and Sean. It's really good and carries on the tradition much better than the Pierce Brosnan era. I also picked up Ice Age 2 on Tuesday when it was released and have watched it twice already.

I also watched a lot of football as is usual anymore. I actually was able to watch both Lions games and realized just how much they suck. On the other hand the two Cowboys' games were good, first breaking the Colts' unbeaten streak and then pounding Tampa Bay. Too bad that my fantasy team had a rough week with 2 WR and a RB going out with injuries. This week looks better so far.

The excitement at the house was the new puppy. My mom decided after living with Buddy for a week without my dad and brother (at deer camp) that he needed a friend. Her name is Missy and she is a three month old black lab/setter mix. At first she was all sweetness and innocence then she realized that Buddy was a lot of fun to play with. Despite being half his size she fearlessly assaults him. My favorite move is the leap from the couch on to his back. She is a very friendly dog and very affectionate however she is a puppy and loves to chew with her needle-sharp teeth. Thus far nothing has been destroyed but she has shown herself to like shoes... Much as I love dogs I'm not sure that I am ready for puppyhood at the moment.

The trip home yesterday was uneventful and quick with a total time of just over 7 and 1/2 hours which isn't bad given that online mapping shows a 7 hour drive with a shorter route (by 30 miles) that is more convoluted than what I drive. The key, I think, was the lack of road construction.

Tomorrow begins the last big push with roughly three weeks to get things wrapped up for year end. Fun.

Popcorn + Snow = Frustration

Just when you thought I would be done commenting on popcorn, Murphy happens. Friday was supposed to be the last of the popcorn sale with the Take Order pick-up that evening. This is not what happened.

Backing up a step, the Take Order pick-up started going bad on Thursday. First, I found out that over half of the folks I was expecting as staff let me know they were not able to be there. Lovely. Second, the semis came with the product; one was loaded well but the second not so much. The second semi took almost 3 hours to unload. Several were loaded sideways and two had tipped over. I did a lot more work with this than I expected.

Friday started out fairly typical for a popcorn day prepping for the pick-up. Then the weather turned south, well actually out of the south-west according to the radar map. By the time I arrived at the warehouse the rain that started the day had added hail to its repertoire. That hurt. Once inside the building I stopped paying attention to the weather. About 45 minutes before the pickup was to begin we started getting calls about people wanting to cancel their time due to the weather. Rather than looking outside, I dismissed their concerns. Then the facilities director stopped in to tell us that the campus was closing due to the weather and suggested that we do the same. I finally stuck my head outside and realized that it had gone from rain/hail to slush then heavy snow. I realized at this point that canceling the pick-up was the best option. Brian went in to make calls to cancel the pick-up for the night and I met the folks that arrived despite the weather to help them get their orders. By the time we finished it was 6pm and the storm had slackened and it took me 40 minutes to go the 11 miles home via the freeway. The storm totaled about 4 inches of snow in less than two hours and fell accompanied by thunder and lightning.

This was the first time I have ever participated in a canceled warehouse in 10 years of working with popcorn warehouses. I don't intend to try it again. We ended up telling folks to either come yesterday morning or next Wednesday evening. Most came yesterday and they were actually pretty peaceable despite a long wait since the only folks loading were people from the units there and Brian and I leading the counting. 13 more orders are on the docket for Wednesday and then, hopefully, the saga will be done.

On the upside, I went to one of the neatest Eagle Service Projects I have ever seen yesterday. One of the OA guys from the south side of Sheboygan did a flag retirement/Veteran's Day ceremony at Fountain Park downtown. There were several good speakers, some good patriotic readings and over 500 flags were retired stripe by stripe into a fire. I stayed after to help stir the fire to complete the disposal and chat with the folks from the troop. The only downside was that it was cold; about 32 with a cold wind. I was okay in a jacket with long johns, but the scouts participating in uniform were without jackets and the Eagle candidate was visibly shivering on stage. I thought it went very well despite this. I only felt bad because I was not in uniform having gone straight there after working at the warehouse.

Besides that, the week was fairly uneventful.

Friend

In an earlier post I wondered whether or not the word home was too vague a concept. Now I ask if friend falls into the same category. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as "1 a : one attached to another by affection or esteem" and "4 : a favored companion". That certainly is a broad brush of a definition but doesn't even begin to cover it.

We all have a variety of folks we know that can be broadly grouped into the category of "friend" who all mean different things to us. I think about it and there are several groups that come to mind. The first are my "brothers", mostly the OA guys that I know well. There have also been "work friends" who I got along with and hung out with while I worked with them but then failed to keep in touch. In a similar category are those "school friends" like the clan I hung out with while in high school or college that I spent a lot of time with but didn't keep in touch with. Then there are "friends of convenience", folks to hang out with because they are there and there is a bit more of a tie than an acquaintance.

That really only gives a short list of the various ways I think of "friends". I think that all the categories sound a little weak and really deserve words of their own. Perhaps it's the engineer in me that likes everything to have a place and stay in it with its own title. However, when I introduce someone as a friend that's awful vague and can, in some instances, lead to misunderstanding. If I am with a brother and confrontation should occur, I stand beside them whether or not I agree with them whereas someone from another category might not receive the same consideration. Conversely, someone who is not a friend may receive similar treatment if I feel it to be my duty to stand up for them as happened with my staff at the theater.

What has brought this to mind lately has been working with Brian. There is no question that he reports to me for work. At the same time though I value him as more than an employee. The hard part is reconciling having a friend be an employee. To this point nothing has come up that required me to get really upset with him or have to pass on ill tidings and I don't know that it will happen. What would suck is being in that situation. I don't want to end up in it but I also know that it could happen. I suppose in the end I'll deal with what comes up and I don't really need to dwell on it but that doesn't mean I won't.

So should we have more words and concepts for "friend" or would it devalue the relationship to quantify it?

Random Items from the Web via Sykes

The first is a great song by an Aussie artist, Beccy Cole, about supporting the troops overseas. The song is Poster Girl. It's kind of sad, but really good. It's nice to hear someone support the troops and mean it. I see a profound difference between supporting the troops and supporting the policies that sent them where they are. Too bad the media and many in public have trouble separating it. There are actually a bunch of good pro-soldier videos from troops and others on YouTube including 82nd Airborne, Tribute to Heroes, a Patriotic Tribute, and Fight for Me by Citizen Reign to name a few.

The next is an editorial quiz about whether or not you should vote. It's from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel which is one of the most blatantly left-leaning papers I've had the opportunity to read. This article is an exception to their nuttiness. The quiz is funny, but so true.

The last is part of the Army's online recruiting effort. The new catchphrase is "Army Strong". I love the soundtrack piece, but the overall clip is well done. Eat that John Kerry.

Fleet Farm Culture

I have had another true Wisconsin cultural experience...shopping at Fleet Farm. This store (part of a chain) is also known locally as a "man's mall". Think of Home Depot meets Wal-Mart meets Gander Mountain meets Tractor Supply Co. In one trip you can buy clothes, bait, military surplus (explains why there aren't many surplus stores), tires for your tractor, ammo, lumber, toys and food. The whole reason for my visit was to acquire wool pants, a flannel shirt and suspenders which I achieved for $40. No, I have not gone native, it was to get into the Cub Scout College theme of Paul Bunyan by dressing as a lumberjack. I was one of the best dressed and warmest. I'll post a picture once Hello gets updated to work with the beta Blogger.

Outside of going to Fleet Farm, it continues to be busy. Here's the rundown:

• Went to Oshkosh twice this week. Once for a team meeting at a bowling alley where I proved that my role in any sporting event is to provide comic relief for the other players. The second was for Cub Scout College for which I had to get up at 5am on a Saturday. Yuk.
• I now have HDTV through Charter. It's pretty, but the signal still has quite a bit of interference issues. The best part is that my cable bill dropped by $24 after ditching the movie channels I don't watch and the sales rep that lowered my internet cost to $30 from $42.
• Noticed that in one of the Chevy "This is Our Country" commercials the background for the "This is our philosophy" is one of Norman Rockwell's Boy Scout prints.
• Speaking of commercials, I can't wait for Wednesday when the political ads. Apparently Wisconsin is home to some of the most vicious negative ads this season. What's grating is that several of the ads published by the Democrats and their supporters are blatant lies, at least the Republican ones have some basis in truth and some people will vote based on a lie they saw on TV. Yes, I actually do look up the claims.
  
• Co-chaired a Rotary leadership conference for local high school students this week. I really enjoy working with high school kids that actually want to learn. One of them reminded me an awful lot of myself when I was a high school junior. I almost prefer talking to the kids at the conference to most of the Rotarians.
• Brian's football team won the league championship last night. It was another good game, but they came close to losing in the end as their defense started to fall apart. The players and fans from the opposing team (out of Racine) reminded me a lot of the average high school students in Pontiac--very thuggish. None of the other teams were as whiny or played as dirty as these guys. I got a couple of decent pics at the game. I need a better camera before next season for these distance shots...