I seem to have gotten out of Louisville just in time. The snow was falling as I boarded the 737 to head west. Because I have a jb with a horrible schedule and I'm was too stupid to not call in sick, I went out to Oklahoma (where apparently te wind comes sweeping down the plains) to have late birthday fun with Grace. And fun we had, maybe too much! I would post pictures but the iPhone doesn't take good ones in the dark
SO my first time in Oklahoma was memorable, and I made a much needed return to COyote Ugly saloon. The bartenders as always were charming and entertaining (and by the ned of the night only wearing bra's... love bar top slip and slide!). After that we were led to an Oklahoma style gay bar. As always, they provide amusing entertainment and conversation. Even while still mentally picturing bartenders dancing and sliding on a bar in skimpy clothes. Yup, definitely straight.
The last week or so has been trying. I have imbibed more than probably is healthy, just due to timing and circumstances. I had a lot of fun and it was nice to get out, if only to feel a bit craptastic in the morning. But I don't mind that much, I was able to function and managed to find time for elipticals, treadmills, and gym machines. Speaking of gym, people who slam down the weights to hear the loud clang are annoying. I know it's not your equipment, but don't abuse it. I bet it's same people who get pissed when their favorite machine has the out of service tag on it... wonder why???
Work is... well. I feel like I'm getting to one fo those points where I may be looking for a change. Sometimes I ponder moving to another career field, but I don;t have a lot of skills to draw on. Then I thought today as I was flying from Oklahoma how much my life would be impacted without out flying privileges. I suppose that's the trade off I have to weigh. EVen the possibility of moving to another job doesn't seem all that thrilling. Well some might be fun but I don't see Qantas hiring me and paying for a relocation down under. But I can dream right?
There's some talk being discussed about possibly doing some things to save jobs and keep me from taking a pay cut. So, we'll see how that works out. Lately though I've become overly apathetic about the whole situation. Not a mindset I relish, but I'm pretty much just over the whole thing. I'm, unfortunately, not in an optimistic state of mind.
In other news, I just finished a really delicious salad from Mellow Mushroom. That makes me a little happier just having food in my belly. Ad I'm in Atlant just releaxing and recovering from last nights festivities. I'm hoping to see the usual suspects over the next couple days. It always helps my mood. ANd now, time to sleep.
Later.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
They're crossing their fingers, they pay the truth makers, the balance sheet is breaking up the sky
You know what bugs me? People telling me how lucky I am to have a job. And it's usually management types or people much higher on the seniority list. It's such a bad thought to purvey. I mean, yes some people are lucky to have a job based on their skill set (and usually they are the same people who are telling me I'm lucky to work here). I'm not lucky to have a job, I worked pretty damn hard over the last decade or so to have my job. You're lucky to have me working here. That may sound a little arrogant, and I'll admit I do have a bit of an ego when it comes to what I do... but it's not completely unjustified. I'm not perfect (hence the ASAP and forthcoming letter the FAA is writing me... it's not a "hello how are you? Wanna be pen pals?" letter), but I'm pretty damn good.
So quit telling me I'm lucky to be here. There's a reason you have to pay us so much to stay.
That being said, I hate that three others who are just as competent and proficient as I am, probably more so, are potentially being sent off to fend for themselves. I have every confidence they'll get snapped up by anyone hiring, but it'll come with the added frustration of relocating (for the second time in 2 years) their whole family. That sucks. I hope the efforts are fruitful for maybe mitigating the situation.
So, back to assistanting I go, and the days of being assigned projects from 4 managers and 12ish supervisors return. (Yes, I got the memo about the new cover sheets for the TPS reports). I'm pretty much over it, and have been for a while. I think stressing about it for most the month of December has kind of numbed me to the whole work situation. Or maybe its the ridiculous cold. At any rate, that's all I'm gonna say about that (very "Tao of the Gump"-ish).
Speaking of numb, how about this weather??? I think maybe we may be starting a new ice age. Yesterday it got above freezing for the first time this year I think. There's still snow littering the ground. Snow is really kind of pretty and fun when it's first falling, but after a week or so it starts looking very clumpy (at best) or black and disgusting (at worst). No one ever paints pictures of week old snow in an urban area for a reason, it's kind of depressing.
The other thing about snow is it tends to neutralize the colors of an area. Add the grey clouds, I feel I'm living in a black and white movie. The road salt covers the cars and dulls all the brilliant paint schemes, really greying them down. Makes you long for a little bit of color. Luckily today, the sky is blue, the sun is warm and glowing yellow, and the light is reflecting brilliantly of red bricks and recently uncovered green grass. I don't know how people can live in a place that's covered by snow for months on end, but I guess that explains why people who live there are rarely found inside during the warm months.
I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I have a new personal trainer. His name is Kevin and he's a ninja in his spare time. Apparently ninja-ing isn't quite paying the bills so he takes this personal training job to supplement his income. He's different from my last trainer (who was promoted and moved to another location) in both personality and technique. It's different, but still painful and fun. I think I may be a bit of a masochist these days, which works since he seems to be a bit of a sadist. We have a good non-sexual S&M relationship. (Yes I had this same conversation while he had me standing on one hand, doing a push up, with my left leg was parallel to the ground and the right leg perpendicular, a 100lbs weight strapped to each ankle, as I tried to lift the the weight across the gym with my mind). Eight months to go.
I'm embarking on an exploration of new music. Of late all I've been listening to is DMB with U2 accompaniment. Not that those aren't both fantastic bands, but I think I need to branch out some these days. The idea came from picking up my first copy of Paste magazine. Having met the editor on a recent trip to Atlanta, and having a fun night and interesting conversation over his homemade Limoncello sort of made me want to check out the publication. It is good reading, and I've got the music sampler playing in my ear. There's a few on here I like and may be looking to explore more of their work. If you haven't heard of Paste (like me before meeting the editor), check them out.
Now if I can only fun into the editor of Playboy or Maxim somewhere, maybe I could meet some of the models... who seemingly want some one who can make them laugh. I can be that guy! That's it I'm done. I'm gonna star out the window an long for Spring before hiking back home through the cold. At least it's above freezing out today.
So quit telling me I'm lucky to be here. There's a reason you have to pay us so much to stay.
That being said, I hate that three others who are just as competent and proficient as I am, probably more so, are potentially being sent off to fend for themselves. I have every confidence they'll get snapped up by anyone hiring, but it'll come with the added frustration of relocating (for the second time in 2 years) their whole family. That sucks. I hope the efforts are fruitful for maybe mitigating the situation.
So, back to assistanting I go, and the days of being assigned projects from 4 managers and 12ish supervisors return. (Yes, I got the memo about the new cover sheets for the TPS reports). I'm pretty much over it, and have been for a while. I think stressing about it for most the month of December has kind of numbed me to the whole work situation. Or maybe its the ridiculous cold. At any rate, that's all I'm gonna say about that (very "Tao of the Gump"-ish).
Speaking of numb, how about this weather??? I think maybe we may be starting a new ice age. Yesterday it got above freezing for the first time this year I think. There's still snow littering the ground. Snow is really kind of pretty and fun when it's first falling, but after a week or so it starts looking very clumpy (at best) or black and disgusting (at worst). No one ever paints pictures of week old snow in an urban area for a reason, it's kind of depressing.
The other thing about snow is it tends to neutralize the colors of an area. Add the grey clouds, I feel I'm living in a black and white movie. The road salt covers the cars and dulls all the brilliant paint schemes, really greying them down. Makes you long for a little bit of color. Luckily today, the sky is blue, the sun is warm and glowing yellow, and the light is reflecting brilliantly of red bricks and recently uncovered green grass. I don't know how people can live in a place that's covered by snow for months on end, but I guess that explains why people who live there are rarely found inside during the warm months.
I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I have a new personal trainer. His name is Kevin and he's a ninja in his spare time. Apparently ninja-ing isn't quite paying the bills so he takes this personal training job to supplement his income. He's different from my last trainer (who was promoted and moved to another location) in both personality and technique. It's different, but still painful and fun. I think I may be a bit of a masochist these days, which works since he seems to be a bit of a sadist. We have a good non-sexual S&M relationship. (Yes I had this same conversation while he had me standing on one hand, doing a push up, with my left leg was parallel to the ground and the right leg perpendicular, a 100lbs weight strapped to each ankle, as I tried to lift the the weight across the gym with my mind). Eight months to go.
I'm embarking on an exploration of new music. Of late all I've been listening to is DMB with U2 accompaniment. Not that those aren't both fantastic bands, but I think I need to branch out some these days. The idea came from picking up my first copy of Paste magazine. Having met the editor on a recent trip to Atlanta, and having a fun night and interesting conversation over his homemade Limoncello sort of made me want to check out the publication. It is good reading, and I've got the music sampler playing in my ear. There's a few on here I like and may be looking to explore more of their work. If you haven't heard of Paste (like me before meeting the editor), check them out.
Now if I can only fun into the editor of Playboy or Maxim somewhere, maybe I could meet some of the models... who seemingly want some one who can make them laugh. I can be that guy! That's it I'm done. I'm gonna star out the window an long for Spring before hiking back home through the cold. At least it's above freezing out today.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
I still have it better than most can dream.
Happy New Year!
And while we all know that it's not officially a new decade, I'm going to pretend it is. If only because I like starting things on nice multiples of '10'. So, happy new decade. I was thinking earlier today that instead of doing the inevitable looking back and analyzing the past year, it'd be more fun to go all the way back to the beginning of the last decade (or at least what I'm going to pretend is the beginning). But thinking about it, I don't really remember everything, so... Just gonna hit some of the highlights. Incidentally, who remembers all the big hoopla of the Y2K bug??? Possibly the biggest non-event ever.
So here we go... Ushered in 2000 in Montgomery, AL, at Big Dave Bryan's house with Scott, Chad, Jennie, and others I don't quite remember. Still great friends. 2 days later, left on my first expedition down under (10 years ago today). Discovered VB and winter sun. Came home... worked. We elected (maybe) G.W. Bush the first time. Occasional GT classes. Summer Sunday afternoons at Fellini's. Heart broken. Happy 2001 by the harbour in Sydney,Australia... The Mercantile Hotel!! Mended the heart. Jumped off a 150 ft tower with a rubber cord around my ankles.. 3 times. Snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef. Got a dispatcher license. Was woke up by a phone call and turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit... the world changed in an instant. WAR!! Sex scandal at FedEx ATL. Saw U2. New Job at Transmeridian. Met Ed, best boss ever, Charles, and Chandra... New Orleans!!! Angel and Bourbon street balcony love. Desert Storm part 2!!! Met Grace (in person). NYC Partying!! World Airways here i come. VEGAS!!! Ireland!!! Started my own harem. A came back. Life in the VA Highlands! Moved to AMLI. Met Jersey... BFF! Sunny afternoons Delta Wife watching in PTC. GW Bush redux. Goodbye Jamie K, gone too soon... love ya Shelley. Daytona Bike Week! Hand house painting. Hooker Dees and Trick Livermore. Taco Mac Beerslayers! Glasgow and Loch Ness. Met A2. Bahrain and Qatar. Saw DMB a lot... 3 days on the Gorge with Marianne! Saw U2 again.. live in Chicago DVD with MB. Kuwait. Saw U2 again. Cologne. 29th birthday madness... Coyote Ugly!!! Back to TMA... Back to World. Summer fun at the pool. Roomies with J and Joe.. then Adam. Cruises. Back to Australia! Susan. More DMB. TanJoe Manor parties. Love. Bye bye World, Hello Brown. Lived in SDF, BHM, and ATL simultaneously. Obama in office. Recession!!! Vegas again! No more love. Australia round 4. Trade in the Honda... it got me through a decade. AROUND THE WORLD... Dubai, Hong Kong, Macau! Stressing... furlough??? Still got Grace, J, Tanjoe, Scott, Chad, Jennie, Chandra, Jersey... so many great friends! Mom moved... "home" is going away :-(. Lost over a decades worth of weight. Brick Store night... Moving on, getting over it.. It's gonna be a good new year!!!!
I think that just about covers it. Well, not really. There's so much more with so many people it's astounding. A lot of the memories are a little fuzzy. There's been ups and downs. I think the ups have out numbered the downs by far (why does that remind me of the song from Disney's Robin Hood?). For my new years resolution... I want to see more of the people that mean a lot to me. The last 10 years of living, working, traveling, and unraveling have made it tough to see them all. Coming soon to a couch in your house... me!
And while we all know that it's not officially a new decade, I'm going to pretend it is. If only because I like starting things on nice multiples of '10'. So, happy new decade. I was thinking earlier today that instead of doing the inevitable looking back and analyzing the past year, it'd be more fun to go all the way back to the beginning of the last decade (or at least what I'm going to pretend is the beginning). But thinking about it, I don't really remember everything, so... Just gonna hit some of the highlights. Incidentally, who remembers all the big hoopla of the Y2K bug??? Possibly the biggest non-event ever.
So here we go... Ushered in 2000 in Montgomery, AL, at Big Dave Bryan's house with Scott, Chad, Jennie, and others I don't quite remember. Still great friends. 2 days later, left on my first expedition down under (10 years ago today). Discovered VB and winter sun. Came home... worked. We elected (maybe) G.W. Bush the first time. Occasional GT classes. Summer Sunday afternoons at Fellini's. Heart broken. Happy 2001 by the harbour in Sydney,Australia... The Mercantile Hotel!! Mended the heart. Jumped off a 150 ft tower with a rubber cord around my ankles.. 3 times. Snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef. Got a dispatcher license. Was woke up by a phone call and turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit... the world changed in an instant. WAR!! Sex scandal at FedEx ATL. Saw U2. New Job at Transmeridian. Met Ed, best boss ever, Charles, and Chandra... New Orleans!!! Angel and Bourbon street balcony love. Desert Storm part 2!!! Met Grace (in person). NYC Partying!! World Airways here i come. VEGAS!!! Ireland!!! Started my own harem. A came back. Life in the VA Highlands! Moved to AMLI. Met Jersey... BFF! Sunny afternoons Delta Wife watching in PTC. GW Bush redux. Goodbye Jamie K, gone too soon... love ya Shelley. Daytona Bike Week! Hand house painting. Hooker Dees and Trick Livermore. Taco Mac Beerslayers! Glasgow and Loch Ness. Met A2. Bahrain and Qatar. Saw DMB a lot... 3 days on the Gorge with Marianne! Saw U2 again.. live in Chicago DVD with MB. Kuwait. Saw U2 again. Cologne. 29th birthday madness... Coyote Ugly!!! Back to TMA... Back to World. Summer fun at the pool. Roomies with J and Joe.. then Adam. Cruises. Back to Australia! Susan. More DMB. TanJoe Manor parties. Love. Bye bye World, Hello Brown. Lived in SDF, BHM, and ATL simultaneously. Obama in office. Recession!!! Vegas again! No more love. Australia round 4. Trade in the Honda... it got me through a decade. AROUND THE WORLD... Dubai, Hong Kong, Macau! Stressing... furlough??? Still got Grace, J, Tanjoe, Scott, Chad, Jennie, Chandra, Jersey... so many great friends! Mom moved... "home" is going away :-(. Lost over a decades worth of weight. Brick Store night... Moving on, getting over it.. It's gonna be a good new year!!!!
I think that just about covers it. Well, not really. There's so much more with so many people it's astounding. A lot of the memories are a little fuzzy. There's been ups and downs. I think the ups have out numbered the downs by far (why does that remind me of the song from Disney's Robin Hood?). For my new years resolution... I want to see more of the people that mean a lot to me. The last 10 years of living, working, traveling, and unraveling have made it tough to see them all. Coming soon to a couch in your house... me!
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