Rainy Sunday

I'm retired now. At 59. Not that I wanted to but with the changes going on at work coupled with the current personnel, it was best I go. I did not and could not agree with the laziness and slackness that was taking place. This was under the nose of the head honcho. He not only agreed to it he helped it along. They were all good buddies, rode motorcycles, and visited each other after hours. The place of business has no policy about higher up consorting with subordinates but as a in the middle employee, it sure put me in some tricky situations. So, I felt to save my own skin it was better to get while the getting was good. Not that I don't have some animosity and bitterness as retiring early cost me a cool 10% of my retirement, but even then I did the right thing.

After The Holidays

The holidays came and went. Christmas was spent at the Sister-in-law's house in (or near) Orlando. It wasn't a bad time but spending two solid days to travel to stay two days isn't something I am happy with. The worst part was the Father-in-law. He's a hyper, 76 year old man who can't hold his tongue to save his life. On the way down we decided to stop for lunch. I was driving and pulled off I95 and he spotted a Dennys. Of course I was in the left straight thru lane and the left turn lane had a red. He wanted me to make an illegal left turn from the straight thru lane. Not only is this in itself illegal but it's technically running a red light so I ignored him. He let go with a stream of obscinities along with telling me I didn't know how to drive and basically just how screwed I am period. I turned around and we went back. But, I told my wife this is it. I will never make this trip with him, ever. Then after we arrived it was two days of him talking and walking and talking and walking. He got up very early, made sure everyone else got up as I suppose he didn't want to be by himself. They didn't say anything but I can guarantee you that they were happy to see us go. Next year, as much as enjoy being there, it won't be with him. At least not the ride down. He can drive by himself or get someone else to go but I won't.

Holidays On The Rise

Not that I'm all that excited about it. I'll be off the least amount of time in years and the majority of that will be spent with the wife and her family. Today we have to eat lunch with her Mom as she and her husband will be away on Thursday. I don't really know why as we'll be there again on Christmas Eve and then Christmas with her Sister and Dad at the Sister's in Florida. What this means is that most of my time off Christmas will be spent on the road to and from Florida. Not my idea of a Christmas vacation. But, I have no choice in the matter.

Dreaded Sundays

Dreaded Sundays are only dreaded Sundays because it's the day before Monday. Monday...the day I return to hell for five days. One of these days far, far away, I'll be able to not dread Sundays or Mondays. It's a long ways off but it's there somewhere.

In other news, it's cloudy and rainy here. Not that I don't like the rainy days, I do, it's just that it's been this way for three solid days and is supposed to be this way for at least a couple more days. Guess I'll have to deal with it the same way I deal with Sundays and Mondays. You gotta love it.

Another Sunday

What can I say? Maybe changing my font will help my tendency to go for long periods of time without posting anything. I read somewhere that everyone should keep a diary and post something in it every day, important or not. The idea was to at least get something down on paper and in the end it's like leaving a record for your family and/or friends what was going on in your head. Sounds great, but it's more difficult for me that it sounds. I usually have a difficult time coming up with something that doesn't sound about as boring as anything could be. So, in the end I have these long lapses where I don't put anything down so it doesn't give a logical sequence as the thoughts don't all the time fit together. I keep promising myself I'll make an effort to get something down but it falls to the side. And anyway, who wants to hear what I have to say?

Long Time No See

It's again been a while since I was here. I go through periods of having nothing worthwhile (what I consider worthwhile) to say. I do this mainly as something for me to do as I doubt many, if any, people actually read it.

Over the weekend, Saturday to be exact, I went with my wife and her Dad to Red Lobster. This is an every few week ritual though it is usually done on Friday night. And, usually he wants to go to a pizza joint called Peppinos because it one of a few places left that you can sit and eat pizza and drink beer. In his world pizza isn't pizza without beer. The pizza tends to be on the greasy side but for some reason he thinks it's the best pizza on the planet.

Over the years most of the family has gone along with this although my brother-in-law got to the point he'd order a philly steak sandwich rather than eat the pizza. He still submitted to drinking the weak, thin tasting draft beer that is cheap. This is why my father-in-law likes it. Cheap and American (for the time being). I have trouble with the beer but have been hesitant to buck the system for fear of being called out as a traitor to the cause. There was this one time I got brave and ordered a Heiniken for which I caught the wrath of the father-in-law and have not made that mistake since.

I don't know the point of all this other than I'm am bored and rambling. The long and short of it is that this is the story of my life. So, this is living.

Once Again

So, here I am once again. It's been quite a while since I posted. The Super Bowl is tonight and frankly I'll be happy to see it gone. I'm personally am sick of Tom Brady. Though I don't have a great deal of faith it will happen I hope New England goes down in flames. Not that I'm a big Giants fan and in fact I am a Redskins fan, but I can't stand Tom Brady. Unfortunately, if they do win it will never stop.



One thing I read in the newspaper that pissed me off was that the legislature in Georgia passed a resolution recommending they have a college football playoff. For god's sake. We are having to deal with recession, sky high gas prices, and less and less money to spend and they are concerned about a football playoff! Why can't we wake up and realize we have to get these morons out of office.

The weekend is almost here and although I won't be working there's nothing much going on. Hopefully, it'll be a nice quiet weekend. It's terribly dry here as we haven't had any rain in quite some time. The grass and plants in everyone's yard are just dieing out. We also have been getting some smoke from the fire in south Georgia and northern Florida. We're not close and it's truly amazing that the smoke could travel so far. I am in northeastern Georgia.

A couple of weeks and it's off to Palm Coast, FL for a little vacation. We'll be staying in a condo with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. That part I have reservations about as the sister-in-law has this way of making plans for everyone, then getting irritated when any of us don't want to follow the plan. Otherwise, it will be nice as I haven't had a vacation in a couple of years.

Just Another Day In Paradise

I saw this on a sign outside a plumbing business on my way home yesterday. I wondered if the person who did it was sincere or if they were being sarcastic. I suppose in the plumbing business it could go either way. I can see it being paradise when you look at the money you make but making the money would be anything but paradise.

I once had a pipe under my house to bust. Of course it was the dead of winter and I had to repair it myself as at the time I didn't have the money to hire someone to fix it. It was cold and I had to lay int he mud and water under the house to complete the job. It was at this time in my life I definitely learned a new respect for plumbers.

News In The Meantime

It's been a while since I last posted. It's a combination of depression and just being lazy. Feeling I have nothing worthwhile to say doesn't do anything to promote posting either.

Since my last post, I have been to Florida and found out that I have high cholesterol and am taking medication for it. Two different pills together. They want me to drastically change my diet but I have a very difficult time in dealing with that. A couple of the main things is to stay from fried foods and back off red meat. I can back off the dreaded red meat OK but a lot of what I like to eat is fried. Fish, chicken, pork chops. I can handle them baked but not as in that's the only way I'll ever be able to eat them again. I don't know.

The situation at work is no better that it ever has been. Same old, same old. The one bright spot here is that I have less than five years until I can retire. At least it's something to hold on to.

Working With Immaturity

So help me, I for the life of cannot understand the "boys" I work with. I use the term "boys" because these are grown, adult men who act like boys. They maturity level leaves a lot to be desired. It's as if they never grew up. They play games, act as if nothing really matters, will try their best to just be aggravating all the while aggravating everyone in their general vicinity, and then they think it's so funny. One instance is just dropping something in the floor to make noise. They do this and actually think it's funny. Huh? I don't get it. What's even sadder is that all these guys are married with kids of their own. Rather than trying to set some kind of good example for their kids, they let the kids set the example for them. The kids actually show more maturity and responsibility. This is one reason I look forward each and every day until the time I can retire. It's absurd to the inth degree.

Back to the Daily Grind

I went back to work Monday after over two weeks off. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I had expected, at least from a work standpoint. From a mental standpoint it was as devastating as I had thought it would be. Retirement looks more appealing all the while. Get me outta here!

Dazed and Confused

I finally have gotten over the pneumonia although it did take longer than I would have expected. I return to work tomorrow and I can't say I'm looking forward to it in any shape, form, or fashion. Not only will I be two weeks behind in my work, but having to go back and deal with the stress and pressure is a killer. The bad part about it is that it's all so unnessary. It's the people that make it stressful, not the job itself. Of course, I have this to be true in any number of situations. This is the number reason I don't like dealing with people at all

Not A Good Week

Spent four days in the hospital last week with pneumonia. I think it was as much of a surprise to my doctor as to me. When she came into the room she had this look of shock on her face. This was the first time I have ever been in the hospital for anything and I must say I didn't like it even a little bit. There were breathing treatments, blood takings, vital signs taking, and it was at all hours of the day and night. They were not shy coming in at 3:00 AM to get a blood sample.
At any rate, I'm at home now, feeling better but still not 100%. I have to go back to the doctor on Tuesday to have yet another X-ray and see how things are going. The doctors at the hospital advised me that next year I should not only get a flu shot, but a pneumonia shot as well. After this experience, I have no doubts that I will heed their advice.

Summer's Gone

I once had a Kink's album which had a song called "Summer's Gone". I loved the song but for the life of me can't remember what the title of the album was. They have always been my favorite group anyway. I once even stood outside the Fox Theatre in Atlanta until 4:00 AM waiting on Ray Davies to come out so I could shake his hand. All the rest of the group came out earlier and their drummer had a beer which he dropped and the bottle broke. I scarfed up the top of the bottle and kept it for years as reminder. By the way, Ray Davies did eventually come out and I did get to talk with him and shake his hand which at the time was the highlight of my life. Looking back on it, I am amazed at how silly we were when that age.

My Life, One More Chapter

Life is getting more and more difficult to handle each and every day. I have to work very hard to keep any kind of positive attitude as I am surrounded by negativity, especially at work. There are those in my work place that never can say a word about anything in a positive way. It's gotten to the point I don't want to talk to them even though I have no choice. I could go to them and say "you've just been awarded the highest salary in the company" and they would complain that it just meant they would have to pay more taxes. Unfortunately, their negativity has a tendency to rub off on others around them so that the entire group tends to have a negative attitude and outlook. It must be be a sad person with a sad life to not only be miserable yourself, but to want to make everyone you come in contact as miserable as you are.

What The Hell?

It seems that daily my life soars out of control both at work and at home. I wonder why I can't seem to get any control over even the most mundane things. Could it be that I am truly insane? At times I think so. Things that seem to come so easy to everyone else seem to become a test for me. I try to make some sense of things but the logic escapes me. God help me! I am lost!

Crikey!

Hey, it's been a lousy week, a lousy month, and for all purposes, a lousy year. This has been the year of the buzzard as far as I'm concerned. I can barely wait until it's over. I can only hope that next year is better. Right now, my mood is just shoot me!

Progress

After the surgery the ear is healing up nicely. I hope I never have to go through that again although there is that possibility. Funny though, even though I've been through all this I still have a problem with hats and sunscreen. I don't understand why they want to make most products like this with a scent that smells like you're at the beach. The ones that claim to have no scent really do, it's just not the "at the beach" scent. Another problem I have with them is that they have the tendency to burn the crap out of your eyes if you sweat. This is doubly irritating for me as I wear contacts. The only product that I have found that doesn't burn my eyes is one made by Coppertone called Sport. It doesn't smell like a coconut and doesn't seem to burn my eyes. Still, it has a kinda greasy feeling which I am not fond of either, but I have to deal with it. Life goes on.

Nail In Tire Trick

Went to Target yesterday only to come out and find my left front tire flat. Of course it was pouring rain. Par for the course. To make matters worse, I have only changed a tire on my car one time previously, so it was get out the little owner's manual. By the time I got the tire changed and was ready to hit the road I was soaking wet and in less than a happy mood. This is the second time in about a month that I have had a nail in a tire on my car. The other time it was a bolt. I'm beginning to have some serious thoughts that this crap may be coming from work. The morons I work with don't give a thought about picking up anything they may drop in the parking lot. I can only hope, if this is the case, that one of them gets a bolt in their tire. Of course, this ain't gonna happen. I just don't have that kind of luck.