Goodbye George

I have made it a practice not to include anything on this blog regarding my business or politics. I will make this one exception however, just to say goodbye to my friend George.

George and I have worked for the same company for over 30 years. He for 32 years and I for 35…so far. Last week they told George his position was gone and his last day would be next week. Fortunately for George, his specialty is in demand in industry and he says he will have no problem getting another job.

I’ll miss George because he and I have worked together for so long and have also become close friends. I’ll miss George because I’m beginning to feel like “the last man standing”.

About five years ago we had a change in leadership in my company. The leadership decided that they wanted to radically change the way the company approaches this particular business and the way to do that was to intentionally bring in people without a background in the business. They wanted to be able to “think outside the box”. If you had a lot of experience in the business you were perceived as “part of the problem”.

My business is a part of the construction industry….a very conservative part of the construction industry. Many of the techniques, designs and products in this industry are the same as they were 100 years ago. The contractors of this industry by and large do not like or want change…they want to do things the way they know how to do them. They want to deal with people that they have a “relationship” with. They have said that in order to “think outside the box”, you have to know where the box is to begin with. In most ways they are correct.

Needless to say, the last five years have been difficult. I am one of the few survivors and I’m at the point that I wish I weren’t. I continue to do what I do because I don’t want to decrease my retirement benefits. I am not in a position to start a new career and my specialty is such that I could not find similar employment locally. The penalty I will pay for retiring before 62, however, is beginning to look small compared to the “quality of life” I now have.

Sometimes I see the whole situation philosophically. I think that I’m just an old guy. Whether they are right or wrong….it’s their turn to run the business for better or worse. Let them figure it out themselves. Aren’t I just like some of the old guys that were here when I started work at this company?

There is no neat finish to this post. There is not a clean cut answer. I work day to day, counting the days just like the counter in the margin on the left of this page. As I type this the counter says 681 days, 10 hours, 3 minutes, 36 seconds. When that time elapses the countdown stops….then again maybe it will stop before then.

Thanks for visiting.

I Think I've Been Snatched by Aliens?

Last night even though I slept well, I woke up with an odd feeling. It wasn't something that I could pinpoint. I felt fine physically. Everything looked normal in my home and outside, but I had this odd indescribable feeling.

Sometime in mid morning I decided to check out the local news web site on my computer and that's when it all became clear to me. I've been snatched by aliens! Snatched and transported to another dimension...to a shadow world. Everything appears to be the same as in my old world but there are little details that give everything away.

I think the aliens have put me on the planet Leftus Liberalus in the galaxy of Bleeding Heartus Major. From what I can deduce this planet is populated by a civilization called "Can't We All Just Get Along" and it's obvious that the civilization is in BIG trouble. That must be why they snatched me? I haven't had much of a chance to look around yet but it's dollars to donuts that they are stacking me on the right side of the planet, trying to correct the tilt a little bit.

Unbelievable you say? That's what I thought at first but I'm sure of it. Only on a different planet would someone be given a ticket for killing a rattlesnake that just bit someone!

I can hear you whispering, "His-Self really needs to retire!" and I'll have you know that while that may be true it has nothing to do with this. The local news station on this planet has reported that a young boy was bitten inside a garage by a rattlesnake. The snake was killed and taken to the emergency room with the boy and ....well don't take my word for it...

"The snake was killed and put into a plastic gallon milk jug. Greg says he learned a valuable lesson about what to do with a rattlesnake when it attacks. "We were informed that any time you're bitten by a snake, you're not to act on it (kill it)," said Greg. He says Larimer County Animal Control came to the emergency room to write a citation for cruelty to animals. Ditus explained the story, saying they had not tortured the snake, and was let off with only a warning. "

I don't know if your computer can pick up signals from this planet but if it can read the whole story here.

I don't know if I'll make it out of here alive.....Wait a minute, that's stupid. If people get in trouble for killing rattlesnakes after they've bitten people I certainly don't have to worry about dying... only about getting out of here....

Someone please call The Bride and tell her I'll be late for dinner!!

Thanks for visiting.

Give Me A Break!

I can't help it....I can't...I can't. Am I crazy? I know some of the "weird" I go looking for probably rubs off on me a little, but....

Doesn't this kind of guy normally say, Me? Not Me! Never! She was a tramp but I never. No, not me! Ask those other guys.

Does that look like the face that said, Yes it's me. I'm proud to say that I am the father of this child. It was an act of love. I intend to dedicate my life to the care and upbringing of this child. No more women, no more drink. I'll get a job as a janitor if that's what it takes! ????????? ($$$$$$)

Give me a break, pleeeeeese...Can we get to the nice part of spring now???

Thanks for visiting.

Arrgh, Computers

Computers are like women…can’t live with them and can’t live without them. What’s a fellow supposed to do?

Having REALLY, SERIOUSLY, ABSOLUTELY gotten everyone’s attention and probably ensured that I will not have a peaceful weekend as well, I will now “touch” on a subject that both men and women will most likely agree on.

My number one computer rant is Passwords! Passwords work. They do keep my data secure. If I can’t get to the data it is secure because I can’t screw it up or leave it unprotected so someone else can screw it up, and I can’t get to it because it is humanly impossible to remember all the damn passwords that are required in our computer age!

Let’s see, I have passwords for:

Banking account
Credit union account
Insurance account
Retirement fund
Trailer forum
Metal detecting forum
College classmates forum
Yahoo
Google
Sitemeter
Adsense
Blogger
Orbitz
Cheap Tickets
eBay
Amazon
National parks reservations
State parks reservations
Computer network at work
Computer at home
3 different outside sites I use at work
Probably 5 other miscellaneous sites that require “protection”

That’s 28 passwords. Now, I’m no fool. I’m a college graduate. In grade school I memorized all the state names and capitols in alphabetical order. Yeah, yeah I know there were only 48 states then.

I memorized all of the presidents in chronological order and the periodic element chart and the Hail Mary and the Pledge of Allegiance and all kinds of dirty limericks. I can recite the Table of Organization and Equipment of a combat Infantry Brigade.

I CANNOT, however, keep up with 28 passwords. Even my well tuned ability to “cheat the system” doesn’t work because the rules for passwords are different and no matter how I try, I can’t find one password to cover to cover everything.

My brain has more important things to do than try to keep these 28 things burned indelibly on a few of it’s cells. It has to remember what I had for dinner last night. It better damn well remember my wife’s birthday or I won’t need the computer anyhow. It has to remember what pills I need to take in the morning and which ones I need to take at night. It needs to remind me to check the position of the toilet seat when I go to the bathroom at 2 am in the dark….THIS is where I need to be protected.

Thanks for visiting!