The Captain's Blog

Have you ever taken one of those little quick cat naps that just throws you totally for a loop? You know the ones I mean. The ones where you wake up and can’t figure out whether you slept fifteen minutes or fifteen hours.

I came home from work tonight feeling kind of tired. Friday’s can be boring at my office, but today wasn’t too bad. After supper, I sat down on the couch and opened up the laptop to check my email. The cat was sitting on the living room floor doing her evening after dinner bath. I said to myself “I’m just going to lay down here for a moment until the computer gets up and running. Then I’ll check email and go about my business.” I patted the couch to see if the cat would jump up. She looked at me as if “The Queen does not desire your company at this time.” She walked off towards her dish. I dozed off.

The phone rang and startled me. I answered it. It was a telemarketer. Grrrrrrr!!!! I hung up and laid back down, propping my feet up on the little ramp made by the comforter and the arm of the couch. I must have really been comfortable because I fell back to sleep immediately. I remember at one point half waking up and thinking “Was I dreaming or did I just feel Tink walk across my legs?” I must have satisfied myself pretty quickly that I was dreaming as I went right back to sleep.

I woke up an hour later. I looked around out of my daze, trying to figure out what time it was and how long I had slept. I realized that not only did I have my feet up on the arm of the couch, but my right foot was sitting on top of my left foot. Both of my feet and legs were now rather numb. I noticed another sensation as I tried to decide how best to untangle my still sleeping legs, a small warm feeling on the side of my right calf. I hadn’t been dreaming. Tink had climbed up and was now happily cuddled between the back of the couch and my right leg. She had slipped just down out of sight which is probably why I didn’t see here when I tried to look before. Call me a sap, but I hate to wake her up when she looks so comfortable.

I slowly lifted my legs off the arm of the couch and down to the floor, trying very hard not to bother her. She was curled against my leg with such pressure that the slightest movement cause her to jostle in her sleep. She stood up with a stretch and dropped to the floor. She looked back as if to say “No rest for the wicked” and headed off to play in her box. I sat on the couch for another four or five minutes sorting out the sleepies from my brain. My simple stretch out on the couch for a couple minutes had turned into an hour and a half.

I felt pretty good once all my senses were up and running. I guess I needed the nap more than I thought. Tink is now having a ball running back and forth from the office to the bedroom watching the neighbor’s cats out in the yard and I just finish paying bills. Why does she get all the fun?

… But more often I think people avoid it because they don’t want it.

 After the day I had yesterday, I am quite sure that some people don’t care to learn what goes on in a situation.  I’ve always known there are people out there who just don’t give a flying flip about making better of themselves, but this goes beyond that.  I frequently say that “common sense” is no longer common.  Yesterday was proof of that.

I spent a long time pursuing a relationship that I too was stone headed about.  I should have taken the hint long before I did. I say this so that you know I, myself, am not immune to these bouts of stupidity.  I have beaten myself up over that for long enough, but last night opened old wounds.  My phone rings.  Like an idiot, I answered it, even though I had no clue who was calling. The voice on the other end was instantly familiar.  It was a person who I had hoped was out of my life since any attempt at a relationship with her daughter had ended.  Heck, it destroyed a great friendship.

Immediately, my fuse was lit.  Those of you that know me know I have a very long fuse.  This person seems to have lit it about three quarters of the way to the blasting cap.  Not only did the fact that it was who it was set me off, but then they had the gall to ask me computer questions.  I work on computers all day and do not care to work on every Tom, Dick and Jane’s machine.  It’s an annoying side to working in the electronics field.  People think that you will fix their stuff for them free of charge and at a moment’s notice.  I tried to remain calm and stated that I did not do side work anymore.  I’ve been taken advantage of too many times.  The person attempted to brush me off and continued vainly to try to attain information.  I reiterated that I don’t do that anymore and am not interested. I then promptly hung up on her.  I’m a pretty respectful person with a lot of patience, but I’m tired of this person thinking I’m her bestest buddy. The only reason I tolerated her was to spend time with her daughter.

Early that day, I ran into another breed of idiot.  I aspire to, at some point in my life, make enough income to be happy.  I don’t really know what the final path will be to that end, but I’m starting to realize that you have to sell off brain cells to become upper management.  Apparently, it’s a rather high ratio of brain cells destroyed to dollars earned.  I had thought of this particular idiot as a well versed person who knew his stuff… until the early round of emails yesterday.  He proved his knowledge or lack there-of very quickly.

To make a long story short.  We are working on a new office for our CEO.  The systems that are going into this office are more robust than most of our business unit offices that our field workers work out of.  As we went about our planning meetings in the days before, I noticed that the equipment going into the rack seemed a bit much for the single 15 amp circuit that the construction folks were installing.  I quickly tabulated up the power requirements and made a written recommendation of a solution that would be quick and fairly cheap compared to its alternatives.  I made sure to dumb down the information enough so that anyone could understand it.  There are many different groups involved and I didn’t want anyone to be clueless as to why we needed to make this change.  I’ve found it to be a much easier sell that way.

The email in question asked why I would want to add this when the unit they specified had enough outlets on it to plug everything in.  I tactfully restated why it had to be changed and that it wasn’t the number of holes to plug something in that mattered, it was the amount of power the devices consumed that had to be taken into account.  After several emails back and forth between myself, the lead project manager and this director, he finally caught on that not only would my solution provide the required power, but would take advantage of the fact that we had already purchased one device and had it on-site.  His recommendation, by the way, was to buy a bigger device that would also have required the installation of a larger, more expensive outlet, I had already demonstrated this fact in my original document.  I don’t mind training someone on calculating power requirements.   I realize that many of you reading this won’t know exactly what I am talking about, but two factors popped my cork: 1) I had spent time laying out a very simple document that showed why we needed it and why we should do it that way. 2) This person is running our whole technology department, which means somewhere along the line he should have at least a minute understanding of power requirements, let alone the ability to read a plainly worded document that explained the situation clearly.

Any who, I went to bed last night aggravated that I had let myself get unglued.  I didn’t fall asleep until about 6:15 this morning.  I had to get up at 7 to go to work.  Needless to say, today, I’ve been just a wee bit on edge.  Maybe tonight I’ll sleep better. I can’t say as yet.

I hear a lot of folks complaining about the winter we’ve had this year.  I’ve actually kind of enjoyed not having snow/rain/mud alternating every other day.  We’ve had almost steady snow on the ground since Christmas.  Just when we could start seeing the grass again, we got a 10 inch snow fall.  We haven’t seen the grass since. 

I heard on the news this afternoon that the weather guessers are predicting snow again this week.  I worked on my atv plow today and cleaned up the mess the borough employees left when they plowed the alleys.  It took longer than I expected since we had so much rain/ice mixed in with the snow we’ve had the past few days.  When I got back inside, I heard that tomorrow the temperature could be 46 degrees.  That will be good.  The ice that was under the snow I plowed off will melt just in time for the next round of snow to hit.

What else goes on in my life? Hmmm.  Well, my kitty roommate is starting to show some signs of getting aclimated to my house.  She comes out on her own and jumps up on the bed when its treat time.  She also spent some time with me in the kitchen while I was baking pizza to take for lunch Friday.  I have to say she has been pretty friendly from day one.  She just likes to hide a lot.  I’m not sure whether that is due to the other animals that the former owner had or if its just still a new place to get used to.  She still likes to run from place to place when she comes out, but she doesn’t run quite as fast.  She also doesn’t detour behind the couch or love seat to stear clear of me.  I guess all in all things are moving in the right direction.

I’ve spent a little time with Sherry and Camille since Christmas.  I went to Camille’s skating competition over at the Chevy Center in Youngstown.  She did pretty well.  Her picture made the front page of the Youngstown Vindicator and their website.  Camille has another competition in New York this coming weekend.  I don’t think I’m going up to it.  Its a two day competition about two and a half hours from here. Sherry and her family are spending the weekend up there as a family gathering.

I’m glad that Sherry puts so much value in her family.  Too many families these days don’t see each other except maybe when they pass in the hall or going out the door.  I respect that she schedules Saturday Family Nights with her mom and dad.  We try to plan our outings around Saturday so she doesn’t have to interupt these special nights.

I’m just kicking back tonight, relaxing.  I changed the sheets on my bed today and bought new pillows to replace my old not-so-fluffy-any more ones.  The cat didn’t know what to make of me working on the bed while she was under it.  I decided to get out the remote control helicopter Sherry got me for Christmas and give it a try.  It’s one of those little ones that you fly inside.  The guy in the mall made them look really easy. Umm.. yeah.  The batteries just finished charging so I guess I’ll give it another spin around the room… see how many times I can crash.  HAHA.

… It is the weekend… right?!

Here it is Saturday night.  I feel like it should be Thursday or something.  It has been one of those weekends.  You know the kind.  There has been some good and some “ugh” to it. We’ll start our journey with preparation for Friday, since that’s the day that was fun… sort of.

Friday, we were schedule to attend a Customer Appreciation Cruise on The Gateway Clipper in Pittsburgh.  I went to this dinner last year. I was looking forward to going this year as I would have a date instead of tagging along by myself like last year. 

The arrangements were all made with Ms. S. by Wednesday as to what time I would pick her up.  I realized that the time I had picked was a little late to get going from her place based on directions and times provided by the two major mapping websites.  We couldn’t push that time much earlier because Ms S. had to get Miss C. ready to stay at Grandma and Grampa’s for the evening.  Arrival in Pittsburgh was going to be close.  I hoped there wouldn’t be the kind of traffic I hit last year. 

My plans for Friday included leaving work about 2:30 pm at the latest.  This would allow me ample time to get home, clean up the truck and get ready.  Friday’s are pretty slow at work, usually.  That wasn’t the case with yesterday.  I knew I had a meeting at 11 am that was to be a lunch meeting.  No problem, I should still have plenty of time.  Before going to that meeting, the boss scheduled another meeting for 1:30 to 2:30 pm. Eh!.. Close but I can still make it… or so I thought.  The lunch meeting ran way long.  We didn’t start the second meeting untill about 2:30 ish. 

Great! I’m already worried about being late because I need to pick up Ms. S. and now I’m not going to get to leave when I need to.  I was pretty sure that if I got to Ms. S.’s house on time that we could beat the clock, but now I’m not even sure ‘I’ am going to be on time.  The meeting had turned to basic chit chat by 3:15.  I told my boss that if I were to make it to the cruise, I needed to bolt immediately.  I got home about 3:50 ish.  Cleaned out the truck and then jumped in the shower.  I was able to get to pickup up Ms. S. about 5:10.  Fortunately, Grandma was early and had already picked up Miss C.  The only redeeming thing about all this rushing was that when I turned on the GPS to head for Ms. S.’s house, the trip time was 15 minutes short than the map websites.  The arrival time was showing we would just make it.

Sure enough, we hit downtown Pittsburgh on time.  Traffic was heavy as we approached the bridge but the main route was clear.  I jumped off and took the route through downtown instead of waiting on traffic.  We pulled in with time to spare.  We got on the boat.  I had time to introduce Ms. S. to all my coworkers and find a seat before we left the dock.  The night was nice. We spent time with the gang, then went downstairs to see what was going on at the casino tables.  No, this wasn’t a floating casino.  This was simply ‘for fun’.  We played and did fairly well.  I dropped Ms. S. off about 10:35 ish and made my way home.

I had to be in the office this morning by 9am to babysit the floor cleaning crew while they cleaned the server room.  It wasn’t supposed to be very laborious, just sit there and make sure they don’t screw up anything.  I ended up moving the cabinets where we store the spare harddrives and back up tapes.  I ended up leaving the office at 2 pm with my back being grumpy with me.  Not a big deal really.  My plan was to head home and relax for a bit.  If my back wasn’t bugging me later, I would put up my Christmas tree.  As fate would have it, that didn’t get accomplished either.

I was awakened from a deep slumber (on the couch) by my cell phone.  It was my mom.  Their neighbor, who used to work at the same plant Dad did, had said if he went deer hunting this year and got one, he would give it to my dad.  They don’t like deer meat but they know we do.  Sure enough, he had got one.  Dad wasn’t able to hunt this year due to knee surgery the week of Thanksgiving.  I put on my old clothes and went up to help skin the deer.  Dad’s knee really wasn’t up to the task yet, but we got the deer skinned.  It will hang a day or so now in the garage to let the meat cool.  We’ll butcher it ourselves.

All in all, its been a good weekend so far.  A bit tired from the lifting and pulling I did today between the office and the deer.  I’ll live.  It was snowing pretty decent while we were doing the deer and I expect will have a couple inches of snow on the ground by morning.  That’s ok though.  I plan on sleeping in. HAHA!

The holidays are often a time for catching up.  Catching up with yourself, with loved ones and with friends you haven’t seen in a while.  I guess that’s one of the things that makes all the running around worthwhile.

I had the chance to catch up with an old high school friend of mine yesterday.  Don and I hadn’t seen each other in about a year.  As a matter of fact, it was year almost exactly.  The last time we bumped into each other was when I was heading to Michigan the day or so after Christmas.  He had decided to meet friends at a local truckstop.  I had decided to stop there and put air in my tires before the long drive since it was on the way.  Fate, luck, happenstance, or whatever you want to call it, just happened to put us at the same place at the same instance in time.  We talked for a few minutes, but both had other things on our schedules so we exchanged contact information and headed our seperate ways. 

This year, he called to let me know he was coming in to his mother’s for the holiday.  He wanted to know if we could set aside some time to meet for lunch.  I had taken vacation all week so lunch sounded like a grand idea.  I told him to call me when he got in town and knew a little more about what his plans were.  He called as expected. We set up lunch at Golden Corral for yesterday around Noonish. 

Don and I got along during high school.  He has many talents.  He has his own unique drawing style with serveral self created cartoon characters.  He has played in several local bands and can play a variety of instruments.  One of the things he brought with him for me to hear was a cd of tunes he had come up with over  the years.  These were things he had recorded while on the road with bands, stuck in hotel rooms and the like.  I have participated in some of Don’s silliness over the  years and looked forward to what he had put together.

We ate lunch and spent a lot of time discussion similarities in our career paths.  What had he done?  What had I done?  General conversations about life and how things are going.  We left the table and went outside around 2 pm.  The sky was overcast but the temperature was about 60 degrees.  We continued our conversation while standing in the parking lot.  Time passed quickly and soon we found it was 4:30 ish. We were still carrying on about old times and new.  We decided we should head our seperate ways if we planned on making anything of the remaining evening.

I ran a few errands and headed towards home.  I popped the cd he had given me into the player to see what treasure it held.  Don’s antics on recordings can be anything from very humorous radio show type things to very serious muscial tracks.  I wasn’t disappointed.  The cd contained all music that he had done almost totally himself.  There were fun songs made by recording various different sounds such has bike spokes clicking, bongos and fingerpopping.  There was a comical birthday tune of Don’s own composer with a British flare. 

Track 7 on the cd caught my ear.  It was a somewhat touching song written about his father.  Many of the memories he mentioned, I can recall from some of the time I spent around his family.  I really hadn’t pictured Don as the emotional type of song writer, but here, in this song lay the unseen emotions about how much he missed his father’s company.  I’d love to post the song, but I won’t without Don’s permission.  Its the type of song that if heard by the right persons, could probably be recorded and distributed on a much more professional level. 

It was fun to catch up with Don and kick the old memories around.  It was even more impressive to hear some of the things he has ‘thrown’ together.  I think there are recording artists out there today who wish they could get these kinds of recordings out of the studio time they are paying big bucks for. 

I have had many fond experiences so far this holiday week.  I don’t really see this season as being about the material gifts we exchange.  It’s not about how bright and fancy your tree or your house is decorated or how many packages you have under your tree.  It IS about the ones you share yourself with.  Time is a most precious thing.  Spending our time with those we love and cherrish and those who’s friendships we hold dear, is what makes the memories that last a life time.  It is what makes this time of year special.

Thanks to all those whom I have spent time with.  To those who I haven’t caught up with this season, there will be time in the future, for now, thanks for being who you are.

I’ve always liked the Christmas season.  I enjoy seeing the neat ideas that people come up with while decorating their houses.  I enjoy taking time to get together with folks and sharing special moments.  This year should prove to be even more special as I have a couple extra special people in my life to share it with.

One of the things about Christmas that does get on my nerves is the crassness that seems to over take people as the season draws near.  I’ve always been taught that this is a season for love and sharing, but you wouldn’t know it by some of the things you see going on as you go about your daily endevours.  People seem to take on new persona’s at Christmas.  They go into overdrive rushing around to get this or that, often at the sake of their own or other’s saftey. I guess I’m old fashioned or something.  I step aside and let them rush by often chortling a happy comment at them just to see their reaction.  It is utterly amazing how many people act surprised or even aggrevated that you took the time to say “Hello” or “Merry Christmas”. 

There were several moments yesterday while I was out shopping that irked me.  These people were in such a rush that they wouldn’t take the time to look before jutting out into a store aisleway with their cart, yet they leave their carts in the middle of the aisles while they dig for their bargain.  Should you say “Excuse me” or attempt to squeeze around them, they look at you like you are out of you mind.  Heaven forbid you touch their cart.  You might as well be trying to steal all the gold from Fort Knox.

That brings up another thing that I have noticed this year, distruction of the store and inventory.  I can’t believe how many places I have been where I see things on the shelf that are utterly destroyed.  I appears that customers have torn open packages or crushed other items trying to get to their prized purchase.  I wonder how much loss will be tallied up this year just in inventory too damaged to sell.  If you haven’t purchased an item, you shouldn’t be tearing it apart or standing on it so you can reach the doll on the top shelf (Yes, I saw this at Walmart yesterday).

Oh yes, then there is parking lot etiquette.  It would appear that everyone in my area is practicing for the Indy 500, Daytona 500, or some other highspeed race that must be coming up in the very near future.  Parking lots are called parking lots for a reason.  This is where you stop your car so you can get out and go into the stores.  I must have missed the signs for the Richard Petty Driving School Classes that were taking place at our mall yesterday.  Is it really necessary to get up to 65 mph in the 75 feet between the Stop Sign and the next interesection, which also requires you to stop.

While we’re on the subject of parking lots, What is it with some people!?  They paint those big arrows on the asphalt for a reason folks.  Your car should be travelling in the direction the arrow is pointing.  OH YES!  And there is also a reason why they have those nice little angled lines on the ground too.  You know the ones.  The ones that make it easy to just pull in at an angle so you have enough room to get out and the guy/gal next to you can get back in to his/her vehicle.  I saw at least 3 bozos come down the row the wrong way then tie up traffic while they twisted and turned their vehicles to get them into the spot.  This would be the spot they race the guy down the other row for.  I just sat there and shook my head, politely waiting my turn.  They guy gave me a dirty look, like I was the one who had to do a 5 point turn to get in a spot that someone else was waiting to get into.

Oh well, I guess you’ll have all theses things.  I just don’t ever recall a Christmas where I heard on the national news that a person was trampled to death while attempting to open the store for business.  Was this person really deserving of that kind of death?  What kind of savage people have we become if we can’t even wait until the doors are properly opened and the store is ready for us to come in?  I saw a list of the things that were on sale that day and I saw nothing on the list that even remotely warranted such ‘over enthusiasm’ that property was damaged, let alone someone be trampled to death.  I feel sorry for his family and the families of the employees that knew him.  They lost a loved one because a group of people were so greedy that they stampeded the store.

This Christmas Eve, when I sit down with my special someone, I will be all the more thankful for the time we spend.  For it is the time we spend with those most special to us, not the money we spend, that is what this holiday is all about.  The best gift I can give them is me, because without me, no matter how much is spent, the packages are just packages, material things.  They only become gifts when they come from the heart.  It doesn’t really matter how big or how small, how silly or how serious.  It is who it came from that makes the difference.

I wish all of you a very special Christmas this year.  May you find love, joy and happiness with those whom you gather.  May the lights brighten your heart.  Let the bobbles on the tree be the sparkle in your eye as you give of yourself and your time to someone else this season.

Merry Christmas!

There once was a guy. He was tired of being alone, but he had yet to find that special someone. Everyone kept saying “She’s out there. You’ll meet her when you least expect it.” So our guy went about life, a little depressed because he was beginning to believe she didn’t really exist.

One day, he took a chance and sent a message to a stranger he had found on the internet. The little information he had about her made him curious. He half expected her not to even answer him, but he would try none-the-less. Much to his delight, she replied. Thus began a series of exchanges that would lead up to setting up an evening to meet.

A local restaurant was chosen. They both knew where it was. As the appointed day drew near, he was nervous. Would she like him? Would he like her? Would they both run screaming out the door? … or worse… never make it to the door.

He got to the restaurant a bit early, partly due to nervousness and partly do to the fact that he didn’t want to disappoint her by being late. He waited in the truck as the appointed time drew near. He had to have the a/c fan running because he felt like he was sweating from nerves. Sure enough, a vehicle approached much like the one that she described. “Is that her?” he thought to himself. The driver fit the description too. He calmed himself as she pulled up to park.

He met her at her van. She got out. She was tall. Very Tall. He liked what he saw. They entered the restaurant and their evening began. She was obviously nervous. He did his best to belay her fears, hoping that his own would quiet as well.

He noticed immediately that she had pretty eyes, something he should have pointed out to her, but didn’t. Her blonde locks accenting the depth of her lovely green eyes. She was by no means hard to look at. He felt she could hold his gaze for hours.

She held out her hands saying how cold she was. He took them in his. He noticed the cold, but even more he noticed she was shaking. He held on gently for a moment, not wanting to let go.

They talked for quite a while. He enjoyed her laugh and her smile. She was easy to talk to and they shared many common interests. There were several quiet moments as they talked. Moments spurred by unexpected commonalities in their lives. Once such moment almost cost him a Pepsi bath, as she was just taking a sip of her drink when he mentioned an interest from the recent past. It turns out a relative had a nickname for her from that same interest. Good or bad, it was another thing they shared.

He liked this woman. Could she be his missing someone? Time would tell. For now, he savored her green eyes, golden hair and her tall body cloaked by an oversize sweatshirt. He delighted in her personality and in their shared interests. He was happy. Happier than he had been in a long time.

His Cinderella had to be home before the clock struck and he knew that soon this grand night must end. He walked her to her van. As they said their goodnights, she paused a moment looking into his eyes. She really didn’t have to say anything, he could see she was lost. He didn’t know if she could see his smile, but he was beaming inside. She had to go, but they would meet again. He felt sure of it.

When he got home, he received a message from her saying she was home safe. They talked some more. He couldn’t get enough of her. Neither wanting to end the night, but both knowing events of the ‘morrow required some rest. She signed off for the night, leaving him hoping, wishing, wanting her to keep talking. He bubbled with joy inside when she called him on the phone just to hear him say ‘Good Night’. It was a good Friday night. No, it was a GREAT Friday night!

He went off to bed knowing that some day soon, he would again have the pleasure of her company. She could be his special someone.. his Cinderella. This was not the end of the fairy tale, only the beginning. Many chapters were yet to be written. He dozed off smiling.