Hey, where ya' been?

I've been pretty silent the past week or so. Times, they are a changin' as they say. First change, is my job. I was contacted at home several weeks ago by a company here in Topeka. I had, for the past seven years, been making the 70 mile (one way) commute to Kansas City for gainful employment. It isn't a bad commute. Interstate 98 % of the way. The most in-town driving was from my driveway to the interstate. But several weeks ago I received a call from a person (I can't remember his name) that suggested I make contact with the HR person at the Topeka company.



Now, I said I was called at home. And this was significant. It was significant because nowhere on any resume, whether it be online or on paper, have I ever put my home phone number. I always use my cell phone. That way people can get me whenever, where ever. And I am more likely to return a voice mail left on the cell phone rather than on the answering machine. I don't know why - that's just the way I roll I guess.



So, I went and talked to them. My resume is a mess (I hate doing them, and never really figured out how to make a stunning one). And my interview skills are crap. I hate interviews too. I am not very good at them. And I told them that. They asked what I was looking for in a company, and basically I told them "Look, my resume looks like crap and I and no good at interviews. I hate looking for work. I want a place where I will be comfortable, and where I can just stay until I retire." They seemed to like that answer.



The pay is virtually a lateral transfer. But I figured out that without having to buy gas and pay turnpike fees, I'm getting something like a $3K/yr after-taxes raise. That is pretty cool. Yeah, $3K/yr, and that is with my ultra fuel sipping little Insight that gets 65+ miles per gallon on a regular basis. The car was acting up my last three days in KC (talk about synchronicity) so I borrowed mom's giant old-lady silver Mercury. She wasn't using it as she had cracked a couple of bones in her right shoulder (she is fine, don't worry about her - she is a battle ax). At any rate, I was using her car, and I kid you not, I almost died. I spent, literally, $15 a day on gas in that thing. Yes, you saw that correctly - $15 A DAY on gas. Man, I don't know how people drive those things and still afford to eat. Although, I have to admit, it was very nice being able to go from 20 mph to 70 mph in something like 4 seconds. As much as I can't afford to drive something like that daily, I sure miss that V-8 engine. VRRROOOOMMMMMM. Hey, wait a minute, my commute is not only like 12 miles. I can afford to drive something like that. Oh, not a Mercury, I'm not that old yet. But maybe a Dodge Charger. <drool>oooooo Chaaaarrrgggerrr</drool>.



At any rate, that is where I've been at this past week or so. Getting all settled in. Getting to know people. Getting things done that need to be done.



I am glad you all stopped by. Thanks for visiting.





Technorati Tags: Topeka, Kansas City, Jobs, gas mileage, Honda Insight, Mercury

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Harry's demise?

The last Harry Potter book is set to be released on 21 July of this year. Which of course got me to thinking what is in store for our intrepid "boy who lived." Many speculate (and Master of Horror Stephen King hopes) that Harry will die. I don't believe this to be the case. And my firm belief in his living comes directly from the first chapter of the first book, which is titled "They Boy Who Lived."



One cannot start a story this way, and then kill the boy who lived. That would make him the boy who died. I do foresee a dark ending though. Granted, I'm no JK Rowling, and I don't pretend to be. But if I were somehow creative enough to come up with this whole thing, this is how I would end it.



As we all know, Harry and Voldemort are linked by the fact that Voldemort could not kill Harry as a baby. However, it is my firm belief that Voldemort - being older and infinitely more evil than Harry - is stronger than Harry. And, as we have seen in book after book, this is one tough cookie to destroy. Sure, he can be killed, but his spirit or whatever, his life essence lives on to create evil another day.



So, my idea for ending this book would be for Harry to kill Voldemort, but Voldemort's life essence encompasses Harry's body, and takes control of it. Then, while Harry's life essence is trapped in his mind in a cage created by Voldemort, he uses Harry to kill Ron and Hermione.



But in the end, Harry lives on with Voldemort controlling his body.



This doesn't fully and completely end the series. That, I don't believe can happen. After all, there is the possibility that sometime in the future, give it twenty or thirty years, that Rowling will want to re-visit the wizarding world and see what is going on in that place.



And that's my 2-cents worth. Thanks for visiting





Technorati Tags: Harry Potter, JK Rowling, Voldemort

"It's only a safety problem"

I had to say something, I just had too. This just kills me. A low cost Spanish airline flying from Lisbon to Madrid had some of the seats on the plane taped off and would not allow passengers to use them.

The captain told them on the intercom: "We will not be able to use that
part of the plane because we have a safety problem with the door at the
front. Don't worry, it's only a safety problem," the newspaper reported.

Only a safety problem? Well, thank goodness it is nothing serious, like...I dunno, something that might compromise the safety of the passengers.

Lesson Learned

In this weeks lessons learned, I discovered that just because there is a gigantic, public relations conscious company, it doesn't mean they have a firm handle on the English language. For instance, north of Topeka is the Harrah's Prairie Band Casino. You know, Harrah's, from Vegas and Reno and AC. Big company right? Huge. And with all Casino's public relations is imperative. So you'd think they would have proof-readers of some sort. But at the entrance to the Casino is a sign the reads "Complimentary FREE Valet Parking."

For those who haven't yet finished the 6th grade, the word "complimentary" means...FREE. Go figure.

In another advertisement that is almost, but not quite exactly like the above example of poor English; there is a company in town called Boyle's Joyland Flea Market. I know, strange name for a flea market, but there is history in the name. Back in the day (when I was just about knee high to a grasshopper) there was an amusement park in town called Boyle's Joyland. It was no Disney, or Six Flags or even World's of Fun, but it was ours, and we could go there an drive go-karts and bumper cars and play goofy golf and ride the ferris wheel and generally have a place to hang out.

Okay, fast forward many years and Joyland had to close because insurance was too much and not enough people were hanging out there and what-not so the guy who owned it opened a flea market instead (what? that doesn't seem like a natural transition, from amusement park to flea market?).

Now that I have you either thoroughly bored or thoroughly interested, the point of this is I saw a television commercial for the flea market and at the bottom of the screen it reads (and I kid you not) "Open seven days a week and Sundays." Does that mean they are open all 8 days of the week? What about Saturdays? Sheesh.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Nut campaign paid off (go figure)

At the end of the television season, CBS announced that it was canceling the show "Jericho". For those not in the know, Jericho is about a small town in Kansas named...Jericho. The premise is several nuclear bombs are detonated in the United States. They obliterate Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas (I think), Lawrence (why?) and some other cities that basically leave theses great United States torn asunder. The show centers on the citizens of Jericho, and their reactions to the aftermath.

When last season ended, neighboring town of Newbern was waging war on the town of Jericho just as military helicopters were flying in to save the day (or help Newbern, we really don't know what they are going to do). At any rate, fans of the show started a very creative nut campaign. They were taking donations from all over the Internet, buying nuts and sending them to CBS claiming they were "nuts" for canceling Jericho.

Well, it worked. On June 6 CBS relented and posted a "we give up" message on their website. You can read it here.

My favorite is the post script in the message:

P.S. Please stop sending us nuts :)

I for one will be happy to see Jericho return. Any show that brings attention to Kansas. That portrays it in a positive light, I want to see more of. Call be crazy, but that's just the way I roll.

Thanks for stopping by.


Technorati Tags: Jericho, CBS, Television, nuts campaign

Free lunches for the summer

I know it is difficult to decide what should be for lunch for the kids while they are out of school. This summer, Topeka Unified School District 501 is giving parents a reprieve from the lunch time blues (not to mention not having to buy food to feed the hollow legs that run around my house).

USD 501 is offering free lunches for kids age 4 - 18 at the Westminster Presbyterian Church 1275 SW Boswell Avenue every Monday through Friday for the summer (I expect them not to have the lunches on holidays though). I don't know why they are doing this. The kids that eat do not need to live in the neighborhood, nor do they not need to be eligible for the free/reduced-cost lunch program for the district. Heck, the kids don't even have to go to public school to get the lunches.

This seems to be an unpublished thing. I cannot find any information about it on the district website, nor the local news rag website, nor the city website. The only way we found out about is that Mrs. Beeson (the neighborhood 'grandma') came by the house on Monday night and told us all about it. Apparently she is doing some chaperoning for the lunches.

Their hopes are to have 20 or more kids eating each day. The lunches are not PB-n-J sandwiches. They are cooked, hot meals. Yesterday my younguns at "chicken rings" (whatever those are) with potato stars and some veggie with milk. All for free! (woo hoo).

Number One Son said it didn't look like enough food to fill him up, but in the end, he ate everything and it was. Little Sister said she wouldn't go today because they are having burritos and she doesn't like burritos. I tried to explain that it was school cafeteria burritos, which meant they probably weren't much like real burritos, but she wasn't having any of that.

Who said there was no such thing as a free lunch?

Thanks for visiting.


Technorati Tags: Free Lunch, Topeka, USD 501

Rrrreeeddddbbbbuuuudddd...

It was a beautiful Saturday here in fly-over country. The sky was that unique shade of bright, happy blue that there really is no name for. The clouds were cottony, billowy and so white they almost shined. The whole scene looked like something off of a postcard. You'd almost half expect to look at that sky and see a little 'C' in a circle in the corner of your vision, claiming a copyright on the whole vista.



As beautiful, bright and sunny as the day was, there was some sadness involved. We removed part of a valued member of our yard today. We had a terrific old redbud tree in our back yard. It has, for the past seven years, provided us with spectacular blossoms to look at, and ample shade to protect us from the sun's harsh heat.



We usually have the family father's day celebration at our home. We cook steaks, and setup a table under the redbud tree. The whole thing was very comfortable and serene. The blossoms, the gentle wind, the shade.



But sadly, the tree did not blossom this year. It did not even leaf. It is dead. Folks in the neighborhood tell me the tree was over 100 years old, the oldest tree in the area. I don't know if that was true or not, but it makes it seem even sadder that the grand old tree just suddenly up and died.



When we moved in there was an old hackberry tree that was about 3/4 dead. We had a tree service take that one down because it was somewhere around 40 feet tall, and gigantic. I watched the tree service folks and how they took down the tree. I found it incredibly fascinating. The way they tied a rope to part of a branch, then again tied the same rope to the same branch somewhat lower down. This allowed the cutter to cut the branch and keel the branch from falling uncontrollably.



I remembered that technique today when we removed the first 1/2 of the dead redbud tree. If I owned a chain saw, we could have taken the entire tree down today. But I don't, so we had to use hand saws and axes to get down what we did manage to remove. The trick with the rope worked splendidly, and thankfully no one was injured, or even came close to being injured.



We are going to have to decide what to replace that tree with. I'd like to get one that gives good shade, and grows fast. I don't really want to wait 10 years before we have good shade again, but I may not have much choice in that.



As always, thanks for visiting!



(Oh, and for the record, I know it was "Rosebud")





Technorati Tags: News From Fly-Over Country, tree removal, redbud

Lessons Learned: weight training

This weeks "Lesson Learned" deals with exercise. Lesson is; free weights are much more difficult than weight machines. Since the boys are out of school, and I no longer get them up at half past four in the morning to exercise with me (I can be nice that way), I decided to switch to free weights for the summer.



Thursday I did my legs. That means squats (rough equivalent - so I thought - to the leg press machine). Now, on the leg press machine, I lifted 390 pounds. For the squats, I put 70 pounds on the bar bell. Here it is, three days later, and my quads (that is the muscle group located on the upper front thigh) feel like knotted ropes every time I walk.



So take heed, switching from machines to free weights can be terribly painful!



And again, thanks for visiting!





Technorati Tags: exercise, weight machines, free weights

Who will crash & burn first?

The morning crew on the radio this morning were discussing Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan and their revolving door trips through rehab. That got me to thinking which one will crash and burn first. That, in turn, got me thinking 'hey, that would make a good poll for the blog.' So here it is. (funny how one's mind tends to wander while driving 70 miles in the rain with the steady thunk, thunk, thunk rhythm of the windshield wipers lulling the driving into a semi hypnotic state).