This was just a quick idea that popped into my head. Now that Christmas is over and families are starting to take down their trees I have noticed a few people giving theirs away for free; they either want a new tree or a real tree next year, or it just is not feasible to keep up with it until next year.
Anyway the thought occurred to me that one might collect these trees store them for the next 10 or 11 months, then sell them at a reasonable price to the frugal or give them to the needy. The revenue generated from sales could be used for philanthropy. If someone did this long enough and was perceived as a legitimate non-profit organization I think more people would be willing to donate and buy trees from the organization. Ultimately it could almost be like renting a tree with the option of keeping it and embracing the spirit of giving at the same time.
One problem is that it could require a lot of space and for an inventory that only turns once in a year and all within one months time. It would also call for a lot of work in December and January, but nothing but sitting on the shelves the rest of the year.
For all I know, someone might be doing this now. I have never heard of them. Of course, recently I have not been much of a Christmas tree person; I feel like it is more of a family activity.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Vroom vroom erhmmmm; ahrrrrrrr errrr kush kiih
My nephew got a hotwheels wall track for Christmas. First of all it is totally awesome, but he is too little to operate some of the mechanical aspects. Therefore, they must be left off. He also does not like to share, which makes me very sad.
Hotwheels have always been cool, but somewhere after the time I stopped playing with them they started making some awesome tracks. I had some track pieces when I was a little boy, but nothing that was as cool as what they make now. As far as I know there was nothing motorized available and although the loops were around, I do not remember them actually working very well. Well he has a loop and it works awesome, except for the fact that it is rubber-band wound up and therefore only works one time before needing to be re-wound. Which is ultimately the problem, he does not understand how to get it prepared for a car. He doesn't have anything motorized, but after playing with what he does have for a while, we went to the website and I saw some cool tracks that I would love to play with!
I am starting to wonder if I have any of my track pieces left, I know exactly where I last stored them. I may have decided to throw them away though. Also wondering if I still have some hotwheels from when I started "collecting" them. I know I gave some to my other nephew for Christmas a few years ago.
I may have to start collecting track pieces and one day build one of the world's largest automated hotwheels tracks. How awesome would it be to come home to the sound of hotwheels racing around the track, one that reaches two stories high? I actually did go to a Goodwill today looking for track pieces, but they only had city pieces. I thought about it, but ultimately could not settle for anything less than track pieces. I did pick up a pair of hotwheels Ford Mustang '92 and '13 from Wal-mart; I probably still do have two more Ford Mustang hotwheels cars somewhere, no matter what has happened with the rest of my collection I am certain I did not get rid of those.
Well I think it is time for me to get back to it.
P.S. for those that may have never played with cars before vroom vroom is the sound a car makes when shifting gears erhmmmm is accelerating or cruising at top gear and ahrrrrrr errrr is squealing brakes and finally kush kiih is shattering glass/crashing.
Vroom vroooom vrooooooom.
Hmmm. Vroom vroom can also be revving the engine.
Update 1/4/2012: I have since been to several stores to see if I could find the awesome wall track I saw on hotwheels.com, Mid-Air Madness, no luck; however, I did manage to find two more Ford Mustangs and I grabbed 3 cars from the HW Racing collection that are supposedly "great for tracks". But wait, I am not finished I also found a loop that I initially thought would go good with my nephews wall tracks, although I am beginning to have second thoughts, not sure if I want to share! I also did not mention that I initially bought a wall track and a hotwheels garage with a drag strip on top for my nephew for Christmas, but since he had so many more toys than his older sister's coming to him already, I did not give him the wall track and I have been toying with the idea of keeping it for myself or to give to one of my other nephews eventually. I was playing with my nephews toys while he was out of town, trying to decide if I wanted to open up my toys and build a bigger track, I decided against that, but took a picture of my toys to share.
Hotwheels have always been cool, but somewhere after the time I stopped playing with them they started making some awesome tracks. I had some track pieces when I was a little boy, but nothing that was as cool as what they make now. As far as I know there was nothing motorized available and although the loops were around, I do not remember them actually working very well. Well he has a loop and it works awesome, except for the fact that it is rubber-band wound up and therefore only works one time before needing to be re-wound. Which is ultimately the problem, he does not understand how to get it prepared for a car. He doesn't have anything motorized, but after playing with what he does have for a while, we went to the website and I saw some cool tracks that I would love to play with!
I am starting to wonder if I have any of my track pieces left, I know exactly where I last stored them. I may have decided to throw them away though. Also wondering if I still have some hotwheels from when I started "collecting" them. I know I gave some to my other nephew for Christmas a few years ago.
I may have to start collecting track pieces and one day build one of the world's largest automated hotwheels tracks. How awesome would it be to come home to the sound of hotwheels racing around the track, one that reaches two stories high? I actually did go to a Goodwill today looking for track pieces, but they only had city pieces. I thought about it, but ultimately could not settle for anything less than track pieces. I did pick up a pair of hotwheels Ford Mustang '92 and '13 from Wal-mart; I probably still do have two more Ford Mustang hotwheels cars somewhere, no matter what has happened with the rest of my collection I am certain I did not get rid of those.
Well I think it is time for me to get back to it.
P.S. for those that may have never played with cars before vroom vroom is the sound a car makes when shifting gears erhmmmm is accelerating or cruising at top gear and ahrrrrrr errrr is squealing brakes and finally kush kiih is shattering glass/crashing.
Vroom vroooom vrooooooom.
Hmmm. Vroom vroom can also be revving the engine.
Update 1/4/2012: I have since been to several stores to see if I could find the awesome wall track I saw on hotwheels.com, Mid-Air Madness, no luck; however, I did manage to find two more Ford Mustangs and I grabbed 3 cars from the HW Racing collection that are supposedly "great for tracks". But wait, I am not finished I also found a loop that I initially thought would go good with my nephews wall tracks, although I am beginning to have second thoughts, not sure if I want to share! I also did not mention that I initially bought a wall track and a hotwheels garage with a drag strip on top for my nephew for Christmas, but since he had so many more toys than his older sister's coming to him already, I did not give him the wall track and I have been toying with the idea of keeping it for myself or to give to one of my other nephews eventually. I was playing with my nephews toys while he was out of town, trying to decide if I wanted to open up my toys and build a bigger track, I decided against that, but took a picture of my toys to share.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Ugh
I stole the title from a former co-worker, she constantly posts it as a status on facebook. I think it pretty much sums up how I am feeling right about now. My only problem is I like to show my work a little too much, so there is no way I could post something like that to facebook without explanation. Where to start though?
Well I woke up late this morning, not that I had a lot to do today. I did not, unless we want to talk about the things that I probably should be doing, but have not shown much initiative to do. Like find another part-time job or do some deep cleaning in this house or perhaps exercise. Instead, I just went to McDonald's and then headed over to my brother's house. Only I was surprised to find he was not there but Elba was, she is like the nanny (except when she goes to my brother's house to watch his kids she usually brings Jayden and Mateo too), which meant I decided to eat the breakfast I had brought to share with my brother and his son, Maxson. I forgot it was Thursday (not Friday) anyway and Maxson is in school until 10:45, he gets to spend the day at home on Fridays. So after I ate my enormous breakfast, big enough for 2 adults and 1 child except for the hash browns I ordered got left out, I found something on television to pass the time. Except, I found a movie and I have this problem where I like to watch the entire movie. Seriously it is a pet peeve if you watch a movie you watch the whole thing, if you fall asleep you watch it the next day or at least soonish. So I started watching Slumdog Millionaire and my brother asked me to do something and so I stopped watching it to go do that, it does not matter that I have seen it before; there is this feeling of emptiness inside me now just knowing I did not finish watching the movie again.
I did not finish what he asked me to do either, but I think it is almost done. Anyway, while I am doing what he asked, he goes on a DVR rampage and he is freeing up space. It just so happened, I had just decided to record a few "That 70s Show" episodes so he starts asking what is going on here. It was kind of funny there were like four episodes coming on in a row and I just pressed record series, he said "there's so many, is this something you are recording? Oh okay." Maybe you had to be there. Seriously though, if I had realized it was going to come under scrutiny within an hour of pressing that record button, I would have never done it! I just thought my brother might actually like to watch the show with me, but if not I would enjoy it; it is funny after all.
Then I spent way too long taking in news over the internet. Checked e-mail, craigslist, yahoo. etc. My brother left while I was doing this, but he handed me a rental agreement that was scheduled for today and said here try to take this early. I asked, "When, like right now?" To which he replied, "Sure, if you can."
Up until this point it had not been either an especially bad or good day. I did not jump up right away and take the jumper delivery, which if I had it might have been better for me at least I wouldn't feel solely responsible. See the problem is it started raining and jumpers/bounce houses aren't really a rainy weather activity. They really do not even have much demand in these 60 degree temperatures. Nevertheless, it was sprinkling outside and I called the customer about 3 hours before it was supposed to be delivered. She did not cancel, which at first I thought was good, even since I initially thought she probably was going to. I set the jumper up and it was sprinkling off and on the whole time. Then I collected the money, she asked me then if she got her money back if it rained and I told her that was not something we do. She still paid me and I was on my way. On the car drive back to my brother's it was more of the same; sprinkling never really raining heavy.
I arrive at my brother's home and was greeted by Maxson, Jayden, Mateo, and even Elba (She doesn't speak and hardly understands English). Maxson is just being silly and wants attention and Elba is trying to tell me or ask something. In the process of trying to communicate with Elba, Maxson smacks me a good one right in the balls (which is starting to get annoying I did not see him do it to know his intentions, but his sister's have started feeble attempts at kicking me between the legs for their own amusement; sadly he got me better than either one of them has). All I understood from Elba was "hermana" so I guessed she was looking for Maxson's sisters. It was about time for them to be home, so I made an assumption. I still wonder why she wouldn't have just said their names.
I called my brother to ask him if he was picking up the girls, and we started talking about the rain and the jumper delivery. I relayed him everything I've shared here. Apparently he was a few blocks away and it was really coming down. I stepped outside and it was still sprinkling a bit, but not really coming down. He told me we would wait for the customer to call, but I was getting the impression he would have rather I did not set it up. I looked up a weather map to see what was going on. It appeared to be moving North and it was not going to be over soon. I am already feeling like I screwed up and all I really did was what I was told.
Then he comes home and we start talking about the delivery. He goes over what all was said and he is not feeling good about it. He starts lecturing me on what to say to customers when it might possibly rain. Don't get me wrong the experience or training I get in that moment is invaluable, but it also sends a clear message that I screwed up. He decides to call the customer and offer to pick up the now soaked bounce house and return half of the money (the customer also rented tables and chairs and they kept those for the party). Basically they paid normal price for the table's and chairs and I got a bounce house wet and made two trips to the delivery. The company books might show revenue from this deliver, but it will cost more than was collected. I spent about 5 hours on the delivery so far and the tables and chairs still need to be picked up and the unit is not completely dry. I spent 2 hours already trying to clean and dry the unit some. It was hardly getting anywhere and I was afraid it might keep sprinkling, so I rolled the unit back up and put it in the garage.
My brother left the house on a date with his wife or something, I am assuming (he did not tell me). I eventually just left his house, probably should have called, but I am tired and I just wanted to be home. So I have not even spoke with him since picking up the wet unit. I probably should have just brought it to my place and put it in the garage or something, but I did not know he was not going to be home.
I stopped at Wendy's on the way home and they did not give me a receipt, straw, or napkins. Which is no big deal, but damn why must they forget those things today?
Well I woke up late this morning, not that I had a lot to do today. I did not, unless we want to talk about the things that I probably should be doing, but have not shown much initiative to do. Like find another part-time job or do some deep cleaning in this house or perhaps exercise. Instead, I just went to McDonald's and then headed over to my brother's house. Only I was surprised to find he was not there but Elba was, she is like the nanny (except when she goes to my brother's house to watch his kids she usually brings Jayden and Mateo too), which meant I decided to eat the breakfast I had brought to share with my brother and his son, Maxson. I forgot it was Thursday (not Friday) anyway and Maxson is in school until 10:45, he gets to spend the day at home on Fridays. So after I ate my enormous breakfast, big enough for 2 adults and 1 child except for the hash browns I ordered got left out, I found something on television to pass the time. Except, I found a movie and I have this problem where I like to watch the entire movie. Seriously it is a pet peeve if you watch a movie you watch the whole thing, if you fall asleep you watch it the next day or at least soonish. So I started watching Slumdog Millionaire and my brother asked me to do something and so I stopped watching it to go do that, it does not matter that I have seen it before; there is this feeling of emptiness inside me now just knowing I did not finish watching the movie again.
I did not finish what he asked me to do either, but I think it is almost done. Anyway, while I am doing what he asked, he goes on a DVR rampage and he is freeing up space. It just so happened, I had just decided to record a few "That 70s Show" episodes so he starts asking what is going on here. It was kind of funny there were like four episodes coming on in a row and I just pressed record series, he said "there's so many, is this something you are recording? Oh okay." Maybe you had to be there. Seriously though, if I had realized it was going to come under scrutiny within an hour of pressing that record button, I would have never done it! I just thought my brother might actually like to watch the show with me, but if not I would enjoy it; it is funny after all.
Then I spent way too long taking in news over the internet. Checked e-mail, craigslist, yahoo. etc. My brother left while I was doing this, but he handed me a rental agreement that was scheduled for today and said here try to take this early. I asked, "When, like right now?" To which he replied, "Sure, if you can."
Up until this point it had not been either an especially bad or good day. I did not jump up right away and take the jumper delivery, which if I had it might have been better for me at least I wouldn't feel solely responsible. See the problem is it started raining and jumpers/bounce houses aren't really a rainy weather activity. They really do not even have much demand in these 60 degree temperatures. Nevertheless, it was sprinkling outside and I called the customer about 3 hours before it was supposed to be delivered. She did not cancel, which at first I thought was good, even since I initially thought she probably was going to. I set the jumper up and it was sprinkling off and on the whole time. Then I collected the money, she asked me then if she got her money back if it rained and I told her that was not something we do. She still paid me and I was on my way. On the car drive back to my brother's it was more of the same; sprinkling never really raining heavy.
I arrive at my brother's home and was greeted by Maxson, Jayden, Mateo, and even Elba (She doesn't speak and hardly understands English). Maxson is just being silly and wants attention and Elba is trying to tell me or ask something. In the process of trying to communicate with Elba, Maxson smacks me a good one right in the balls (which is starting to get annoying I did not see him do it to know his intentions, but his sister's have started feeble attempts at kicking me between the legs for their own amusement; sadly he got me better than either one of them has). All I understood from Elba was "hermana" so I guessed she was looking for Maxson's sisters. It was about time for them to be home, so I made an assumption. I still wonder why she wouldn't have just said their names.
I called my brother to ask him if he was picking up the girls, and we started talking about the rain and the jumper delivery. I relayed him everything I've shared here. Apparently he was a few blocks away and it was really coming down. I stepped outside and it was still sprinkling a bit, but not really coming down. He told me we would wait for the customer to call, but I was getting the impression he would have rather I did not set it up. I looked up a weather map to see what was going on. It appeared to be moving North and it was not going to be over soon. I am already feeling like I screwed up and all I really did was what I was told.
Then he comes home and we start talking about the delivery. He goes over what all was said and he is not feeling good about it. He starts lecturing me on what to say to customers when it might possibly rain. Don't get me wrong the experience or training I get in that moment is invaluable, but it also sends a clear message that I screwed up. He decides to call the customer and offer to pick up the now soaked bounce house and return half of the money (the customer also rented tables and chairs and they kept those for the party). Basically they paid normal price for the table's and chairs and I got a bounce house wet and made two trips to the delivery. The company books might show revenue from this deliver, but it will cost more than was collected. I spent about 5 hours on the delivery so far and the tables and chairs still need to be picked up and the unit is not completely dry. I spent 2 hours already trying to clean and dry the unit some. It was hardly getting anywhere and I was afraid it might keep sprinkling, so I rolled the unit back up and put it in the garage.
My brother left the house on a date with his wife or something, I am assuming (he did not tell me). I eventually just left his house, probably should have called, but I am tired and I just wanted to be home. So I have not even spoke with him since picking up the wet unit. I probably should have just brought it to my place and put it in the garage or something, but I did not know he was not going to be home.
I stopped at Wendy's on the way home and they did not give me a receipt, straw, or napkins. Which is no big deal, but damn why must they forget those things today?
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Fuel -- Bad Day
It has been a bad day. Right now I'm on Nellis A.F.B. for at least another hour or two. I am supposed to have collected $280 from the delivery here, but I told them I would talk to the boss to see what kind of discount we could get them since I basically showed up at the base when they were expecting to start.
I am waiting for that party to end so I can get it without worrying about how to get back on base. The fun part of it all is using my brother's phone to type it all up. I have not really told anyone but family, but my blackberry has a busted screen and I am not upgrading (contract is up) so I am just not using a phone (I never call anyone really and no one can reciprocate what is not happening), but I would still have an easier time typing with the screen busted all up than this thing. I do not love the Samsung Galaxy and/or the touchscreen keyboard. Yet, despite all my hatred; dealing with this is still the better part of my day. Here allow me to explain:
One Lady wanted to set up two bounce houses for 11:30 this morning; only she did not understand we arrive early to have it set up by that start time. I started calling about 9:00 am hoping to drive right over, she was only 10 minutes away. No answer at either number, left a message on one number, voicemail full on the other. I go to breakfast and stop in a goodwill, just to give her some time to call me back. Twenty minutes later I try to call again. Twenty minutes after that I am knocking on the door, just hoping they open that! I have no more time to wait for her, but I will have to wait anyway. After about 5 minutes and ringing the door bell twice and thinking about a third time (I heard voices inside, come on people) they finally ask, "Who is there?" I explained who I was through the door and they said, "Oh wow, you are early!" Well not really ma'am if your party is at 11:30, arriving at 9:00 might have been early; but after waiting until almost 10 to show up I am no longer early. They do not currently have a key to the back gate and again they are shocked that I would show up at almost 10:00 for an 11:30 party, so early, how dare I? Seriously though, this guy was genuinely upset (I could hear it in his voice) that I was early. Well he could have been upset at the gardener, but he was projecting it onto me. See the gardener had broken his key to the gate off and that was why they did not have they key and he was supposed to be at the house at 6:30 am and here I am so early at 10:00 and the gardener has not been there!
The phone is really acting wonky now so going to finish this and fix at a computer later. Time lapse; two hours later: I am at a computer now the phone was not letting me scroll down, and the cursor was stuck blinking about halfway. Additionally, my willingness to make typos had increased as I went along. Anyway I have cleaned everything up now (hopefully before anyone saw this). We return now to the story of a Bad Day already in progress:
Since, I had to wait for the gardener, I threw what I could over the gate, but the customer was still apparently upset about me arriving early that he was not ready to let me start setting everything up. All the while they were eating into my next customer's time. I am finally permitted to enter into the forbidden land by walking through the home. However, the problems did not end there. I tried explaining to the customer both bounce house blower motors would need to be on a different circuit otherwise it would likely trip the breaker. They did not understand and asked me to try to put them both on the same outlet! All I could do was hope that circuit could handle that kind of voltage. It could not and I soon found out that almost every plug on the front of the house was on the same circuit none of the outlets could handle it when both blowers were plugged in. Finally we ran one of the extension cords to an outlet at the back of the house. By this time I had been there nearly an hour and a half and 10:00 did not seem so early to them for an 11:30 party. The problem was my other party started at 12:00! I was supposed to have been there at 10:30, which is why I was super frustrated by all the shenanigans I ran into at this first customer.
Well my day has gotten a lot better. With the help I had from the party-goers at Nellis we had their party rentals set up super fast. Also got them taken down pretty quickly with their help. Gave them a little more of a discount than the boss approved, but I got a tip from the first disaster, err customer, to cover the difference (Shh don't tell). This post sucks and I am done with it, get over it.
Now go enjoy the song (click here -->) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGHnYD2y-44">Fuel -- Bad Day</a>
I am waiting for that party to end so I can get it without worrying about how to get back on base. The fun part of it all is using my brother's phone to type it all up. I have not really told anyone but family, but my blackberry has a busted screen and I am not upgrading (contract is up) so I am just not using a phone (I never call anyone really and no one can reciprocate what is not happening), but I would still have an easier time typing with the screen busted all up than this thing. I do not love the Samsung Galaxy and/or the touchscreen keyboard. Yet, despite all my hatred; dealing with this is still the better part of my day. Here allow me to explain:
One Lady wanted to set up two bounce houses for 11:30 this morning; only she did not understand we arrive early to have it set up by that start time. I started calling about 9:00 am hoping to drive right over, she was only 10 minutes away. No answer at either number, left a message on one number, voicemail full on the other. I go to breakfast and stop in a goodwill, just to give her some time to call me back. Twenty minutes later I try to call again. Twenty minutes after that I am knocking on the door, just hoping they open that! I have no more time to wait for her, but I will have to wait anyway. After about 5 minutes and ringing the door bell twice and thinking about a third time (I heard voices inside, come on people) they finally ask, "Who is there?" I explained who I was through the door and they said, "Oh wow, you are early!" Well not really ma'am if your party is at 11:30, arriving at 9:00 might have been early; but after waiting until almost 10 to show up I am no longer early. They do not currently have a key to the back gate and again they are shocked that I would show up at almost 10:00 for an 11:30 party, so early, how dare I? Seriously though, this guy was genuinely upset (I could hear it in his voice) that I was early. Well he could have been upset at the gardener, but he was projecting it onto me. See the gardener had broken his key to the gate off and that was why they did not have they key and he was supposed to be at the house at 6:30 am and here I am so early at 10:00 and the gardener has not been there!
The phone is really acting wonky now so going to finish this and fix at a computer later. Time lapse; two hours later: I am at a computer now the phone was not letting me scroll down, and the cursor was stuck blinking about halfway. Additionally, my willingness to make typos had increased as I went along. Anyway I have cleaned everything up now (hopefully before anyone saw this). We return now to the story of a Bad Day already in progress:
Since, I had to wait for the gardener, I threw what I could over the gate, but the customer was still apparently upset about me arriving early that he was not ready to let me start setting everything up. All the while they were eating into my next customer's time. I am finally permitted to enter into the forbidden land by walking through the home. However, the problems did not end there. I tried explaining to the customer both bounce house blower motors would need to be on a different circuit otherwise it would likely trip the breaker. They did not understand and asked me to try to put them both on the same outlet! All I could do was hope that circuit could handle that kind of voltage. It could not and I soon found out that almost every plug on the front of the house was on the same circuit none of the outlets could handle it when both blowers were plugged in. Finally we ran one of the extension cords to an outlet at the back of the house. By this time I had been there nearly an hour and a half and 10:00 did not seem so early to them for an 11:30 party. The problem was my other party started at 12:00! I was supposed to have been there at 10:30, which is why I was super frustrated by all the shenanigans I ran into at this first customer.
Well my day has gotten a lot better. With the help I had from the party-goers at Nellis we had their party rentals set up super fast. Also got them taken down pretty quickly with their help. Gave them a little more of a discount than the boss approved, but I got a tip from the first disaster, err customer, to cover the difference (Shh don't tell). This post sucks and I am done with it, get over it.
Now go enjoy the song (click here -->) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGHnYD2y-44">Fuel -- Bad Day</a>
Haunted
I am pissed off at this blinking cursor on the blank
page. While I do feel a need to write
something, anything; all that is going through my head is how difficult and
frustrating that is for me. Yet, that
seems to be all I ever write about and this has me exhausted and annoyed. Therefore, I hate that this is what I am
doing now and I wish to apologize up front to the few people that for whatever
reason feel obligated to read my ranting.
I like to believe there is a common misconception that I am
the epitome of the typical male or at least an average approximation. I am not entirely sure what that even entails;
though mostly, I refer to male machismo. It is hard to say what my friends really
think; I remember watching a movie once and I could not convince anyone, after
it was over, that I did not fall asleep.
The movie was Message in a Bottle, if memory serves me correctly, I did watch
the entire flick. I did not think it was
great, but it was decent. The reason, I
believe, that I was accused of snoozing was my horrific slouching posture. By the end of the movie I believe my back had
made it to the seat of the auditorium chair and my head was resting on the seat
back. This, however, can all be “explained”
by my slouching before the movie began, then as the movie started I did not
want to sit up and disrupt anyone’s view behind me and I also did not want to
make a ton of noise in so doing. I could
also explain it by pointing out that I am indeed crazy and there really is no good
explanation for some of my strange behavior.
However, there is something that I have done at the movies;
probably not what you are thinking. Of
course I do not believe anyone can say they have never cried at a movie. Although, I could likely say my emotions are
on par with the average female, therefore I actually do cry at movies quite
regularly. I do not hate on crying,
trust me; sometimes it can be refreshing.
However, I have also done a bit of crying over my writing deficiencies
and that is just bothersome. It seems
like a stupid reason to cry in my opinion.
Sometimes I wonder when these issues started. I like to blame myself for quickly declining
my high school teacher when he wanted me to go to a summer writing camp. He wanted me to go, as far as I know, because
he saw some flashes of brilliance in my work (I turned in a good poem and he
mentioned this camp to me, personally, just afterwards). The problem with the camp was that it was
$1000 and I knew my family could not afford that. This is only a stretch of my imagination
however, as my troubles started before this and though the poem may have been
good I recall taking forever to hammer it out and it was only eight lines. Long before that, in sixth or seventh grade I
had to write a portfolio and I was placed in “ALC” indefinitely when mine was
not completed and it was believed or expected that it should have been. I was required to work on my portfolio
entries every day, all day; foregoing normal class sessions, until I was able
to complete the (expletive) thing.
I still wish, sometimes, to convince myself that my
experiences are normal and everyone else understands what I go through; however,
deep down I do not think I truly believe that.
That is why I come back to the same idea for the thousandth time not
satisfied that I ever fully shared the feeling within me, embarrassed and
frustrated that I even feel that way. If
I could lie to myself I would call it laziness or a lack of passion, but at the
same time I oft ponder could this whole problem be imagined?
At this point as a reader, one cannot know that I got tired
and went to bed the day I started writing this.
Now it is two days later and I am just now getting in bed when I should
have been asleep at least two hours ago.
It is not like I forgot about it, at best I pushed it to the back of my
mind; but it took every opportunity available to remind me it was here. A persistent nagging that I needed to do
this, finish what I started. It is all
very overwhelming; giving life to something that has no end and offers no
closure. I will never be content though and that may be what is most discouraging. Still I am as lost as ever and that thing is still there hanging over me.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Failed Kettlecorn trials
First of all, this is a giant bummer.
So I have been wanting to try making kettlecorn since veteran's day. Mostly because we paid $15 for a bag of it and spent about 30 minutes watching some guy make it. This is when I found out that it can be made using maple syrup; I thought that sounded easy. Also since my brother owns a party rental business he happens to have a big bucket of popcorn that needs popping. If you get the urge to try this out without using any recipe, perhaps being anyone that might be over-confident in popcorn making ability, let me just forewarn you: the 'lite' kind we have in the house does not work and so I have just wasted kernels, oil, and syrup twice. I just read a recipe and they say it should be 100% maple syrup. Not sure if that is true, but I do know it was not working for me. If I heated up the syrup separately though it may have worked. I am tired of trying at this point. Plus all I need is corn syrup and I have all the ingredients to make this caramel corn with this recipe I just found. That sounds like a much better idea.
Gotta go!
So I have been wanting to try making kettlecorn since veteran's day. Mostly because we paid $15 for a bag of it and spent about 30 minutes watching some guy make it. This is when I found out that it can be made using maple syrup; I thought that sounded easy. Also since my brother owns a party rental business he happens to have a big bucket of popcorn that needs popping. If you get the urge to try this out without using any recipe, perhaps being anyone that might be over-confident in popcorn making ability, let me just forewarn you: the 'lite' kind we have in the house does not work and so I have just wasted kernels, oil, and syrup twice. I just read a recipe and they say it should be 100% maple syrup. Not sure if that is true, but I do know it was not working for me. If I heated up the syrup separately though it may have worked. I am tired of trying at this point. Plus all I need is corn syrup and I have all the ingredients to make this caramel corn with this recipe I just found. That sounds like a much better idea.
Gotta go!
Monday, November 19, 2012
What is this!?!?
Despite the fun that could be had, I will try not to analyze myself but only present my thoughts for the benefit of others to understand. For instance, let us begin our wild adventure, I find that I feel the need to explain myself but I cannot explain why I feel this way. As I said, it could be fun to break it down and hypothesize the 'why,' however that is not what we are here for. To be honest, I don't have the professional qualifications to do that. At this point, you may already have identified the need for this purpose. I can accept that, now let us get on with it.
On and around September 11, 2011; I spent a few days with some good friends. I am constantly having a conversation in my head, sometimes with my self, one might consider these as personal narratives, but at times these conversations are upgraded in severity, one might suggest, to fictitious dialogue; this dialogue takes place sometimes with representations of real people and other times completely fictitious people. It seems strange to explain it in words, but I am sure others understand this and do it as well. Have you ever mentally represented another party in a conversation that you were preparing to have? That is basically all I am explaining; however, sometimes I have these mental conversations and do not open my mouth to bring them into existence. Other times as I find myself exploring my mental understanding and contemplating the world, I will create a representative of someone in a role, such as a professor, boss, or any number of conceptualized individuals. It was on September 11, that one such conversation took place and as a result that I created the idea for this very blog. As the window of opportunity began to close on the emergence of an actual conversation that mirrored the mental representation I had been having, I began to consider the frequency of this very occurrence. Certainly I have not claimed to be ordinary, despite not being altogether that different, but perhaps taking normal to the extreme. I certainly believe I have more of these conversations than most or at the very least more that I try to ignore.
On and around September 11, 2011; I spent a few days with some good friends. I am constantly having a conversation in my head, sometimes with my self, one might consider these as personal narratives, but at times these conversations are upgraded in severity, one might suggest, to fictitious dialogue; this dialogue takes place sometimes with representations of real people and other times completely fictitious people. It seems strange to explain it in words, but I am sure others understand this and do it as well. Have you ever mentally represented another party in a conversation that you were preparing to have? That is basically all I am explaining; however, sometimes I have these mental conversations and do not open my mouth to bring them into existence. Other times as I find myself exploring my mental understanding and contemplating the world, I will create a representative of someone in a role, such as a professor, boss, or any number of conceptualized individuals. It was on September 11, that one such conversation took place and as a result that I created the idea for this very blog. As the window of opportunity began to close on the emergence of an actual conversation that mirrored the mental representation I had been having, I began to consider the frequency of this very occurrence. Certainly I have not claimed to be ordinary, despite not being altogether that different, but perhaps taking normal to the extreme. I certainly believe I have more of these conversations than most or at the very least more that I try to ignore.
Partial posts
In-case anyone noticed and is perhaps wondering what just happened; I just dumped a lot of partial work from my draft box. I am tired of it hanging around, hoping one day to get back to it. The truth is the moment was here to write something and I let it slip away. I thought too much and did not type enough. It happens more often than these few posts might indicate. Sometimes I have a thought and just run with it and never type anything and other times I do type something only to change my mind later and delete everything and walk away. I was about to do it again, but I just couldn't handle it happening. The problem with these blank posts is that the idea is still there demanding more time from me. I am afraid that is just not something I can afford.
I just awoke from some dream filled sleep. Yet as dreamy as that may sound it was all a little bit stressful. My dreams were fairly strange to say the least. At first I was trying to negotiate for the usage of a trailer or something like that, it made more sense when I was sleeping. My brother was actually texting someone last night trying to buy new equipment for his business and since I was doing the texting, I totally understand where that dream came from. Another dream was about a person. Suffice it to say it is someone I know a lot about, but have not spent a lot of time with. The dream was about being together among many people and basically being held separate by personal choice. This dream sort of caught me off guard; looking back on the day I am not really sure that this is where it came from. Well it is not totally surprising, but...
(At this point too much thinking is taking place and I am starting to sputter out.) the truth is there are things that I am not ready to share with the world. Some of those things I am probably just so indecisive that deep thought can easily sway my opinion and after all what I am to share is only an opinion.
I just awoke from some dream filled sleep. Yet as dreamy as that may sound it was all a little bit stressful. My dreams were fairly strange to say the least. At first I was trying to negotiate for the usage of a trailer or something like that, it made more sense when I was sleeping. My brother was actually texting someone last night trying to buy new equipment for his business and since I was doing the texting, I totally understand where that dream came from. Another dream was about a person. Suffice it to say it is someone I know a lot about, but have not spent a lot of time with. The dream was about being together among many people and basically being held separate by personal choice. This dream sort of caught me off guard; looking back on the day I am not really sure that this is where it came from. Well it is not totally surprising, but...
(At this point too much thinking is taking place and I am starting to sputter out.) the truth is there are things that I am not ready to share with the world. Some of those things I am probably just so indecisive that deep thought can easily sway my opinion and after all what I am to share is only an opinion.
Dear ,
To be extremely clear, this is a strongly worded letter. Several years ago when I got my first cell phone, it was through Cingular wireless. They were a great company and I was happy to be a customer, so happy in-fact that I forgot our relationship was bound by a contract. It was the epitome of mutual beneficence.
My father's son
Somewhere along the line, I stopped being funny. I used to make people laugh, people other than myself that is. I could have anyone rolling without even trying. Those were the days when no one called me an asshole, but I knew that I was. It was a gift and it was great.
Now everything seems so serious and my strange sense of humor is hardly funny to anyone but me. When you are not funny, people acknowledge that you are an asshole. Just because it is true does not make it hurt any less when others acknowledge it.
My dad, is always trying to be funny. He rarely is, but sometimes he is so not funny and thinks that he is, that I cannot help but crack a smile.
Now everything seems so serious and my strange sense of humor is hardly funny to anyone but me. When you are not funny, people acknowledge that you are an asshole. Just because it is true does not make it hurt any less when others acknowledge it.
My dad, is always trying to be funny. He rarely is, but sometimes he is so not funny and thinks that he is, that I cannot help but crack a smile.
Free me from chaos
"What do you want me to say?" she said.
That is the stupidest question I have ever heard, in my entire life. I would like to have seen my face as it happened too; probably looked as dumbfounded as I felt. I really do not remember what I said. Instead my brain pondered why she said what she did and what she meant by saying it. First of all, I had to ask myself if there was something I wanted to hear. Second, did this mean she only wanted to tell me what I wanted to hear, because I wanted to hear it? I think she probably knew what to say, but did not want to say it. I wanted her to be honest, I wanted to hear the truth. I may have said, "I don't want you to lie to me." In that moment logic failed me and I forgot that not lying is not always the same as being completely honest.
That is the stupidest question I have ever heard, in my entire life. I would like to have seen my face as it happened too; probably looked as dumbfounded as I felt. I really do not remember what I said. Instead my brain pondered why she said what she did and what she meant by saying it. First of all, I had to ask myself if there was something I wanted to hear. Second, did this mean she only wanted to tell me what I wanted to hear, because I wanted to hear it? I think she probably knew what to say, but did not want to say it. I wanted her to be honest, I wanted to hear the truth. I may have said, "I don't want you to lie to me." In that moment logic failed me and I forgot that not lying is not always the same as being completely honest.
Purpose
I have been doing a lot of thinking on this over the last few weeks, purpose. If you have read any number of posts up until this point, I am sure you have heard how I do a lot of that, thinking. Hopefully this is not another one of those posts where I whine about all the chaos between my ears that just will not come out (no matter how much poking or prodding any of us do, so whoever is doing that stop mkay thx)! In all seriousness, at least for another couple of seconds, I have been considering the purpose of this blog. Clearly I initially began with a purpose and that purpose can even be found in my initial post or Introduction. So do not think that what I am doing here now is searching for purpose. That is not it at all, it is more like evaluating.
Honestly it is not looking good. The words colossal failure come to mind. Not that everything I have written has been garbage, only the vast majority of everything I have written; however, I have found very little satisfaction in anything that I have written. Too often I find there is very little substance and far too much time expenditure.
Honestly it is not looking good. The words colossal failure come to mind. Not that everything I have written has been garbage, only the vast majority of everything I have written; however, I have found very little satisfaction in anything that I have written. Too often I find there is very little substance and far too much time expenditure.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Waking/Sleeping dream
I kept having this dream where I would wake up and walk around the house only to "realize" something was not quite reality. Therefore, realizing I was only dreaming and I needed to wake up to verify whether or not what I was seeing in the dream was legit or completely imagined.
As it was I kept waking up and seeing that someone was opening doors going through the house. Towards the end of the night I started dreaming that I was looking for intruders and valuable items, like big screen televisions were on the ground like someone was preparing to take them.
The thing about the dream that was actually "scary" is that I am at my brother's house for the weekend alone and last time I was alone here for the weekend I was scolded for entering the master bedroom, which was locked, and putting clothes from the dryer on the bed, then locking the door back behind me. Anyway I kept dreaming that door was opened. Since I knew or at least kept realizing that I was dreaming, I kept wondering if maybe I was sleep walking; however, I could not wake up to figure it out (extremely long side-note: I believe that there is a legitimate basis for this concern; I did used to sleepwalk, I would wake up almost every night and want to go sleep on the couch or on a carpeted floor instead of in my bed or vice versa and I did this so often that I did not always remember actually waking up and transferring my body. Additionally, I have been accused of beating up my friends for harassing me in my sleep and I have never, the morning after, a day or a night since; remembered any second to substantiate those claims, but I believe my friends are telling the truth. Finally, I have on other occasions been awakened and done something only to later realize that although I was conscious it did not feel as if I were totally awake in hindsight). The dream I was having also made me start wondering if I locked all the doors. I kept thinking to myself that maybe my subconscious or REM is cluing me in on something that I am unable to comprehend in this dream state.
I am relieved to have finally woken up after the 400th time and find nothing awry and all the doors locked. I am in such a state of distress at this point though that I might as well have stayed up all night. I could have gotten some work done too, but then I would not be so adamant about documenting this that I actually posted to my blog instead of spending hours letting the cogs in my head spin out of control.
As it was I kept waking up and seeing that someone was opening doors going through the house. Towards the end of the night I started dreaming that I was looking for intruders and valuable items, like big screen televisions were on the ground like someone was preparing to take them.
The thing about the dream that was actually "scary" is that I am at my brother's house for the weekend alone and last time I was alone here for the weekend I was scolded for entering the master bedroom, which was locked, and putting clothes from the dryer on the bed, then locking the door back behind me. Anyway I kept dreaming that door was opened. Since I knew or at least kept realizing that I was dreaming, I kept wondering if maybe I was sleep walking; however, I could not wake up to figure it out (extremely long side-note: I believe that there is a legitimate basis for this concern; I did used to sleepwalk, I would wake up almost every night and want to go sleep on the couch or on a carpeted floor instead of in my bed or vice versa and I did this so often that I did not always remember actually waking up and transferring my body. Additionally, I have been accused of beating up my friends for harassing me in my sleep and I have never, the morning after, a day or a night since; remembered any second to substantiate those claims, but I believe my friends are telling the truth. Finally, I have on other occasions been awakened and done something only to later realize that although I was conscious it did not feel as if I were totally awake in hindsight). The dream I was having also made me start wondering if I locked all the doors. I kept thinking to myself that maybe my subconscious or REM is cluing me in on something that I am unable to comprehend in this dream state.
I am relieved to have finally woken up after the 400th time and find nothing awry and all the doors locked. I am in such a state of distress at this point though that I might as well have stayed up all night. I could have gotten some work done too, but then I would not be so adamant about documenting this that I actually posted to my blog instead of spending hours letting the cogs in my head spin out of control.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Shower inspirations
Perhaps there is something in the water, but probably not. Maybe it is the way the water massages one's entire body simultaneously. Is it possible that the mind mimics the physiological act with a psychological response; I am talking about mental exfoliation.
There is something to it; perhaps it is worth researching. Then again once the concerns of the day usher themselves in again, the moment will all be over too quickly. However, we can certainly entertain ourselves for a bit with some off the cuff speculation!
It is impressive, the way a shower head pulsates sending water droplets beating down on the body or how the water rolls down one's body eventually falling and splashing at the ankles. Stimulating, indeed, but does this stimulate the psychological process of cognition?
No, I think it is the mind's embrace of the nakedness. This is the one place we do not wear our disguises; not afraid of what anyone will think of us and how any of that makes us feel. Our defenses, designed to keep everyone else out, are lowered and the one person held captive behind them is finally free to roam, play, and splash around.
At least until those walls come back up. And put on some clothes.
There is something to it; perhaps it is worth researching. Then again once the concerns of the day usher themselves in again, the moment will all be over too quickly. However, we can certainly entertain ourselves for a bit with some off the cuff speculation!
It is impressive, the way a shower head pulsates sending water droplets beating down on the body or how the water rolls down one's body eventually falling and splashing at the ankles. Stimulating, indeed, but does this stimulate the psychological process of cognition?
No, I think it is the mind's embrace of the nakedness. This is the one place we do not wear our disguises; not afraid of what anyone will think of us and how any of that makes us feel. Our defenses, designed to keep everyone else out, are lowered and the one person held captive behind them is finally free to roam, play, and splash around.
At least until those walls come back up. And put on some clothes.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Cursed shirt
Last time I wore this t-shirt my nephew literally took scissors to it twice. This created two small "holes" less than half an inch. Not one to be deterred. I decided to wear it again (not going out into public). I cannot even explain why, this is a little disturbing. My niece just chewed on a baby tomato, pulled it from her mouth, and proceeded to rub it and squeeze its guts all over my shirt. Then she wants me to look in the mirror. Seriously I am more concerned that you think that is acceptable behavior than what my shirt looks like.
I cannot help but think it is not the shirt's fault, but at least I can pretend.
I cannot help but think it is not the shirt's fault, but at least I can pretend.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
25 days
Today I:
- took the dogs for a walk.
- rode an exercise bike for '15 miles'
- tried a couple of times to figure out how to use the gazelle thing, never really got it
- did a lot of reps with 5 lbs dumbells
- 40 each arm
- 40 both arms alternating
- 40 each arm again
- 20 over the head both arms
- 20 over the head right arm
- 40 over the head left arm
- 4 push-ups
Irritated
Well my day went to hell pretty quickly. I spent the whole day watching movies and getting some exercise, but then I made some mental plans (to see if I could find some pick-up basketball to join in) only to have the phone ring as I am getting out of the shower. Yeah apparently my brother had been trying to contact me, but my phone did not show a missed call before getting in the shower.
It turns out he got a last minute order. Seriously people, how last minute can it get? Please understand it takes about 30 minutes to get to your house (estimating) plus another 30 minutes or so getting the thing ready. They could not have called to schedule it much more than an hour before the party, unless my brother was just holding out on me. Anyway, then I set the thing up and it was too big for the yard. I told him I thought we should take it down, but he reassured ME that it would be safe. The sad part is I took an extra, smaller sized jumper to every delivery Saturday and Sunday, but I was in such a rush to get to this party that I did not grab one this time. It pisses me off too, because the smaller jumpers would have been easier to grab!
On my way home I decided to stop by subway to get an application. Instead I left with a sandwich and did not even ask for an app. The girl appeared to be alone and she was not even that good. It was not like she was busy, but people kept coming in. I was pretty thirsty too and she did not ask me if I wanted chips and a drink. I think she was nervous, which is probably my fault. I did walk in the store checking it out while she made other people's orders. Oh well, I guess that is just like me to make a fantastic first impression.
It turns out he got a last minute order. Seriously people, how last minute can it get? Please understand it takes about 30 minutes to get to your house (estimating) plus another 30 minutes or so getting the thing ready. They could not have called to schedule it much more than an hour before the party, unless my brother was just holding out on me. Anyway, then I set the thing up and it was too big for the yard. I told him I thought we should take it down, but he reassured ME that it would be safe. The sad part is I took an extra, smaller sized jumper to every delivery Saturday and Sunday, but I was in such a rush to get to this party that I did not grab one this time. It pisses me off too, because the smaller jumpers would have been easier to grab!
On my way home I decided to stop by subway to get an application. Instead I left with a sandwich and did not even ask for an app. The girl appeared to be alone and she was not even that good. It was not like she was busy, but people kept coming in. I was pretty thirsty too and she did not ask me if I wanted chips and a drink. I think she was nervous, which is probably my fault. I did walk in the store checking it out while she made other people's orders. Oh well, I guess that is just like me to make a fantastic first impression.
Las Vegas (part 6): Labor Day weekend
I just about slept 12 hours last night. I went to bed super early around 7:30 maybe 8:00. My alarm went off around 6:00 am, but I sat up in bed thinking until about 7:00 or 7:30. I consider myself to be sleeping until I get out of the bed! I must have been really tired. I do know that my body is sore.
This weekend my brother took his family out of town to celebrate his wife's birthday. I was left to take care of the deliveries; by myself for the most part. It was the first time I did anything like that. Every other time my brother has gone out of town, he had someone help me out that knew how things worked. It was interesting.
On Friday, I had one delivery; when I left everyone was at the house and when I got back the house was empty. The bounce house went to a nice lady, she ran a day care out of her home. We had to go in the garage to plug the blower up it was oddly messy. The garage was mostly empty, but there was no room in it; stuff was scattered and strewn about all over the place. The funny part about it all was that she was embarrassed by it. She should see my garage at home. I brought up the fact that I was from Kentucky, I think it is because we were talking about grass and it is hard to call anything in Vegas grass coming from Kentucky. It is more like people are growing grass in their garden's than actually having a lawn. Therefore, I feel the constant need to clarify why my perspective is as it is: I'm not from here. She told me never to move to Vegas.
Saturday was a bit more intense. First of all I thought it was going to be an easy day. I had two rental agreement sheets for the day and one was early morning and the other was mid-afternoon. I delivered the first one and came home to find out what football games I could get on the TV. The only one I really wanted to watch was WKU's home opener, but I knew that would be highly unlikely. I was only at home for a little while and my brother calls asking me how far away from the delivery I am, the customer is calling. For a little bit of understanding, the customer is one of his biggest repeat clients. I have been there about seven times since July 7th. I can think of only one other customer that I have been to more than once since I have been here. Needless to say, I had made an invoice before my brother left and he intended on me making the rental agreement too. Currently his system is based mostly on handwritten paper contracts and he puts everything in the computer after delivery has been made and product has been paid for. Except for incidents where a customer needs an invoice and then he puts it into the computer before delivery. The way it is now, it seems more like two different systems than one. Needless to say, I threw the order on the truck and cut out. I got that taken care of and headed to pick up the first delivery off the day.
It was at this point that I almost smashed my brother's truck. I was in a bad area for traffic several roads merge together, I had already been there this morning, but there was no traffic at 7:30 am. I knew the exit I wanted was getting close, so I glanced at the GPS and when I glanced back to the road the cars in front of me were coming to a complete stop, on the interstate! Luck was on my side, somehow the truck came to a stop before going through a bumper.
At this point, I was determined to not make any more mistakes. So I went to the house and loaded up the next delivery and started trying to take care of them early. I called the customer and no answer. I waited a while and decided to just go and see. Well I get probably halfway there and my brother starts texting me. Apparently, the customer is not available and I need to call their friend to confirm delivery. Oh and he also has an add-on delivery that wants it immediately. So, even in trying to take care of it early, I managed to screw up. I now had to go all the way back to pick up the new delivery, then make both deliveries a.s.a.p. However, much to my dismay, I got through the day fine. The add-on delivery turned out to be a guy from Nicholasville, Ky that had lived in Vegas since 1992. He was a UofL fan, did not like UK, and knew who WKU was. I guess that turned out to be the highlight of my day. We had a good talk as I worked.
Sunday was the busiest day of the weekend. It turned out it was not even as bad as I anticipated. I started out with 5 deliveries, but another add-on a.s.a.p. came in about midday. No matter how hard I tried to prepare, I still made little mistakes. Like for the second delivery of the day, I loaded it on with the first delivery, but forgot the balloons that came with it. I spent a lot of time running around like I was behind when I really was doing just fine. By the time I started picking up the remaining deliveries at 6:00, I realized that most of the work was done and it was not going to be a long night, like I initially thought it would be. After all, I did scheduled the two deliveries that ended at 10pm for pickup Monday morning.
At the end of this long weekend there are several take-aways. The first is confidence. I can do this; the physical labor is the hardest part, setting up and taking down. This weekend I showed that I can do it alone. It is not as bad as I imagine. On Sunday when I delivered the add-on a.s.a.p. it was around 12:30-1:00 and I told the guy that I would be busy until at least 8:00pm. As it turned out, I was done before 8:00pm. Though I could have picked up 2 more at 10pm I saved them for Monday morning. Driving around a city that you do not know can be rough, but even when I miss my exit or just do not pay attention to the GPS and go straight when I should turn, it helps create connections that would not exist otherwise. This weekend I got a better understanding of where several roads are that I drive on regularly. I just never drove on them in the right place to make the geographical connection before.
This weekend my brother took his family out of town to celebrate his wife's birthday. I was left to take care of the deliveries; by myself for the most part. It was the first time I did anything like that. Every other time my brother has gone out of town, he had someone help me out that knew how things worked. It was interesting.
On Friday, I had one delivery; when I left everyone was at the house and when I got back the house was empty. The bounce house went to a nice lady, she ran a day care out of her home. We had to go in the garage to plug the blower up it was oddly messy. The garage was mostly empty, but there was no room in it; stuff was scattered and strewn about all over the place. The funny part about it all was that she was embarrassed by it. She should see my garage at home. I brought up the fact that I was from Kentucky, I think it is because we were talking about grass and it is hard to call anything in Vegas grass coming from Kentucky. It is more like people are growing grass in their garden's than actually having a lawn. Therefore, I feel the constant need to clarify why my perspective is as it is: I'm not from here. She told me never to move to Vegas.
Saturday was a bit more intense. First of all I thought it was going to be an easy day. I had two rental agreement sheets for the day and one was early morning and the other was mid-afternoon. I delivered the first one and came home to find out what football games I could get on the TV. The only one I really wanted to watch was WKU's home opener, but I knew that would be highly unlikely. I was only at home for a little while and my brother calls asking me how far away from the delivery I am, the customer is calling. For a little bit of understanding, the customer is one of his biggest repeat clients. I have been there about seven times since July 7th. I can think of only one other customer that I have been to more than once since I have been here. Needless to say, I had made an invoice before my brother left and he intended on me making the rental agreement too. Currently his system is based mostly on handwritten paper contracts and he puts everything in the computer after delivery has been made and product has been paid for. Except for incidents where a customer needs an invoice and then he puts it into the computer before delivery. The way it is now, it seems more like two different systems than one. Needless to say, I threw the order on the truck and cut out. I got that taken care of and headed to pick up the first delivery off the day.
It was at this point that I almost smashed my brother's truck. I was in a bad area for traffic several roads merge together, I had already been there this morning, but there was no traffic at 7:30 am. I knew the exit I wanted was getting close, so I glanced at the GPS and when I glanced back to the road the cars in front of me were coming to a complete stop, on the interstate! Luck was on my side, somehow the truck came to a stop before going through a bumper.
At this point, I was determined to not make any more mistakes. So I went to the house and loaded up the next delivery and started trying to take care of them early. I called the customer and no answer. I waited a while and decided to just go and see. Well I get probably halfway there and my brother starts texting me. Apparently, the customer is not available and I need to call their friend to confirm delivery. Oh and he also has an add-on delivery that wants it immediately. So, even in trying to take care of it early, I managed to screw up. I now had to go all the way back to pick up the new delivery, then make both deliveries a.s.a.p. However, much to my dismay, I got through the day fine. The add-on delivery turned out to be a guy from Nicholasville, Ky that had lived in Vegas since 1992. He was a UofL fan, did not like UK, and knew who WKU was. I guess that turned out to be the highlight of my day. We had a good talk as I worked.
Sunday was the busiest day of the weekend. It turned out it was not even as bad as I anticipated. I started out with 5 deliveries, but another add-on a.s.a.p. came in about midday. No matter how hard I tried to prepare, I still made little mistakes. Like for the second delivery of the day, I loaded it on with the first delivery, but forgot the balloons that came with it. I spent a lot of time running around like I was behind when I really was doing just fine. By the time I started picking up the remaining deliveries at 6:00, I realized that most of the work was done and it was not going to be a long night, like I initially thought it would be. After all, I did scheduled the two deliveries that ended at 10pm for pickup Monday morning.
At the end of this long weekend there are several take-aways. The first is confidence. I can do this; the physical labor is the hardest part, setting up and taking down. This weekend I showed that I can do it alone. It is not as bad as I imagine. On Sunday when I delivered the add-on a.s.a.p. it was around 12:30-1:00 and I told the guy that I would be busy until at least 8:00pm. As it turned out, I was done before 8:00pm. Though I could have picked up 2 more at 10pm I saved them for Monday morning. Driving around a city that you do not know can be rough, but even when I miss my exit or just do not pay attention to the GPS and go straight when I should turn, it helps create connections that would not exist otherwise. This weekend I got a better understanding of where several roads are that I drive on regularly. I just never drove on them in the right place to make the geographical connection before.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Las Vegas (part 5): Jump N Kids, Inc
This is my brother's small business that I have been helping out with. Hopefully one day I can duplicate his business model back home and give my family a solid business to provide a source of dependable income. At which point I can either expand the business anywhere I want, or finally start down the path that is uniquely my own.
Still asking what is Jump N Kids exactly? No worries, that is what this post is all about.
Jump N Kids is a company that offers party equipment for rent. From bounce houses/inflatable jumpers, water slides, party concessions, tables, chairs, dunk tanks, to inflatable carnival games.
The majority of Jump N Kids business comes from these inflatable rentals. Above are a sample of the bounce houses/jumpers, water slides, and inflatable games.
However, as I said he has plenty of other items available for rental. Party concessions like popcorn machines, sno-cone makers, cotton candy machines, and hot dog rollers/steamers. Also as I mentioned in another post, my brother has the beginning of a dj kit with speakers, a dual cd player, microphones and an amplifier w/mixer. All-in-all this is all the equipment one might need to throw a pretty bangin' party, that will bring a smile to any kids face no matter the age.
Still curious? Check out the website: jumpnkids.com
Any ideas as I begin the process of expanding this business and taking it back to Kentucky? Don't be shy, let me hear it! I may start working on a website of my own in the near future, when that happens I will be sure to share it with you.
Still asking what is Jump N Kids exactly? No worries, that is what this post is all about.
Jump N Kids is a company that offers party equipment for rent. From bounce houses/inflatable jumpers, water slides, party concessions, tables, chairs, dunk tanks, to inflatable carnival games.
However, as I said he has plenty of other items available for rental. Party concessions like popcorn machines, sno-cone makers, cotton candy machines, and hot dog rollers/steamers. Also as I mentioned in another post, my brother has the beginning of a dj kit with speakers, a dual cd player, microphones and an amplifier w/mixer. All-in-all this is all the equipment one might need to throw a pretty bangin' party, that will bring a smile to any kids face no matter the age.
Still curious? Check out the website: jumpnkids.com
Any ideas as I begin the process of expanding this business and taking it back to Kentucky? Don't be shy, let me hear it! I may start working on a website of my own in the near future, when that happens I will be sure to share it with you.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Las Vegas (part 4): Been a while
I initially started this with the intention of writing every week. The sad part is, most of what I wrote part 1-3 happened all in one night. Part 4 was supposed to be the second week, but by the time I got done with part 3 the second week was already over. My issues with writing persist, but I have been wasting most of my time writing in yahoo! comments. Which is a much worse idea than blogging and there are more than just this one idiot there.
I had pictures to post, but they are all on facebook; go look there to see them. As I sit here wondering what to write that will not just be one tangent after the next and at the same time take me nearly 4 hours to write (it's already 11:30 PST), I cannot help but feel like it is hopeless. There is so much to write and yet nothing that I really want to write about. This is only compounded by the knowledge that hardly any one will read it.
So, my day went as follows: I awoke at 7:17 am not sure why so early. I have not used an alarm clock since I came to Vegas. Mostly because I do not want it going off while I sleep through it, or maybe that is just my excuse to sleep in until 9 am. I grabbed a bowl of Trix cereal and hopped on the internet. I did a search for something like "beginner's guide to dj equipment." For an hour and fifteen minutes I read about effects. However, I would have to read it again to even repeat back what I read.
At 8:30 my brother says we need to be leaving for the Nevada Get Your Business Online seminar. Yeah it started at 9:00 am, we would ultimately arrive a few minutes late. I did not even realize we had to be there so early until he said something, I just happened to be up. Two and a half hours hearing about search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and building websites with sitebuilder all dumbed down for people that had to be walked through signing up for a g-mail account. I thought it was a big waste of time, but my brother made a good point. We did learn a few points and we did not pay for the bill, but somebody did.
It rained all day. It was raining when I got up, it had been raining during the night. My brother was delighted he said he loved days like these. After the seminar we stood under the awning of the convention center for a while. It did not really protect from the rain. We drove to the World Famous Pawn Shop, that place is packed with tourists. I spent almost the whole time we were there on the phone.
I called my Dad. He loves karaoke and somewhere along the way he got the idea to be a karaoke dj and he has acquired some equipment. However, he needs an amplifier (minimum specs of 450W x 2 @ 8 ohms). The problem is that it costs a lot of money, especially the one he wants. Nevertheless, my brother and I have been searching for amps, despite not having a lot of understanding. My family is not big on talking, but today I talked to my Dad and Brother a lot. Not that I liked it at the time, I am one of them too (it's true, we are not big on talking). Yet in retrospect it was nice.
So by 12:30 we arrive at my brother's house and I am starving. I am not quite sure what the plan was, but my brother already talked about getting something to eat. Seems like I spent an hour or two, just being hungry and wondering what we were going to do. Finally, I went to the refrigerator and got out last nights beans, rice, and a couple tortilla flours. With my stomach finally quieting down, it was time to do something productive.
I hooked an amplifier, speakers, and CD player up that my brother has been keeping in storage. He wants to start renting it out with his business, providing a DJ for musical entertainment. Which is why I have been talking to my Dad and reading up on the internet all day. My brother does not really have a full DJ kit though. He does not even have a big playlist of songs. The more I read, the more I am thinking there is more to this than just popping songs into a playlist.
I spent some time hooking a laptop up to the equipment and then we had a mobile dj come over and talk to us. Unfortunately, he speaks English as a second language, my brother's wife was interpreting for the most part. I wish I spoke Spanish, hell I wish I learned French (if I just tried a little harder, maybe I would have). I have not looked at any French for about 3 months now, probably lost it all again. We did learn some things, like where exactly the RCA jacks plug into the amplifier from the laptop. I was told the wrong place initially. Also apparently the speakers we have are good for indoor, but outdoor parties would need better speakers 700W.
Other than that, I spent more time studying beginner dj guides. After which I wasted some time on youtube. I just finished applying for a couple jobs; probably should do many more tomorrow. That is pretty much it for the day, got plenty done, but not sure anything was accomplished. I have plenty more to talk about, but my patience with writing/typing it all is beginning to wane. Perhaps I should get some sleep.
I had pictures to post, but they are all on facebook; go look there to see them. As I sit here wondering what to write that will not just be one tangent after the next and at the same time take me nearly 4 hours to write (it's already 11:30 PST), I cannot help but feel like it is hopeless. There is so much to write and yet nothing that I really want to write about. This is only compounded by the knowledge that hardly any one will read it.
So, my day went as follows: I awoke at 7:17 am not sure why so early. I have not used an alarm clock since I came to Vegas. Mostly because I do not want it going off while I sleep through it, or maybe that is just my excuse to sleep in until 9 am. I grabbed a bowl of Trix cereal and hopped on the internet. I did a search for something like "beginner's guide to dj equipment." For an hour and fifteen minutes I read about effects. However, I would have to read it again to even repeat back what I read.
At 8:30 my brother says we need to be leaving for the Nevada Get Your Business Online seminar. Yeah it started at 9:00 am, we would ultimately arrive a few minutes late. I did not even realize we had to be there so early until he said something, I just happened to be up. Two and a half hours hearing about search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and building websites with sitebuilder all dumbed down for people that had to be walked through signing up for a g-mail account. I thought it was a big waste of time, but my brother made a good point. We did learn a few points and we did not pay for the bill, but somebody did.
It rained all day. It was raining when I got up, it had been raining during the night. My brother was delighted he said he loved days like these. After the seminar we stood under the awning of the convention center for a while. It did not really protect from the rain. We drove to the World Famous Pawn Shop, that place is packed with tourists. I spent almost the whole time we were there on the phone.
I called my Dad. He loves karaoke and somewhere along the way he got the idea to be a karaoke dj and he has acquired some equipment. However, he needs an amplifier (minimum specs of 450W x 2 @ 8 ohms). The problem is that it costs a lot of money, especially the one he wants. Nevertheless, my brother and I have been searching for amps, despite not having a lot of understanding. My family is not big on talking, but today I talked to my Dad and Brother a lot. Not that I liked it at the time, I am one of them too (it's true, we are not big on talking). Yet in retrospect it was nice.
So by 12:30 we arrive at my brother's house and I am starving. I am not quite sure what the plan was, but my brother already talked about getting something to eat. Seems like I spent an hour or two, just being hungry and wondering what we were going to do. Finally, I went to the refrigerator and got out last nights beans, rice, and a couple tortilla flours. With my stomach finally quieting down, it was time to do something productive.
I hooked an amplifier, speakers, and CD player up that my brother has been keeping in storage. He wants to start renting it out with his business, providing a DJ for musical entertainment. Which is why I have been talking to my Dad and reading up on the internet all day. My brother does not really have a full DJ kit though. He does not even have a big playlist of songs. The more I read, the more I am thinking there is more to this than just popping songs into a playlist.
I spent some time hooking a laptop up to the equipment and then we had a mobile dj come over and talk to us. Unfortunately, he speaks English as a second language, my brother's wife was interpreting for the most part. I wish I spoke Spanish, hell I wish I learned French (if I just tried a little harder, maybe I would have). I have not looked at any French for about 3 months now, probably lost it all again. We did learn some things, like where exactly the RCA jacks plug into the amplifier from the laptop. I was told the wrong place initially. Also apparently the speakers we have are good for indoor, but outdoor parties would need better speakers 700W.
Other than that, I spent more time studying beginner dj guides. After which I wasted some time on youtube. I just finished applying for a couple jobs; probably should do many more tomorrow. That is pretty much it for the day, got plenty done, but not sure anything was accomplished. I have plenty more to talk about, but my patience with writing/typing it all is beginning to wane. Perhaps I should get some sleep.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Las Vegas (part 3): The First Week
My brother backed his truck in the drive. I hopped out and grabbed my bags ready to settle
in, check out his home, and just relax or whatever people do after five and a
half hours of security, airports, airplanes, and turbulence. My brother works out of his home and my first
surprise came right after stepping out of the truck. I set my bags down in the drive-way and we
got to work right away. I cannot
remember what we were doing at this point, it did not matter. We worked and he spoke to me with an urgency
that I did not understand.
In the house I finally put my bags down, but never really
felt like I got settled in. My brother
did not show me around the house; it was not necessary, but it is so customary
that I was kind of expecting it. I
finally got a chance to relax; taking a seat on the couch, my brother invited
me to watch television. Since, I do not
have television at my place in Kentucky, I told him I do not really watch
television and then I just sat there for a moment letting my brain catch-up
with my body.
Nothing else worth recalling happened that first night. The kids were shy; I was almost a stranger,
except Maxson did not think so. I am not
sure if he remembered me from Christmas or he is just not shy like his sisters,
but he was hugging all over me. His
speech is almost indecipherable, but his actions said, “Hi! You are a friend.” Aunt Kate (my little sister) was also here. She is a regular to these parts and the girls
will tell: she is pretty cool. She got most of the attention and that was
fine by me.
In the morning I awoke before everyone else and took care of
some chores. My brother asked me to pick
up the dog poop from the back yard and to water his plants. Waking up early seemed easy; I had been
waking up at the same time for two months.
Only now I was two timezones away and that time came two hours
earlier! It was going to be a busy day,
my brother had two customers, we were going to go to church, and the big
shocker my brother was getting on a plane to Miami. He would be gone for a week! Nobody told me about this (I did not mention
his wife was in Bolivia).
Taking my shower, to get ready for church, I noticed
something strange. I am not quite sure
what to make of it since no one briefed me on the proper showering
procedure. In my brother’s shower there
is a squeegee. I have used it a few times
after a shower to squeegee the shower doors and walls. I am not sure if I am supposed to or if they
just happen to have a squeegee in the shower.
That is something you really should tell people. I guess one day I will figure it out, but
until then the question is to squeegee or not to squeegee?
We missed most of church, with Miller kids I have learned
you will be late for almost anything. My brother and I left church early so we were
there all of thirty minutes. The
deliveries that day were easy though, nothing big, no difficult set-ups. Before I knew it my brother was on the
airplane bound for Miami. It was me and
my sister and three kids that hardly knew me.
My family has communication problems; I did not know he was leaving for Miami until the day before or maybe the day of (he did not tell me before I got here). I was left thinking, "Is this what I signed up for?" The
next day Alba or Elba came to
babysit/housekeep/hang out (confirmed as Elba the El Salvadorian Nanny). I am not
really sure, since she knows as much English as I know Spanish. My sister knows a little Spanish, but she
said she was as lost as I was. Elba also
had someone drop off another kid so there were four and outside of a list of
tasks that my brother gave me, the only thing we did was hang with the kids and
watch Nickelodeon. Victorious is now my
favorite television show, sadly. This is
followed by iCarly, but I do not like that nearly as much. These two shows is about all that we watched on
television the whole week.
I did some driving around.
Not joy-riding mind you, but I had to go some places for my
brother. Driving down Sunset road is
pretty cool, McCarran International is basically right beside Sunset and there
is a run-way that is parallel to the road.
On a clear day, one can look down the road and see four planes coming in
at a time. The planes do not really stop;
anytime I am outside I can look up and see a plane flying by. It is kind of cool to think about. There is even a little parking lot beside the
air strip people can park and watch the planes (of course it reminds me of a
movie). Incidentally I found myself on
the strip one day, but I have been here before so it was not really a big
thing. The mountains are different. I have seen them before, but it is still so
strange to me having all these mountains around. The mountains back at home are in Eastern
Kentucky and I have not really been there, so it is mostly just hills that I am
used to. Plus these are desert mountains
the rocks themselves are visible on the horizon and they are not covered over
with vegetation.
My brother ended up going to Honduras from Miami. That meant working without him over the
weekend, but fortunately for me he has this guy named Jose help him that knows
pretty much everything about the business.
I did what he said and we got everything done without any issue. All in all, I think I got more than I bargained for in the
first week. I found out first-hand what
I signed up for. Had a few surprises and
had my eyes opened. Next week could not
possibly have this much in store for me.
Las Vegas (part 2): The Flight
On July 7, 2012 I boarded a plane in Nashville, TN that
would get me to Las Vegas, NV with a lay-over in Atlanta, GA. I started writing this last Sunday (July 15th),
but as with all other writing assignments, that did not exactly go as planned. In fact, I got so little done before saving
and quitting that I am starting over right now as I work on my laptop without
internet access. I did, however, think a
lot about what I wanted to write so hopefully I can regurgitate that now.
Most people just wisely sleep away those hours that would
otherwise be lost during a flight. Not
me; I guess one might say that it is the perfect time to let my mind run
wild. There is so much available for
consumption: business persons, flight
attendants, tourists, vacationers, and just people; all those people living
interesting and intriguing lives; that could be me, if only I could be
interesting. I should probably remind
myself it is all just imaginary; that glimpse I give myself it is only a
fantasy. Of course that is the problem
with fantasy, it is unrealistic by nature.
This trip marks only the second time I have ever been on a
plane. Sadly, the only other time I have
been on a plane was also to fly here, to Vegas, when my brother got married. This is where I could pretend to be macho and
say flying is no big thing, but I am not macho and it is a pretty amazingly big
thing. First of all, it is amazing to
think those giant metal tubes actually get off the ground. It is a little bit of a surreal experience: me being in one of those big jets, which I
could never fully tell you about; nevertheless I will bore you with far too
many details in the attempt to achieve the impossible.
Nashville to Atlanta was on a smaller aircraft. I was in the ninth row. Just guessing there were probably about 2x as
many rows behind me as there were in-front.
I had the window seat and in the aisle seat was some guy that appeared
to be having a bad day. It made for a
very uncomfortable flight. I am not sure
if his disapproving sighs and scoffs were intended for me or not, but my high
level of self-consciousness would allow no other explanation. I spent the entire flight focused on limiting
my behavior to the bare minimum. I
squeezed myself into the smallest space I could and held that position; careful
not to use the arm rest, allowing him to claim it if he desired (he never
did). I attempted to refrain from any
behavior that might be deemed annoying; if I could have stopped breathing, I
would have. This probably sounds silly
to most people, but it cannot be helped.
Honestly, I hate it; however, I cannot ignore it. I can pretend like I do not care, but then I
must deal with the regret associated with that attitude. These regrets are the kinds of things that linger;
I would rather deal with temporary discomfort than live with the continuous
playback associated with a moment of regret (like incidentally brushing up
against someone, or hogging an arm rest).
Shuddap, I know! I am a mess.
I do not know if the second leg of the journey was better or
worse. I was in a better state of mind,
since I was not so concerned with my impact on the person (or people) next to
me. This was a bit of a relief until it
allowed me to focus on the giant metal tube that we were floating in and
everything that might go wrong in that situation. I would not say I am afraid of flying
though. It is not exactly a fear of
death either; oddly it is deeper than that.
In the grand scheme of things we all have only a limited time to make an
impact on the world. One hopes to grow
old with that time and find meaning.
Some grow old, never achieving meaning.
Still others pass before their time.
An accident such as a plane crash would strip my life of the opportunity
to grow old and find meaning. However,
to exchange one life in the service of another is the greatest meaning a life
could have. But, here I am with this
death talk; honestly, it was not that
bad. My palms got sweaty after I did all
that thinking about plane crashes, cabin pressure, hijackings, and some awesome
movie plots. I also had to remind myself
that no matter how many times one watches the Matrix, it is still impossible to learn to fly an aircraft on a
moment’s notice.
Since all that fills my head now is on the subject of movies, I must also say: the flight attendant reminded me of Catherine
Zeta-Jones in The Terminal. I am not sure if that is to the flight
attendant’s credit for being beautiful or to the actress herself for imitating
reality so well. Perhaps it was purely a
subconscious association between fantasy and the movie. Picturing myself as the hero, Mr. Hanks’
character, ultimately there was nothing neither he nor I could do to win over
the woman’s heart. In the end everything
unfolded as it should. I walked away just another individual among the many she
comes across in a day and here I am two weeks later recollecting her beautiful
smile and incredible enthusiasm; hoping she has someone out there that can tell
her how much she is appreciated. Why
can’t my story be more like Elizabethtown? Kirsten Dunst is cute and her character in
that movie is so lovable. Perhaps it has
something to do with me not being Orlando Bloom.
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