You drive me crazy

I know I already ranted about poor driving skills, but seriously people, let’s get it together. Time is money and sitting behind these people is costing me a lot of money! If we could take the millions of crappy drivers out there and get them off the road, just think of how much more productive the rest of us could be because we aren’t stuck in traffic!

To the two SUV’s in front of me, that’s right, you in the Toyota Land Cruiser and you too in the tractor-trailer sized Ford Excursion; your vehicles are made for rough terrain, therefore, a few bumps in the road ARE NOT cause for slowing down! I know the speed limit was only 30mph, but doing 12 over a couple bumps in the road is completely unnecessary and slowing me down from getting back to work.

Maybe you don’t know why I have to get back to work so quickly, is that why you’re driving me insane – at 12 mph? Well, let me tell you why I have to get back to work…oh wait, I’ve already covered the fact we aren’t getting paid for hurricane time and I have to gather all the time on the clock that I can.

People are people

People kill me. When you send an email out and have a long list of addresses in the “To” field, why is it necessary that every person have the obligatory (Email) next to their name? Isn’t this a given since that’s how you’re sending me this information? I don’t type your phone number in and then punch in the word “phone” to call you, so why do you need to specify that you’re sending us information to an email address?

I assume that this problem stems from people’s habits of leaving their address books to decide the format by which each person is listed. I know my address book likes to list their name, then their email address after. I realize this is redundant, so I erase the email address and just use the name. In the vein of being environmentally conscious, it also saves space. Since the internet is a relatively new tool, it might be possible that there is a limited amount of space out there for these sorts of things, right? I’m sure a number of smart people out there have thought of this already, but I am going to do my part to keep the internet clutter free.

Speaking of clutter-free, this reminds me of a conversation I had some 10 years ago. I don’t remember the nature of the whole conversation, but I do remember it had something to do with sending a postcard from wherever I was going to be while on vacation and how it would probably arrive at it’s destination, in the same city I lived in, after I would return home. Why bother the US postal service with this problem, when I can just bring it home with me and hand it to you? Not to mention, it would save me .33 cents (at that time). By saving myself .33 cents and not sending the postcard, I know I may have forced somebody out of work, or maybe I was the reason the postal service had to raise their rates, but I felt better knowing that someone didn’t have to do a job that I could competently do myself.

So there it is, I am doing my part to keep the internet clutter free and I am saving the time and energy of other people by accomplishing things on my own. Sure, I am taking the fun out of Googling and receiving paper mail that isn’t an advertisement, but I’m not wasting anyone’s time in either of these events and that should be commended.

You got a piece of me, but it's just a little piece of me.

So, the big question at work this week is, are we going to be paid for the two days the office was closed for the Hurricane last week? Today, we received the answer - a big, resounding - sort of? They will pay us for one day, and we can come in on Saturday to make up some of the hours, or use a vacation day to make up the other time.

Of course, we know this is total bullshit and that the office is just cheap and this is a way for them to save a lot of money. For some of us, me, I have no vacation time and the office won’t let me use a sick day for anything other than being sick (a whole different problem in this office), so I am stuck with no choice but to come in on Saturday to make up about 7 hours of work. I am going to attempt to get a couple hours of OT by Friday so maybe I’ll only have to stay 4 hours on Saturday instead.

After hearing of the negative result of our repeated questioning, I decided to try to find any info about this sort of situation from the Texas Workforce Commission via their website. Unfortunately, because this is a special situation, I had a very hard time searching and identifying any type of law that would apply to this situation. This led me to call the TWC and just flat out ask them. The flat out answer I got was a big, resounding N-O, the office does not have any responsibility to pay us for our lost time and can ask us to make up the time or use our vacation time. Most of us in the office are screaming bullshit. Had the office been open, we would’ve worked and that would have been the end of the story. We did not have a choice in this situation and some were told on Thursday not to come in at all (we already knew the office building would be closed on Friday). How can it be legal for a company and a buildings management to tell us not to come in, giving us no choice in the matter, but then have no responsibility to pay us? Bullshit.

This will be one more item on my list of laws to amend when I get myself elected, which should be sometime in the next 10 years. If you’d like to help with this issue and the numerous others I have planned to tackle over the years, feel free to send me an email and ask how you can help.

Don't believe the hype

24 hours later and I am at home, moving around my furniture so it is back in place and writing my blog for the day. Hurricane Rita turned out to be a wimpy storm for our area, although not so much for the east Texas/western Louisiana coast. We had a light drizzle of rain this morning and a nice breeze, but it was hardly a hurricane to us.

We left College Station at 10am and took some back roads home, fearing the same traffic jam as when we originally tried to head up there. We moved along quite nicely until some areas that did not have power, therefore having signals which were not operating. This caused intersections to be used as stop signs and instead of a flow of people from each side moving through, 30-40 cars would have to sit and wait their turn, which slowed us all down. Nonetheless, we arrived at the parking garage to pick up the girls' cars and each drove to our respective homes. I had power and water, but no cable. S & A had neither and P had power and cable, but no water. Between our three of homes, we'll survive.

The only damage that I have seen so far is a tree that has fallen into the gate which surrounds my parking lot. The gate is holding the tree from collapsing onto the hoods of two cars, although by the time I took the picture, one of the cars had been moved out of the way Otherwise, there are a lot of small tree branches that can be moved by hand or foot and a lot of leaves lying on the ground. Maybe as we see more pictures, we'll see more damage in and around the Houston area.
That's it for now though!

Looks like we made it

At 1102 am, we arrived in College Station, without a hitch. We drove 75mph the entire way without a slowdown except for exiting! We did see a couple hundred cars ditched on the sides of the road by people who ran out of gas. There was also a considerable amount of trash left by people who were stranded. Fortunately, we did not run out of gas and we just filled back up, at a reasonable price and without a line! Here, the first high clouds are starting to move in, although the sun is still shining though them. Now, there is a distinct line of clouds, so it's sort of cool to see the difference right in front of you. Anyway, there is nothing else new to report for now, so I will try to keep a good track of what is happening and when and report it here as soon as I can.

Running on empty

We received an email from a co-worker that headed to College Station at 5 am and arrived at 630 am which made us decide that it was a good idea to head out…immediately! Our one concern was running out of gas because I was down below half already from sitting yesterday. Nonetheless, I sent this email at 9:02 am to friends and family:

Traffic is clear, we are trying for College Station one more time. I’ll email when we get there. Leaving…now! Bye!

Damn this traffic jam...It hurts my motor to go so slow...Damn this taffic jam!

My next email, around 9 pm:

Hi everyone,

Well, as some of you noted in your emails to me, you hoped that the traffic was not as bad as seen on TV. Actually, it was worse. We went 2 miles in about 1 hour, then got off the freeway because we needed to use the bathroom, called some people who had been watching traffic on TV and they told us it wasn’t moving faster anytime soon. We then decided at that point to come home and try again later tonight after they figured out how to move a million cars off the freeways.

The secondary problem was that we had used a ¼ tank of gas while sitting in traffic because it was 100 degrees today and we needed to run the A/C. Even in the A/C, the cat was panting and we needed to wrap her in a cold towel to cool her down. There have been many, many people who have run out of gas while sitting on the freeways, which isn’t helping the traffic-jams any and we didn’t want to be four of those people (S, her sister & fiancé and me) and 2 animals ( in two separate cars)! Hence, as I said, we have come home and made a number of alternative plans. The one we are going with as of now is to stay with some friends here in Houston who have an older model, sturdy house that has hurricane shutters on the windows. They also have a generator and lots of food and supplies. We dropped off most of our stuff already and are going to stay at my apartment tonight and head over there in the morning around 8 or 9.

Another alternative is to wait a few more hours to see what happens with the traffic and then try again for College Station. I am not thrilled with either of these options, but at this point, I’d rather not be stuck in a car on the freeway…that was hell on a different scale than that of New Orleans. Of course, I will let everyone know something when we make a decision. In any event, it is still very muggy, about 85 degrees, but the stars and moon are out, the clouds will probably roll in overnight and the winds pick up tomorrow afternoon.

The positive news in all of this, well, for us at least, is that the hurricane is tracking more eastward, which means we will get weaker side of the storm, as of now anyway. Well, that’s the only update I can give for now, but I will try to keep everyone informed as best I can. I will tell you that we are trying to be as safe as possible, but again, it isn’t likely we are moving out of the city.

On the road again...

An email I sent to family & friends around 11 am Thursday:

Hi everyone,

In case you haven’t seen the news, Hurricane Rita is bearing down on Houston and we are leaving town in about 1 hour. We are going to College Station, Texas, which is about 90 miles northwest of here and it is also where Texas A&M Univ. is. We have a place to stay with some friends up there. Personally, I don’t think this is far enough away, but I can’t convince anyone to go elsewhere. I filled up with 33$ in gas this morning, we have lots of supplies/water and enough alcohol to stay pretty buzzed for a few days! I think we took a case of rum and hurricane mix off the shelf. Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that we should be fine, the cat is coming with us and hopefully my apartment will stay dry. I will have my laptop with me and assuming we have power and a signal to the internet there, I should be able to check my email regularly. I’ll send an update as soon as I can.

I want to get away! I want to fly away.

At the beginning of August, my girlfriend and I flew to my hometown of Buffalo, NY to attend a family picnic/delayed wedding reception for my sister who had a planned elope wedding in Vegas (everyone knew they were getting married while they were there). Anyway, we had a fairly poor experience flying AirTran on our return to Houston and I wrote a pretty nasty email to them and after starting this blog a few weeks later, some friends told me to add it because while it addresses serious issues, it is also hysterical! Enjoy!

To Whom It May Concern:

On Sunday, August 7, 2005, my girlfriend and I were to take Flight 553, from Buffalo, NY, which was scheduled to leave at 2005 and arrive in Atlanta, GA at 2215. We were then scheduled to connect to Flight 299, scheduled to depart ATL at 2250 and arrive in Houston, TX at 2350 (CDT). Due to weather in Atlanta, our flight from Buffalo was delayed until approximately 1015 (we boarded at 945). While waiting, announcements were made concerning connecting flights at least three different times, each time, updating the connections to the best of their knowledge. The last announcement before we boarded in Buffalo listed our connecting flight time as 1215. We then assumed that should be enough time to change flights.

When we finally arrived in ATL, at 1214 (that is the exact time the CSR told us we arrived at the gate), deplaned, got into the terminal, asked a CSR which gate we were at and proceeded to that gate, our connection had departed. This is now approximately 1222. Assuming all the information that we were given before departing Buffalo was correct, we presumed that our flight was being held to allow us to make our connection. I understand there are schedules to keep, however, if this is the last flight of the evening for this plane and it’s already leaving 1 ½ hours late, what is another 15 minutes? If I were on that plane and they held it for this reason, I would understand and I would hope anyone else would too, knowing they could be in that situation at some time also. However, we were told that the connection information we were given was not correct and our connecting flight to Houston closed at 1145 and if I heard correctly, departed the gate 1206, 8 minutes before we arrived at the gate and 16 minutes before we could’ve made it to that plane. Again, holding planes for passengers that you know are on another flight and will arrive shortly for 15 more minutes, when it is already late for its original takeoff is not an unreasonable request.

In any event, we proceeded to the customer service counter, a line that was about 15 people deep when we entered it, to get what we assumed would be a hotel voucher and assistance with booking us on the first flight out in the morning. While standing in line, we called your 800 number, rebooked our flights and continued to stay in line for the hotel voucher. At 0120, just short of an hour of standing in line, we finally made it to the counter, were given our new boarding passes, a vendor voucher for food or whatever and the number to call for a reservation at a hotel at the lowest rate available, not at your expense however, because this was a weather related delay, according to the CSR. Again, had they held the plane, there would not have been any delay and we would not have been put in that situation! Also, they could’ve announced that we were not going to receive a hotel voucher at your expense and the line would’ve moved significantly faster and we would’ve been able to catch the train to the main terminal, because to add insult to injury, the trains don’t run after 0100 (which is not your fault) and we would’ve had to walk to the main terminal, catch the shuttle and get to the hotel, probably not until 0215. Because our new flight (#287) was at 0805 (which was also late, as I will explain below), we would’ve gathered about 4.5 hours of sleep, at our expense!

After realizing that leaving the airport, going to a hotel, that we would be spending less that 20% of a day in, but paying the full price for and wasting a lot of time and energy, it would be worthwhile to find a comfortable bench in the terminal and try to catch some sleep. At approximately 0145, we then proceeded back to your customer service counter and simply asked if we could possibly get a couple of blankets because the terminal was very cold (unfortunately, this was not something we can blame on you!). The lady at this counter was very nice and asked another staff member to check a plane for some blankets and bring them to us. We never saw him again. We pulled a couple of benches together and attempted to sleep, however, between airport announcements, the cleaning crew and people milling around, I managed a meager .5 hour of sleep between 0230 and 0630, while my girlfriend managed a little less than 2 hours of sleep during the same period. We then arose to get ourselves together and head for some breakfast, on you, and go to our gate for our flight home. We managed to eat .5 of our meals, which were below standards for most humans, but since we didn’t have to pay for it, we figured you wouldn’t mind us wasting your money like you’ve wasted our time.

We arrived at our gate at approximately 0715 and waited anxiously to board and go home. At 0745, I wondered aloud why we had yet to board, or even hear an announcement as to why. Within a few minutes, an announcement was made that overnight, the plane had undergone routine maintenance, but had yet to be cleaned and that was the reason for the delay. Had I known this would be an issue, I would’ve offered to clean the plane, for my normal OT wage at my job, since I had nothing better to do all night long! Maybe I could’ve grabbed a blanket to keep myself and my girlfriend warm while I was on there! All the same, we finally boarded at approximately 0815 and departed the gate around 0830. While we boarded and again during mid-flight, we asked one of the flight attendants for a couple of blankets, because we had yet to warm up from our night in the arctic terminal, but received none.

Also, on a side note, on our flights to Buffalo on Friday, August 5, 2005, when the drink cart came around, I was given my soda in a cup and the remainder of the can. However, on both return flights, I received only my cup, which gave me about 2 sips and I was done. I realize I could’ve asked for more, but try to get everyone on the same page; continuity and standardization is what makes fast-food so successful. I can go to McDonald’s in Seattle, WA and Boone, NC and know that my food will be prepared the same in both places. Keep that idea in mind.

Back to my real complaint, due to this outrageous inconvenience, I had to call-off of my hourly-paying job, which will leave me short in my paycheck in a few weeks. Meanwhile, my girlfriend is a very busy attorney, who had to call and reschedule all her morning appointments. I would hope that you’re aware that in her line of work, time is money and you’ve cost her 4-6 hours of billable time because someone didn’t want to hold a plane for 15 minutes.

Does this sound like an enjoyable experience with your airline? After having a very pleasant weekend with my family, some of whom I have not seen in over a year, I had to deal with this situation, which also lead to a very grumpy girlfriend and I had to deal with that as well! Fortunately, I had a lot of time to write an email to you while I was sitting in the terminal waiting for my morning flight! All of these events and thoughts are fresh in my mind and will remain so until a resolution has come about. Yes, that’s right; I want something for all of this trouble. It had better be worth my time and aggravation or I will make sure that anyone I come in contact with does not use your airline in the future, which would be unfortunate because you fly to so many of the cities where I personally would visit and where many of my friends often fly from Houston. I would also visit various websites that rate airlines and post comments that portray your lack of complimentary services in these types of situations and stupidity in flight management very blatantly, as I believe I have in this letter.

I have worked in the customer service industry for 15 years and I would never treat one of my customers as I feel I have been treated by your airline. Customer service is your lifeblood and if you continue with this type, you’ll be bleeding to death. We paid for tickets on a flight that, for us, never occurred and cost myself even more money, by having to miss work. Potentially, this could’ve cost even more money had we gone to the hotel. How do two $350 plane tickets turn into $1000, re-read this email and you’ll understand how.

I’ll be eagerly waiting for your response. I can be reached at this email address, my work email address (insert address here), my home phone (insert # here), my cell phone (insert # here), or my work phone (insert # here) M-F (after Monday, August 08, 2005, since I needed to take the day off!). I fully expect I’ll be hearing from you very shortly.

Sincerely,

Goal10der Conf. #O N
S Conf. #A F

Rock You Like a Hurricane.

This is from an email sent by my girlfriends father to her and her sister, both living here in Houston. Without this email, we would still be following these instructions because I don’t laugh in the face of danger, I get the hell out of its way! We will be leaving on Thursday night after we all get home from work around 8, pack up some clothes, laptops, iPods, food, water and important belongings and then load up the animals. No, we aren’t building an ark, but we are taking 2 dogs and a cat with at least 4, possibly 6-8 people. I’m sure this weekend will be interesting to say the least.

Bad things happen to people who do not take the force of nature seriously (arrogant people), and stupid people. Misfortune rarely has something to do with solely Black or White. With that aside, I as a weather guru extraordinaire would seriously encourage you to do the following:
Add the weather channel website to your list of favorites; so you can monitor this thing from work and home. THE THINGS TO MONITOR ARE:

It's path

It's strength

http://www.weather.com/maps/news/atlstorm18/projectedpath_large.html

Keep in contact with your respective employers, and understand their emergency plans and your responsibilities therein.

Ya'll get together and try to decide if you need to act aggregately or singly.

Assuming the projected path, which you will be constantly monitoring, keeps Houston in its Bull's Eye, or the path is to your south (which is really worse) and assuming it is a Category 2 or greater, make plans to get the hell out of Dodge (or Houston as the case may be) by no later than Thursday night.

It appears that your best path would be to go east. This thing looks like it will go right through Dallas after it makes landfall. The only problem with East is you would have to almost come home to Florida to avoid all the damage from Katrina. Going west will be okay. The West side of a hurricane is the weakest. The N.E. quadrant has the highest winds and storm surge. I know heading east seems to be a dichotomy, but do you know someone with whom you can stay somewhere significantly west of Houston? You probably do, and you would be closer to coming back home sooner. You know you are always welcome at home, but are at least 12 hours away.

"Bottom Dwellers" I would either move the furniture you care about upstairs or elevate it off the floor with blocks or something.

If you are being aggregate refugees (yes refugees exist in America), I would recommend moving residual autos to the 2nd or higher floor of a parking garage. A, remember Allison?

Ladies, please take this seriously if it does become a 3 or 4, if you are stuck there, hurricanes are pretty scary. S and A were just little girls in 1985, when Hurricane Kate came through here. It was only a Category 2, and the town looked like a war zone, and we didn't have power or water for a week. I know Houston's resources are better, but so will be the damage.

Last of all remember. Things are not worth protecting, lives are. Somehow your respective employers businesses will survive without you for a day or two. Keep me informed, and I will reciprocate.

Love,
Dad

Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you.

Here we go again. Another hurricane has the potential to slam the Gulf Coast. In the meantime, Gov. Jeb Bush has already declared a state of emergency in Florida and the Keys and Miami are bracing for what is currently Tropical Storm Rita. The Florida national guard is readying itself and I would assume a team from FEMA will be heading down there quickly.

The real issue isn't Florida, it's the Gulf Coast. After this storm breezes through the lower 1/3 of Florida, it will then fester in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which is exactly what Katrina did before it wrecked the coastline and a major American city. Here in Houston, I am already thinking about my options if this storm heads our way. The cat and I may be taking another long road trip! In any case, I am in dire hope that whatever happens with this storm, it is handled 1000 times better than the aftermath of Katrina. I'll have to keep updated on the track and strength of this storm and it will surely be noted here every now and then.

Do you want to be an American idiot?

It occurred to me a few moments ago that it baffles me how insanely intuitive the American people can be, yet at the same time also be complete idiots. I'll deal with the idiot factor in a moment, but I'd like to point out the positive things I see, hear and read from Americans first.

I was reading Craigslist about 40 minutes ago and came across this post in the "rants and raves" section. Basically, it is a response to someone asking what to call blacks in other countries outside of the U.S. and on the continent of Africa. The response asks a good question: What are white-Americans with South African descent called? A prime example would be Dave Matthews and his children. He was born in South Africa, isn't he African-American and his children descendants of Africans? I don't mean this to be derogatory towards any culture or race or anything else, but now it has me asking the same question. The point that I am heading towards is that regardless of this specific issue, I was amazed at the "outside the box" thinking this person used to come up with a question of this nature and that an American opened themselves up to thoughts that are not mainstream. You’ll see how this relates to the idiots a little ways down. Maybe this isn't that far outside, but I haven't heard too many people pose these types of questions about important issues, which is what needs to happen if we are going to move forward in not only American society, but in the human race.

The idiot factor comes into play when generally smart people do stupid things, like vote a moron into a public office. I am not, repeat, NOT referring to anyone in particular because it does not happen in only one place. It happens in villages, towns, cities, counties, states and at the federal level all the same. I am unsure how such unqualified people can manage to win an election. They must have people skills that are well above and beyond those of normal politicians. Normal politicians can talk themselves into or out of anything, but these people must do it so convincingly that they garner thousands of voters in support of their beliefs. It doesn't hurt that many people are lazy and won't bother to research their candidate and will vote for them even though they may oppose things that are important to that individual. It's that one key issue they have talked these people into believing they can take care of it. The rest is just fluff. People should want someone representing them who reflect as many of their beliefs and values as they can, not just one they are good at vocalizing them.

I’ve forgotten where I was headed with all of this, but as you can see, there is a stark contrast in the thought processes of people in this country. Some are willing to think abstractly, while some just plain aren’t thinking! I think I’ll let this issue stew for a little longer in the crock pot of my head and walk down this path at a later time.

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play, today. Look at me, I can be, centerfield.

Going to a baseball game is usually a joyful experience for me, especially at this time of the year and the fact that we are currently leading the Wild Card race makes every game exciting: except today. I don’t know what it was about today’s game, but the atmosphere inside the ballpark was very “dead”. I even made this comment to my friend whom I went with and we both said afterwards that it was a boring game, not because we lost, in fact, we won today, but because there was barely, if any, buzz, aside from a handful of moments. The announced attendance was around 35,000, but it definitely seemed as though there were numerous empty seats to contradict that number. The fans only got loud after we scored or if an important pitch needed to be made, which was pretty rare since our pitcher was really shutting the other team down. Otherwise, there was no buzz in the air, which is something I’ve grown accustomed to and I tend to expect when attending any sports event. The other thing that confuses me is that we had a lot of opportunities for atmosphere to emerge and grow. We left 12 men on base and had the bases loaded twice, I think. That usually gets the crowd into the game and it did for those moments, but soon after the end of our mini-rally, the crowd went back to whatever was holding their attention, which certainly wasn’t the baseball game.

I have only one theory for this rare occasion: Sunday afternoon baseball games are days for families to bring their kids to the ballpark and have a family day. We saw plenty of kids with their parents and many of them were very young, as was the case 2 rows down from us where the one child was around a year to 14 months old and the other child looked less than a month old. Don’tget me wrong, I could care less how people spend their dollars and if they want to bring their kids to the ballpark I think It’s great, but those people aren’t paying attention to the game because their kids are too young to have the attention span to sit for 3 hours and watch a baseball game and the parents, consequently, have to spend the majority of time occupying their kids attention, which then detracts their attention from the game. So, maybe out of the 35K that attended today’s game, let’s say 35% are the parents of or are the kids, which is roughly 12,250 people. Those 12,250 people aren’t taking the necessary interest in the game to help generate excitement and only 22,750 remain to carry the energy. Of those people, I would guess 5-10% will be occupied with watching other people’s kids or making faces at the babies. It has also become apparent to me that when at the ballpark, people cannot stay in their seats for all 9 innings and tend to wander the hallways, whether it be for food, restroom or just to stretch their legs. Let’s assume this is another 2%. Now we are down to a little over 50% of the announced attendance actually in their seats and cheering at the appropriate times.

You’ve probably guessed that I don’t have kids, but I do have a 3 year old nephew and I know his attention span is very short. I spend all of 25 seconds on the phone with him before he gives it back to my sister and says “later!” When I do have kids, I will probably bring them to sporting events while they are still at that uninterested age and all of this will just be me ranting while I’m currently on the other side of the ball. In the meantime, we’re in a playoff race and I’d like to feel like it while I’m enjoying a well-pitched game with my friend. Going to this game was actually a little bit of a downer and we won! I went to a game last month that we lost poorly and there was a lot more excitement than today. It’s just weird, that’s all I’m really saying. I want encourage bringing your kids to the ballpark. In my eyes, any show of support for your local team is a positive and spending time with your family is doubly important and it is really special when you can mix the two together. Just remember to scream a little now and then to let us folks who are paying attention to the game that you’re here and that you’re going to help us scream and shout our team to victory. Go ‘stros!

We've all come to look for America...

All right, to the old lady at the Belgian restaurant tonight who probably didn’t speak any English, at least make some simple observations! You can see us all grabbing our wallets/purses to pay our check, so stop filling our water glasses! You’re wasting water, time and energy.

On the other hand, maybe you couldn’t hear our drunken friend R, screaming the F-word in almost every conversation he involved himself in, so you wanted to get a little closer to us in hopes of learning some real American-English. Nonetheless, I now feel compelled to drink some of the water as to not have it go to waste. Hundreds of thousands of people along the Gulf Coast desperately needed this lady a couple weeks ago to come around and continuously pour water, but here she is wasting it on us. Ok, ok, that was a little harsh, but you know you the thought ran quickly through your mind too!

In case you were wondering, Belgian food is not very different from anywhere else. With 12 of us at dinner, we had an array of different dishes ordered, but I could’ve eaten at most chain restaurants and had the same meals. My filet mignon was cooked accurately to medium, which is a rarity it seems these days, but was ultimately very bland tasting. The mashed potatoes were good, but I could’ve used more of them on my plate. What was that stuff on top of the tomato and lettuce thingy you put on the side of my plate? We saw a couple plates of Chicken Diablo, which looked to be nothing special; Salmon filet, which also looked to be sort of blasé, as in it wasn’t dressed up at all, just a piece of fish on a plate. The mussels in tomato sauce looked interesting, but why does it come with French fries? That seems like an odd combo.

It's Just Varying Degrees of Con-Artistry

At least work didn't suck today. I had enough to keep me busy for about 5 hours, which is better than yesterday. Plus I got to interact with about 6 different people concerning actual work, because unless people stop by my office to chit-chat, I can go an entire day without speaking to anyone - except the clerk next to me who I've already mentioned as annoying. Nevertheless, it's Friday and I am more than happy to be heading home with an hour or so of OT, however, I only billed about 63 hours for this pay period - go figure that one out!

Who's Gonna Drive You Home, Tonight?

6pm. Rush hour, people are jockeying for position, buses are stopping traffic at corners to pick up and drop off people and cars are jutting in and out of lanes. Does this sound familiar? Well, here is my opinion on rush hour. JUST DRIVE PEOPLE!! We go through these issues five days a week and everyday it’s the same thing.

Why, oh why, don’t you have a routine of getting into the lane where you’ll do the core of your driving and stay there!

I drive the same way home everyday. I exit my parking lot to the right, turning into the middle lane, driving about 2 miles before I reach a large intersection where cars are always turning right and I can move into the right lane because the middle lane turns into a left turn only lane. I know this because I drive this way everyday! I then stay in this lane for four more miles before I have to turn left. You see, it’s pretty easy for me to do this routine on a daily basis.

The problem, however, is when all the other people driving around me fuck this routine up! People are zipping in and out of lanes, figuring out they’re in that left turn only lane when they need to go straight and all of a sudden they try to cut in front of me! Or they cut in front of me at other times. I don’t mean they enter my lane because there is room, I mean they are cutting me off, no signals flash and no wave for not bumping their ass as they slice in between cars.

While I’m speaking of cutting in; just because there is some room between myself and the car in front of me, does not mean that you should make a right on red into that space! Space does not equal time. If there are a few car lengths between 2 cars, it is because tailgating is not a good practice when driving! It doesn’t mean you should attempt to jump out in front of me and slam on the gas. Obviously since you’re picking this space to try to enter traffic, you are not a NASCAR driver! You need to take at least 8 seconds to make a right turn and get up to the speed and flow of traffic as to not disrupt my flow in traffic!

With gas being the price per gallon that it is right now, I don’t want to be in stop and go traffic for 25 minutes on my way home and I’ll bet a lot of other people feel the same way.

Fortunately for other drivers, even though I am quickly losing patience, I know that in less than 30 minutes, I’ll be home and you won’t because you’ll be jutting in and out of lanes instead of driving straight to your destination.

Ok, so here’s the plan: pick a lane, don’t cut me off and don’t jump out in front of me.

Another postcard with chimpanzee's...

It’s 5:40pm, there are only 2 people working the counter with 15 people in line and the post office will be closing in 20 minutes. I realize this is a government job, but for the love of Billy Joe, stop talking, do some work to get this line moving so we both can go home! Pretty simple isn’t it? Why are you still talking? SHUT UP! Ok, good, you’ve stopped talking, you’re exchanging money, the customer is packing up her things and we’re doing much better now.

Wait, where are you going? At least let me know that you’ll be coming back instead of teasing me after that last customer left the counter. You stood there as if you were awaiting my arrival, then as I begin my trot to come see you, you walk away without a word. Now I have 14 people staring at me like I am in 5th grade and they’re teasing me and yelling, “Psyche!” It’s almost embarrassing, just standing there.

Oh, good here you come.

Wait, no, you’re just putting something back on the counter and walking away again.

Its 5:50pm now, still 14 people in line and I’m still standing there as well.

Finally, you’re back at the counter.

Are you ready for me now? SAY SOMETHING! Don’t stare at me and expect me to know what you’re thinking. “Next!” Seriously? You couldn’t be a little more polite by saying, “I’m sorry for the delay, can I help you?” Whatever. Here is my letter; you may get it there whenever you feel like doing some work. Can I go home now?

We've got to get to a higher place...

The monotony of my job is almost too much to bear. I arrived 54 minutes late this morning and nobody really cared, other than me, because I am paid by the hour. I woke up late this morning and stayed in bed 20 minutes after that to play with the cat. I concocted a cute little story (i.e.: lie) for when I arrived, yet nobody asked why I was late, so I didn't even bother to mention it. I came in, put my lunch in the refrigerator, clocked in and went to my office to sit here and write this.

I've had a couple people walk in and out of my office for different things and the law clerk next door asked me about converting grams to ounces. Why? I have no idea, but apparently, it warranted ME getting on the internet and figuring it out. By the way, 28.35g = 1oz, in case you cared. She is always asking me inane questions about things and wondering who is playing on my iPod. I swear 3/4 of the time I think she has no idea who I am listening to, but will claim she enjoys them. Then she’ll ask, “Have I ever heard of so and so” Did I ask you to come bother me? I don't want your suggestions about opera either. I don't mind opera, but I don't want a 20-minute conversation about it, with tangents that have only the slightest bit of relevance to, wait, what were we talking about again? Oh yea, OPERA! According to her, don't see a Mozart opera either. Personally, I enjoy Mozart, but I didn't want to get into another 20 minutes on who was the greatest composer ever, so I just nodded and smiled.

Where was I? Oh yea, my mind-numbing, time-wasting excuse I have for income. Yesterday, I played about 70 games of Freecell, read some blogs, wrote some emails, searched for some things on the internet and did about an hours worth of work - right at the end of the day. I really need to start job hunting. I suppose I'll have to update my resume and post it...soon.

I definitely need to find something where my voice is heard and I have work to keep me busy for at least 80% of the day. If you know of a job like this or can offer me a job like this, I'm available! The only request I have is that I make a couple bucks more than I make now.

Thinking....

Thinking....

I think I'll lay low for the next couple hours and actually do some work until about 3pm. I can't imagine having anything to keep me busy beyond that.

Squeeky

In God's Country

The awesome beauty and the rare fact that I took an amazing picture.

Take me down under the wishing tree and lay your healing hands on me.

(Click the title for a link on Katrina facts)

I am being criticized for being insensitive about the situation in New Orleans. I’m sorry; I have very little sympathy for people who were told many times that this was a possibility and then told on Sunday morning to leave and didn’t. Crying wolf for the past however many years is not a valid excuse. If someone tells you it is dangerous to stay, you pack up quickly and quietly and leave. If nothing happens, well, you’ve wasted some time and money, sure, but if this happens, you’ve saved your family’s lives as well as your own. I realize many of them do not have the means to leave and that their government, your government, my government, should have had a better plan in place to take care of this potential situation and didn’t. However, your common sense should tell you that in this situation, a major catastrophe could occur and that you need to use almost any means necessary to get your ass moving. I say “almost any means”, because I would hope that people wouldn’t resort to carjacking other people who are also trying to leave. It’s ironic how before the storm, some people are selfish and want to get out of dodge ASAP with only their families, but after the storm, in the wake of tragedy, ‘we are all here to help each other.’

People in other parts of the country should be outraged at the (lack of) government response to this disaster. They should be wondering what would happen if something occurred in their region. What would happen if an F5 tornado tore through a major city such as Washington, DC? That was a very real possibility after Hurricane Ivan ran up the Atlantic coast last fall. Tornadoes touched down within 50 miles of that city. What is going to happen when the “big one” rips apart California? They will have no warning at all. At least with this hurricane, we had time to plan and take action, which we did, but we had neither a solid plan nor did we take appropriate action for the possibility of what could, and did, occur. Now think about a Cat 5 hurricane barreling through Miami, pushing a 30-foot storm surge up onto South Beach and over all those ridiculous fancy-schmancy homes that bizzilionaires build.

Speaking of wealthy people, where are they right now? Why hasn’t Bill Gates donated $1 Billion of his own dollars for aid? Is it because he thinks he’ll never get it back because the people that are in need will never be able to purchase his Microsoft products? It all makes sense then that Wal-Mart has donated $17 million in aid. They’ll make that ten-fold as people get their lives back together. Where is Steve Forbes? Where is Donald Trump? He should be chomping at the bit to send one or more of his construction companies to the Gulf Coast to help clean up and rebuild! You would think he’d be salivating all over himself to be able to tell people he helped clean up and rebuild lives! The musicians well, of course they’ll be a concert/telethon! There is no way this country could let this go by without doing one. After all, we held one for the Tsunami victims, how could we not do one for our own country? I watched Wynton Marsalis last night say that he wished he had other skills to help those in need, but he is a musician and he’ll play music to help people to feel better. What? Your two hands can’t help any other way than by holding a musical instrument? How does he expect them to see this concert with the electricity being out? I also thoroughly enjoyed reading some of the people’s statements on craigslist to help those in need.

In particular, I like this one: willing to phone friends & family. It reads like this:

If you need to get a message out to relatives or friends, I will be happy to assist. I live in Delaware, but location doesn't matter. Please send mail with YOUR name, YOUR message, THEIR name, THEIR number.

Hope I can help. God bless you,

Marion

Ok, I have to give it to this woman for wanting to help, but HELLO, if they can get in touch with you, most likely they can get in touch with other family members!

Wait, because there are more like this!

Try this one from an anonymous person who posted in New Hampshire:

Please email me the name, relationship, and number of all family members outside of the disaster zone. I will contact them on your behalf. Please also provide some type of information if possible, that I can give to your family so they know that the call is not a prank. I will call each person, read your email to them, and email you back with whom I was able to contact.

Our Prayers Our (ed note: nice use of the wrong word – are) With You All........

An American who wants to help.......

This person has really lost their marbles. You email them; they’ll call your family or friends and then email you back to let you know they have been in contact. Assuming the family/friends don’t have email, this is a good idea; otherwise, it goes along with the first woman.

Then, there is this one from Kansas City, Mo:

If you would like us to care for your child while you get back on your feet we can. We will enroll them in school (if old enough). We will make sure that they are fed and well clothed. We are a loving couple. All of our children are grown and gone. We can take one child from age 2-12 until you are back on your feet. We will return a happy, clean, and educated child to you.

I like the idea behind this one, but who is going to give their child to complete strangers to raise for a few months?

What is wrong with people in this country? People have gone absolutely stupid! The poor can’t get out in time. The rich don’t help with appropriate action. The politicians, while some are genuine in their words, are always thinking about how this will play out in the press. The middle class wants to donate money, some will, but most can’t, so they donate their time instead, like me, except I’m doing something rational like volunteering at the food bank and donating my less-used clothes.

Our government has critically failed us in our most desperate time of need. Sure, it was there after 9/11, depending to whom you talk. I think some of the victims families might disagree. During 9/11, at least the area of need was concentrated. However, with this hurricane, it is extremely widespread and long lasting, as is evident in New Orleans. Money won’t fix everything along the Gulf Coast. These are people’s homes, dreams, memories, families and lives. Money can’t bring all that back. In addition, while I’m on the money issue, this position has been brought up a number of times in the press. A circumstance arose where people who live paycheck to paycheck, or government check to government check, could not buy gas for the cars and that is why they did not leave because they wouldn’t have received their money until yesterday. Had the hurricane occurred a few days later, it is possible more people would’ve left. For me, there are two issues here; 1) again, our government agencies have failed us because in dire circumstances, such as this one, gasoline should be given away so people can evacuate and the bill should be footed by the government. 2) I’m wondering where all the money that normally would be going to these people this week is headed? Obviously, no mail will be going to their homes since a) the mail can’t get through the roads and b) they probably don’t have mailboxes anymore! All the local, state and federal paychecks, welfare, social security and any other government checks that should have been sent out this week have question marks attached to them; were they sent? If so, where did they go? How does someone who has lost everything go about receiving his or her check? Our government has failed the people of New Orleans terribly. Lack of planning for an event of this nature is inexcusable and even with as many people that have already lost everything, our “leaders” should be relieved of their duties so real leaders can step forward and begin the process of planning for the next catastrophe. We create computer models for what might happen if this event occurs, but can’t create a computer model on how to evacuate over a million people in about 30 hours. In addition, you have to remember we aren’t out of hurricane season yet. What happens if another storm comes through that area, like the four that rolled through Florida last year? I suppose it could be just a tropical storm or Cat 1 hurricane and this area might be completely submerged. How can our government let people ride out a devastating storm of this nature, with the possibility of events becoming what they are today? On Saturday night, when they realized this might be “the one”, our government should have an emergency task force and a plan in place to get people out of the city, beginning immediately. Paul Revere rode all night by horse to alert people the British were coming, surely, we should’ve declared martial law and could’ve sent police and firefighters into neighborhoods with sirens blaring to wake people and start evacuating them. How do you evacuate a few hundred thousand people who have no transportation? Follow the police and firefighters into the neighborhoods with school buses, city buses, taxis, airport shuttles, hotel shuttles, limousines, cars from used car lots (in this case, they are now unusable, so why not use them for evacuating people?) and numerous other vehicles. Send them into the city, force the people to leave. They won’t want to go at first, but they need to be forced and will thank their lucky stars afterwards when they are alive, dry, fed and out of the heat/humidity. They only need to be sent less than one hundred miles to the west of N.O. to be safe. If we do the math with a fair amount of guesstimating, a school bus could hold approximately 100 people and I would imagine there are a couple thousand of those in the N.O. area. If they drive 4 hours round trip for each vehicle, loading and unloading time included, an hour to reload and head back out of the city, they could’ve made 4 trips from late Saturday night through early Sunday evening and we probably could’ve forced the evacuation of at least a half million people. Hell, 100 buses, holding 100 people is 10,000 people evacuated. 1,000 buses are 100,000 people. 1,000 buses by four trips each, then add in all the city buses, other vehicles and so on. Do the math. See the mistakes.

Now getting the people who lack transportation out of the city should have been a priority of course, but the number one priority people to evacuate should be all hospital patients! People are dying in hospitals because the hospital didn’t have the means to keep them alive. They are a side effect of the damage caused by the hurricane. Subsequently, after they die, they are just left to sit in the halls, heat & humidity to rot, because the morgue, in the basement, is flooded. This is just a disgrace and disrespectful of life itself. These people could’ve been moved all day on Sunday, all the hospitals could’ve been cleared out and lives saved. Not to mention, there would be doctors and nurses available to tend to anyone that may not have made it out of the path of this destruction for some reason. They would’ve been well rested and ready to take on the battles of saving lives with better resources than manually ventilating people because they don’t have a generator. It’s just disgusting to think about what they must be going through.

If people had been evacuated properly, the looting and danger that currently awaits people would have been eliminated. The guns might still be in the Wal-Mart cases (why Wal-Mart needs to sell guns is beyond me, but that’s for a different rant) along with the ammunition. Police wouldn’t be turning in their badges. Rescue operations wouldn’t have to be suspended because of safety and security reasons. One well-executed plan could’ve prevented all of these problems if our “leaders” had the foresight for the worst-case scenario they claim they had feared.

On numerous occasions, I’ve mentioned the government, but I have been careful not to criticize one group or the other because they are both to blame for the numerous problems that have occurred this week. One group may claim that if the poverty level weren’t so high in N.O. much of this wouldn’t have happened. The other group will claim that they wanted to do something, but the other side kept preventing them from action. All of it is just bullshit. We’re talking about human lives, not theoretical situations. What-if’s and what might-be’s can’t be debated on the floor of the House or Senate. Practicality and common sense need to rule when you’re talking about how to keep your people safe. The ACLU can kiss my ass on this issue too. I’m all for civil liberties and freedom of choice, but when it comes to my life, my family’s lives and my friends lives, I want my government to tell me what to do, where to go and how to be as safe as I possible can. I’m pretty sure that’s why I pay my taxes. I hope that people don’t trust their government after this. They should question what their representatives are doing for them. It can’t be all about which lobby spends the most money to get their officials elected. It has to be about what they are doing to protect us as well. Maybe this will get people out to vote and interested in their local elections. They’ll see who is working for them and elect the people they feel will do what is right for their local communities, their region and ultimately their state and nation. Why is it that everyone knows the name of the President, but hardly anyone, including myself, can name their city councilperson, which is where the majority of governing is done? In this case, it could’ve saved lives. Government has to be about practicality and common sense. It can’t be based on anyone’s personal values.

I have to say that while I feel a large sense of disgrace for how our government has acted in the face of adversity, I do feel genuine sadness for all of the deceased and now homeless people, whose dreams and lives have been shattered in less than 24 hours. Hundreds of thousands of people will need years to rebuild only portions of their lives if only to sustain themselves for the near future, retirement not withstanding. Then I think about the elderly people who lived on a tight budget and have lost everything. I can only hope they have positive relationships with younger family members who can take care of them during this transition time or for the rest of their lives. I cannot begin to imagine how the lower class citizens without viable job-skills will survive. I hope that construction companies will be willing to have the patience to train these people and they can contribute to helping rebuild the region they once called home. If the construction companies come, it will mean that they will have to rebuild the grocery stores and restaurants so there are places to feed these people. Those businesses will also need employees and I hope they find patient people to train and manage them. This is how their economy will need to be built. Just like the region, it will have to start from the ground up.

If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts.

So, I've decided that there comes a time when you just have to get everything off your chest. Hence, I have begun blogging. Some days my rants will be long-winded, some days they may be non-sensical, other days may find me in an unusual good mood, which means my rant will barely last a paragraph. You'll find me going off about any number of things from politics to religion to sports to life in general and possibly anything in between.

Feel free to comment about anything I have said because the only way I'll ever understand people is by hearing and understanding their point of view, whether I agree with it or not.

One more item of note: you may notice that all of the titles will be music lyrics. Music is the soundtrack of our lives and I can't think of a day that has gone by in th last 20 or so years of my life that doesn't have a song associated with it.

Again, please comment on them if you know what song they are from or are going to buy me tickets to the next concert!