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1. When I'm laying in bed and trying to go to sleep, yet Lovely Wife is still up watching TV, and I hear her, across the house, laugh at something funny. I love her laugh. 2. When I'm sitting at our computer Photoshopping digital photos, and Number Two Daughter comes up and leans over and hugs my neck from behind. 3. When Number One Daughter comes in and says, "What's up Homey G.? High five!" and makes me give her a high five. 4. Sister in Law always says, "I love you" to us when we're ending a phone conversation. Yet she only lives one block over from us.  5. Angel, our oldest and first and smallest poodle, a white toy poodle (6 pounds), basically took to me early on, even though Lovely Wife picked her out an brought home. She's considered "Daddy's" dog. When I lay down in bed to go to sleep at night, she jumps on the bed and comes and stands and tucks her head down, sticks it under my chin and then reaches up with her left paw and scratches me, demanding I love on her a little bit. If I stop too soon for her, she scratches me to let me know she needs more lovin'.  6. Rosie, our red miniature poodle, gets all excited and runs around and spinning in circles when she comes back into the house from taking a poop in the back yard. We always know when she's been out taking care of some business because otherwise she's very lady-like and sedate. Not to get too crass here, but as a man, I can appreciate the benefits of having your plumbing in good working order.7. Lilly, one of our "puppies" that were born to Rosie, the one I mentioned just above, is also our biggest poodle. She's a miniature but very stout and heavily built like her father. She's also the one that needs the most attention. She'll jump up in my lap and then just throw herself back in your arms like a little baby for belly rubs. She's the alpha dog and is very good at making her needs known.  8. Sassy, our cat who is about 12 now, is what I call our forgotten child. She waits until I'm on the computer and jumps up next to me and for a couple of minutes makes a pretense of looking out of the window, but a few seconds later she steps between me and the keyboard, stretching luxuriously and rubs the top of her head on my hand, like, "Pet me with this hand today. She "tolerates" our dogs, but when they get too uppity, she can still do that 32-punches-per-second thing that cats do and scares the crap out of the dogs for a while.9. Lovely Wife loves her some flowers. And this far south in Florida, you can have them blooming pretty much year 'round. She keeps the place all prettied up. Being a typical guy, I wouldn't bother if I were alone. They make great fodder for photographs too. 10. I turned both of my daughters onto heavy metal. Back when they thought the Backstreet Boys, Nsync, and Spice Girls were the bomb, I took them to a couple of Disciple concerts and straightened them up. 11. Sainted Mother still calls me on my birthday every October and tells me the "forty-xxx years ago right now, I was…" story. 12. Big Sis and I were far enough apart in age that, as kids, we didn't get along that great, but as adults we're very close. If my life seems boring sometimes, I can be assured of a great story if I call her. Something's ALWAYS causing drama in her life. I don't understand her ability to listen to country music though. I blame Keith Urban.  13. Mr. Spike. Spike isn't a girl, but he's our fourth poodle. He's a mama's boy and loves Lovely Wife to distraction, but he still freaks out when I get home from work, and he likes to sit with me in my recliner. He's a gentle, laid back doggy, but when he sees a strange dog, he "gets all hound dog on us" and lets out a long, Bah-uuuurrrrrr! To warn the family that potential danger is afoot. He's jet black with Sylvester Stalone sad eyes and a white patch on his chin that we call his "soul patch." His eyes and natural expression is like Eeeyore's, from Winnie the Pooh. (The black poodle there is Mr. Spike, and the white on behind him is his sister, Lilly.)I'm blessed! |
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Thursday, June 7, 2007
Thursday Thirteen #41
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
I Give Up, Sort Of
Thinking back on the first year or so of this blog, I wrote a number of posts about politics and things going on in the world.
I don't do that but rarely these days.
It's not that I don't care, it just seems so futile. There wasn't even one political post I ever wrote and posted that didn't make me feel sick at my stomach when I had finished it and posted it.
I still keep up with the news, but I guess from an earthly standpoint, I think that there aren't many good guys out there making good decisions any more.
The Republicans seem quite content to give our country over to illegal aliens. I see them on the news, and repeatedly hear the phrase "this bill is NOT amnesty," yet I feel, and each and every person I've talked to about it agrees that the bill currently being talked over IS amnesty.
It's simple, if you are making a way for people who've shown their willingness to break our laws, and to not be assimilated into the fabric of this country and culture to become citizens, that's amnesty. Taking a page out of the liberal's playbook to say over and over that something, anything, isn't what we all know it is, will not fool anybody. It's amnesty, pure and simple, regardless of how many times you say it isn't amnesty.
And heck, that's not even the first line of concern, it's border security. If a family with dad, wife, and kids can walk into this country with almost no trouble, then how hard would it be for terrorists to do the same. Answer, it wouldn't be hard at all.
In fact they're here already, as the recent uncovering of various terrorist plots shows. There are terrorists here already, and they're making evil plans too.
Our Senators and Congressmen think we're idiots.
A guy on a local call in program said he wrote a letter to Senator Mel Martinez about this "immigration reform" bill and how he saw through the smoke screen and that he and most Americans felt it was amnesty to law breakers and that he wanted no part of it, and was writing Senator Martinez to not vote in favor of it.
He said he recieved a curt letter in reply that basically the letter writer didn't know what he was talking about and that Senator Martinez believed strongly in the bill, since he of course, did understand what it was all about.
That's pretty typical right now for both Republicans and Democrats in Washington. They think that overall we don't have the brains of an ice cube.
I'm not one to toot my horn very much, but if I could learn Calculus, Differential Equations, Physics, Chemistry, Linear Algebra and earn an Electrical Engineering Degree, then I know that I have the capacity to learn which way is up or down, right or wrong with political topics in this country. I'm no smarter than the person next to me, but I know I can learn, and I can look around me and know what's what.
We elect our representatives, send them to Washington, almost guaranteed for them to end up as multi-millionaires with amazing power, and yet they turn around, and act like we don't have the capacity to understand what's "really going on" and that only they do.
So I don't talk about politics much any more on here. I'm even disgusted with some of Bush's recent shenanigans, like the above mentioned immigration reform (amnesty) bill that does nothing to secure our borders against radical islamist terrorist coming in and blowing up our cities.
Idiots, all.
President Bush recently signed an executive decree that basically will give him (or whomever is President after him) almost dictatorial powers if another 9/11 type disaster is visited upon this country.
I like President Bush, but I don't trust even him with those kinds of powers, yet the Democrats are still trying to create a scandal regarding Attorney General Gonzales, where there is no scandal, and Bush gets a pass on his decree, something that EVERYONE in Washington should be jumping up and down about. But nobody is, and the Democrats are chasing ghosts while allowing things they should scream about pass.
Scary stuff.
We have incredibly close and precise news coverage of each and every day of Paris Hilton's much deserved incarceration, and Lindsay Lohan's and Britney Spear's public meltdowns, but there seems to be no concern about Iranian President I'minajihad's continued pronouncements that Israel's days as a nation are numbered.
Iran is on the fast track to built atomic bombs, and their leaders have promised repeatedly that they'll wipe Israel off the map, but we just sit back and act like nothing will really happen. Just because something is too terrible to contemplate doesn't mean that they won't do that thing. I firmly believe that when Iran promises to bomb Israel off the face of the earth, that when they can, they will do it.
Are the American people so asleep or so stupid as to believe that Iran won't use those new nuclear weapons on Israel?
I guess so. Instead I still see folks rant and rave on their blogs, and even on "news" programs about how they hate how President Bush says the word as nucular instead of nuclear.
Who friggin' cares!
If you want to rant, at least have the heart and brains to rant about something important, and believe me, how the President pronounces the word nuclear IS NOT IMPORTANT!
We in the west, and the whole of western civilization have our head in the sand and don't believe that when the billion or so Muslims say they are going to create a world-wide islamic state under sharia law, they don't really mean it.
They do mean it. And Iran is the world leader in radical islam right now. They're working lickety-split on creating nuclear weapons to give themselves the ability to force the world to its knees and either have it's head chopped off or convert to the false god of islam.
I'm going to continue to work hard, take lots of pictures with my spiffy cameras, and live life the best I can.
But I'm beginning to believe that if we continue on our present path in this country, that within my lifetime, I'll have to pledge allegiance to the false god Allah, or die.
So I'm going to enjoy life and my family and my stuff as much as I can; and I'll pray and trust the God of the Bible. I truly believe the world will fall into the things predicted in the Bible, it's just hard to sit and watch people choosing to go down that path.
The Book of the Revelation is full of hard lessons for those who follow false gods like allah, but it's also clear that lots of us who follow Jehovah suffer on this side of life too.
Looks like we're heading that way real fast, and the brakes ain't workin' too good.
That is all. Carry on.
I don't do that but rarely these days.
It's not that I don't care, it just seems so futile. There wasn't even one political post I ever wrote and posted that didn't make me feel sick at my stomach when I had finished it and posted it.
I still keep up with the news, but I guess from an earthly standpoint, I think that there aren't many good guys out there making good decisions any more.
The Republicans seem quite content to give our country over to illegal aliens. I see them on the news, and repeatedly hear the phrase "this bill is NOT amnesty," yet I feel, and each and every person I've talked to about it agrees that the bill currently being talked over IS amnesty.
It's simple, if you are making a way for people who've shown their willingness to break our laws, and to not be assimilated into the fabric of this country and culture to become citizens, that's amnesty. Taking a page out of the liberal's playbook to say over and over that something, anything, isn't what we all know it is, will not fool anybody. It's amnesty, pure and simple, regardless of how many times you say it isn't amnesty.
And heck, that's not even the first line of concern, it's border security. If a family with dad, wife, and kids can walk into this country with almost no trouble, then how hard would it be for terrorists to do the same. Answer, it wouldn't be hard at all.
In fact they're here already, as the recent uncovering of various terrorist plots shows. There are terrorists here already, and they're making evil plans too.
Our Senators and Congressmen think we're idiots.
A guy on a local call in program said he wrote a letter to Senator Mel Martinez about this "immigration reform" bill and how he saw through the smoke screen and that he and most Americans felt it was amnesty to law breakers and that he wanted no part of it, and was writing Senator Martinez to not vote in favor of it.
He said he recieved a curt letter in reply that basically the letter writer didn't know what he was talking about and that Senator Martinez believed strongly in the bill, since he of course, did understand what it was all about.
That's pretty typical right now for both Republicans and Democrats in Washington. They think that overall we don't have the brains of an ice cube.
I'm not one to toot my horn very much, but if I could learn Calculus, Differential Equations, Physics, Chemistry, Linear Algebra and earn an Electrical Engineering Degree, then I know that I have the capacity to learn which way is up or down, right or wrong with political topics in this country. I'm no smarter than the person next to me, but I know I can learn, and I can look around me and know what's what.
We elect our representatives, send them to Washington, almost guaranteed for them to end up as multi-millionaires with amazing power, and yet they turn around, and act like we don't have the capacity to understand what's "really going on" and that only they do.
So I don't talk about politics much any more on here. I'm even disgusted with some of Bush's recent shenanigans, like the above mentioned immigration reform (amnesty) bill that does nothing to secure our borders against radical islamist terrorist coming in and blowing up our cities.
Idiots, all.
President Bush recently signed an executive decree that basically will give him (or whomever is President after him) almost dictatorial powers if another 9/11 type disaster is visited upon this country.
I like President Bush, but I don't trust even him with those kinds of powers, yet the Democrats are still trying to create a scandal regarding Attorney General Gonzales, where there is no scandal, and Bush gets a pass on his decree, something that EVERYONE in Washington should be jumping up and down about. But nobody is, and the Democrats are chasing ghosts while allowing things they should scream about pass.
Scary stuff.
We have incredibly close and precise news coverage of each and every day of Paris Hilton's much deserved incarceration, and Lindsay Lohan's and Britney Spear's public meltdowns, but there seems to be no concern about Iranian President I'minajihad's continued pronouncements that Israel's days as a nation are numbered.
Iran is on the fast track to built atomic bombs, and their leaders have promised repeatedly that they'll wipe Israel off the map, but we just sit back and act like nothing will really happen. Just because something is too terrible to contemplate doesn't mean that they won't do that thing. I firmly believe that when Iran promises to bomb Israel off the face of the earth, that when they can, they will do it.
Are the American people so asleep or so stupid as to believe that Iran won't use those new nuclear weapons on Israel?
I guess so. Instead I still see folks rant and rave on their blogs, and even on "news" programs about how they hate how President Bush says the word as nucular instead of nuclear.
Who friggin' cares!
If you want to rant, at least have the heart and brains to rant about something important, and believe me, how the President pronounces the word nuclear IS NOT IMPORTANT!
We in the west, and the whole of western civilization have our head in the sand and don't believe that when the billion or so Muslims say they are going to create a world-wide islamic state under sharia law, they don't really mean it.
They do mean it. And Iran is the world leader in radical islam right now. They're working lickety-split on creating nuclear weapons to give themselves the ability to force the world to its knees and either have it's head chopped off or convert to the false god of islam.
I'm going to continue to work hard, take lots of pictures with my spiffy cameras, and live life the best I can.
But I'm beginning to believe that if we continue on our present path in this country, that within my lifetime, I'll have to pledge allegiance to the false god Allah, or die.
So I'm going to enjoy life and my family and my stuff as much as I can; and I'll pray and trust the God of the Bible. I truly believe the world will fall into the things predicted in the Bible, it's just hard to sit and watch people choosing to go down that path.
The Book of the Revelation is full of hard lessons for those who follow false gods like allah, but it's also clear that lots of us who follow Jehovah suffer on this side of life too.
Looks like we're heading that way real fast, and the brakes ain't workin' too good.
That is all. Carry on.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Dog's Diary; Cat's Diary
A friend sent this to me in an email, and since I had nothing of my own for you today, I thought I would pass this along. I have seen it before on folk's blogs, and loved it. We have several dogs and one cat, and this is darn close to the truth...
Excerpts from a Dog's Diary"
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 PM -Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!
"Excerpts from a Cat's Diary"
Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.
Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am.
There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food.
I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant.
I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell,
So he is safe. For now...
Excerpts from a Dog's Diary"
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 PM -Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!
"Excerpts from a Cat's Diary"
Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.
Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am.
There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food.
I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant.
I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell,
So he is safe. For now...
Monday, June 4, 2007
A Couple Of Things...
Manatees Love the Heavy Rains
This morning while coming to work, I was listening to a local morning, AM station talk show. This morning they had in the studio a Florida State Representative to talk about pending legislation with the Florida legislature.
I won't bore you with the get-rid-of-all-property-tax-and-add-a-three-percent-sales-tax-instead talk that's going on.
What was really interesting is that the radio host guy asked Mr. Florida Representative if his street had flooded with the rain from the tropical storm this past weekend.
Mr. Florida Representative said that it hadn't, but that he lives on Crane Creek in Melbourne and when that much rain (6 inches) falls that fast, that the creek rises several feet really fast, but then goes back down to normal level within several hours of the rain stopping.
So his back yard along Crane Creek had flooded for several hours, and that his and his neighbor's yards had manatees all in them, eating all the flowers and plants that everyone had planted this spring.
He said that he and his wife just sat there in their home looking at the manatees in their back yard pigging out on the tasty plants everyone had so nicely provided for them. Then when the water went back down to normal levels, the manatees were gone, but so were everyones flowers and new plants.
Well, I thought it was pretty interesting anyway.
Plus manatees are "protected" so he would have probably gotten in trouble had he gone out and try to shoo them off.
Sleep Number Bed Report
Well, I'm just about ready to declare victory with the new bed. It isn't a miracle thing that has me up at 5am doing the cha cha, but I've slept in a bed for over a week straight now.
It has been since 2003 that I slept more than three consecutive days in a bed, usually dividing my time between a pallet on the floor and my recliner. So to sleep in this bed for even this amount of time leads me to believe that this has been a great purchase for us.
My back still hurts, but the pain in my left leg has definitely lessened, and only cranks back up if I've done too much walking or whatever. I'll take any pain relief I can get, regardless of how small the difference.
Plus, just from a new bed owner point of view as opposed to rating the bed in terms of whether or not it helps my back, the thing is JUST SO INCREDIBLY COMFORTABLE!
Seriously, this in one comfy bed.
You know how the matress comercials talk about "pressure points?" Well, I don't have pressure points any more when I lay down on this bed, while I used to have them at my hips and shoulders.
I definitely want to stay in bed in the mornings, not from lack of sleep, but to just lay there a few more minutes and enjoy how comfortable it is.
Way better than sleeping on the floor, in every way.
This morning while coming to work, I was listening to a local morning, AM station talk show. This morning they had in the studio a Florida State Representative to talk about pending legislation with the Florida legislature.
I won't bore you with the get-rid-of-all-property-tax-and-add-a-three-percent-sales-tax-instead talk that's going on.
What was really interesting is that the radio host guy asked Mr. Florida Representative if his street had flooded with the rain from the tropical storm this past weekend.
Mr. Florida Representative said that it hadn't, but that he lives on Crane Creek in Melbourne and when that much rain (6 inches) falls that fast, that the creek rises several feet really fast, but then goes back down to normal level within several hours of the rain stopping.
So his back yard along Crane Creek had flooded for several hours, and that his and his neighbor's yards had manatees all in them, eating all the flowers and plants that everyone had planted this spring.
He said that he and his wife just sat there in their home looking at the manatees in their back yard pigging out on the tasty plants everyone had so nicely provided for them. Then when the water went back down to normal levels, the manatees were gone, but so were everyones flowers and new plants.
Well, I thought it was pretty interesting anyway.
Plus manatees are "protected" so he would have probably gotten in trouble had he gone out and try to shoo them off.
Sleep Number Bed Report
Well, I'm just about ready to declare victory with the new bed. It isn't a miracle thing that has me up at 5am doing the cha cha, but I've slept in a bed for over a week straight now.
It has been since 2003 that I slept more than three consecutive days in a bed, usually dividing my time between a pallet on the floor and my recliner. So to sleep in this bed for even this amount of time leads me to believe that this has been a great purchase for us.
My back still hurts, but the pain in my left leg has definitely lessened, and only cranks back up if I've done too much walking or whatever. I'll take any pain relief I can get, regardless of how small the difference.
Plus, just from a new bed owner point of view as opposed to rating the bed in terms of whether or not it helps my back, the thing is JUST SO INCREDIBLY COMFORTABLE!
Seriously, this in one comfy bed.
You know how the matress comercials talk about "pressure points?" Well, I don't have pressure points any more when I lay down on this bed, while I used to have them at my hips and shoulders.
I definitely want to stay in bed in the mornings, not from lack of sleep, but to just lay there a few more minutes and enjoy how comfortable it is.
Way better than sleeping on the floor, in every way.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Picture Post, Sunday June 3, 2007
Sorry folks. I usually try to post this early, but, well, I just didn't this time. Forgive me if any of these are retreads from the past. I've posted so many photos on my two blogs now that I can't quite keep track of each and every one I've shown before, and especially when I'm in a hurry like this. Have a great Sunday!
The underside of the bridge over Sebastian Inlet, the water of the inlet moving to the left as the tide goes out to the Atlantic.
Yet another bridge, carrying US Highway 1 across Crane Creek in Melbourne, Florida.
Not exactly sure what this is folks. Some, um, rocks, with, um, some green stuff growin' on 'em. Yeah, that's EXACTLY what it is.
The path to use when headin' for the beach at Archie Carr, about half a mile south of Sebastian Inlet.
On Turkey Creek in Palm Bay, Florida.
The underside of the bridge over Sebastian Inlet, the water of the inlet moving to the left as the tide goes out to the Atlantic.
Yet another bridge, carrying US Highway 1 across Crane Creek in Melbourne, Florida.
Not exactly sure what this is folks. Some, um, rocks, with, um, some green stuff growin' on 'em. Yeah, that's EXACTLY what it is.
The path to use when headin' for the beach at Archie Carr, about half a mile south of Sebastian Inlet.
On Turkey Creek in Palm Bay, Florida.
Friday, June 1, 2007
It's A Small World #2
I graduated from high school in May of 1980, just over a whopping 27 years ago.
I worked at a couple of jobs, and to make things shorter, by 1986 Lovely Wife and I and Number One Daughter moved to the Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas area.
We lived there from 1986-1989 and I was working for Delta Air Lines.
I can't tell you how much I loved that job and that company, but in the beginning it was pretty hard. The work was very physically demanding and the heat in Texas in the summer can be quite incredible. Add to the heat having to work outside on concrete and it was a wonder that we didn't all end up with heat exhaustion.
At the time, Delta hired all employees as temporary part-time employees. After a couple of years, they would generally offer you a position that was "permanent full-time" with all benefits and a small raise, etc. Becoming "permanent" was the holy grail of all temporary part-time employees.
In February of 1988, several of us tpt's with the most seniority were told that we would be moved into Cabin Service in March of 1988 and made permanent employees.
On one of my last days as a tpt, temporary part-time, I had worked a day shift on the ramp. We would work our shift on one gate and unload and then reload cargo and luggage on the plane and send it out on it's next leg. In an 8 hour shift, we would typically work five flights on our gate.
Anyway, on this one day, as I was leaving to go home after work, I decided to cut through the flight attendants staging area and break room to get to the air trans that would take me out to the employee parking lot we had to park in.
Just a few days before, in addition to finding out that I was to finally become a permanent employee (with health insurance!), Lovely Wife had found out she was pregnant with Number Two Daughter. So I was pretty happy, things were looking up.
I opened the door to the flight attendants big break room where they waited for their next flight and as I cut through the room, a young lady stood up and stepped toward me.
Could have knocked me over with a feather. It was a girl that I had graduated from Neville High School in Monroe, Louisiana with.
She had seen me walking toward their break room through the windows and had recognized me.
We stood and talked for ten minutes or so, catching up. I hadn't seen her since the night we graduated from high school almost eight years earlier.
See, Linda was one of the beautiful people in high school. Very sweet, but way up the social scale from me. Dance team, gorgeous, the total package. (That's a pic of her from our high school days.)
After we caught up with one another's lives, I went on my way.
In thinking on things, I was totally amazed that two people from another state crossed one another's paths years later and in such a strange location.
Linda had been a flight attendant for Delta for a number of years, and was still single.
If I remember correctly, she wasn't even based in Dallas, which made our encounter even more unlikely.
I know that stranger things have happened, and that stranger meetings happen all the time, just not to me.
A few years later, when talking to another friend who had attended my graduating class's tenth reunion, he told me that Linda had attended and that she was living in California and was married.
So I hope that Linda has had a good life. I remember being amazed at all the time had passed since graduation, but my chance encounter with her in the bowels of DFW Airport was NINETEEN YEARS ago now.
Incredible.
Well, that's my story. It was just one of those rare "It's a small world" things that actually happened to me. Like I said, I was reeling from the thought of eight years having gone by since I had last seen her, and now nineteen years has gone by since then.
Have you ever chanced upon someone you once knew, years later, and in an unlikely location?
I worked at a couple of jobs, and to make things shorter, by 1986 Lovely Wife and I and Number One Daughter moved to the Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas area.
We lived there from 1986-1989 and I was working for Delta Air Lines.
I can't tell you how much I loved that job and that company, but in the beginning it was pretty hard. The work was very physically demanding and the heat in Texas in the summer can be quite incredible. Add to the heat having to work outside on concrete and it was a wonder that we didn't all end up with heat exhaustion.
At the time, Delta hired all employees as temporary part-time employees. After a couple of years, they would generally offer you a position that was "permanent full-time" with all benefits and a small raise, etc. Becoming "permanent" was the holy grail of all temporary part-time employees.
In February of 1988, several of us tpt's with the most seniority were told that we would be moved into Cabin Service in March of 1988 and made permanent employees.
On one of my last days as a tpt, temporary part-time, I had worked a day shift on the ramp. We would work our shift on one gate and unload and then reload cargo and luggage on the plane and send it out on it's next leg. In an 8 hour shift, we would typically work five flights on our gate.
Anyway, on this one day, as I was leaving to go home after work, I decided to cut through the flight attendants staging area and break room to get to the air trans that would take me out to the employee parking lot we had to park in.
Just a few days before, in addition to finding out that I was to finally become a permanent employee (with health insurance!), Lovely Wife had found out she was pregnant with Number Two Daughter. So I was pretty happy, things were looking up.
I opened the door to the flight attendants big break room where they waited for their next flight and as I cut through the room, a young lady stood up and stepped toward me.
Could have knocked me over with a feather. It was a girl that I had graduated from Neville High School in Monroe, Louisiana with.
She had seen me walking toward their break room through the windows and had recognized me.
We stood and talked for ten minutes or so, catching up. I hadn't seen her since the night we graduated from high school almost eight years earlier.
See, Linda was one of the beautiful people in high school. Very sweet, but way up the social scale from me. Dance team, gorgeous, the total package. (That's a pic of her from our high school days.)After we caught up with one another's lives, I went on my way.
In thinking on things, I was totally amazed that two people from another state crossed one another's paths years later and in such a strange location.
Linda had been a flight attendant for Delta for a number of years, and was still single.
If I remember correctly, she wasn't even based in Dallas, which made our encounter even more unlikely.
I know that stranger things have happened, and that stranger meetings happen all the time, just not to me.
A few years later, when talking to another friend who had attended my graduating class's tenth reunion, he told me that Linda had attended and that she was living in California and was married.
So I hope that Linda has had a good life. I remember being amazed at all the time had passed since graduation, but my chance encounter with her in the bowels of DFW Airport was NINETEEN YEARS ago now.
Incredible.
Well, that's my story. It was just one of those rare "It's a small world" things that actually happened to me. Like I said, I was reeling from the thought of eight years having gone by since I had last seen her, and now nineteen years has gone by since then.
Have you ever chanced upon someone you once knew, years later, and in an unlikely location?
Why I Blog
Twice in the past couple of weeks, and several times over the life of this blog, folks have left comments wondering about my claim to want to be invisible, yet having this blog out there, and putting personal things on it.
Over time, I've pretty much bared my soul on this blog. I've talked about the dichotomy of wanting to be an invisible wall flower, yet putting some very personal things on a blog for all the world to see. But like I said recently, I think that even the most introverted poeple in the world, at some level, want to have something out there that says, "I lived!" or "I was here, and my name ain't Killroy!"
But most of the time, I just want to put down some stories of my life. When the family is all together and say, watching TV, that's not the time to relate to them a story from my past. The right time for certain stories never seems to come around, yet the original reason for this blog, for me, was to put some things down in writing so that if I got hit by a bus or something, at least some of my thoughts and some of the things I have experienced in my life would be there for my family to read.
I'm shy about opening up, even to, and sometimes especially to, the ones I love the most.
A moment may appear, a metaphorical parting of the clouds, and instead of taking advantage, I keep my trap shut, and the moment passes. I've missed my opportunity to share something of my life. That not only hurts me, but it leaves my family with less of me than they could have.
If I could state one and only one reason for having this blog, I'd say it was because of something Don C. (my father) once said to me.
See, he was a quiet man too. And he died in October of 1994.
Many, many times over the years since his death, I've not only had lots of things I wish I could tell him; a joke, something one of the girls did, etc., but I also have had so many questions come up that I'd like to ask him about his life.
Once, years ago, this would have been in the early 1990s when the Summer Olympics were held in Barcelona, Spain, Lovely Wife, Numbers One and Two Daughters and I had come to Louisiana from Georgia to visit with both of our families.
When we were at my parents house, I was telling Don C. about some of the funny things that a room full of men at work yells at the TV during the Olympics. It was like being around teenage boys again, everyone feeding of each other, trying to "out funny" each other.
For example, one guy turned the air in the break room blue with his cussing when he was told that the man on TV right now was the King of Spain. He didn't believe it. "Where's his ^*&%^*$&&^ crown?! I want to see his %^##(_)*) crown!"
Anyway, so Don C. and I were talking about the Olympics, and they were showing various parts of the city of Barcelona on TV.
That sparked something in Don C. and he started talking about Barcelona. Turns out that when he was in the US Navy in the mid 1950s, the destroyer that he was on was one of the first US ships allowed into a Spanish port in X number of years.
He began to talk about what it was like for a country boy from Louisiana to be in the Mediterranean and what Barcelona was like from his point of view.
There was a story that he used to tell us from time to time about something funny that happened between he and some ship mates and some British seamen aboard an adjacently moored ship.
Turns out that story happened in port in Barcelona.
Anyway, I don't remember a whole lot of detail about what he said about his experiences in Barcelona, I was just revelling in the fact that Don C. had opened up and talked to me about some things in his past. A rare occurrence, believe me.
I know that I don't open up and unload all of my memories on my family, the time is rarely right, but by putting myself and my stories out here on this blog, which I eventually told my family about having started, they can come here and read what I've said about things that are important, funny, sad, and personal to me.
Yeah, it's 180 degrees out of phase with my desire to be anonymous, but I don't want my wife and daughters to not have many of my childhood memories and thoughts on important subjects just because I couldn't open up to them.
And that, my friends, is why I do this.
It ain't easy. And I don't care if my spelling is perfect, or if I want to use no-no words like ain't or to spell something phonetically instead of correctly. In the end, grammar and spelling matter so little when compared to truly important things in life, that it's hard for me to believe anyone cares about them. At least where blogging is concerned; it's easy to miss a mistake with things like affect vs effect and things like that, so I just do my best, and don't worry about the mistakes I miss.
I'm hoping that, one day when I'm gone, that my family will appreciate the fact that I just wrote this stuff out at all, and will forgive me the occasional misspelled word or grammar mistake. Heck, language changes all the time anyway, so why get riled up about something with so little meaning?
Plus, what one person in this world doesn't have things going on within them that are at odds with one another?
The answer is, there isn't a person like that.
WE ALL HAVE THINGS OPERATING IN OUR LIVES THAT ARE OPPOSED TO ONE ANOTHER. ALL OF US.
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