This is the end

This is it.  This is my last blog.  I said from the start that I just don't get this whole concept.  And after 10 weeks and 10 blogs well I still don't get it.  After this the silly narcissistic blog goes away. 

Don't get me wrong.  As you all know I have no problem speaking up and letting my voice be heard.  But as we have learned in this very class nothing on the internet is private.  And the concept of a journal being open to the public still baffles me. 

I have some friends, very close friends, that blog.  And some of them about some extremely personal topics.  But they're writers and that's just what they do.  For them blogging is honing their tools.  I'm not a writer.  I have never claimed to be.  Hell, I will venture as far as saying that I hate writing more than I hate reading.  It is so very inefficient.  I can tell a person in 2 minutes what it would take me 10 to write and then take them another 3 or 4 minutes to read.  In my word that is a net loss of 11 minutes. 

Henry Rollins once said "No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as down time. All you got is life time. Go" And I personally have way too much on my plate to spend time purging my soul on a silly blog.  For those of you that do I wish you well and bid you adieu.



One week in

So I have been at my new employer for a week.  And its... well, it kinda sucks.  My hands hurt like hell.  My feet hurt like hell.  My ankles hurt like hell.  I'm tired.

The area of the warehouse faces east.  So I get the sun on my side first.  That mean my side of the warehouse heats up first.  I also always have at least 4 truck bays open.  That means the A/C is pretty ineffective.  And to top it all off the only way I can have water in that area is if it is in a CVS provided water bottle that I have been asking for for a week now and have yet to receive.  So its hot, crazy dusty and its back breaking work.

But its a job and I'm getting an amazing 8 hour a day workout.  the average wooden pallet weighs about 40 pounds.  I pick up and stack about 120 per hour.  For 8 hours.  Yup, its a whole lot of fun.  But in the past week I have lost a little over 5 pounds and almost 7% body fat.  BTW 7% body fat for me works out to about 18 pounds so that means that somehow I gained a bunch of muscle.  :-)

All in all it is not worth the pay.  But I am trying to stay positive and look at the bright side.  Lets all hope that something else comes along soon.

Firsts

After almost 15 months of being unemployed I finally went back to work.  Its just a general labor job but its income while I continue looking for something else.  Savings was running out and this just rather presented itself before me So I would be silly not to have taken it. 

So, the job is rather mindless.  It's at the CVS distribution center.  And here's the run down.  Whenever an empty truck returns from the stores after delivering product it has empty pallets in it.  Well they take all these pallets and put them in an empty trailer.  When the trailer is full they drive it around the warehouse to where I am.  Then they unload them into one spot.  I simply grab a pallet from a stack and look at it.  I crate stacks of broken and good pallets.  Then they take those sorted pallets and put them in separate trailers.  The good ones are then distributed around the warehouse to be reused and the broken ones are sent off to be recycled. 

The job doesn't pay great but its not so bad.  Like I said it will be income until something else comes along.  And its enough that I can stop hemorrhaging through my savings.  But, what's even better is that in the time I have been sitting on my ass it got fatter.  My ass that is.  None of my office attire fits any longer.  So, this job has a dual purpose.  Not only will I make a few bucks but if I work this right it will be awesome exercise and I can get back into my other clothes. 

Anyhow, the long and short is after working for 20 years without a vacation I took 15 months off.  I think I earned it.  But, man, does it feel good to be back getting paid again. 

ASPD

Everyone knows how the city of Altamonte has a police department that loves nothing more than writing tickets.  When I worked off of Northlake Blvd. I used to see them hiding behind a dumpster next to Tiger Direct waiting for people to make illegal U-turns.  Well now I see them in a line of traffic stop 4 or 5 cars back from the car in front of them so they can run all the tags on the cars in the lanes next to them as the pull up. 

This type of fishing expeditions seems like a violation of privacy.  Granted there are some people that may have suspended licenses that will show up when the plate is run.  But, how does the officer know that that person is driving?  What if I were in my friend's car and their license is suspended?  I will get stopped and detained for no reason. 

Further, I have a history of DUIs.  Several times I have been driving in the evening and had a cop pull behind me.  Shortly there after it never fails that I get pulled over.  Now, I'm not speeding, not weaving within my lane, not tailgating, or anything else illegal for that matter.  But, I get stopped anyway.  And every single time I am asked where I am coming from and if I have been drinking.  My answer to the first question is always that it is not their concern as to where I have been or my destination.  As for the second I always ask if they have reason to assume from my driving patern that they have witnessed that I am intoxicated.  Usually this is the time that I am set on my way.  Which actually proves that they never have any reason to stop me in the first place. 

For the record, I have called and written to complain to all the involved departments.  If course the perform an "investigation" that as would be expected shows no wrong doing on the part of the officer.  Hell, for that matter, when was the last time you heard the FDLE say that any of their investigations into an incident with an officer showed that the officer was in the wrong? 

Bored

So, after spending the last 14 months sitting at home unemployed I have finally decided to find a job.  I've watched all the Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead that I think any reasonable person should.  I think I have also watched just about everything that Netflix has to offer. 

Now don't get me wrong I haven't just been kicking back living off the government teat.  As a matter of fact I haven't gotten any government assistance.  I have been living off of my severance pay and savings.  During my time off I spent the first while vegging out.  I haven't taken a vacation since 1993 so I think I deserved it.  Around early September my mom went in the hospital.  She was in and out of the hospital and nursing homes from September through early February.  Between school, taking care of her house and dogs, and going to see her daily I had very little free time.  Then, once she was home she required round the clock care.  I'm relieved to say that she is finally well enough to be on her own more and I can finally re-enter the work force. 

The problem there lies in the fact that I am either over qualified or under qualified for pretty much everything.  I have been in management since I was 16 years old.  In addition I have owned and operated 3 successful businesses. So, I often go to interviews and hear "wow, you have great experience, tell me about your education."  Somehow because I don't have a piece of paper all my achievements mean nothing.  

For most of my life I have not seen the value of a college degree.  Sure, its worth about an extra $30,000 a year. But what is its real value?  What does it really show? And now that I have spent the last 8 months back in college I can honestly say that I was right all along.  I'm not saying I haven't learned anything since I've been here.  But, I can tell you that I certainly haven't gotten my moneys worth. 

39

Thirty nine.  What's in a number.  In my opinion nothing.  In this specific case, there's 14244 days in the number. 

I've never been one to really celebrate many things.  Holidays are just days to me, always have been.  I like Halloween but that's pretty much it.  I never really understood how once a year people celebrate the fact that they didn't die.  And if you think about it that's really what birthdays are.  You haven't really accomplished anything.  You simply stayed alive.  Wow, good for you.  You did what everyone else does every day.  Let's celebrate your huge victory with a cake and presents. 

When I was 18 I was working at Disney.  There, at least back then, if you worked on your birthday you were paid time and a half for your shift.  Well, one day my lead comes up to me to tell me that I was getting paid overtime.  I knew I hadn't hit my 40 yet so I asked why.  She was shocked to learn that I myself didn't know it was my birthday.  It simply didn't matter.  To me it was just Saturday. 

For those that have Facebook  I'm sure you have become either used to or annoyed by the annual "Happy Birthday" posts from 100 people that you rarely hear from.  I am usually annoyed.  But, have you ever wondered how many of those people really give a crap?  How about how many would even know it's your birthday if Facebook didn't notify them?

I canceled my Facebook a few weeks ago.  And it was the most quiet, peaceful and yet informative birthday I have had in years.

What will people 50,000 years from now think about you?

So earlier today I was watching the History Channel and heard them mention something about the KEO project.  I had heard of the project before but honestly didn't know all that much about it.  So anyone that knows me knows that I had to rush off to my PC to educate myself.  Here is the link to the wiki site so you may do the same http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEO.  I normally don't like Wikipedia but this seems to have some good info. 

What is the KEO project you may be asking.  Well, the long and short of it is that it is a time capsule that will be sent into space in a large orbit.  The satellite was initially supposed to launch in 2003.  It has been pushed back several times and is now set to launch in 2015. It is planned to return to Earth in 50,000 years.  It will have DVDs with historical data as well as pop culture. 

But, here's the cool part.  We can all write a letter to be placed on the satellite.  If you go to: http://www.keo.org/uk/pages/message.php you can type up what you would like whoever finds the time capsule 50,000 years from now.  Now, I normally am not into such a thing.  But, to have the ability to tell who you are to a civilization 5 millennia from now sounds like it may be worth putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys) for.