Coincidence?

Coincidence?
A car is on the side of the freeway, changing a tire.

Oakland Raiders bumper sticker.



A car drives by with its fender missing.

Oakland Raiders window decal.



I see this every day. And it wasn't just here in OC or the LA area I saw it. It was the same way up in the Bay Area, or when I was in KC.


Coincidence?

I think not.


Must be the same everywhere?

Death By Any Other Name...

Which is more depressing?

Estate Planning (IE writing a will, funeral plans, nursing homes, etc)

OR.....


Wedding Planning?



Oh, wait.... they're the same thing.

I Don't Do Hospitals

Saturday sucked.

I woke up with a really bad pain in my chest and tingling in my left arm. First reaction... wake the BossLady up and GET MY SORRY ASS TO A HOSPITAL!

I have three phobias. Needles. Elevators. Doctors. (Doctors are only because they tend to wield needles....) It's been my experience that going to a hospital is a real good way to have to confront all three of them at once. Time to change your shorts, junior.

BossLady drove me to an ER nearby while my mother was kind enough to call my boss without coming unglued.

I don't know how long I was in the ER. I know they did an EKG on me, and naturally, here come the needles. IVs and blood work. (And there I am, passing out...) Doctors putting cold stuff on me... and then off to Xray (bet that means a ride on an elevator... shudder).

Well, the Xrays came out clean, and radiology was on the same floor.

Doc finally came back and told me I was one of the first victims of the Flu in So Cal this year. Joy and bliss. I coulda done without. The kicker is I have some inflammation of the cartilage in my ribs, so breathing is an absolute bitch right now.

Doc said take the next three days off and go from there. He also gave me some vicodin to kill the pain. (It didn't... it only took the edge off it.)


I don't do the flu.

And I hate hospitals.

A Little Love

People hear me rant about the crazy or stupid stuff that goes on daily in retail quite a bit. Sometimes, good stuff happens out of the blue as well.


Yesterday I returned to work after being out for two weeks (vacation and other issues). Any time I miss after a length of time (vacations included), I get really nervous about going back in. Yesterday was no exception. I walked into my store, and MysteryGirl was there. She almost broke into tears and came up to me and demanded a hug. I don't know if she knew how tough walking in was for me, but that one single action told me it would be okay. She made my day.

MysteryGirl wasn't the only one to tell me they missed me. We drop our deposits in person at a nearby bank. Since I am there almost there daily, they have gotten to know me a bit. The two merchant tellers are total smart asses, and friends to boot. Both looked at me and teased me about running away. They also told me I found another job while I was away. (I hadn't. I had interviewed and the jury is still out on one, I shot the other down. But that's not why. Their company has picked off several of my best people in the past.) Both told me they missed me, which is very unusual for them to tell a customer. So unusual that one of the other tellers asked me who I was and what I did to those two...

I also had a few of our regulars stop in and tell me they missed me. I have NEVER had that happen in any of the other retail positions I have held over the last twenty years.

For all the crazy, stupid and funny stuff they do, sometimes people can do the most amazing things by saying something simple.

Thanks to everyone who made my Thursday.





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To follow up on a prior post, I did go back for a second interview with a company in Los Angeles. I turned the position down after an all day second interview. Basically, I had problems with the ethics of the company (which I won't name) and I felt the position was a step in the wrong direction for me in my career. I had done similar work with a very similar company up in San Francisco.

No Thanks.



I did, while driving home from LAX, have an interview over the phone with another retailer (not in direct competition to my current job). That went rather well (which probably means I won't get it) and I should hear back next week.


Should be a fun week.

Hot Times

It's the middle of October. Why is it almost 100 degrees outside?

I had an interview down by LAX today (which I later learned I made to the second round Monday!!!) and as I was driving home, the outside temp according to my car hit 98 degrees.

Okay, so this is California where it's illegal to get cold (seriously, we call in sick for our snow days if the temp gets below 50... sometimes 60), but this is insane.

Screw this. I'm off to the beach and sightseeing.

Monterey

So for BossLady's 21st birthday, I took this week off (mostly... have to cover a couple of short shifts, but that's life).

We started last Friday with her getting out of class and into the car. I hadn't told her where she was going, so she packed for anything. The plans called for that, so it was good. All she know was that we were going to be driving for anywhere from 2 hours to 8. No idea of direction or where. The only hint she had was that it was near water.

We took off in OC traffic, but early enough that we missed the worst of it. I was inadvertently making it worse by being in off ramp lanes that could take us multiple directions (she thought I was doing this to torment her... wish I had thought of that). We ended up cruising up the 210 to the Grapevine and over.

She passed out in the car. So much for suspense.

I took her out to Paso Robles, which took us by the crash site where James Dean was killed. We stopped for a moment at the memorial and then back into the car. At this point, she wasn't sure if we were just taking a strange way up to the Bay Area or just going to Monterey.

We got into Monterey about 7, got dinner and relaxed. We noticed immediately that it was COLD! I mean, it was freezing! It had to be in the upper 40's or something. BRRRRS!

We got some sleep, got up the next day to crystal blue skies and took off for Cannery Row. Our day started by going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone even considering going to the area). We did the entire experience, from watching the penguins get fed to the Deep Ocean exhibit feeding (man, those tuna are FAST!) to just going out on the deck and enjoying the views of the bay. We also did the behind the scenes tour, which actually got us to feed one of the exhibits (the Kelp Forest tank... we fed the speedier fish in the tank). All in all, a great experience at the Aquarium.

After the Aquarium, we went shopping along Cannery Row. We played a bit of mini golf in black light (yeah, the BossLady won), and just walked around. It was a beautiful day. We got the Aqua Massages towards the end of the day, and then dinner at the waters edge. Then back to the hotel.

One thing bombed on the trip, and that was our plans to see a mutual friend from Gilroy (and get some of the world's best garlic). Schedules for both parties just didn't work, so we will do it next time.

Anyhow... BossLady was very happy with the trip for her birthday. Now all I have is 2 months to plan Xmas and 4 to plan Valentines day for her before attacking her next birthday. There just isn't enough time...

Solitaire

Playing solitaire drunk is an exercise in futility.


And pretty freakn lame!