Last night one of our temporary contract employees put down some tools and left the area for a few minutes. When he returned, the tools were gone.
He was unhappy, which is understandable.
But things progressed from looking around and asking questions, to raised voices, to aggressive body language, to threats and pure unbridled belligerence. A few swings were taken. Luckily, none landed.
The on-site contract supervisor asked for some backup from our off-duty sheriff’s deputy who was moonlighting for us. The law officer came to the scene, and all belligerence stopped immediately. There’s just something about that badge and gun that often takes the fight right out of a man.
The unhappy employee was escorted off the plant site, relieved of his entrance pass, and sent home to cool off.
It turned out that they weren’t his personal tools anyway, but some he was using that belonged to the plant. All he’d needed to do was go over to the warehouse and check out some more. We would then have either found the tools, or been watching for them trying to walk out the gate at shift change; but he would have been cleared and still on the job.
Sure, getting a replacement set would have required him to go (in a golf cart, by the way) some distance away and request it, but that would have been easier than working. But long hours and many days with no time off bring about short fuses.
We decided that our temporary security force (the deputy) was certainly worth what we’re paying to have them there.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
H R was giving out pink slips
(Another Turnaround Tale.)
And I was loving it!
I made a big show of walking down the hall, handing employees an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of pink paper, and telling them, "Here's your pink slip from H R!"
One or two of them actually started to get a look of shock on their faces, but that look was quickly replaced by a grin.
What was going on? We have so many vehicles more than normal in the plant parking areas that we had to assign different parking zones to people depending upon where they reported to work. The folks who work in the Adminisration building were assigned to the north parking area. Each area was color-coded. Guess what color went with the north parking area.
The idea was that in the morning we have attendants at the entrance to each parking area. If you don't have a piece of pink-colored paper (your parking slip) with "North Parking Area" printed on it, you won't be allowed into that lot.
My point is that a huge amount of planning goes into one of these turnarounds to ensure not only that we have enough workers and materials, but that there are extra rest rooms (porta-potties, mostly), wash rooms, eating areas, clothes-changing areas, and other necessary infrastructure and facilities to handle 5-10 times the normal crowds.
Just like a big public event, parking has to be controlled as well.
Oh, and this weekend we had a first! On Sunday, we randomly tested 34 people for drugs and alcohol, and nobody tested positive! (First test in two weeks that didn't result in at least one worker leaving the plant.)
As you can tell, we really DON'T look forward to these turnarounds.
But we don't usually get to hand out pink slips, either.
And I was loving it!
I made a big show of walking down the hall, handing employees an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of pink paper, and telling them, "Here's your pink slip from H R!"
One or two of them actually started to get a look of shock on their faces, but that look was quickly replaced by a grin.
What was going on? We have so many vehicles more than normal in the plant parking areas that we had to assign different parking zones to people depending upon where they reported to work. The folks who work in the Adminisration building were assigned to the north parking area. Each area was color-coded. Guess what color went with the north parking area.
The idea was that in the morning we have attendants at the entrance to each parking area. If you don't have a piece of pink-colored paper (your parking slip) with "North Parking Area" printed on it, you won't be allowed into that lot.
My point is that a huge amount of planning goes into one of these turnarounds to ensure not only that we have enough workers and materials, but that there are extra rest rooms (porta-potties, mostly), wash rooms, eating areas, clothes-changing areas, and other necessary infrastructure and facilities to handle 5-10 times the normal crowds.
Just like a big public event, parking has to be controlled as well.
Oh, and this weekend we had a first! On Sunday, we randomly tested 34 people for drugs and alcohol, and nobody tested positive! (First test in two weeks that didn't result in at least one worker leaving the plant.)
As you can tell, we really DON'T look forward to these turnarounds.
But we don't usually get to hand out pink slips, either.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Another Turnaround Tale
Several days ago at my plant, an employee (out of several hundred) of contract firm “A” approached an employee of contract firm “B” with a proposition. Something like . . .
“Hey, man, I got a great idea. There are hundreds of us A company employees here, and nobody can keep track of all of us at one time. There are also hundreds of you B company guys here.
“Why don’t you help me get hired onto B company’s payroll to work with you?
“I’ll keep my job with A company. Every day I’ll show up, report in to both bosses, and keep busy. If your boss asks you if you’ve seen me, you can vouch for me that I’m really doing a great job. I’ll punch both time clocks, and nobody’ll know that I’m pulling down two pay checks.
“I’ll split my second check with you! It’ll work!”
And you know, it just might have worked!
Fortunately for us the B company employee declined, and came to tell our plant safety supervisor, Jay, the story. Jay called the on-site superintendents of both A and B companies, passed on the allegation, and left things in their hands.
They investigated. They determined that the story was the truth.
They debated the merits of letting the dishonest employee actually carry out his scheme for one pay period and then file theft and conspiracy charges. (Please note that I spelled “conspiracy” with a lower case “c”. I DO NOT want to stir up the OTHER one, with the upper case “c”!!) But The B company superintendent didn’t want to let his company be scammed, even as a “sting” operation, so the A company boss fired the conspiring fellow and sent him off to attempt his dirty deeds elsewhere.
It’s a shame he didn’t apply his craftiness to better ways of getting his work done. He might have been able to earn his way into a much bigger paycheck he didn’t have to split with anyone.
Well, anyone except Uncle Sam. (I had to throw that in, since today is Tax Day Eve.)
“Hey, man, I got a great idea. There are hundreds of us A company employees here, and nobody can keep track of all of us at one time. There are also hundreds of you B company guys here.
“Why don’t you help me get hired onto B company’s payroll to work with you?
“I’ll keep my job with A company. Every day I’ll show up, report in to both bosses, and keep busy. If your boss asks you if you’ve seen me, you can vouch for me that I’m really doing a great job. I’ll punch both time clocks, and nobody’ll know that I’m pulling down two pay checks.
“I’ll split my second check with you! It’ll work!”
And you know, it just might have worked!
Fortunately for us the B company employee declined, and came to tell our plant safety supervisor, Jay, the story. Jay called the on-site superintendents of both A and B companies, passed on the allegation, and left things in their hands.
They investigated. They determined that the story was the truth.
They debated the merits of letting the dishonest employee actually carry out his scheme for one pay period and then file theft and conspiracy charges. (Please note that I spelled “conspiracy” with a lower case “c”. I DO NOT want to stir up the OTHER one, with the upper case “c”!!) But The B company superintendent didn’t want to let his company be scammed, even as a “sting” operation, so the A company boss fired the conspiring fellow and sent him off to attempt his dirty deeds elsewhere.
It’s a shame he didn’t apply his craftiness to better ways of getting his work done. He might have been able to earn his way into a much bigger paycheck he didn’t have to split with anyone.
Well, anyone except Uncle Sam. (I had to throw that in, since today is Tax Day Eve.)
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Turnaround Tales
Process plants, such as refineries and chemical manufacturing facilities, take what they call “turnarounds.” They will shut down a production unit, “turn it around,” (perform major maintenance and cleaning which can only be done when the pumps, motors, and other equipment is cool and de-energized), and then start it back up again to resume production.
Since the plant is losing huge potential income and profits while it’s out of production, management spends great sums of money to ensure that the turnaround takes as short a time as possible. This includes working half the plant personnel on days and the other half on nights, 12 hours on and 12 hours off, seven days a week with no days off until the turnaround is complete. It also includes hiring outside contract firms to provide hundreds of additional skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled laborers to get the work done quickly.
Yes, my plant is in the middle of one such turnaround.
We’re a small plant. Our normal staffing level is 140 employees plus about 50 permanent contract folks. Right now we have over 500 people in the plant all day and all night, Mary Ann. (That’s a song reference, in case you didn’t get it. Harry Belafonte. Some sources have it as “Marianne.”)
Having that many temporary workers in a small plant for a month or so requires some adjustments. For instance, we had to create a new parking lot for the nearly 400 extra vehicles coming and going twice each 24-hour period. We also had to arrange for some extra plant security, especially around shift-change time, to prevent a lot of tools and other expensive equipment from walking out the plant gate hidden among the crowds of people.
Last Thursday our plant employee gate attendant (NOT a security guard) noticed a man walking by dragging a length of heavy-looking insulated wire. She stopped him and asked what he had. He dropped it and ran to his car.
The wire turned out to be a heavy-duty copper welding lead, probably worth all of $25 at a metal scrap dealer but costing several hundred dollars to buy. The county sheriff was called, the man apprehended, and charges were pressed. The point wasn’t so much to punish the man as to make a point to all the others who might be tempted.
In fact, the man was mostly unhappy about the fact that he was caught when, he said, nobody else was; the inference being that many were getting away with similar theft.
Yes, he confessed. We made a public show of having three sheriff’s cars (with lights flashing) park for over 30 minutes at the plant entrance before taking the man off in handcuffs.
It was mostly for show. We also had several deputies stroll through the big new parking lot looking into cars. They weren’t really expecting to find anything, but they were very visible.
Will all of that help? Maybe. But probably not as much as the fact that we’ve now hired several off-duty deputies to stand at the gate in uniform (wearing their weapon) as people come and go at shift change. We’ll see.
Since the plant is losing huge potential income and profits while it’s out of production, management spends great sums of money to ensure that the turnaround takes as short a time as possible. This includes working half the plant personnel on days and the other half on nights, 12 hours on and 12 hours off, seven days a week with no days off until the turnaround is complete. It also includes hiring outside contract firms to provide hundreds of additional skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled laborers to get the work done quickly.
Yes, my plant is in the middle of one such turnaround.
We’re a small plant. Our normal staffing level is 140 employees plus about 50 permanent contract folks. Right now we have over 500 people in the plant all day and all night, Mary Ann. (That’s a song reference, in case you didn’t get it. Harry Belafonte. Some sources have it as “Marianne.”)
Having that many temporary workers in a small plant for a month or so requires some adjustments. For instance, we had to create a new parking lot for the nearly 400 extra vehicles coming and going twice each 24-hour period. We also had to arrange for some extra plant security, especially around shift-change time, to prevent a lot of tools and other expensive equipment from walking out the plant gate hidden among the crowds of people.
Last Thursday our plant employee gate attendant (NOT a security guard) noticed a man walking by dragging a length of heavy-looking insulated wire. She stopped him and asked what he had. He dropped it and ran to his car.
The wire turned out to be a heavy-duty copper welding lead, probably worth all of $25 at a metal scrap dealer but costing several hundred dollars to buy. The county sheriff was called, the man apprehended, and charges were pressed. The point wasn’t so much to punish the man as to make a point to all the others who might be tempted.
In fact, the man was mostly unhappy about the fact that he was caught when, he said, nobody else was; the inference being that many were getting away with similar theft.
Yes, he confessed. We made a public show of having three sheriff’s cars (with lights flashing) park for over 30 minutes at the plant entrance before taking the man off in handcuffs.
It was mostly for show. We also had several deputies stroll through the big new parking lot looking into cars. They weren’t really expecting to find anything, but they were very visible.
Will all of that help? Maybe. But probably not as much as the fact that we’ve now hired several off-duty deputies to stand at the gate in uniform (wearing their weapon) as people come and go at shift change. We’ll see.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Today I signed the biggest check...
. . . of my entire life.
The amount was over 1.3 million dollars!
Too bad it was a check from my company to a vendor who is providing manpower and materials for a major process unit refurbishing.
No, I don't get a cut. And no, I don't have the sole power to approve amounts like that. By policy all checks for over $5,000 require two signatures.
But for a few minutes, mine was the only signature on that puppy. I considered making a copy and framing it, but decided it really wouldn't impress anybody so what was the point?
Anyway, right now we are going through a 30-day maintenance shutdown on most of the plant's equipment. This happens about once every three years, and it's VERY expensive. One of the biggest costs is the lost production while we're down, so we spend whatever it takes to minimize the downtime.
Including bringing in several hundred extra people to disassemble things; rebuild, repair or replace them; and then reassemble them. Also including replacing a lot of items that may have useful life left in them, but which might not last all of the next 3 years. We don't want an equipment failure to force us to shut down early, or on an emergency basis.
Why do I sign checks when I'm the Human Resources manager? Well, it's one of those practices that are in place to make stealing or embezzlement more difficult. The more people involved in the process of paying your bills, the bigger a conspiracy would have to be to actually steal.
So one person approves the invoice, another prepares the check, another (one or two) actually sign(s) the check, and yet another mails the check to the payee. The finance manager oversees this process. I got to be one of the "lucky" ones whose signature is registered at our bank.
Thus today I signed away well over a million dollars with a flourish of the pen, shrugged as if it wasn't my money and so didn't matter, and went onto the next check.
**sigh**
I thought about putting my name on the "Pay to the order of" line, but decided I like my job too much.
(Maybe if it had been 3 million . . .)
The amount was over 1.3 million dollars!
Too bad it was a check from my company to a vendor who is providing manpower and materials for a major process unit refurbishing.
No, I don't get a cut. And no, I don't have the sole power to approve amounts like that. By policy all checks for over $5,000 require two signatures.
But for a few minutes, mine was the only signature on that puppy. I considered making a copy and framing it, but decided it really wouldn't impress anybody so what was the point?
Anyway, right now we are going through a 30-day maintenance shutdown on most of the plant's equipment. This happens about once every three years, and it's VERY expensive. One of the biggest costs is the lost production while we're down, so we spend whatever it takes to minimize the downtime.
Including bringing in several hundred extra people to disassemble things; rebuild, repair or replace them; and then reassemble them. Also including replacing a lot of items that may have useful life left in them, but which might not last all of the next 3 years. We don't want an equipment failure to force us to shut down early, or on an emergency basis.
Why do I sign checks when I'm the Human Resources manager? Well, it's one of those practices that are in place to make stealing or embezzlement more difficult. The more people involved in the process of paying your bills, the bigger a conspiracy would have to be to actually steal.
So one person approves the invoice, another prepares the check, another (one or two) actually sign(s) the check, and yet another mails the check to the payee. The finance manager oversees this process. I got to be one of the "lucky" ones whose signature is registered at our bank.
Thus today I signed away well over a million dollars with a flourish of the pen, shrugged as if it wasn't my money and so didn't matter, and went onto the next check.
**sigh**
I thought about putting my name on the "Pay to the order of" line, but decided I like my job too much.
(Maybe if it had been 3 million . . .)
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Golf course hazards
You never know what you’re going to encounter on a golf course. Including, of course, errant golf balls struck by other golfers – or even by yourself!
I think the most painful injury I ever sustained on a golf course was self-inflicted. The ball was close to a concrete cart path and had to be hit across the path toward the hole, but kept low to avoid tree limbs ahead.
Yes, I know . . . if you stay in the fairway you don’t face these problems. But c’mon—not even Tiger Woods’ ball lands in the fairway every time!
Anyway, I took a mighty swing and succeeded in keeping the ball low. In fact, it was SO low that it hit the one-inch-high edge of the concrete path and ricocheted back and up striking the back of my leading wrist as I continued the swing toward a follow-through. That follow-through was never achieved. I let go of the club and was completely convinced I had broken the wrist.
No, I didn’t let loose with a string of colorful words. Don’t be disappointed—it wasn’t due to my great restraint. Nor did it have anything to do with my respect for the sanctity of the quiet, pastoral environment. Rather, it was simply a matter of my inability to draw a breath or find my voice in the face of the blinding, searing pain!
Turned out it was "only" a deep briuse, but it still hurt like . . . Well, it hurt.
And there are other hazards to be aware of on the course besides those white spherical missiles. One such hazard is the amazing Texas tree-climbing turtle.
What? You don’t think turtles can climb trees?
Well, think again. I have photographic proof!
I think the most painful injury I ever sustained on a golf course was self-inflicted. The ball was close to a concrete cart path and had to be hit across the path toward the hole, but kept low to avoid tree limbs ahead.
Yes, I know . . . if you stay in the fairway you don’t face these problems. But c’mon—not even Tiger Woods’ ball lands in the fairway every time!
Anyway, I took a mighty swing and succeeded in keeping the ball low. In fact, it was SO low that it hit the one-inch-high edge of the concrete path and ricocheted back and up striking the back of my leading wrist as I continued the swing toward a follow-through. That follow-through was never achieved. I let go of the club and was completely convinced I had broken the wrist.
No, I didn’t let loose with a string of colorful words. Don’t be disappointed—it wasn’t due to my great restraint. Nor did it have anything to do with my respect for the sanctity of the quiet, pastoral environment. Rather, it was simply a matter of my inability to draw a breath or find my voice in the face of the blinding, searing pain!
Turned out it was "only" a deep briuse, but it still hurt like . . . Well, it hurt.
And there are other hazards to be aware of on the course besides those white spherical missiles. One such hazard is the amazing Texas tree-climbing turtle.
What? You don’t think turtles can climb trees?
Well, think again. I have photographic proof!
And lest you suspect that I might have placed that turtle in the tree, here’s another shot—this time with TWO turtles on their way up.
Everyone knows about water hazards on golf courses. Almost every course has at least a few well-placed wet areas that have an unnatural attraction for white plastic-coated spheroids. But what many fail to realize, or think about, is what (besides hundreds of golf balls) might be IN that wet area.
Here’s one example:
(Any of you herpetologists out there care to tell me what species this is?)
And finally, there are aggressive, nasty geese.
What . . . you don’t think geese are particularly hazardous? Well, take a gander at the face of this . . . er. . . gander. He’s hissing! Check out that tongue!
You’ve heard the expression, “As rare as hen’s teeth,” right? You think a goose doesn’t have teeth? Well take a really close look at this guy’s oral weaponry, and tell me that you’re not reminded of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Have you seen this one?
(It's making the rounds of internet email.)
"I GOT STOPPED FOR SPEEDING YESTERDAY.
I THOUGHT I COULD TALK MY WAY OUT OF IT,
UNTIL THE COP LOOKED AT MY DOG IN THE BACK SEAT . . ."
"I GOT STOPPED FOR SPEEDING YESTERDAY.
I THOUGHT I COULD TALK MY WAY OUT OF IT,
UNTIL THE COP LOOKED AT MY DOG IN THE BACK SEAT . . ."
Well, I thought it was pretty funny.
But maybe that's because I don't have a dog any more . . .
And because I HAVE been known to "push the limits."
A bit.
At times.
(I particularly liked the claw marks on the seat!)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Wonderful weather this year!
What a great Easter weekend!
After the last two or three years of getting either rained out or frozen out, we finally had three good weekend days in a row for golf at and near Kerrville, where we camped. Eachnight we bundled up under sleeping bags when the outside (and inside) temperatures dropped into the 40s. But the days quickly warmed up into the 70s or low 80s, so by afternoon we were golfing in shorts and short sleeved shirts.
I even came back with a slightly sunburned neck!
(I know . . . Here come the "red neck" jokes.)
All danger of frost is now over in this part of Texas.
What? How do I know? Because the mesquite brush and trees are putting out their yellowish-greenish leaves. Common local folklore has it that once the mesquite leaves come out there'll be no more frost till the following winter.
How did we play, you ask? Well, Carol had several rounds in the 80s. One, in fact, of 83 (a VERY nice round indeed!)
I, on the other hand, played. We won't talk about scores.
Yes, there were some good shots. In fact, there were a LOT of good shots! Ah, but then there were all those other shots!
We took the camera but have not a single picture to share. Call it laziness on our part, but we just never saw anything that begged to have its image recorded. So, we forbore.
Carol has already asked me when I'm planning to take her out of town to go camping again. If this past weekend trip was an indication of what the next trip will be like, it won't be long.
After the last two or three years of getting either rained out or frozen out, we finally had three good weekend days in a row for golf at and near Kerrville, where we camped. Eachnight we bundled up under sleeping bags when the outside (and inside) temperatures dropped into the 40s. But the days quickly warmed up into the 70s or low 80s, so by afternoon we were golfing in shorts and short sleeved shirts.
I even came back with a slightly sunburned neck!
(I know . . . Here come the "red neck" jokes.)
All danger of frost is now over in this part of Texas.
What? How do I know? Because the mesquite brush and trees are putting out their yellowish-greenish leaves. Common local folklore has it that once the mesquite leaves come out there'll be no more frost till the following winter.
How did we play, you ask? Well, Carol had several rounds in the 80s. One, in fact, of 83 (a VERY nice round indeed!)
I, on the other hand, played. We won't talk about scores.
Yes, there were some good shots. In fact, there were a LOT of good shots! Ah, but then there were all those other shots!
We took the camera but have not a single picture to share. Call it laziness on our part, but we just never saw anything that begged to have its image recorded. So, we forbore.
Carol has already asked me when I'm planning to take her out of town to go camping again. If this past weekend trip was an indication of what the next trip will be like, it won't be long.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Ahhhh! Back to the 90s.
Well, yeah! Yesterday's high was 91. Set a new record for Victoria, Texas, on March 14.
Today it made it up to 90. All the trees are now in leaf. I mowed thegrass weeds on Thursday. Our blackberry bushes along the back fence are beginning to bloom.
Global warming? Just a local phenomenon?
Since tomorrow's high is "only" supposed to be up to 76, it's probably just local. Gee, wasn't it just last week that Dallas got 9 inches of snow?
Anyway, for those of you still shivering in snow, take heart! Spring is on its way. I'll try to send some of this warmer weather your way soon.
But not too much of it. I'd like to save a little in case another "Norther" tries to blow down this far towards the equator.
It could happen! Next weekend is Easter, and on Easter weekend last year we took our camper to Kerrville and shivered in sleet and freezing rain for two days. Not exactly your ideal golf weather.
(Yeah, we're going to try again this year. I'll let you know if it happens again.)
Today it made it up to 90. All the trees are now in leaf. I mowed the
Global warming? Just a local phenomenon?
Since tomorrow's high is "only" supposed to be up to 76, it's probably just local. Gee, wasn't it just last week that Dallas got 9 inches of snow?
Anyway, for those of you still shivering in snow, take heart! Spring is on its way. I'll try to send some of this warmer weather your way soon.
But not too much of it. I'd like to save a little in case another "Norther" tries to blow down this far towards the equator.
It could happen! Next weekend is Easter, and on Easter weekend last year we took our camper to Kerrville and shivered in sleet and freezing rain for two days. Not exactly your ideal golf weather.
(Yeah, we're going to try again this year. I'll let you know if it happens again.)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
No gun, no knife. Just a nice guy!
Did I express a bit of angst? Did I sound paranoid? Hmmm. What’s WRONG with me?
(Don’t start!)
(Oh, and see yesterday’s post for some background on this story.)
Ahem. Well, as per my plan I drove to the local Motel 6 to drop off my car. Now, I would have just parked it, locked it, and gone home (Carol had followed me there in our other car). But no – Carol insisted that I go inside and tell the desk clerk what I was doing, “So they won’t have your car towed away!”
I harrumphed something along the lines of, “Yeah, like they’re gonna go out and patrol the parking lot in the Motel 6, check license numbers, and have a car towed! Gimme a break!”
But you know how demanding wivescan be sometimes are, so I went in. The enterprising clerk told me that leaving the car was fine, but checked her reservation listing and found no Aaron Smith (not his real name) on it. Inspired, I asked her to check the TUESDAY night list and sure enough, there he was. But the motel was full for Monday night.
I visualized this poor guy getting into town at 1:30 am, taking a taxi to the motel, and having no room. What’s he gonna do – sleep in the lobby? I called his cell phone number and actually got him! He was on the train between Beaumont and Houston.
After some effort, I found him a room in a different motel, found him an all-night taxi service that would take him there from the bus stop, and called him with the information. Yes, I left my car at that motel.
Then this morning I drove the van to that motel and went to the lobby. Two minutes later, in walks this really clean cut, 30-ish man with a firm handshake and a wholesome look about him. He says, “You must be John! I’m Aaron.”
He drove the van, pronounced it all he’d hoped it would be, counted out the exact amount in crisp new bills, and I signed over the title and gave him my two sets of keys. He was very appreciative of my efforts on his behalf (motel, taxi), and of the car.
We shook again, I left for work, and he went back to his room for, “A few more hours’ sleep before I hit the road for home.”
An altogether pleasant experience.
Y’know, there are a lot of creeps and crooks out there, but there are also a lot of good, honest people.
Aaron Smith seems to be one of the latter.
And by the way, Carol? Thanks for insisting!
(Don’t start!)
(Oh, and see yesterday’s post for some background on this story.)
Ahem. Well, as per my plan I drove to the local Motel 6 to drop off my car. Now, I would have just parked it, locked it, and gone home (Carol had followed me there in our other car). But no – Carol insisted that I go inside and tell the desk clerk what I was doing, “So they won’t have your car towed away!”
I harrumphed something along the lines of, “Yeah, like they’re gonna go out and patrol the parking lot in the Motel 6, check license numbers, and have a car towed! Gimme a break!”
But you know how demanding wives
I visualized this poor guy getting into town at 1:30 am, taking a taxi to the motel, and having no room. What’s he gonna do – sleep in the lobby? I called his cell phone number and actually got him! He was on the train between Beaumont and Houston.
After some effort, I found him a room in a different motel, found him an all-night taxi service that would take him there from the bus stop, and called him with the information. Yes, I left my car at that motel.
Then this morning I drove the van to that motel and went to the lobby. Two minutes later, in walks this really clean cut, 30-ish man with a firm handshake and a wholesome look about him. He says, “You must be John! I’m Aaron.”
He drove the van, pronounced it all he’d hoped it would be, counted out the exact amount in crisp new bills, and I signed over the title and gave him my two sets of keys. He was very appreciative of my efforts on his behalf (motel, taxi), and of the car.
We shook again, I left for work, and he went back to his room for, “A few more hours’ sleep before I hit the road for home.”
An altogether pleasant experience.
Y’know, there are a lot of creeps and crooks out there, but there are also a lot of good, honest people.
Aaron Smith seems to be one of the latter.
And by the way, Carol? Thanks for insisting!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Here’s the deal . . .
The buyer of my van lives in New Orleans.
Today he’s taking a train to Houston, getting on a bus to Victoria, and pulling into town at 1:30 Tuesday morning. He’ll be staying for what’s left of the night in the local Motel 6.
Tonight after work I’ll drive my old commute-to-work car over to the Motel 6 and leave it there overnight. Then in the morning I’ll drive to the motel in the van, collect my cash, sign over the title, and head to work. My buyer can then hit the road for New Orleans in his new (to him) Dodge van!
Sounds like a perfect plan, right?
But the cynic in me wonders . . . What if:
The guy shows up with only part of the agreed upon total price? And then he says, “Please? Just keep the title until I send you the rest. I had some extra expenses getting here.” Etc., etc.
The guy offers me a personal check for some or all of the auction price?
The guy wants to test drive it out on the road, then pulls over and orders me out (with a gun, a knife, a ball bat, or something), and drives off to Mexico?
I know. I’m being paranoid.
But I just wonder why his cell phone area code AND his eBay member profile zip code both originate in Buffalo, NY. That does make me curious.
Tune in tomorrow for what I’m sure will be a boring, routine conclusion to this mystery.
Today he’s taking a train to Houston, getting on a bus to Victoria, and pulling into town at 1:30 Tuesday morning. He’ll be staying for what’s left of the night in the local Motel 6.
Tonight after work I’ll drive my old commute-to-work car over to the Motel 6 and leave it there overnight. Then in the morning I’ll drive to the motel in the van, collect my cash, sign over the title, and head to work. My buyer can then hit the road for New Orleans in his new (to him) Dodge van!
Sounds like a perfect plan, right?
But the cynic in me wonders . . . What if:
I know. I’m being paranoid.
But I just wonder why his cell phone area code AND his eBay member profile zip code both originate in Buffalo, NY. That does make me curious.
Tune in tomorrow for what I’m sure will be a boring, routine conclusion to this mystery.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Going once . . . Going twice . . . SOLD!!
Yep, the van has been sold.
Well, I haven’t got any MONEY for it yet, but the eBay auction is over and the winner has contacted me to make arrangements to bring me cash!
I had tried on eBay Motors back in December, but I’d set an (apparently) unrealistic reserve (minimum price), and nobody bid even close to it.
This time I did some additional research and set a reserve that was lower than I hoped to get, but that I was willing (reluctantly) to settle for. Imagine my joy when the second day of the auction somebody bid the reserve price! I justKNEW was pretty sure hoped prayed that the final price would be even higher.
Sure enough in the last few hours of the auction the price jumped up, as is typical, to more than $700 above my reserve price.
So now if the winner will just show up with cash as promised . . .
I’ll let you know.
(By the way, Nankin, thanks for asking!)
Well, I haven’t got any MONEY for it yet, but the eBay auction is over and the winner has contacted me to make arrangements to bring me cash!
I had tried on eBay Motors back in December, but I’d set an (apparently) unrealistic reserve (minimum price), and nobody bid even close to it.
This time I did some additional research and set a reserve that was lower than I hoped to get, but that I was willing (reluctantly) to settle for. Imagine my joy when the second day of the auction somebody bid the reserve price! I just
Sure enough in the last few hours of the auction the price jumped up, as is typical, to more than $700 above my reserve price.
So now if the winner will just show up with cash as promised . . .
I’ll let you know.
(By the way, Nankin, thanks for asking!)
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Our van will sell this time!
And if you want to watch with us the auction of our 12-year old Family Vacation vehicle on eBay, click HERE.
I had tried to sell it on eBay back in December, but set a high reserve (which I thought it was worth!) and no one bid an amount even close. This time I set a much lower reserve, and the first bid exceeded it. It WILL sell this time!
We're sorry to see it go, but we've already replaced it with a nice, new Ford Expedition to pull our camper trailer with. The Ford is MUCH quieter, and smoother-riding, and more luxurious, and on and on.
The auction will end on Tuesday evening. Watch if you like. Hell, BID if you like! It really is a fantastic utility vehicle. And if one of my blogger friends buys it I'll get to meet you!
I had tried to sell it on eBay back in December, but set a high reserve (which I thought it was worth!) and no one bid an amount even close. This time I set a much lower reserve, and the first bid exceeded it. It WILL sell this time!
We're sorry to see it go, but we've already replaced it with a nice, new Ford Expedition to pull our camper trailer with. The Ford is MUCH quieter, and smoother-riding, and more luxurious, and on and on.
The auction will end on Tuesday evening. Watch if you like. Hell, BID if you like! It really is a fantastic utility vehicle. And if one of my blogger friends buys it I'll get to meet you!
You gotta read these!
If you haven't visited the Pointmeister lately, please go there as soon as you read this brief post and check out his post for Friday, February 29, called "Disorder in the Court."
If you don't ROFLYAO, you're either not alive or you have no sense of humor.
Wonderful! I need to buy the book.
If you don't ROFLYAO, you're either not alive or you have no sense of humor.
Wonderful! I need to buy the book.
Friday, February 22, 2008
No pictures
This year’s ski vacation has come and gone. Flew by, actually, like snow flakes driven horizontally in a howling wind.
Come to think of it, that analogy pretty well sums up the vacation.
It snowed every single day we were there. We almost never saw the sun, even between snow showers. And pictures of mountain slopes covered in white, taken during a snow storm or even on a gray, cloudy day, just don’t have a lot of appeal.
“Oh, look! There’s John skiing down the slope. Wait... or is that Carol? I can’t tell what color his/her jacket is because everything looks gray!”
Then on the day before we were to leave we had a real storm with heavy snow falling for 24 hours straight. The only highway through Berthoud Pass back to Denver was closed with no estimate of reopen time. We made arrangements to stay where we were for an extra night, cancelled the hotel reservations in Denver, cancelled our annual Macaroni Grill dinner, worried about everyone else in our party making early flights out of Denver on Saturday morning. And we waited.
A few of us went to the mountain and skied in the falling snow. Carol and I didn’t, because Carol was sick with some kind of intestinal bug that had kept her up most of Thursday night during the blizzard calling for Ralph in the bathroom. (Ralph never answered.)
Late Friday the pass opened. We drove two vehicles in convoy over the icy, snow packed roads to Denver (after making NEW hotel reservations!) to deliver three couples to a location close to the airport. Then I drove back over the pass to Carol, arriving about midnight. Yes, it was snowing hard in the pass again!
But all’s well that ends well, and by Saturday morning Carol was well enough to travel. We packed up the car and headed back for Texas. Shortly after arrival I had to mow the yard to knock down the weeds and thistles that had sprung up in the warm, wet weather Victoria had been having. What a contrast!
We played golf the following Sunday. In shorts.
Come to think of it, that analogy pretty well sums up the vacation.
It snowed every single day we were there. We almost never saw the sun, even between snow showers. And pictures of mountain slopes covered in white, taken during a snow storm or even on a gray, cloudy day, just don’t have a lot of appeal.
“Oh, look! There’s John skiing down the slope. Wait... or is that Carol? I can’t tell what color his/her jacket is because everything looks gray!”
Then on the day before we were to leave we had a real storm with heavy snow falling for 24 hours straight. The only highway through Berthoud Pass back to Denver was closed with no estimate of reopen time. We made arrangements to stay where we were for an extra night, cancelled the hotel reservations in Denver, cancelled our annual Macaroni Grill dinner, worried about everyone else in our party making early flights out of Denver on Saturday morning. And we waited.
A few of us went to the mountain and skied in the falling snow. Carol and I didn’t, because Carol was sick with some kind of intestinal bug that had kept her up most of Thursday night during the blizzard calling for Ralph in the bathroom. (Ralph never answered.)
Late Friday the pass opened. We drove two vehicles in convoy over the icy, snow packed roads to Denver (after making NEW hotel reservations!) to deliver three couples to a location close to the airport. Then I drove back over the pass to Carol, arriving about midnight. Yes, it was snowing hard in the pass again!
But all’s well that ends well, and by Saturday morning Carol was well enough to travel. We packed up the car and headed back for Texas. Shortly after arrival I had to mow the yard to knock down the weeds and thistles that had sprung up in the warm, wet weather Victoria had been having. What a contrast!
We played golf the following Sunday. In shorts.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Two posts in two days! WOW!
I can't resist a good pun. My daughters know this.
Below is the front and the inside of a birthday card from younger daughter Elizabeth.
Carol and I got a good guffaw out of this:
Front:
Inside:
Note: If you find yourself gagging, just close your eyes and breathe deeply -- it will pass.
Below is the front and the inside of a birthday card from younger daughter Elizabeth.
Carol and I got a good guffaw out of this:
Front:
Inside:
Note: If you find yourself gagging, just close your eyes and breathe deeply -- it will pass.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
NOT a “romantic” ramble.
Rather, more of an HR ramble. Yeah, I know – as my daughters used to say when they were teenagers, “BOR-R-R-ing!) But, that’s what you get today.
Ever been to a college career fair? No? Well, let me tell you about them.
Four weeks ago I drove (along with two other managers from my plant) to College Station, TX to the Texas A&M College of Engineering career fair. One of those managers is an A&M alumnus, better known as an “Aggie.” But I’ll skip the Aggie jokes for now.
We set up in the basketball arena on the ground floor – actually at court level. Our “booth” was ten feet wide with an 8-foot high curtain across the back and two 3-foot high curtains extending out from that back wall towards the wide aisle. We had a skirted table and two chairs.
We hung a banner with our company name printed on it across the back near the top of the curtain, pushed the table over to one side (running parallel to the side of the booth), and set up our displays and handouts on the table.
The best part of our display was a 32-inch flat-panel TV running a PowerPoint slide show of pictures of our plant, our product, local cultural and sports activities, pictures of local wildlife, and so on. (I didn’t want it to just be all work-oriented. I wanted to “sell” quality-of-life and recreation opportunities as well.) The next-best part was actual laboratory glassware (sealed) containing our feedstock (oil), our byproducts (liquids), and our main, solid product. The TV would catch people’s eye, and they’d step closer to see the samples.
The object of all this was to get resumes from students who wanted internships, co-op positions, or full time employment (after graduation). We’re trying to hire engineers. I was out of the office for two days.
The following week I drove all the way to Stillwater, OK, to the Oklahoma State University career fair. One of our managers is an OSU grad. It took a full day of driving to get there, a full day at the career fair, and a full day to drive home. I was out of the office for three days.
Then two weeks ago I drove to Winter Park, CO, for our annual family ski trip. That’ll be the subject of another post. I was out of the office all week.
And finally last week I left on Tuesday morning to drive 9½ hours to Lubbock to attend the Texas Tech University engineering career fair (all day Wednesday), and drove back on Thursday. I was out of the office for three days.
My point? During the last four weeks I have only been in the office a total of 7 days. And this time is especially busy for several reasons (which may be the subject of another future post.) So those seven days I’ve spent at the office have been 10-12 hour days, not my normal 8½-9 hour ones. Yesterday was a full 12 hours, including hosting a candidate for a management job for interviews, plant tour, and so on.
The good news is: I now have a stack of over 100 student’s and recent-graduates’ resumes to sort through for more interviews or possible job offers. The bad news is: I have to find time to sort through them. Then I have to follow up and communicate with most of those folks who are waiting for some word. Few people realize how time-consuming the recruiting process is if you want to do it professionally and with an individualized approach.
So no, I haven’t been writing or blogging. In fact, I haven’t had much of a life (other than the ski trip!) for a while.
Yeah, that‘s a sorry excuse for bad blogging. But right now it’s the only excuse I’ve got.
Ever been to a college career fair? No? Well, let me tell you about them.
Four weeks ago I drove (along with two other managers from my plant) to College Station, TX to the Texas A&M College of Engineering career fair. One of those managers is an A&M alumnus, better known as an “Aggie.” But I’ll skip the Aggie jokes for now.
We set up in the basketball arena on the ground floor – actually at court level. Our “booth” was ten feet wide with an 8-foot high curtain across the back and two 3-foot high curtains extending out from that back wall towards the wide aisle. We had a skirted table and two chairs.
We hung a banner with our company name printed on it across the back near the top of the curtain, pushed the table over to one side (running parallel to the side of the booth), and set up our displays and handouts on the table.
The best part of our display was a 32-inch flat-panel TV running a PowerPoint slide show of pictures of our plant, our product, local cultural and sports activities, pictures of local wildlife, and so on. (I didn’t want it to just be all work-oriented. I wanted to “sell” quality-of-life and recreation opportunities as well.) The next-best part was actual laboratory glassware (sealed) containing our feedstock (oil), our byproducts (liquids), and our main, solid product. The TV would catch people’s eye, and they’d step closer to see the samples.
The object of all this was to get resumes from students who wanted internships, co-op positions, or full time employment (after graduation). We’re trying to hire engineers. I was out of the office for two days.
The following week I drove all the way to Stillwater, OK, to the Oklahoma State University career fair. One of our managers is an OSU grad. It took a full day of driving to get there, a full day at the career fair, and a full day to drive home. I was out of the office for three days.
Then two weeks ago I drove to Winter Park, CO, for our annual family ski trip. That’ll be the subject of another post. I was out of the office all week.
And finally last week I left on Tuesday morning to drive 9½ hours to Lubbock to attend the Texas Tech University engineering career fair (all day Wednesday), and drove back on Thursday. I was out of the office for three days.
My point? During the last four weeks I have only been in the office a total of 7 days. And this time is especially busy for several reasons (which may be the subject of another future post.) So those seven days I’ve spent at the office have been 10-12 hour days, not my normal 8½-9 hour ones. Yesterday was a full 12 hours, including hosting a candidate for a management job for interviews, plant tour, and so on.
The good news is: I now have a stack of over 100 student’s and recent-graduates’ resumes to sort through for more interviews or possible job offers. The bad news is: I have to find time to sort through them. Then I have to follow up and communicate with most of those folks who are waiting for some word. Few people realize how time-consuming the recruiting process is if you want to do it professionally and with an individualized approach.
So no, I haven’t been writing or blogging. In fact, I haven’t had much of a life (other than the ski trip!) for a while.
Yeah, that‘s a sorry excuse for bad blogging. But right now it’s the only excuse I’ve got.
Monday, January 28, 2008
1 (800) C F I — CARE
The title of this post is part of an old H.R. joke. "H.R." as in Human Resources. I AM a Human Resources Manager, after all.
In today's fast-paced, "gotta do more" world, many company Human Resources departments have opted to replace personal service with the ubiquitous toll free number for employees to call if they have questions about pay, benefits, policies, and so on.
Me, I'm a dinosaur. I still pretend that this company's H.R. department is really a sales group, and our plant employees are my customers. I still answer my own phone when I'm in the office, and try to put a smile on my face and in my voice when responding to complaints and problems. Even when it seems that everybody is complaining. Even when it's been a stressful day.
Do I always succeed? Hell no! But I try.
Why? Well, even though the complaint or question that I'm fielding may seem simple or even trivial to me, often, to the employee, it's an all-consuming, major issue! And if the employee is consumed by the issue, chances are he or she is not fully concentrating on their job and a lot less efficient than if somebody dealt with the issue FOR them.
So yes, I'm still a believer in personal service. Even though we live in an impersonal world.
I've worked for companies that used the toll-free number solution. Most of you probably have. The number is answered by a disembodied, mechanical voice that repeats something like this:
"Thank you for calling the XYZ Company Human Resources hotline. For English, please press one. Para Espanol, marque el numero dos." Pause.
"Please listen carefully to the following options. Our menus have changed!"
"If you know your party's extension, you may dial it at any time."
"For payroll questions, press one. For health plan questions, press two. For claims forms, please go to our web site at Double-you Double-you Double-you, dot whattawasteoftime dot com."
. . . And so on, until you give up in disgust after pressing ZERO repeatedly as either a desperate attempt to talk to a live human, or as an indication of your opinion of the value of this "service."
We H.R. dinosaurs refer to that system as, "Please call 1-800-CFI-CARE." Because that system SCREAMS that the company doesn't. Care, that is.
As a comment to my last post about fixing a home network that wasn't broken, my good friend (and excellent writer, btw) Karyn Lyndon asked me, "Will you please post YOUR toll-free number so we can call you for help-desk advice?"
Karyn, I think I just did.
In today's fast-paced, "gotta do more" world, many company Human Resources departments have opted to replace personal service with the ubiquitous toll free number for employees to call if they have questions about pay, benefits, policies, and so on.
Me, I'm a dinosaur. I still pretend that this company's H.R. department is really a sales group, and our plant employees are my customers. I still answer my own phone when I'm in the office, and try to put a smile on my face and in my voice when responding to complaints and problems. Even when it seems that everybody is complaining. Even when it's been a stressful day.
Do I always succeed? Hell no! But I try.
Why? Well, even though the complaint or question that I'm fielding may seem simple or even trivial to me, often, to the employee, it's an all-consuming, major issue! And if the employee is consumed by the issue, chances are he or she is not fully concentrating on their job and a lot less efficient than if somebody dealt with the issue FOR them.
So yes, I'm still a believer in personal service. Even though we live in an impersonal world.
I've worked for companies that used the toll-free number solution. Most of you probably have. The number is answered by a disembodied, mechanical voice that repeats something like this:
"Thank you for calling the XYZ Company Human Resources hotline. For English, please press one. Para Espanol, marque el numero dos." Pause.
"Please listen carefully to the following options. Our menus have changed!"
"If you know your party's extension, you may dial it at any time."
"For payroll questions, press one. For health plan questions, press two. For claims forms, please go to our web site at Double-you Double-you Double-you, dot whattawasteoftime dot com."
. . . And so on, until you give up in disgust after pressing ZERO repeatedly as either a desperate attempt to talk to a live human, or as an indication of your opinion of the value of this "service."
We H.R. dinosaurs refer to that system as, "Please call 1-800-CFI-CARE." Because that system SCREAMS that the company doesn't. Care, that is.
As a comment to my last post about fixing a home network that wasn't broken, my good friend (and excellent writer, btw) Karyn Lyndon asked me, "Will you please post YOUR toll-free number so we can call you for help-desk advice?"
Karyn, I think I just did.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
If it ain't broke . . .
Why can't I ever learn that old, old lesson? Why must I tinker?
Okay, here's my tale of woe.
Today (Saturday) was actually cold and blustery here in South Texas, so no golf for us wimps.
What's that? How cold was it, you ask? The temps never got above 51 in the mid afernoon, and the wind was blowing out of the north at 20-30! Brrrr!
Yeah, the sun was shining brightly.
Yeah, I know. I SAID we were wimps!
My excuse is that it had rained most of the night and the course would have been pretty soupy. It's not much fun cleaning mud off the golf ball (and your club) after every shot. Not to mention wiping it off your face if you take a little too much divot.
Heck, maybe tomorrow we'll brave the elements and play. It's supposed to be in the upper 50s with less wind, and the ground ought to be a little drier then.
All you folks suffering through single-digit temps are probably ready to take a swing at me for continuing to rub it in about our climate here, but you'll get your revenge next July and August.
Okay, back to my topic.
Since we didn't play golf, I got to messing with my wireless router. We have a little home network running here, and I had brought home a laptop from work toplay with work on this weekend and wanted to tie it in to the home network using its wi-fi card. All I had to do was find the router's security key, type it in, and I'd be connected.
I accessed the router from my desktop and started browsing theough all the security settings looking for the key. Hmmm . . . not there. Maybe over here . . . nope. Click on this selection -- Oh no! I hit "save" by mistake. Wonder what I changed. Well, I'm sure I can fix it.
At that point Carol's laptop could no longer connect wirelessly, and she was less than pleased.
Don't worry, I assured her, I'll have it back up in a few minutes. Let's see; where are the docs for that thing? AH! Here's the CD that came with the router. I'll just re-install everything, and . . . The darn CD won't let me run the Setup.exe file. Why not? This makes no sense.
I'll try the Linksys web site . . . oh, I can't get online through the router since it's not working right. Well, I'll just bypass it and plug the network cable from the cable moden directly into my computer. (mutter) (mutter) Why are these cables tangled up and so hard to get in and out!?
Okay, finally I'm back online and logged into technical support. But where do I go from here?
(a half-hour passes while I read different Q&As and tech manuals with no help. Carol is fuming nearby.)
Ah! I'll download this "Easy Link" wizard which should automate the process. Okay, it's dowloaded. It's running. I'd better unplug everything and start from scratch.
I follow the steps of the wizard. It creates a new WEP security key, which I copy onto both MY desktop and Carol's (so NEXT TIME this happens we'll know where to find it!)
Finally, Carol is back on the internet and all is well.
Gee, only 3 hours have elapsed from start to finish.
And yes, I can even get the laptop from work to connect now! I mentioned that to Carol with some pride, and think I heard a muttered "Well, big *!!%**#! deal!"
But hey, I DID get it all fixed! (Even if it "weren't broke" to begin with. No, I guess I'll never learn.)
Okay, here's my tale of woe.
Today (Saturday) was actually cold and blustery here in South Texas, so no golf for us wimps.
What's that? How cold was it, you ask? The temps never got above 51 in the mid afernoon, and the wind was blowing out of the north at 20-30! Brrrr!
Yeah, the sun was shining brightly.
Yeah, I know. I SAID we were wimps!
My excuse is that it had rained most of the night and the course would have been pretty soupy. It's not much fun cleaning mud off the golf ball (and your club) after every shot. Not to mention wiping it off your face if you take a little too much divot.
Heck, maybe tomorrow we'll brave the elements and play. It's supposed to be in the upper 50s with less wind, and the ground ought to be a little drier then.
All you folks suffering through single-digit temps are probably ready to take a swing at me for continuing to rub it in about our climate here, but you'll get your revenge next July and August.
Okay, back to my topic.
Since we didn't play golf, I got to messing with my wireless router. We have a little home network running here, and I had brought home a laptop from work to
I accessed the router from my desktop and started browsing theough all the security settings looking for the key. Hmmm . . . not there. Maybe over here . . . nope. Click on this selection -- Oh no! I hit "save" by mistake. Wonder what I changed. Well, I'm sure I can fix it.
At that point Carol's laptop could no longer connect wirelessly, and she was less than pleased.
Don't worry, I assured her, I'll have it back up in a few minutes. Let's see; where are the docs for that thing? AH! Here's the CD that came with the router. I'll just re-install everything, and . . . The darn CD won't let me run the Setup.exe file. Why not? This makes no sense.
I'll try the Linksys web site . . . oh, I can't get online through the router since it's not working right. Well, I'll just bypass it and plug the network cable from the cable moden directly into my computer. (mutter) (mutter) Why are these cables tangled up and so hard to get in and out!?
Okay, finally I'm back online and logged into technical support. But where do I go from here?
(a half-hour passes while I read different Q&As and tech manuals with no help. Carol is fuming nearby.)
Ah! I'll download this "Easy Link" wizard which should automate the process. Okay, it's dowloaded. It's running. I'd better unplug everything and start from scratch.
I follow the steps of the wizard. It creates a new WEP security key, which I copy onto both MY desktop and Carol's (so NEXT TIME this happens we'll know where to find it!)
Finally, Carol is back on the internet and all is well.
Gee, only 3 hours have elapsed from start to finish.
And yes, I can even get the laptop from work to connect now! I mentioned that to Carol with some pride, and think I heard a muttered "Well, big *!!%**#! deal!"
But hey, I DID get it all fixed! (Even if it "weren't broke" to begin with. No, I guess I'll never learn.)
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
BAD blogger! No posts lately!
***(SIGH) ***
Yes, we're fine. And thanks for asking.
The holidays came and went in a blur. I took a long New Years weekend spiked with a couple of vacation days, and we went out of town just to get away.
Then things at work have been crazy busy. We're hiring folks like there's no tomorrow; doing our part to attack the rising unemployment figures.
At home we tried to sell the old van on eBay, but nobody came even close to the reserve we'd set on it. I really believe it's worth three times what the highest bid was, but "worth" is defined by what a willing buyer will pay for a product . . . so maybe I'm kidding myself. With today's gasoline prices and the few miles per gallon the van gets, somebody would really have to want a large-capacity passenger-and-baggage-hauling machine to put up with the operating expense.
During the next 30 days I'm planning to go off to two different college campuses on recruiting trips, split by our annual week-long ski vacation. Maybe at least I'll come back with some neat snowy-mountain pictures, and new shots of my almost-three-year-old grandson. Not that anybody cares but me, but he is REALLY cute!
Anyway, for those of you who have stopped by looking for a romantic ramble and found nothing but worn-out old posts, I'm sorry. Perhaps I'll get an idea for a poem, or a new meme or something.
Or, I might just not post anything until April. Guess we'll see.
Yes, we're fine. And thanks for asking.
The holidays came and went in a blur. I took a long New Years weekend spiked with a couple of vacation days, and we went out of town just to get away.
Then things at work have been crazy busy. We're hiring folks like there's no tomorrow; doing our part to attack the rising unemployment figures.
At home we tried to sell the old van on eBay, but nobody came even close to the reserve we'd set on it. I really believe it's worth three times what the highest bid was, but "worth" is defined by what a willing buyer will pay for a product . . . so maybe I'm kidding myself. With today's gasoline prices and the few miles per gallon the van gets, somebody would really have to want a large-capacity passenger-and-baggage-hauling machine to put up with the operating expense.
During the next 30 days I'm planning to go off to two different college campuses on recruiting trips, split by our annual week-long ski vacation. Maybe at least I'll come back with some neat snowy-mountain pictures, and new shots of my almost-three-year-old grandson. Not that anybody cares but me, but he is REALLY cute!
Anyway, for those of you who have stopped by looking for a romantic ramble and found nothing but worn-out old posts, I'm sorry. Perhaps I'll get an idea for a poem, or a new meme or something.
Or, I might just not post anything until April. Guess we'll see.
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