What Ifs

A month ago I turned 41. The older I get the more I tend to reflect on the past; “what if I had...?” types of thoughts. Life is a series of choices. Sometimes we make the right choice and a lot of times we make the wrong choice.

What has me in this train of thought right now is some recent training at work. I do technical support, and, like any other technology, our product advances through hotfixes, patches and newer versions.  Because we have to support both the older and newer versions of the software until the older version reaches “end of support”, and the newer version is quite different, the two days of training was very beneficial (note, the new version actually came out last year and we’ve already been supporting it, but subtle [and sometimes not so subtle] differences between it and what most of us are familiar with usually results in having to seek assistance when troubleshooting). As I sat there trying to absorb as much information as I could, I couldn’t help but think back to a time when I wanted to be a programmer. It got me to thinking about all the stupid mistakes I’ve made in my life, especially in my 20s and wondering where I’d be now if I had finished that degree in ‘Business Computer Programming’ back in the early 90s.

Would I still have ended up living in Atlanta? Would I have ever had met my fiancee? Or any of the people I now count as some of closest friends? Would I still have the job I have now, or I would I have been one of the folks who wrote the software for the product I now to support for?

It’s been said that hindsight is 20/20. For some things that may be true, but one thing's for sure - you can’t go backwards and you certainly can’t start regretting decisions made 20 years ago. I like my life, I love my fiancee and my friends. I like my job (usually). I like where I live. And I suppose that that’s really what matters now. I doesn’t matter what happened way back when; what’s important is where I’m at, and the opportunities to move forward.

~ JC

Bachelor Pad

As of around an hour ago, I’m a bachelor again... well, for a week anyway. Roxanne has headed to North Carolina to visit her Mom and go with her to a couple of doctor appointments for which she needs someone to be with her to drive her home afterwards. Nothing horribly major, but the meds will make Mom kind of loopy for a few days, and with Roxanne’s brother being away at college and her Dad being a truck driver and out on the road right now, Roxanne was really the only one available to help.

So, that leaves me home alone for a week. I get the whole bed to myself. I can make whatever I want for supper (including pizza rolls). I can hang out in my underwear (or less) if I want. Then again, I could kind of already do all that even if Roxanne was here.

Truth is, I miss her already. It’s funny how one starts to think how cool it will be to have the house to one’s self for an entire week, but in rather short order one realizes that it actually kind of sucks.

At any rate, it’s only around 9:15 AM and I’m already thinking about having pizza rolls for breakfast while watching last night’s episode of “Doctor Who” on the DVR. Why? Because I can. :-P

~ JC

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere

This week I'm moving from Decatur, GA to Alpharetta, GA. While that may seem like a big deal, they're only about 25-30 miles apart and both part of the Metro-Atlanta area. One is “ITP” the other “OTP”. One is in Dekalb County, the other in Fulton. And most importantly, one takes an hour or more to get to work from in rush hour traffic, the other five minutes.

It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since we moved into the current apartment. And to be honest, I can't wait to get out of this place. It's not been a great experience. To be honest, when my buddy and I rented the place, we should have done more research, but time was a factor and it was cheap. I'm quite excited to be moving, not only to a place much closer to where I now work, but that isn't filthy, doesn't have broken stair, doesn't have trash piled up around the dumpsters, doesn't have rats as big as dachshunds, and doesn't have a bunch of children who don't have the sense to get out of the way of cars (amongst other things these little brats do around here). Mostly though, it's just really nice to finally be in a career path that pays enough to afford the place I'm moving to.

All that being said, though, oh my gods to I hate packing! To be fair, Roxanne has done 90% of the packing while I've been at work this past week. But still, just looking at the stacks of boxes is rediculous. We bought three ten packs of boxes from Office Depot (you know, the ones that come with the lids that are supposed to be for storing files). We've managed, just barely, to not (yet) open the third pack. Our lives are all in boxes now, except for a few essentials and things we still need access to for the next couple of days (like the PC I’m writing this blog on right now). So, after tonight, we'll be eating take out for supper so we can get all the rest of the kitchen stuff cleaned and packed. Tuesday night I'll take apart the PC (yes, I still use a tower, not a laptop). And Wednesday morning we'll get up early to make sure any last minute stuff is packed before the movers arrive between 8:30 and 9:00 that morning.

The decision to hire 'Two Guys and a Truck' was pretty easy. Moving in the middle of the week makes it rather difficult (dare I say, impossible) to get anyone to help (I'm not hatin'. I get it. People have to work during the week). So, yeah, they would've even done all the packing for us too. But let's be honest. They charge $125 per hour with a two hour minimum and then charge by the quarter after thereafter. So, I will be that guy that handles a fair amount of boxes myself to speed up the process. Their being hired to take care of the furniture, primarily, because, well, they have a truck and I can't lift the couch by myself.

So, hopefully, all will go smooth, we'll get everything moved in on Wednesday, mostly unpacked and the cable and internet hooked up at the new place on Thursday and I'll be right back to blogging next Sunday without having to miss a week. So, until then...

~ JC

What Possesses People?

I often wonder, as I'm sure many other do, what exactly possesses a person to act, well, like an asshole. I don't, necessarily, mean the tendency in all of us to say or do something in a moment of anger that is asshole-ish. I am referring to people who tend toward acting that way all seemingly all the time. All those years I worked retail, I experienced this phenomenon quite often – those customers who were always mean and hateful no matter how pleasant and polite you tried to be to them.

That aside, what bothers me the most is when someone suddenly uses vicious name calling when they find themselves in disagreement with another person. What is it, in the mind of someone, that causes them to completely lose sight of the issue and decide that attacking someone's weight or hobbies, etc., instead of debating the topic that caused the argument?

I bring this up because of a recent incident in my own life that ended a friendship that had lasted several years. This friend, we'll call him “Frank”, had been my supervisor at a past job. After we both left that company, we became pretty good friends, occasionally meeting up for coffee. Frank had a tendency to do mass forwards from his email, mostly political in nature. Sometimes these emails were interesting and worth reading, but being someone who is not especially prone to political debate, I mostly deleted these out of hand and didn't object because our friendship was more important to me than getting into political arguments. Recently, Frank's email got hacked and a mass email was sent out from his account. Not knowing, for certain, if it had come from him or someone else on the list, I had clicked on “Reply All” and sent out a general request to be removed from whatever distribution list I had apparently gotten on. At the time, I was unaware that Frank's email had gotten hacked.

This, at first, only lead to him sending me an email asking what was wrong. I told him nothing was wrong, per se, I was just getting to many emails and was trying to limit how much email was hitting my inbox. A few days later he informed everyone that he had gotten hacked. One of the comments he made in that email seemed erroneous to me. He said something about resetting passwords to correct the problem. I took his comment as meaning that resetting one's password would remove them from the distribution list. I probably mistook his meaning, now that I look back on it, but I did reply to everyone to offer some amount of advise on this topic and stated that resetting a password would not remove them for a distribution list, but that, naturally, Frank should reset his since he was the one who's email was hacked.

This is where things went to shit really fast. He sent me an email claiming I had “thrown him under the bus” by replying to all his friends and telling him to reset his password. Now, I would have probably just taken it as he had mistook my intent (which obviously he had) and tried to explain and smooth things over, except that later in the email he told me that the “douche bag part”.. of me.. “was unnecessary” and “Happy New Year Asshole!” Perhaps, I overreacted a bit myself at this point, but I replied explaining that I was not trying to embarrass him but trying to offer some technical advise that I thought everyone would have benefited from, which is why I replied to all instead of just him. However, his decision to be nasty about the whole thing caused me to tell him that I was tired of not getting any emails from him except political bullshit and that he could remove me from his address book entirely.

The whole thing had already gotten out of hand, and the friendship was pretty much done at that point already. I'd dare say that I was probably just as wrong as he was for the way I responded, but this is the part that really tore me up. His next email, instead of simply saying “fine, you're deleted and our friendship is over” and leaving it at that, launched into a tirade of telling me who he hoped that my fat ass ate myslef into type 2 diabetes, and that I lived in a fantasy world of gaming, and that he hoped I got lung cancer from smoking to much.. blah, blah, blah.

Now, I ask you, what the fuck did any of that have to do with our actual disagreement? If he had called me “asshole” or “douche bag” again based on how I had handled our little email string of disagreement, fine. But, really? Someone who's in their 50s resorting to what I have now termed the “Yeah, well you're a doody head” technique of argument and basically wishing my dead because I didn't want to get forwarded a bunch of politically charged emails anymore? Where's the sense in that? And how sad and messed up is this person's life that they would resort to that? Sure, I could have been more diplomatic about the whole thing. I take full responsibility for responding in anger. But, outside of calling him “dick” once, I never made comments about his health, his weight, his hobbies or anything else that was irrelevant to the reason we were now at odds.

I am saddened that such a long standing friendship is over, especially with someone who was older than me (all of my friends are younger than I am) and that I looked up to as somewhat of a mentor. But considering his over the top reaction and the vile things he said in our final communication, I'm probably better off not having “Frank” in my list of friends anymore.

~ JC

Perseverance Does Pay Off

On October 3, 2010, I packed as much of my stuff as I could fit into my 2004 Saturn Ion (just the essentials, mind you) and made the trek from Fayetteville, NC to Atlanta, GA. For several years, my best friend, Robert, had been after me to do it, and I always had some piss poor excuse not to. I guess I had finally just gotten to the point that knowing that Fayetteville had nothing to offer me, career wise, except for crappy retail jobs that even the apprehension of leaving my loved ones just wasn't enough to keep me from taking the gamble of heading to a large metro area and trying to stake a claim on having a career and a life.

My first week in Atlanta I found a job, albeit not one any better than I could have found in Fayetteville. For about six months I hammered away working a part time, minimum wage gig at an office supply store for a control freak of a boss while putting my resume on almost every job site I could find. By Thanksgiving I had had one interview with a place that offered the opportunity to have a “real job” but was told my tech skills weren't strong enough yet. By January 2011 I had made a tentative decision to go back to North Carolina if I didn't have anything better than the retail job I had by the end of March. I even told my boss as much – that either by then I'd be shown that I had a future at the office store, have found something better here in the ATL, or I was going home. At that point I had decided that if I was going to be stuck in a crappy, minimum wage, retail job, I might as well go home and do that and at least then I could be with my fiancée everyday and maybe even see my Gramma, Mom, Sister and Niece on a regular basis.

But it's amazing what friendship can do for you. I have been really blessed in that coming to Atlanta has scored a great group of friends even beyond Robert, who already lived here. So my gaming buddy, Jeff, made me an offer. He needed a new roommate, and I needed to move out of Robert's house (that's a long story that I won't get into here, but it had nothing to do with anything bad between Rob and I – he's still my best friend, and lives less than two miles away from me). Anyway, Jeff offered to get an apartment with me – one which he could afford by himself if needs be, and that he was going to rent regardless of me being his roommate or not. The deal was that I could help out with what I could when I could until I found that “real job” I had been hunting. In fact, I was waiting to hear back from a job I had interviewed for that would have meant I could afford half the bills. So, I decided to stay, and even signed a twelve month lease that began March 1, 2011.

So for a month I continued working at the office store, thinking that maybe I had made a mistake in staying. Then one I day I got a phone call that would set in motion flood of career opportunity. The call came from a staffing agency (aka, temp agency, “head hunter”, whatever you want to call them). It was a chance to work, “temp-to-hire”, for $13 per hour, and it was even in the technology field. Finally, after months of rejection, or just plain no replies, I was being offered a “real job”. I started that job on April 26, went through six weeks of training and, at the risk of being a bit arrogant, had become one of the top two or three members of the customer service specialists on my team. I not only had a job that paid a decent wage but at which I knew I was respected, trusted and likely being groomed for advancement at.

Then the damnedest thing happened. I got a message on Facebook from an acquaintance that I knew through Robert, named Keith. He told me his company was hiring for their Technical Support team. I hesitant at first, for a few reasons. First of all, the place I was already working had already started the proceedings of switching me from being a temporary contract employee to permanent employee. Secondly, I knew I had a future where I was working (I had been directly told by my manager that once permanent I was in the running to be promoted to Tier 2 support). And thirdly, I had interviewed with this other company before, back in 2005, before it had been acquired by a larger company and was told my Unix/Linux skills weren't up to par for them to take the gamble on hiring me. Oh yeah, and they had just laid off Robert back in January because his job was duplicated overseas. So, I was a little apprehensive about even trying. I've been running Linux on my personal computer for a few months now, but still, my skills in Unix/Linux are still pretty rudimentary, in my opinion. Robert said I should go for it, so I said “fuck it” and sent my resume to Keith. I got a phone call from an HR Recruiter and had a preliminary “interview” over the phone a few days later. I figured that's that, and went to work that afternoon. Low and behold, I was called by the recruiter again to set up a phone interview one Friday with the team managers/leads here in Atlanta (Alpharetta, actually, but it's still the Metro-Atlanta area).

I honestly thought I had blown that phone interview. I started off pretty strong, but then they started asking about things that I was only vaguely familiar with and really couldn't answer the questions specifically, Again I thought “well, that's that” and went back to work on my next scheduled day. Imagine my surprise when I got a call that following Monday telling me that they wanted to do an on-site interview! Cool. I'll go and let them meet me face-to-face, I thought. I'll show them what I do know and hope it's enough, but I had a feeling they'd, once again, tell me that they needed someone with more Unix knowledge and experience than I had and really didn't have the time and resources to train and teach me. So, on a Friday morning, I got up at 6am, showered, shaved and put on my favorite suit and drove from Decatur to Alpharetta (it was the Friday before Labor Day in fact, so I ended up being way early because I had overestimated how bad traffic would be that morning). I met with four different people, two at at time, for a little over an hour. We talked about basic Unix commands, networking, I was even asked to view a couple of log files to test my ability to read them. Personality wise, I got along great with everyone I spoke with, but again I thought, on the technology portion of the interview I had fumbled. So I drove back to Decatur, changed clothes and proceeded to go about my normal Friday errands and such (Friday being one of my regular days off from the current job). Two hours later, my phone rang – it was the HR Recruiter. Naturally I thought, “Well, if this was good news, they wouldn't be calling me only two hours later.” I was WRONG! She was calling to offer me the job! Holy Shit! I couldn't believe it! It was all I could do to contain myself lest I wreck my car, since I was pulling out of a McDonald's drive through at the time.

So here I am, almost a year after coming down here, preparing to start a job that pays substantially more than I was making tomorrow morning. Leaving the job I was at was bitter-sweat. I really liked and respected my manager. I really got along with my team, and pretty much everyone did their job and we all worked really well together and, as I said before, I knew I was in line for moving up the ladder there. But when you get an offer for a job that's in a field you've been hoping to break into as long as I have, and it pays more per year than you're already making, you don't say “no”.

It's been a crazy twelve months, but it's obviously paid off. I've fallen in love with this city and all the awesome things there are to see and do here. I've found a great core group of friends. And now I finally have landed in the career that I've been hoping for for years. The only thing left is to move my beloved down here with me, and that will happen soon.

So if you're feeling down or like life's dumping on you, just hang in there. It may not be tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or even next year, but good things really do happen to those who don't give up.

"Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." - James 1:12 NASB

"Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." - Winston Churchill, (29 October 1941)

~ JC

A Long Awaited Blog

It's been three months or so since my last actual blog post. Not the longest hiatus I've taken from writing, but still, I've missed the Sunday morning routine of sipping my coffee while typing away with whatever chaotic thoughts are running through my brain. Speaking of chaotic commentary, this one proves to be anything but topical since I'm probably going to end up cramming three month's worth of observation, ranting and bullshit into a single post – it's even going to have subsections with their own heading, which is something I don't usually do. So, without further adieu, on with the show.

Welcome to the Tribe

As I mentioned in a previous blog, the first night I arrived in Atlanta, I was introduced to several people as it was gaming night. The game we played that night is called Tribe 8. It's interesting, as I think about it now, how life imitated the game a bit. As my newly rolled character for Tribe 8 had to be introduced to the other player's characters and be accepted, so to was I being introduced and accepted into a new tribe of friends. I've only known these folks for about three months, but it seems like we've been friends for much longer, like I was meant to have this group of friends. Since that night, I've spent a lot of time hanging out with all of them, and not just on gaming night. We've celebrated everything from Thanksgiving, to the return of another person from Officer Candidacy School (who likewise has become a good friend in a very short time), to New Year's Eve together. They've all met my fiancee when she came to visit, and I've come to know that I can call on them for just about anything, as they can call on me as well. I'd hate to ever have to leave Atlanta and these friends behind, which just motivates me even more to move beyond the part time, minimum wage job I have now into a job or career that would allow me remain here beyond just a few months.

In that same vein, not only have I been introduced to Tribe 8, but also a few other rather obscure role playing game systems that I had never heard of (e.g. Unknown Armies and Burning Empires). Now, I've blogged in the past about role playing games and offered my comparison of Dungeons & Dragons vs Palladium Fantasy and Rifts, so I won't go into a long diatribe here trying to compare all these systems. Suffice it to say that, so far, I like these systems much better than the D20 System used by D&D and leave it at that.

They're Just Little Plastic Army Men, right?

I've also mentioned previously, that I have, after several years of saying I'd never do it, started playing Warhammer 40,000. For those that aren't familiar, it involves collecting, building and painting models of little plastic futuristic army guys and then pitting them against another person's little plastic futuristic army guys on a big-ass table that's been adorned with various models of terrain, buildings, ruins, etc. The first time I ever saw Warhammer 40k, or it's older brother Warhammer Fantasy Battles, played, I thought “There's no fuckin' way I'll ever play that. It's to complex, and the pieces cost to much.” I've really got to learn to stop saying “never” when it comes to games I'm willing to try. Years ago I was given a starter set for Warhammer Fantasy, which I was originally going to use the models out of as miniatures for Dungeons & Dragons. When I decided, after overcoming my addiction to World of Warcraft last year, that I wanted to get back into building models to have a hobby to take the place of WoW, I figured I might as well look into both versions of Warhammer, but I still wasn't sure I wanted to play the games themselves. Now I've got a decent, if smallish by comparison to other players, collection of Warhammer 40k models that I'm working on painting and that are built enough to be playable. So far I've played five games of 40k with a record of 0-2-3. I suppose that's a decent battle record for a newbie considering that I'm playing against guys that have played for years and not only know their army's abilities, but mine as well. So, I've made some mistakes tactically because of lack of knowledge of what my enemy can do to counter my plans, but hey, you live your learn right? At any rate, the modeling part of the hobby is a nice way to relax in the evening while listen to music or watching a movie/TV and the game itself is a pretty cool way to kill a few hours at the gaming store on my days off. It's also another motivational factor for wanting to stay in Atlanta, since I know that back home there isn't anyone who plays that I'd actually want to play against (I've seen the guys who play back home, and frankly, they're all kind of douche bags).

Show Me The Money!

All the social interaction aside, what I really came to Atlanta to do was try to find a job that would allow my fiancee of eight years and I to be able to really have a life together without having to live with family. Don't get me wrong, I love my fiancee's family, but really, it makes it really difficult for us to be a couple when having to live under her mom and dad's roof. So far, what I have found is a part time, minimum wage job at an office supply store. I could have stayed in Fayetteville, NC and done that, and had the pleasure of seeing my beloved everyday. I've had two other interviews for “real” jobs since October, one of which flatly told me that they didn't think I'd work out, the other (which was very recently) should lead to a $10 per hour fulltime temp-to-perm posisition. Now, that job is supposedly slated to begin on February 14, which is a week from tomorrow (at the time of this writing) and I still haven't heard one way or the other. Couple that with the fact that I have just about reached a point with my current store manager where I'm ready to tell him to go fuck himself and don't really care that he won't get the traditional two weeks notice, it's all becoming a little frustrating.

I now have a definite time frame that I have to move out of my friend's house by (May). It's not a money thing or a we're not getting along thing. It just simply that by the middle to end of May, there simply won't be a viable place for me to stay. So, while $10 per hour isn't super rich, it is enough, believe it or not, to afford a pretty decent apartment here in the Decatur area of Atlanta (I found one for $650 a month for two bedrooms/two bathrooms or $599 per month for two bedrooms/one bathroom). I really don't want to have to pack up and move back to North Carolina. As hard as it was to leave my fiancee and family to move down here, I think it would be harder to have to leave the friends I have here to go back home. In NC, there just aren't any jobs that are worth a damn, and I really don't have anyone to hang out with or activities I can do. I honestly feel like going back to NC would be like a wounded animal finding a place to lay down and die. Sorry if that sound morose, but honestly, here in GA I feel alive, while in NC I merely existed.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

As I mentioned before, I used to write a blog every Sunday morning. I miss that. There was something really therapeutic and cathartic about being up on a Sunday morning, enjoying a cup of coffee and some music and venting my frustrations or sharing my observations or newly acquired knowledge via the written word while the rest of the household was still asleep. I need to start doing that again. Who knows? Hopefully, I'll get to stay in Atlanta, which will make these blogs more informative and entertaining and less ranting and raving. Either way, I like to write. It's actually one of the things I miss about college. Yeah, I know; weird right? I actually liked writing papers for my classes. I even had one of my uncles, who is a professional journalist, tell me that I should have considered making writing an integral part of my ministry (back when I was actually planning on going into the ministry). That's a good thing right? When a professional writer tells you that you're writing is good enough to do that, it makes you feel pretty good. And so, I write this blog, just to make sure I don't forget how to write.

Until next time (which will hopefully be sooner this time),

~ JC

Simply Simple

Ah, Sunday mornings. My blogging day. Roxanne's still asleep. The house is quiet. I've got my music going (softly-ish so it doesn't wake Roxanne). I am on my second cup of coffee. I have my e-cigarette so I can smoke at my desk instead of going outside. In the words of Ron White, “It's gonna be a good day, Tater.” Lately I have been thinking about all the technology we have access to, and more importantly the technology that I personally own. In fact, I was originally going to write a bit this morning about things like extensions for Google Chrome and apps for my Droid. But I think today is a better day to sit back and ponder the simpler things in life. I am definitely a techno-geek; I own gadgets, I read about gadgets I want to own and things that can make the ones I do run even better. The interesting thing is, sometimes I would rather put all that crap aside and just listen to some good music and read a book – a real book not an e-book. It just seems these days that everywhere you look something has an “e” or an “i” in front of its name. As much as I love my gadgets and having access to video games and digital music, sometimes you have to wonder if we've become to dependent upon it. I used to know how to spell, until spell checker. I used to be able to memorize phone numbers, until we had cellphones that could store hundreds of them for us. I actually have an e-book reader app on my MotoDroid, but I still can't bring myself to read a book using it – I guess I just love the feel and smell of the real thing to much. I keep saying that I need to spend more time at my favorite coffee-shop. That's an activity that used to occur a few times a week. Now, it's weeks between trips. I keep saying I want to start reading again like I used to (maybe a book a week but now it's more like a book a month or longer). It's technology's fault I say! The shiny, sparkly lights, the allure of the 3D images on the screen, the having to know what everyone is Facebooking or Twittering all the time lest I miss something [not really] important. We all just need to slow down. Enjoy simpler things, like a glass of sweet iced-tea, a cold beer, a good book, or sometimes just sitting in silence without all the beeping and blinking and flashing distracting us. So, today, I think that's what I'll do. A good book and a lovely beverage, maybe some music (ok, so music will mean I have to use a gadget, but in moderation) and make my Sunday the day of rest it is supposed to be.

~ JC

PS. In way of a disclaimer, I already know I have to potentially go do some errands/shopping later which will totally mess up my whole “day of rest” motif for the day. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do ;-)

To Do Lists, Reading, and Deadlines... Oh My!

I tend to be a very tedious person. So much so that I get picked on by my friends for being more than just a little be OCD.(1) Like many people, I do maintain a 'to do list' (in fact, I subscribe to two different online to do list managers; 'Remember the Milk' and 'Todoist'). Have you ever wondered, or thought to yourself, if maybe, just maybe, there's to much crap on your to do list? I list all kinds of things on mine. In fact, the reason I have two online to do lists, is because one is used as an actually daily/weekly to do list and the other is used as a sort of project outline tool. Here's the thing. I actually set deadlines, or hard due dates and times, on just about everything. Don't get me wrong, there are some things that absolutely have to have those, like paying the bills or what have you. But, I set hard due dates on things like when whatever book I'm reading should be completed. I guess if it were a library book and had to be returned, that would be a good idea, but I buy my books.(2) Now, if I own the thing then I should be able to read it when I want and take as long as I want right? That's just not how my brain thinks or processes things. You see, as I mentioned, I buy my books and since I am a bit of a bibliophile, I tend to buy them even when I already have several on the “to be read pile.” What this leads to is a tendency to already be thinking about which book I want to read next before I've even finished the one I'm currently on. So, I end up setting due dates to finish a book so I can get caught up on the ever growing reading list, self-imposed as it may be. Now, I suppose it's perfectly okay to set a date that I'd like to be finished by since it sort of helps set a goal. But, what actually happens is, I see the due date looming and notice that I've not been reading x pages per day as planned and so now I'm behind. So, I move the due date; then it gets pushed back again and again... you get the idea. What I end up doing is taking something that should give me pleasure and joy (reading a good book) and turning it into just another chore with a due date silently harassing me and making me feel guilty for not completing it on time.

I'll admit, I should probably set aside time each day to read, not necessarily set a number of pages per day, but that's not really the point I'm making. What I'm saying is, with this fast paced, rat-raced, fast food mentality world we live in, why do we hem ourselves in so much with due dates and to do lists in the first place? We have enough tasks and chores and lists to deal with at work, so why bring that stress home? Sure, there are some household related things that will always need a list (like the shopping list for example – forget my coffee, and I'll have to hurt somebody *grin*), but setting due dates on leisure reading or hobbies? That may be a bit much.

Slow down, relax, take a breath – pour yourself a cup of coffee (or whatever your favorite beverage may be) and read that book (or whatever) as slow as you damn well please ;-)

~ JC

(1) I get told I'm OCD because of my tendency to be overly organized so much so that I actually keep track of how much cash I have on me using Quicken in addition to balancing my checkbook. Hell, I even reconcile my change jar from time to time. I also get picked on at work because I get so irritated if my tools are not only put back, but put back in a specific spot.
(2) The fact that I buy books rather than borrow them or check them out of the library could probably be a blog in and of itself – and most likely will be soon.

To My Beloved

It's Valentine's Day morning. You lay sleeping while I sit typing. As verbose as I am capable of being, words escape me now to express my love for you. The best I can manage is a poem stolen from another website.

You've Touched My Heart

You've given me a reason
For smiling once again,
You've filled my life with peaceful dreams
and you've become my closest friend.

You've shared your heartfelt secrets
And your trust you've given me,
You showed me how to feel again
To laugh, and love, and see.

If life should end tomorrow
And from this world I should part,
I shall be forever young
For you have touched my heart

I love you!
~ JC

Three shots to the gut...

That's what it felt like. It hurt even to walk. I felt like I was carrying a solid gold brick in my belly. So what'd I do? I went home early from work, and drank Milk of Magnesia thinking it was just severe constipation. Not having health insurance, and having a general hatred of the kind of inefficient bullshit that usually happens in hospital ER's, I waited a day and a half, still drinking laxatives, before finally going to see a doctor. After being poked, x-rayed and having blood taken, I waited (still in pain mind you, because I've never been to the doctor in pain and they actually offer my anything for it). A half-hour later I was told, very matter-of-factly by the express care doctor on duty that I was not constipated, but I have diverticulitis. He actually asked me if I wanted to be admitted or be treated as an out patient. Of course, I chose outpatient and I'm sure I missed out on a wonderful (not to mention overpriced) stay with Cumberland County Health “Care” Systems (yes, I put care in quotes on purpose, but that's another rant altogether). So, after another wonderful wait at Walgreen's for about an hour and a half for my meds that we were told would take thirty minutes and cost almost $150, I headed home where I've been for close to two weeks developing cabin fever, muscle atrophy, and a pretty fucked up sleeping pattern.

I can't believe I'm only 38 and I've developed an “old man” disease already. I mean really? Diverticulitis? I know I'm fat, but damn. And I'm not getting any younger, but what the hell? For those of you who don't know, and are to lazy to look it up, diverticulitis is a disease that effects the lower large intestines (aka, the colon). Little pockets, called diverticula, form along the wall of the colon. Sometimes things get stuck in those pockets and they can become infected, causing diverticulitis. It hurts like a mother frakker. Now, here's the fun part; it can cause both constipation or diarrhea – WTF? How can the same disease have two totally opposite symptoms? Anyway, suffice it to say that I now get to eat a wonderful “old-man”, high-fiber diet to help keep this from happening again. And for the record, Metamucil decidedly does not taste like Tang, don't let anyone fool you!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the medicine and what a joy that's been to take. Now, the pain killer prescribed was Vicodin; I'm down with that. Vicodin's some good stuff with a wonderful penchant for making me sleep, and I like sleep. The antibiotic however, was one I'd never heard of; a little $14+ per pill number called Levaquin (conveniently not available in a less expensive, generic form). I looked it up. It's used for treating venereal diseases! WTF? Oh, and it “may cause dizziness.” Said so right on the bottle. So, I have an antibiotic that causes dizziness and a pain killer that does the same. Oh, yay! I get to be loopy as hell for a week! But that's not all. Seems the Levaquin also has some other side effects like muscle soreness and muscle spasms, which I directly got to experience. Boy it sure was fun having my whole torso cramp at one time to the point that I couldn't catch a breath and was almost bucked out of my chair for a full 20 minutes. Oh, and then there was the not being able to lay down at all for several days after and having to sleep in a recliner, because going prone caused the spasms to make an encore. Yep, if the disease doesn't get you, the meds will, eh?

So, this whole adventure started about eleven days ago. I can tell the infection's gone (never mind how), but things still hurt inside and I'm still having cramps. My BM's are not normal. I can almost sleep laying down (so far the couch on my back works better than on the bed one my stomach which I would prefer). I'm afraid to eat for fear of the pain it will cause coming out the other end. When I do eat, I'm eating high fiber muffins and drinking Metamucil in the morning as though I'm 70 years old. I'm almost broke because I've not even been able to go in to pick up paycheks from the hours I worked before this happened, plus the fact that I've missed a week and a half of work already and I'm not really sure if I should try to go back to work tomorrow or not.

This has been a cautionary tale. Don't let this happen to you. It sucks and it hurts. And I have no frakkin' idea how it happened to me.

~ JC

Sometimes It's the Simple Things

We live in a fast food, video game society. We want what we want, and we want it they way we want it, and we want it right now. I, too, have succumbed to the world of Massively Multi-player Online games, only recently overcoming that addiction. As I get older, though, I find myself wanting to do nothing more than relax in my favorite chair and either read or watch TV. In fact, now that I've overcome my overwhelming need to play World of Warcraft (or should I say “Warcrack”), I'm rediscovering the joy of reading and actual role-playing games (let's be honest, WoW and the like call themselves RPG's, but they really aren't).

At the end of November my friends and I figured out a way to play Dungeons & Dragons despite being hundreds of miles apart from each other. Last night, we expanded that experience to include the game RIFTS. We also have plans to begin delving into the World of Darkness eventually as well. Now, it may seem strange to most that at the age of thirty-eight I still find enjoyment in this kind of entertainment, but as they say, sometimes it's the simple things in life that give us the most pleasure. Just like I enjoy losing myself in a good book, role-playing games are a way to lose myself in a living novel that I get to help write on the fly.

Anyway, all I'm saying is, don't get caught up in the fast paced bullshit that plagues us in the 21^st century. Slow down, enjoy some simple pleasures. Yep, the life long geek is telling you to back off the technology for a bit – go figure.

~ JC

My Appologies

I realize I had promised a detailed review of the Motorola Droid for this week's blog. Alas, I was quite overcome by an extreme feeling of fatigue and spent the entire day in bed. In fact, I'm still feeling pretty icky. So, I will try to either have that for you next week, or I'll work on it throughout the week and get it posted asap.

~ JC

Your Hobby Sucks... but then again, so does mine

Everyone has a hobby, or at least something they enjoy doing when they are not working or sleeping. What is a hobby or pastime if not just a big time sink? I mean, let's think about this for a moment. There are twenty-four hours in day. Most of us work six to eight of those hours and sleep six-to-eight as well (for the sake of argument, we will go with the “normal” eight hour work day and eight hours of sleep per day). That leaves an extra eight hours to kill everyday. You have to fill that time with something (hopefully, bathing and eating are amongst those activities). So, the question remains, what to do with all that free time? Housework? Yardwork? Sure, those are things that need to be done, and on days that one doesn't have to be at work, there are even eight extra hours to be filled beyond the normal eight the other five days. So, people find ways to keep themselves busy or entertained to fill the void, right? The point is, no one really has the correct answer to this equation, but I would be willing to bet they think they do. Why? Because so many of us love to put down or criticize others who fill their free time with activities that we would not or do not enjoy, so therefore, their hobby must suck.

As a lifelong gaming geek who has enjoyed playing role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons and the like for over twenty years, I have always had to catch hell from others who do not understand why I play/played such games. Now that we have moved into the age of the Internet and World Wide Web, those interests in RPGs has moved to into the realm of playing MMORGPs such as World of Warcraft and D&D Online. Now, I freely admit that I am a bit OCD at times and when I take up a hobby, be it a game or other activity, I tend to become immersed in it to the point of being almost evangelistic when speaking of it. So, I can kind of see where I would get on someone's nerves who is not interested in those activities. However, that does not mean that I am wrong for enjoying them does it? I ask because sometimes I find people that seem to think I am. I hear questions all the time like, “Why do you play [insert name of game here]? That game is stupid!” or “That is such a waste of time.” To the first statement I'll say, it is a free country and your are entitled to you opinion. To the second statement, yes, it is a waste of time; that's the point! I have eight extra hours to fill everyday, and anything I do outside of work or sleep can be categorized as a waste of time (you know, except for household chores and the aforementioned bathing and eating). I want to be clear on this so I'll use all caps, ALL HOBBIES ARE A WASTE OF TIME! Yep, I said it. I don't care what you choose as a hobby, it is nothing but a waste of time. That's the point. If we aren't working, sleeping or doing chores, we want, (dare I say, need) our other time to be wasted doing something other than staring at a wall being bored.

I guess what I'm getting at is this. In the gaming world, geeks can become quite vicious when talking about or defending their particular game. People who play WoW think that people who play other MMORPGs are stupid. People who used to play WoW and quit talk trash to and put down those who still play, and it goes on and on an on; just find any message board on gaming if you don't believe me. But even outside of the gaming community people can become quite petty about things. Persons A and B both like to read, for example. Person A likes to read trashy romance novels, while Person B prefers Science-Fiction. Now, neither of these genres serve any purpose other than to be entertaining. They aren't scholarly books that might teach the reader something about history or politics or science or any of hundreds of other topics. So they both want to know why the other one reads “that crap.” And of course, Person C comes along and wants to know why either of them waste their time reading “that crap” since he “doesn't waste my time reading fiction.” Then there are the people who do not even enjoy reading at all and wonder why all the “nerds” are reading when they could just be watching TV or going to a movie instead.

Maybe I'm just over sensitive because it seems that gaming geeks like me seem to catch the most shit from people who don't get why we play games. But the real point to this whole diatribe is, no one truly has the right to question anyone else's hobby or pastime. Just because you don't enjoy, doesn't make it invalid and just because you do enjoy it doesn't make it “better” than mine or anyone else's. So, STFU and go play your games, read your trashy romance novel, watch you reality TV shows, pimp your rides, or whatever else cremes your Twinkie. Just remember to eat and bathe (especially bathe; that one is a non-negotiable).

~ JC

Reflections on the Future

So, I was reading a post by my buddy Jimmy over at the Jabberwocky Asylum called “My Life Changes: Everything Old is New Again!” this morning and it got me thinking and put me in a blogging mood. As you may have read in my last post, I was fired from my job at RadioShack. Day one afterwards was like having a day off. Day two was like a mini-vacation. By day four, I was about to go stir crazy from boredom despite having a couple dozen books to catch up on reading and my World of Warcraft addiction to keep my occupied. Thankfully, yesterday I got a call from my aunt's husband, who owns Wild Bill's Concealment, which makes holsters and belts and such for folks who are licensed for carry and concealment of handguns. In other words, he's a leather smith, and he offered me a job. Now, I know jack about leather working, but it seems like it'd be fun to learn a skill like that, plus it's an income while I decide what I want to be when I grow up (for the record, I'm 37). So, I'll enjoy the remainder of this week and I'll start working for Wild Bill on Monday.

Over this past week couple of weeks, both before and after my exodus from RadioShack, I've thought about a lot of things. I've watched my friend Rob go through the loss of his aunt to cancer. I've dealt with being unemployed (albeit for a very brief period) and what to do about finding an income and possibly returning to school in some capacity. Reading Jimmy's blog this morning was, well, eye opening to a degree. For starters, it made me realize that I'm not the only one who worries about what I'm supposed to be doing with my life, or if past choices were right or wrong. This whole past couple of weeks has made me rethink my beliefs, spiritually speaking, my mortality, my career (or rather, the lack thereof).

Truth be told told, I have no frakkin' idea what the future holds. Who does? I also have no plan (but, hey, it's only been a week since I lost my retail job). I do know, and still hold to my conviction that losing my job at RadioShack was decidedly not a bad thing. It needs to serve as a catalyst to propel me forward and light the proverbial fire under my ass to start living and seek my bliss and my true calling and career. And, no, I don't think my calling is to make leather holsters for the rest of my life (but, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't be open to it if it turns out that I really love doing it). I've always toyed with the idea of working in the computer field in some way. Years ago I started a programming degree, but never finished it. I've attempted to start my own computer repair business with some friends, but we floundered on it shortly after. I've interviewed with a company in Atlanta to be an IT guy, but at the time lacked the necessary skills to get the job. I've researched various certification programs at local community colleges, but never had the balls to go for it. So now is the time. Get busy living or get busy dying, as Andy said to Red in “The Shawshank Redemption.” Either I'll end up loving leather working and use that as a catalyst to doing my own thing with a crafting skill, or I'll end up back in school for IT and/or networking certification and finally get that high paying gig in the computer industry that I say I've always wanted. One thing is for sure, I'm not even the least bit interested in ever working in retail again! I've had enough of having my soul drained by corporate greed and asshole customers.

Oh, and with so many things running through my head these days, this blog will probably be reborn as well. I've never had designs on writing professionally, but I do enjoy writing. So even if no one reads it, I'll still write it.

~ Carlisle

Yes. I do still exist

Wow, it's been almost a full two months since I last blogged. Not much has changed, and yet so much has changed. On the “not much has changed” front, I still play World of Warcraft religiously and have switched to playing on a lower population PvP server and have also switched to playing a toon of the Horde faction (see my previous post “Ding of Dings” for details on what all that means). On the “so much has changed” front, I am now unemployed. Yep, I've become a statistic in the current “economic crisis” here in the United States. Lemme 'splain... no no, that take-a too long, lemme summup.

You see, my former employer, RadioShack, pays it's sales people hourly plus “commissions” (I put commissions in quotes because they don't call them that, but I won't bore you with all that; it's just easier to say commissions because everyone understands that concept). The big money maker for RadioShack (so the claim) is wireless (aka cellphones) and service plans. Simple really, when they sell a cellphone the get the retail cost of the phone (even if the customer paid less than retail under the whole “with 2yr agreement” pricing) plus other kickbacks and bonuses from the carrier based on what type of minute/text/data/etc plan the customer signs up for; all that equals tons of profit without much pay out for product. Service plans are pure profit because it's like getting the customer to pay for a sort of extended warranty on a product that they'll likely never file a claim on. So, if John Doe buys a LCD TV for $400 on sale RadioShack makes maybe a 10-20% profit because the markup on TV's is pretty low. But if you can get Mr. Doe to also buy a 2yr in home repair plan for an additional $130, then that service plan is pure profit because there's only any overhead on it if Mr. Doe actually has any issues with the TV and RadioShack has to have the TV repaired or replaced under the service plan (which doesn't happen that terribly often, because most people just plain forget the bought the service plan or just don't want to go through the hassle of making the phone call to file a claim against the service plan they bought, so RadioShack, Sears, BestBuy or whatever retail chain the whole thing was purchased at, never loses anything on the service plan).

So, I said all that to say this... I was fired for not selling enough wireless and/or service plans. Forget the fact that I was there for three years, never missed a day of work in all that time, had customers who asked for me personally because my customer service skills were that damn good, and the fact that even though I wasn't selling very many cellphones or service plans, I was regularly meeting or exceeding the $75 per hour sales quota to qualify for other “spiffs” and commissions. Nope, none of that shit mattered. Neither did the fact that I was, and I realize my touch of arrogance in this comment, one of the few truly competent employees in the entire district. Nope, the fact that I couldn't get people to spend extra cash on service plans (many of which were pointless) or get them to buy a cellphone other than the not so profitable prepaid variety is what got me fired. The only thing I'll miss about RadioShack is that Anna was the best damn manager I had ever worked for, and it sucked that she had to fire me when it wasn't her decision.

So now what, you ask? Simple. I'm going to go take classes in Networking and/or other various computer related certifications so I can get a job worthy of my intelligence level and ability to deal with technology and trouble shooting. Roxanne and I had already planned our vacation for the last week in April and the room in Myrtle Beach has already bee booked and essentially paid for, so I'm going to relax and enjoy life for awhile before hitting the grind of work again. There are online classes and work from home jobs I can do. Hell, if I get really squirrelly I may even look into government grant programs to start small businesses and work for my damn self for a change. Who knows? All I know is, I'm not that upset about losing my job at RadioShack. In fact, I feel like I've been set free! Hey, maybe I'll have more time to write for those of you who, for some odd reason, like reading my blog *grin*.

~ Carlisle

Triumphant Return (maybe)

The writing bug has bitten me again... well, at least for today. We'll see what 2009 holds for Carlisle's Chaotic Commentary, but for today I'll bring everyone up to speed.

WoW, This is Addictive
As my regular readers (assuming I still have any) know, I began playing World of Warcraft® back in August. I'll admit to a certain level of gaming addiction and that WoW has contributed to my not writing my blog every Sunday as I had been doing. I started playing the game at the long behest of a buddy of mine and even joined the guild he was a member of (“Sons of Gotrek”). No WoW guild is immune to drama and upheaval, and ours was no different. Back in November, Blizzard released Wrath of the Lich King, the 2^nd expansion pack to World of Warcraft. It seemed most of us were on board to level to 80 (the previous cap being 70) and creating the new and long awaited Death Knight (WoW's first hero class).

Well, the unexpected happened. Our Guild Master quit. I don't mean he quit the guild, I mean he completely quit the game a mere week or two after the expansion pack was released. One of my buddy's characters (also known as a “toon” as in cartoon) was promoted to Guild Master by the previous GM before he quit, so we thought everything would work itself out. Well, it didn't. Within the last two weeks we had a couple of other members move their main toons to a different guild saying they wanted a “more active guild.” I can respect that, but how about helping recruit people and make the one you're in more active? Oh, and I'm sorry that I have a life outside of WoW and don't play 24/7 like you guys are able to.

The icing on the cake was when my buddy, unannounced and without any fanfare or explanation, also dropped his main toon from the guild, leaving the alternate (Alt) toon that had been made guild master in place. At that point, I was done as was my other buddy who I regularly quested with. In fact, we had been pretty much a subset within the guild for months as we always seemed to be questing together separate from the rest of the guild. So, I am now a Guild Master. There was no coup or anything. Jere and I simply left “Sons of Gotrek” and collectively have spent almost 400 Gold of our toons' hard earned loot to create “Myth Inc” (the name is inspired by the Myth Adventures series of novels by Robert Asprin). I have to tell you, being a Guild Master is some work. First I had to buy a guild charter, then get nine other toons to sign it (that cost me about 40 gold in bribes at 5G a pop, with Jere's main being the first to sign leaving eight more to get). Then we had to establish a Guild Vault, which cost another 100 gold. Last night we spent another 250 gold to add more storage to the Guild Vault. And all this while trying to save enough gold to pay for training and new skills as we get closer to the goal of Level 80. Naturally, about half of the toons we bribed to sign our charter left the newly formed guild within about 24 hours (which was expected) and there's a couple that we may have to quietly remove since they don't really seem interested in actually participating. We did manage to luck up and get one guy who's pretty excited about being in a guild and has even already started helping to recruit others. He and his friends are still pretty new to the game, but I kind of dig the idea of helping to teach the “newbs.” I wouldn't have made it to Level 76 (the level my main is at at the time of this posting) with help from others (both friends and strangers), so I'm happy to pay back – plus, it's just good karma.

I wish I could Retire Early
So, everyone out there is aware of the current “economic crisis” here in the U.S. I assume. If not, pick up a fucking newspaper, turn on a TV to a news channel or generally take your head out of you ass and pay attention to what people are saying.

That being said, my work place is certainly not immune, especially being a retail chain in a town who's work force is probably 90% retail clerks or food service workers. You'd think, with the Christmas and Holiday gift giving season having just ended that we'd have been ok right? NOT! The week before Christmas I was cut down to about 28 hours. I got my normal 37ish hours in the week of Christmas, but then the two weeks after, I only worked around 24 each, and this coming week, I'm only scheduled for 20! WTF?! I am, as far as I know, still listed as full time status. The other thing is, our schedule is supposedly based on sales performance. Well, even with sales down across the board, I still had more sales than most of my co-workers. Oh, but that's right, RadioShack only cares about cellphone sales. Forget all the other shit I sold, I didn't sell as many phones as everyone else. So, I get fucked up the ass with a chainsaw without the courtesy of any lube. Loyalty (I've been there 3 years come March) means nothing anymore, not does the other work I do such as price tags, freight, planograms, etc. to help keep the store operational. Just sales.... sales, sales, sales. Oh, great you sold $1million of stuff.. sell some more, you can do better than that... blah blah blah.

I'm 37 years old. The prospect of trying to re-enter the job market isn't a very happy thought, and since the job market basically sucks right now, it's an even less happy thought than usual. Truth be told, I'm so sick of stupid people and assholes that I'd rather just retire. Of course, for that to happen I'd have to win the lottery or have some excruciatingly rich relative I don't know about suddenly die and leave me their estate. Not bloody likely I'd say.

That's My Girl!
While my hours at work dwindle, Roxanne, my fiancée, continues her work as the Operations Manager for the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. It's not a high paying job, but at least it builds her resume toward working in marketing and public relations. In fact, she just began the MBA program at Methodist University, which will make her future job prospects even greater. I'm very proud of her and will be supporting her anyway I can over the next year and a half (I even did the laundry today while she was at school).

Future Chaos
Sorry for this being such a long winded blog. I guess that's what happens when you take three months off from blogging – you end up with a lot to say at one time. I'm not promising that I'm going to go back to the weekly format. Perhaps I'll try monthly posts starting out to get back into a rhythm. Thanks for reading.

Until next time,
~ Carlisle

PS. Yes, I know my last post back in September said I wasn't going to continue posting the blog on both Blogger and MySPace, but since it's been three months since I've posted anything at all, I've kind of changed my mind about that.

When Council's Cave, Cults Win

Some of you may recall a pair of posts I wrote back in April referring to our local Dogwood Festival and how a local church/cult had the balls to actually whine to the city council because the Festival's policy didn't allow political or religious groups to have informational booths.¹ In other words, the Festival people knew that people didn't want a bunch of religious wackos and political zealots forcing their bullshit literature on them while they were trying to enjoy good music, good beer and good food during the Festival. I even got into it with one of the church's associate pastors about how it was decidedly NOT a First Amendment issue because it was two non-profit organizations involved and it was actually Manna Church who was trying to turn it into one by attempting to get the City Council involved.

Well, I read something truly disturbing in the Fayetteville Observer a couple of weeks ago in reference to this issue. On July 19, 2008, in an article titled “Festival reverses church policy” it was announced that the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival caved in to the demands of the local cult leaders and will henceforth allow these fuckers to have informational booths at future Festivals. What's of greater interest to me is Manna's Pastor Micheal Fletcher's quote, “And we’ll follow whatever rules they give us,... Hopefully, everyone obeys them.” BULLSHIT! His church/cult was the source of the turmoil. His church was the one that took 1,000 cult followers to the City Council to bitch and moan. His church was the one that couldn't leave it alone and essentially strong armed the Festival's board of directors into reversing the policy by creating a perceived public outcry and pressure on them. Michael Fletcher, you're an asshole! Just look at this photograph from the Fayetteville Observer:

Can the bastard look any more smug and arrogant? The article mentions that Fletcher said “I had really hoped that they would decide this way. And I’m gratified that they have.” Yeah, I'll bet you are. Now you can recruit more people for your cult. I sincerely hope that if any church truly fucks up and breaks whatever rules the Festival lays down for the use of informational booths, that these are the first assholes to do it so we can be rid of them.² Rev. Brian Thompson of Simon Temple AME Zion Church said in that he was very interested in finding out what those rules are going to be. So am I, and my fiancée and I have some ideas (OK, they're mainly hers, but she doesn't blog, so I'm putting them down here).

Carlisle and His Fiancée's Ideas for the Dogwood Festival Non-Profit Informational Booths (read 'em and pay attention!)

1) Since AIT was kind enough to allow political and church groups to use their parking lot at the last Festival (for double the fee amount, I might add) outside of the Festival's parameters, why not seek their permission to use their parking lot again as a “Community Corner” for all non-profit groups. Anyone with a non-profit organization that wants to hand out information about their organization and therefore anyone who actually wants said information can be in this area where they aren't in the way or disturbing those who aren't interested in this bullshit.

2) Five Foot Rule – regardless of where information booths are placed, there will be a Five Foot Rule for those working the booth. In other words, you have to wait for people to come to you, you can't run around forcing people to take your crap.

3) Lottery – Space will be limited to a certain number of informational booths. PERIOD. Your application will be put into a lottery drawing (provided it is filled out completely and correctly). If yours is one of the lucky ones chosen, you will be notified and will have a set amount of time to pay the fee for the booth. If you miss the deadline, the Festival should draw to see who gets offered your spot.

4) NO FOOD/DRINKS – this was the issue that started all this bullshit, because Manna wanted to hand out free food and drinks to people along with their pamphlets and materials. (Can you say bribery?). Informational booths are just that; information only! If you want to SELL food/drinks, then pay for a vendor booth and leave your tracts and cult literature at home!

These are just a few ideas mind you. Hopefully the Festival's governing body will see to it that the churches that wish to participate peacefully and respectfully may do so while those religious zealots and nutters out there can be kept from disturbing festival goers. I'll concede Fletcher's comment “And churches are a part of this community” as being true. We are, after all, in the “Bible Belt” here. My issue is that there are to many churches that don't respect the beliefs of others or the desire of others to be left alone and try to force their particular brand of Christianity on others. And that is exactly why I don't want them to be allowed to have booths at the Dogwood Festival; that's not what the Dogwood Festival is about or for. The Festival is about celebrating the Arts, and having some cult asshole try to talk to you about Jesus has nothing to do with the Arts. Neither, however, does having a bunch of environmentalist wackos and Al Gore worshipers around either. So let's keep that in mind as well, eh there Festival board? I realized they're trying to be more inclusive, but if they let to many freaks have booths and they don't make those freaks stay in their booths and isolate them, then they'll have smaller crowds of people willing to go downtown for the event. Just food for thought.

Until next week,
~ Carlisle

Footnotes:

1. “Why Can't Churches Live and Let Live” (April 20, 2008) and “Dogwood Manna Emails/Final Comments” (April 23, 2008)

2. If you want to know the source of my venomous comments and apparent anger with Manna Church, make sure you read the comments for the the original two posts and especially the second one in which I have the emailed commentary of one of the church's pastors and how they've managed to lie through their teeth the entire time. I have inside sources at the Festival, so I know what's going on and who's telling what lies to whom.

Next week's topic (unless I change my mind at the last moment) - “A Graves Point of View (Askew)”

Home of the Free, Because of the Brave

Here in the United States we recently celebrated our nation's 232^nd birthday, for it was on July 4, 1776 that our Founding Fathers told the British Empire to bugger off and declared the independence of of the colonies. Needless to say, that pissed King George off pretty good, so he sent General Lord Cornwallis over here to beat some sense into these rabble-rousers, so from 1776-1783 we fought the Revolutionary War, eventually winning obviously, else I'd be drinking tea in the morning instead of coffee and be eating scones (which are nasty) instead of sausage, egg and cheese biscuits from MacDonald's rather than McDonald's. But I digress.

The point of today's mini-blog is this. We wouldn't have won our freedom if not for the brave souls who joined the Continental Army and State Militias. More to the point, we would not still have our freedom if not for those who continue, to this day, to join the United States Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard. The last line of the first stanza of “The Star Spangled Banner” says: “The land of the free and the home of the brave.” But really, it's the Land of the Free Because of the Brave. Think about that while you're watching those fireworks (meant to represent the “rockets red glare/the bombs bursting in air”) and eating that hot dog; think of our brave men and women overseas keeping the terrorists from crossing the line in the sand; think of the freedom you enjoy to bitch and moan about things and criticize your own government when in so many other countries it would get you executed. Think, remember and never forget that the United States is the greatest place to live because brave people fought for it (and died for it) to be so.

~ Carlisle

Next week's blog: TBD

VAY-CAY-SHUN!!

Seven glorious days off in a row, five of which I get paid for! How awesome is that? I love having paid vacation time. I'm so burnt out on work right now I was almost at my breaking point. I've come to close to many times to throwing my keys on the desk and walking out it's ridiculous. I need this time off to rest, recharge and relax. So here I am on day four of my vacation deciding what to do. I have no agenda as of yet, but here's what I've done so far:

Thursday, June 19
Played Golf from 8am to 12:30, then had lunch at Zaxby's. Came home and slept until 6pm (Naps are awesome!) then ate supper and did my normal evening routine of pretending to watch TV while goofing off on the computer.

Friday, June 20
Took my dog to his vet appointment, then took my Gramma to lunch and to do her grocery shopping. Wasted the rest of the day looking at boobies and other stuff on the Internet. (I likes teh boobies)

Saturday, June 21
8am – oil change at the Saturn dealership (why the f***k did I make an appointment for 8am on a Saturday?!); had breakfast at Waffle House while waiting; got home around 9:45am and went the hell back to bed! Got up at noon, had a Jersey Mike's cheese-steak for lunch that my father-in-law-to-be brought me then went shopping with my fiancée; picked up several Magic: The Gathering novels at Edward McKay's used bookstore for my collection, ordered a spare pare of glasses from Sears Optical while their sale was still going on; had dinner at Chili's with Roxanne (those little burgers on the appetizer menu are frakkin' awesome!); came home and spent the evening cataloging my newly acquired books and started reading Confessor by Terry Goodkind (not part of the Magic: The Gathering series, just for clarification).

JESUS! What a boring ass person I am! Most people go on exotic trips or cruises for their vacations. But not me. Oh, hell no! I stay in boring ass Fayetteville and catch up on reading or sleep away my vacation. Truthfully, I was supposed to be in Chicago for a friend's wedding, but alas, even with my tax returns back in February and the stimulus check I got a few weeks ago, I just had to many expenses of my own to be able to drop what would have constituted about half to three-quarters of a month's wages to fly to Chicago, rent a hotel room for two nights and rent a tux. I hate that I couldn't be there. So, Drew, if you're reading this (you said you read my blog regularly so we'll see if you're paying attention) I hope it all went well and you and Jen have a great honeymoon and we'll see you when you get back.

Well, that's it for this week boys and girls. I have to get back to my boring ass vacation of reading and sleeping (and possibly job hunting and definitely more golf, weather permitting [damn thunder storms]). Next week I plan to revisit the topic of being a Hockey fan in the South as I feel last week's blog just didn't do it justice. Until then, Have Fun, Be Young, Drink Pepsi!

~ Carlisle

Next week: “Yee Haw, eh? Part 2”

Sign Me Up and call me 'Sucker'! - Reward Programs, Bonus Points, and Credit Cards

Take a look in your wallet, or even better, check your key chain. How many reward program cards and/or credit cards do you have? Personally, I have no credit cards (thank the gods) but I have five reward/bonus cards on my key chain, and I have a card in my wallet to my favorite coffee shop that allows me a free cup for every ten I buy. Remember when grocery stores simply had sales? I think I was still twelve-years-old when they did that. Now, of course, you have to have their bonus card (which, conveniently, is free) to get the sale price (and a shit load of junk mail now that they have your address). I think FoodLion started it back in the 1980's, and all the others soon followed suit, including Harris Teeter (can't comment on Kroger because we don't have them where I live anymore, nor is there any longer a Bi-Lo, which does have a bonus card and I only blame FoodLion because that's honestly the first one I remember ever getting). Amazingly, Wal-mart doesn't have a bonus/discount card, but it does have its own credit card.

Not only have the grocery stores saturated the market with their little plastic cards, but other places have as well. Here's the breakdown of what's on my key chain/in my wallet: FoodLion MVP Card, HarrisTeeter VIC Card, OfficeDepot Worklife Rewards Card, Dick's Sporting Goods Scorecard Rewards, Books-A-Million Millionaire's Club Discount Card, and finally, Barnes & Noble Member Program (what a boring name compared to everyone else) and I used to have a Staples one as well, but I lost it. Most of these were free, save for the two bookstores who charge $15 (BAM) or $25 (B&N) per year to receive a mere 10% off. The grocery stores, as I mentioned, just give you what would have been, in the past, the weekly sales prices. The ones that are the most full of crap, though, are the Dick's Sporting Goods and OfficeDepot cards as well as the so called Visa Rewards Program I have through my bank by using my Visa Check Card. These things are insidious. They promise you points that can be used for additional savings or items as Rewards for being such a loyal customer. What a crock of shit! Typically, with these programs, you get one point per dollar spent (although Dick's is cool enough to offer double points on items that are their exclusive store brands and to occasionally send out coupons worth bonus points). What that means is, by the time you've accumulated enough points to get that $10 gift certificate or pick something from the rewards catalog, you've spent anywhere from $300-$5,000! As much as I hate to admit it, these tactics work. I've bought stuff from Dick's that I could've gotten from Target or Wal-mart because I wanted my points or because they sent me a bunch of coupons (never mind that the other two places may have been $5-$10 cheaper and I had to go there for other things and the trip to Dick's was out of my way; well, where I live the Target and Dick's are across the street from each other, but still...). I do the same thing with certain home office supplies; I end up at OfficeDepot, even though all I've ever gotten from them is coupons for stuff I either don't need, or at least don't need the bulk amount required to use the coupon. You know the kinds of coupons I'm talking about; the ones that say stuff like, “Get 10¢ off your next purchase of $100 or more.” At least reward programs don't effect your credit.

Credit card applications are everywhere too. These are even more maddening than the reward programs, because these things can actually get people in an assload of trouble. I get in trouble at work because I don't sign enough people up for our store credit card, but the truth is, I think people are sick of being asked to sign up for stuff every time they walk into any store. I've actually had people in department stores wave me over to the cosmetics counter as I was walking by just to beg me to fill out an application because these stores impose quotas on their staff (I know, my Mom used to work for one that would regularly threaten employees with termination if they didn't make their quotas; never mind if they had gotten double or triple the quota the month before). So, before you get pissed at that clerk for asking, remember, their job may very well be on the line because of corporate greed. That doesn't change the fact, however, that I think most consumers are just plain sick of playing twenty questions at every cash register they walk up to. “Would you like to sign up for our bonus-card-credit-plan-get-a-free-lollipop-with-every-
purchase-as-long-as-you-sign-over-your-first-born-child-
and-give-us-a-dna-sample-card? If you sign up today you get a free kick in the nuts!” I work retail and I'm a consumer, so I see both sides of it. The poor clerk has to ask because they'll get in trouble if they don't, but they're also tired of getting cursed out by the customers who are sick of being asked and don't realize the clerk is just doing their job and has to ask them. And during the holiday season, it gets even worse, because then all the businesses not only ask you to sign up for their rewards/discount program and/or credit card, but then they want you to buy some piece of decorated cardboard for “only a dollar” with the name of a charity printed on it so they can post it on their wall or window to make it look like they give a shit about anything but making money, and you can assuage your guilt for being a “have” instead of a “have-not” for another year.

Most of us are already in debt up to our necks (or beyond) and are getting fed up with the constantly rising prices gas which affects the prices of everything else (thanks a lot Dubya!). Many of us have gotten or will receive by the end of the summer, so called “stimulus checks” courtesy of the federal government. Do they think we'll actually spend them? I didn't; mine went in the bank to help create a bit of a buffer between checks for bills and unforeseen incidentals. Ok, ok, so I bought some golfing supplies (yes, at Dick's Sporting Goods so I could get my frakkin' points) with part of it, but that was only like $70 and the check was for $600, so bite me! I also ended up having to get new glasses (because mine broke) and my dog is due for several booster shots; so much for stimulating the economy with impulse purchases. I'd be willing to bet that most other folks are going to use theirs the same way or to try to help pay off some of that credit card debt. But I digress. Simply put, we all know that the credit card applications and bonus programs that get shoved in our face are total bullshit, just try to be cool about refusing them and remember that the clerk offering them is trying to keep their job.

~ Carlisle

Next week: “Yee Haw, eh?” a book review of Hockey Night in Dixie: Minor Pro Hockey in the American South by Jon C. Stott and my thoughts on being a southern hockey fan.