Random Thouhts

Email, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr...how does one keep up with it all? I don't know that I do justice to any of these communication forums. I have found Facebook to be the easiest to keep up with, partly because I can monitor and update from my phone, and partly because of the format...it's much easier to do a quick update.

I tried to get my college friends signed up on Facebook, and one replied, "Why? Isn't that what you created the Humboldt Blog for?" He was the only one who updated the blog (and was quite frustrated about that). For whatever reason, most of my college friends didn't completely buy in to the whole blog thing. I explained to him that I think Facebook is more conversational, personal and easier to update. He loves it now that he is signed up.

Why does Starbucks frequently run out of sleeves for their coffee cups? (Coffee collars for those that have seen Made of Honor). I can't understand the logic in this. If you order 1000 cups, order 1000 sleeves! The math is not hard on this, yet they seem to be out of sleeves way too often.

Should I keep doing this blog? I've thought about just moving it over to Facebook, but am not sure yet what I will do. I plan on making my next blog about farting, and am not sure I want that made available to all of my co-workers. I kind of like having this little world to share my thoughts somewhat anonymously.

Gladiator is the best movie ever!! It is one of a few movies that I could watch over and over and over and not get tired of. I am in a year-long Leadership class at work and this months session is on Legacy Leadership. For our homework, we were supposed to provide a 60 second clip from a movie that demonstrates legacy leadership to us. I chose a clip from Gladiator. Not sure how the instructors will use all of the clips, but I will find out on Tuesday.

I watched some of the performances and speeches at the Inauguration party today. I am not sure how to feel about all of the Inauguration hoopla. I find a lot of it all to be rather self-indulgent, and I think the cost ($150 million) is an outrageous amount to spend on a big party in the current economic environment. But I also understand the historic nature of this election and what it means to many people. I'll be glad when it's all done and people have something else to focus on.

Worst Christmas??

How was everyones Christmas? Contrary to the title of this post, my Christmas was pretty good. Lots of family, great gifts, focus on the true meaning...pretty much everything you could ask for in a Christmas. My sister-in-law got engaged in a very creative way, (her fiancee proposed via video on a new iphone). Vicki did an amazing job with the gifts this year. I am usually hard to buy for, and not often surprised, but she did good.

So what was "worst" about this Christmas? I'm glad you asked...I did a horrible job on the gift giving front with Vicki. I have been completely wracked with guilt the last few days because of it. I am normally great at gift giving. I have a knack for finding the right gift, especially where Vicki is concerned, But I don't know what happened this year. Christmas crept up on me, and I didn't put a lot of thought into it until it was too late. What did I get her that was so lame? How about nothing? Yes, I got her absolutely NOTHING!!!!! Wednesday night when I was doing my last minute wrapping, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I I almost started hyper-ventilating! You know that dream where you find yourself in a classroom naked? That's how I felt...panicked with no way out.

I guess technically I got her SOMETHING, because I gave her a verbal IOU for a pair of breeches. (I was trying to be funny there, but it's just lame, isn't it?)I have failed as a husband. My only hope is that years of doing really well with gifts (birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas) have created enough goodwill that I get a mulligan this year.

I don't think Vicki has quite realized the level of guilt and remorse that I feel right now. She could really take advantage if she wanted to, because I would say yes to just about anything she asked for. New dog? No problem! Another horse? Is today too soon? Jewelry? Whatever you want dear!

I guess I better start planning Valentines Day now, because I have a big one to make up for!

HOBNOBBING

Vicki and I had an invite to the kickoff of the Festival of Trees tonight. It was a semi-formal evening with dinner and a live auction to raise money for Opportunity House. I got to wear my suit and Vicki wore something shiny with a fur collar. She looked hot, I looked frumpy.

It was kind of weird for me being surrounded by doctors, politicians, business owners and lots of what I would call "rich people". We were seated by the front and really enjoyed it. We were so close to the ballerinas performance that once, when they twirled, a skirt almost took my head off. The mayor was so close, I could have read his speech notes. I became the foil for the auctioneer on a couple of occasions and even got to make a $1000+ dollar bid on an item. Altogether a fun evening.

There were a lot of high points during the evening, but my favorite was during a part of the entertainment portion, when a high school girl was singing a beautiful version of O Holy Night. I happened to look over and noticed her mothers reaction at watching her daughter. The pride and joy on her mothers face was priceless. Crying parents always strike a chord with me.

Opportunity House is a great organization that doesn't just provide a bed for homeless people here in Vacaville, but provides them the tools and means to get off the street and into a job and home of their own. It was truly a blessing to be a part of the evening.

The live auction was a lot of fun, although I was terrified of screwing up on several occasions. I didn't want to reach for my drink for fear of the motion being misinterpreted as a bid. That itch on my nose that was driving me crazy...I didn't even think of scratching it until all the bidding was done. In case you were wondering, the $1000+ bid was not for me, but rather on behalf of my company. It was still exciting though. I can officially check "bid at live auction" off of my bucket list.

Falling Down

I was rushing back from South San Francisco last night, trying to make it to Jessica's band performance before she went on stage. I had pulled into the community center parking lot at 7:50, knowing that I had just missed it. I sent Vicki a text and low and behold, I had made it with plenty of time to spare (the symphony portion of the concert went long).

I was walking along a hedge in the parking lot on my way in to the concert hall, and didn't see a path through anywhere close, so I decided to jump over it. Dumb idea, I know, but it wasn't too high and was more of a small hurdle than a jump, so I figured why not. In mid-air, I looked down at the other side of the hedge and saw a curb. Things went into slow motion at that point, as I simultaneously thought: "oh crap", "I think I'm going to fall", and "this is not good". My foot came down half on the curb, my ankle rolled, and I went down in a heap. I put out my hands to break my fall, losing some skin on the asphalt, came down on my elbow and knee, and then somersaulted into the middle of the road. It was quite spectacular! I looked up expecting to see people on the sidewalk holding signs with scores of "10" on them.

My hand was bleeding and my elbow was scraped, but oddly enough I was more worried about my pants. I had an immediate flashback to when I was a kid, probably junior high age. I hadn't changed out of my school clothes before going to my friends to play and we were messing around with a bike jump. I caught my pants on something and ripped them, badly. I was scared to go home, because we only got two pair of pants each year and they had to last until summer. I didn't want to face my parents. So last night, it was like I was a kid again, and my first thought was panic that I might have ripped my pants. Funny.

This also ties into something that I have been thinking alot about lately; namely, how blessed I have been with my health. Except for my shoulder injury almost 20 years ago and some close calls as a kid, I have been relatively injury free. I have been thinking about that a lot lately as I'm running in the hills. With all of the extra weight I have been carrying, to be able to run and work-out without knee or ankle problems amazes me. My dad had a lot of lower back problems in his 30's and 40's, and I have not had any issues there either. The way I have taken care of my body the last 15 years, I certainly deserve worse, but am so thankful for my current good health. Of course now I have probably jinxed myself and my body will start falling apart first thing tomorrow.

Favorite Song

Wanted to try plugging video into the blog and thought this was cool. This is a little bit old, but is my current favorite song. My favorities change from week to week, so this could be a re-curring blog topic.

Sleep

What the heck?!! Why is it that when I really need to sleep, something conspires to prevent me from getting a good nights sleep. It could be a sick kid, a barking dog, or a howling windstorm...something always seems to keep me awake when I really need to sleep. I had an all day class today, and really needed to be alert, so of course I got almost no sleep last night.

It started last night when I got to bed late. No, that was my fault...I got a late start on my class reading and didn't finish until around 11:30pm. I was still good though, got to bed by midnight which gave me enough sleep time. But around 4am, I was awoken by the strangest sound.

My dog Cassidy was making this coughing/sneezing sound. It sounded like she had something caught in her nose and was trying to get it out. Naturally, I was very unsympathetic and rather annoyed. I checked and verified that she wasn't dying and told her to be quiet. Of course she chose to defy me and kept making that horrible snorting sound, so I did what any caring pet owner would do at 4 o'clock in the morning...I put her outside and closed the door.

After releiving myself, I was heading back to bed and noticed a giant pile of dog barf next to the door. What the hell?!! I thought about waking Vicki up, because I usually let her handle the late night animal issues, but I couldn't think of a good excuse as to why I couldn't clean it up. If I woke her up I would probably find myself sleeping outside. So I decided to pretend I didn't see it....Vicki gets up before me, she would see it, and clean it up. Pretty smart, huh?

So around 5:00am, I was awoken by another strange sound that sounded something like slurping. My other dog, Zoe was eating the dog barf! What the hell?!! I jumped out of bed, shooed her away, and made her go lay down. I was too tired to get up and lock her out of the room and mistakenly figured she would leave the vomit alone, after all, I HAD told her to go lay down. Around 5:30 I was awoken again by the slurping sound. I really didn't want to get out of bed, so I let her eat the barf...at least there would be less to clean up when the alarm clock went off.

Fortunately, I had angels looking out for me today. The class was great, and I stayed alert right up until the end.

Let's hope the dog sleeps better tonight

Easy Money

Wow! It's been a long time since I have written anything. I have had a lot of things I wanted to put down on paper (or keyboard) since my last post, but just don't seem to make the time for it. I am feeling the urge to make more time to post...lets see if I can stick to it.

Did you see the compensation package for the recently let go CEO of Washington Mutual Bank? It's very fahsionable right now to rail against corporate greed and unscrupulous executives, but I won't do that here. Bad CEO's are certainly a part, but nowhere near the whole reason for our current financial mess.

I found the WaMu story to be particularly funny and incredible. Like many banks recently, WaMu collapsed and was bo ught by JP Morgan. The CEO and most of the executives were let go quickly after the buyout. Interestingly, the WaMu CEO was actually brought in to turn around the troubled bank, but he never really got the chance... he had been on the job for only 17 days when it collapsed. Seventeen days is hardly enough time for a CEO to accomplish anything. So what did Mr. Fishman get for his 2+ weeks on the job? How about $20 million dollars. That's right...$20 million dollars for less than 3 weeks of work. Where can I get a job like that!! He got a $7.5 million signing bonus, and was entitled to a $11.6 million severance package.

I don't know why, but I find that funny. It's not a case of an evil CEO bilking the shareholders. By all accounts this is a good guy, who was brought in to clean things up. He just happened to sign on the dotted line at exactly the right time. To his credit, he has declined the severance package even though he was entitled to it.

These are some really crazy times we are living in right now.