Icing on the cake

Today I did something I have never done before. Well, to this extent. I lost my keys! At work! And cant find them! Today started at 7 AM. Got up to go to work at 8. Today I thought would be a cool day since I was going to be a commercial driver. I like being able to get out of the shop and drive the company truck and make deliveries. It really helps make the day go faster and helps put me in a good mood. Well, that got shot down because we only had 6 deliveries all day! So it dragged and dragged. I was able to come home for lunch and spend some time with Tiffany. Also got some homework done. After that I headed back to work. It was slow, but at least we didn't have too many crazy customers. Before my boss left he gave me and another coworker one last task. Just rearranging part of the store. Finally, 5 o'clock came and I clocked out. I go out to my car and my keys are missing off my belt! I look in the car, they aren't in the ignition and of course I locked the car after lunch! So I go back in the store and look everywhere I have been. I call my boss, my other managers, almost everyone. But no luck. No one has seen them. I call the few commercial accounts that I visited today. Of the few that were still open, none had seen my keys. I look for over an hour. I finally concede defeat and get ready to walk home. My manager takes pity on me and throws me his car keys. I at least got home quicker. But I still have no idea where my keys are. For all I know someone has them. Hopefully my car will still be there come Monday because I will have to go to Toyota to get another key made, and possibly change my ignition since the keys are different... Wow. How could this have happened? I have a good day and things seem to conspire to make it turn to crap sometimes... Such is life.

Ride to Work = Bliss

I decided to pick up an extra shift today filling in for a coworker from 4 to close. Not a super long shift. About right for me for the most part. Instead of driving to work I decided to ride my bike. It was perfect weather for it and Im all about saving money so I got a chance to save gas! Its about 2 miles to work. So its a nice distance without getting all sweaty. Well I got off about 20 minutes ago and decided to take the long way home. Im sitting in front of the Brentwood library typing this after I returned some library materials. Its so peaceful out. Well, other than the people with motorcycles and cars with fart cans on them. This is something I get to do rarely so Im trying to enjoy every minute. I'll probably just meander home after this and enjoy the cruise. I got lights on my bike so people see me. For the most part they are respectful, but there is always that one car that passes too close or honks their horn at you like you are in the middle of their personal driveway. But I don't let it get to me. Bicycling is one of those things to me that nothing else can compare to. Its my own piece of the world, even if Im surrounded by 130,000 people! I get to unwind after bad customers, crazy coworkers and just have fun!

Monday is now Friday!

So here we are at the end of another week. It seems like yesterday I went and got my lessons for the week, but it was Monday! Its currently O Dark Thirty and I'm doing English homework. I just posted my impression of the Writers Workbench that Ms. A wanted us to do. It was OK but took two days to write because I couldn't form an idea in my head of where I wanted the post to go. Well I finished it 10 minutes ago. Hopefully it is OK. I thought I was going to get today off but I accepted a shift that my boss was trying to fill an opening for. Hopefully it will show him that I can be there when he needs me. That's one reason I am here doing this instead of chilling at home. I wanted to get as much homework done tonight so I didn't have to scram tomorrow. Currently I am caught up after this Blog post. Nothing is due until Saturday and Sunday. So I think I am in a good place. I hope that next week is interesting. Maybe a little easier so I can focus on homework properly instead of cramming on my lunch breaks. It gets old. I just want to relax a little after messing with customers all day. Christmas break is coming up pretty fast. Seems yesterday was the first day of class. Now were over a month down. YAY!

McDonald's bringing Jesus back?

Have any of you been in McDonald's lately? At least the ones in Springfield? If I'm not mistaken they are all playing christian music. Not that that's a bad thing but with a girl getting suspended from school last month for saying “God bless you” to another student who sneezed in class, it sure seems odd. Everything is supposed to be secular in our modern world. There is no room for Jesus outside His church that we visit once a week if were good, twice a week if were “Bible thumpers.” But here I am sitting in McDonald's on the wi-fi doing homework and Jesus music is playing over the speakers. I go to three McDonald's in Springfield. The one on East Sunshine, East Cherry, and South National. They all play Jesus music. Probably the same owner. I'm not downing it. Its nice to here some music that doesn't involve someone (Miley) twerking and talking about “Junk in the Trunk.” We say “In God We Trust,” on the dollar bill, but you better not mention it outside of church to anyone. With all the wars recently, and the Middle East in upheaval as its been since Israel was given back the the Jews in 1948, and all the irony that goes along with it (My God is the Your God, but I will kill you to make you believe), you would think we would want to profess God now more than ever. But that will get you kicked out of school, or people will look at you like you just said a dirty word. What has our world come to? This is what happens when people forget that there is Someone bigger than them.

How do you tell if enough is enough?

You ever get the feeling you are doing more than your fare share of work on something only to have it ignored or have to give people credit for something they didn't do? I get that feeling a lot. At work, at school, I feel like I am the only person that cares. Yesterday was truck day at work, which as the name suggests, the semi comes in with parts to restock the store. Usually there are between 1200 and 1500 parts that come in depending on how busy we were two weeks prior when the distribution center counts our sales and writes up the restocking list. Well yesterday was a moderate day as far as parts count. Everyone but 3 people that work at the store were there. I even went in 3 and a half hours early to help out. You would think this would be a good thing. Wrong. The people that were missing were 3 people that actually help me and 3 other employees put up truck. Everyone else just stands around doing nothing. They will find any reason to get out of truck. From going and meeting with commercial accounts to helping customers above and beyond their job description so they don't have to put up parts. Its sickening. A couple of these people are managers that will not do a damn thing unless they absolutely have to. So truck didn't get done, even though me and a couple other guys busted our asses and I came in early. My store manager even came in on his day off to help! How pathetic is that? Same goes for school. Group projects are never a good thing. You get assigned to some random group and you and maybe 1 or 2 others help out. But the slackers certainly come in to finish and get credit! Luckily this semester group members can be fired. Bad news is that means more work for those of us left. But we had to pick up there slack in the first place so that's a moot point. I don't know. I feel like I am doing more than my fare share and not getting anything for it. No thank you, no promotion at work, no nothing. Maybe Ill get a decent grade on my group assignment. That's something... but enough is enough!

Procrastinating about not being a procrastinator

I'm not a procrastinator.. HA! That's why my Honda is still undriveable - because I cant get off my butt to fix it when I have the time. I have told myself every day I have had off that "today is the day I fix it." One month later and its still not fixed... You ever have those times when you just cant seem to get started on something that needs done, even though its really important? I think everyone does. Oh I get stuff done. Lots of it. Problem is its stuff that could wait! I really don't know why I haven't gotten out there and fixed it. I love working on my cars for the most part. Its usually relaxing, until I bust a knuckle. Its just a simple door sensor that has gone out and needs replaced. No big deal. Not like rebuilding the engine or transmission. Probably take no more that an hour. But I haven't started on it. Tiffany keeps bugging me to fix it. Because until I do fix it I have to use her car when I need to get around. Which drives her nuts. Hey... Maybe that's why I haven't fixed it! Does that make me a bad boyfriend? Makes me laugh. Anyway. I think in a lot of ways its like writing. I know what needs done and how to do it. Its just getting started. Once I get the door apart I will go on to the suspension and other stuff that needs attention. Just like my papers, once I find out where to start the words just keep coming. I'm not sure I'm getting better at starting papers yet. I still struggle. I went tot the writing center for help on how to start the I Believe essay. They told me what to do - free write! I should have known that! But its nice to have someone tell you you're on the right track. Maybe I'll write a paper on how to not be a procrastinator, if I ever get around to it....

Know Your Audience

I went back and read posts from my classmates. As everyone knows, we are all different and view things differently than the next person. I thought this was clear in my post "Last of the oil." My question was "with the last barrel of oil on the planet, what car would you drive?" The answers surprised me. I picked an exotic car that culminated everything that I thought a car should be. I got one other answer like that. The rest were extremely varied. They ranged from "what I'm driving now" to not even being about the car, but the destination the car would take them to! I know that my class is mostly "non grearhead", but I thought that most people had some kind of exotic vehicle as their dream car. That's what I get for assumptions. My class seems to be mostly content with their material possessions. What they seemed to crave more was travel. Most of them gave examples of where they would go and why the vehicle they picked accomplished this. My class seems more of the "its the destination, not the journey" type. Believing in an afterlife was big too. While pretty much everyone believe in the hereafter, it was what they said about religion that caught my eye. Many people said they believed in God but not religion. That you don't have to go to church to believe, or even be saved. That believing in and accepting Jesus was something one could accomplish without a priest telling you what to do. I figured this question might start a religion war, but it didn't. Most people felt that religion is corrupt and to take it with a grain of salt. Last was the question about seasons. Most people liked fall and spring, mostly because it wasn't too cold or hot, which allowed them to do more outside. Taking all this into account, my writing should be impacted by my audience. They seem to be happy with their lives and are steady in their beliefs and family. A paper just about cars would not interest many. My ability to reach my audience is probably best served through papers on the outdoors, possibly vacations and the types of things to be done. I am not sure I am comfortable touching religion or the afterlife. Too many variables to take into account. Never the less, my writing will probably change.

Riding to give back

Today I sent out the SAC River to ride my bike. It was for the Thorn a Thon. A now annual event where you get people to donate a certain amount of money per lap and then you ride until you cant ride anymore. Today we raised over $1000 from what I understand. That money will go back to help create new trails and maintain the ones we have.

Unfortunately for me, I just found out about it. So I didn't participate in the event proper. But I decided to go out anyway. I road the trail and helped motivate people to keep going instead of dropping dead. I would ride with someone that was struggling and help get them to the next lap. People were able to take breaks so it wasn't non-stop.The course loop was a little under 2 miles. No big deal right? Well when you figure in lots of climbing, combined with the fact that the event was from 10am to 4pm, and you're trying to crank out as many laps as possible. It beat people up. The person with the most laps came in at an even 30, around 55 miles. Up hills. Eaten by bugs. It was tough. Surprisingly almost everyone cranked out more than 10 laps, even the kids!

We have a wonderful organization that really supports the local creation and conservation of our trail network. Besides riding, we have work days where well go out to a trail and do whatever needs done, usually followed by riding and beer. Its amazing the amount that the members volunteer. Without it, we wouldn't have any place to ride.  I am really glad I joined them. I'm really glad I got rid of my road bike. This is so much more fun!