David's Tangled Thoughts

I used to think that having a 9-5 work schedule would be cool but it does have a huge drawback: most businesses also work those hours. If I need see a doctor, I gotta miss work. If I need to get some cash from my credit union, I gotta miss work. At least with my 7-3 schedule I had a couple hours take care of business. The ATM machine at my credit union ate my card. I have the PIN number hardwired into my brain and punching it in comes automatically. Getting other people how to punch in my PIN is hard because I don't remember my number. Since my sister was driving at the time I told her to enter XXVV. I thought it may have been miss keyed so we tried it again. Then we tried one more time with XXNN and then it ate it. I had to call them during work hours today and they said that they would mail it back to me. I hope it gets back to me soon.

As I posted before, my sister was summoned for jury duty so she came down from Kzoo to fill out and mail her responce. While she was down here, she took me out to Dairy Queen for a nice treat. It's been a long time but that strawberry whatchamacallit tastes so... so good. While driving back to the house I spotted an odd vehicle parked on a sidestreet. I had my sister drive around the block so that we could go by it and take a better look. I think that the owners decided to abandon the car as the plate is not longer there. Not that the authorties couldn't track it down using the VIN and registration . I suppose they figured that if they are going drop it off, they might as well color it up a bit.

Well maybe not. My sister got a letter to report for jury duty. I laughed. Now I am the only person in my family that hasn’t been called on. Since moving to this county, both Mom and Dad have been called twice. This is my sister’s first. Out of all of us, I’m the one that would get a thrill out of serving on one. Hmm… maybe they know that?

Sorry Farrah but it looks like you were upstaged. The King of Pop has died which probably makes King David Gov. Sanford happy as it takes away some of the light shining on him. My best friend at the time, Brandon, was a huge fan of Michael Jackson. I liked songs that came through on the radio but I never tried to find out the names of those songs or who sang them. Music was something to be enjoyed, not researched and followed. I think, though, that MTV helped me put names and faces to what I was listening on the radio. The Human League’s Human , That Bangles’ Walk Like and Egyptian , and especially George Michael’s Father Figure come to mind. Michael Jackson never stood out for me but Brandon did help me gain an appreciation for him. Still, I thought that it was very odd that someone would care that much about a singer. My impression of Jackson during the 90’s went sour. His music was awful in general although I did like a few of his songs. Black or White will still pop up in my he

I'm a little nervous today. I'm going to be making a presentation in front of the CFO, Business Director, Development Director, Ops Manager, and a client administrator. We're going to start revamping one of the responsibilities that I have to make it less cumbersome. I'm glad about that part but before we can do that, they need to know about the awful mess that I deal with now. I'm not the best at explaining things but hopefully they will be distracted by my mad Power Point skills! UPDATE 2200, 23 June 2009 The presentation went really well. Actually, it was oddly fun and pretty relaxed. I’ve never made a presentation in front of a group quite like that ever and I thought that I’d be a nervous wreck. To be honest, the thing that I was presenting on is something that I approach on a wing and a prayer. At the end of the month when I’m done with it, I make a silent thanks to God. It’s that bad. My biggest fear was that I was going to get trapped in dirty deta

Just in case you missed it, for the upcoming holiday, my parents are heading to Minnesota to camp and gorge on fish. My sister is going to play on the Cayman Islands. My grandma and the rest of the local family is going to Mackinac Island. I’m expected to be here alone. Last week my Dad asked me if he could borrow my cell phone because it has GPS mapping. It’s not turn by turn but I find it useful just the same. I told him no. There’s no way I’m turning that thing over for almost a whole week. Sadly, it has become one helluva security blanket. Then after a few days he asked me if he could borrow the camera that I recently purchased. Well you’re not going to use it. I failed to see why they would need to use my camera in addition to the one they already have. My sister came home a few days ago and she also needs a camera for her trip. Once again an appeal for my camera came my way. I’m practically insulted. Had it occurred to them that I might have plans of my own? What

This is a view of the family farm up in Benton Harbor.

Blogging from the phone this evening. Its been raining a lot this week. Today brought thunderstorms that lasted all day long. Usually we go through a line of thunderstorms as a front goes through. These cells just kept developing and slamming into us. The intersection of Cleveland and Portage had the power knocked out. A four way stop does not work well when ten lanes of traffic meet. I felt like I was playing Russian Roulette trying to go through that thing. No one knew who was supposed to go when. Anyways its still going and the power is out. I saw my new in-network doctor today. The facility that I went to is a hole compared to the one that I just came from. I guess my insurance company likes 'em big and crowded. I had to wait over two hours past my appointment before I could see the new doctor-who is pretty cool though. While I was there one of the medical assistants recognized me. Usually I'm the forgotten person. I recognize people. They don't r

Two bites for today. President Obama can swat a fly. OMG, that’s so cool! [/sarcasm] But…. That’s not why I’m rolling my eyes. Apparently PETA wasn’t too happy about it. It’s freakin’ fly! The Senator from California, Barbara Boxer , requested that a general testifying before her address her as “senator” after repeated use of “ma’am.” It’s been raging on the blogs. I didn’t consider her request to be outrageous. It was well within her right but it’s an example of her being a pompous bitch. In the military, a sir or ma’am is always used to address a superior. It’s also regularly used between a service member and a civilian. Once an introduction is done and a conversation is started, sir and ma’am are always used. How ridiculous would it be to have a conversation with President Obama and always have to use “Mister President?” Nah, you say it once and then at the end you use the title again if possible, but in the middle, sir and ma’am are perfectly acceptable. I found the

I miss my old work station so much. I’ve tried really hard to get settled here but lately it seems like I’m fighting a losing battle. There’s a new program going on and I’m pretty much the test subject. I won’t go into detail but let me just say that I am majorly frustrated at problems that are being brought up that, when you get down to it, really don’t matter. And while this program is supposed to be a benefit to the company, it really is causing some bad blood. I’m beginning to dread going to work and I never had that problem here. I’ve been going to the park after work every other day to do some walking. It’s been tiring and I worry that I may be putting too much weight on my leg. The doctor said no more than 40 pounds of pressure. Yeah… okay. At the risk of popping some bolts, I’m doing it anyways because I’ve got to get moving again. All I do is sit around. At least with the wheelchair, I was racing up and down the building. My goal is to be able to eventually walk a

I haven’t showered since early March. I’m serious. Since I broke the leg it’s been sponge baths and regular baths. The main floor bathroom shower can’t be used and the only one available is downstairs. I had no interest in making that kind of effort and if I fell (my sense of balance isn’t that great) then I’d really be screwed. I braved the flight of stairs finally and took my first shower in what seemed like ages ago. And it felt so goooood. I’ve had it worse before. The last time I was in the Philippines, I went for 5 months without hot water. You’d think that living in near 90 degree weather with 90% humidity, hot showers wouldn’t be needed. Experience has shown me that getting dumped with unregulated water was still enough of a shock to cause me to shiver and mutter a “whoo” every time. The day before I was due to fly out back to the States, I stayed in a nice hotel on Roxas Blvd . in Manila. I could have touristed around but I decided not to. Who needs to see Intramur

…we need your money. I recently heard that the advertising budget for tourism has been slashed. That’s too bad. Although I am sometimes annoyed at how often they come up on the radio, I really do like the Pure Michigan advertisements. Oh it’s some sentimental crap alright but it makes me think of all the positive things about my home state and that no matter where I roam, I’ll always call this place home. Check a few of them out: This first one is about the nicknames that we give our cities. Detroit, The Motor City, is an easy start. How many can you identify? Harbor Country is where I live. My town may not have a supermarket or even a bank, but we’ve got an antique store! And having a bottle of locally produced wine while watching a sunset sounds like a great idea to me. Like swimming in Evian (okay… not quite). And lastly, can you recognize the voice? h/t to puremichigan & bloggingformichigan for posting these clips.

After getting screwed again by my insurance company because it does not know what the hell is going on, I’m giving in and switching to an in-network facility. I got a list of approved doctors and started the calls. Office #1 – denied. Office #2 –denied. I called Office #3 and they said that they normally don’t accept transfers but the assistant that I talked with said she would check with the doctor. I hung up and went back to work while thinking of new ways that I could chew out my insurance provider. On my way out into the parking lot, I got a call back—I’ve got a new doctor. I’m sure the insurance company will still fuck it up.

<<--See also: " And now for something new... " My Olympus camera started dying late last fall. When starting up, the mechanism within the lens would make a grinding noise. Turning the power off and then back on would usually solve the problem. As time went on, it became more frequent until finally it gave out about a month ago. The last pictures it took were of Amanda’s wedding. It will probably prove to be a stupid decision but I plopped down another $200 to get a Cannon PowerShot SD1200 IS. I haven’t really taken the camera out on a test run. Things have been gloomy around here. From what I’ve seen so far, the photos seem okay. The indoor shots are noticeably better than the indoor shots that my Olympus took. I chose this one over the Sony Cybershot that was selling at the same price but had better features (12mega pixel v. 10; 5x Zoom v. 3X). I was sold by the claim that Canon takes better quality features. I’ll find out if I was screwed soon enough, I gue

This is what my grandma said to me this evening: "You're going straight to hell. It's as simple as that."

Have you got plans for Independence Day? The family is splitting up for the holiday this year. The 'rents are headed to Minnesota and my lucky ass sister is going to the Caymans. (Going to a British territory on Independence Day? Treason I say!) Fine. I'll have fun in my own way...

Wow, there are some good items to blog about. I thought about blogging on the following: President Obama’s trip to the Middle East-Represents False Humility North Korea Placing Two American Journalists on a Show Trial But Not Showing It The North Korean Succession--Disney Lovers and Queers Need Not Apply Air France Crash: An Example of Why I Hate Flying Over the Ocean The Tiananmen Square Anniversary and China’s Own Way of Drawing Attention to it Osama bin Laden Releases New Tape. Says Obama like Bush. I Guess He Doesn’t Watch Fox News. PM Brown’s Government is Collapsing. Conservatives Licking Their Chops. PM Harper: Surpluses=Bad Fiscal Management. Deficits=??? Protests Against Canadian Gov. General Eating Seal Heart. Wait--Are We Superior to Native Americans Now or Just When it Comes to Food? Detroit Politician Cited For Public Sex. He Claims He Was Urinating. Who Says It Had to Be One or the Other? But I don’t feel like it.