Not Cut Out

When I was young—around six years old and living in Key West, Florida—my dad sent me to a horrible place. I can’t remember if it was a day camp or day care or whatever. It was odd because I had always come home right after school. There was always someone home. This particular day, however, was different and as I was sent off by dad, I remember feeling anxious. One comfort I had was my best friend, Brandon Mullins. He had been going to this place regularly so at least I had him around.

You know how you get nervous about your first day of school? That’s what I felt like. I didn’t have any negative feelings about going to this place, I was just nervous. Oh, that was about to change real quick. I remember that a bunch of us kids were milling around on the outside of the building in the outdoor hallway. This guy appears and starts yelling at us for no reason. He barks orders for us to get into a line and then to put our backs against the wall while he did a roll call. Who the hell thought boot camp for kindergartners was a good idea? Because I would like to line him up against a wall and…

I don’t remember much of the details but I was so miserable. I think at one point I had burst into tears because I remember Brandon coming up to me and whispering, telling me to pull it together. “They’re like this all the time. Just do what they tell you to do. It’s not so bad. You’ll get used to it.” Used to it? Like hell I was going to get used to it.

I remember being called into someone’s office. If this had been school, I would have likened it to a principle. Now, I think of this person as a commandant. Maybe I was there because they like to meet the new “recruits” or maybe they thought if they removed me from the other kids, the guy could straighten me out. They took me away from my friend and I was positively petrified of the guy across the desk, in front of me. I remember him asking questions. I don’t remember me saying anything back except yes, no, or shaking my head. Towards the end he pulled out a small treasure chest filled with cheap trinkets and told me to pick one. At first, I was hesitant to even put my hand anywhere near it, but hey—a free toy! I was having trouble deciding which piece of shit trinket I should choose. He got irritated and told me to hurry up and pick one. I quickly grabbed the first thing I touched.

I never went back for a second day. I think my mom knew how much I hated it there and that there was no way that I would ever come to tolerate it much less like it.

Football With the Locals

There was a bit of exciting news that I saw today. Michigan State is setting up their future football seasons to regularly play either Western, Central, and Eastern every year beginning in 2011 for ten seasons. It’s not unusual to play one of these schools but they aren’t played regularly and they always come to Spartan Stadium. I always feel sorry for them. I mean, what team wants to take a beating at the start of their football season? That’s not to say that they don’t have a chance of beating State. Ask a Wolverine. Ah, forget it. Ask a Mountaineer. Quite honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising if, say, Western gave us a good pasting. I do think that this is a good thing for our schools and our state. If this series works out well maybe it will even be extended.

In the Barn of History

Many of us locals are guilty of bad mouthing the fair as being a lame event. Yet year after year we go! We all go. There has never been an instance where I have walked the grounds and not run into (or avoided) someone I know and I’m sure that is the case for most people who go there as well. Personally, I think it’s an amazing thing as I cannot think of an even that pulls so many people together.

Last night I met up with Kraig and Stacey. You might remember them from here and here. We went into the Historical Barn. While Kraig was talking with a woman that worked at the school we graduated from, I was taking a look at a display for the Schrumpf family farm. They are just down the road from where I live. One of the members, Laurie, was in my class. It was interesting to learn more about their family history. Most of what I know about mine comes from stories that have been randomly told. As far as I know there aren’t any journals, diaries, or old photo albums that can tell me more about the families that I come from.

Also in the barn were pictures of the King and Queens from the past. Kids twenty years from now (and probably way sooner than that) are going to look back at us and wonder what kind of warped fashion sense we had. I certainly was enjoying some of the pictures.


I didn’t know that men used to wear tiaras.


I wear my hair short. I don’t think that will be going out of style completely for a very long time.

I may dislike clowns but I am afraid of balloons. Yep, after I took this shot I had to look away because I knew what was going to happen next.

I Actually Preferred the Clown?

I really, really dislike clowns. They're not scary but I suppose I don't see the point of all the getup and acting...well, like a clown. So I am a little surprised to admit that I found the head clown act this year to be one of the highlights of the entire show. Maybe because of the simplicity and audience interactions? Check out what he did to these four:






Did he just leave us like this?

Well, I Guess You Didn’t Plan for That

While walking down Michigan Ave., I was passing through a choke point manned by Planned Parenthood. Most people just walked on by but oh not me. Despite my differences with this organization, I was genuinely interested in what they had to say. My hunch was that it probably had something to do with the Health Care bill passed by the House. I was sorta right. They did lead in with the complaint that public funds could be withheld from those seeking to get abortions. I stopped her and asked her if I needed to be a resident. She was stuttered, probably wondering why I would ask that question. Well she was holding a clipboard and I thought she was trying to get people to sign a petition.

As I said above, I do have my differences with Planned Parenthood and for the most part, the policies that they advocate are too far over the line that I draw. Some big examples are their acceptance of partial birth abortions and opposition parental notifications laws for minors. What I anticipated them bringing up in the context of the health care debate is the withholding of public funds for those who want abortions and that is something I am in agreement with them (although I feel dirty admitting that). It’s not that I approve of abortion but I think that the denial of public funds for people who want to have a legal procedure should not be based on the moral barometer of the public in general. There are many things that the government funds that I view as immoral and other people do not and vice versa. Planned Parenthood’s opposition to abstinence-only education is something I fully support. To me it is sheer lunacy to sum up a sex-ed curriculum in “just say no.”

I looked at her clipboard which had information on the organization. It wasn’t a petition. What they wanted me to do was to sign up as a member and give a “monthly contribution.” Ha. I took a bit of advice from good ol’ Nancy and just said no. While I may have signed a petition (depending on the issue) or even listened to a spiel on some issues, I wasn’t going to hand over a donation. I definitely wasn’t going to do it over and over again each month. I’ve got hands from three levels of government, two credit card companies, five financial accounts, a bank, a credit union, two doctors, one hospital, three insurance companies, and a cellular service provider (did I miss anyone), all going into my pocket. I don’t need another one.

Standing in Mid-Air with Jets Buzzing Around You

A little while back, I got a message from a fellow blogger who was coming in from Australia to do some experiments in Chicago. John asked if I wanted to meet up. After years of commenting on each other’s blog, I thought it would be cool to meet him in “real life.” The plan was to meet at the base of the Sears Tower. I had anticipated driving and picking him up since he was out in the suburbs but his offering to meet in the Loop made it tons easier for me. Forget driving, I took the train.

The South Shore was crazy packed. A lot of people had on Cubs clothing so I grimaced as I thought of how many more people would be getting on the train between South Bend and Chicago. When I got to the Sears Tower (by the way… I’m still continuing to call it that), there was a huge line and I was wondering if it would be worth the time and money just to go to the top of it.

P-51s in formation

It was going to be little while before John got there so I planted my butt in the courtyard and struck up a conversation with a lady. I asked her how long the wait was. She was there for over an hour and she could still see her family in the line. Apparently, she wasn’t too fond of heights and opted to stay on the ground level. Understandable I guess. While we were talking I was hearing planes go by. Not terribly surprising considering it is a city. Well, I recognized that these weren’t just any ol’ planes. I looked up and saw a formation of P-51s fly over. The lady told me not only was there a Cubs game but there was a White Sox game and that people were here for the Chicago Air & Water Show too.

When I spotted an A-10 buzzing around, I got excited and started following it with my camera hoping for a good shot. I was just completing this shot below and lowering my camera when John shows up right in front of me. What can I say? Flying tanks will distract me from almost anything. So after saying our hellos, we headed off for the Sky Deck entrance. John was only available for a few hours and honestly, I did not know how long the wait was going to be but it turned out to not be bad at all. While waiting though, I learned a lot of interesting information on Australia. I was particularly fascinated with the politics and government. They’ve got a number of ideas that I wouldn’t mind trying out here.

A-10

The view was pretty impressive from that high up. Although it was a bright and sunny day, there was significant haze so I wasn’t able to see into Michigan. But what we could see were the USAF Thunderbirds performing. I was super excited. John didn’t appear to be as excited. As he put it, he’s more of a fan of commercial airliners.

I’ve always wanted to go to the top of the Sears but events always conspired to keep me away. Recently, though, they put in these glass boxes that jut out over the air and I wanted to try it out. I’ve heard of people being afraid to go into them but I didn’t have too much of a problem. Maybe if the floor was crystal clear it would have been more disconcerting. None of the people that I saw there seemed to have any problem with it but it was funny though when a few people got spooked when an F-16 zoomed past the tower. Damn, I wish I got a clip of that!

USAF Thunderbirds flying in

We weren’t able to stay too long as John had to head back to the lab and continue on with his experiments. So we said our farewells at the base and I headed back towards the lake were I saw the Thunderbirds make their final maneuvers. I could have stayed a few hours longer but I anticipated that the next train out was going to be filled with people coming back from the show or games that they were attending. So I left a little early but boy was it was a great day.

Stay tuned because I’ve got other posts coming out from this one.

The Opportunity to Join a Class Action Lawsuit

I got a form in the mail informing me that I was eligible to join in a class action lawsuit. I used to work for a huge retail giant. Let's call it Wally World. Apparently another lawsuit has been filed alleging that Wally World was having its hourly employees work off the clock.

My own personal experiences with the company have, on the whole, been positive and they have made reasonable efforts to make sure that I was paid for my time. Technically, however, there were times when I and others ended up working when we weren't supposed to. Usually it was because we weren't paying attention to the time and we would work into our lunch hour. We'd still punch back in from lunch at our normal time. And even though we are told not to do it, there were instances on our breaks when we would help out customers on the floor if they asked. It's just the neighborly thing to do. Besides, to follow the rules would mean having spend more break time trying to track someone down and probably causing the customer to have a bad impression.

I am hesitant to join in the lawsuit. I feel like I deserve compensation but at the same time what I did came from the kind work ethic I was raised with. I didn't do extra work wanting to be compensated per se but because doing so was the right thing to do.

Heck, I don't work there and I've still helped out their customers. Wally World should really consider bringing back the smocks and making their employees more noticeable, thereby preventing customers from confusing other customers with workers.

On the Banks of the St. Joseph...

The Niles River Fest has been running for the last few days. I was planning to go yesterday to see the dragon boat races. See pictures and video of them here. Unfortunately it was raining (yay!) so I put it off 'till today. I planned to have lunch there but the place seemed deserted. The food vendors were sitting around. One was even taking a nap! And this was only 1:30pm. The whole situation weirded me out so I left after just a quick look through the stalls and the concert that was playing for a crowd of about fifty or sixty.

I'm not sure why there wasn't a great turnout. Maybe it's the last day and there isn't anything on the schedule worth seeing unlike earlier in the week. It could have been the heat: high 80's with opressive humidity. It was so hot I actually saw someone splashing around in the river. Yuck not to mention stupid. That river is deadlier than it looks.

The Difference is || that Small

The company that I work for stores merchandise for various clients. Typically it’s not for regular consumers but for promotions and such. Sometimes, not all their materials are used so we have to destroy it. However, occasionally the company is allowed to give it to the workers. With the downturn in the economy, we have been getting a lot of free shtuff. You might be surprised how much junk people will take home if it is free.

Recently we were given USB flash drives. They were old. They were 16Mb sticks. I happened to be carrying with me my own flash drive which I have had for years and it is 256Mb. I thanked them for gift but declined it. I mean I wasn’t going to use it, so why take it? Another person—let’s call him Ed, said that he didn’t want his either.

“I’ve got one already. It’s an eight gig,” said Ed.

The lady who was passing them out was looked at him weirdly. “Well these are sixteen.”

I felt so bad even though I was shaking trying to hold back my laughter. She had said it with the perfect mixture of naïveté and conviction, with just a hint of sarcasm. God bless her because that is really the best gift I have ever gotten from them.

My Two Cents on Healthcare (Because that’s Its Value Now)

My own experience with health care lately has pushed me closer to the government, single-payer territory. Although I am a big supporter of the private sector, I have been wrestling with the idea of whether health care is a right that all citizens deserve from their government like the expectation of defense and justice.

To put it simply, I am all for reform and finding some way to provide health care for all who want it. I am skeptical, though, of President Obama and the Democrats of putting together a system that would work and not cause an even more economic burden.

My complaints and concerns are the same as what is prompting this push for reform. I obtained my own health insurance about 9 months after starting my job. I was a temp for the first six months and then had to wait another 3 months after officially being hired before coverage started. At first, I thought my health insurance package was fantastic. I never heard of the company before but hey, it’s not like I had a choice. What did it cost me? Absolutely nothing. My premium as a single was all paid for by my employer and this was both medical and dental. That changed at the beginning of this year when, because of rising costs, I had to start paying $10 for medical and $2 for dental with every pay period. The benefits seemed nice. $1,000 a year deductible, $25 co-pays, and 90% coverage for most in-network services. But it only looked nice on paper after I discovered how small their network actually was and what little gimmicks they pull to try and not pay out claims.

So what I liked was the excellent benefits (if applied correctly), and the low costs. What I didn’t like was the fact that I didn’t have a choice in what insurance provider I wanted unless I wanted to take a private plan which would cost hundreds of dollars a month (which in my mind, is not a choice). I also don’t like having coverage linked to my employment status. I also don't like the reality that care (or rather the payment of it) is being decided by people who have an interest in minimizing benefit payouts and maximizing profits.

What I would like is to see are multitudes of insurance companies that people can buy into that are affordable. I think the company that hires me should be able to provide me a list with insurance companies that they participate with and then I can choose a provider and a policy that works best for me. I don’t think that a person should be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. (That’s not to suggest that they don’t have to pay higher premiums however.) I believe it should be harder for insurance companies to drop policy holders. As for the government and its involvement, I believe that it should provide health care but do so primarily as a social safety net: to bridge the gaps that occur when people lose their health insurance when they lose their jobs, or are too poor to pay for adequate health coverage, and to be called upon when something catastrophic occurs. People should not have to go into bankruptcy for health reasons.

I believe that funding a program that covers the gaps for the tens of millions without health care would be more cost effective than trying to mangle and then patch a system that already covers hundreds of millions.

Just Keep Swimming

I am not happy at all right now. It’s work related so I won’t get into it but I needed to share with anyone who cared, that I am on fire.

11 Layers

In frustration of losing an extra long blog post to internet oblivion, I have moved on to Plan B – a meme. I’m stealing this from Kacey, my friend on facebook.

LAYER ONE: On the Outside—

Full Name: David – yeah… I’m not telling you the rest.
Birthday: On the Ides of March
Single: Do you have to ask? Single [grumbles]
School: No longer attending but the last was Michigan State University
Major: Political Science
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Black
Righty or Lefty: Righty
Zodiac: Pisces

LAYER TWO: On the Inside—

Your Fears: That I will never live up to my potential and find happiness
Goals: Pay off my credit card, medical, and loan debt. Get into grad school eventually.
Regrets: Should have double majored in college and basically do more that would have helped me find a job.
Relieve Stress: Believe it or not but I meditate.
Hardest thing that I ever dealt with: my sexuality

LAYER THREE: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow—

Your first thought when waking up: Pee. …Yeah pretty much only one until it’s taken care of.
Yesterday: I thought about laundry, cleaning the bathroom, cooking up moo shu pork, and debated whether I should go grocery shopping or hold off.
Today: I thought about eating leftover moo shu pork and whether I should try to do something more with it or just pop it in the microwave. I also contemplated washing my car, going to a family reunion (that would be my father’s mother’s mother’s family) and decided to do neither. Instead I did more laundry, wrote a blog post on a specific instance idiocy the military, their die-hard supporters, and their die-hard haters. Then did this meme because blogger fouled it up and I didn’t want to retype.
Tomorrow: Uhh… I suppose I will be thinking about work…
Your most missed memory: I’d like to remember more about my mother. I used to remember how she sounded but now I don’t. Sometimes, though, a smell will bring back memories of her.

LAYER FOUR: You’re picking—

Pepsi or Coke: Coke. However, I have done the taste test and both times I chose Pepsi.
McDonald’s or Burger King: Depends. For burgers, Burger King. For fries, McDonald’s. When I’m broke: McDonald’s.
Single or Group Dates: Hell, I’d be happy just to have one.
Lipton Tea or Nestea: Lipton for cold. Neither for Hot.
Chocolate or Vanilla: What kind of food are we talking about? I suppose in most cases, it would be vanilla.
Cappuccino or Coffee: Coffee in the morning. Cappuccino if I’m being social.

LAYER FIVE: Do You—

Have a crush: No.
Think you’ve been in love: I know I have.
Want to get married: Yes.
Believe in yourself: I have my moments.

LAYER SIX: In the Past Month—

Drank alcohol: Yes.
Gone to the mall: Yes, it’s where I drank the alcohol. It sounds sadder than it actually is.
Eaten sushi: Yes. Not a fan. Half the time it was bad, half the time it was good.
Gone skating: LOL. Hell no!
Dyed your hair: Yuck, I don’t think I can pull off anything other than black. I’ve seen some Japanese try and they fail every single time.
Done something exciting: Went to DC. (oooh, barely getting that in on time.)

LAYER SEVEN: Have you ever?—

Hid something from someone: OMG, what am I, three?
Stolen anything: See above.

LAYER EIGHT: Getting Old—

Wait. That was it for seven???

Age you’re hoping to get married: I was hoping for last year. Now, I pretty much would be happy if I could do it before I am eligible for senior benefits.
Age you’re going to have children: Whoa, whoa, whoa… children? Let’s take it one step at a time shall we?
Want to travel to: Oh shit, too many places. Back home to the Philippines, London, Paris, Weisbadden, Sydney, New York City, Hawaii (the Big Island), Great Wall of China, the Pyramids at Giza, Dome of the Rock, Taj Mahal, Brobudur, Ayres Rock, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Isle Royale, Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica, The Grand Canyon, Dry Tortugas, and probably even more

LAYER NINE: Perfect Mate—

Best Eye Color: Don’t care.
Best Hair Color: I seem to have a thing for dishwater blonde but really, I’m pretty much good with any.
Short or Long Hair: Short

LAYER TEN: What were you doing—

5 MINUTES AGO: this.
1 HOUR AGO: Folding laundry and watching television.
1 YEAR AGO: I dunno. I was the day after a party is all that’s mentioned in my blog. But probably what I usually do on Saturdays, do some chores and generally relax.

LAYER ELEVEN: Finish this Sentence—

I Love: period.
I Feel: like this survey is way too long and I’m totally not getting this layers thing.
I Hate: Scott.
I Hide: a lot.
I Miss: school.
I Need: to fold some more clothes…

In Moo Shu Heaven

I made some kick-ass moo shu pork this evening. I didn't bother with the regular recipe. Instead, I just threw in things that I thought would taste good and it turned out to be great. The Chinese pancakes still turned out to be a pain in the ass but at least I didn't have to resort to packaged tortillas this time. :-)