New Favorite Food

We had a retirement party for one of my co-workers last night. He likes sushi, so we went to Blue Hashi, and I had never had sushi before. I loved it.

I'm going to be sad to see Ron leave; he was such a pleasure to work with. I'm certainly going to miss the sound of his voice saying, "Super!" or "Fantastic!" every time I gave him something extra to do.

Les Miserables

I've been reading Les Miserables and thinking about the economic crisis. It used to be that when a person was thrown in jail, they were taught a skill, usually something like brick-laying or some other type of manual labor. They would then work to pay for their food and their stay at jail. At the end of the ordeal, they came out of prison with a skill and a pocketful of cash from the "leftovers" after the state deducted their living expenses.

Now we spend an exorbitant amount of money on state prisons, and our nations are heavily in debt. Yes, I think our prisons used to be cruel and harsh, but we have over-corrected ourselves.

Won't You be My Neighbor?

Our neighbor (the one next to our business, not the one next to our house) constantly bickers about our business. He lives downhill from us, and occasionally his building gets flooded just from the way water runs downhill. But of course, this is obviously our fault because we park our vehicles by his property line (which is five feet away from his building), and the snow that collects on our vehicles is most definitely the cause of his building being flooded. We end up having to shovel the snow away from the building because it is "our fault."

Last time we did this, my dad was kind enough to help shovel the neighbor out of his mess with his Bobcat. The Bobcat slid into the building, denting the side of it. It cost the business a hefty amount of money, and, needless to say, we vowed never to help the neighbor with his snow removal again.

Recently, we had some concrete done, and we worked with the neighbor and the workers to get some concrete put up on his and our side of the property line. The workers were even kind enough to slope the concrete so water would not flood the neighbor's building.

The whole time our neighbor was outside with a measuring tape and a level, griping to the workers and us about how the slope wasn't going to work.

Fast forward to this week. Someone hit the neighbor's car, and he is hopping mad (as any normal person would be). We are investigating it on our end to see if it is one of our drivers, which is very possible. We are more than willing to admit when we make mistakes.

What I did not appreciate, however, was our neighbor's pounding the pavement with a measuring tape, measuring the height of each vehicle in sight, including the vehicles of our customers, who need high security because they are armored cars with armed guards. I also did not appreciate his taking pictures of each and every vehicle that parked on our private lot.

Sure, I would be mad, too, if someone bashed into my car and did not leave any contact information, but I would hope that I would have the maturity to understand that a company that has already admitted their mistakes with me and offered compensation for other things will certainly be capable of performing a professional investigation without my help.

So, howdy, neighbor, this blog was written just for you with one message and one message only: get a life.

Thankless Jobs

Every job is thankless. Mothers don't get the praise they deserve; soldiers are rarely thanked for fighting for our freedom; teachers go to work every day to educate people; the list goes on.

I often hear people's frustration about how thankless their own jobs are, but I rarely hear of people who thank other people. Housewives often complain that their jobs are thankless, but do they ever show how much they value motherhood with a "thank you"? Do they write notes to their mothers, thank their mothers-in-law for raising great sons, or even thank their husbands at the end of the day for working to support them?

This realization helped me to be more grateful. I need to thank the people close to me for being there for me. I need to thank television networks for showing good, uplifting programs, instead of complaining about the "corrupt media" and showing everyone my distaste.

Sure, their are distasteful things out there, and I love to write my "rants" about them. But their are some great things out there as well.

Fair Weather Parents

One thing I have noticed lately is what I'd like to call "fair weather parents." They are like fair weather friends, only they are parents, parents who only make certain sacrifices for their children.

Some of them, who don't like working, will cancel work for every recital and little league game, "sacrificing for their family." But when it comes to working on the weekend to up their pay and earn enough for their kids, they have "family obligations."

Others love their jobs. They work long hours, "sacrificing for the family," but they rarely see their family and don't seem to want to see them.

I am grateful that I had parents who sacrificed for me, rather than doing what they liked and using me as an excuse.

Family

My Aunt Barbara and Uncle Keith are over for the weekend. We are going to have an awesome breakfast and spend some time together.

Westerns

Reading the newspaper, trying to get things done, being intimidated by the looming Writer's Market and all it holds for me. Just a few of the things on my mind today. I found a contest in Writer's Market for Western short stories. I'm going to enter it, and my dad will probably be enthusiastic about it because he loves to watch Westerns on TV.

To tell you the truth, I make fun of him for it. Don't get me wrong, I love a great Western once in a blue moon, but my dad can watch them for hours. He can lip sinc every John Wayne movie, and he prides himself in being able to say a line before the characters say it themselves.

My only hope is to wait until he falls into a deep sleep, clutching the remote control to his chest. Sometimes I can steal the remote; other times I'm not so lucky.

Some of the outdated Westerns are corny. The last one he watched was about some bandits terrorizing a quiet little nun. John Wayne comes to the rescue, wounded in the shoulder by the lead bandit. The nun thanked him in a sweet, quiet voice, and he rode off into the sunset with a bandage over his glory wound.

You may be asking why I would be writing in a genre that I'm currently making fun of. I only think some Westerns are corny, and, frankly, I just can't watch them for hours on end. But I am a Western girl, I have horses, and I live in the wilderness among sagebrush, farmland, and an annoying screech owl that keeps me awake at night. So I guess that qualifies me to write a Western short story, just don't tell my dad. (I really do make fun of him a lot.)

Hang Gliding

This morning, I heard a strange noise outside my window, and it was someone hang gliding. I was able to catch some pictures while the person buzzed by my house, 100 feet above me.

Lobster

My mom had this great idea for the Fourth of July: she ordered in Lobsters from Maine, her home state.

Here is my huge nephew looking at his dinner, sort of.

The grown-ups are helping the little ones.

Carly doesn't seem too exited.

EmmaLee is helping Curtis.

Abigail is thouroughly enjoying the lobster.

Our number one fan of all things edible: Curtis.

Will Freelance for Food

I'm giving a more full-fleged effort to freelance writing, fueled by a Writer's Market 2010, courtesy of my sister Sarah on my birthday. I'm putting myself out there, and if anyone responds to my queries, I'll buy myself a dinner. (Normally publishers don't pay in meals, but the thought was nice.)

I made the decision to freelance more for two reasons: 1) I have temporarily exhausted all my resources, including local businesses, every personal connection I have, and various businesses across the country. 2) It's easier to BS my way through a short column about the health benefits of cauliflower than it is to BS my way into flattering some company into thinking that I "wanted to work there my whole life" and "I would be a wonderful asset to your company because..." Frankly, I'm temporarily tired of all that. I haven't completely given up on finding a job right now; I'm just taking a sick leave because I'm sick and tired of playing the game.

So, for now, I'm going to don a cardboard sign that says, "Will Freelance for Food" and see what comes of it.