say, blah!

not much of a look for me, really.

clever carvers, not me

Death Star

Firefox

Snoopy

this week

Monday 11-5
Tuesday off
Wednesday 3-10
Thursday 4 -10
Friday 5 - 11
Sat 12 - 8
Sun 5 - close
Mon 9:30 - 5

I'm a geek, I know what this is

you'll have to chill for now, but maybe later, you'll get your chance

Halloween 2007, group shots

I'll have other pictures later, but now you have these.

This Ghostbuster wasn't fast enough on the draw

The thing erupted from the Diet Coke bottle and sadly, Egon was later consumed by the ectoplasmic poltergeist. MR shows chemical sense with Diet Coke + Mentos.

no gangsters

no laces ... loose shoes, right fitting clothes, black, proud

RUN DMC

if rap wants to imitate some group, why not these early front-runners, eh?

in their shoes ... walk this way

no running, no driveby, no drug buy

what do you get when you mix acid, middle school and markers

Oh, Tom Tom Cllub's "Genius of Love" ... that's right. I remember seeing this video and then being left with wondering who directed the video ... Chutney from Curtis? Youth, aspiration, dreaming, denial. Actually, I'd venture some petty middle-schooler might latch on well to this song.

not of noble birth, but surely a good man

While his comments today were risque, rude at times, he was nonetheless who he is ... a good, honest man.

when you get two girls in front of the camera ...

It would help me much if anyone who reads this thing make no mention of the workplace, for as you see there isn't work going on.

This was not my original plan, but ... how could I say no.

does not mix well with dry heaves

I had dry heaves ... and then there was smoke. If you thought I looked green before ...

Whoa ... I'll not have one of those.

Either it's the San Francisco Screwdriver or what the taxpayer gets from the politician.

Play an arcade game...

get ripped off, robbed in other words.

Please insert thirty more tokens for thirty more seconds of play.

Gauntlet was one of many games quite like that.

he's just stupid

What rhymes with buttwipe

There I was, " You move like them"+ at work and still, I had no time to do the right thing and make an appearance at a birthday celebration. Crud; crud, curd; or whatever what is a good foul substitute for what cows add as fertilizer. I'm not dedicated; heck, I don't rightly care. I have to feign it well to move on. "Schlemiel, schlimazel"++, let's move one already.
TPS reports and the like. Did you file ... well, no. The standard practice is leave it for the next guy or schmuck. How about we add some accountability here and say, "what's goin' on?"++

Work, a gaggle of geese lost in the shuffle of what goes where and that isn't important right now. I'm hating work, it is hatin' on me. Worse still, I elected, as it were, to help train "testicle man" -- all balls, no brain as of yet. My perfunctory response rymes with ship. I be asswipe.

+ "Matrix"
++"Laverne and Shirley"
+++ 4 Non-Blondes

party over here, party over there

I found out where the Great Pumpkin is going to be. MR is hosting a party and the Peanuts gang is already there.

cute video with psychology principles

What happens when you can't understand a change.

The puppy "knows" there is another puppy, but she can't bite her or play. She is mad, and can't understand it. Humans get like this too. When something doesn't match what you "know", then you get angry.

naturally scary

While the picture is a bit blurred, I took it while driving ... it shows a scary house where people live. It reminds me of the farmhouse from "Night of the Living Dead".

Are you listening to me?

Sometimes you get a fastball, slow ball, and a curve. Why is he looking at your shoes? Normally we look at each other for direction. No, I don't have E.D. or erectile dysfunction, "but there will come a day, when youth will pass away. What will they say about me?"+

+ "I'm Just a Gigolo"

Haunting revelations

"Harry. It's our choices that set us apart."

Salut

Happy Birthday Paula

Left where I could find it

shielded blunt

"You do good"+, stated with measured trepidation. Rather than hang on a balance and let feelings be known, bland was my response, yeah, and I like the color off-white. I oughta ...

grow some balls.

I guess that's a weakness, brazen timidity in the face of "a sure thing". What's to lose ... everything. While a tornado raged Thursday, a thunderous cloud of doubt and question loomed. WTF? A man is offered, a chance with someone with the ease of moving a pawn B2-B3 white play one. There's no loss, though dangerous it is, exposing bishop. So, the pawn has little choice? No.

To fan out the clouds and smoke ...
I find a person interesting, but worried I am. She's neat, frollicly, but there's a generational gap. On top of all of this, her playfulness is likely just that; playful. She's neat. I think, end of story, she's about as inquisitive as she shows. She might have greater potential, but ultimately her best match guy would be:

dumb, kindly muscleman with an improbably well-paying job. In this case, she could be the brains and direct the guy, but would grow tired of him because she would have to direct someone so dim-witted.

I'm empty, alone, and I will have to accept that is my life. I don't like it. One girl at work I look as a niece, trying to help her reach goals and to give old guy advice that couples will fight, grow, and get over it. She's with a guy at work and they're twitter-pated. It's a good-deal likely that they'll have a years-long relationship that ends. No experience is wasted if you learn. So I encourage both to continue. If people argue or fight, then grow from it.

A flake at work is trying to figure out what I am. Am I a drug dealer who uses the job as a cash laundry and assumed identity or an otherwise insidious fiend whose life is shadowy and swampy in smell and appearance. Were my evils so prevalent, I'd be jailed so and justly. No, I'm lower than the narrator of "Fight Club", earning nothing like an auto company bean-counter. I am, however, bland, boring, and uninteresting.

+ middle school weary statement from "Mulan" where Mulan is "complimented" by her love with strong concern over pride and protocol.

What I wanna do

I want to cuddle up to a particular woman at work.

Doing right when it hurts

I am totally against management on their "pick" for a management trainee. As it stands, my opinion doesn't matter and so I realize that they are the "ol' boys club" and there are no inroads to change that. I plan on getting as much out of the place as I can. When they decide to enter into the 1980s or post millennium, I might reconsider my thinking, as they will have to have done with theirs.

It would not shock me in the least if the management were extorting "favors" from employees. It reminds me of documentation from the '50s in the South were Blacks were in shanty towns, the Klan was government, not just in government and where the small group of men -- placed by circumstance, not election, hold unchecked power and in impulsive, at times sick minds; dictators not wholly aligned with evil.

In other words, perpetual fifteen year olds in charge of managing; where they are "amiss" in many categories more akin to adults, more especially prediction, forecasting, and compassion for others.

.......
I have, despite my objections to their pick for next runner up, have provided that guy with some material which may help him. I am not interested in seeing him fail, so I will try to help him. I would rather they wait for the "ripening" process. He is not ripe, nor is the management's ability to really train people. I see much fire walking. Walk on coals, learn that way.

So what do I get?

So, there's a guy who took tests and review board for the next level. He clearly passed. I met him quickly in the evening and in other words, "now what". He is as disenchanted as I was for a long time. Since, it seems that they are willing to train me for the next level, I am "somewhat" revitalized in working there, for the moment.

His look was like, I don't like this, this, this, this, and this. These are and were my same arguments.
You have ten people, only ten people. Build the Empire State Building in one year. While you are running, spending every last drop of energy into the project, your fellows are working very hard, generally ignored and their efforts denied by other management; you are doomed to fail. Your other fellow managers look at you and seem to think, "Gosh, that looks like a lot of work. I'll just stand back and watch, despite the fact that I know I should participate." Herein is the troubling fact.

I mentioned to the GM that these people know the job I do now and supposedly know their job. It is not, however, demonstrated. They know they have to plan for the shift they are doing and plan for the next shift and consider everything for the hours of operation. I do that, but still I am not acknowledged for my attention to these things. That is why so many people get a bitter "F' it" attitude.

There are steps critical for management which include reprimanding and praising. They have yet to do anything with the praising. They have the reprimanding being "belittling", rather than focusing on using it to make progress, rather than to make someone feel bad.

I dare write that this guy will bow out and leave soon.

Next time it comes around

arise knight

A coat of many arms, no legs.

You are too kind your majesty.

Sir Essence of Mir.

Surrender to you, a squire? Never!

You're right. You'll have to knight me.
Keep it Lucius!

She has a little problem with the lawn mower

Die thing die!

I'll turn it back in to get a refund.

What they should have done was ...

a life-ending operation. Some felon gets a surgery in prison at taxpayer expense. How believable. America, wake up, make people accountable. This crap has to end.

realignment

One moved on ... one's standing by, and I'm hoping for a chance. Personnel and political change at work. Sadly, the wrong card was pulled from the deck, leaving it incomplete. I might start getting trained for the next level, or maybe not. We'll see. I was told, "show interest ... follow numbers." With one man's leaving, I was asked if I was basically now doing everything that he was doing.

Uh, no. It is not a trade card for card. In a game, not quite "screw your neighbor", you might trade up or trade worse. Even trading worse you might not lose.

Work

get it?

buck and a quarter

I saw and thankfully missed a buck trotting across the highway, seemingly with something on his mind. Later, seven some minutes and 2.1 miles away, I barely missed a doe who was easily startled. Perhaps they were a feuding couple or UDW (united deer workers) unhappy with concessions.

another week

Starting date October 14

N: 2 - 9
M: 11-5
T: OFF
W: 4-10
R: 5 - close
F: 2-9
S: 11-8
N: 11-8
M: 11-5

Business in parody, analogy

Who moved the cheez-whiz and Bollywood's Animal Farm married to Teflon Don Amiche. I'm listening to Animals, Inc., which is a bad version of a low budget rockumentary slasher environmental film. When hearing it, you wonder if the goal was to include every possible pun on animals running a farm, poorly, or the concept of bad management.

Show us your asses!

They did. There is a farm off the highway that has donkeys or asses who were happily munching as I passed them today.

Speaking of asses ... I worked today, some clientele and personnel played the part.

bland ambition

CNN had some something or other on Madonna. I would liken her star power and news worthiness to McDonald's fries. Why are we discussing this?

pull from the top

"we're top heavy", and so one -- for reasons surprisingly simple, gets pulled from the 3rd, cheap, but legal row.Chieftan AlwaysbeEaten seems to have accepted relocation. A shift of mere seconds, I contend that seconds, as well as elevenzies and third breakfast are things that are not strangers or migratory to his lands.

He leaves and there is a moment of "you missed the larger target", being the undisputed horse's behind of the operation.

wronged

There's a guy at work ... the worker guy ... "go there", "do that". Capable of much more, though timid through oppression, I hope to make him shine through his works. He is, undoubted, difficult to accept responsibility through his "whippings" at the hands of next-levelers who train though "no", and "wrong" rather than through, "that's good", "most excellent" and the like. Praise, like windfall money, is rare.

reacquainted with history

I have a renewed interest in history. I heard, George Washington, Spymaster, casting Washington into the role of head of spies during the French-Indian War, aka 7-year war, and the Revolutionary War, where he extracts critical information from spies. The author supposes a despicable Tory was a sleeper and had helped Washington win at Trenton and other places. I am finishing John Adams, while long-winded to be sure, nonetheless confirms other statements -- likely using the same sources.

I find the Declaration of Independence interesting, especially in its creation. Committees went through and picked apart Jefferson's initial draft, eliminating emancipation of the slaves and the cold defining of King George, III as a tyrant. Other sources cast George as a fair man, who found illogic in the colonies seeking statehood. Moreover, the imperial nation of Britain could not afford little nations form in their proud dominion, especially after the investments.

In school, at some point, I categorically dismissed history as sharpening a pencil -- limited in fun, dreadful to read about and impracticable to examine for "future implications".

It is indeed a feat that the US negotiated with "hated France", continental usurper to aid in our united failing fight against Britain. While two wrongs don't make a right and manyfold wrongs are inherently evil, I think we have properly forged a right nation. Our national crimes of slavery and genocide and in many cases hypocritical law, not the stepping stones or foundation, but rather a disfigured face. Our nation was created in secrecy, God and luck prevailing us in moments of implausible triumph.

Our nation has done shameful things, yes. That is not to say that we are not wiser for it. The laws of the nation are, in whole, a chalk drawing of its people -- written by some, edited by others, ratified body the elected body. It is imperfect, but a damn fine better than others. There are biased, bigoted, and wrongfully zealous people making law and writing it ... some judging over it, but still ... I honor it with my patriotism.

It is like a grocery receipt. How many people read it to check its accuracy? Really, you assume they are doing it right and generally they are. I bitch much, moan and bemoan, and groan, but that sadly is my right. I should have picked up something like this years ago to find what we didn't have -- the time it took to get it and the blood shed to obtain it. Moreover, the blood to retain it was none more shown than in the civil war -- "a divided nation cannot stand"+.

The question isn't, "are you American", but rather, to what lengths will you go to keep America? The more difficult question is, "what is an American"?

+ Lincoln

mouse worn out

There are, uh, other ways to do that.

Fake poop and more

I was needing to buy exploding cigars and fake vomit, thankfully this truck was there for my needs.

HallowChristmas

It's that time of the year when you have:
Happy-Merry HallowThanksChristmas

The store featured here is Walgreens

hung by the Halloween decor, with care

skulls

next time on ... the view

Gwen, Lori, and Amy discuss how icing is good for the soul

I, state your name.

Watching the history channel we see the Nazi masses being asses.

Keith's duties

Keith wonders if he can get replacement tires cheaper ...
he finds out that the van would be about 3" lower and closer to the ground

Where to begin with the flood of puke on the door ... sadly, Charlie didn't quite make it to the toilet

Ah, yes ... Keith cleaning up the spatters of puke.

weaponized

making marshmallows fun -- load, fire, fun

Hubley -- Thanks and God be with you.

Specialists in special children

Hubleys to welcome another blind child into their family

By Jennifer L. Boen

of The News-Sentinel

Books fill shelves, toy boxes and colorful plastic bins in Rebecca and Ryan Hubley's two-story home on a tree-lined boulevard in south Fort Wayne. On the coffee table is a cream-colored, pictureless book with heavy paper pages titled “Mr. Wacky is Wacky!” The tiny bumps on each page indicate it is a Braille book. Beside it is a book about Clifford the Big Red Dog's Valentine's Day adventures.

On the living-room walls are large framed photographs of the blond, blue-eyed Hubley children: Hannah, 6, Micah, 4, and Luca, 14 months. One other photo stands out from the rest. It is of a chubby-cheeked black baby with dark curls and chestnut eyes.

“That's Jonas, my brother,” Micah said. He's eagerly anticipating the arrival of Jonas sometime in November.

The 20-month-old lives in an orphanage in Haiti, abandoned five months ago at a social services agency by his parents, who likely felt their son “would have a better life than if they'd kept him,” Rebecca said. The reason? Jonas is blind.

Adopting a special-needs child for the Hubleys seemed the natural thing to do, the couple said. Hannah was born blind. Micah has spina bifida.

“For us, it's no big deal. I mean, this is just normal for us,” Ryan Hubley said. “Looking from the outside in, I can see how people would wonder why we would want to do this, but this is all we know.”

In a toy box, colored blocks with painted numbers mingle with foam-like shapes on which are raised Braille letters. Micah knows Clifford is red. Hannah just as quickly calls out the color of every shape, her small fingers moving over the raised dots.

The cause of Hannah's blindness is a genetic disorder affecting about one in a million people: familial exudative vitrealretinopathy, or FEVR. When the Hubleys were expecting Micah, they knew he had a one in four chance of having the disorder. Another kind of disability was not foremost on their minds.

But an early ultrasound showed Micah had an opening at the base of his spine, the hallmark of spina bifida. They accepted the news, asked for prayer and support from family and friends, and waited until his birth to know how severe the spina bifida would be and whether he also would be blind.

Micah's eyes are fine. His spina bifida is a milder case; he can walk. However, the birth defect affects the nerves to his bladder and bowel, and his gait is somewhat different from other children. Luca has no apparent physical disabilities.

The Hubleys wanted more children, but after Luca's birth decided if they added to the family it would be through adoption. Ryan wanted to do an international adoption.

In September, Rebecca, a professional artist/photographer and adjunct Huntington University instructor, was searching the Web for agencies and countries to consider. Through Bethany Christian Services, the largest adoption agency in the United States, Rebecca found God's Littlest Angels, an orphanage in the mountains of Haiti near a villager called Fermathe.

Jonas' picture appeared. When Rebecca read he is blind, “I just knew he was the one,” she said. The couple prayed over the matter, discussing the challenges of raising a third child with disabilities. But the day after Rebecca saw Jonas' picture, Ryan called her from Blackhawk Middle School, where he is a teacher and coach.

“He said, ‘I can't get (Jonas) off my mind,' ” Rebecca recalled. “Then he said, ‘I can't think of any reason why not to do it.' ”

Rebecca knows Haiti well — she lived there several months each year throughout her childhood. Her father, Dr. David Brown, a family physician with Markle Medical Clinic, took the family along when he did medical mission work at a Haitian clinic. After Rebecca and Ryan married in 1999, they worked alongside her parents at the clinic for several weeks.

By phone, Dixie Bickel, director and founder of God's Littlest Angels, explained that Jonas was developmentally delayed and not walking yet. Rebecca knew that is common for a blind baby. The two chatted about Hannah and what therapies helped her - therapies Jonas has not had access to. Bickel took notes in hopes of implementing some with Jonas.

Because Jonas is a special-needs child, the Haitian government can expedite a medical visa for him. In addition, $5,000 is available through God's Littlest Angels to cover expenses related to getting Jonas to the United States. The caveat? The Hubleys needed written documentation from local doctors and therapists stating they would provide Jonas' care for free prior to Jonas' final adoption. Rebecca had everything signed and delivered within a week.

Now the Hubleys await approval for his visa. Because Jonas' parents are unknown and cannot sign papers, the visa takes a little longer. Rebecca hopes to fly to Haiti by mid-November to bring him to his new home. Initially, they will be his U.S. sponsors, and will proceed with adoption as soon as possible.

Hannah and Micah talk excitedly about the arrival of their new brother, although Hannah said she wishes she was gaining a sister, not another brother. Micah is already learning the role of sighted guide for his older sister. He's happiest when lots of people are around, and one day asked Rebecca, “Could we bring home all the kids who don't have a mommy?”

Hannah is the only child in Fort Wayne Community Schools with 100 percent vision loss, school officials said. Until Jonas is tested, the Hubleys won't know how extensive his loss of vision is or if he has additional problems.

“It doesn't matter,” Rebecca said. “We're not sending him back. We know this is what God wants us to do. We have so much to offer him. Hannah can teach him Braille, and Micah said he will teach Jonas how to play games. We're a team.”

autumn

dump on ya

hurting

I was approached by a student a while ago ... she seemed disinterested when I was no longer subbing or teaching. I inspired another adult to pursue teaching. It never touched me like this before. I guess I did put a little something in of myself ... helped one or two people ...

damn

I don't miss some of it, and I can safely write that my pay was never as much "routinely" as it is now, but I did like what I was doing. If I got that kind of consistent pay for teaching hours for teaching ... I'd be happy to sub for eternity. Only now do I see that I did do something positive in the lives of a few people.

eyes up here

I am a pig, from "men are pigs", for a woman came in and she had a name badge on her chest. She was cute, nice voice and sadly I had to force myself not to look at her chest. I don't mean to say that her name tag got my attention, but rather her chest. I think in my mind, I played out the elevator scene from "Liar, Liar".

Halloween how you like it

This lady here, I would have to remove her utility belt and other "harmful" things ... rowrr -- oo, foxy lady
or you can outfit your lawn in lovely decor
read scary stories -- your woman clenching onto for protection
allow your kids to play dress up and get candy
get candid pictures of your kids wearing your clothes as a costume

"hey y'all, watch this" ending in disaster for yourself -- "it seemed like a good idea at the time."
or pass out candy to the kids calling out, "treat or treat" ... gee, thanks Mister.