After many months of unemployment, I find myself re-entering the workforce tomorrow. In an effort to free some clutter from my mind about all that has gone on over the past year, I have decided to write it out of my system.... so here it goes.
The greatest lesson that I learned from not being employed has to be that I have a wife and son who are more wonderful than I ever imagined. My wife, who was promoted to full-time status at her job only weeks before I lost mine, has worked very hard to ensure that we continued to have food on the table and a roof over our heads. The hours she has had to work are long, and the job does not give her much satisfaction, but she is good at it, and she worked without complaint to make sure not to drag me down. It was very hard on me to see her work so hard and know that I did not have a job to support us. I got to spend a lot of time with my son as well. In fact, the entirety of last summer was spent together, and I got a chance to know my son as a young man, not just as a boy. He has grown so much over the past years, and it was a great pleasure to spend so much time with him. I even managed to convert him to fishing, which was an activity he had only been "lukewarm" towards in the past. We are excited to get our fishing licenses again this year so we can go catch some trout!
Another lesson learned is that harbouring grudges does nothing for you. I still hold a lot of animosity toward the guy who forced me out of my old job, but over time, I have been able to leave some of that behind and not let it eat away at me. I spent a lot of time during the first 6 months of being unemployed being hateful and spiteful to this guy, without him even knowing it. I mean, how could he know it, it was not as if I talked to him or shopped at his stores any more. But that does not eliminate the fact that this hatred was stewing in me like a festering pot of overdone chili. I finally was able to let it go, and now, I feel much better about life in general.
That is all for now..
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day.. the day in America when the candy makers, flower shops, and jewelry stores rejoice because it pulls them out of the post-Christmas funk.. and a day when you feel like a chump if you haven't spent a fortune on the aforementioned items for your significant other. For most of you who know me, you know that I have been out of work for quite a while now... in other words, money is a little on the tight side. So this year, we (meaning my wife and me) got each other 1 reasonable priced, nice gift.. For her, a new pair of shoes. For me, a new book by one of my favorite authors. There, done, no diamond necklace, no bouquet of red roses (thankfully, my wife is not a big fan of flowers, so I have saved a ton over the years by not having to buy the darn things for every occasion), and no big box of chocolates.. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.. hope you didn't go into hock to try and please your significant other...
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Another month
Another couple of months have passed and I am back in a writing mood, so here it goes. The topic for today is keeping the positives in our lives while eliminating (or trying to eliminate) the negatives. I have had a dear friend from my past who de-friended me on Facebook because she was "offended" by the opinions posted on some of my posts. She was not offended so much by me, but by some of my other friends' writing and opinions in response to my posts. On Facebook, I tend to post politically themed reports, information from conservative themed websites, and then respond to thoughts and responses from friends.. It can get a little heated at times, but it is a great way to see all sides of an issue that you feel is important to you. If you are offended by the topic, you have a few choices: defend your opinion with positive facts, defend your opinion with non-fact based rants that might include language that is not especially polite, or simply walk away from the discussion of the topic at hand. In the case of this friend, she walked away from the topics, and send me a personal message explaining why she would be defriending me... unlike some other friends who simply defriended me with no explanation. I do not really care one way or the other, but I have always thought that simply hiding from the discussion shows weakness and a lack of conviction. If you have beliefs, stand up for them and defend them. Listen to any points the opposite side may bring up. Be willing to cede a point if one is convincingly made.
This brings me to the recent uproar about what I see as government interfering in a religion's right to worship how they see fit, versus what others see as a church trying to impose their beliefs on others and take away what they view as a right, that is, a woman's right to control her body. I will put this as succinctly as possible: The Constitution as it is written trumps everything else as far as laws go. The government is expressly forbidden from interfering in the affairs of a church and how they wish to worship. Period. There have been times when this right was taken away from groups in this country, and now all people of faith need to ensure that what is starting with an attack on Catholic organizations does not blossom into a full fledged attack on all religions. The right to worship how we see fit is written clearly into the Constitution, unlike other so called "rights" that have been interpreted to be there, like the right to privacy that is cited to uphold abortion as a right. As long as the worship of a church does not infringe on others in such a way to deprive them of life or liberty, it should be untouchable. In simple terms, Muslims who kill their daughters under the guise of "honor killings" do not have the right to exercise this aspect of their religious beliefs because it denies life to the daughter. Likewise, members of cults can worship how they want until it starts physically restricting people who might want to leave, because they are denying these people their liberty..
In closing, I quote Joseph Smith: "We claim the privilege of worshipping almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." -Articles of Faith #11
This brings me to the recent uproar about what I see as government interfering in a religion's right to worship how they see fit, versus what others see as a church trying to impose their beliefs on others and take away what they view as a right, that is, a woman's right to control her body. I will put this as succinctly as possible: The Constitution as it is written trumps everything else as far as laws go. The government is expressly forbidden from interfering in the affairs of a church and how they wish to worship. Period. There have been times when this right was taken away from groups in this country, and now all people of faith need to ensure that what is starting with an attack on Catholic organizations does not blossom into a full fledged attack on all religions. The right to worship how we see fit is written clearly into the Constitution, unlike other so called "rights" that have been interpreted to be there, like the right to privacy that is cited to uphold abortion as a right. As long as the worship of a church does not infringe on others in such a way to deprive them of life or liberty, it should be untouchable. In simple terms, Muslims who kill their daughters under the guise of "honor killings" do not have the right to exercise this aspect of their religious beliefs because it denies life to the daughter. Likewise, members of cults can worship how they want until it starts physically restricting people who might want to leave, because they are denying these people their liberty..
In closing, I quote Joseph Smith: "We claim the privilege of worshipping almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." -Articles of Faith #11
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Christmas time
It has been too long since I wrote on this blog, and thought that this time of year merits a brief note from me. As I write this, I am still unemployed, because obviously educated, well-spoken, experienced managers are not in great demand. That's ok.. it is their loss. It is still frustrating, but as long as I continue to do what I need to do to find a job, I cannot let it get me down. It is difficult at times, but we are managing, somehow.
I had a recent thing happen on a thread that was started on my Facebook page.. It started with me posting about a controversial new law regarding education in my home state of California... it ended with people I know, love, and respect, from both sides of the argument, calling each other bigots, and taking the conversation to a low level. I do not blame any one person on this, and continue to love and respect them all. However, one of them sent me a personal note saying that this friend could no longer be my "friend" on Facebook because this person could not read posts and responses from people who had so much hatred. I responded that I understood, but I find it interesting that when this person's beliefs are questioned, it is hatred, but when the other side's beliefs are, it is to expand tolerance and "help" others understand. I don't get it. I hear things from all over the place that go contrary to my personal beliefs, but I try to answer with measured responses and facts that support my point of view. I try to not call people names or belittle them, though sometimes people who are overly sensitive may take it that way. I try to respect the opinions of others, but I feel that respect needs to be reciprocated. If it is not a two way street, the reason for being respectful of others starts to fade.
In politics, this need to happen as well. If one side doesn't like what is passed by the other side, it is pronounced "dead on arrival", and never even gets consideration. This is why Washington is broken, and it will never be fixed.. we keep sending the same people back to Congress to do the same thing that they do all the time. I saw a poll the other day that said that the approval rating of Congress is in the single digits. No offence to the pollsters who ask this question, but it is asking the wrong question.. the question should not be "do you approve of the job Congress is doing"..it should be "do you approve of the job YOUR Congressman or Congresswoman or Senator is doing". They may not approve of the job Congress is doing as a whole, but the majority of Americans do approve of the job their own Congressperson is doing...if this were not so, so many of them would not get re-elected time after time. When term limits are mentioned, people love the idea, as long as it applies to the other people in Congress, but not their own... if they wanted term limits for their own Congressperson, they simply have to vote them out of office. I, for example, love the idea of term limits when I think of people such as Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman, or Harry Reid... but I do not like the idea when I think of people such as Orrin Hatch (I was just thinking of a long-term conservative for the example). Others who think the other way would reverse those, keeping Pelosi and removing Hatch. The fact remains, we do have a way of setting term limits on people in Congress.. they are called elections.
Ok, enough on my soapbox for now.. Merry Christmas to all you who might read this.
I had a recent thing happen on a thread that was started on my Facebook page.. It started with me posting about a controversial new law regarding education in my home state of California... it ended with people I know, love, and respect, from both sides of the argument, calling each other bigots, and taking the conversation to a low level. I do not blame any one person on this, and continue to love and respect them all. However, one of them sent me a personal note saying that this friend could no longer be my "friend" on Facebook because this person could not read posts and responses from people who had so much hatred. I responded that I understood, but I find it interesting that when this person's beliefs are questioned, it is hatred, but when the other side's beliefs are, it is to expand tolerance and "help" others understand. I don't get it. I hear things from all over the place that go contrary to my personal beliefs, but I try to answer with measured responses and facts that support my point of view. I try to not call people names or belittle them, though sometimes people who are overly sensitive may take it that way. I try to respect the opinions of others, but I feel that respect needs to be reciprocated. If it is not a two way street, the reason for being respectful of others starts to fade.
In politics, this need to happen as well. If one side doesn't like what is passed by the other side, it is pronounced "dead on arrival", and never even gets consideration. This is why Washington is broken, and it will never be fixed.. we keep sending the same people back to Congress to do the same thing that they do all the time. I saw a poll the other day that said that the approval rating of Congress is in the single digits. No offence to the pollsters who ask this question, but it is asking the wrong question.. the question should not be "do you approve of the job Congress is doing"..it should be "do you approve of the job YOUR Congressman or Congresswoman or Senator is doing". They may not approve of the job Congress is doing as a whole, but the majority of Americans do approve of the job their own Congressperson is doing...if this were not so, so many of them would not get re-elected time after time. When term limits are mentioned, people love the idea, as long as it applies to the other people in Congress, but not their own... if they wanted term limits for their own Congressperson, they simply have to vote them out of office. I, for example, love the idea of term limits when I think of people such as Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman, or Harry Reid... but I do not like the idea when I think of people such as Orrin Hatch (I was just thinking of a long-term conservative for the example). Others who think the other way would reverse those, keeping Pelosi and removing Hatch. The fact remains, we do have a way of setting term limits on people in Congress.. they are called elections.
Ok, enough on my soapbox for now.. Merry Christmas to all you who might read this.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Yards Sales and free Dr. Pepper
Saturday.. the day that our family spends the entire morning rummaging through other people's junk so we can have more junk for ourselves.. it is an ongoing cycle that will continue forever, or so it seems. Some weeks are good, others are not. After running around for a few hours and finding a few things for ourselves, we stopped in at Albertson's and found that they were giving away free Dr. Peppers... what a treat! They coupon off the price of the 2 liter bottle, so all you have to pay is the tax!! We stopped by 5 different Albertson's on the way home (an advantage of living where there are tons of locations) and stocked up for the remainder of the summer! Hey, save where you can, right?
Thursday, July 14, 2011
back on track (sort of)
A lot has happened over the past few months, and I ended up losing my info for my old blog. So now, here I am starting over again.. I plan to attach this to my FB account, and Google plus if I ever get on it.
Some of you know that I lost my job in December, and I have had no luck finding a new one. It has been tough on my family, but we are getting by. After a long, drawn-out fight over unemployment, I won the final decision against the company, and have been able to collect that. Right about the same time, Jana got promoted at her job, so not everything has been bad.
Several people have asked me if I might look at going back to school, and I have thought about going back and getting a MBA, or maybe a second degree in something different. The point is that I really do not know what I will end up doing if I cannot find work soon. An advanced degree could mean more money, but it will cost a lot to go back and get the degree.. Same with a secondary degree option.. With Carl being only a couple of years away from going to college, adding a bunch of debt is something I am trying to avoid. There may not be any other options at this point. We shall see...
Some of you know that I lost my job in December, and I have had no luck finding a new one. It has been tough on my family, but we are getting by. After a long, drawn-out fight over unemployment, I won the final decision against the company, and have been able to collect that. Right about the same time, Jana got promoted at her job, so not everything has been bad.
Several people have asked me if I might look at going back to school, and I have thought about going back and getting a MBA, or maybe a second degree in something different. The point is that I really do not know what I will end up doing if I cannot find work soon. An advanced degree could mean more money, but it will cost a lot to go back and get the degree.. Same with a secondary degree option.. With Carl being only a couple of years away from going to college, adding a bunch of debt is something I am trying to avoid. There may not be any other options at this point. We shall see...
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