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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. 
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| This is getting to be a normal thing anymore, and I do not like it. No, not writing in here; I enjoy that and wish I could take even more time to spend here in WDC. I'm talking about getting woke up early on Monday morning to deal with stuff from work. The last few times it was for time clock corrections, today, it was a sick guard. I would not mind so much, but I am not a person who is up early by any standard. I do not sleep a lot, it's just that I don't get to bed until early morning hours anymore, so if I get woke up early, it's often, like today, after about four hours of sleep. On top of that, I have to work tonight. I did have a lot of time as a result, but I also had a lot of work to do from home, so I did not get to enjoy any of it. It did work out for good, though. I have permission to hire another person, two actually, so that I can have my time off more often. I will have to wait for ads to go out for one of them, but the other has already submitted an application and it has been forwarded to the home office, approved, and now it's just a matter of getting the rest of the paperwork done and getting her trained. It will mean opposite times of the day for us, but I think it will work fine. It pays pretty good, and we will have more time than now. It also means that even if she has the vehicle, I will not need to worry about a ride in if something happens and I have to cover at work. What? I threw you off a bit with that last statement, didn't I? Yes, the new person is my wife, so if she is at work with the vehicle, I know the shift is covered. Since she will be working either double coverage or evenings, I do not even have to worry about her relief not showing up. Things are looking up. Now, I have to get ready to go. I do hope to write a bit more, later. |
| Happy Easter, 2013. I have the day off and so fa it's been a lazy day. I didn't even get up till after noon. Of course, I was up late last night, again. It was quite a night, some good, some bad, some worse. Let's start at the beginning, Saturday. Yesterday I was up kind of early, at least for me. I had to be to work by eleven for double coverage from eleven to five. It was also an opportunity to talk to Missy - not her real name, but a nickname because she always wants to take time off. This was my first double coverage shift for this season, so my weekend off is now another weekend at work. Also, Rhonda, my wife did not get off work Friday night till kind of late, so it was a late night getting to bed, and only six hours, at the most, of sleep. I started my shift tired, but feeling fine. I worked with the morning guard for a couple hours, then Missy came on duty and he left. I talked to her about the next schedule and she informed me she could not work Saturday, April 7. I had previously talked to her about the need for weekend coverage and she was willing and able. I pointed this out, and she said that since I had not put her on the schedule for double coverage yet, she thought I wasn't going to. I pointed out why she had not been put on yet, and that I had explained this before. Her excuse changed, she had tickets for the 7th months ago. I did not pursue the issue by asking her why she would say she could work every weekend if she had already purchased tickets for a weekend event. No, I already knew it would be some lame excuse, and that the story would change, again. Instead, I asked her about the reasons why she needed time off. This also had changed, and there were a few different versions floating around. I also learned that the transplant for June, that had changed to August, was now moved back to June -- maybe. I also learned it was not her daughter anymore, but her sister. She also informed me she may or may not be the donor due to health issues of her own. I quote her, "one doctor says I can, one says I can't." On top of this, her daughter is having health issues and needs some assistance and her son has cancer. He also has to have knee surgery and the cancer may be spots in his lungs or pneumonia. In other words, there's a whole lot of reasons she may need to take time off. I again dropped the subject and moved on to the next issue, the summer schedule after another guard leaves. I would take his position and need to hire to fill mine, as well as the double coverage. Unless, she and the new hire wanted to take full time hours. If this was the case, we could all get full time hours, and cover the double coverage. She looked at it, said it would be nice and she could do this. I pointed out there would be little time for anyone to miss, and it would mean commitment to covering scheduled shifts without change. She said she could see that, and could understand why it had to work that way. I asked her directly, "Can you make this commitment?" She answered, "I don't know, it depends on what the doctors find." I asked when she would know and she told me she had no idea, when ever the doctors decided to let her know. In other words, no answer, it was just up in the air if or when she would need to take time off. Currently it is every schedule she needs to have at least one scheduled day off. By five yesterday afternoon, I had all the answers I needed. I was in need of hiring two people, one for my open shift when I change, and one for double coverage and filling in for this person when she decides she needs to take time off. I already know, by her attitude and answers, she does not care if she works here or not. She wants the money, she wants to choose her own schedule, whether it disrupts others plans or not, and if there is a conflict, she is dedicated to taking the time off. I was off work, knowing I had to redo the schedule, so much for no work on my day off. I stopped by Target to talk to Rhonda, and to get a get-well card. Rhonda went on break so I stuck around and talked to her a bit, then our daughter and her family stopped by. They were in town for the day, and plans had been made for this visit, which was pleasant. After, i continued on with previous plans to see if my brother wanted to go ice fishing. His girlfriend had surgery recently and i was going to drop of the card I mentioned and to see if he could get away for a little while for some ice fishing or if he was needed at home. I checked my cell, and he had called three times already since five, so i called him as I drove and he was able and willing to go do a bit of fishing. When I got to his place, I gave the card, then dressed for the lake while he got ready. I loaded my stuff in his truck and we headed out. The ice was a mess, sloppy, wet, and we decided not to drive out. We unloaded everything and pulled some in the portable shelter and carried the rest. It took a few tries to find how to pull everything in the shelter without it falling off, but we made it. after setting up, we moved a bit to some pre-drilled holes and set up there. It was kind of foggy, so we stayed close to the landing and made note which direction to go to find our way back if the fog became worse. We also decided to leave before dark for the same reason. We did get wet, but with the shelter and a heater, we were fine to stay and fish. He caught a nice Northern soon after we started fishing. After that it was kind of dead, and it was getting on to the time we had planned on packing up to go. The fog was thicker, but we could still see our lines outside the shelter. He asked where all the Walleyes were at that were suppose to be here. That's when I got a bite. It took hold and I set the hook. I thought a Northern as the drag went out, but it did not fight like a Pike. I seen it pass under the ice below my hole, and again it looked like a pretty nice size fish, must be a Northern Pike. It just did not fight like one. After another minute, I had it back to the hole and thought it would come up. Again it turned and fled, pulling line from my reel. I tightened the drag a little and and put up a bit more resistance to tire this fish out. Another minute passed and then it was there, below the ice under my hole. It fought a bit more, but it was too tired to pull the drag out and soon the head was coming up through the ice. Just as we realized this was not a Northern, the hook dislodged and pulled free. Luckily, Len was right there to help land the fish. He grabbed it even as the hook pulled free and it was up and out, on the floor of the shelter. Although we did not measure it then, it was a twenty-seven and a half inch Walleye. I put it out on the snow, and checked my outside line. The minnow was lively and everything was fine. I went back into the shelter, put another minnow on, and dropped my line again. Within a few minutes, the fog had thickened enough to hide my outside line. I checked the drag and made sure it would be loose enough to prevent a fish from breaking my line and returned again to the shelter. We fished a bit longer, and then decided to pull our outside lines in, since we could not watch them anymore. We had stayed later than planned, but the landing had a light and we could see our way in fine, despite thick fog and darkness. When Len pulled his outside line up, he yelled for me to assist him, he had a fish. Another Walleye. A little smaller, but still a nice fish. We packed up our stuff a bit and fished from within the shelter till nine. He decided to get the position before we left, so he walked into the light, got his GPS out of the vehicle, and then changed his mind, he would drive back out instead of walking. Others had been driving on the ice around us, so we knew it was still thick enough and strong enough. I did not know he would drive out, but I did hear the vehicles and seen light in the fog, some distance away. He had gotten lost in the fog, but still able to see the landing light, he turned around and drove back, then called me to tell me he could not find me and the fish shelter. We had a light in the shelter, so I took it out and talked to him via the phone as he walked. He could not see it. Again her turned around and walked back to the lighted landing. He tried to find the trail we had made coming out, and then followed that out. I also was on this trail and moved in toward the landing and the light until I could barely see the shelter in the darkening fog. I had drug my feet along as I had drug my feet as I walked, to make my steps easy to distinguish from any others, and moved further in, losing sight of our fishing spot, shelter, and equipment. I continued to hold the light high and swing it, hoping it would help him see me. After a few minutes, I could see something in the fog. I wasn't sure, but thought it was him. I moved in a little closer, still dragging my feet, leaving an easy trail to follow back. Yes, now I could make out his shape. I called out and he answered. He could also now see the light ahead of him and soon we had joined there in the damp, darkness, surrounded by a fog so thick, we cast shadows on it from the light of the lantern. We easily followed my trail back and soon had the coordinates. We packed up and pulled everything in. We had found how to haul things better, so it was easier going back in, but still a workout. Len pulled the shack, I carried the minnows and the lantern. After we got back to the landing, we loaded up and drove back to his house. We got a few pictures of the fish, he cleaned his and I went to Target to get Rhonda. It was quarter after eleven when she came out, and we still needed to pick up some groceries for today. We got home about one this morning. She worked on putting groceries away while I cleaned fish, then we had supper and watched a spot of television. About three this morning we went to bed, and by five this morning I was up with severe stomach pains. Rhonda was soon up, with stomach pains of her own. I sat up for a while, in total agony, she went back to bed to try and sleep. We had taken some tums and being thirsty, had drank a glass of water. After a half hour, I went back and lay down, the pain had subsided some. I would have an occasion sharp pain from time to time, but it was much better. I finally was able to sleep by six this morning, and so getting up at noon was not so late. I'm happy to say, the stomach pains have all but ended for both of us. I still have some bloating and pressure, but not anything like last night. I hope I never do, it was all but unbearable. Now, it's time to cook up some yummy food for our Easter dinner and then, maybe, a bit more fishing; if my stomach continues to do alright after I eat. We will see~ I did go out fishing and am back home, had dinner and am about to go to bed. It's April 1, 02:34 right now and this is just a quick update for the rest of my day. I had some toast, got the ribs cooking, and then dressed, loaded up, and headed in for some ice fishing. I came to understand a few more things about my little brother tonight in the process. It was clear on the phone earlier that there was some disappointment when I told him I had been sick and didn't know if I would go out. But, after eating the toast, I felt better, and didn't think it would cause me to have need of a bathroom while we were out. I got the ribs cooking then loaded the van and headed in on Mustang Ave. I called him shortly after leaving town, and he said he was going to the lake now. I explained I would not be able to get through with the van, especially with the broken spring, and he said just give it hell, and I'd do fine. I listened for a hint of humor in his voice, but instead I heard a very serious tone to it. He paused for a bit then added he could fix the fish shelter while I drove in. After I got there, he was finishing up, had just finished his school work, and we headed out. We got to the lake and it looked like someone had our spot, but as we drove out, he insisted we needed to go closer to shore and more to the east of where we had been last night. I explained my logic in knowing a proximity to our location, but he was dead set I was wrong anyway. He had taken coordinates with the GPS, and now he said they were not reading right. We picked a spot and set up, and before we even had everything up, he had one line in the water. It was windy enough the shelter was blowing all over. We moved it, but in the process, he let go of his end and I was almost run down by it. he didn't seem to have any remorse in that, and seemed indifferent to where we set up. I had to ask what direction to face it, which holes he wanted, and then stand in it while he set himself up. Once he was set up, I took the opportunity to grab my stuff and set myself up. I told him there was a hole just off my side I could use if we started getting bites. I thought he would do the same with some holes on his side. Instead, he sat to my right and fished inside, and set his tip-up to my left and slightly behind me. Then, he said he was putting out a third line, in the hole I had intended on using outside my doorway. This was to my left and a bit in front of me, he had me centered between three points of his bait, so that if a fish did come along, it would likely take his before ever getting to mine. The wind was blowing in from his side, so it was cold there, and it put out the heater every time he went out. I told him we should switch sides so he could fish out that side, and he seemed put out by it. He did agree, but he seemed upset. After we switched sides, he told me he had planned on staying till about eight thirty. He seemed in a hurry to get packed up and head in, and we didn't do much at all although he did land one perch. I noticed this kind of attitude some times with him, but never understood why. I also know he seems to be in competition with me over anything and everything. Today, I think it was because yesterday I caught a bigger fish than he did. I have no other reasoning why he was so difficult today. I know it mirrors my father a lot, and it is unpleasant to say the least. I don't think all of it is intentional, but stems from the subconscious mind. Some however is intentional as well. I believe I understand a bit more now, it stems from feelings of inadequacy. He is threatened by me being me and tries to be better to win my approval. Unfortunately, in the process he usually falls short of my standards. Not that it matters, they are my standards, and I do not expect others to adopt them. Even so, I hold high expectations of others, and this may be a part of it. I do not, however, expect the same from others as I do myself, and do not look down at anyone how has different standards. There may be more to it, but the results are the same. Sometimes we can have a great time together, and then just as quick as you can blink, he does everything in his power to make things miserable; just like his dad. I know I cannot change any of this, but understanding it may make it easier to endure when it comes. The night ended well, and that is the main thing, right. I enjoyed the fresh air, I was home early, and we had a wonderful dinner. Now it's time to go to bed and enjoy a wonderful night, as well. "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
| Trying to get woke up and moving, but it's still too early for that. It's not even quite nine-thirty for Pete's sake. I know, that's late morning for most, but not for me, not yet anyway. Working evenings to ten-thirty, getting home late and getting to bed in the early morning hours is my normal routine, so getting up about nine is early, often only six or seven hours of sleep. We did try getting to bed earlier this winter, so we could be up by eight. It was working pretty good, since I was only working till nine-thirty, but then they messed up Rhonda's hours and started keeping her till late, some nights were after eleven when she would get done. That put a stop to that. Now, spring has sprung, and I'm thinking it would be nice to be up earlier again. In fact, I would have been up sooner this morning if I could have gotten home sooner. I closed last night, got done about quarter after ten, but then had to wait for Rhonda to get done. They have been scheduling her to ten every night lately, so we both get done about the same time, often she would wait about fifteen minutes for me. But, as is typical, since I had to be back to work today by eleven, they had her scheduled to work until ten-thirty last night. See, my hours during the week are five to ten, and I get out of there anytime from quarter after to ten-thirty. During the winter it was fine to nine-fifteen or so. Rhonda's hours are all over the place, even though she is only available from one to ten. this week, so far it has been five-thirty to ten, four-thirty to ten, and then yesterday, three to ten-thirty. So, two of the days, our hours almost matched, but yesterday they were way off. I did start early, though, so it did not matter that I was there at three instead of five. Last night, however, it would have been nice to go straight home after work, since I wanted to be up early and have to be back to work by eleven. But, as is normal, Target had her scheduled to work till ten-thirty instead, and then still did not let her leave until quarter to eleven. By the time she came out and we got going it was eleven, then drive home and it's going on midnight. Eat something and watch a bit of TV and it's after one in the morning. A little update on the schedule since I would not have time today, and it's going on two in the morning and so much for being up early. Ah, but only today left of this week of madness, then she is off till Thursday. Then, Thursday and Friday I will be off, so no conflicts in schedules until next Saturday. Oh, and I should add, that is her last day at Target, so today we have a mess and then next Saturday. I can hardly contain myself. For today, I'll leave about ten-fifteen. She will drive me in, come back home and then go in about three. I get done at five, will likely hang out at my brothers, hopefully doing a bit of ice fishing, then pick her up at eleven. It will be another late night for us, but we are both off for Easter, so can sleep in. All week, it should be pretty good until Saturday, her last day. |
| Another rushed write; this will be so nice when it's done. One week and one day left, then my wife is unemployed, hopefully for a short time. However short it may be, the main thing she is looking for in her next job is consistency in the schedule, same hours each day, and the same days each week. Sure, we both know there will be exceptions, but we can handle them on occasion. It's actually less then the eight days I list, that is by date, one week from tomorrow is her last day at Target. Even so, she works today and tomorrow, then has Sunday through Wednesday off, then will work Thursday through Saturday, then done. She is looking at a position in a kitchen that would be six in the morning to two in the afternoon, with some weekends. She worked there before, although not in the kitchen, and knows this to be every other weekend. The hours will work with my job, and I will soon have almost every weekend off, so it will be every other weekend with her, but at least we will have the full afternoon together, as well. Today, well I thought I would have more time to write later, from town. I was not scheduled for work until five again, but Rhonda has to be at work by three. So, the plan was, like yesterday, take her in, go to HyVee and get online for a while, then head over to work. I noticed yesterday that this is not the best way to have down time before work. I knew it was a hassle and a pain, but I still looked at it as relaxing before working for the evening. Yesterday it dawned on me, I was not relaxed, I was actually kind of up-tight. I did not have much time to get involved in anything, and had to keep a constant eye on the clock, so I would not be late. I also noticed that I was a bit apprehensive of work, of sitting in the buffet area, the noise and distractions, and the people around me. Not a lot, but a slight bit. There is always noise in areas like that, but most is blocked as much as possible. Even so, there could be someone I know who talks to me, and so a bit apprehensive of being disrupted. It may be a good distraction, or it could be bad, it didn't matter, it was just the possibility itself. There was the mental nagging of having to be at work on time, of needing to send a fax, and of it possibly being a busy night, you should relax a while. I was not comfortable sitting at a booth typing and reading, although not uncomfortable, it is still not comfort, either. Also, people are rude. If you just sit and watch people in areas like a buffet, it is surprising how many of them are just rude and even a bit obnoxious. Yawning or talking with mouths stuffed full of partially chewed food, interrupting each other, picking and digging in areas best left untouched, especially at the table, and of course, just general sloppiness. The worst of these will pick an area as close as possible to someone sitting alone on a computer trying to read or write something, even though the buffet is almost empty at this time. They will talk too loud, try and see what your doing, and if that is not distracting you, they either talk to you about what your doing, or about you for doing it. For example, yesterday a group of elderly folks came in, got food and even though some wanted to sit by a window and enjoy the beautiful weather, a couple of the above mentioned types insisted on sitting in a booth right behind me. There was plenty of requests for a table instead, with good arguments, but the few insisted a booth would be fun and that was the one. Then, after bouncing the seat a bit getting settled in, they begin to talk and eat. Lots of noise, some not very pleasant, but all kind of blocked as I looked at some erotic items in here. Then, I hear someone ask me what I'm doing. "Is that work." she asked. "No, just reading." I answered. I kind of ignored anymore and continued on, but was aware of the sensation of someone looking over my shoulder. The next thing I hear is someone saying something about how disgusting it was to sit next to someone reading porn. Then it is directed to me to be ashamed of what I'm reading, and how upsetting it was to her. I ignored this again, and continued on. I was thinking it was actually kind of funny, since I wasn't reading anything, just kind of browsing through the items listed. She must have been reading the titles over my shoulder. The next thing I know, she is telling the person working there, who come to remove some empty plates, that she is very upset that they allow people to sit in there and look at porn. The young lady of course could see my computer from where she stood, and must have looked. She replied that she did not see anything pornographic, and that they did not regulate what people used the public wifi for. She added that there were other seats available and she would assist them in moving to another if it was bothering them. The hag, for lack of a better term, insulted at this, commented in a harsh tone that she would not be moved from her seat because some pervert decided to sit by them and look at smut! At this, I politely stood up and addressed them. "I was sitting here minding my own business when you and your group came in. You picked this spot, even though you could see I was doing something on the computer. You interrupted me to ask what i was doing, even though it is none of your business, and I told you, I was reading. That was not good enough, you again had to invade my privacy and look over the back of the seat to see what I was reading. I wasn't reading anything, yet, just looking through some titles, but you seen something you did not approve of and have been going off since." I then turned and addressed the lady working and asked if she would call a manager back to the buffet, I wanted to voice a complaint of having rude people invade my privacy as a paying customer. She smiled and said she would do that right away. Of course, the hag, her cronies got up and left. The others, who had done nothing, apologized for them, and continued their meal. I cancelled my request and everything was fine. I began to shut down, it was time for work. One of the gentlemen at the table had a bit of a chuckle as I got up to leave, and thanked me for putting Mrs. Soandso in her place. They all nodded and one of the ladies added, "That was way over do, perhaps now them old bitty's won't invite themselves along anymore." Got to run, I was asked to come in early... |
| Another day with limited time, so I decided to get in here and write a little bit while I can. I should be working on the next schedule for work, faxing a document, and trying to convince my boss that we need to get some advertisement out for help wanted. But, that can wait a few minutes while I type a little in my journal. I'm halfway done with the three day stretch before the weekend. I still don't know if I work this weekend or not. The last I heard, I will have Easter Sunday off, but I do not know about Saturday. I may not know until I get there on Saturday and then get sent back home. The weather is suppose to be nice, so I will likely be there till five on Saturday, then have Sunday off, work Monday and Tuesday, then be off for three days. I don't mind the extra hours, but the not knowing is kind of frustrating. Add to that one person who keeps requesting time off every two weeks, and it's a bit stressful. On top of that, I am still being messed up by my wife's schedule, and that adds even more stress. Especially now that we are on summer hours again. Monday through Friday, we are open one hour later, so it's one hour later getting done. Usually it's about ten-thirty when I get done, then a half hour drive home, so about eleven if we do not need to stop for anything. Not too bad, and I can handle it, if we get right home. Also, my shift does not start until five, so I have most of the day. So why is it stressful, because my wife's schedule just will not work with mine. Today she needs to be at work by three-thirty, so we leave about a quarter to three. I wouldn't even have to get ready until about three-thirty, so there goes part of my day. Also, she often is not done till eleven or after, so it's often midnight by the time we get home, and going on one in the morning by the time we eat something, get the dogs settled back down, and then two or so by the time we are in bed. That means we get up about nine or ten, and lose another chunk of the day, the morning. It just gets frustrating after doing this for over six months. Actually it's been more like a year, but last summer I also had no time off, so it was both jobs. One week from this Saturday, and she is done with her job. She is looking, and top of the list is a regular, consistent schedule. I know, I've been going off with this topic a lot. It's just so frustrating and depressing. It's difficult to motivate for both of us, and it's getting old. We just don't do anything anymore. We are both trying to lose weight, but we have not been doing anything for exercise, we continue to give in on foods we should resist or limit, and we don't do any of the fun things we enjoy. We just became very unmotivated. I even understand why, no money, no time, and always interruptions. It is always a fight to do anything, and then, when we do make an attempt, it goes all wrong. For example, last July we planned a little mini vacation for our anniversary. It came just right with my schedule for three days off without any missed work. Rhonda took the same three days off, we booked a room at a local hotel with hot tub and all the extras, and made plans to picnic on the afternoon by the lake, let the dogs go swimming and run for a while to tucker them out. Then bring them home for the night, while we go back in and enjoy the evening at the hotel. We planned on enjoying the pool and sauna for a bit, then dressing and going out for dinner. After, we would get some wine and return to the room, enjoy the hot tub and have a relaxing and passionate evening. The next morning we would go out for breakfast, then return home to check on the dogs and maybe do a short road trip with them, or just take them back to the lake for the day. Things were set, the reservations made. We picked up some wine, some items for snacking, and even began to pack up items we would need for our overnight outing. Rhonda purchased some clothing, sexy and comfortable for the day, to surprise me with, and then we waited. Now, understand, I had not worked for a few years, so we had a lot of time to spend together up to last year when I returned to work. We were missing each other and the time we had become used to sharing together. So, a week before our anniversary, I go into work after my two days off, and the schedule has changed. See, when I took the job, I would work a repeating schedule, the same as another guard, but opposite days. It was nice, I would work Saturday and Sunday, then get Monday and Tuesday off, work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, then get Saturday and Sunday off, work Monday and Tuesday, then get the next three days off before it repeated again for the next two weeks. I scheduled dental work and appointments for my days of during the week, I had every other Monday and Tuesday with Rhonda, who was also off on Monday and Tuesday. Things were looking good, except the person who worked opposite of me always wanted the weekends off. She would talk to the boss and have him reschedule so she could take time off without missing hours. It would always start on Sunday. Our week starts on Sunday, so I would still have my Saturday off, but now, instead of Sunday off and working Monday and Tuesday, then three days off, I worked Sunday and had Monday and Tuesday off. This was almost a constant, from the time I started, I had one full weekend off all summer. The rest were messed up. This is what happened, we had planned for my three day off cycle for our anniversary, I would not even have to put in for time off, but when I went to work on Wednesday, one week before our planned mini vacation, the new schedule was up, and now I would work Sunday, have Monday and Tuesday off, then work right through my mini vacation. I was very annoyed and upset with all the changes anyway, I had talked a few times to the boss about it, but this was the last time. I went in the next morning, during his shift and told him flat out, this crap was going to end. If this other woman wants to take time off, fine, let her, but do not change the schedule again, or I will quit. I explained to him, again, how this was always messing me up, and how it was now destroying our plans. He was good about it, he was going to let me take the three days off, but I would have to lose the pay for them, as well. That was too much, since this other lady never lost an hour. I told him the same, and also told him I was going to give my two week notice right then and there. I even took a slip of scratch paper and began to put it down in writing. He quickly seen the errors of his ways, and drew up a new schedule. It would return me to the one I had been on, so no missed days. Also, the other person would not miss any days, but she would not get her weekend off unless she switched it out with someone or gave up the hours. I ended up working her hours, and took another weekend off. I was willing to do this, but I wanted it to be my choice, just in case I had plans. It lasted for about two weeks. Actually it lasted for a week, but the schedule was for two weeks, and after that he, my boss, was not my boss anymore. He had also, from what I had been told at the time, been messing up a few other things and the company decided to demote him. We work as security guards, our home office is just over two hundred miles away, and the vice president came up to demote him and appoint a new site supervisor. I was it. I talked to the vice president on Wednesday, I talked to the store management on Thursday -- there were some major issues needing attention. On Friday, I drew up some disciplinary action forms, I contacted the home office with the information I had gotten from the management, and found that nothing had been done about anything for a while. On Saturday, I took my paperwork in to work with me, explained my plan of attack to management, they approved it and then headed out for my first official duty as supervisor. Management at the store wanted this person fired, ASAP. The security company policy is three strikes. One, a verbal warning, two is a written warning and three is your gone. None had been issued. But, the security company also wants to keep the store, our customer, happy. I got the job of finding a way to do this and keep everyone happy. Well except for the person involved. The infraction was severe, so I drew up a verbal warning. To keep the store happy, I included that this person would agree to either do everything by the book or quit. No more chances, any violation, no matter how trivial, would result in instant termination. I knew the guard and had worked with her, she had a very bad attitude and I knew she would not want to have everyone watching every move she made. She did not like the management at all, and knew they wanted her gone. So, I had about 90% certainty she would not take this mildly, and would get pissed and quit. She did. We finished the interview, I had her sign that she understood, even if she did not agree, and asked her if she wanted to stay under these conditions, or not. She wisely decided that she would quit right then and there, turned in her stuff and walked. Everyone was happy, well except her and I wasn't the most thrilled to start out this way. Also, I had to replace her right away, and since she was only temporary, the company did not want to hire anyone, but told me to try and cover her hours. So much for any weekends off. Some good came of it, the other guard who was always taking time off knew I had just taken position as supervisor, fired one guard, and was not happy with the way the scheduling had been. She did not ask for any time off the rest of the summer, and did not even gripe when I assigned her extra hours to help cover the open position. Of course, all good things must end, and now she is back to wanting time off all the time, and with summer approaching, she will have the desire for the weekends, or at least Saturdays off as often as she can get them. We are also starting the double coverage on weekends, the position that the terminated guard had last summer, so there are no free weekends left for either of us. Soon, the double coverage will also include Friday and Monday, and I will have my hands full trying to cover all the hours without anyone getting overtime. We can, but if she needs time off, someone else will have to not get any time off for that week, it's that tight. Also, another guard, the former supervisor, is leaving in May. Again, I can cover the hours, but I know that it will mean no time off for anyone, we will work six days a week and everyone will be pushing forty hours. Also, since some of them are part-time and have full time jobs, they will be working with no breaks. This will not last long before they quit and if anyone needs time off, it will create overtime for whom ever fills in. So, there is stress from this, and of course, the possibility that I may again have a summer like last, with no time to do anything. A lot of anxiety, and a lot of stress. I do not get to relax and enjoy my time away from work, I have to do some of it from home. Up to and over ten hours a week are spent waiting do to conflicts in schedules between my wife and I, and that is not counting the hours she has to wait for me. Between the schedule conflicts and work from home time, I would say it reaches about fifteen hours a week for me. I have contacted the office and let them know I need to hire, but as of yet, no reply. They tend to be a bit slow on replying and actions anyway, so perhaps they are working on it. The distance makes it a bit difficult to communicate. Also, if they look at my personnel, they will see we have plenty of people to cover hours. But, that is a generic average. In Truth, one guard works full time all week, so he is only willing to work weekends, and an occasional evening, if it's absolutely needed. He is up at three in the morning for his full time job, so he does not like to stay and close. Another works all week, but desires evenings and weekends off. She will help out on occasion, but that's it. They do stuff all summer on the weekends, and if she is forced to work nights and weekends, she would quit, she doesn't have to have the job, it's extra money. Also, she only has nine hours more she can work. That's two out of five that are no help. The third guard is quitting in a month, but until then, he will help out on weekends when he isn't working his second job. Again, limited, and only has nine hours to fill in, too. The fourth guard is always requesting time off, and has some medical issues. Not sure what, it seems to change, and it could even be a bunch of bull, but what ever it is, she is not dependable. She claims to want more hours, but she also wants time off. That leaves me, and a whole lot of hours that need filling in another month. About fifty five of them, to be more precise. So, if I seem to be stuck on this thing, it's because it is a constant cloud over me. I cannot do much of anything, just wait and see what comes. Even so, I know at this point, it could be a bad storm, but then, it could blow itself out and not be bad at all. I do know, if I could even put one person on for now, when the other guard quits we would have it covered. It would be tight, and I if someone takes time off, it will mean giving up a day off for someone else, but it's workable. So, one more employee, with just weekends for now, and the occasional fill in, next month they would pick up my shift; I'm taking the opening after he leaves. Then, by the end of May, everyone would be working full time hours except our weekend worker, with the full time job during the week. That would do the trick, and I think we could do it. I will have to talk to Miss Missalot, and she will have to make a commitment for it to work, if not, she will be looking at reduced hours so I can justify hiring another. I know the company will not want to, but if she takes time off, I will have to schedule overtime to cover for her, and one or two times of that and I think they will support me in hiring a replacement for her position. For now, it's schedule, plan, talk to workers, and hope for good news that we are hiring. Other than that, it's wait. |
| The next chunk of time is now due. I just enjoyed two days off, and now it is time to head back to the grind. Only, the grind is not so much the job, it's all the rest of it. First off, I would like to be out ice fishing today. Sure, I enjoy ice fishing, but I can accept once a week and actually, more than that conflicts with other interests. That is how i generally look at it, and what I don't tell my brother when he asks if we can go out fishing. I'll give one day with him, enjoy it, and then I just tell him I have this to do, or that. This time, however, we went out yesterday as planned, but my wife, Rhonda came with for the first time. Not her first time, but the first time ice fishing, but the first time with me. She had not liked ice fishing, but gave it another try yesterday and we had a fun day. Only, we did not go to our regular spot, and did not catch any fish. Instead we tried a new spot and got skunked. I should say, my brother tried a new spot, we just rode with and went where he did. That's why I would like to take her out again, where we usually fish, and then I know she would have a good chance of catching some fish. Also, it is nice out today. Nicer than it has been since last fall. It would be a beautiful day on the lake,and there are not going to be many of these days left for us, as the ice will go fast in the heat and sunlight. But, there isn't much we can do. We have jobs and have to go work. It's just that our schedules conflict so much, we seldom have much for time to do anything together. The last two days, we did enjoy together and it's hard to let that end. On the positive side, she is about done with work, a week from Saturday will be her last day at Target. She has even less to work, seven days counting today. She is looking for work, however, so we do not know how much free time we will get together. It kind of stinks that we are going into our busy time and I will have even less time to spend with her now that she has more. Again, there is a bright and positive side. In one month, one week, and five days, the morning position will open at work, and I will be moving from closing to opening. That means few weekends for me, I will work from five in the morning till around noon, and have the rest of the day to enjoy. She is applying for a job that matches these hours pretty close, six till two, and some weekends. Likely it will be every other weekend. So, again it will be every other week we will have two days off. Only now it's me who often has to work one of the days we are suppose to get. With the new position, that may still come up, but not very likely to often. So we gain a little bit there, and we will have afternoons to enjoy together. There are a few more perks, but let's wait and see if she gets the position before we start going into them. The main thing is not where she is going, it's what she is leaving behind. Low pay, no benefits, and a hectic schedule that insists on conflict with mine. In other words, a headache and source of much stress for little in return. So, now I must run and take care of some work business that just arrived via text message. Seems there are some people who just do not get the concepts, no matter how many times it is explained. |
| Good afternoon; a very good afternoon, indeed. I am on my second day off, I slept in and wok rested and feeling good. The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day. It is a bit cold out yet, only eleven degrees, Fahrenheit. It should be three or four times warmer this time of year, but not much we can do about it. It is sunny, calm, and will warm to about thirty today. It's suppose to hit forty by Friday, but we will see. I don't know if I work this weekend or not, but if not, it may be the last chance to get out on the ice for fishing this season. With temperatures in the upper thirties and forties the ice will go fast. That's why we will get out there for a while today. I still have to call my brother to see what's up, but if he is not going, Rhonda and I will still go out. We can pull the shelter out and enjoy the afternoon. I doubt he will not be going, so we will likely load out stuff with his and drive out. This is the first time she has come with, and I'm kind of excited. I'm not sure how Len will feel about it, but I think he will be alright with her coming along out. I hope so, anyway. So, for now, this is it for my entry. I will likely be back later with some more, but then again, if it's late when we come in off the lake, maybe not. I do have to do some other stuff too, for work. That should not take very long, and if worse comes to worse, I can also get that done tomorrow. We are back from the lake, it is ten o'clock here, and we have been home about an hour. It was a pretty good day out on the lake, but not what I had hoped for. We got to my brother's a bit later than we had intended, and he was sitting out in the truck waiting. Not sure what was up with that, but we loaded our stuff into his pickup and headed out. We have been going to a lake on the edge of town, but going a couple miles out to the west end of the lake. Not far west end, but a bit west of middle. We found a good spot and have been doing pretty well there every time we go. Well, the second to the last time, some guy kept coming over and bullshitting with us. He acted a bit strange, and sounded even more out of it. I'm not sure if it ws mind altering drugs, or maybe he was just intellectually challenged, but he was not right. He kept telling us he was catching all these fish just twenty yards south of us. He would make a lot of noise, hollering and such, then claim he had another big fish. We never seen the fish, but he claimed he had his limit already and had to release them. After about a half hour, forty-five minutes, he went back to his vehicle and his own fishing holes. This was another twenty or thirty yards away, but he told my brother that we should move over to the hot spot he had caught all these fish at. My brother seems easily convinced, so we moved everything over to this spot, even though I had already caught a couple of nice Pike where we where fishing. Of course, we didn't do anything at the new spot for most of the afternoon. Towards sunset, my brother finally caught one perch and one Pike, not anything big, but keepers. The buffoon, or what ever he was, took off, but stopped by to see if we had been catching any fish. I took the liberty to check out his vehicle, since he had done so well and had a limit of big perch and nice Pike. I seen the one perch that he had caught, or claimed to have, anyway. That was it. I think he takes that one damn fish around all over and tosses it on the ice, tells people he just caught it, then moves and does the same. Seriously, the only fish I seen this nut catch, was a perch about a foot long. He was making a big to do over it, and yelling for us to come see his monster fish. We, my brother and I, walked over, and sure enough he had a nice jumbo perch. That was why my brother was convinced to move over there. I wasn't quite as impressed, seeing as how he had just caught the fish and we seen him drop it on the ice less than a minute after he said he caught it. Now, we did not actually see him pull the fish from the water, just heard him going off and seen him toss the fish onto the ice. Right after he tossed the fish, we walked over. Maybe a minute, two max to cover the ground. There on the ice was the fish, but it was not flopping around at all. In fact, it did not even move. It was not even laying flat, it was kind of bowed, and froze solid. Like I said, he probably had caught this fish who knows where, and any chance he could get, would "re-catch" the same fish to impress people. Now, I looked in his truck, he one perch and a small Pike, that was it. That was his limit. But he claimed different and my brother sucked it all in and moved. I point this out so that you will understand what took place today. But, before I do, I will also point out that the area we had been fishing, that had been giving us plenty of fish, was good from about noon to about five. back then, it would get dark about then, as well. A few other people fished right in that same area, so it was often difficult to get the right spot. But anywhere in the area seemed to do good, but that one spot was great. Some of these people told my brother that this kid, who lived on the lake someplace, would come out after five and catch his limit of Walleyes. Every night, or at least almost every night. So, my brother started going out later and staying till after dark. We didn't do any good, but we had to try, because they said. Not only did we never catch anything after sunset, but we were almost always the last ones off that lake, no one else ever showed up. It was all a lie. So back to today. I had my wife with, for the first time. She had ice fished a few times, but never had any fun, so she decided not to go anymore. This was pre-me. With her ex-husband it was always a disaster, and ice fishing was even worse. She was a little fearful of being on a frozen lake and he would make sure he had her scared senseless by the time they came in. So, she would not go out with me, she just didn't care to. I was fine with that, and we both kind of did our own thing instead of going fishing together, well ice fishing anyway. But, after I bought the shelter and she helped me get it cleaned up and ready to go, she started showing some interest. I gave her an offer to go along and try it once, and see if she enjoyed it or not. She was willing, so today was the big day for us to go. We were both excited, and eager. I had been meeting my brother at the lake, so I thought this would work fine, we could do the dame and if she did not like it, we could head in and not ruin his day of fishing. Also, know we always catch some Pike there at that spot, I was sure Rhonda would get to catch a few. I had it planned to let her use the right tackle so that I would know she would catch something. Instead, when I called, he was still at home. We met him at his house and rode out together. I knew this was not going to be the best because he drives like a nut on the lake, and Rhonda would be a bit nervous anyway. Still, I can not drive the van out, I would get stuck, so we took what we could get and it was alright. But, my brothers girl friend, who does not care to fish anyway, and refuses to ice fish at all, knew that the Walleyes were biting on the east side of the lake. Her friend told her that her husband Frank caught his limit of Walleye every night between five and six. Sound familiar? Only difference, Frank isn't a kid. So, do we go to the spot we know is good? No, we have to go where Frank does and we have to fish for Walleye. Not that I mind, but we never catch any on this lake. One all winter, that was it. Also, most of the Walleye I have seen caught in this area, are all too small to even keep. Very few are a foot or more. No mater, Frank gets his limit every night, so we go out to the east end, but he has no idea where on the east end. We had a few nice spots we could have set up in, but that isn't the way my brother fishes. No you drive around and look to see where other people have fished and set up there. Even when we did stop and set up, he walked around and seen a spot twenty feet away where two fish shelters had sat, but be a better spot, lets move over there. So we did, and we got set up, again, and we got a couple of holes made for me and Rhonda, set our stuff up and started fishing. With us both in the shelter, there was only room for one hole each, so I told her I would put another hole just outside the door where I could keep an eye on it. Nope, my brother had to start out with a hole there, one on the other side of his shelter, and two inside. It did not matter, I was going to wait and see if we had any luck before I drilled another hole, but it's the idea. He just has not independent thought, if his girlfriend tells him bass are no good, fish for Walleye, then he does. If Pike are no good, fish for Walleye, he does. She does not fish much, never in the winter, and does not even seem to like fish. But she always hears the guys at work talking about fishing, so she tell him where to go, when to go, and how to fish. He listens, and we end up skunked, each time. If we do go someplace else, he still will not fish anyplace unless someone else is fishing there. I do not understand it, but he cannot fish someplace unless someone else is there. That was the case today. The east side has never had more than one or two people fish on it, and they never stay long. But now everyone was there, I would guess forty people fishing in the same general area. Not more than a couple actually caught anything that we seen, and the ones who did, had little Pike. Frank had spread the story, it seemed, and now everyone was fishing where Frank got his limit every night. Well, not everyone. My brother knows who Frank is, and that he drives a jeep. Frank was not on the lake, at all. He called his girlfriend, she called her friend, Frank's wife, and sure enough, Frank had gone fishing, again, like every night. He had his jeep and was on the east side of the lake. Funny, we were there, but neither Frank or his Jeep was any place on the lake. Seems that he fooled everyone. He was fishing some secret spot, on a different lake, and to keep people away, tell them the wrong side of the wrong lake. That is, if Frank is even out fishing, and is even catching his limit every night. As far as I know, Frank is sitting in South Fork watching the girls dance and strip, drinking beer, and bringing home Walleye fillets from HyVee's fish market. Sure, they would be froze, but then, if your out ice fishing, your fish are froze by the time you come in. I thought about stopping and looking at South Fork, but I don't know Frank, and besides, what difference would it make. I tend not to listen to fish stories, I learned that years ago. There are a few I would trust, but very few. Besides that, I tend to do my own thing, in my own way. If there are a lot of people fishing in one area, I will more than likely go to the other end of the lake, where no one is fishing. I figure if there are that many people, it's over fished, too much competition for the fish, and it's always noisy. I always figure that some one has to find the hot spot the rest flock to. The have to go there when no one else is even fishing there, and that is me, I will try here and there, away from the mobs, where it's peaceful, restful, and I can enjoy myself, even if I'm not catching fish. We are hoping to get out again, if the weather permits. We will try someplace, and hopefully I can watch Rhonda land a two foot Pike on a little ice fishing rod with four pound test line. That's a rush and a half. We keep them, or at least a few of them, fillet them, cut out the "Y" bones, and enjoy a very good tasting fish. As good as any other. |
| There is a saying that goes something like early to bed, early to rise, makes a man feel healthy, wealthy, and wise. It's either not true or I did it wrong. I went to bed early this morning, around one or so, and fell almost instantly into a deep, uninterrupted sleep. This morning, I was woke up by the phone at seven-thirty. So, early to bed; 1:00 am. Early to rise, 7:30 am. Did I feel healthy? No. Did I feel wealthy? No. Did I feel wise? Again, no. I felt startled, tired, and groggy. I was startled by the noise of the phone jarring me out of a deep and peaceful sleep. I was tired and did not want to get out from under the covers. I talked for less than a minute and longed deeply to just dive right back into bed and drift once again into consciousnesses. I was groggy as I answered the phone, my mind stunned and confused as I listened to the words. It took me a minute to comprehend the message I received, and then I had to take a couple more minutes to shake the cobwebs from the corners of my mind so that I could respond. My boss had called from the home office two hundred and some miles away. It's payroll today, and he needed one of the guards out time for Friday. Once the message seeped in, I understood and told him I would get the information he needed and call him right back. I then had to contact the guard, but he was at work and cannot take calls while on duty. So had to work my still slumbering brain a bit, but found the answer, I called the stores front office, had them radio the guard and get the information, then I called my boss back and passed this time on to him. Without coffee, short on sleep, and in the morning gloom with no lights, I pulled it off and completed the task. Not too bad, but now I needed coffee. A part of me wanted to go fall back into bed and pass back out, but I knew it would not happen. I could get all snuggled into the blankets, close my eyes and drift, but I would not drift far enough to fall back to sleep. I never do; nope just stay up and get some coffee. My wife had also gotten up, so she started a pot of coffee, then she vanished beneath the still warm blankets and was softly breathing in a deep sleep within a minute. I poured a cup of coffee, that's about all that had dripped through yet, and took a sip. It was hot, and strong. It did the trick; a light came on in my brain. Another sip or two, and another light came on. By the time I finished the cup, I had woke most of my brain and was actually starting to feel awake. A question arose out of the no luminous regions of my mind, "Why didn't he tell me he couldn't clock out?" All the guards should know that they need to let me know right away if they cannot clock in or out; I've told them repeatedly. In fact, it was just two weeks ago, I was woke the exact same way for a different guard. I had explained this to them all back then, again. Also, I had just talked to this person, yesterday. Not just talked, but worked with him for four hours. Why then, could he not tell me he did not get clocked out on Friday? I know the answer. I just had it in a Bible study yesterday. I have also heard this a few times in the past. I agree with it and know it to be true. They don't listen; they can't, because they are too busy talking. Seriously. Learning is a difficult task, it takes a lot of energy. Listening and understanding something is part of this learning process. You have to hear it, process it, then apply it. But, if your talking while the directions are given, you do not hear them, cannot process them, and then there is nothing to apply. Even if your not talking, but thinking about what you will say as soon as you get the chance, your still talking in you mind. If something is coming out, you can't take anything in. This is science, and it's very true. The mind works in one direction at a time, either taking in, or putting out. The doctrine in the Bible study confirms this. Job 33:33 "Listen to me; keep silent, and I will teach you wisdom. The first step in learning? Listen. The second, keep silent. This applies to oral and mental noise, keep them silent and listen instead of speaking. Then, and only then can we learn wisdom. Well, there it is. Only now there is a bit more. Even though the day started out a bit harsh, it soon picked up. I spent some time with my lovely wife, since we both have today off. We sipped some coffee and talked, but she was tired and soon wandered back to bed. I soon joined her and we had a nice nap. Upon arising feeling more rested and much better, I logged in, checked mail, put on some music and put in some time in here, WDC. I read a little bit, did a review or two, then took a short break. A lazy day, relaxed and feeling pretty good. What to do? Lots; there is an endless list of things to do. But, today I pushed this mental list back, opened a folder on my hard drive labeled Prose & Poetry. I looked for a specific item I had jotted down and opened it in my word processor. I then copied and pasted it in my portfolio. Next, with good music seeping throughout the house, I began to read and work on this item. I just finished plugging it for reviews and feedback. This may not be a brand new write, but it still feels good to be writing something again. In fact, it felt so good to write and work on it, that upon completion, when I read it to Rhonda, I kept getting a bit teary eyed; it just felt that good to write and create again -- it's been a long time. If you read this, and are willing, the item is in my portfolio, Spring Revisited; "Spring Revisited"  |
| "Well, there it is." Emperor Joseph II in Amadeus (1984). Just another of my favored quotes. Yes, it is the last day of the weekend for some, the first day of the week for others. Me? Sunday is the first day of the week, of course. Our pay cycle begins on Sundays, our work week begins on Sundays, and our calendar starts each week with Sunday. That means there is only one day for the weekend, which only makes sense. The week does not end twice, it ends just once, on Saturday. It also means that Monday is not such an evil entity as well. Many see Monday as the beginning of the new week, and the end of the weekend. Both very negative, and so not any good. But Monday is not the beginning of the week, Sunday is, and for many it is a day off. So, on a positive note, The week starts with a day off. Want a double positive charge? The week begins and ends with a day off. Now, you can't do much better than that. Wait, yes we can. Not only does every week start and end with a day off, but they come end to end; at the end of the week, you get a day off, then the next week starts, but you get that day off, too. I know, it's just another way of saying the same thing. Only, instead of a two day weekend, I have a one day weekend and a one day week beginning. Which, as I pointed out, is more correct, since the second day of the week is no longer the beginning, it is the continuation. For me, it makes no difference, since I work every other Saturday and Sunday. I also get every other Monday and Tuesday off, on the weeks I work Saturday and Sunday. On the weeks I do work Monday and Tuesday, I get Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off. Well, at least for now. That will all change soon, I hope. At least that is the plan. Now, a break to eat lunch, then perhaps I can come back and write a bit more, or if not, I may be able to write a bit more later tonight. It all depends on time. Well, there it is. And, here is some more, since I do have a bit more time now and may not have any later. That is the way it has been going around here, for quite a while now. See, everything is rushed, so much gets postponed until later, but then later, there is not any time to do the things postponed. So again, they get put off for a future date when there will be some time to take care of them, only as each day comes, there never is the time needed. Even on the few occasions where there is time, there is so much to do there is not time. Now, after reading how I get three days off one week and four the next, you wonder how that can be? I do, too. I can explain a bit of it; I am a supervisor for a security company, with our corporate office about two hundred miles away. We provide non-armed security for a retailer, not in store, but in the lumbar yard. We have a small guardhouse that we man from opening until closing, but it is not a real busy store, so much of the time we only have one guard on duty at a time. In the summer, we do run two guards from Friday through Monday, but only for six hours each day; this is labeled as double coverage, and is a temporary position. I just started this job, and career last spring, in May. I also just became supervisor in August, so all this is established prior to my employment. We have just enough people to cover each shift the way it is set up, with two of us on the schedule I mentioned above, alternating weeks, of course. We are designated as fill in for any shift not covered, and can, if needed fill the double coverage, too. It makes for very little time off when this happens, but that's how it was set up. Now, my first task when promoted to supervisor, was to fire the double coverage person. I managed to convince her to resign on the spot instead, leaving with out getting fired. Better for everyone involved. Up to this point, the other supervisor was playing patsy with my counter part, giving her any time off she asked for. But, he did not give me any extra hours, he would manipulate the schedule so that we both got the same hours every pay period. The problem with this was, I never knew when I would have time off, it changed with each and every schedule. I try and set up personal matters, appointments, camping, fishing, biking, what have you, on my days off. I did, too. Only, my schedule would change and I would have to now work on the day I had plans for. I was frustrated, angry, and ready to quit myself. Only the company offered me the position of supervisor at this time and it gave me the power to control this. Well to some degree. I would still have to fill in for others on occasion, but at least I could schedule it in advance and know what was going on. Also, if I did have plans, I could schedule changes with others to make it all work. In addition, after whats-her-name got fired/quit, the person stirring things up became pretty quiet. In fact they all did for a while. We, me and my counter part, the employee who was always in need of time off, we'll call her Missy, for missing so much, had to provide the double coverage, since it was close to time for the position to come to an end and the company did not want to hire again. This was fine, very little time off, but no one asked for any time off and all went pretty well. By fall, the double coverage ended, and requests for time off began to come in. Not a lot, but a few. No problem, with the double coverage over, there was plenty of hours available to fill in. Also, Missy wanted as many hours as possible. I gave her as many as I could, and she asked for more. Then, winter hit. Missy told me she could work any time, any day, she did not do anything in the winter. She lives in town, less than a half mile from the site. The first storm hit, and my opening guard, who has thirty plus miles to drive, was unable to make it. No travel advised. I called Missy, she could not get out of the parking lot. I told her to call a cab, she could not, she was baby-sitting. I drove twenty five miles to cover the shift. Each time weather stopped traffic, I called, she always had an excuse to not make it in, and every time, I covered. In fact, once, after I had covered the opening shift, the second shift person called, she was stuck and could not get out until after someone opened up a trail, or her boyfriend got home with the truck. Yes, she had tried to get through in a low riding little car. I called Missy, but she could not get out, too much snow for her truck. It was, after all, only two-wheel drive and she did not even have a shovel. the second shift person was called back, come in after your boyfriend comes home and work to closing. That shift, by the way, was Missy's. Sure, give her all the hours I can, but unfortunately, she never could make it. When someone needed a day off, Missy was always willing to work their shift. I would schedule it and notify her, and she was fine with it then. But, if she worked one day for second shift, or for opening, then she would ask for a day off in conjunction with her three day off cycle. She even told me once that she would like to have the schedule changed so she could work a week and then take a week off. She also let is slip that she had another job she did on her days off. She had told me she baby-sat her grandchild sometimes, but this was something else. She did not say, but she used to do house cleaning on the side, so I assume this is what it is. Over the winter, it stayed constant, but at least it was my end of week days off or weekends. See, my wife, Rhonda, works every day except Mondays and Tuesdays. So, we have every other Monday and Tuesday off for us. Four days a month, that's it. Well, Missy began to request Mondays off after payday. She also had payday weekend off, so it was a nice three day weekend with money. I changed the schedule, now she works that weekend and I have it off. End of problem, right? No. She still insisted on taking Monday or Tuesday off. I talked to her and explained why this was not good. She didn't stop long enough to listen, just began with the empty excuses. She also was not putting her request in soon enough. I ask for two weeks, and she was always right on the line or past it. She would, for instance, put in a request exactly two weeks before the day, but it would be while I was on my three day off stretch. She would not call or notify me in any way. I would come in, and it would be tacked to the board for me, now less than two weeks. I put a firm no in to her, and denied her request. She complains to the management of the store we work at. Not to me, she is not talking to me unless she absolutely has to. We do not work for the store, we are a separate company, hired to provide security. Oh well, that's a whole different story. Anyway, you can see then, how even with lots of time off, I have to forfeit much of it for work. I have my shift, I get paid while working it, on site, and anything else, like scheduling and paperwork, disciplinary action, and reviews, I do on my time off the clock. This also takes a way some of my off time, and with her always adding to the work, it becomes even more. If I need to talk to her, I drive in on my off time, talk to her, and do not get reimbursed for any of it. That is the system, and if we work together, it is not bad, but if they don't, it can absorb a lot of my off time. It also adds a lot of stress, which burns up time. Now, add in my wife's schedule, which is always in conflict, and the fact that we now have only one vehicle, and you can begin to see. If I have time off, I spend it working from home, filling in for other workers, or in waiting for my wife before and or, after work. This and the stress has become a big negative and we find ourselves not even trying to utilize our time right anymore. Kind of depressing in itself, which adds more to it, and then trying to work with people to correct some of it, only to have them make it even worse, and it's just a mess. Chaos! We do not make enough to quite pay everything. We did, up to and when I became supervisor, then my wife's schedule became even more messed up and there just was no way we could cover it all. She put in a change for the times she could work, and they followed them some, but they cut her at least ten hours a pay check. We had our car up and die, needed to get another vehicle, and borrowed to do it. They cut a few more hours. We went to a winter schedule, so I got done sooner. She ahd been getting done the same time, but they now extended her hours. More hours more pay, right? Not! They also had her come in later, which conflicted with my hours. Try and talk to them again, more cuts. Talk the them about the cuts, and they say if you open up your hours of availability we can give you more hours. She did, and they did not. They only messed her schedule up more to make sure it was in no way close to mine, and cut more hours again. Then, without any warning, last week they cut her even more. That was it, she put in her notice and now in two weeks things will work better. but we will have a little less money. Even today, it's clear, however, that it needs to be. I worked last night to nine-thirty. Then I waited for her till after eleven. She had not started work till three, I at one, she waited. Today, she starts at one, me at two. Tonight, I get done at eight, her at nine or nine-thirty. It's just more than we can deal with. They could have scheduled her hours this weekend just opposite and had her start at one yesterday, the same time as me. She could have worked till nine or ten as last weekend, when I did not work, but now it's eleven. Sundays? Well they do the same, if I work, she stays until about ten, if I do not work it, she is done by seven-thirty to eight-thirty. Sounds like they are doing it on purpose, especially since this has been brought to their attention a few times now. If you read my blog, you will notice this is a constant problem I need to vent out. It is destroying my creativity, it is causing both of us problems, depression, and stress. It is time for it to end, so we can reclaim our life. As for the money, she is looking for work. Position is not high on the list, pay scale is not high on the scale, the main objective is to fine something that works with my schedule, which will soon be changing, if all takes place as it looks now. If her hours and mine do not match, we can at least look for something that does not conflict. Then pay is the issue. If it pays well enough and gives enough hours that we can get a second vehicle, it will still work fine. One or the other, but hopefully both. For now, we tighten our belts, but we won't be giving much up, since they pretty well took it all over the winter anyway. We will have more time and less stress, that's the important thing. Again then -- well, there it is. |
| It's a little after eleven and I have to head out for work a little after noon, so not much time. There never is on the weekends I work. It's not an overly long shift, but it seems to use up the entire day. I work from one to nine-thirty, eight and a half hours on Saturday and from two until eight-thirty on Sunday, every other week. Weekdays, my shift is from five until nine-thirty in the winter and to ten-thirty in the summer. That is why the weekends I work is so difficult, I have to be at work all afternoon, instead of just evenings. It also is a mess because Rhonda, my wife, also works on weekends. I work every other, she works every one. For now, anyway, but that will end soon and is another story. So, every other weekend, we try and get moving quick and head out for work. Me around one or two, her around two or three, or maybe four or five, or anywhere in between. It is rarely ever close to mine, so she usually has to wait an hour or more. Some times it's enough to justify her driving back home, and then going in later in the afternoon. After work, I get done and wait for her, at least in the winter. I get done an hour or two before her, usually two. They just cannot seem to get the hours to match, and it seems like they purposely try and make them conflict. Sure, we could each drive individually to work, and save the wait, but we only have one vehicle right now. Besides, we work right next to each other. I work as a guard to the lumber yard right behind the retail store she works at. Anyway, today is one of those days we both work. I was up just a few minutes after eight this morning, put the dogs out and then Rhonda got up and we had coffee and talked a bit, our normal morning routine. Next I check email and do a few things online, then we do our Bible study and now I am in here and she is getting us our lunch and preparing items for work. Next, we drive twenty-five miles to work, I start right away, she has two hours to kill before she starts. Tonight, I will be done about nine-thirty and wait around till after eleven for her to get done. We will get home around midnight and then try and relax a little before going to bed and doing it all over again. Tomorrow, I will have to be back by two, but since I won't be home till midnight, I will not be up very early. I will have about the same amount of time as today, then rush off to work again. Now, if I could drive straight home after I get done with work, I would be home just a little after ten. I could be in bed and sleeping by midnight, easy and up by seven or eight, no problem. Instead, I will get home about midnight, let the dogs out, find something light to eat while we watch a spot of TV, then try and get to bed by one or two, usually two. It also means I do not get enough sleep on the weekends, so then when Monday comes, which I will have off, I sleep in and try and catch up on some rest. I then am not tired and cannot go to bed until late again, and the cycle is set; up late in the morning, stay up late at night. It is totally unproductive for me, and beyond my control to correct. It has been a constant battle all winter, trying to get hours to match, to get days off together (we should get every other Monday and Tuesday off together), and to stay rested and healthy. Instead, we get a day off together here and there, but nothing we can plan anything for, we are always waiting on each other (no choice with schedules), and stressed instead of rested. It is destroying our motivation to eat right, to exercise, to do anything. It did last summer, it did all winter, and it will continue as long as we are in this situation. We figure we are wasting at least ten, usually more, hours a week. Not only are these hours spent waiting, but how many hours are wasted because we know we will not have time to finish, so we don't start? Everything keeps getting put off till there is more time, but it just never comes. We decided that it is time to change this, to take control back as best we can. If the money was good, it would justify the hassle, and with more money, we could get ahead a little and even buy or repair a second vehicle to save on the time, even some gas. But the money is not good. My job pays pretty well, but her's does not. She is only making about fifty cents more than when she started a few years ago, she has not been promoted or given positions she has applied for, and she has seen her hours cut more and more. She was told that if she does not give them all of her time, available to work when ever they want, come in if needed on days off, fill in if others want off, and devote her entire life to the company, she will not be considered for advancement and have reduced hours. She did that, has been there, and did that. But, she also desires to have a life outside of work, one where she can plan days off, go and do things and not have to work till midnight one night, then turn around and be back by five in the morning. She understands that she has a life here and another there, but they need to be separate, each having it's own place. They do not reason this. They reason, you can have your own life, but if we need you, put it on hold till later. For what, no benefits, no insurance, and low pay. There is not even an prestige that comes with the job, she's a cashier at Target. The biggest advantage of working there is ten percent off purchases for her and I, but only if we use cash or a Target card. We tried to work with them, we talked and set up workable times for our schedules, and in the end they either say no, or cut her hours to punish her for trying to make things work. Seriously, they cut her hours if she tries to change her hours of availability. So, we leave them and what do they do, change them anyway. She was threatened that if she did not stay and work till ten and eleven as needed, they would put her hours under twenty a week. She left them as they stood so they would not cut her shorter than she already was. They cut them anyway, even though she complied with their request. There just is no reason for it; it's as if they just want to make her miserable enough to quit. In fact, we have come to this conclusion, they want her to not be happy, to not have a schedule that works, and to not get any promotions or higher pay. Why? They hire a lot of young people out of and in, school. They work a season, maybe a year or two, then graduate and move on. They never have to promote them to a position that pays much with time, since they do not stick around long. But, employees like Rhonda are available to work full time, year in and year out. If they get promoted, it will cost Target more money. If they don't, they still have to dish out the meager fifteen cents a year raise they get, and over a few years, it's beginning to cost them more than they want to pay out. So, the solution, make them suffer and miserable so they will get negative to the job. Then, they will either quit and look for other work or they will be in a position that Target can terminate them for being late, missing work, or just poor work performance. Two more weeks and counting, then no more of it. Hopefully she finds a better position, better pay, and better hours, but that is yet to come. I'm off from work, sitting in the van on wifi and waiting. I have been done with work for just over an hour, and still have another half hour or more to wait. I had a busy day, but it slowed down this evening. I seen a certain guard had to have a day off again. It's getting to be every schedule, yet she complains she is not getting more hours. She did not put in for the day off this time, that is a plus, since it is just next week. Besides, she already put in for it a week ago and was denied. This time, she arranged for another guard to cover for her. That's fine, at least it isn't messing up my plans or screwing up the schedule. Even so, it's almost comical how she wants more hours, complains that she is getting cut hours, and then takes time off. What does she expect? I mean, if your scheduled for twenty hours, take a day off and give up five of them, how can you complain if you're short five hours on your next check. The same applies to the schedule, too. I give her so many hours, but if she wants one of those days off, I am not going to give her someone else's hours so that she can have the day off and still not lose any hours. But, that seems what she expects. Other than busy and bull, the day was pretty good. It was nicer out today, not windy until tonight, and then not bad. It's still a pain to have to wait like this, but only two more Saturdays to go. I may not even have to work next Saturday, but if I do, it's a short day of double coverage. Then one more Saturday like today, then Rhonda will be done with the messed up schedules at Target. Another month or there about and I will be changing shifts and not working many weekends at all. So, things are looking up in that department. Now if I could just get the company to place advertisement for help. Soon I hope. |
| Lazy day. It's my last day off this week, and I'm enjoying a very lazy day. It's a bit gray out, but at least a light gray, the winds are calm (for South Dakota, anyway), and it's pretty warm out. Not as warm as it should be, but warmer than it has been. I enjoyed a day of fishing yesterday and have three nice sized Pike in the fridge waiting to be cleaned. No, they are not whole fish, the heads and entrails have been removed, they have been washed down, and they are soaking in a mild salt brine. I will fillet them out in a little while. I have a little bit of paper work to do up yet today, but other than that, it's been a nice three days off with no interruptions for work. That tends to be a rare thing lately, if it's not someone getting in trouble, not able to get to work, or unable to clock in or out, they are calling for time off. Always it seems, there is something to invade my time off. So, on days like these last three, when there is none, it is very much enjoyed and very restful. I did work pretty hard on Wednesday, along with my wife. Even so, it was enjoyable. Some of the work was around the place, and sure hauling garbage is anything but enjoyable, but working together with a wonderful woman makes even these unpleasant tasks pleasant. After, we did some shopping, which is always a fun experience with her, then we returned home and worked on a fish shelter I just bought -- used, but in pretty good shape. After we enjoyed a quiet evening together and a passionate interlude before going to sleep in each others arms. I should say, spending some time in each others arms after the passion, then spooning as we drift into sleep. Yesterday we had a nice morning together, then she got ready for work, I got ready for fishing and trying out the fish shelter. I dropped her off then headed to the lake and met up with my brother. We set up next to each other, but it was too windy to leave the shelter doors open. Even so, we could talk and interact easily enough. I enjoyed using my own shelter for a change, especially with the memories of me and my wife working together getting it ready. I also caught some fish, missed even more, and enjoyed visiting with my brother. Even though the weather does not indicate it, our ice fishing season will be over very soon. Once the cold moves out it will melt fast enough. Even if we have a cold spring, lots of late storms and more snow, the days are getting long enough and the sun hot enough that the ice will begin to soften and become unsafe to go out on. After fishing, I went to my brother's house for dinner, after we cleaned fish and talked, then I cleaned up and drove over to pick my wife up from work. She was done minutes after I got over there, and we had a nice conversation on the way home. Some bad news came with it, they had cut her hours even more, but even this is expected anymore. She used to get close to forty, just shy enough to keep her from being full time. Then, when I began work, I was on nights and she was anywhere they decided to put her, early mornings, late nights, and even a few overnights. This just did not work, and we ran the hell out of our single vehicle (we have twenty-five miles to drive each way). It was an older car and just wore out. We had to hurry and find another vehicle, with little money and not much choice. We did find a nice van, a Ford Windstar, but it too is an older vehicle and has a lot of miles on it. With limited money and resources, there was not much choice. After we purchased the van, and arranged for repayments of a personal loan on it, her hours changed drastically. Now, we had talked and she had put in a request for hours closer to mine pior to the purchase, and they had been met and not affected her time. After we purchased, they cut her hours way back, and began to schedule her later than she had listed as available. We put up with it, even though it meant I would have to wait sometimes up to two and a half hours for her to get done. We needed the money and that was that. As winter set in, they began to adjust her hours and schedule every week. They did stay within part of her limits by never asking or scheduling her to work earlier than one in the afternoon. But, there was no longer any set time for her to start work. Not daily, weekly, or by any pattern at all. Her start times fluctuated anywhere from one in the afternoon, to five in the evening. She may start on the hour, half hour, or quarter after the hour, even quarter to the hour. It was just all over the place, and the only thing consistent in her schedule is the fact that it would never be the same. For example, one day this week she works from 3:00 until 10:00, then the very next day it's 3:00 until 10:30. Today it's 5:30 to 10:30. Also, in the process of introducing total chaos to the schedule, they cut her hours down from an average of thirty-two hours a week to twenty-four hours a week. Of course, if they were short on help or in need, they would schedule her for more hours that week, but then the next would be even shorter to ensure she did not get any more than an average of about twenty-four hours per week. With the winter came winter storms and bad driving conditions. With twenty-five miles to drive, even fifteen minutes can make a difference in having poor roads to drive on and no travel advised. In the past, management would send out-of-town people home first in bad weather. Not anymore; in fact, many town people leave on schedule and she is expected to stay as late as they need her. We talked and made another decision, even though we knew it would cut her hours even more. She would change her hours of availability to match mine, nine-thirty. This would not change much, since most days she was done by then. There was usually one day they kept her till ten at night, and Saturdays was always eleven. Of course, there were other nights she would be done at by seven on up to eight, or any combination around them. We thought they could keep her later on these days, and let her leave early on the other two, making her hours about the same. The answer? No. They told her they could adjust her hours Monday through Friday to get done at nine, but they had to have her stay late on Saturday to do ad-take-down. What? No one else can do this? Besides, she put in for promotions for positions like this and was turned down and left as a cashier. In actuality then, they gave her the duties, but not the title or pay. They also told her that if she made this change, it would cut her hours to less than twenty a week. We talked it over, and decided to put up with the rest and leave her hours as is, so we would not lose out on any more hours, and have less income. We were barely scraping by on what we had, we could not afford to have less. The next day, she went right in and told them, leave the hours as is, I cannot afford to work any less. And since then, they have reduced her hours down to about twenty-two a week or less. They also made sure to mess up her start and stop times to conflict with my schedule every chance they could. My wife had explained to them what my schedule was and why she wanted to try and work as close to it as possible. She did question these changes and was told that it was not anything anyone was doing, it was all done automatically by computer. Then, we had some plans to try and go see some relatives, but she would need to take a weekend off (she works every weekend but has Monday and Tuesday off). She asked for the time off and was answered with another no. No one would get weekends off anymore. Now, there are those who are not scheduled to work on weekends, that did not change, and there are others who do take a weekend off, and that did not change. It only seemed to apply to a select few. A few, who like my wife, had set specific hours they were available to work. Some of these had other jobs and had to quit this one since they still, were scheduled to work days and times they just could not be there. Other's quit just because they refused to be forced to work hours they said they could not, and the rest just put up with it because they need the income. My wife fit in the last group, until yesterday. She has been looking for another job, but it's slow this time of year and with the economy, it's almost dead. So she sticks with this company and we make do with the mess they create. Yesterday she got her next schedule, it's for less than twenty hours, nineteen to be exact. They cut her hours anyway, just for asking if they could change her availability. Now, in the past, it was not this way. They did try and fit you in the hours your were available. They were good at giving time off if you put your request in soon enough, they let you switch shifts, and they would send you home early if the weather turned bad. They have turned completely contrary to this. One manager even came out and said, anyone who is not available to work any hours and any days, will be cut below twenty hours a week. Now it has happened. They do not want anyone to have a life outside of their job, it is a conflict. We decided that it was time to end this madness and give her two week notice. Sure, she could just quit on the spot, but that is what they expect and the kind of action we expect from them. No, my wife wants to be better than that and do it right. How we will make do without her meager income will be difficult, but we will adjust and do what we have to. As it is, we do not have enough income to pay everything. We often do not have enough food on hand, and get by eating things most people would not think proper for dinner. We do what we have to. Of course, her income is pretty meager as it stands, and we will save money on gas and food items used for lunches, but it will still mean we have less to survive on. We will trust it to a higher power, for us we are Christians, we put this in Our Lord's hands. She will have more time to look for work, and with the little income she had left anymore, it would not take much to match it. She works tonight, and if the human relation person is in, she will give notice tonight, if not, as soon as she can. It is a bit stressful, but a relief at the same time. We see it as a need, she either needed to quit, or they would keep cutting hours and screwing up her schedule until she either quit or did something to get fired. I have an opportunity to pick up a few more hours starting Sunday, and will take them as they come. Soon enough I will have even more available, and if need be, I will take them, too. Another month or so, and I change shifts and will almost double my hours, with the possibility of still working some extra to put me right up to forty or just under. It will more than make up for what she will miss out on, so we will be alright for the summer. Only one month then, that we will have to tighten our belts and pinch every penny. Oh, and she has put in an application to work at the same place I do. Because I am the supervisor there, it is contrary to policy, but since it is a temporary position for the summer, it may get approved. We will watch and see. That would buy us more time for her to find another position. If she is not, we will accept the policy and she will have ample time to look for something else. So, then, one month to hold out~ |
| I kind of like this using the day for a title. It makes it quick and easy to pick one, and it's nice when I look back to see what I had going on on any particular day. I know, the date is right there, but with my schedule, it's not always easy to relate the number to the day. Hell, sometimes I don't even know if it's a weekday or the weekend. I see a lot of other things nice things around the site, too. A lot of changes taking place; not big ones, but very positive and welcome. I just seen an e-mail for some video tutorials. Those are going to be great. I know how to do some things in here, but it's not something I readily recall since I have not been very active around the site for the winter. I do find help and apply it as needed, but it's kind of long and drawn out where to even go. Then, once i find what I need, I apply it to the best of my ability, but sometimes I do not get it just right and the preview is not what I was looking for. Then it's either reread the help link or find the right one until I get it right. Videos are going to help out a lot by giving a visual as well. Now, all I need to do is keep some notes on what I need to brush up on or learn, link to the video for proper application, and apply it to the site. I also like the personal changes being implemented. It's nice to be able to add some images and covers to things. I have done a few, but need to get in here and do more, in time. I look at it as, if I do not have time to read, write, or review, I should not use up my time adding images. It's kind of a side feature to implement after I get back to the main reason I am here. And, speaking of time; I again have to rush out and cannot stay here as long as I would like. I do enjoy being here, and I am looking forward to reading and reviewing again. Even more, I want to post some more items in my portfolio and of course I long to write new items as well. On the side, it's funny how I find I cannot write and create when I'm pressed for time. Today I am off from work, like yesterday. Yesterday was a day filled with things that needed to get done, today it going to be a more leisure day. My wife is getting ready for work, but I will be going out for some ice fishing. I will drop her off, then run over to my brothers if he is home, or meet him at the lake if he is out already. I'm excited to try out my fishing shelter I just got, and the one we put so much work into yesterday. It's cold out today, windy, and I will have to try and bring both heaters with. One is too big, the other too small. On nice days, the smaller will work, but I will need to purchase one of adequate ability for the shelter. I'm also kind of limited on room, if I take too much it will be a lot of work. I think for today, I will just take it all, but after I see how things go, I may downsize some and put more right in the fish shelter. Well, I better get ready to go eat and get loaded up. I may write a bit later, letting you know how it went. It's early Friday morning and I'm just getting ready to head off to bed. I did get out and do some fishing and the fishing shelter worked great. I have to learn to put the holes in the right spots, but I did pretty good. I got by with the little heater most of the afternoon, too. It was still cool enough to see your breath, but it was comfortable with the warm cloths on. In fact, I took my jacket off and fished bare handed. After the sun got low on the horizon, I began to get a bit chilled, so I brought in the big heater. I had both vents open and it was still very warm inside. I was able to use it, but it was pretty warm. I will have to get a heater in between the two. Len has one that worked just right in there. He brought his over and we used it for a little while, just to see how it worked in there. I also have to get an auger. I tried sharpening mine, but it was no use. I don't know if the spoon is bent out of shape or what, but I could not get a good angle for cutting into the ice at all. I will try and find some use for it or maybe see if I can sell it. I will also buy a new one and have it ready if I need it. I could wait, and would, but if I do not buy it now I will have to wait for next winter and then the price will likely be higher. How did I do? Three Northern Pike, twenty-five inches, twenty-six inches, and -twenty-seven inches. I caught the biggest and the smallest, Len caught the in the middle one. He also caught some perch and one little Pike he put back. I had an enjoyable afternoon and should sleep well tonight. Sweet dreams. |
| A day off. Actually, I should get three days off then work this weekend. I do have to do a bit of paperwork, but it's from home and I have three days to get it done. So, unless somebody gets sick or the weather turns nasty and they can't get in, I have a bit of time off. I have a new ice fishing shelter I want to try out, and hope that this is the chance. It's not new - new, just new to me. It's actually about nine years old but in pretty good shape. The only problem is, I don't have an auger or a heater for ice fishing. I have two portable heaters, but one is too small, and the other is too big. I will have to get one that fits in the middle. I will also have to get an ice auger. For now, I will use my brothers auger and try and sharpen this old spoon type I have. I should also get my minnow bucket out and have that with so I don't have to run back and forth to get bait. I have to pick up some other items, an ice dipper, a couple of long eye screws, some cord and a couple of bungee cords. I'll make a list and get them while I'm in town. First on the agenda is getting the garbage hauled out, then pick the stuff up, and then decide if Rhonda should go in or stay home. she works from six to ten tonight, but four hours isn't hardly worth the gas to drive in and home again. I'll let her make the call, it's her job. If she does work, she will have to take me in for fishing and then pick me up after work. If she stays home, I can drive myself. If her hours were anything like they used to be, or usually are, it would not matter, I could drive in and take her to work at the same time. Then, after I get off the lake I could hang out for a bit and then pick her up. Oh well, they will soon loose a good employee because they cannot or will not schedule her hours right. One problem is they are inconstant in how many hours a week they give her. Anywhere from around ten to just over thirty. Usually it's been about twenty lately. Th other problem is the time she goes in and comes home. It varies constantly. And not just a little, it can change by hours. Day to day, week to week, there is absolutely no consistency; no rhyme or reason to the times she goes in or gets done. Well, enough, it's time to get my stuff together, get busy with what needs done, then hopefully off to fish. Today, N.W. winds, changing over to East winds tonight and through the next few days. So, today's the best looking day for catching some fish. Wish me luck~ And then again, maybe not. It's going on midnight here, SD time, and just getting settled down for the night. It was a busy day, a good day, and a lot got done today. No fishing, but a lot of other things. After I finished my journal earlier, I called my brother to se if he was about ready to head out for some fishing, so I could try out my new shelter. He couldn't go fishing, he had class this afternoon. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes. We did make plans to go out tomorrow, but we will have cooler temps and east winds, but it should warm up nice. I hope the wind shifts again, too but I doubt it. I don't know if it matters, but I was raised with the belief that the fishing isn't as good when there is an east wind. I really don't know why, but it seems to be. Also, it's going to hit -15 degrees, Fahrenheit tonight. Brrrr! It will warm up to about 18 or so they say, but it will take a while to bring that temp up. I do not have a big heater for my shelter, so it may be a bit cold in there tomorrow. We did get some holes mended, cleaned it up pretty good, and made some adjustments and repairs. I also have some of the little things done with it and my fishing gear I have been needing to do. I hooked a line to one side so that I can anchor it on both sides if it is windy. I don't want to go blowing away. We mended up the holes and I fixed the windows, I worked on my fishing reels, and made a new rod from a broken ice fishing rod, and the end of a regular fishing rod. I also adjusted the back rest so it is more straight up and down, it feels more comfortable on my back now. So, tomorrow, we will load it up and try it out. I may bring the big heater just in case, and try it out in there. I do have some vents, so it should not get too hot. It does not have a pilot, so I will have to run it and turn it off and on and off as needed. maybe with the little heater going and the big one on and off, it will be nice and toasty inside. I can just see it now. The wind blowing, cold out, people bundled beyond recognition out on the lake, and me in my underwear inside the shelter with that big heater cooking away. Now that would be a sight, especially if the game warden happens by and needs to check lines. Outside, 18 degrees and everyone looking like Eskimos, inside my shelter, a sweltering 80 degrees and me looking like I'm at the beach. I'll have to wear something with a tropical pattern. Ha! Alright, maybe not, but it may be close to that; we will see. |
| Tuesday... The sun is shining and the wind is down. Still cold for this time of year, but it's nice out compared to the last few days. We just came out of a full fledged blizzard, snow, winds gusting over forty-five miles per hour, white out conditions, ice and snow covered roads, no travel advised; the kind of weather you just snuggle deeper into the blankets and wait for it to pass. Only I had to work. Not my shift, I would have been there last night as it let up, but the morning shift so that the other guard did not have to try and drive in with the weather so bad. I got there early, trying to stay ahead of the worst of the storm. I got home, slept an hour, I had been up all night before going in, and then went back to take my wife to her interview. While she was there, I went and looked at an older ice fishing shelter for sale. A person I work with informed me his friend was selling his, so I told him I may be interested. One hundred dollars later, I was showing my wife, after her interview, my new old fish shelter. It is in need of some work, but quite usable as is. I will work on it over the summer and have it in even better shape for next season. Now, I have to get some more gear, an auger, some ice fishing essentials, a good heater, and then we can go when ever and where ever we want to ice fish. For now, I depend on my brother for his auger and ice fishing accessories. It's fine, but having my own would be nice. I'm hoping to get out in the next few days to try this shelter out, I do have a small heater that may be enough if it is not too cold and the wind is not blowing. I do have a bigger heater, but I think it will be too much in there. I will have to try them out and see. I have the next three days off, so like I said, I hope to get out and try it out. I do have to work today, but only the night shift, so it should be pretty good. I also had another fill in my shift last night so i did not work a double. I took an hour nap before going in to buy the shelter, took a two hour snooze in my chair before dinner, and was in bed by eleven-thirty. I slept in till ten-thirty this morning and am not tired. Nice. Usually I fill in the morning shift i have not slept, or only had a few hours, then have to work again in the evening and maybe get an hour nap. By the next day, I'm exhausted and it takes a week to get back to normal and rested up. Anyway, I have to dress and head out. Hope to add an entry about ice fishing and a new shelter soon. "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
| Monday -- started Sunday. I already entered for today, Sunday, but wanted to make a second entry as a start for tomorrows. I should have time on Monday, but I just don't know. I will be up around 2:00 or a little after. Yes in the morning. I will have to bundle up and drive, the best I can, into town to be there for opening in the morning. I doubt I will get much for sleep, maybe nap for an hour or so, but then again, perhaps not. The opening guard lives about forty miles away, and the highway he drives is bad when the weather is. I live about twenty-five, and will have much the same for driving conditions. However, there is sound reasoning besides the difference in distance. I am the supervisor, and I can not in good conscience have someone put their life in great danger to get to work. I feel that I should not expect from my crew more than I would be willing to do myself. In fact, sometimes it is better to expect a bit less, they have less responsibility, less should be expected, then. Also, he is pretty new at driving in winter conditions, I have lived in this climate most of my life. Besides that, if he does not make it, I will have to go in anyway. Why then should I put two out there if I can somehow make it only one. I have two guards that live in town, they have blocks to go, a half mile at most. I already know one cannot make it, she never can. The other could get a ride but would have needed to know hours ago to set this up. So who then? Me. If the blizzard stops when it's suppose to, I should be home by lunch time and will have one of the others go in for my scheduled shift. If it does not, well I will be there till it stops or till someone can make it in. That is why I write this now -- just in case. Here I am, it's almost seven in the evening and I'm plum wore out. I left this morning for work at two-thirty. I knew if I didn't leave then, It would be almost impossible to get out until after the plow went by. It worked out fine, too. It was windy, but warm out, about thirty degrees. The wind had not yet shifted around, nor had it picked up in intensity. Even so, an hour or better to get to work. It was a little better coming home, but just a little. Now, I'm home, snug and relaxed, and about falling asleep. I'll write more, tomorrow. "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
| Now, that's a catchy title. It is based on a review I received a little while back. Not too long, about a week, and it was kind of difficult to swallow. For one thing, it was a story I wrote many years ago. I have thought of doing some editing, but those who know me say to leave it as is. Kind of a image of my steps along the way. It is not a bad story, in fact, everyone who has read it likes it. Well except for the one person in mention here. I know it could be done up better, but again, I like to look at it and see where I was at in my writing then. I also like to see how well I did with so little understanding of this kind of writing. I was, for the most part, brand new. For another thing, those who have read it here have always given it a pretty high rating, and have liked it. Sure, there has been some corrective criticism in some of the reviews, but helpful things. Not only pointing out some errors in grammar, but some good ideas that could improve the story, or make the next one even better. In other words, even those who have ripped more deeply into this item have done so in a positive manner. Now, before I go on, I will point out that I do know and understand that everyone has a different approach to things, including reviews. Also, It would be wrong on every level to indicate the individual I write of. Even in giving out story details, it would be easy to find the person and draw negative attention in their direction. This is not my wish at all, and this is not a means of striking out, in any manner, at the person. Besides, I do not believe the person meant anything hurtful or disrespectful. Even if it came across that way, it's doubtful it was meant that way. And even if it was, I am not so petty as to fling anything back. To each their own opinion, and if it is something that goes against my grain, then so be it. I'm sure I have rubbed a few people the wrong way with no intent to do so, and will again. Why write about it then? To get it out. It is negative and unproductive, and it needs an outlet to clear it away. If it had anything positive or helpful, this would then indicate that, and would instead help me to reinforce ideas I want to incorporate into my writing. This is the same, only different. I know, it makes no sense, just a silly thing I say some times. It is not the same, it is different, yet it works similarly and therefore the quirky saying. By putting it down here, I can free up the spot it resides. I can look at it as I write it, and think of what it is and why it needs to be discarded from my thought. This is how my mind works; I write. If something is upsetting to me, I write. If I need direction, I write. If I need an outlet, I write. If I need to find myself, I write. I am a writer -- it is how I think and process information. In order to do this, I will have to give a name to the person. Let's go with a kind of pun; Rudy. Also, lets not give the actual review, but just the points Rudy shared. Rudy, after reading one of my stories, reviewed it and gave it 2 stars. Based on Rudy's review, I take this as a high rating. You see, Rudy did not like the story and says so in a few ways -- The review begins with how Rudy would rather experience the story by the life and hardships of the character instead of a third person telling it. I can understand this, but is this something to rate and review on? Should we rate another on our tastes and preferences? Besides, the main character is dead, his story is being told by a third person. Next, Rudy tells me my story left him wanting and at odds with the conditions of the story. Again, I can understand. How many times do we read something that goes in a direction different than what we thought? We can even find ourselves questioning things in the story. Again, this is our perception and tastes. We may not like how the story goes, but others do. We may question something in the story, while another relates to it. Is this something to rate an item on? One of the things Rudy was at odds with is easy enough to understand, if you take the time to actually read the story. It makes no claims one way or the other. It is clear that the information in question is known to a few. Again, it is not anything deeply hidden, it is cleared up at the end, the information was withheld by choice. As to Rudy's question, why would he want it at all. It is again answered if the story is read, not just skimmed over. Besides, Rudy, what does this have to do with how well the piece is written? It does not, it only shows that you did not take the time to read this, but only skimmed through and missed most of what was told. Maybe, Rudy, had you listened to the person telling the story instead of trying to understand the life and hardships of a dead character, you would have figured it out. As for gaining no insight of the man or his lover, Rudy, think of the question you asked right before. You say I failed at keeping this a part a mystery, then turn around and state that you gained no insight. If you gained not, then the mystery was a success. If you figured the mystery out, then you would have gained the insight. This makes no sense, and really, is not even a part of the story. Nothing here to base or rate on. Rudy goes on to claim I am masking obvious talent with "poorly-written first person story telling." Um, didn't you say at first you desired first person and complained because this is third person. I would suppose a story written in third person would be piss poor first person. So, can I ask you something Rudy, did you rate this on first person even though it is third person? No wonder you gave a two star rating. Also, you ask, "Give the reader some credit." I did not review your reading, I did not question it at all until you gave me a review. Speaking of which, aren't you, the reader, suppose to give me, the author, some credit when you review? This, then is where you went wrong; you thought I owed you something and did not come through with my story. Sorry, Rudy, I don't even know you. Rudy does go on, even more. He says, "Let your characters come alive and speak for themselves." That is difficult to do in this story, Rudy, the character is dead. Even if I was to bring him back to life, it would change the story completely. What are you looking for? Perhaps you wanted some kind of Zombie story, they are the latest rage. Rudy finishes up with a couple of interesting directives to help me write better. He tells me to employ third person in my next attempt. What? I thought you wanted me to use first person, to have the character give the story, not a third person relating it. What should it be, Rudy, first person or third person? You really need to make up your mind. Also, how will find a more receptive audience by this. Are people who enjoy third person more receptive than those who enjoy first person? Can't we enjoy both and be receptive to both? Rudy goes on with a positive note and informs me I posses an incredible talent. Two stars? I thought everything I wrote, according to you, was wrong. I'm not understanding, if I posses incredible talent, why is this story so disappointing to you and why would you say I did it all wrong? Finally, Rudy ends with this sage advise, "Remove yourself from your story and use your natural talent to place the adventure in the mind of your reader." "But, Rudy, if I remove myself from the story, I cannot write it. Is this why I need to place the adventure in the mind of the reader, so the reader can write it for me?" Also, another question, oh wise and insightful sage, "How am I suppose to place the adventure in the mind of another? I do not posses any type of telepathic ability." Do you think, Rudy, that when an author writes a story, they are doing just that, placing it in the mind of the reader? No, it is just the opposite, the author is trying to place the reader into the story. In the end, Rudy reveals just why he was disappointed in the story, rated it so low, and chewed my butt out for writing it all wrong. He says I need to place the adventure in the mind of the reader. The key is in the word, adventure. Rudy, you fool, this is not an adventure, it is not listed as an adventure, there is no adventure in it. I thought the story was a dead give away, but if not, look at the genre, "Romance/Love, Emotional, Tragedy." I do understand now, Rudy, why you thought this story so bad, the mystery is no mystery and the adventure -- lacks. If I was reading this, thinking it was suppose to be an Action/Adventure with a hidden Mystery inside, I would think the same. I would not, however, rate it on not meeting my expectations of an Action.Adventure with a hidden Mystery inside, but instead rate it and review it on how well it is written. There, now it's out, you can see why I feel a bit disgruntled by such a review, and you are likely wondering, "Did T.J. write back to Rudy?" I did. Not at first, I didn't have time and was not sure what to write. I had received two reviews on the same story that day, one praise and one in condemnation. Like I said, I didn't reply to either, I had no time. When I did reply, I thanked both for taking time to review. I did not churn anything negative back to Rudy, though. I did tell him I was sorry he felt as he did, that he should have rated and review on content, not taste, and directed him to the reviewing handbook so he can hopefully learn a bit about reviewing. I also had thought of hiding this bad review, but decided not to. It is a review, good or bad, I will leave it. Besides, it does not really even pertain to the story, but it does do a wonderful job for others to see how not to give a review. "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
| Sounds like a good attention getting title to me. Perhaps a bit misleading, and then again -- maybe not. It is true, I have been impaled. But, it is not all I will be writing about. I could, and probably will, give a few details on the impalement I suffered. But first, a little insight into my day. It is Saturday and my last weekend off for a while. I slept in a bit, and fully enjoyed that as well as not being awakened from a very erotic dream. I have them somewhat often if life is not basking me in stressful situations, but it seems that most are ended at a nice point by the rude bleating of the morning alarm. I could go into the dream, it was quite interesting and very erotic, but that will be another story for another day. The key point is that I did not wake to the alarm this morning, and I woke rested and content with very pleasing memories and images from a dream. Add to that, if you dare, my sweet, beautiful wife, adorned only by a soft fuzzy robe, sitting at my bed side waking me gently with kisses and her soft touch. She opens her robe to reveal large breasts, that she glides over my chest as she moves in for yet another kiss. From there, her hands trail down and passionately caress me, everywhere. More kisses follow, not all on my lips as she tantalizes me with her morning teasing. A wonderful morning as I sit up, kiss her again, and then slip into my own robe. Sure, some mornings we both end up tussling around on the bed, others, we savor the anticipation of what is yet to come throughout our day. Today, we savor. The sun is shining, even though it is very cold out. We sit and enjoy a couple cups of coffee, talk, and then start our daily activities. She has to work today, I am going to visit my brother and do some ice fishing with him. but first, she works on lunch, I work on preparing a few fish that have been soaking in the fridge. One, still whole except for fins, head, scales, and entrails, is going to go onto the grill soon. Until then, it will be wrapped and froze. Two more are also cleaned the same are going into a salt brine until tomorrow, when they will be cut into chunks and pickled. I am still looking for a good recipe to try, since I have not pickled fish before, and have been researching it some. I have chosen to go with a hot pickle instead of a cold one, to insure they are wholesome and fit for eating. I'm sure both are fine, but I am prone to go with the heat to ensure they are safe since I am new to this. While I prepare the fish, my wonder wife is meanwhile warming up some leftover homemade potato soup and cutting sliced from a ham for sandwiches. She is using my fillet knife and finds the bone. I stop and assist her, and soon we are back to our separate activities. I finish before her, and am slicing off a bit of ham to snack on, but in doing so, I nick that darned bone again. The knife slips and goes further in than intended. Not a big deal, it's just a chunk of ham. Unfortunately, I am grasping the ham, my hand at the very position where the tip of the very sharp knife comes through the ham. Impaled on my own knife. the meaty section below the thumb is punctured. Luckily, it did not go too deep. Deep enough, I suppose about 3/8's to 1/2 inch. No bone or tendons right there, just muscle, the cut is clean, the salty ham should help prevent infection, and it is not a wide gash. Also, if your wondering, it did not bleed at first, so no blood on the ham or food area. In fact, it did not bleed until I washed it good under some hot water, and then only a little. It will hurt for a while, but nothing dangerous, and nothing disabling. It was an assault on my otherwise wonderfully progressing day, but a minor one. After the last week, I don't even think it is enough to rate. Now, lunch is done, I will eat and drive my wife to work, then head to the lake and catch some fish. Maybe. If not, I will enjoy being out enjoying a fine day. I hope everyone who stumbles upon this has one just as fine, or finer. "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
| Friday, last day before the weekend and I do have the weekend off, last one for a while. I did make it in here to write, too. Not much, as the title states, I got no time. It's past time to get ready and leave for work, I have things I need to do prior to my shift at work, and will be pushing it to get any of it done. No, I did not screw away the day, and I am in hopes to fill you in later. I do need to get some of this off my mind, and I do want to write a decent length entry today. It will be late, however, so it may not be today by date, but it will be the end of my day. Like I said, I hope to. I had planned on writing more yesterday, as well, and that just did not happen. Perhaps today will be better! I did make it back. Not by much, but I'm here to add a little more and then call it a night. It is now actually Saturday, 1:30 in the morning. I made it to work on time, made some copies, faxed a disciplinary action form, and headed out to the shack. I was ready for almost anything, after all, this situation had been building over a few weeks. Again I was surprised. No call today from an irate worker, nothing on site from her, and nothing said by anyone else. I did learn that she was a bit upset with the results, but at least she did not say anything. I know it's not over, it's just going to continue on and on, but at least now they know that it will not get them the results they anticipate. Of course, she has not seen the schedule yet, so there still could be some issues with that, but we will handle them as they develop. All in all, it was not a bad night at work. The weather kind of sucked, cold, wet, and windy, but it could have been worse. the roads were not too bad, and we made it home with no trouble. Now it's enjoy a bit of ice cream, watch a little Adam 12. and then bed. I am so ready for a good night sleep... "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
| There is a pun in here somewhere, I just know it. On the one side, we have this Ford van that has a broken spring on the front strut. It's working just fine and not causing any problems, just a bit of noise here and there. I have ordered the spring and strut assembly and have it on hand, waiting now for the time to replace it. But, that is not the spring I speak of. I'm thinking of warmer weather, green grass, flowers in bloom, and the song of birds filling the air. Spring is and always has been, my time. It is my favorite season and a time for me to be reinvigorated after a long winter. The weather is nice, or at least it should be, yet it's cool enough that the insect pests are not out yet. Sure, there is also mud and rain, cold days and damp nights. However, there is always relief just ahead. I'm talking days, not weeks or months like in the winter. Autumn is also great, with much the same to offer. I suppose the only down side to Fall, is that winter will be close behind. Even though I do not dislike winter, I cannot say I am very fond of it, either. I don't like the cold and the lack of sunshine. I'm not talking about cold as in twenty degrees and above, I don't mind some snow, and I can even enjoy many aspects of it. I'm talking of temperatures below twenty degrees, dropping down below zero, and frigid winds that make being outdoors dangerous, even life threatening if one is unprepared. In addition to this bitter cold, the snow and ice, especially the ice, also make driving a dangerous activity. This year has been a bad one for ice storms and terrible driving conditions. Another is on it's way tonight and through the weekend. If I could stay home and not have to venture out in it, I could again enjoy these. A warm, crackling fire, the smell of homemade soup simmering on the stove, the dogs snuggled lovingly by my feet as I read a good book, or better yet, write out a fantastic story. Snuggle time with my wife as the wind howls outside our cozy home, sheltering in each others arms as the storm rages outside. Yes, these are all enjoyable ways to spend the foulest of weather. But, that is not the case. Often the ice and wind knock out power. There is a ton of snow to keep shoveled out as a result of the wind drifting it into the driveway, and it's a sure bet after it's cleaned out both nature and man will fill it back in. Nature's wind will blow snow back and forth, depositing it in drifts that are hard packed, and heavy anyplace and everyplace it's been shoveled out. The snow plow will also be by, working at keeping the roads clear. As he passes, the snow flows from his blade into the open end of the driveway; packed and heavy, an impassable blockade. Why not wait till after the gale stops and the plow is done? Well, for one it is South Dakota, the wind almost always blows, so there is drifting, and the plowing never seems to be done. The drifting also, continues on for days and nights after the storm has passed. Besides, I cannot afford to wait it out, since my wife and I both have jobs to go to. As a supervisor, I have to be able to fill in and cover if someone cannot make it to work. I can try to arrange for another to fill in, but if not, I have to go. This means I am on call, seven days a week, all day long from five in the morning until ten at night. "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
| What's what? It's mid-week and the end of two days off. I do have the weekend off; likely the last one for a while, and it's payday weekend. When I started this job, I also had payday weekends off. We get paid every other Saturday, if your wondering. I would say it was nice to have that schedule, but it changed soon after I started. For that matter, it changed almost every two weeks. I work an evening shift, three days one week, four the next, and it's set to repeat over and over. Another person works the same shift, only opposite days. Schedules are set for each two week period, so at the end of the schedule, I just start afresh at the top again, or so I was told and so it was originally set up. However, the person who worked counter to me, well she would want her weekend to work off, so the supervisor a that time would switch our schedules so that she would get her weekend off. This was done because she not only wanted at least one day every weekend, sometimes two, off, but she wanted it done so that she would not lose any hours. In time, the supervisor was demoted and the position was offered to me. I really did not desire the position, but I sure as hell didn't want anyone in there who would keep screwing up the schedule. I was fed up with not knowing what days I had off and what days I worked until after the schedule was posted, and that was usually only a couple days before it went into effect. From that point on, the schedule has not changed, even though the same person continues to attempt the same thing. Now, however, she gets the day off, and who ever fills in for her gets the extra pay. This has worked pretty good, except she had payday weekends off and I worked them. Monday after payday I would have off, with my wife, every two weeks. Only, she liked having it off with her weekend, so for her, payday weekend would be three days instead of two. This gets old fast, especially since I only have four days a month off with my wife, every other Monday and Tuesday. How to stop it? Switch the schedule so that she works payday weekends. Now, she would have to give up half her check to take the weekend off, since weekends are our long days. It also has another reward for me; as supervisor, I am required to pick up the checks and bring them to the site for distribution. They usually come in on Thursday's, and there has been problems with them being distributed early, which is just all bad. We can get them on Friday, but payday is Saturday. So, I have to go in, get the checks, bring them out to the shack, and then I can go back home, since Friday before payday was my day off, also. With the change to the schedule, I now work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, then get the weekend off. So, when checks come in, I pick them up, on Friday at the soonest, I distribute them, and I no longer have to come in on my day off. So, anyway, I need to end this and get on with my daily schedule so I can be done with everything before leaving for work. "Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free." |
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