Monday, May 29, 2006

Time flys,...faster every day!

Sorry for not being more diligent about writing, but I've been working my butt off with the new job as well as filling in about twenty some odd hours a week at the old one, trying to catch a couple of free minutes for a pint, and getting enough rest. Phew! I'm getting tired just writing this!
It's memorial day today, and a good time for me to think back on the guys I grew up with, was in the Navy with, and whose paths have crossed mone that are no longer with us, and there are many.
Having been born at the tail end of WWII I really have no recollection of that time, just that the world seemed to be growing and popping and everyone's lives were getting better. Then came the Korean "Conflict", and again not much rememberance, but peoples lives kept improving and I do remember some inklings of people beginning to question the "my country right or wrong" thing. Whacko Joe McCarthy was out hunting "communists"(and in retrospect anyone that could possibly have taken this clown seriously,...well, ....seek professional help!) Things just seemed to get better, we found the cure for polio, Dr. Jonas Salk in 1955, people were moving out to the "burbs", lots of 3 bedroom little ranches were going up, remnants of the "military" still were seen in the popularity of the Boy Scout movement, Drum and Bugle Corps, and our pendchant with uniforms. Parades still were impressive in those days as well.
Then along came Viet Nam. It's still very hazy why we got involved, but as time goes on the only thing that is clearer is that we never should have. It cost us thousands and thousands of deaths, showed us that the very face of war had changed. We were the only ones wearing easily identifiable uniforms, we were the only ones with "rules of engagement", and we were the only ones that were missing the boat on how "war" was going to be conducted in the future. I suspect to this day we still have deep seated illusions that the way we are fighting this middle eastern thing is the wy it shoud be fought. But I'm beginning to disagree, big time.
Like everything else in life, if you're going to do it, then just do it! (Gee, sounds like a good line for a commercial!) In other words take off the velvet gloves, put down the cloak of "civility", and do what it is,......WAR! Sure some innocents are going to get killed, sure there will be some atrocities committed, by both sides I might add, but fight the damn war. Wade in there and just start killing folks, blowing up everything in sight, (and who gives a shit if it's a mosque or a cathedral, seems we did our share of that in WWII as well. You want to hide in a church we'll blown the damn church into dust, and you with it!). This is war, this is what war is, war is not civilized, it's crude, it's barbaric, it's stupid, it's dumb, it's dirty, it's unfair,....but it's war. So if you want to do war, we'll do war! Not play ring around the rosie! We will use every weapon at our disposal, including tactical nuclear, but make no mistake, and I mean absolutely no freakin' mistake,.......we will "win",whatever that means, we will "prevail",whatever that means, and we will kick your sorry ass back into the stone age.
You either grow up and learn to play nice with all the kids, or get the living shit kicked out of you. Pray to whatever God you like, face the east west north or south, but the bottom line is don't even think of messing with me, my friends and family, my country, or my freedoms, or you will in fact and indeed pay a price far beyond your ability to concieve,.....because when I do war, I do WAR!!!!
Like the old revolutionary war flag says, "Don't tread on me!"

Off to work see you soon
-30-

Sunday, May 21, 2006

"...and a top o' the mornin' to you!"

Been off the blog a week now. Started a new job that's always fun, and weaning myself off the old one (i.e. still working there three nights a week and Saturday day shift 'til they find some bodies to work!)
Aside from the fact that the guy who had the accounts I handle now gave up almost six months ago and the accounts are in a shambles, the new job's great! I've spent two weeks trying to locate "stuff" he never bothered with, like notes of Board of Directors meetings, etc., lists of things to do he never made, let alone even did, and in general utilizing conflagration management systems (pissing on the highest fires!) to get things under control. By my guesstimates I'm about half way there. Think of it like being in one of those big pens of balls the kids play in at MacDonald's, only this one is seven feet deep in balls and about two hundred feet wide. Day one you get uncerimoniously dumped in the middle, by day three you figured out you can't touch bottom and keep your head above the balls, Day five you've figured out how much progress you can make toward the side of the pen by attampting to "swim" through the balls. Now I'm making steady progress "swimming" but I'm only half way there. (God I love the challenge!)
On other fronts I watched the Preakness (2nd rung of the Triple Crown of horse racing) yesterday and saw the favorite break his ankle just out of the gate. Man that's a depressing thing since horses are notoriously not favored to have broken legs heal and usually get put down. I hope they can save this one, he was really spirited!
Went to the movies last night and saw the "DaVinci Code". It wasn't as bad as the critics said it was, but if you hadn't read the book you'd have a lot of blanks to fill in and try and understand. It really was almost an impossible book to try and make a movie out of becaus eof it's complexity, but hats off to Ron Howard he did a supurb job of trying. Now Tom Hanks is a great actor, but it sounded like he had a cold throughout the entire movie, you know that half sinus sound you make when you have a nasty cold. Would I go see it again? Yes, in fact I'll probably go next week with my wife when she gets back from Boston, just to see what I "missed" the first time I saw it. (Interesting sidebar: I can not bring my self to re-read a book, no matter how much I enjoyed it the first time, but I love to see a movie more than once because I always pick up something new. So how do you figure that??)

I must say the two job work schedule is helping out. I've not been able to hit my "two pints a day" at the pub on tuesday, wenesday, and thursday, wind up grabbing a salad or a bite between jobs, come home and go to bed and do it all again. Result; I've lost about six pounds in a week, seem to have more energy, and actually feel a little more rested. Why? Well I guess the pure unadulterated boredom of the old job, after 7 years, was a lot more tiring than even I realized. Maybe there is no such thing as "burn-out"!

Now there's a thought! Maybe we don't really get "burned out" but indeed get "bored out". I know some folks can do the same old same old every single day of thier life and it really doesn't bother them, but me? I've finally figured it out as I look back on my forty some odd years of working life. I am beginning to sense a reality to a "seven year cycle" for me personally, and I wonder what if any, cycles exist in other people.
Maybe that's why I never finished college as a dropout of college at17 . I was long past my seven year cycle. Now I went in the Navy, enjoyed the hell out of that for almost five years, got out, worked two jobs, one full time , one part time, and still found time to go back to college nights and get my degree in four years, all while raising a family of two children. (Sound like a glutton for punishment to you?)
In reflecting back on my "working life" seven years is about the max I've ever stayed with anything, then I have to move on. In fact as I reflect even more about it, the "functions" (I won't call it a job because some of them were start ups of my own businesses) immediately following a long "bored out" period function were stellar successes that I got my teeth into like a junk-yard dog and loved every minute of thier 24/7 existence. Kind of a feast or famine thing. I'm either into this thing like running full out at Indianapolis, or just sittin gon the sidelines, fishin'.
Maybe this is a good subject for a management book! Write it, get it published, have Oprah endorse it, bank proceeds in the Grand Caymans, and kick back and do the "book tour". Hmmmm, let me give that a little thought. Any ideas for a catchy title?
Well rantings for today are about played out. Got to do a little housework before the wife gets home Tuesday.
(OK, so I forgot to water the plants until last night. And the one that keeled over is the one that reminded me of it. Does anyone know of a sort of Viagra for plants so they'll all look better by tuesday?)
-30-

Saturday, May 13, 2006

"God I love the smell of Napalm in the morning!"

One of the classic lines from Apocolypse Now uttered by the crazy old 1st Air Cavalry Colonel (Robert Duval) but I can relate to it this week.
I'm going to try and do up my "hurricane" blog tomorrow (again!!! Last time I got it all put together, uploaded with pixs and all and then hit a wrong button two hours later and wiped it out totally off the blog site!) So check that out on Monday morning.
So today is the end of my first week on the new job, and my first week "part-time" at my old job (how's that for being a glutton for punishment?) I agreed to work three evenings a week, and Saturday from 9-4 until they could get some people hired, thus far we came up with one 78 year old guy! After seven years I guess I have a soft spot for not just saying "Not my problem anymore" (Old school ethics!)
Going to stop by the pub this evening after I get out of here for a few pints and a bite to eat. The wife is up in Boston on business for the next two weeks and being a "man" the more I eat out the less dirty dishes and kitchen mess there is to contend with:)
Not much else going on except wall to wall police everywhere. There is a big PGA seniors golf tournamnet going on up the road this week and I swear they've hired every cop in the Sate of Florida to direct traffic.
Sorry this is a short post but I have things to do, places to go, and people to see.
-30-

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

"I'm back in the saddle again"

A great old cowboy tune from Gene Autry (yup, the guy that used to own the Angels baseball team. That's where he made his money as a singing cowboy in early, circa 1930's and '40's cowboy movies. I even remember watching them as early "feature length movies" on the old black and white 9" television of the late '40's early '50's.)
Well just a quick note to let those of you coming aboard from my first blog, "joeaverage", to the new one (this one), Welcome aboard! This blog has a great number of super interesting people and I enjoy surfing the blogoshpere here. This one allows me more latitude with pictures, they are coming soon, and other neat features.
The next couple of weeks will be a bit shaky as I am working the new job (basically 8-5), then doing three nights a week at the old job, parttime, plus all day Saturday to help them get through the next few weeks and get some help hired in. So I don't think I'll be writing too much in the blog. But no, I'm not quitting it and all that. Just trying to save a bunch of money. I get to keep my old company benefits at employee rates (about 60% less than footing them myself), during the 90 day period it takes to get on the new job's health insurance program, plus I pick up about $250 a week extra which will go well toward making me look a little better dressed and paying off a couple of nagging things in the next month or two. At least that's the plan, and as the book says you gotta have a plan!
I'll do what I can and by the end of summer I should have things back to a "routine" again and life can settle in for me.
Feel free to drop an e-mail as I always get them (how did we ever live without the Blackberry?) e-mail address is guinness@mchsi.com
-30-

Monday, May 08, 2006

Here we go!

First day of the new job today. God I haven't done this in eons! Either I have a mild case of the stomach flu, or nerves. What a wus! But at 61 this is indeed a life altering move for me. A little less physical, and a lot more mental gymnastics, which I welcome, but it's another one of those just "do the best you can, and that is today, but tomorrow brings even more challenges"
Oh, and to make matters a little more "dicey", that big Seniors Boeing Golf Tournamant thing starts today. While the tournamant isn't actually starting until Thursday it seems like it's a 24/7 of all this other "stuff" going on everywhere so traffic and all will be a zoo. (Drove by our local hospital and there must be at least 30 or 40 Cadillac Escalades, all white, lined up for the use of the VIP's this week!)
Well more on the first day later today or tomorrow. (I know I have to go get a drug test today! Sixty-one and alcohol in the form of Guinness is the only drug I take does someone really think I look like Keeith Richards?)
-30-

Sunday, May 07, 2006

My one day vacation!

Well yesterday was my last day as the fulltime retail store manager, tomorrow is my first day as a Licienced Community Association Manager. So I guess that means I'm on vacation , or between jobs....I prefer the on vacation.
Spent most of the morning wading through all the piled up mail (thank God for electronic bill payment and drafting or I'd never pay a bill! My first "big" job was handling the accounting department for a multi-million dollar operation so anything smaller than five or ten thousand was a "pain in the ass" bill, so we let them pile up and then threw a big chunk of cash at them. But in the real world these blighters expect to be paid like monthly, What's up with that? :)
Anyway two trashbags of "stuff" later the "cave" almost looks organized. I stopped for two reasons, one, I'm going to hit the Pub in about an hour for my usual "Sunday Pint Treatment", and two, I got to my old Apple! I really can't bear to throw it out, and I'd love to set it up again, but,....well the wife is going to Boston for business for about ten days,....I could do a little "hack 'n slash" while she's gone and set it up. Yep, that's what I'm gonna do. Now I'll start planning for it.
Forget the hour, I'm heading for the pub (I do better planning with a pint in hand!)
-30-

Saturday, May 06, 2006

"...and they begin to ride off, into the sunset."

So where are we? Well, officially I am no longer the fulltime Manager of this store. But I did agree to work about three evenings a week from 5pm to 9pm and Saturday from 8am to 3pm at an outrageous rate per hour, plus keep all my benefits, and make all the managment decisions for at least the next 90 days,....SWEET!
I convinced them to raise the overall starting pay by $1.50, give all my people raises equivilant to that starting increase from where they are now, and got my youngest employee (35) a full time position as number 2 and serious consideration for number one plus a $2 per hour raise and full benefits. Not something I havn't been yapping about for the past two years, but when thier back is to the wall it seems to be easier to get things done.
But even with that my guys are startinhg to bail out. I take that as a tribute in that they don't want to stay unless I'm the full time boss, either that or they figure a new dude will actually start making "work" for them to do. (I never believed in making work just for the sake of work,...that's a pitiful way to be!)
Start my new job Monday morning at 8am and am eager to begin. As I told my old boss if I can't take the two job thing, then he gets two days notice and I'm done. Life is far too short to put myself in hospital from overwork or anxiety.
Some bad news on the horizon though. Got a call from my Daughter (34) and it seems like my Granddaughter (14) has been discovered by the school nurse "cutting herself"! Sorry if I'm a stuffy old fart but what the hell is that shit all about? I don't get it. Would someone explain it to me?
I have been researching it on the 'net but told my daughter to #1 don't tell my wife at this point, and #2 get some serious help from the family doctor or a shrink real quickly. So I guess we'll see what develops out of that next.
Well got to go run the store for the last full day. Been debating whether to be "Mr. Nice" or simply let it all hang out and let the "monster" deal with the flaky consumers today. (Not even open for twenty-minutes yet and three DUMB questions already, good thing I left my shotgun in the garage today.
-30-

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

"..and the beat goes on,...and the beat goes on."

Down to my last three days and all of a sudden my company realizes they are "up shits creek without a paddle", so the phone has been ringing off the hook. The "big kahuna" who was my direct report called and did the politically correct "thanks for all your service over the past secen years blah, blah, blah". Then does the professional managment shuffle and announces he is passing my store and several others off to another lesser manager. (Can you say "not my problem anymore, my butt is covered?")
New (lesser manager) calls in a pure panic, since he figured out there are three days left and the inmates will be firmly in charge of the asylum! Fortunately I know this new guy, and he's a real "ok" dude, so I waffle abit and throw out the old
"MaybeI can do a few hours part-time and train up someone for you" bit."
"Really! Man that would be great! (Hook is in, yank the line, "Well maybe for a few months", IT'S SET, now to reel 'em in.)
"Well we'd need a few 'accomodations' for it to happen"
(slightly wary tone) "...what kind of accomodations?"
"Certainly not the usual $7.50 an hour part-time wage."
"What did you have in mind?"
"About $15 an hour." (Slight pause not the "pregnant" one that indicates above his authority)
"OK, but only to the first of August."
"Let's say September instead."
"OK, 'til Labor Day."
(Time to see how far we can push this puppy.)
"And if we don't raise the starting pay you'll never get anyone."
"To like what?"
"$9.00 an hour"
"Done"
"So if you don't want a walk out of the three guys that are still here you're gonna have to raise thier pay by the difference from where they are."
"How much?"
"A dollar and a half an hour should make things right for them."
"Done."
(This is going wonderfully, let's see if we can sell them some oceanfront property in Kansas.)
"One more thing."
"What's that?"
"I keep my full benefits for this entire time."
"I'll have to talk to the Human Resources people about that one."
"That's fine you still have two days ubtil I'm gone. Why don't you check with them and get back to me tomorrow."

So like I said, "...and the beat goes on,...and the beat goes on."
(Check in tomorrow and we will see what happens. Have a great day, I know I will!)

Monday, May 01, 2006

Five days and counting!

That's right boys and girls, five days left at my retail nightmare! I find it really funny that since I am the only full time employee in the entire place, no one seems really interested in who is going to run the show after I leave! I reckon I just leave the keys on my old desk and ride off into the sunset and not worry about it. Just goes to show you how really dumb things are today. The funniest part is that the store still has about three years left on it's lease, and if there had been an inkling of fair treatment shown I would have stayed and helped close the store down. The timeing was good for me because it would put me six months from full Social Security and Medicare, there would have been some closing bonuses paid, and I could start another career just as easily then as now. But the point is that sometimes you have to draw the line, and I have. But enough about what's past, let's look at what's coming up.
About two years ago I spent the time and money taking the classes and passing the state exams to become a licienced Community Association Manager. Since "community living" is sucha big thing in Florida and closely governed by the state it will never go out of style. The research I did showed that there are a number of sides to the business, and I've been slowly exploring them for the past two years. You can operate as a sole practictioner, i.e. go get yourself a couple of clients, charge $25 to $35 per hour for your services and make a living. (Sounds good but usually the "singles" or associations hiring you have been rejected by everyone else becasue they are over-demanding, ignorant of the whole community living thing, but into thier "right to be right" (at your mental health expense), I tried a couple of those and found out they just want a paid "go-for" and really are the cheapest folks walking the planet. Then you have the Management Companys. They employ people like me, pay about the income of two or three properties and expect you to manage at least eight or ten. Good news they have benefits, hours are mostly the monday to friday nine to five, and they have far more weight in terms of getting things done than the sole practitioner. After a few years with then you are generally being wooed by larger more prestigious associations from other places and you break in to the real meat of the business. (That would be the 200 unit association willing to provide you with a $50,000 a year salary, a two bedroom unit on property (value about $150-$250,000), medical and all other form of benefits and life gets far better. I like the concept because as my wife and I grow older we are essentially not going to be able to keep up with the insane cost of living, so if we sell our townhome for the $500,000 it will garner in another five years or so, invest that money wisely, move into a smaller Association provided place, still take in $50,000 a year with benefits life would not be too bad. Well at least that's the plan.
Well got to go and get ready for the final countdown. I expect I'll get a call today or tomorrow when they realize they are left with three part-time people to run a full store by themselves, and try and induce me to stay on for a while til they can find a replacement (not happening unless the "package" is really ripe and irresistable like guaranteed benefits coverage on their nickel for the next four years, no more than twenty hours a week as the manager on a part time basis only, and a nice fat raise to about $18.00 per hour. What do you think would that be considered "extortion", or you couldlhave had me for a lot less a year or two ago, but you were not paying attention boys!
-30-
(for anyone interested in why I always sign off with "-30-", it's an old newspaper writers way of signing off going back years and I l;ike traditions)