Waiting

I took Holly’s car to work yesterday for the one reason of getting her oil changed. The traffic was delightfully light on the way home, so I arrived at our normal oil changing place around 4:30. I put my name on the list and sat in my car, waiting for my turn to go into the bay. Around ten minutes later they still haven’t got to my car. They ‘invite’ me to wait in their lobby. Being a very nice day outside I decide to stand outside the store and call my grandmother. I hate people who have long personal conversations on cell phones in public. I was on the phone no less than twenty minutes when I noticed that my car had not moved. I looked at the car in the bay and they had it hooked up to a reader trying to determine why the check engine light was on. They were taking that teenage girl to the cleaners, changing her differentials, oil, filters, everything. Besides that I had been waiting for forty minutes with no movement whatsoever. I kindly asked the guy behind me in line to back up so I could get out, this is suppose to be a ‘quick’ lube.

I then headed over to get my haircut. I drove by my normal drop-in place to find eight people in the waiting room reading magazines and three people cutting hair. Not a good ratio in this place. Having lost out on all my chores for the day, I went home. I snuggled up on the couch and watched TV till Holly got home. What a waste…

Doing the Most Good

That is the motto of the Salvation Army. Every quarter my department tries to complete a charity event. Sometimes they are small, sometimes they are simple cash donations, other times we donate our time. Such is the case today.

The Salvation Army’s Dallas and National headquarters are really close to Dallas Love Field. Today we went to a local sorting house where all of the gifts give for the Army’s Angel Trees are stored and sorted. We spent the day double checking families bags to ensure all the toys were in the right place.

This event was very humbling and eye opening. We would see bags for an entire family with no donations or toys in them, although someone had picked their name off of a tree. We would see bags just stuffed to the brim, over flowing with everything imaginable. You would come across bags where the entire family was one child with an unpronounceable name, while your next bag would have eight children with very pronounceable names. Lastly you would come across one bag with three children and three boxes of diapers. It was a moving and worthwhile experience.

While I do not agree with all of what the Salvation Army does or believes, I can truly say that I full heartedly agree with their Christmas spirit. The next bell ringer I see, I won’t ignore.

One Word: P-A-R-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-I-O-N

A few lighthearted jabs at those of us who choose not to participate:

Armand – “So there I was…” not participating in the Blogging network I invited everyone to join

Ethan – “E”verywhere but here.

Jelaine – “The music in my head…” is not compatible with my Blog, obviously

Scott – “Scooter0979” has not Blogged since Sept1306

Andy – “The AB Show” is a no show

Amanda – “Wow! I can’t believe I am doing this…” well take heart because you aren’t

Tom – “OldGoat Ramblin’” must be inaudible, old guy, mumbo-jumbo

3:07 PM

Well that was going to be my last blog of the afternoon, but this is just so dang blogable.

The guy that sits to my back in cube world has serious sinus issues. It is so bad that he blows his nose obnoxiously loud at least three times a day. Some days more! It is so gross that sometimes you can hear the ‘obstructions’ move. Today, probably since no one is here, it seem overly loud. It is too much to ask to go away from your desk to do that? It is also interesting that we were in our 1.5 hour meeting and he didn’t blow his nose once. It is an issue or a habit?

Now I am done; or am I?

3:00 PM

Well this should be my last blog of the afternoon. I am heading out right before the 4pm buzzer hits. I hope you have enjoyed my return to the blogging world, even if only Jenise and Viki were the hourly winners! Thanks Ladies.

Have a great weekend and I promise more normal blogging will return.

bd..bd.bdddd That's All Folks.

2:00 PM

So I was so excited about my apple pie, remember? I finally dove in. I was looking forward to a yummy gooey mess. It turns out that the pie was stale and past due. The inside was dried out and the pastry was crunch. Major Letdown!

In my disgust I went to a friends cube to complain. I was in mid explanation when she interrupted me to tell me about her problems with tax provisions and how we are not adequately addressing the exposure drafts. Wait we went from apple pie to exposure drafts? Now that is the sign of a really bad afternoon.

1:00 PM

Well we are on the downhill slide into the weekend now.

A friend just posted all of her pictures to our Team’s Holiday Party. We had our party December 1^st in the Uptown district of Dallas. Now if you don’t know Dallas, this is where all the trendy people hang out. Holly and I aren’t that trendy. We both went out and bought clothes, just for this event. We had a lot of fun getting dressed up and going out, as we never do that.

The party was a good time. It was a culinary art school, so we had several stations open with both students and instructors cooking at all the stations. We had pizza, sliced beef, a soup and gourmet macaroni and cheese. Yeah you heard me. The student told me that the head chef likes to play around with simple things so he made up a big vat of macaroni and cheese. They served it to you in a martini glass and you had the option of adding several toppings including bacon, chalets, raisins, etc. Amazingly enough it was pretty good. Wash all this down with a hefty free bar and the night was a blast.

On top of that the CEO and President of SWA attended the party. In this first picture you see Holly and I with the President.
We also spent quite a long time with the CEO and his wife. After some general introductions and chit chat he inquired as to where Holly was from. After the ‘West Texas’ explanation Gary (the CEO) dug deeper. We found out that Gary started his auditing career on a client in Friona, Holly’s hometown. They started speaking about the CO-OP and the feedyards, etc. We left on cloud nine, having spent a good 20 minutes in one on one conversation with Gary and his wife.

This last picture is one of a gingerbread Southwest Airlines Boeing 737.

High Noon

I just spent the last hour and a half in a committee meeting. One of the great things about SWA is that the company as a whole is charity conscious. Our department hosts an annual tournament which benefits the Scottish Rite Hospital of Texas. I am the department treasurer so I am in the middle or helping run all the finances. My first meeting as treasurer was an hour and a half over pricing strategies. What did I get myself into?

No I am off to lunch, well not really. I am having leftovers at my desk. Meatloaf, potato salad and a regular salad are on tap. My good surprise was that I forgot that I get a Mrs. Bairds fried apple pie each Friday for breakfast. So when I opened my lunch box and saw it I was very pumped.

mmmmmm……

10:00 AM

I worked this past hour. It is amazing how you can stretch a 30 minute task into 60, isn’t it?

I was wondering what people want for Christmas. My mom is bugging me for ideas, but I honestly can not think of things I need or want. Maybe I should cut back ‘treating’ myself through out the year so I will have a Christmas list.

What do you want for Christmas?

9:00 AM

For the last hour I have been socializing. It seems that everyone is gone today. Out of 24 people in my office, I think I am 1 of 10 here. A super quiet day leads to a super long day. I will put my headphones in an pass some time.

It is super cold today. I think the overnight low was 19 with a high in the lower 40s. It may be winter, but this ain’t a Texas winter. Fear not we return to overnight lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s next week. Plus they are calling for rain, yipeeeeee

8:00 AM

Yesterday my audit was canceled. It seems someone else within the department had already completed most of the items we were going to do. That’s fine with me. The problem is now it is Friday and I have little if anything to do. With that in mind I thought that I would try to get back on the band wagon and blog every hour or so about what I have been doing this fine day (or whatever is on my mind at the time). So if you are having a lazy Friday day, check back often. Hopefully my experiment will work.