This is not how I want to start out my Wednesday, but I will be at Lowes in about 15 minutes to get the needed parts to finish a shower repair before we all need to get ready for school and work. I will be my optimistic self and say that it should be interesting.

Of course I may be wrong about that.

Today is going to be an adventure.

If you are a regular reader you know that I don’t talk a lot about my day job. While I do mention work occasionally, I seldom, if ever, mention the company I work for directly. I want to modify that a bit this morning.

For most of the past eight years I have worked for a call center here in Central Florida, most of that time in the Workforce Management department. And although I will be going in to the same building, the same office, and sitting at the same desk, I will begin working for a new company today.

My old company was purchased by another company. After four months of legal and regulatory hoop jumping the deal closed last night and our new, joint operation begins today.

As far as I know now, my work life won’t be much different going forward than it has been in the past. Of course with a new company there’s no way to know what changes could be coming down the road. And while I am excited about the possibilities, there is still a certain amount of nervousness surrounding what could be.

Our center’s location could make us the beneficiary of some very good things due to our proximity (we’re less than 50 miles away) to the new company’s headquarters. As the center closest to corporate HQ, it is easy to imagine us being a showcase when presenting the business to potential clients. That could mean top of the line facilities, equipment, and infrastructure. (Hey, maybe they’ll upgrade our browsers from Microsoft’s bastard step-child — IE 6. That, in it’s self, would be a great change.)

At the very least we’re getting a party. Now that the legalities have been wrapped up, today is the day for the official public announcement. There will be site walk throughs, information sharing (the amount of information that can be shared before all the legalities are out of the way is minuscule), media coverage, the announcement, and the unveiling of our new sign. And food. Good food. Lunch always tastes better when the company is picking up the tab.

I don’t know what will happen after today. No idea how things will change. I’m fairly confident that any changes will be better for me personally. But then, I’m an optimist. Because of the flexible nature of what I do, I will be assisting with festivities.

I’ll let you know how things turn out.

I’m home. I should be at work. No, I’m not sick, but two of the kids are. The youngest is at school, and I won’t be surprised if they call soon. I will be able to go in later. How much later is the question.

Is it a bad sign that the two that are home are watching “Home Alone”?

No excuse for the weekend, but my real job co-worker (we’re now a department of 2!!) was out Friday and Monday. She came in yesterday, but left early. More news on the job front later.

I’m still fighting the computer restarting on it’s own. Usually when I’m right in the middle of something. At the same time, I’m revisiting using Chrome as my browser. What are your thoughts on chrome?

Now if I can just end my addiction to Cafe World. . .

Six time since 5:30 this morning. That’s how many times the computer has, on it’s own, just restarted. It makes it very challenging to read, and especially write, anything.

I wasn’t writing this morning like I should have been. I’ve been searching for information about Camp Sandy Hill and it’s alumni. I’ll share why later this week, but for now let me put this out there so all of you can help.

I was a camper at Sandy Hill in the 60’s. Not positive what years, but I do know I was there for a week each summer 1966-1969, possibly a year earlier and/or later. Sandy Hill was a boys camp located in North East, MD. on the Chesapeake. I loved it there! I was always jealous of the kids that could stay two weeks, and especially those who were there all summer.

In the centennial year of 1976 I was a camp counselor. What a great summer that was. I would love to reconnect with Chief JD (last name ?) and the cook, (Lisa?) and anyone else who was there that year. While I look around let me share the recipe for Sandy Hill Stew.

Sandy Hill Stew
2lb Ground Beef
2 large cans of tomato sauce (canned tomatoes can be used too)
Sliced Carrots
Sliced New Potatoes
Onion
Green Pepper
1 Box Velveeta Cheese

At camp this was prepared over a camp fire, but it’s great at home on the stove, too.

Brown the meat and add in the diced onion and green pepper. Drain the fat.
Add the tomato sauce (I think that canned tomatoes were used in the “official” recipe), carrots and potatoes. Cut the Velveeta into cubes and throw them into the pot to melt. Stir. When the cheese is melted you’re ready to eat!

The most common reaction to Sandy Hill Stew is that it looks awful, but tastes great! Try it with some biscuits. Hmmmm!

Let me here from other Sandy Hill/Sandy Cove alumni.

It’s a long weekend, so I’m playing around with the theme again. While I’m doing that I’ve broken out this oldie but goodie.

I’m also getting some things ready for tonight’s Independence Day Warm-up.

Finally, for now, an update on this post. When I wrote that two days ago I had 29 cigarettes left. Right now that number is down to one. Even that is quite a reduction in normal consumption. The good news, yeah I know there’s all that health stuff too, is that I haven’t given the state of Florida or the federal government any more money. And I’m not going to.

I know it’s awfully early in the morning, but I’ve been up for two hours and I’m on my second cup of coffee, so I shouldn’t strain anything trying to do some math. If you’re going to play along at home, please stretch first. I don’t want you hurting yourself, and numbers can do that to you.

The tax on cigarettes goes up $1.00 today in Florida. That’s on top of the increase in the Federal tax that has been in place since April.

The first increase prompted me to go from my regular brand to the generic brand that, I believe, is manufactured from the sweepings around the “good” cigarette machines and grass clippings. As of today those cheap cigarettes will cost just over $4/pack, over half of that in various taxes (which tells you just how cheap those generics are).

I’ve told you in the past that I’m a bit of a numbers geek. I spend about half of my work day immersed in an excel spread sheet. And I like it. That’s the background. This morning I ran the numbers on my habit.

At the end of a week, July 7th, I will have saved $28, almost enough for a family run through McDonalds.

When we get to the end of July I will have saved $124, about the equivalent of an extra day of work without the drive, conference calls, and complaining.

Lets move out a little further. School starts around here on August 24th. I can have an extra $220 in my pocket. Who wouldn’t like that? Of course, with what it takes to equip three for school, my pocket will still be empty.

My birthday falls on Thanksgiving day this year. If I put all of the money that I save away (an if that isn’t going to happen) I could have $596. That’s a lot of turkey and cranberry sauce.

By Christmas eve, just in time to do my shopping, I could have $708 to take on my frantic dash through the empty-shelved stores that are going to close in just a few minutes. Either that, or I could buy a whole lot of presents at the nearest gas-n-shop.

Finally, in a year from now (making the probably inaccurate assumption that prices won’t go up any further) I could save, are you ready for this, $1460!

Dude, I’m getting a Dell.

I woke up this morning and happened to turn on the TV next to the computer. It was still on TBS from watching last nights playoff games. Airing early this morning: Major League: Back to the Minors.

I played an umpire for twelve days on this film, and you can see me on both first and third. I guess I can look forward to another check with nothing to the left of the decimal point.

UPDATE: If you’re watching right now, I’m the 3rd base ump. (Yes, the fat one.)

School started today, and from the time I got home from dropping the kids at school until I left to pick them up the house was quiet. Gloriously, Totally QUIET!

Sure, I could have used that time to write something, or read some blogs and the news, but I didn’t. I should have got some things done around the house, but I didn’t.

I enjoyed the quiet. I finished a Robert Parker, Spencer novel, I.O.U. I dozed on the couch. It was wonderful!

Tomorrow I’ll get some more stuff posted. There are plenty of things going on right now. But today I just enjoyed the quiet.

Sick two year old + N posts = Well, you do the math.

Well, let’s have some coffee and then take a swim. ~ Johnny Weissmuller

Sorry, no first cup this morning — and this is awfully late as it is. I had some things to take care of this morning that took up all morning and in to this afternoon. Instead let me re-post these fathers day thoughts from last year:

Lessons from my dad

My father passed away at the beginning of my freshman year of high school in 1970. Among the many obvious things that made that so sad was the fact that it was at a time when our relationship was just beginning to change from father-as-instructor to father-as-adviser. When I was young he taught me to play baseball and helped with my homework. Shortly before he died he began teaching me how (not what) to think about things in addition to how to do things. Even though that time was painfully short, the lessons were there and their impact remains.

One incident occurred when the Youth for Christ singing group I was involved with returned several hours later than scheduled due to circumstances I can’t recall now. Cell phones didn’t exist so the parents where unaware of our several hour delay. Dad was waiting in the church parking lot when the bus finally dropped us off. On our way home I remember him saying something along the lines of, “Your mom is very worried and she may appear mad. It’s OK. That’s what mom’s do. You didn’t do anything wrong, so don’t be upset if she acts angry. It’s because she loves you and she’s been worried.” That may seem to be an inconsequential conversation to you, but it has stuck with me for these past 35 years. Over the years since I’ve observed several truths that I only began to learn that night.

• Men and women are different, as non-pc as that may be. It’s not a difference in ability or potential, but a difference of thought and outlook. One thing I’ve observed over the years in parents is how often a mother is quicker to think a child should go to the doctor or hospital than a father. Mom says, “that needs to be looked at.” while dad says, “he’ll be fine.” Women tend to want to protect their loved ones from “the world” while men are more focused on protection from individual situations. Of course as with all generalizations, it falls apart under the light of specific incidents, but I don’t think that invalidates the general observation.
• Don’t read too much into observed emotions. Emotions that are easier to see can mask others that lie beneath the surface. Dad was right that night. When we got home my mothers questions could have seemed angry if dad hadn’t prepared me for them. “Where have you been?” Why was the bus late?” But dad (in the small way that a fourteen year old boy could relate to at that time) had already let me know that those were rooted in worry not anger, and in love.
• A fathers love can be expressed differently but isn’t any less for that difference.

One other thing I took away from that event, although it took many years to realize it, was an appreciation for the changing role of a father as a child grows. It remains a pivotal part of my life in that I began to learn not only how to do things, but to think about things as well.

Other lessons weren’t as anchored to a specific event and in many cases took years to sink in. The lessons were there all the time, I just had to look back to see them.

• Character comes from what you do, not what you say. Dad, like a lot of men of his generation, wasn’t much of a talker. As I look back at his life I can remember much more about things I observed than of things he said. I remember how he treated people. All people. At a time when race relations were being tested and changed dad was mostly color-blind. I remember the way he related to people and can see now that it was tied to their character not a group to which they were a part. Most importantly I remember that his character didn’t change when he wasn’t in public. In later years I’ve associated it with the phrase, “Character is what you are when no one is around.”
• Beliefs trump Circumstances. The fact that life doesn’t always give you what you hoped for is not an excuse for changing what you believe. My father believed in God without question, but not without questions. His questions (this I learned from others telling me about dad over the years) served to deepen his understanding of God, not to question his belief in God. He believed in America. He was too young to serve in WWII and too old to serve in Korea, but his respect for this country was unwavering. When the flag passed by in a parade he would ALWAYS stand (an make my sister and I stand too). When the National Anthem was performed at a ball game his hand would be over his heart. I don’t recall seeing either of those things much anymore. He believed in his family. Not that we were flawless, but that we were his. Even his discipline, I can see now, came from believing in what we could be. He even believed in the Phillies during years that doing so was a very trying thing to do.
• Whatever you do, do the best that you possibly can. He never allowed me to do a job part way, and he wouldn’t either. Looking back I could see his loyalty and character even doing jobs he didn’t particularly like.

I know that this paints him in near saint-like hues. Like all humans he had his many flaws. It’s just that the things I remember are the things that made him so great in my eyes. I love him and thank him for everything he gave me and taught me in what amounted to a few short years. I miss him. Most of all I am grateful that I can look back at his life and see how it has molded my thinking. At times I don’t live up to the standard he set even as I realize that he didn’t always measure up to the standards he set for himself. I certainly have not been the father I would like to be. I’ve made choices and done things that went against these valuable life lessons. Yet, I can almost hear him say in my mind, “That’s ok. Just do better next time,” or “Is that the best way to do that?” That is when I don’t here him say, “The Phillies could really do it this year.”

Happy Fathers Day, dads. God bless each of you.