Monday, April 21, 2008

Changing Jobs and Obama or Not?

First off, I am officially done with retail on April 27th, 2008. My friend Greg told me 3 years ago I was making a mistake. While I don't view it as a mistake, there are few things I'll miss. I won't miss working 18 hours the day after Thanksgiving. I won't miss another birthday, anniversary or special occasion because I "have to". Going from a place where you are always worried about losing your job to one where you feel secure in building a career and feel the bosses are there for support and development is a great feeling. I've had more phone calls offering support and help since I took the job with Scott and White than I did in three years with Best Buy. My most recent GM was by far the best and I think he would share in my assessment of the job environment. As most people say, it's just retail. It's like that everywhere. And to that point, it could have been much worse. To those who haven't heard, I will be starting a manager training program at Scott and White on April 28th. After my training is complete, I will become a medical clinic director. Daunting, yeah a tad bit, but 10X more exciting than daunting. What it means is good benefits and greater benefits. Good as in medical, salary etc. Great as in I can reclaim title of daddy to my son and my soon arriving daughter. Dinner, yard work and weekends are terms I will become shortly reacquainted with. And the cherry on top of the sundae is being able to sing at church on Sundays. There is a huge buzz of excitement around here.

Obama. I can't figure this guy out. I want to like him. He has great ideas around education, social programs and others but a few of his bedfellows make me weary. He has ties to terrorists and anti-christians alike. In 1995, State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district’s influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local[Hyde Park] left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.
William Ayres from WIKI:

According to his memoir, Ayers became radicalized at the University of Michigan where he became involved in the New Left and the Students for a Democratic Society. Ayers joined the Weatherman group in 1969, but went underground with several associates after the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion in 1970, in which three members (Ted Gold, Terry Robbins, and Diana Oughton, who was Ayers's girlfriend at the time) were killed while constructing a nail bomb. While underground, he and fellow member Bernardine Dohrn married and had two children. They were purged from the group in the mid-1970s, and turned themselves in to the authorities in 1981. All charges against him were dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct during the long search for the fugitives. They later became legal guardians to the son of former Weathermen David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin, after his parents were arrested for their part in the Brinks Robbery of 1981.[4]

In 2001, Ayers published Fugitive Days: A Memoir. Much of the controversy about him is connected with his interview with the New York Times about his book was published, by historical coincidence, on September 11, 2001,[5] and opens with his statements, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." When asked he would "do it all again," Ayers replied, "I don't want to discount the possibility."[4] Ayers wrote a Letter to the Editor of the New York Times on September 15, describing the interview as: "This is not a question of being misunderstood or 'taken out of context', but of deliberate distortion."[6] He has explained multiple times that by "no regrets" he meant that he didn't regret his efforts to oppose the Vietnam War, and that "we didn't do enough" meant that efforts to stop the war were obviously inadequate as it dragged on for a decade; the two statements were not intended to elide into a wish they had set more bombs.[7][8] The interview also mentions what he wrote in his book regarding Emile de Antonio's 1976 documentary film Underground, about the Weathermen: "[Ayres] was 'embarrassed by the arrogance, the solipsism, the absolute certainty that we and we alone knew the way. The rigidity and the narcissism."

So now the question is posed: Does an association and almost friendliness in some views trump all the good ideas for change?

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Fishing, Papa Jim and More Pictures

We went to Sweetwater this passed weekend to see Papa Jim as well as all the other kinfolk but mainly Papa Jim. He hasn't been doing well lately and has been in the hospital quite a bit. I hadn't seen him in a while and needed to go so we went. It was funny to me how you could see through all the pain he's in and that quick witted sense of humor was still ready to pounce. He looked tired and I am sure with all the company was having to muster a lot of strength just to see us all. It was good to see him. It brought back a lot of memories for me growing up. At the Welding Shop growing up in Sweetwater I would have to work for him sweeping and then in the afternoon would get to go with him for a coffee break. I was probably 10 or 12 at the time so I would try to earn a Dr. Pepper or Hot Chocolate if I wanted it to be more like coffee. I remember one day I didn't want to sweep. I just wanted the reward. He explained to me that if you don't work you don't get the rewards. It seems a simple lesson and it didn't necessarily hit home immediately but it's a lesson that I try to live by now and have for some time. All of us have our lazy moments but if you're gonna be lazy, don't expect to be rewarded for it. I have a few 20 somethings that could use a lesson in sweeping.
Papa Jim asked how I was and I told him I was doing good. Told him about my work towards opening a deli and he responded with a comment only one of my granddads could have said. He said, " You need some sun. You should go fishing." My legacy preceded me. Its like he could stare right through me a tell me what I needed. I had plans to go on Monday but Emily and I talked about it and when we got home Sunday afternoon, we took a family trip to the lake. We caught several bass. It was getting close to time to go a Zeke said, " Dad try this one (handing me a minnow). Catch a big one." About two minutes later we caught the largest small mouth I have ever caught. Below are a few of those pictures from Sunday and a few more from Monday and coming soon a short video of Zeke trying to cast my surf rod.