Danger - School Zone

When I started my premature retirement last April I set a goal to exercise every day. My exercise routine was to include walking at least 3.6 miles each day and doing at least 50 push-ups. FYI, 3.6 miles isn't a random number - it's twice around the perimeter of the Woodhaven section of Greatwood. Anyway, I was doing pretty well until the last month or so. First, we had the week at Camp Bandina, where I managed to walk three out of the five days, but no push-ups. From there we spent a week at my brother's Colorado house, where I managed to neither walk nor push-up for the entire time. When we returned to Sugar Land play practice and set building took over most of my time. NOTE: Isn't it amazing how easy it is to abandon an exercise program based on lame excuses? So, I've really only walked about five or six times in the last few weeks. This week I decided it was time to get back on track. However, I made a big mistake yesterday - I walked through an elementary school zone when school was letting out. No, I didn't put any of the kids in danger by walking faster than 20 mph, and no, I wasn't violating recently-enacted state law by talking on my cell phone as I walked through the zone. The danger wasn't to them, it was to me. Have you ever shared a sidewalk with hundreds of kids on bicycles, scooters, and skateboards, all of them going in the opposite direction as yourself? If you haven't, I suggest that you avoid this experience at all costs. Remember, this was an elementary school, meaning some of these kids had limited cycling experience, especially when riding under the weight of a backpack, lunch box, and band instument. In addition, more than a few of them were - and I'm not kidding - talking on their cell phones! As they approached me they generally executed one of three manuveurs - they rode off the sidewalk into the grass, they stayed on the sidewalk but swerved all over the place and I jumped into the grass, or they went straight down the middle of the sidewalk and I jumped into the grass. Notice that two-thirds of these situations involved me jumping into the grass. In the future I will be aware of the clock when I walk and never make this mistake again.


Last night was our first Joseph rehearsal using our newly contructed set. Before rehearsal we received an award from the American Lumber Association for single-handedly keeping the lumber industry in business during the recent economic downturn. To say that this set is over built is the understatement of the century. If a class five hurricane comes through Sugar Land and completely destroys the entire First Colony Church of Christ campus, this set will still be standing. The next time there's a tornado warning, I'm leaving my house and taking refuge under the southwest corner of this set. The Egyptians built the pyramids, the Chinese built the Great Wall, we built this.

That's about all for now. I think I'll go out early and walk - before the kids head for school!

The Weekend is Over - Now I Can Get Some Rest

It's Monday morning and I'm looking forward to a semi-relaxing day. This past weekend just about wore me out completely. I must be getting even older than I thought. It was non-stop starting on Friday. I spent all day on Friday working on the set for the Joseph show, which as you know is coming up the last weekend of this month and the first weekend of October (buy your tickets now before the scalpers snap them all up). We came back on Saturday morning for about four hours and just about finished it. You might think that putting together a set for a play is not such a big deal, but the set for this show is actually quite a construction project. A lot of work and a lot of lumber (heavy lumber) went into putting this thing together. We built it in five sections, which we'll move onto the main auditorium stage tonight. Once eveything in onstage we'll bolt it all together, do a little touch up painting, and we'll be ready.



The center platform of the set actually rises a few inches over ten feet above the stage. Yes, there will be hand rails, they just weren't installed yet in this picture. My character never makes it to the top of the platform. The highest I'll get is about step number ten.

After working on the set until almost 6:00 on Friday evening we had to be back for rehearsal at 7:00, which went until 10:30. Then, as I mentioned, we were back on Saturday morning to finish up on the set. Finally, on Saturday night at 7:00 it was time to have fun. We went over to Greg and Debbie's house for some ribs, college football, and dominoes. The ribs and the dominoes were great. The football game - Ohio State vs. USC - was another story. Being from Ohio and all, I was rooting for Ohio State, hoping they would reverse their recent history and actually win a big game. If you watched the game you know that they'll have to wait until the next big game to win a big game. Of lesser importance on the national sports scene, we also lost the domino game. However, I felt that I acquitted myself fairly well, given that I have only played dominoes twice in my life, most recently when George Bush Senior was president.

Yesterday was my first session teaching the Chapel Class at church. The Chapel Class is where most of the older people attend. It's where I probably should be every Sunday. This is a great class, but I was amazed at how long it took to get through prayer requests! By the time I made it to the podium to start my lesson I was thinking about opening with the question "Is there anybody in here who doesn't have a medical problem?" I also decided against asking "Who would like to discuss the Weather Channel?"

After a nice two-hour nap during the Texans game it was back to the church building for Sunday afternoon rehearsal, which went until about 8:30. I have to say that the show is really, really starting to come together. Some of us are still a little fuzzy on a couple of the dance routines, but I'm confident we'll all be moon walking by show time.

Keep Your Trash

Today being Thursday, I spent some time down at the Second Mile Mission Center. My task today was to help out getting the warehouse straightened out. As I was working a thought entered my mind involving people such as myself who desire an orderly world. Some call us neat-freaks, others say we are obsessive, but I like to say we just like things to be orderly. Is that too much to ask? Anyway, it occurred to me that for someone who desires order, working in the Second Mile warehouse is either heaven or hell. It's hell in that it is in a continual state of disarray. On the other hand, it's heaven because there is always the opportunity to make the world a better place by organizing things (even though you know they won't stay organized for long). Being a "glass half full" kind of person, I was in heaven today.

Today the warehouse was as bad as I've ever seen it. There was furniture stacked up by the loading dock, bicycles everywhere, all of the trash cans were overflowing, and the area around the dumpster was a mess. As I walked in I noticed the two permanent warehouse guys were struggling to raise a pallet onto one of the racks, because there was furniture in the way. Rather than move the furniture they were attempting to work around it, with the forklift going head to head with a desk and then a sofa. The forklift was the clear winner. These guys work hard, but they don't always work smart. Once things calmed down I set to work getting all of the furniture in the furniture spot, all of the bikes hung on the hooks on the rafters, took out the trash, swept the floor, etc. Then I immediately left so that I wouldn't have to watch my work destroyed.

Speaking of destroyed, I noticed a few donated couches that should have been destroyed rather than donated. WARNING: I am about to get on my soap box. I'm sure none of you are guilty of this, but I wish that people would realize that "donating" worthless junk to any charitable organization is just an easy way to make someone else get rid of it for you. I noticed today that there were several boxes of totally worthless stuff laying around. Things like gardening books, analog TV's, clothes that I wouldn't use as shop rags, ceramic kittens, etc. Donating this junk to a place like Second Mile - where the clientele comes for food, decent furniture and wearable clothing - only makes it difficult on the paid staff and volunteers who have to sort through it and then throw it away. My favorite donated item this week was the couch pictured below. A good rule of thumb regarding donating any item is that if it has been on your back porch or in your garage for more than twenty years and has been at the bottom of a pile of garbage or most of that time DON'T donate it. Take it to the trash dump yourself or set it on fire.

Imagine how happy some needy family would have been to receive this magnificent piece of furniture!

On the job search front, I called the pipeline company guy today. As I expected, I got his voice mail, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Rather than stumble around trying to introduce myself and name drop my reference I was able to take a minute or so to leave a nice detailed message regarding who I am and what I want - a high paying job with great benefits and lots of vacation. I called him at 8:30 this morning. I'm still waiting for a call back.

Desk Day, Car Batteries and Rain!

An amazing thing happened this morning - it RAINED! I'm not talking about the stray afternoon shower that lasts for ten minutes and then the sun is out again. No, I'm talking about a rain that starts at 8:30 in the morning and lasts until almost noon. This is the first real rain we've had at our house since the end of April. I'm sure that what's left of the grass in the front yard will finally be happy. Each blade must feel like a concentration camp survivor by now.

Star Furniture is supposed to deliver our new desk this afternoon between 1:00 and 4:00. Because of the damage fest described in my last blog they will be delivering it for free instead of charging us the standard $100 delivery fee (a huge rip off under any circumstances). I'll make sure that I check the desk carefully to ensure that they are delivering a new, undamaged, unrepaired desk. I'm hoping for the best, but I won't be too surprised if things go south.

Yesterday I got a new battery for Vicki's car. It had been starting hard and we'd had to jump it the last few times it tried to leave the garage, so we thought it was time for a new one. Day before yesterday I took it to Auto Zone in Rosenberg to have it checked. It's an Auto Zone battery (their Dura Last Gold model!) with a three-year full replacement warranty, and since I bought it in the summer of 2007 I could get another one for free. Free batteries for the unemployed is a great concept. I heard Obama was taking credit for it. Anyway, because of the difficulty in starting the car I left it running when I went into the store. Within a minute or two a very friendly Auto Zone guy came out with his battery tester. I told him I'd turn off the car and he said it was okay to leave it running. This didn't sound right to me, and I told him I thought the car had to be turned off to properly check the battery. He assured me that leaving the car running was perfectly fine. He then checked the battery and told me it was fine, but that there might be a problem with the alternator, something about 13.8 volts instead of 15 volts? The car started fine and I left, intending to have the car checked by our mechanic.

Yesterday when we got in the car to leave it wouldn't start. As a matter of fact, it sounded like it wasn't even thinking about starting. So, we jumped it again and went on our way, making sure not to turn off the car at any time during our journey. On the way home I remembered that we were in the vicinity of the Auto Zone in our old Quail Valley neighborhood. I thought I'd stop by there for another opinion. I followed the same pattern, leaving the car running. This time the Auto Zone guy - a slightly more seasoned (older) guy - told me that you can't check a battery if the engine is running. Hmmm. This time around the tester said that the battery was bad, so I got a new battery. The moral of the story is that old guys usually know what they're talking about. There are, of course, exceptions.

This afternoon I have it on my calendar to call the VP of Human Resources at a pipeline company that has recently relocated their corporate office to Houston from Pennsylvania. This is probably my first actual good job lead. Hopefully the guy will be in his office and he'll take my call. I hope he doesn't still have one of those old school secretaries who considers it her mission in life to keep anyone from bothering her boss. Those types are great when they're on your side, but a real pain when they're not. Sort of like Pete Rose and Terrell Owens.

We're swinging into the stretch drive of rehearsals for the Joseph show. Last night those of us with solos (yes, I have a solo) were actually hooked up with wireless mics, the house lights were down, and the stage lights were up. It gave rehearsal a whole new feeling - sort of like a performance. I've never been hooked up to a wireless mic before. It was kind of fun but also kind of scary thinking about actually singing in front of several hundred people - especially people who paid good money to be there. Plus, I tend to cry easily in the face of anger and flying vegetables.

My request that those who read my blog contact me netted a total of five responses. I think that's way low. I'll bet there are at least seven or eight people who are addicted to reading everything I write. I can just feel the vibe every time I write something, especially when the topic is furniture, car batteries and rain.

Bonus Post!

Sometimes I wonder it anyone reads this blog other than Vicki and I.

I don't know if what I'm about to ask violates accepted blogging etiquette, but if it wouldn't be too much trouble would you mind sending me an email letting me know that you are a reader?

My email is dougfreede@yahoo.com.

Thanks.

The Joy of Furniture

This evening I'm going to continue my discussion of furniture and all the effort that goes into making your home look like a pleasant, inviting place. This is not an easy task. A few days ago I talked about the rigors of "rugging." Tonight I'm going to explore the concept of "desking."

As most of you know, I have been "between jobs" now for almost five months. Most of that time I have spent goofing off and enjoying myself, but recently I decided it was time to get serious about finding a new gig that will pay enough to allow us to continue to live in the style in which we have become accustomed over the last 30 years or so. Part of any good job search involves making appointments and keeping good records of the people you bother, so that you won't bother them any more often than is necessary. To keep good records one needs a good desk. At our house we have one good desk. This is the desk upon which the computer, printer, etc. reside. Between Vicki and me this single desk sometimes gets a little crowded. As a result of this situation we decided that another desk would be a good idea. So, we went desk shopping.

After several weeks of looking around we were able to find only one desk that met the space restrictions in our master bedroom. This desk was located at Star Furniture, and of course was wildly over-priced. However, based on the fact that it was our only option we were more of less forced to take it. Vicki found a $100 off coupon and we opted to pick up the desk ourselves rather than have it delivered, which saved us another $100. Can you believe that they charge $100 to deliver an item that they've already marked up about 500% (don't get me started)? We showed up bright and early on Friday morning at the Star Furniture warehouse/showroom at the Park Ten exit of the Katy Freeway. We checked in, and although they knew we were coming, we waited about a half-hour before they brought out the desk, which as we expected was in a box (some assembly required). I asked the warehouse guy if he'd open up the box so we could check for any damage. His reply was, "Just take it home and if you find anything wrong with it you can bring it back." I had two problems with his plan. Number one, we live about 30 miles from the warehouse, so a return trip to bring back damaged furniture would be a slight inconvenience. Number two, there was a big sign on the loading dock wall that said something like "All customers must inspect merchandise for damage before loading. Damaged items may not be returned." Based on these facts I requested the warehouse guy to open up the box. When he opened it we discovered that, lo and behold, the corner of the desk was broken. No problem, I said, because our salesperson back in the Greatwood Star store had mentioned that there were seven desks in stock. Just bring out another desk. Desk number two arrived at the dock, and guess what? It too had a broken corner. Desk number three was summoned, which unbelievably was also damaged. At his point I said something brilliant, like "Three down, four to go." To which the warehouse guy said "We don't have time to check all seven of these. We'll just have our 'furniture technician' fix the damage." To which I said "Hey, no problem. We don't mind overpaying for a new desk and then taking one that's damaged." Note: I was being facetious. We finally talked to the warehouse supervisor who promised us free delivery of a brand new, undamaged desk on Wednesday. Hopefully they won't try to pull a fast one on us with damaged goods that the furniture technician has fixed up.

My latest home project is converting the blue four-drawer dresser in the laundry room into a distressed black dresser for the living room. Along the way I'll strip and refinish the top of the dresser and convert it from a blond finish to a darker finish. I'm now on day two of this project, and it looks like it will end up being a little more difficult and more time-consuming than I anticipated (now there's a real surprise).

I spent most of the day of Thursday up at the church building working on the set for the Joseph show. You need to buy a ticket for the show just to see this thing. It's basically two sets of semi-spiral staircases connected by a catwalk that hangs ten feet above the stage. Because at times during the show there will be up to twelve people standing (and dancing) on it, it has been over-engineered like you wouldn't believe. There's enough wood in this thing to rebuild Surfside after Hurricane Ike. It weighs about a ton and will require most of the congregation to move it onto the stage.

This evening we went over to the Wattersons for food, fun and games. The games included a Seinfeld trivia game. If you ever play this game make sure to go with the "easy questions" instead of the "difficult questions", otherwise you'll be playing it the for the rest of your life. I noticed that the majority of the difficult questions asked for the name of one of Jerry's girlfriends, of which there were were about 150 over the show's nine year run. The easy questions are more typically about things that happened on the show, like "Why did Elaine throw Jerry's $20 bill out the window of his apartment?" and "Who invented Festivus?"

My last item for this evening is yet another movie review. Tonight's movie is All About Steve, starring Sandra Bullock and some guy I've never heard. This movie was mildly entertaining, with a few fairly funny spots. I can't comment on the entire movie because I had two complete zone-outs (that I'm aware of) where my mind was so totally divorced from my body that I totally missed at least twenty minutes of the show. As with a lot of movies I've seen lately, this would have made a good made for TV movie (do they still make made for TV movies?), but it was definitely not worth the price of admission, even if it was a matinee. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that ever since Sandra got her facial features rearranged to make her look like a guppy her movies have been going downhill. The next time you want to see a Sandra Bullock movie do yourself a favor and rent Hope Floats or Speed.

Tomorrow is Labor Day, which will be the third holiday that I've observed since my untimely demise from Transocean. As I've mentioned before, a three-day weekend loses most of its impact when every weekend is a three-day weekend. I'm hoping that by Thanksgiving holidays will again hold some allure.

Hunting for a Job and Some Nice Rugs

Yesterday was an interesting day, filled with a cornucopia of varied and fascinating experiences.

First, I helped Vicki in her ongoing search for the perfect rugs that will finalize and "tie together" the new decorating scheme that she has devised for our crib. If I've said this once, I've said it a hundred times, finding the right furniture is easy . . . finding the right rugs to go with that furniture is difficult. The thing about rugs is that the rug stores will let you take them home for a day or so to try them out and see if they match your furniture, which is really nice of them. The only problem with this set up is that these rugs are heavy! This isn't an issue at the store, because they load them into your vehicle. It's when you get them to the house that the problems manifest themselves. Have you ever tried to move a 10x14 Persian rug from the back of your SUV into your living room? Not an easy task, especially for two broken down old people like Vicki and me. We should have done this before Lance went back to Lubbock (silly us). And then, when the rug (or rugs) isn't (aren't) the right size or the right color and design you have to roll it (them) up and get it (them) back out to the garage and into the SUV. This return trip to the garage is made even more difficult by the fact that you haven't yet recovered from the injuries you sustained bringing the rug in. Which reminds me, there is a beautiful rug sitting on the floor a few feet from where I'm typing that needs to be relocated to the Toyota Highlander and returned to the rug place. The rug is perfect, except for being just a little too small for the room. We'll be ordering the identical rug in a larger size, which will be even heavier and more unwieldy to move. If you see us this week and we're a little hunched over it's because we've been "rugging."

After my rug experience I went off on my very first "networking" lunch. The last time I was unemployed (back in 1995-96) I did over 50 of these things. I discovered yesterday that I don't like them any more now than I did 14 years ago. The lady I met with is a consultant for one of the large national benefits consulting firms and we have been casual friends for several years, so our meeting was actually quite pleasant (at least for me it was). Ones like this aren't too bad, and I have several more people on my contact list who fall into this "casual friends" category. Once I have bothered all of them I'll be forced to move to the next category, which is "people I hardly know." Getting this group to even meet with you is difficult enough, but spending an hour with them over lunch can be quite painful - for them and me. After this I'll move to the "you don't even know me, but . . ." group. This will be excruciating, all around. I'm looking forward to all of this, really. I'll keep track of who picks up the check.

Closely akin to networking is outplacement. As part of my severance arrangement with Transocean (ugh!) I have access to outplacement services for 30 days, which start the day I first access the services. This morning at 10:00 I have my first meeting with my outplacement counselor. Once again, I did this during my last stint as an unemployed bum, so I think I know what to expect.

After my outplacement meeting I'm having lunch with a former Transocean (ugh!) colleague who called the other day. The (ugh!) applies to Transocean, not to the former colleague. She reminded me that when we parted company after working together for 14 years we agreed to keep in touch. Apparently her definition of keeping in touch actually meant keeping in touch. Go figure. Maybe she'll pick up the check.

Update on the Joseph show. Last night's rehearsal went quite well. We ironed out some major bugs and things are progressing very nicely, on course for a great show. I was dropped from the big dance number, which immediately improved it about ten-fold. With me out of that number we should probably increase ticket prices. Remember to get your tickets now, before they're sold out (don't forget my 100% satisfaction guarantee)