As Another Year Passes By

Well everyone one more year is slipping by, and we have survived another year of our lives. This has been a crazy year for some of us myself included. I have explored my career opportunities with a couple of avenues all still in the realm of customer service. I am currently working Seasonal for Target..well at least I was, I have been sick for the past week and have had to call off all week so I will see if I still have a position when I go back. Currently I am recovering from a cold that I caught somewhere, it started out as very fatigued which I attributed to working in Toys & Electronics for a week straight and right before Christmas. However, I called off on Monday because I was exhausted and my back was hurting and Monday night I began to feel rough, I immediately went and bought some cough and cold medicine, tissues, and OJ. Tuesday I was feeling about the same a little worse but still not dead, and when Wednesday rolled around I felt like I had been run over by a fleet of semi-trucks. Needless to say I did not work Christmas Eve either, I ended up buying Tylenol Severe Congestion with Pseudoephedrine and it was helping but I still have a lingering cough and congestion in my throat/left lung. Today my back has been hurting something terrible, I was distributing gifts to everyone and I was barely able to bend or twist because my back was so stiff. If things are not better tomorrow we will be making a visit with a doctor immediately.

I know that I started this post to talk about another year but my mind slipped off focus, so now lets get back to reviewing 2009. This year we have lost many people that were great entertainers such as Molly Sugden, Michael Jackson, Paul Harvey, Ron Silver, Natasha Richardson, Jack Wrangler, Bea Arthur, Dom DeLuise, and Farrah Fawcett just to name a few. There have also been many things that have happed such as our first African-American President was sworn into office, the American people bailed out the banks as well as two of the three major automakers (who later filed for bankruptcy protection) here in the U.S., H1N1 (Swine Flu) hit hard and took many innocent lives and is still a risk for many, Cash For Clunkers took a lot of older vehicles off the road and put fresh steel on the pavement. I am sure that this is only the tip of the ice burg on the things that have happened but these are some of the major headlines that I can think of.

Some headlines of my own, on January 4, 2010 I will begin classes with Franklin University working toward a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and hopefully a minor in Accounting. I have been talking about going back to school for a few years and each year I filled out a FAFSA form and each year I would put it on the back burner and say “Well I have this job that I really like right now, I don’t have the time for classes, and I cant afford to go back” after my stint in the hospital and being on life support I have made the decision that there is no better time that RIGHT NOW to start working for my future. I know that I do not want to be at the bottom of the ladder forever, and I am sure that a Bachelors Degree will not instantaneously put my resume at the top of the pile or get me a six-figure income right away but I want to do more with my life than working in the jobs that I have been. I want Nick and I to be able to enjoy our lives together, and for us to be able to plan things and have nice things, not that we do not now but I want to be able to do things like we used to. Earlier in our relationship we used to get in the car and just see where the road would take us, one weekend we ended up in Pittsburg, PA, another we was in Atlanta, GA, and one night we could not think of anything to eat so we drove to Cleveland to find something different to eat, I loved the spontaneity of our lives, we made plans but we also did what we wanted and did not worry about time frames. 

So here is looking forward to 2010, 2009 has been a year of learning and discovery as well as pain and hardship, I hope that 2010 brings about a better life for everyone. I believe that if you truly want something and you work for it hard enough you will get it, lets hope that 2010 can be the year that we can all enjoy the fruits of our labor, as well as the comforts of family and friends. Lets build memories that will last for many more years and celebrate life everyday, for some of us we never know when tomorrow might not come.

 

God Bless Everyone,

Brian J.

Forgiven…..

I was watching a movie tonight on the LOGO Network, and from the storyline I began to think about things that have happened to me in my life. There are things that have happened to me that have shaped who I am and driven my values and my thinking. I am who I am and that will never change, I am here and no matter what anyone does to me I will still be here and remain the same person.

One memory that I have is when I was a teen I worked with a guy and I found him attractive. Somehow he found out and while I was in school he would say rude, derogatory comments to me in passing in the corridors, and he even went as far as to approach me while I was working somewhere else and physically attack me. I was shocked, I did not retaliate, I was bleeding and I can still remember what he said and how he did it to this day. Russ you are forgiven for your ignorance and your poor judgment, I hope that one day you will realize that you are just a person, nothing extraordinary and what you did was wrong, however even if you do not I FORGIVE YOU.

Then there was the teacher who made a comment that made me feel like less of a person, I was in High School and I was beginning to come out to people about who I am. I was asked by a teacher that I respected if I was gay, I reluctantly said no, to which his comment was OK because I had heard that you are and I just wanted to make sure I didn’t bend over with you around if you were. Mr. Teacher, you are forgiven, you have given me a lesson that I will never forget, people come from different generations, different life paths and different religions/family values. Some people will make a comment that is inappropriate and insensitive because they think that it is OK and acceptable when it is not. Their ignorance toward others, their lives and who they are can be degrading and disrespectful however they do not know any better once again, I FORGIVE YOU.

I am sure that there are more incidents that have happened but these seem to stick out in my mind.
When someone in your life gives you a chance to be a part of their life, do not shut them out, do not degrade them or tell them they are a bad person. Just understand that they have a different path for their life, it might be a way of good fortune, and it might be a way of misfortune, but they will make it as they feel is right based upon their circumstances, beliefs and values. We need to respect our friends, family members and neighbors lives and embrace the opportunity that we are given each day when we wake up, because every day is a new day, and we can make of it what we wish but it is up to us to control it as best we can. I am sure that there are many people that I have done wrong to in my life and I sincerely apologize for what I have done, I am sure that some of it I did without knowing that I was doing it and some I did out of carelessness, all I can ask is that you forgive me as I will forgive you.

Best Wishes Friends

Brian J.

My Soap Box!

So What's New?

Well as you can see it has been since my birthday since I posted anything last and this is my first real post on here since I signed up, so there is a great deal of catching up to do.

First of all we are settled in our place the holidays were a little rough but we made it through and we are doing ok, I still have the Toy that I got in November, jobs are a lot harder to come by so I had to suck it up and take a job with Insight Communications for a few to make ends meet and that is now over I mainly did it because of the starting pay of $730.50  a week but the weather sucked and with the economy being in the crapper the job was a lot harder than it had to be.  I made like 3 sales on my own and then one of them rolled back. I would have gotten 6 but 3 rolled back immediately because of stuff beyond my control.

 

I interviewed for Tee Jays Country Place Restaurant and I was not thrilled by that at all, but if I was offered the job I was going to take it because there is not much out there for work.  I got a call from a Arby's Franchisee and was offered a job as a manager for a brand new restaurant and I took it, because I know the product and I was excited about the opportunity for a new store and new stuff, so far things are going pretty well although I cannot understand how I am supposed to be the AGM and I am not included in conversations that impact the operation of the restaurant that I am jointly responsible for, I really want one of my superstar crew members Ashley to be promoted into management however nobody seems willing to include me in the conversation.  I am a little upset with the situation; anyone who knows me knows that I give my 100% to my job and then some.  I am always looking for a way to improve a process or to help create excitement in the position or job. I am just boggled on how I can be excluded from things that totally impact me and the role of my job. Moving on.. I really do like my job and I hope to grow with the company I just have to get past this minor stepping stone and barrier.

Pickles has been having a rough time finding gainful employment and I know it is frustrating him greatly.  I sit and think about the economy and how things are and just wonder how things will be 3 months 6 months and one year from now.  Something has to improve, I know that things have to get worse before they can get better but how much worse can they get?  My mom got laid off from her job and cannot find work, unemployment is only $225 a week and that is nothing but because my dad makes decent money working for the county they cannot get any extra help, my mom’s COBRA insurance premium is $190 a month and I just feel so bad because I know that she has bills on top of that and I wish there was more that I could do to help her but I only make $500 a week which is well below what I am accustomed to making but a job is a job and they are hard to come by these days. Sometimes I just wonder how the big man thinks that we will be ok and that the menial pay that people receive will help them make ends meet. 

There is so much craziness that you hear about in the news everyday and I just wonder how much more of it is being caused by the current situation our country is in. I know that problems will not and cannot go away over night but we need some sort of solution, we need our government to get it together and work for the people who put them there, let business work on business and work for the people.  I really do not know what we can do to unbury ourselves from this mess but we need to do something.  It seems as though before long we will no longer own our country it will belong to all the other countries that we keep borrowing from and we cannot get things together.

We need a reform that starts from scratch, that does not include big business and we need to end the corporate greed, I mean really who needs to make millions a year and then get bonuses and stock options and private jets? This is ridiculous we need to move toward being more humble and spread the wealth, I mean really look at it, the people who make the companies work make so little while the schleps at the top sit and bask in the wealth, I mean don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with someone being wealthy but I feel we need a more even spreading of the profits.  We need to make it so that people can live off of what they take home as a net pay, so people do not have to depend on government aid forever, Government aid is good for helping those in need and for a fixed period of time but not helping till the end of time.

I am sure that at this point I sound like some political machine spewing out a bunch of rhetoric but it is how I feel it is my values and it is what I believe in.  I believe in a country where people can enjoy life we can have family’s that can build on family values whether it is a hetero or homosexual couple. If we could just get the rest of the world to join in and get the corporate leaders to show some moral value and show that they are not just about themselves and money we can get there however I doubt that I will see it in my lifetime.

Another thought that I ponder is how things can be so much harder today than they were years ago, we have so many things that are supposed to make life easier, we have coffee makers with intelligence that will brew when we want them to, we can call people from nearly anywhere and we can communicate in an instant with things like email and instant messaging and text messaging but life is harder and we get less done in a day, is it that we have become lazier? Or is it that everyone wants things now and instant gratification?  Businesses are more customer conscious now I feel that things are more geared to customer satisfaction than ever before, you almost cannot go anywhere and not have someone with some sort of satisfaction measurement process in place but we want more.  How much more can we do, have we as consumers become too greedy? Are we wanting too much from that high school kid making our fries or the clerk at the supermarket?  After being in customer service and management I constantly find myself evaluating the service I receive and the product quality like I am some sort of "expert" or "connoisseur of service and quality"  We need to get back to the basics and start there.  We need to be humble again and be thankful for what we do receive and what we do have, not what we think we deserve or we think things should be, I mean it is good to have standards but I feel that we sometimes set them too high and sometimes out of reach.

I know that I keep going on and on and on like the energizer bunny and most people will not read all of this but it is just things that I think about and things that I want to say so here is my soap box and this is my forum to present my ideas.  Whether you agree or disagree it is not for me to judge, as you too have your own goals, ambitions and values that might differ from my own but I feel that I speak for most people that have little and try to make the best of life.

Best Wishes for a better tomorrow!

Your Friend

Brian

P.S. Please feel free to comment on the above statements I love to hear feedback and sorry if things jump around but it is just thoughts flowing from my head at that moment!