Denied

There's this guy at work, an Asian fellow who seems nice. He works in another division. My work and his work have no connection, therefore we do not speak. I met him a few days ago when his division (he's a salesperson) quoted something to my division (I'm the engineer). Therefore, we were in a conference together.

Last night, I checked my e-mail and noticed I had a "Facebook friend" request from him. Right. Ignore, delete e-mail, forget it. Then today, my phone rings and it's him, Mr. Kim, and he said "I linked you on Facebook". I just gave a little laugh and said "oh heh, heh". Then, he said "You know, Facebook. I added you as a friend".

Then, someone today walks by my desk and says "So when are you getting married" and I just said "I don't know" and then another guy (if you talk to me, you know who this is) turns around and says "WHAT!? When did you propose!?".

My. Gosh. Mind your own business people. That's how rumors start. I don't know WHAT it is about where I work, but people are spies. Little itty bitty busy-body spies...ALL of them. Nosey is what they are, and private is what I am.

GARH!

Atleast I Updated the Pokemon of the Week

Let me preface this post by saying first off, this isn’t an angry post, or an “attention-getter” post, or the result of some epiphany. This is just more of a statement on some of my observations over the past few months regarding communication and the way we as people interact each other. So, here we go.

Basically, as you can see, I haven’t updated this blog in a while, well, in a long time. How come? Well, the short and sweet of it is I haven’t had the need to. I’ve found myself actually out living life lately instead of writing about it. I get the feeling that at the end of the day, I’ve lived that day, and had thoughts during that day, and I’m happy with that. I don’t really feel the need or desire to transfer my thoughts and experiences from my memory to a blog for other people to see.

So, let’s start with these observations I’ve mentioned above. These are observations I’ve noticed about the way we interact with one another. The communication and the relationships between people have changed. So here are my thoughts and observations on tools.

I don’t want this post to start a debate with people asking “well David, why don’t you stop using a phone then”. Be real. I’m not bashing the tools I’m about to mention at all, and yes, you can argue that one is no different than the other, but this is just my opinion and I do have a “line”, but it’s pretty vague and drawn all wavy in the sand…but I can do that if I want to.

I would say the first tool that falls into my wavy category is AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM. Is this still around? I wonder if this is even popular with teens anymore. I would say this is where a lot of this “grey” communication started. I’m using the term grey communication because it’s in-between. Like grey-water is waste water, but not quite sewage. That’s how I think of these tools. AIM seemed to be an outlet for talking to people through a filter. You could say things you’d never dare say to someone’s face, because you weren’t seen or even heard – your words were just read. So, you could smart off to someone and you could hide from someone’s feeling being hurt, or someone being mad, or the consequence of what you said. Dangerous.

Then in college it seemed that AIM melted into Facebook. What in the world was Facebook? Does it even have a definition? Thank God I never got involved in MySpace because that is so horrible I won’t even mention it here. Facebook started out as a communication tool for college students. I liked how you could put up your class schedule and see who was in your class. You could even find out they were from Summerville, SC, had a 2 year old Pomeranian named Jasper, were a Democrat, drove a Toyota Corolla, hated broccoli, went to Egypt last summer, and enjoy mountain biking. But have you ever talked to that person? Have you ever introduced yourself? Do you even know their voice? That’s scary. That’s how I define “grey” communication. You know tons about a person without knowing them.

This becomes especially scary in the workplace. I made the cardinal mistake of “friending” people from work. While I didn’t have any consequence (that I know of) another co-worker did. I’ve learned that there is already a ton of speculation and rumor-starting in the working world (mine at least – is there one out there that doesn’t? I want to work there!) So, Facebook, in my opinion, is just a fuel to this fire of judgments, speculations, and conclusion making. That’s fine for your friends, or people you’re close to, but I personally don’t think it’s a good idea at all to let your professional life into Facebook. I had people at work as me “so you’re not my friend anymore?” after deleting them from my friend’s list. Yes, if you think we’re really not “friends” anymore because of an electronic tool, we’re probably not. I’m here talking to you now, right?

Toward the end of college Facebook blew-up and now anyone can join. I sort of liked the “class” it once had with requiring an .edu e-mail address ending to join. Now you can find your mother’s 56 year old friend on Facebook reporting back that you played beer pong, and she has pictures to prove it (didn’t happen to me, just a for-instance).

Blogs. Here’s one. I actually do enjoy some blogs if they’re done creatively. I think blogs are the most harmless of what I mention here, but they are border-line annoying. There are definitely creative blogs out there, and there are even people who make a living for their entire family by exposing children of their own who can’t even make coherent decisions to the entire world. Can you imagine being 22 years old trying to get a job as a professional accountant and the person interviewing you has seen pictures of you as a toddler and knows the story about how you were potty trained? See www.dooce.com for an example of this. A little bit off subject, but it must be awesome to just advertise from your blog and never work a real job, capitalizing off your children, pets, and your sense of “style” for the world to see. But, there are people out there that fall into it, so who’s smarter? That’s a paradox.

And then there’s this thing called Twitter. As far as I can tell, this is just a glorified away-message tool. I guess it’s important for people to link off other people’s Twitter and involve many in this e-conversation? I’m just not clear on what this is, maybe someone could educate me. I would think if you have a thought that’s important enough to announce, you would tell someone, to their face.

So, some closing notes:
• “Grey” communication can be dangerous – I fear the extreme would be a person secluded in privacy that never speaks to anyone, but knows all about another person from what they see or read.
• Grey communication can cause us to say things we’d not say to someone’s face. We can say over-the-top things, or bashful things, or downright hateful things we’d never dream of doing to someone in person. I think this is scary.
• Grey communication is a socialization killer. What ever happened to just picking up the phone, and giving someone a call and saying hi? If you’re a true friend to someone, I’d think you’d call that person to say “hey, I’m pregnant” or “we’re getting married”. It’s a shame that a tool like Facebook can take all the “awe” out of a moment by mass-announcing it to the world. I know someone who said “well we haven’t announced on Facebook yet we’re engaged – so don’t say anything”. Oh God. Give me a break.
• In the working world where e-mail and forms and rhetoric are rampant, I want to LIVE outside of work. I want to go have dinner with someone, I want to take a walk with them and hear about what they think. I don’t want to sit at the computer for an hour checking everyone’s status to see what’s new in their life.
• Mis-interpretation is hard enough in live communication – so what is it like with grey-communication? Someone’s statement or post can be taken personally and you don’t get the “tone” with these on-line tools. I personally think you find out more about a person by being with them, observing their stature, seeing their face, and listening to their voice, their pitch, their emotion. That’s 99% of the puzzle, the rest are just words to go with it.

I won’t even talk about Blackberrys or PDA’s – they don’t deserve my time.

That was really long, I know, but hopefully it’s clear now. Will I post again? Sure I will, when the moment strikes me. But, this blog is not an obligation of mine, I have enough of those already, and I’d never create another one for myself.

Interesting tidbit. I cleaned my Facebook friends list up. I had 250 friends. Do I have 250 friends? No. Do I know 250 people? Sure. How many friends do I really have? It turns out I took this friend list of 250 down to about 48. That’s more manageable. Do I really need to know a girl from high school who I said maybe 2 words to is having a baby shower next week? No. After cleaning up my friends list I got an e-mail promptly afterwards from a girl I went to high school with that said something like “Did you really de-friend me?” Let’s see, since 2002 I’ve never talked to you in person, or over the phone, or even seen you. So yes, I’d say I “de-friended” you if that’s what it’s called. That doesn’t mean I won’t strike up a conversation with you if I run into you in an airport somewhere though.

So that’s it! If you’re wondering what I’m up to or how I’m doing just give me a call, I’ll be glad to chat .

Sunday Smash

Leslie and I ate some really great ($$$) food last night. Dan and Molly invited us to go to The Melting Pot with them. I had never been before and neither had Dan, but Leslie and Molly had been. We ordered the Fondue Feast, a 3 course meal you cook yourself for only $86 per couple. That expensive, but it was a real dining experience I suppose, not just a meal. The whole dinner took 3 hours, and the desert was amazing. Brownies, rice krispie treats, strawberries, bananas, oreo covered marshmellows, cheesecake, which you can dip in chocolate. Although it was pretty expensive it was very good.

Leslie and I both have Memorial Day off. I'm very excited about that. Since today is Sunday, it really is only like Saturday, when you think about it from that point of view. I took Walter over to Leslie's store yesterday and we went out to lunch. All the girls in her store were going crazy over Walter. For someone who gets so much attention, he's very apathetic towards people. He'd give his tail a quick wag, let them pat his head once, then he'd turn his head and be done with them. That's just how he is, not affectionate at all. He got really, really hot though from being outside and called it a day early. He slept the whole car ride back and the rest of the day yesterday too.

I've still been doing yardwork and cleaning up the house. I'm really happy with how things have turned out in one year. Next Saturday, I'm participating in "Motor City Makeover" with a church here. We go into Detroit, to houses that look abandoned, and fix them up for people. I wanted to do it to give a little something back, and it might be sort of fun. I'm going to be scraping the outside of a house and doing painting on it. It's in inner city Detroit, so that should be interesting.

Leslie's getting a new car this week. She's ending her lease early on her Jeep Liberty because she's over on her mileage and buying a new Ford Escape. The key word is BUYing. I'm so proud of her. Actually, she told me to pick it out and work out the deal, so I helped her with that. She was going to have to pay a huge amount of money in mileage, like, thousands, so this is cheaper. Plus Chrysler is bankrupt, and the Escape is very efficient for an SUV. So I'm happy for her.

Work, I don't really want to re-hash here. Let's just say I'm looking for another job, and I really want another job. I'm sort of "done" with this one, mentally and physically. I put in my time, and get out. The politics, negativity, and fakeness of that place is not for me anymore. I felt like I joined some sort of fraternity by working there, and it's completely unprofessional and not a good place to work as a first job, in my opinion (i.e. not a good place to develop professional work habbits). Anyway, I'm looking and I hope I can make a change soon.

That's about all for now I suppose. June is going to be a great month because Dad is coming up, and Paul, and Lindsey, so lots of good visitors!

Before and After

I don't mean to boast, I really don't...but I'm PROUD of my yard and its progress in one short year. The original owners of my house were "naturalists" as the neighbors put it. That's a nice way to say they didn't believe in using chemicals or even pruning/clipping hedges. Everything was just free to grow. As a result, the yard and landscaping looked like this when I bought my house in July 2008.


I suppose I really should have written this post in July, to commemorate 1 year of owning my house, but that will be a different post. For now, since it's spring and things are blooming and green, I want to focus on changes that have taken place to the exterior of my house since I've bought it. Thanks to help from Mom and Dad (providing a Japanese Maple, and pulling out old hedges), Leslie (being a BIG help with labor, and planting a tree), a co-worker (for using his SUV to pull out a small tree), and Scotts turf builder this is what I have so far this year:



I can explain about the improvements. First of all, we have landscape edging, which I feel provides a nice divide between yard and bed. It's relatively inexpensive for the look it gives, and just takes time to put down. There is red lava rock as a bedding, and under the red lava rock is a weed barrier. Under the week barrier is a mixture of Preen pellet weed killer and liquid round up, mixed for a toxic solution to ward off weeds. Don't judge me. As far as foliage goes, the small items on the ground are a blue star juniper (soft to touch) and a yellow/green juniper srub. These don't spread too large if taken care of. Next, is my favorite. A red lace leaf Japanese maple. It survived the winter and looks amazing. This small tree is gorgeous. I have two large boulders on the ground for a backdrop, and solar lanterns that give off a nice dim light at night...it looks amazing. Then there's the gnome who protects this area, his name is Barnaby. Moving on down now there is some sort of small evergreen tree, this was already here when I bought the house, we just trimmed it. Then there is a small green leaf Japanese maple that my dad brought me from South Carolina. This one is still very young and is staked to be straight. Then there is another evergreen, and on the end of the house is a weeping cherry tree. All of these should not grow much larger, just more robust if trimmed and taken care of. The weeping cherry tree looks excellent in spring, and is a popular corner garnish for houses in my neighborhood.

So, this is what I've been busy spending my days working on this spring, and I still need to finish up (if you can see, more lava rock needs to be put down on the end). Take a look at the grass though. That's a big improvement in just one season. I'm very happy with it and I've had a great time working on it. This is a fun part of home ownership to me!

Also:
- Leslie and I are coming to South Carolina July 2 - 5
- Go see State of Play in theatres
- Happy Mothers Day mom, I love you!

Meet Barnaby S. Greenthumb

Take a look at this great landscaping work Leslie and I did this weekend! It's about 70% finished now, but will still take more time until complete. I will take some complete pictures, but for now, this is what the front looks like. The lights are solar and give off a nice ice blue color, and reflect off the Japanese Maple and large rocks. It looks amazing at night and I have a wonderful girlfriend who helped me!

Tomorrow is our 5th month anniversary together. We're going to celebrate in Plymouth.

Orange Chicken and Water Chesnuts

That's what I ate tonight and it was really good. Is it weird to just do lists instead of writing? I'd rather list things than write them down and worry about the "flow" of something. So I'll do it. I'll do it because I think it's logical and I like it, and I'm a little hamster following cheese all day at work with menial rules and tasks, so I'm going to rebel. Let's go, come with me!

- Leslie and I. Gosh, where do I begin? This is like a mad, true love. I didn't know you could fall more and more in love with someone each day. I thought you just fell in love, and that was it, you were in love with them. This is growing. The more I learn about her the more I love. I wouldn't change ONE thing about her...not ONE thing, and that's an honest fact. I love everything about her. I love how she takes care of her sister and brothers with things like Easter, how she helps them with school stuff, how she does an amazing job at work, how she's responsible, how she's caring, supportive, and builds confidence. It's just amazing and this is going somewhere awesome, beyond what I imagined.

- I went to Dan and Molly's wedding this past weekend (Leslie came too). It was nice, very low key and laid back, but tasteful and it looked good. Next weekend we have another wedding (Leslie's friend). So, this past weekend I was a groomsman and Leslie's was executive assistant to the groomsman. This coming weekend she will be a bride's maid and I'll be an executive assistant to the bride's maid. Isn't that neat how it works out that way? We can swap jobs on consecutive weekends.

- Possible 5 day Labor Day trip to South Carolina (Charleston)

- I've listed out home improvements I'd like to do, both interior and exterior. Does anyone have any foliage ideas? I want evergreen, small, and easy to maintain. I love Japanese Maple and already have two of them. I'm exciting about spring and planting and doing yardwork. I had my large 3 foot diameter maple tree trimmed this morning. It was "crowned" which is when the lower limbs are removed and the tree canopy is lifted so branches don't come close to the ground. It looks good, and I love that tree for it's shade and size.

Gosh, this post was all over the place. That's mostly what's been going on with me. I want to get Walter a little brother or sister, he seems so lonely but I want to hold out for a little while. That's it for now! I'm going to update the Pokemon of the week now. Have a cup of green tea and a few mango slices while looking at a few pictures from the weekend:

It's Me Again

What I've been doing:

- Spent Easter with Leslie and her family
- Walter was lost for 2 hours Saturday night/Sunday morning. He is back safe
- Applied for 2 jobs
- Measuring and Pricing for home improvement projects
- Reading/Researching different trees/shrubs
- Mapping out landscaping for summer

That's about all! I have a wedding to attend this weekend in Illinois, and Leslie will be going with me. Can you believe this place in Illinois is a 9 hour drive away? That's why we're flying.

29 Days Later

My, 29 days without a post. If this were March 30th I'd say "28 Days Later" like the cool zombie movie.

What's happened in 29 days?

- Leslie and I are continuting to date, and I fall more and more in love with her each day (yes, it may sound cheesy but it's true)
- I'm ready to have my house to myself again. While not horrible, having a roomate is just not worth the hassle. So, I'm ready for this to be done and living single again
- My job is still there, but I don't really like it any better
- Leslie and I visited South Carolina (this will be expanded upon)
- I found out I may be able to be certified as a secondary education teacher in the state of South Carolina (this is on-going)

Let me focus on the visit Leslie and I made to South Carolina. I was perfectly comfortable taking her back with me, and wasn't nervous for her or me at all. She said she was a little nervous, but I knew she'd be fine. She far exceeded my expectations. She didn't need me to hold her hand at all, instead she just jumped right in and struck up conversations, smiled, and made friends with everyone. She's my kind of girl. She loved mom and dad, and Dawn, and all the grandparents. I'm pretty sure everyone loved her too. She liked everyone, and she really liked Paul. They got along very well and his, uniqueness, didn't phase her at all. Even though we were only really there for 2 days, we made the best and most of it (this was a great visit time wise). Friday mom and dad and Leslie and I went to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville and toured the home, took lots of great pictures, then went to a winery. Then we ate at Fatz and went back home. Saturday was our day in Clemson, so Paul got to hang out with us and then we spent Saturday night in downtown Greenville. Sunday it was back on a plane to Michigan, but overall it was an excellent trip and it just confirms even more why I love her so much, and the fact that my whole family and friends (most of them) knows her just makes things even better. So, without further ado, here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Due To The Economic Situation

I've gone from peaceful feelings of doubt, to some anger, then to a little bit of apathy, to downright pissed off at my job. I'd say for the most part apathy plays a large portion, and call me jaded, but let's cut the crap and be realistic. You can have the most positive attitude in the world, and in the corporate world it may get you some verbal praise...but you'll get dumped on just like the rest.

I once read someone said "the moral of the story is aim low, don't disappoint yourself". That almost sounds depressing to read but it is actually somewhat true. I'm glad I have a college degree, and I'd like to think it will play a role when the economy gets better, but right now it doesn't really make all that much difference due to the job market.

Thursday I'll find out if I have a job, and if so, how much of my salary I'll have to give back. It's going to be awesome to jump back in time and make less money than I did coming out of school but WAIT! There's more, the workload DOESN'T GO DOWN! But be thankful they say, because you have a job in this economy. I love how that one word "economy" is thrown around as a catch all for anything. "Oh due to the economic situation" blah blah blah. So whenever you do something wrong, blame it on the economy because everyone else does.

I'm going to bed. Goodnight.

Here, You Babies

A special blog posting from a unique location: Boston Logan International Airport! Don’t pee in your pants, it’s not that exciting. I thought maybe I would post while on my trip in Maine, but that didn’t happen. We’re on our way back to Detroit, and although we had a direct flight on the way to Bangor, we have to change planes in Boston this time. At least I can say I was in Massachusetts, for whatever that’s worth. Don’t you wish you were in Boston, in an airport, at 7:00 on a Friday night? That’s right, I’m here and you’re not.

I have noticed and seen a few interesting things though:
1) Boston’s airport is very un-ergonomic. I think I dislike this airport more than Atlanta. So far, Greenville/Spartanburg wins the best airport in the world award.
2) We walked past a gate with tons of red headed people speaking in Gaelic accents and I realized it was for an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin
3) I ate Chinese food twice today, lunch and dinner. Lunch was boneless ribs and dinner was General Tso’s chicken. My fortune at lunch said “out of hard times comes opportunity”. That was a good one, considering I may not have a job much longer. More on that later.
4) Traveling with my boss was pretty good. We played racquetball at Gold’s Gym last night and that was actually a lot of fun.
5) I got to see my favorite manufacturing engineer in the whole wide world at our plant in Maine. This lady is the BOMB. I told my boss she should be hired in Northville as a comedienne. She’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met, and laughing so hard my cheeks hurt yesterday was a good feeling.
6) I’m reading Harry Potter, the 1st book. I think I would live in the Ravenclaw house, but Leslie said Griffendorf.
7) Right now I’m listening to Death Cab For Cutie: Where Soul Meets Body.
8) Paul (roommate Paul, not Hart or little Miska) called today and said he worked from home, and let Walter stay outside and the lady who lives behind me came over and said she didn’t think Walter should stay outside that long…she was concerned. It was in the high 40’s there today. He’s fine.
9) I miss Leslie

Gosh lists feel good to write. Just glance up for a minute. Go ahead do it. No, up, above this; those numbers 1-9. Those look organized don’t they? Yes, they do. What else…what else is there to say? Oh yeah, job stuff. It’s really so screwed up right now I’m not even worried. There are rumors of 10% salary cuts (which means after 2 years of experience I would essentially go back in pay to LESS than I did right out of college) so that’s awesome. Then there’s layoffs. I’m really not scared of losing my job to be honest. I have always had above average reviews, and I’m a degreed engineer. We have people in our group who are not degreed engineers, who have bad reviews, and contractors, so those would have to go first.

My Time Up North

I just got back from a famous Michigan "up north" weekend. That's what people here say when they go to their weekend cabins 3 hours away. It's like southeast Michigan is the metropolis and people all leave on a Friday and go north and come back on Sunday. It's sort of like going to the Jersey Shore, but in Michigan. And funner and there's not garbage.

Leslie and I left Friday evening to drive to Frederic, MI which is close to Grayling, but in reality there's nothing there but trees and snow and native northern Michiganers, which are a little scary. It was an AMAZING weekend. Friday we left her house around 6:30 and got to her aunt and uncle's cabin around 9:30. There wasn't really any snow around here, but when we got north the snow was definately there. Saturday was snowmobiling. Leslie's aunt and uncle own 2 snowmobiles, and her uncle and I went out first for a 2 hour ride.

This is how snomobiling works. You ride on the road, and on trails, but never in the open woods. There could be barb wire which has decapitated people. Then, there's random bars in the middle of the woods packed with snowmobiliers. You go inside, and it's PACKED full of them. That's the thing, you snowmobile then go to a bar, then repeat.

Later, Leslie and her uncle and I left around 6:30 to go eat dinner. So we drove the snowmobiles to a restaurant in the middle of the woods, then we snowmobiled out in the woods until 11:30. That was amazing, and probably the most romantic thing Leslie and I have done. Being in the middle of NOWHERE at 11:30 on a snowmobile flying down a trail going 60 mph with snow covered trees is HOT. It was a really, really great time. We actually stopped, and turned the snowmobiles off and it was pitch black, and so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Definately one of the funnest winter things I've ever done, and being with her was great.

To make it even better, Leslie's aunt and uncle told both of us (individually) that we made a really great couple and looked very natural with one another. We always get that comment from people...that we seem to be naturals together. I love her so much!

It was an amazing weekend. I have to go to Maine this Tuesday - Friday for work so I'm sure I will do lots of updating while there, because what else is there to do in Maine?

Success! A NEW Record!

She loved it :)

See below.

Dear St. Valentine, Make This Day Great

Valentine's Day Weekend!

I'm so excited. Leslie and I have been teasing each other all week, keeping "top secrets" and not telling each other anything about what we're going to do for each other, but hinting at things. I'm making mine really hard to guess. I even told her I was working on it at 7:00 in the morning one day this week, which I was. She's so stumped. It's going to be awesome!

This is the first Valentine's Day of my life where I've had a REAL Valentine (other than a family member) and I'm really looking forward to it!

I am prepared with her favorite types of candy (which are random, I still could never find that pesky Nerds rope), a book, a picture of us, and a scavenger hunt/walk through the house with cards. I can't wait! Suprises kill me, I have a very hard time keeping a secret.

I'll post back with the results!

This Will Be Good

I'm in love. I really, really am. I've always wondered how you know, like really know you're in love with someone. Some people say they knew from the moment they saw the other person, some say they grew to love the person. For me, this is sort of my story.

I can't say I was looking for love, but what I was looking for was a girl to date, someone to have a relationship with. The last two were sort of duds, and I wanted something a little more like real relationship. eHarmony really did work for me. I'm not sure how much stock I put into the actual "matching" of it, but we were two people compatible who found each other.

How do I know I'm in love? For me, it's waking up every morning and the first thought being about Leslie...everyday. It's thinking about her multiple times, throughout the day. It's wondering how her meeting with her manager is going, or wondering if her day is going well. It's my mind being on her, and not work. It's looking forward to seeing her for any reason, no matter what the activity is. It's looking forward to each weekend with her. It's thinking of ways I can make her smile, or make her happy. It's being thankful we get along so well, and laugh at the same stupid things. It's her family, and how well I get along with them. It's just her, I can't put it into words, because I've never felt this way. It's thinking about how I'll make her Valentine's Day special even though it's still not here.

I have a plan, a good one. I'm going to do a scavenger hunt, in my house. I'm going to write out small notes telling her what I love about her, and chronicle some of the experiences we've had. I'm going to scatter them through the house like clues and let her find each one. This will be good, I think she's going to love it.

I'm happy.

Moving Right Along

Saturday Leslie and I finally used the "L" word. We love each other! It was pretty evident earlier, but the words were finally said Saturday and it was awesome. Things are going really, really well. After the hour long episode of the best show on TV (The Office) I found this clip of Phyllis and had to post it here.

25 Random Things About Me

You were supposed to do this on Facebook, but I'll post it here instead. Here are 25 Random Things About Me you might like to know.

1) If I could go anywhere in the world I'd go to Isreal
2) I love thermodynamics, to the point I got excited about going to that class in college.
3) Moving to Michigan was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but rewarding in many ways
4) I love passenger airplanes, Boeing planes especially
5) Pikmin is my favorite video game
6) Other than family and friends the three things I miss most about South Carolina are Clemson, NewSpring, and sunshine
7) I prefer cold to hot
8) I struggled deciding between engineering and secondary education as a major in college and sometimes wonder if I chose ther right one
9) My dream, since a child, was to be able to look at a car on the road and say I designed something on that car
10) Arrogance is one quality (yes, I can get by the rest) that immediately turns me off to a person
11) California is my favorite state
12) I think Europe is overrated, and the Caribbean is underrated
13) I once drove 100 mph in Kentucky when it was dark and nobody was around
14) I love sweet tea, but I hate grits
15) Blue is my favorite color
16) People tell me I ask too many questions but that's how I learn
17) I can't help from laughing when people trip or fall
18) Lifehouse is my favorite band
19) I firmly believe the Saturn S series was the best car ever made
20) Soccer is my favorite sport
21) Household chores like cutting grass, raking leaves, or shoveling snow for some reason are an outlet for me to think
22) I think the muscle pain from exercising feels good
23) Mango is my favorite fruit
24) I think the "green" movement should not be attached to politics
25) Watching a movie, however simple that sounds, is a good source of enjoyment for me

A Sad Thing

I had to experience one of the saddest things ever Tuesday. Monday our VP announced my company would close its very first plant ever opened in North America, due to market conditions. This plant is in Maine. I work with two of our plants for my programs, one is in Michigan and the other is Maine. The difference is night and day, and to be brief, I like Maine better. I've developed a close working relationship with an engineer, let's call her "Sue". She always, always helps me out with whatever I need. She goes the extra mile for me, and we work very well together. I do for her, and she does for me. I found out before hand this plant was closing, but they had no idea until Monday, when our VP went there in person and told them they were closing the plant. I called "Sue" on Tuesday morning to ask her a few questions, and she started bawling. It was such a hard thing to listen to. It wasn't like a normal cry, more of a wimper, a REAL pain in her voice you could tell, like the crying you see when someone dies or something really, really bad happens. I didn't even know what to say, which made it even more akward. What do you say? "I'm sorry" doesn't seem to cut it, it almost seems brash.

So I feel really, really bad for them. I feel bad that their plant pretty much established our presence in North America and now they're getting the boot and their products are going to the great land of slave labor known as Mexico, who can't make water with a hose. It's going to be awesome.

Today we had a information session with the VP, who tried to confidently and forcefully describe why this decision was made, and how we have to support it. Did I mention whenever he was asked a question the answer was "you know I'm going to leave that up to my team of experts...". That must be nice, to make over 100K a year (I'm speculating) and make decisions, and leave all the work up to other people. HOW do these people work in the real world? "Work" is a relative term. I'd use the term "shuffle" instead. I'm not sure ONE single person has the vision or insight a company needs to be successful, so why do they get the power?

So, since it's up to this "team of experts" I'm pretty much going to demand that I go to Maine in the next few weeks, and LEARN the product line. I design parts, and have NO idea how they're built, isn't that good? So, basically "team of experts" means I have no clue in hell what I'm doing, and we haven't made a plan, so we'll just figure it out as we stumble along. Nuh uh, that doesn't sit well with me. Since the travel budget was CUT for 2009, it's going to be interesting how all this is transfered from Maine to Mexico.

This make so much sense it's not even funny. (IRONY!)

Let Me Introduce To You...

I'd like to post about Leslie, my girlfriend. I guess I've sort of kept this relationship a little quiet to people who aren't immediate family or close friends, but I can let the cat out of the bag.

After a brief thing with Gina, my dad actually told me I should put a profile on eHarmony just to see what would happen. I'm really skeptical of meeting someone online, not because of safety or security, but mainly because of how you explain to someone how you met. I hate saying "we met online". Saying "we met each other when she dropped eggs in front of me at the grocery store" or "her door hit my car in a parking lot" or something creative like that. But, Leslie is great, and I'm going to tell you about her so that's how we met, and I'm okay with that now.

I decided to try out eHarmony for a few reasons:
- I wanted to meet someone completely new. Not a friend who "becomes" a girlfriend out of convenience, or not someone a co-worker introduces you to, but someone fresh, and new, that I have no connection with
- The HARDEST work (i.e. wondering if the person WANTS a relationship) is already out of the way. You don't have to "guess" if your partner wants things to progress to relationship status. You're both there for the same reason
- It's effective. I talked to a few people on the site through guided communication, and met one other, but Leslie and I just hit it off. I think the long list of questions you answer really does pair you with someone compatible.

So, Leslie and I entered the "open communication" stage on eHarmony right before Thanksgiving. We e-mailed each other, with just small talk. When I got back from Florida, we met one day in Troy at Panera Bread. It was going to just be a 1 hour or so get together, but we were there 3 hours and things felt very comfortable and relaxed. We left that night saying we'd get together again, which we did a few days later. Our second "date" was dinner in Royal Oak. Finally, she came over to my house and we went out to dinner in Plymouth. She showed up with dog pastries for Walter and a birthday present for me. I left to go to South Carolina for 2 weeks at Christmas, and didn't think a whole lot about leaving her for 2 weeks, but while at home, we talked everyday, literally. I'm not sure if the distance made us miss each other, but I actually really did start to miss her and I looked forward to seeing her again. Sending her flowers at work, while I was away, in my opinion sort of sealed the deal. She said it was her first time ever getting "just because" flowers and girls at her work were jealous and she loved it. Making someone you care about feel special and cared for is a wonderful feeling.

When I came back, we spent a whole day together and it was great. Things just picked right back up where they had left off, and a little more. She's really special to me. I have never dated a girl who made me feel so relaxed, happy, and cared for. In Michigan where a ton of people are "woe is me" she's got a smile on her face and is joking, and doesn't work in automotive...a breath of fresh air for me! Her family is really great, she has funny and easy-going parents and siblings, and they seem very normal. Leslie took me to a bar to meet her friends last week and I never thought a great deal about it, but meeting "the friends" is a big step, because that tells you a LOT about a person; who they associate with. Her friends were really great, most of them were teachers, a dental hygenist, and a nurse. She said she got a ton of texts after we left and they all said they approved and liked me.

I think about her a lot. A LOT. And at work my mind sort of wonders off and I think about how she is, and what she's doing. I've never felt like this about a girl before, we just connect on a good level. I'm sure I'm pretty hard to find a match for, because I'm probably a little unique as far as humor and relaxing, but this is just no issue for her at all, she puts me right at ease. It's going really well.

I just wanted to "formally" introduce her, to you, how we met, how things happened, and where we are now. I'll keep this updated, because there are a ton of great things to say about her.

Well, That Didn't Take Long

Today is Tuesday, 1 week and 2 days back into work and I hate it again. That happened a lot sooner than I thought. I figured I could make it until March or something before this set in. I've thought a lot about it and I feel one of the main reasons I feel the way I do is more ethical than anything. To sum it up shortly, I was asked point blank, to lie (not tell the whole truth) and now it's a rush covering up lies while finding a solution. I just don't want any part of it, and to be frank, I don't care. I don't have any motivation to find a solution because as far as I'm concerned this is messed up because of lies.

So, if you had a migraine headache, how would you like to spend 4 hours this afternoon:
1) Chewing glass
2) Splashing your eyes with battery acid
3) Sitting in a pile of fireants
4) Listening to some German with an agenda read a 36 page technical document full of stuff that DOESN'T MATTER

Which one did you choose? Well I had to endure scenario #4 this afternoon. I'm trying to be as patient as possible, to find my purpose here. It's not this job, I'm pretty sure of that much. Something has to change.

Also, I do have a hernia. I have an inguinal hernia, and it will require surgery to be corrected. The surgery is up to me, as far as when I would like to have it done, and I'm leaning more toward sooner than later.

X-Rated Picture, Beware

We're all adults here, so don't get upset at the picture. That's the best description of my condition. Originally all the reading and research I had done told me I didn't have a hernia, because none of the symptoms matched. I then found out about the inguinal hernia, and suprise, that's matches my symptoms and the picture pretty much confirms it. I will know more tomorrow after I have a doctor examine me, but I'm pretty sure this is what my problem is. The bulge shown in the picture isn't always evident, but after physical activity, such as shoveling snow or bowling, for example, the protrusion becomes very evident followed by a pain that's not severe, just irritating.

There was a ton of snow that fell yesterday so now we have about a foot or so on the ground. That makes driving really fun, because the roads still aren't all the way clear.

Tomorrow after my doctor's visit I can update on my condition more thoroughly.