Even Better?

Peace Graffiti by MechanicalLazarus

The dramatic events that lead to some strife at work is way back in my rear view mirrors. The cool thing about the aftermath is that the person that I fought with and I seem to be closer than we were before that confrontation. Not that we're best friends and helping each other move or anything, but there is genuine small talk.

For example, he talks about how a high-school sweet-heart found his number and sort of tries to seduce him and how he ought to resist. I feel close enough to agree and encourage him to resist. I wonder if that encouragement is exactly why he tells me these things.

I can only guess why he shares these things with me. I'll keep on giving him my honest opinion about them since that seems to be working and what he wants.

At any rate, I told him I was glad things are cool between us and he agreed.

Eagle River

Life in a Northern Town. This video was shot in the summer of '93 and edited in '98.

Perspective

Here's an interesting thing. A friend of mine is taking a few days off because he's having a baby tomorrow. His wife is scheduled to have a C-Section because their baby is breech and a week overdue. Even though everything should be fine, he is anxious because in his homeland this condition was almost always fatal for the mother. Think of that. She will be fine simply because she lives here and not there. Do we even realize how nice we have it?

This must be an extension of the earlier post about taking things for granted.

This is a nice alternative to the news I heard this morning- a man who delivers the diesel fuel to our bus company returned today after three weeks off. He was off because he had come home to find his wife dead on the floor in their house.

What would you even do?!

Another employee of our company recently found his grandson dead in their basement, he'd committed suicide.

A day of extremes. Make sure you tell your family you love them. Don't go to bed angry with anyone. Reconcile as soon as you can. You never know what day is your last.

School Bus Drivers

In my line of work we can often see the absolute worst behavior the kids of today can provide. Transporting students to and from school is a job with a lot of responsibility. Each school bus driver is responsible for the safety of every single child on their bus. The demands on a driver's attention are just plain overwhelming. To be aware of everything around that size of a vehicle is daunting enough. Then add the other drivers in a metro area like the Twin Cities. On top of that there is the weather (which is becoming less and less of a problem every day this time of year, thank God). But the worst distraction for a driver on a school bus are the very students they're working so hard to protect and transport.

The attitude that manifests in some of these kids is astounding, vulgar, disappointing, and sometimes down right evil.

When there is a problem with behavior on a bus, the driver's only course of action, really, is the almighty Write Up. That's all a driver can do. Threaten to do it, and then actually write them up. Whether or not the write up has any effect or consequence for the student is entirely up to the school and/or school district. It's sad when the school falls short on that end of the process. This just shows the student that there is no negative effect for them for their actions on the bus. Almost every time I've had to write up a student with that horrid attitude, their reaction is- "Go ahead! Write me up!" I've heard that so many time.

The sad thing about this is there are plenty of adults who are exactly the same. This rant exists because of an incident at my work this evening with one of these bus drivers. A very minor situation of not following a simple simple company rule- a rule that exists to help all the drivers and their ability to safely maneuver these large buses in a very small yard and park in a way that allows the next drivers room to do the same. This one driver didn't follow this stupid little rule. No level of informing him that he had to worked. It very quickly blew up into a vulgar shouting and threatening scene! Not by any action, but by word I was actually threatened! They wanted to resolve the argument outside, physically! This person drives your kids home every day! The remarkable thing in the end is upon mentioning a write up for the behavior, his response was EXACTLY as a students would be- "Go ahead. Write me up".

Parents: make a point to meet your kid's bus driver. Divine what kind of person this is. There are a lot of wonderful people driving school buses. And then there are...

This rant is about the problem students. While it is a real problem, there are hundreds of students that ride the bus with no problems at all. Those that abide by the rules, treat others with respect, sit safely, and act mature are wonderful and deeply appreciated by all bus drivers. Thank you to every one of you kids who fit that description. You make this job quite rewarding.

Mood is a Choice

Here is the idea today: Do you realize the effect you have on the people around you?

I work with someone who seems miserable. I suspect the circumstances really have nothing to do with me, but are outside the work place. The problem spills over to the co-workers and effects all they encounter. I allow this to impact me more than I ever should. Nothing I do is ever good enough and they are able to find something wrong with my best efforts. I go out of my way to try to improve the relationship, but that is either not recognized or not appreciated. Everyday I need to work with them and its something I do not look forward to every time. I even take delight in relaying information that might upset them!

This morning a short conversation with them was completely different. I could sense a happiness in voice that has been missing for several months. For the first time in a long time we seemed to be on the same wavelength.

What amazes me was the effect hearing that had on my mood and attitude toward the person and for the day in general. I wonder if they felt as much relief as I did. Did they recognize my reaction? Did the conversation flow easier today for them as it did for me? Does my attitude to them have the same effect on their day? These things I do not know. But I do know that it's all so much better when the mood is positive.

What frustrates me about this is that I strongly believe most of this comes down to choice (whether we realize that or not). And that means this person is, probably subconsciously deciding to be miserable. Even though they'd probably rather not be miserable if they only realized it was a choice!

Maybe none of it is choice and it's all beyond our control determined by chance and chemicals! Perhaps some people just are not compatible.

There must be some kind of science or study to psychic wavelengths or something along those lines that explain how some people can communicate near flawlessly and understand each other so well, while other people cannot, just simply cannot no matter how much effort is put in. Maybe it depends on body chemistry and/or circumstances.  I suspect it is heavily influenced by your role and position in your family, like where you line up in your sibling's birth order if you have siblings at all. A few years ago I worked with a school bus aid on a route and we enjoyed this kind of communication and kind of had a theory mapped out about it. It'd be cool to find out if there really is this type of study.

words

I like how if you focus on one word and say it over and over, the word sounds really strange. I suspect its a take it for granted thing. When it starts to sound strange you have broken this and are no longer taking that word for granted.

Take it for Granted is an interesting phrase, actually. I think I take that phrase for granted. Who granted it?

Merry Christmas

An observation: This season I've heard WAY MORE people wish me a Merry Christmas than a Happy Holidays. Sometimes I'll thank the person for the Merry Christmas instead of the Happy Holidays. Usually if I say Merry Christmas to them, they'd return it with a hint of 'oh, it's OK to say it with this guy' in the inflection- or that could be my imagination, just wishing the thought there. Perhaps it's my appearance for some reason that prompts people to use the term I'd prefer over the politically correct one the ACLU would have you use.

By CookevilleTimes.com

Story Published: Dec 8, 2010 at 10:21 PM CST

Story Updated: Dec 8, 2010 at 10:21 PM CST 

School superintendents across the state were reminded by the ACLU this week that holiday celebrations focusing primarily on one religious holiday amount to an unconstitutional endorsement of  religion. 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) letter, addressed to 137 public shool leaders across the state, stated that it was responding to a number of complaints from families about school party activites this Christmas season. 

Hedy Weinburg, ACLU executive director in Tennessee, cited several U.S. Supreme Court decisions about the matter.  

But several area citizens, like Jim Brown, think that such admonitions are misguided and potentially dangerous.  Brown commented on the news, saying "We are a Christian nation.  Let's act like it."  and said that he hopes that the teachers and administration will celebrate the Christmas season.   

Said one area teacher (name withheld), "I respect people of different faiths, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to eliminate my own from my work and and my classroom.   I can enjoy Christmas as Christmas without worrying that I'm going to offend someone.   My money still says that I trust in God.   Are they going to stop me from using that, too?" 

The letter was sent from the ACLU to the top administrators across the state.  What those administrators do with the information is yet to be seen. 

Some co-workers and I were joking about it. We said we should show the love of Christ to people who wish us a Happy Holidays with this return- Piss off! It's 'Merry Christmas'!

I really don't know where we sit with that one this year as I've pretty much cut myself off of political talk radio and the like. I'm hoping it's a backlash of the political correct pushing this type of thing too far down America's throats. Whatever the reason, it's nice to hear it more often than not.

TRON and the Purple Sandpiper

Rob and I scheduled a play-date to walk and talk, watch TRON, and eat- in that order. We walked around the MOA for a while while we waited for our showtime. We also toured our old neighborhood back when we lived for very cheap in Bloomington. The movie was great. Next our plan was to find the Bloomington Falafel King for a Mediterranean buffet. But the Falafel King was gone and instead stood the Purple Sandpiper!?! We were defeated. But after looking at their menu we decided to accept defeat and dine there anyway. First of all the sweet potato fries were amazing! We both ordered omeletes that were excellent (mainly because of the goat cheese). The service was very nice. When she overheard us talking about Doctor Who she pretty much joined right in saying her husband likes it but she's more into... RomCom. While I didn't get my desired gyro meat, the Purple Sandpiper was pretty good.

Six Years Ago Tonight

... I asked Cara to marry me.




She said yes.

Pasties at Jerabeck's

For lunch, today, Willis East went to Jerabeck's New Bohemian Coffeehouse just because they sell pasties. What are pasties? Not a question anyone from Eagle River should have to ask (and nothing to do with adhesives, I'll have you know!). Jerabeck's pasties taste exactly like I remember from Trigg's, but they were much smaller than I remember. Missing were the large potato wedges that often accompanied them in the north woods.

I had been by there hundreds of times on various school bus routes and was always curious what the joint was like. I'd say it's definitely good enough to return.

www.jerabeks.com

New Command

A strange and wonderful evening with New Command.

We received an invite to a concert in a tree house and a pot luck. The invite came from the Browns, a family in our Bible study small group. The concert was held up in the most amazing tree house I've ever seen at the Brown's parents house... the Browns... uppercase B which is up in Stillwater, MN. Wonderful music. Most of the music was from a new album called Damascus Journey performed by a band called New Command featuring my friend, Greg Wollan. They started the show with an old track of his called Glorybound (see this post, this post and this post) which he dedicated to Cara and me. That was a very nice way to start off.

The whole event was a totally free concert performed for special and invited guests. It was informal and very relaxed and right outside up in an elaborate tree fort! Totally wonderful.

When we get the chance, Greg and I share our music obsessions and its surprising how many bands we both are very passionate about. Most of it is progressive rock such as Peter Gabriel and 10cc. He and I went to lunch a couple of weeks ago where he discovered that we were going to be at the this show. It surprised me that he didn't know. Apparently, he wasn't privy to the guest list. So somehow through our big church we happened to cross paths for this.

He was very happy we were able to go and my family and I had a wonderful time.

Taxes

Our taxes are done... sort of. We sat with the guy this evening. He's going to actually do them and they'll be done within a week. The gathering of the info was done by Cara. I pretty much just earned most of the money and attended our little tax meeting tonight.

So Long, My Friend

Today I sold the good old green Jeep. I purchased him in 2000 making him the longest I've ever owned and drove any vehicle. We are now purely a Honda driving family. You will be missed, old friend.

Productive Day

I feel productive today. Tackled two projects that actually went very well. First one was computer related. I have an Asus EEE netbook. After a couple of less than successful runs on various Linux based operating systems I found Eeebuntu that has proven rock solid for quite a long time. Pretty much every other day there are updates that are installed, constantly improving the little bugger. A week or so ago one of these updates resulted in the netbook no longer being able to access our wifi- or any wifi connection. I took the time today to find the problem. It was one update that created this problem for many people with the exact same system. This made the fix easy to find. After that it was only a matter of time learning how to add the one line of code to the boot menu.

The second project was our garage door was ajar...

Two major problems with the door was one of the track wheels came off and the cable unspooled off it's wheel, coiling around it's axle.

After securing the kids, Cara

and I worked

together and with leverage and body weight we balanced everything, created enough cable slack, got everything reseated, and successfully fixed our garage door. Cost = $0.00

Jack and Simon

2

Jack Elliot Willis turns 2 years old today. Happy Birthday, Action Man!

Jack's Bible Stories

Maggie grew hungry while we were at church this morning. So Cara took her to the nursing room and fed her. There was a technical problem with the video feed in the room causing the moms to miss a majority of the sermon.

At dinner, this evening, Cara asked what the sermon was about and I started to describe it's theme. While I was explaining the message, Jack gets out of his seat and starts asking Cara to read him a Bible story. He wouldn't let up, either, running off to go retrieve one of his Bible story books. Finally Cara had to page through it as she listened to my retelling of Greg Boyd's message.

It seems he picked up on enough of my words to know what I was talking about and associated that with his Bible stories. He is amazing.


(This image is not from the book Jack selected. It's here jsut to add humor).

eBay

I joined eBay on June 12, 1999. Today I received my 500th feedback. That means in ten years I have made 500 transaction (buying and selling).

Jeffrywith1e on eBay

Pictures of Maggie Mae

Maggie Mae

Maggie Mae was born today.

She started the last leg of her voyage at 10:05 this morning when the midwife broke the water. That started the strong contractions that we've been waiting for all week. With only 2 pushes Maggie was breathing air at 11:47 AM! She weighs 9lbs 2oz. and measures 20.1 inches long. Lots of dark hair. her head is perfectly round because her delivery was so short.