Life in the Mind of a Modest Genius

Happy Anniverseary to Me

It's a rather awkward situation because today is my "official" anniversary with my company, but I have been with the company for longer than a year.  I started in early October as a contract employee since I was hired thru an employment agency.  I had to wait for all the paperwork to go thru and for all the necessary final approvals before I was a member of the company's staff.  All of that ultimately got finalized on December 1, 2008. 

This has been the first time in a while that I have been at a company for longer than a year.  It's rather sad to admit, but it's the truth.  I have now worked for a total of six different companies since graduating Iowa State in 1993 and this anniversary now marks third longest tenure.  There's something very different about how this one feels though.  It's also the smallest office I have ever worked in which provides more of a close-knit feeling of camaraderie among the employees.  It makes a huge difference that promotes a more positive work environment.

Prior to coming here, I had been at Marsh for just over a year.  It only me took me that long to realize that that was not the place for me.  I can't speak for the entire organization as a whole, but the department I was in was a disorganized mess.  I had a boss with one of the worst midget complexes I have ever seen.  Not to mention that the environment was just poisonous overall from the minions all the way up to clueless senior management.  Getting out of there was the best thing I could have done. 

There's always a certain level of stress involved with any job; however it all depends on what type of role you're in.  My prior two jobs involved me being in the supervisory role.  Although I did enjoy helping others succeed from my coaching, that wasn't always the case.  Some folks didn't want to succeed and that was always hard for me to accept.  I never could understand why some folks are content being sub-par no matter what type of incentive is presented to them.

Now I'm back in the area of claims where I have the bulk of my expertise.  I have no more direct reports.  I am accountable for the work of one person.  My workload is determined by how much I get accomplished during the course of one day as opposed to relying on other folks that may or may want to pull their share depending on how they feel.  That type of stress is much easier to manage as it's something over which I have full control.

As I look around the office, I see folks that have been here for years and years.  That's something else that is very encouraging.  It demonstrates job stability.  You can tell from the over atmosphere in the office that folks enjoy being there which also says alot about why folks have been there for 5+ years.  I anxiously look forward to the time that I can say the same thing when my 5-year anniversary rolls around.

Tweet Cloud

FINALLY got mine to work.  Man...my Tweets are boring...

I Am Veteran

For the longest time, I never considered myself one.  It didn't matter that I served in the Iowa Air National Guard for 6 years.  Well...technically 5 1/2 since I got credit for 6 months deferred.  Still, I was never deployed for any of our skirmishes back then so I figured I was never a veteran.  Then I came across a news story about Darva Conger that had me re-evaluating my own status.

The name probably doesn't ring a bell to many of you.  She was the gal who was caught up in that "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire" scandal.  She had been in the military and claimed to be a veteran because she was in the Gulf War.  After doing some additional checking on her background, they discovered she was never deployed.  She was just on active duty during the Gulf War.  Her rationale was that qualifies because by definition, that makes her a veteran.  Well hold your horses...

I was on winter break in January 1991 when the Gulf War started.  In fact, I happened to be serving my two weeks of required active duty by working at the Air National Guard base attached to the Des Moines airport.  I can still recall sitting in the warehouse watching the official announcement that the aerial assault had commenced and the Gulf War conflict had officially began.  So using the literal definition of "veteran" that would make me one. 

The funny thing about that situation is I recall the conversation that me and my supervisor were having at the time.  He even brought up the fact that if our unit was called up, I would have to report to.  I practically laughed in his face.  In fact, I think I may have actually done it.  That was during my rebellious years.  I flat out told him that if they tried to get me to go over there, I wasn't going.  I was two years from graduating and wouldn't be leaving school for that madness. 

 He wasn't appreciating my defiant behavior AT. ALL.  He told me if I didn't report then they would send the MPs up to the Iowa State campus to get me.  I laughed again and told him good luck in trying to find me.  Thanks to the personalities that we had in my area at the time, I was able to get away with speaking like that.  I was half joking but also half serious.  The guys in that area were joking all the time so my supervisor couldn't be totally sure if I was to be taken at my word or not.  Was I just joking around like the rest of the fellas always did?  I'm fairly certain he knew that I was more serious than not.

The truth of the matter is even if I may be a veteran by the technical definition, I'm nowhere near the vet that the ones before me have been.  The ones like Dad who fought in the Vietnam War.  Doing it at a time where they had to deal with an entirely different atmosphere than the Armed Forces of today have to face.  Dad and those soldiers had to deal with hostilities in Vietnam and then come home to face hostility here from the very people they had enlisted to protect.  I could never fathom what type of courage that had to take.  All the more reason that Veteran's Day is special.

Look Into My Eye

So I was real constipated the other day.  This weekend to be exact.  What??  We're all family here so it should be all good.  Anyway, I've had the issue before but it was a LONG time ago.  It usually isn't to the point where the effort is so strenuous.  This time around, it was.  So much so that I thought I was going to pop a blood vessel.  Well as fate would have it, I did.

I noticed there was going to be a problem immediately.  I could feel a burning sensation in the entire upper portion of my face.  A headache was soon to follow.  I was afraid to look in the mirror as I anticipated it wasn't going to be a pretty sight.  What I saw was the entire area from my nose up was a beet red color.  It looked like I had gotten smacked in the head with a 4x4.  To top it off, I even felt like it.

The appearance slowly began to fade over the next several hours.  It transformed to just being around my eyes so I resembled a raccoon with a red mask.  That very slowly subsided as well which was when I noticed the red eye.  I just happened to glance in the mirror and realized that my eye was a little more  bloodshot than normal.  Then I got a better view and saw what you see here.

I've also had this happen before as well.  It just wasn't spread as much as it has this time.  I wasn't worried about then and I'm not worried about it now. It's not like it's affecting my vision at all.  It's not giving me headaches.  It just looks a little freaky.  If I happened to wake up one of the next few days and I'm blind in that eye, then I'll know there was a problem.

Seriously though, I checked WebMD just to be on the safe side.  They further validated that I have nothing to be concerned about.  It should go away in a few days or so.  They did offer some suggestions of home remedies I can try in the meantime to alleviate the redness.  Don't think I'll be doing any of them though:

• Rest your eye. Kinda' hard to do when I need it to be on the computer.  Which we all know is a necessity for me.
• Don't rub your eye.  Easier said than done
• If you wear contacts, take the contacts out to rest the eyes.  That's not a problem.  I won't EVER be getting contacts.  I don't put anything in my eyes
• Use cold or warm compresses, whichever feels best.  I suppose I could do that, but that would require going to get a cold or warm compress.  It's just not that serious
• Gently flush your eye with cool water.  SO not gonna happen.  I just don't put water in my eyes on purpose
• Avoid bright lights or use dark glasses to protect the eye.  Probably the only one on this list that is a viable option since I don't care for bright lights anyway
• Nonprescription eyedrops, such as artificial tear solutions (Tears Plus or Akwa Tears), may be used to moisten the eyes.   Again, I don't put anything in my eyes so no.

As it stands now, it's just the look that's an issue. Even though it looks like it does seem to be spreading just a bit.  Still, there's no pain involved with it so I'm all good. It does weird G out a little bit.  As long as I'm not close to him with my eyes turned so he can see it all its glory, he's fine too though.  We'll see how it's doing in the next few days...

Civilian 4 Life

Just received the news yesterday that I more or less expected was coming.  I knew when I started looking at the possibility to go to Officer's Candidate School (OCS) that the age thing could potentially be a problem.  I just wasn't 100% certain.  However, I wasn't going to know one way or the other until I checked further into it and have the recruiter confirm it for me.  Well it was confirmed.

The recruiting tech sergeant got back to me and informed that the age limit for getting into OCS is 35.  She double-checked with personnel and it's "hard and fast".  Still don't know what she means by the "fast" portion, but it still means I'm too old.  The only reason they would ever consider waiving  that is if the person is entering a medical position and that definitely leaves me out.

My friend cbean had told me that there would possibly be an adjustment for prior service.  That perhaps I would get credit for the six years I initially served which would reduce my age for service requirement to 33.  Not so much.  They would also only take that into consideration if I'm going into a medical field.  So I would have been set if I would have chosen medicine as a major instead of journalism.  There was just that whole issue with me and Science not getting along that was holding me back.

Contrary to what the image may convey, I really am not bitter.  That's what I get for procrastinating.  Had I given this more serious thought a little over four years ago, I would have been straight.  Or I could go even further back and say I should have taken it more seriously when Dad first mentioned it years ago.  We all know that hindsight is 20/20 though.  No sense sitting around wondering about what could have been.

It's on to Plan B now.  Time to find a different side hustle.  That's probably for the best anyway because I didn't need to be waiting around until February to get a supplemental income.  That would have been just another method of me putting off the inevitable.  Later on today (since it's 3am as I write this), I'll make that follow-up phone call for that part-time security gig. It may not be the type of uniform I was envisioning myself in, but it will still help pay the bills.

Lieutenant Me

It's been some amount of time since I was last in the Air National Guard.  Probably right around fifteen years.  I did my initial six-year commitment and got out.  That was good enough for me at the time.  In fact, it was more than enough.  I had used up all of the GI Bill they had to offer and was tired of having to commit one weekend a month and two weeks a year.  Not to mention I was still in my rebellious phase.

Dad tried at the time to put a bug in my ear about re-enlisting to get in 20 years.  All I had to do was another 14 years and I would be eligible for their pension.  That seemed like a lifetime to me when I was only 20-something-years-old.  However, had I listened and followed that sage advice, I would have already had that 20 years in by now.

That was then.

Lately, I have been contemplating different methods to get a side hustle to supplement my income.  The Air National Guard option popped up again.  The bonus side of that is that I wouldn't have to go thru Basic Training again since I've already done it once.  At least I don't think so.  I hope there's not a stipulation regarding how much time has passed since a person was last enlisted.

The thought this time was that of Officer Candidate School (OCS).  I figure if I'm going to re-enlist in the Guard, I might as well go the more meaningful route.  The income as an officer would certainly be much better than that of the average enlisted schmoe.  It would be much easier to churn out duty of one weekend a month and two weeks a year if I was an officer.

I don't think the age should be an issue.  I distinctly remember when I was in Basic Training that there was this cat in our brother flight who was OLD.  We called him Pops.  He claimed he was 35(yes...that was old to me at the time), but I swear this cat looked like he could have passed for late 40s easy.  If he was mid-30s, he had a rough life up to that point and was showing the wear for it.  If he was able to get into Basic Training then I should have no problem at all getting into OCS.

I took the first legitimate steps to making it happen just yesterday.  I spoke with the recruiter who informed me the next Officer's Board is in February.  She's going to get more information on it and schedule an appointment for us to talk in more detail about it.  If everything works out right, I could be headed to San Antonio for six weeks in February.  I should know more in the new few weeks...

Friday Night Norwalk Lights

G had been asking for some time to go to a "real" football game.  Ever since I took him to the Barnstormers Arena football game, he's wanted to see one played on a real field.  Taking him to a Chiefs game would have been ideal because I've never been to one either and always wanted to go.  Just can't afford those tickets right now.  The next option would have been Iowa State.  I still may do that, but I sure wasn't going to play $60 a ticket for seats on the grass which was all that was left for the in-state rivalry game today with the Hawkeyes. 

G was the one who proposed the idea of a high school football game.  He suggested the Little Cyclones at first.  I explained to him that I didn't know anything about their team so didn't know if it would be any good.  That's when he remembered that we had went to the Norwalk basketball games and wanted to see if they played football too.  Well of course they do, I just didn't know if they were worth the time either.  Still, he wanted to see my former high school play football so that's what we did.

We got lucky and ended up catching a Friday that they have a home game.  According to the schedule, their record was already 1-1 so I had no idea what to expect with them facing Grinnell.  I just knew that historically, Norwalk's football program hasn't been all that great.  It just wasn't our forte.  For some reason, other teams were were always bigger, faster, and/or stronger.  I didn't know if Grinnell would be the same story or not, but apparently Norwalk's coaching staff must not have known much about them either.

Those Grinnell boys were pretty much having their way with the Warriors.  They were running over the Norwalk defense with ease.  Especially thru the left side of the line for some reason.  When they weren't doing that, they seemed to have pretty good luck with the passing game on short yardage as well.  Norwalk should consider themselves very fortunate the score was only 28-0.  As bad as that was, it could have been much worse.

G made a couple of astute observations during the game.  The first was when he asked why Norwalk was in the middle of nowhere.  He was basing that on the fact that as we sat in the football stadium (a word I use very loosely for that place), there looked like there was nothing around the place because it was so dark.  Well there are plenty of houses nearby, but technically, Norwalk does appear to be in a world all its own.  They often seem isolated from reality in both physicality and idealism.

As we watched the marching band perform at halftime, he made my favorite quote of the night:

"They should just call them a band because they don't do much marching.  They just do a lot of standing around."

I was rather surprised at that myself.  I would have thought with as far as that band had come since my days that there would be more to their performance.  They had slick newer uniforms yet didn't do much formation changes the whole time.  They didn't even make the "N" anytime during their on field presence.  That was a trademark of the marching band.  You do the "N" while doing the school song.  That's an epic fail for the marching band.  Not to mention that as I listened to them, I wondered if we sounded as bad while we performed as they did.  Lawd, I hope not.

G had the Barnstormers game in his mind the entire time.  He went in expecting to see the same level of play and excitement.  I had to explain to him that there was a huge experience gap between high school and semi-pro football.  Especially when the high school team is Norwalk.  But at least he finally got to see an actual football game played on a real-sized football field.  I'll eventually get him to an Iowa State game.  I just have to make sure it's against someone they stand a chance at beating.

Where Were You? (Pseudo-RePost)

There are few catastrophic events that are so significant enough that where and what you were doing is burned in your mind as to when they occurred.  Such as if you ask me where where I was when the Challenger exploded, I  clearly remember sitting in Science class when they wheeled the tv in and we watched the media replay it over and over.  Likewise, I'm sure my parents and everyone from that generation can vividly tell you where they were when they heard that King and Kennedy (and maybe even Malcolm X) had been assassinated.

So as far as life-altering moments go, I very distinctly remember where I was when I heard about the planes hitting the towers.  I had just dropped off Elijah and Mariah at school since I was living in Cedar Rapids at the time, working as a field claims rep.  On my way back to my in-home office, I was listening to 99.7 FM.  They talked about the first plane rather cavalier as they didn't fully know what happened.  Initially, it made a little sense just listening to the scenario that  it wasn't that bad.  Maybe a plane went too low and hit one of the towers accidentally?  I mean they are rather large so wasn't it bound to happen sooner or later?

I got home and started working my normal claims with the tv on and slowly got more details.  Then I realized what had happened.  I also recall trying to go to CNN.com to get even more info and they were so swamped with hits that it's the first time I EVER saw that site crash.

Long story short, on the eight year commemoration of the tragedy, I  can safely say that it is one moment in my life that I will never forget.  We can put the blame on as many different people as we want as to why it happened and it still won't change the fact that the surreal became a reality.  An attack on American soil.  Here we thought something of that magnitude could never happen and we all receved a jarring shock of true life. 

Death Becomes Me

Morbid, I know.  It's not really intended to be.  As I mentioned in one of my random rants, I have been thinking about death more frequently though.  Or maybe that's not an accurate way to phrase it.  Maybe a better way to say it is I have been pondering my own mortality.  As I slowly creep up on my next 35th birthday, I find myself wondering about how I will meet my demise and what will be left behind in my wake.

While thinking about something like that, I can't help but reflect on a couple of close calls that I personally had with the grim reaper.  I'm talking about instances where my life may have legitimately ended, but I was spared because it wasn't my time.  Both of them have been mentioned out here before.  Unfortunately, many of you may have missed it because it may have been before your time with me.

The first was my trip to Creepy Hollow (and again, not sure if I even have the name right).  I see on the original post, I didn't go into a lot of detail.  Although I still won't, I'll give you just enough to see why it was a close call.  It just so happens that everyone crammed in that car are all now friends on Facebook.  The infamous Dax was behind the wheel.  There was some goofing around being done and the car ended up hitting a tree. 

 It might not be fair to say that I was close to death in the accident.  That's a little extreme.  However, I clearly remember that I blacked out immediately following the impact.  The sensation lasted for about a good five seconds.  There was no white light or angels or anything like that, but that was only one of two times that I recall being unconscious from an accident.  Even if it was only momentarily.

 The other instance was my infamous drinking incident at Iowa State.  That one was shared in quite detail out here.  That was hands down the closest I had come to passing.  I have to admit that looking back on that one still amazes me.  There are a good share of stories like that in the papers where college students don't make it out alive.  It was clear the man upstairs was with me that night.  It obviously wasn't my time then either.

On both of those occasions, had they been my last moments on earth, I wouldn't have left much of a legacy behind.  They were both before I had any of my three beautiful children.  I hadn't really accomplished all that much before either episode.  I didn't even have my high school diploma yet when the first occurred and I hadn't even graduated college yet when the second happened. 

That's no longer the case though.

I happen to catch someone else's blog where they mentioned the passing of a fellow blogger.  I have never heard of Nikki Harris (R.I.P.), but I still felt compelled to visit her blog since the link was available.  There was nothing that really stood out to me.  It was your standard online journal.  However, the one revelation I did have from the visit was that the blog was still there even though she was gone.  That's when it suddenly hit me.

As long as Typepad is around, I will still be around.  Typepad keeps the link active for as long as they are in existence.  The account itself can't be altered as long as it is not active, but the blog remains.  So if I were to suddenly meet an untimely death, I would indeed have something left behind besides my children that can remind folks of who and what I was.

You would think that keeping that in mind, I would be more mindful of what I say out here, right?  Not so much.  You have NO idea how much I actually hold back anyway.  Even with the self-censoring I do, this is still a pretty good reflection of who I am.  It's good to know that long after I'm gone, I will indeed continue to live on thanks to the internet.  I can deal with that type of legacy.

O the Randomness

It's 1am and someone is outside grillin' up something.  And it smells SOOO good.

So I guess DJ AM died.  He survives a plane crash that kills four people only to eventually die of a drug overdose.  That's too bad.  Rest in peace, dude.

I'm starting to realize that having the noise of other people around was something I had gotten used  to.  Something I probably took for granted.

Still want to relocate, but it may be at least next March before it's able to happen.

I'm finally back into the swing of things with my Netflix.  I've even started using their Watch Instantly feature more.

The charger for my iPhone is already starting to fall apart and it's only a couple of months old.

One of these days, I'm going to get that Fandango offer in time to get movie tickets for a dollar. 

While I'm at it, one of these days I'm going to take the time to figure out how the whole RSS feeder thingamajiggit works.

Blue Bell Ice Cream needs to be available in Iowa.  Period.  

My lunch the other day came to $6.66.  I HATE when that happens.

That creepy Craigslist lady STLL has her posting out there looking for a dude to shack up with her. 

I'm SO tempted to call the number just to see if it's a joke.

My site still only has a lowly Google page rank of 2.  Pathetic.  I don't understand how that whole thing works because I swear I have more readers now than I did back when it had a page rank of 4 for a minute.

I don't know why I even care about that whole page rank business anyway.  It's not like I get any financial gain off it regardless what my page rank is.

So I guess just because my relationship status changes, that doesn't mean everyone else's does too?  Huh...

I'm going to try a new church tomorrow to see how I like it.

The more I look at my car, the more I like it.  It's not just the fact that I have transportation either.  I really do like the way it looks.

It's about time Facebook updated their iPhone app with the ability to do landscape mode.  That was irritating me having to type on the touchpad the standard way.

'Nuff said.