Closing Thought For The Day..

Grocery Store Chronicles - Part Deux

I'm cursed, I admit it. It seems that everywhere I go lately, there seems to be an "oh, Timmy.." moment. The gym. The grocery store. Driving to work.

After the gym, I ran by Publix to pick up a few items. Now, as we know, grocery stores tend to be crowded on weekends as that's the time everyone tends to run errands. And I can respect that, I do too. But I TRY to be respectful and above all, a gentleman.

I'll step aside and let you pass me in the aisle.

I'll help someone reach an item on the top shelf.

Only got three items? Sure thing - jump in line ahead of me.

So, I'm going down the aisle when Cholita Sorority Slut.....

with her approximately 46 month old uteran byproduct, slams her cart into mine - as she's YAPPING on the cell phone and staring off into space.

She then barks at me "Choo chould wash where da fu*k joo gowing". Normally, I would have said something truly nasty. Being cognizant of the offspring in the cart, who is likely to parrot her remarks for months, I simply replied "You kiss your baby with that foul mouth?"

I REALLY wanted to bend down and ask the child, in a molasses sweet tone, "Who's your daddy? Oh that's right, mommy doesn't know does she?"

The Grocery Store Chronicles

Self-Checkout at the grocery store was MEANT to be a blessing and CAN be. But unfortunately, when you have this....




















Trying to operate this...
























It's a recipe for this...

Back From The Land Of Wilma

Yes - I'm back to resume posting so I can anthrall Liz, and hopefully a few other, with our amusing (we think they are!) tales of Wilma.

Even The Best Laid Plans......

Don't go according to plan! Thursday was set to be a day of immense change - a new job, new company. A fresh new start in an entirely new world.

Well, it ended up being a a fresh start in an extremely familar place - the old company! I guess that in the depths of my self-doubt and the mental toll certain factors had taken on me over the past year, I lost sight of how much I love the company I work for and the people I work with and that love is indeed reciprocal. Even more so than I had imagined.

And combined with some other exciting news about new directions, initiatives and growth that we'll be undertaking, an exciting new year lies ahead brimming with new challenges and professional growth.

So, I'm holding on for the end of this year and a truly bright new year!

Sailing Into The Sunset - A New Dawn On The Horizon

It came today - that much awaited fateful phone call. The one that (hopefully) ultimately means slipping the proverbial lines and sailing off into the sunset. But sailing into the sunset means an entirely new world of challenges, learning experiences and success lies just over the horizon where a new day will dawn.

I'm sure tomorrow will be very much a day of hand-wringing, some hard thinking and draw to a close not just a chapter, but an entire volume. But there is a new volume just waiting to be penned. A larger, more complex work awaits with new characters, story lines and laugh tracks interspersed and laced with moments of drama.

I'm giving up one helm to assume another - and that of a much larger command to boot.

Running on Empty

It's been a strange year, one filled with close-calls and some minor chaos, but overall, looking back on it all, one overflowing with good blessings and good fortune. And when I do some deep soul searching and ask myself what it important, what isn't, where I am and where I am going versus where I want to be, it raises some grave issues.

And even more importantly, it brings to the surface answers of what I no longer have room for in my life:

Venomous Negativity

Mean-spiritedness

Complaceny

Selfishness

I've lost my mojo. I'm starting to feel de-humanized and de-moralized; a lack of spirit, lust and passion for the things that brought so much satisfaction and fullfillment to my life. And lately, this image keeps popping into my head:




















along with that old Jackson Browne song below; it keeps running through my head and probably best describes my feelings of emptiness and lack of fulfillment. I've been contemplating a big change in my life and with each passing day, the opportunity for change becomes more and more appealing. It means leaving things and people behind that I love dearly. But I'm begining to feel that some things (which will be explained later) are so far gone, it's best to just head down that road and not look back.

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels

Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields

In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-o-one

I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on

Running on - running on empty

Running on - running blind

Running on - running into the sun

But I'm running behind

Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive

Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive

In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own

I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on

Running on - running on empty

Running on - running blind

Running on - running into the sun

But I'm running behind

Everyone I know, everywhere I go

People need some reason to believe

I don't know about anyone but me

If it takes all night, that'll be all right

If I can get you to smile before I leave

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels

I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels

I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through

Looking into their eyes I see them running too

Running on - running on empty

Running on - running blind

Running on - running into the sun

But I'm running behind

Honey you really tempt me

You know the way you look so kind

I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind

You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find

Running into the sun but I'm running behind

The road ahead looks good - but it contains a level of uncertainty. I have a vague idea of where it leads and what I'm hoping to find. I'll know it for sure when I get there.

Soooooo Not True!

Slut 80% Abercromibe Boi 50% Gym Bunny 50% Politiqueer 40% Attitude Queen 40% Out and Proud Queer 30% Str8 boi 30% Twink 20% Circuit Boy 10% Drag Queen 10% Drama Queen 10% Mess 0% What gay personality are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You're just the slut - everyone knows your name, and not for the best reason. You've not only been around the block, but around the whole city. If you want to keep on this road, just wrap it up babe, and play safe!

A Week Like No Other

A Cataclysmic Failure Of Government

The U.S. Government's primary duty is to protect the citizens from harm, and in times of dire need, provide relief. There's a lot of finger-pointing going on right now and it will continue for many years. In fact, many top political analysts are stating that the crisis that faces the Bush administration is comporarable in size, scope and severity to Watergate.

At the end of the day, no matter who is to blame; the agencies or the individuals; the U.S. Government failed its citizens in their time of need. And ultimately, the man at the top, President Bush, bares direct and indirect responsibility for the thousands of lives that were lost in the days following the storm.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune rattled off an angered yet eloquent diatribe:

An open letter to the President

Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism. Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718. How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies. Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city. Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach. We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher. It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President.

So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other ssentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day." Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President. Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job." That’s unbelievable. There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued. No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.