Another Sunday and once again I took Gert to Adams-Ricci. Last Sunday they had the festival so we substituted the high school – Adams- Ricci is much better. We always park near the north tennis courts simply because it’s one of the first lots we come to and usually it’s fairly empty. Not this morning. There were already six other cars parked in a little lot which holds twelve. And there were people playing tennis! I thought this is so odd; usually there are two men playing and no one else. And then I remembered Wimbledon. None of these people... Continue reading

Another Sunday afternoon at Top Line though today was different. Why so? Firstly, someone actually rented Camou vests for a wedding… which can only make one ponder what it was the bride was wearing. Secondly, the conservative couple returned with swatches in several shades of green. Most brides choose the dress colors and then coordinate the vest, not this bride, she’s matching the dresses to the vests… and the swatch that best matches the vest is from the most expensive dress (this is what she said). This is also the couple who wants their tuxedos to look as close to... Continue reading

Holy Crap, another entry – it’s Wednesday, my late day to go to work which gives me extra time in the AM. I have begun initiating myself into a workout routine again, a sore process to say the least. If you are ever find yourself getting laid off from you job, hope it doesn’t happen in the fall or winter, especially if you’re middle-aged, you know the sluggish years of our lives. I saw the dropout rate among high school students has risen for the 2nd year in a row. This is sad, we all want our kids to graduate... Continue reading

Oh, my gosh, and entry after all of these months. This is Gert’s 8 month anniversary. At 50 lbs plus she is definitely a medium sized dog, now the wait is on to see if her weight is going to make her border line large dog. Boxers can grow to 100lbs. Since I’m with her so much, I don’t see her as being big, but all I need to do is look at the faces of those around me to see they think she is BIG. I spend Sundays working in a tuxedo rental store. Today I realized something that... Continue reading

Oh, my gosh, and entry after all of these months. This is Gert’s 8 month anniversary. At 50 lbs plus she is definitely a medium sized dog, now the wait is on to see if her weight is going to make her border line large dog. Boxers can grow to 100lbs. Since I’m with her so much, I don’t see her as being big, but all I need to do is look at the faces of those around me to see they think she is BIG. I spend Sundays working in a tuxedo rental store. Today I realized something that... Continue reading

Oh, look a Saturday entry. I am attempting to get my entries back up to speed. The new job is going better and better from week to week. Not that I ever felt overwhelmed, but there were moments when there seem to be so much information crowding into my head I did worry about getting into some logical order. Those moments have passed. Here’s an irony of life – I was looking at the Comcast Homepage and saw a note about the actor James Van Der Beek (sp) and how he and his long time girlfriend were soon to become... Continue reading

Well, it seems as though we’ve gone from winter into summer, even though spring just began two weeks ago. I say this because the forecast is for warm, sunny days with highs in the upper 70’s to low 80’s. To celebrate Easter, Gert and I took a long walk in Adams-Ricci Park this morning. I believe this is going to become a Sunday Morning institution. There were a number of people walking around, but the place wasn’t packed with crowds; this is what you get on Saturday and Sunday afternoons when the weather is nice and T-Ball and Soccer games... Continue reading

Since I have to attend and orientation tomorrow I have today off – nice, the weather’s beautiful, blue skies, temperature hovering around 70, perfect weather for riding bike. I even received an email from a friend imploring me to go out and Ride. And I would be out on the road if it weren’t for one thing. Gert was spayed yesterday. This means for a several days she’s not supposed to race up and down the stairs and the only way I could go riding and keep her from doing this would be to crate her for the time I... Continue reading

I bought myself a new printer, a Lexmark. There’s and old HP laser upstairs for writing purposes and I need a color printer to I can wallpaper my office with pictures of Gert . I went wireless meaning I can put the new printer anywhere in the house. There was only one problem, you need a USB cable during the set-up which means I have another USB cable which I’m never going to use, ever again. How many USB cables do I have? A drawer full. It would be nice if they gave you option when you make an electronic... Continue reading

Tonight is Oscar night and I’m not watching the whole show; being newly employed, tomorrow is a work day and that day starts too early to stay up until midnight (or later). My vote is going to The Hurt Locker. Just have to wait and see, won’t I. I actually saw an ad on TV for a way to motorize your bicycle… What the hell is up with that? Where’s the fun? Needless to say, I was stymied for some time trying to figure out what type cyclist would trash a bike just to be lazy. In the end I... Continue reading

This will be my first full week of training as the new ASDS for the Carlisle Home Depot. I put in three days last week but barely scratched the surface, mostly I found myself being indoctrinated into their scheduling system. Interestingly enough, certain aspects are very similar to the Kronos scheduling I did years ago, cross clocking is something new though I don’t think it will be much of a struggle to get a handle on it. This is also the first time in about a year and a half that I will have my evenings free. Until my body... Continue reading

Since Sunday is my last full day at the Mechanicsburg Home Depot and that is part of the current work week I took today off. My calendar for the day was filled and one of the items on my “to do” list was have new tires put on my car; it’s going to need new ones to pass inspection. Sears has always had a fairly decent reputation so I went there and purchased a set of four. When I asked how long it would take to have them mounted and rotated and all the stuff you need to do when... Continue reading

Today was my first day at the new job and the ironic thing happened, United Concordia and Erskine, two companies I’d sent resumes to, both called and left messages requesting interviews. Of course I didn’t answer my phone; I just let it vibrate in my briefcase. I will leave them messages tomorrow letting them know I have a job. As for the job, the scheduling aspect is extremely similar to what I did years ago with the Kronos timekeeping system. I don’t foresee anything really complicated, of course I don’t know what’s going to be thrown at me down the... Continue reading

I have a job! I accepted an offer from Home Depot this morning to be the ASDS at the Carlisle Home Depot store. I chose the permanent full time over the contract offer which paid more simply because I want the security even if it is at a lower rate of pay. I will be scheduling employees as well as lots of HR stuff, most of which I’ve done at one time or another during my working career. This is not an accounting position. One of the goals I had set when I was laid off was to try and... Continue reading

By now everybody knows about the changes effecting credit card usage, most people don’t understand why these changes are being made nor do they care. Some, however, are upset; I know, I hear them at Home Depot. The one thing most complain about is the elimination of the “no interest, no payment,” promotion. While some people took advantage of this knowing they were being giving the option of buying on credit and paying off within a specific time period without being charged interest. Unfortunately too many people saw this as a way to buy without making payments and ended up... Continue reading

On the Winter Games scene, as everybody knows by now, the United States leads with 8 medals, we’re tied with France when it comes to gold medals. I watched Bilodeau’s award ceremony last evening and was glad to see he didn’t break down and cry. For some reason, in recent years the opinion seems to have arisen that strong men need to show their sensitive side, perhaps so the hearts of the overly sensitive can go pity pat, pity pat. Give me a break. Maybe you can blame it all on Ben Affleck for it seems he cries in every... Continue reading

Well, it’s snowing again here in Central Pennsylvania. Nobody is exited, not even the kids who might get more snow days off from school. Forecasters are predicating between 1” and 3” but I think even one inch of snow is too much. An arrest warrant has been issued for Floyd Landis. Evidently he and his personal physician supposedly hired a hacker to break into the computer system of the French testing facility doing his blood work to either see actual test results or to possible alter test results. This was purported to have happened back in 2006. He is an... Continue reading

The Winter Games are upon us taking place in warm, drizzly Vancouver, where the snow seems to be on vacation, which is a shame. We here in Harrisburg are expecting more snow on Monday, though they’re predicting between on 1 and 3 inches. The daytime temperature hovers around 34 degrees which is great since snow melts at a slow pace. This is what we want. If you were to quick melt the snow most of us have in our backyards you would end up with a little over 2 inches and with most of the storm drains buried any rapid... Continue reading

What a difference a day makes, yesterday we had snow, wind gusting to over 35 mph resulting in white outs, three major highways were closed in Pennsylvania and some the our National Guard troops were called out, today it’s beautiful, and at 36 degrees almost balmy, sunny day. My sidewalks are shoveled, as is my driveway, and I took Gert for a much needed walk. After two months, Max, the 16.5 year old diabetic cat, has come to terms that she has to take control of the situation. Now he wonders around the house and when Gert gets too close... Continue reading

Yes, we did get snow, about 14” on top of the 20” which fell on Saturday. One good thing about being unemployed is I didn’t have to worry about getting into work. This time we’re also getting wind gusts of around 35 mph so even though I am shoveled out I’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out how much of my shoveling has drifted shut. I don’t think it will be that much, in spite of the wind. My neighbor’s wife had them shoveled out by 10 AM and they have suffered from very little drift accumulation.... Continue reading

I worked Sunday late shift at Home Depot so I only managed to watch the last half of the Super Bowl (that’s right, I missed the Who... no loss). I’m not a big football fan but I will admit I was mighty pleased to see the Saints win. As of Sunday evening this year’s game was the most watched event in televised history and I believe a lot of that had to do with New Orleans, the sour notes of Katrina still resonate strongly. What irritated me was checking out the news on the internet the next morning and seeing... Continue reading

Yes, we did have snow, depending upon where you live in Harrisburg depths total between 18 and 20 inches. What’s two inches? My only real concern was shoveling an area big enough for Gert which took all of about three minutes. By noon the accumulating snow had stopped and with just flurries drifting downward I went out and did my shoveling. There is nothing really arduous about shoveling snow. In fact two years ago when I wrote a series of essays under the heading “Over 4o and Still a Muscle Stud,” I christened snow shoveling ‘Nature’s perfect cardio workout.’ It... Continue reading

I just saw where State Farm is cancelling the policies for approx 125,000 home owners in Florida because they were not allowed a 47.1% price increase. Who is going to buy a home in Jacksonville if you can’t get insurance? I believe the state was one of those hurt worst when the real estate bubble burst. Imagine what this is going to do to property values. While State Farm will most likely not get the increase they want, rates for homeowners will go up and I feel sorry for these people, but only to a point. Florida has the highest... Continue reading

A funny thing happened yesterday, an old Navy friend commented that my Facebook picture might be a little outdated. To be truthful, it is, but I like it. I haven’t worn that Tuxedo in a long time and I think people should see you at your best. I do have the enviable problem of looking younger then my chronological age. Blame it on good genes. Of course, I don’t doubt working out has something to do with this too. I am in really good shape for someone my age. My sitting heart rate is between 56 and 58, standing it’s... Continue reading

I had a nice interview with a representative of JFC Staffing this morning. This is not the Temp Service but rather their branch which finds full time employees for companies who don’t want to advertise on www.monster.com as so many companies do these days. I must admit those few responses I’ve gotten have been from resumes submitted on Monster. Career Builder hasn’t been nearly has good the only responses being those from Footlocker, which after asking when I’d be available for a phone interview never called. One of the things I learned is that follow-up is essential. You can’t just... Continue reading