Work Integrity

Ever watch the HBO series "The Newsroom"? I just started watching season 1. I know that I am a year behind, but I don't care. I like watching a show when I can view episodes in rapid fashion. No waiting a week for the next episode. Just click on the next one in HBO On Demand and no waiting.

I mention this show because I love how truthful each character is with each other. Sure it is a TV show and people don't talk like that in real life. I feel that is a shame. One thing I appreciate about a person is knowing where I stand with them. I have had only one supervisor in my career in which I knew exactly where I stood with him. No wondering if I was doing a good job. He would tell you. Good or bad he let me know, and I loved it.

I have worked in many team settings in which the truth was rarely told. Sure someone was told the truth about their abilities if it was good news or bad news on an easy target (low on the totem pole), but never if it will be uncomfortable for both parties. So, what ends up happening is poor performers that are not easy targets go on not knowing that they are not living up to standard and many times promoted.

Who suffers? Mostly the high performer who is really low on the totem pole. High performers who are not seen as promotable often carry the team. At least in my experience. I have witnessed time after time someone get a promotion because the team performed well and that person is either good at selling themselves or has the right credentials. Many times the promoted person was the dead weight the team had to carry and still go a good job, but gets all the credit because no one shared the truth of the situation.

I would love to work for a company in which honesty and integrity were not buzz words, but actual values. A place in which an honest exchange does not end up with hurt feelings and a trip to HR. The only place I have seen this happen has been on sports teams I was a member. If my performance was not good enough to be a starter, I rode the bench. I didn't whine and complain to the equivalent of amateur sports HR - my parents. Instead I worked to improve my technique or conditioning or whatever shortcoming I was told I had in hopes of improving enough to get on the field.

Why can't working in an office be the same? "Sorry, Jimmy you don't get a raise because you cannot perform tasks a and b that are critical to your job." Then Jimmy goes and works on tasks a and b to get better at them and improve his skill set. Instead we hide behind a 1 to 5 rating system and give a 2 or 3 in hopes Jimmy gets the picture. It doesn't matter anyway because corporate is giving everyone the same raise dictated by budget constraints. Boy I bet Jimmy really learned his lesson.

Maybe you view this post as someone just bitching. Maybe you are right, but think about it. How many times have you seen someone getting ahead and you know in your heart that they are below average and maybe even terrible at their job? Don't you wish someone was honest with someone up the ladder and the truth was well received? Instead the company will unknowingly suffer from the poor performance. Employees become disenfranchised, moral lowers and productivity falls. That seems so much better that facing the truth. Right?

A day in the life

Monday Recap:

-Got out of bed. This was no small feat I promise.
-had a healthy breakfast. Oh God why can't donuts be healthy?!
-watched Wil Wheaton's new show Tabletop on Youtube. Excellent stuff.
-work (yawn)
-went to Weight Watchers and weighed in. Another 0.8 pounds gone. I wonder where they go.
-had a healthy lunch. Oh God why can't french fries be healthy?!
-more work (more yawns)
-received the game I got in a trade.
-received my check for the money I earned in a bowling tournament. I'm a professional bowler, now.
-worked out for about an hour at the gym. If I keep this up, I'm going to name my arms pythons. Yeah, brother!
-had a healthy dinner. Oh God....nevermind.
-mowed the lawn. Not a euphemism. Sadly.
-killed a jumping spider.
-had an online discussion about the jumping spider and its high AC. (DnD reference, sorry)
-tried to read, but was too restless
-played Modern Warfare 3 until 1 a.m. What? No. I'm not 12.

Podcast

Some of the characters spotted at GenCon

Back in August I attended GenCon 2011. I planned on creating a blog post about it, but never managed to get one made. I have plenty of photos show and stories to tell about GenCon, but too much time has gone by that I feel I've missed that bus, but this post does have a GenCon connection. That is why it is mentioned here.

This was my first trip to GenCon. It was me and two of my friends that made the drive together to Indianapolis. One of my friends is a veteran of GenCon and had connections to get us hotel rooms. The only catch was that we would be rooming with people we had never met. I worried that we would get the socially awkward gamer that only leaves mom's basement to attend GenCon. There were plenty of those people there, but luckily none of them were our roommates.

Our roommates happened to be a quartet of guys from the Ottawa, Canada area. Three of them you could tell right of way were firm friends. The fourth was well liked, but always did his own thing. In getting to know our new friends we found out they do a gaming podcast called The Accidental Survivors.

After many conversations about RPG's such as Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons, we were asked to participate in their podcast. At first it sounded like it would just be to interview us about GenCon. It ended up being that we participated in an actual podcast. The actual podcast can be found here.

I had a great time recording the podcast over Skype with the Accidental Survivors. At the end we were asked if we would like to continue on with the podcast. It was so much fun how could I turn that down.

So far, the podcast has dealt mostly with role playing games such as the aforementioned Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons. I am more of a board game guy and I know little about role playing games. Fortunately there is talk about adding board games to the list. That would be great.

The second podcast I have participated in was recorded last week and was posted last night. You can find it here. We interviewed Howard Andrew Jones. Howard is an author and an editor at Black Gate. Howard gives some good advice for writers trying to get published. I hope you give it a listen.

Doing this podcast has been a lot of fun and I hope it continues for a long time.

Tornado

Every Wednesday I have lunch with the guys that I used to work with at my old company. We meet at Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW) around 11:30 am and catch up on the latest. I am usually the last one to show because of my lack luster time management skills. I work from home so there is usually something that has my attention and keeps me from leaving in a timely matter.

This last Wednesday I was ahead of schedule. I managed to get my act together and headed out to meet the guys earlier than usual. It was gray and drizzly when I left the house. Most of the time I don't have the radio on in my car because the commercials make me stabby. This last Wednesday was no exception. I drove to BWW in silence completely unaware of anything going on beyond my field of vision.

The closer I got to BWW the harder it rained. I pulled into the parking lot in a heavy down pour. So, I decided to wait this one out high and dry in my car. I hadn't been there more than a minute when the manager of BWW opened the door and whistled at me to get my attention. When I rolled down the window he yelled, "get inside there is a tornado in the area!" So, I scrambled out of the car, ran in the pouring rain, and joined other wide eyed patrons watching tornado coverage on the big screens.

At the time the tornado coverage was mostly hard to hear reports on cell phones and video of a wall cloud less than a mile from my location. The most unsettling aspect of the coverage was the fact that the wall cloud and pending doom it represents was heading north towards my house.

My first thought was to get home and get the cats into the basement. I knew that driving into the path of a possible tornado was not a good idea. I was stuck watching radar and helicopter video hoping a tornado doesn't wipe out parts of the city. Especially the part that my house sits in. I tried to call Queentuffy, but I had no cell service. She couldn't reach me and I couldn't reach her. As far as she knew I was at the house.

After twenty minutes of watching weather coverage with butterflies in my stomach, we got the all clear and I headed home. Since there wasn't any report of a tornado touchdown or any structural damage, I expected to get home and find everything still standing.

The closer I got to home the clearer the skies became. By the time I pulled onto our street the sun was shining. There wasn't any branches or leaves on the ground that would signal strong winds. The empty trash can was still upright and by the curb waiting for me drag it back into the garage. Everything was as I left it. Whew!

After the terrible tragedy in Joplin, I was a little more on edge about the weather. Thankfully we were spared this time around. The whole episode has taught me to at least have the radio on in the car when driving in inclement weather or get a weather radio. Either way I don't want to be stuck in a BWW watching helplessly, again.

Self Esteem

It is funny/sad how an incident from your childhood can still effect you today. I was always one of the bigger kids at my school. You think that fact would have kept me from being teased, but that was not the case. I was teased so much in school that the mere mention of one the perpetrators names can cause me to slip into a mild depression.

Thanks to Facebook I have come across the ghosts of my past. Those little fuckers that caused me so much pain. Seeing their adult faces does not ease the pain. In fact it had me reliving some painful moments. Here is an example.

I was and continue to be a big guy. You know the kid who had to where husky sized jeans. Even though I was the husky kid I was really good at sports. Way above average in the little town I grew up in.

When I was a freshman in high school, I noticed a lot of the popular jocks had t-shirts on that said "200 pound club" or "250 pound club." I asked my football coach what that was about. He told me that you had to bench press that amount of weight three times in his presence to earn the shirt. I thought this might be a great way to accomplish something I could be proud of and have a shirt to prove it.

At the time I was lucky if I could bench press 100 pounds three times. So, I had some work to do. Being on the football team and the track team gave me ample opportunities to hit the weight room. Also, during the summer the weight room would be open three nights a week as long as there was a teacher to supervise.

I hit the weights hard. I was there at every opportunity. I was there so much that the teachers would ask me if I was going to be there so they new if they had to or not. I lifted before school and after practice. During the summer I was there 3 nights a week, every week.

I made it past the 200 and 250 pound club my sophomore year, but I didn't test out because I wanted to achieve what no one else at my school had done - 300 pounds. I figured that would something I can strut around school about. No one could take that from me.

My junior year I fractured my elbow during a football game. That set me back the entire year. It took six months before I could lift without pain. It took another three months to get back to where I left off.

A few months into my Senior year I was ready to see if I could qualify for the 300 pound club. I met my defensive coach (we called him Chief) and another teacher (I can't remember her name) as a witness after school. After the warm up, I lifted 300 pounds three times with relative ease. My coach pushed me into trying a higher weight. In the end I lifted 350 pounds three times. Chief was great. He told me how he appreciated my hard work and that no one in the history of the weight club at our school had earned the 350 shirt.

Of course I was beaming. I was walking on cloud nine. It took a week to get my shirt. When I did I could not wait to wear it to school. The next morning I wore with pride my hard earned trophy. I could not have been any more proud to wear a t-shirt in my life. Unfortunately the first people I come across at school were my tormentors.

After seeing the shirt, they made jokes that the shirt stood for how much I weighed. They proceeded to tease me at high volumes. By lunch time I had withstood a barrage of fat jokes. It was too much for me (remember I have no self esteem.) I drove home at lunch and changed shirts. I threw my newly acquired prize in the trash. Something that took me three years of hard work to earn was rendered a complete failure in ONE morning.

When I went back to school, I hid in the only safe place - the weight room. I missed all my afternoon classes because I could not stand to be around anyone. I just lay on the wrestling mats and stared at the ceiling until I felt it was safe to go home.

I continued to lift and participate in the sports I had left, but I never really got over the 350 pound club and how easy it was to take away.

My Dad

Last Wednesday my dad had surgery on his right shoulder. He injured it when he flipped his riding lawn mower. I don't know how he did that, but he did. It turned out that injury may have saved his life.

While dad was recovering from his shoulder surgery, he suffered a heart attack. Since the surgery took place in a hospital in a small town, they had to fly him via a helicopter to a hospital in Greeley, CO.

After they stabilized him, they discover he had blood clots in all his arteries. They immediately started him on blood thinners, but that caused internal bleeding from his surgically repaired shoulder. After a back and forth with the blood thinners, they were able to stop the bleeding and begin thinning out the blood clots.

I almost lost my dad that day. Thankfully he is out of the woods and may go home today. What a relief. If dad would have been at work or home instead of in a hospital when he suffered the heart attack, he may not have survived. Interesting how an accident in the summer saved his life this fall. I'm grateful.

Tough Year

This has been a tough year for Queentuffy and I. Queentuffy's dad is still fighting cancer (and doing a great job) and earlier this year my mom was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Luckily both her dad and my mom are doing great. Mom was declared cancer free at her last PET scan and gets here chemo port removed in 2 weeks. Queentuffy's dad is putting on weight and looks and sounds his best since this all started in June 2009.

Financially it was tough because we had to exist as a one income household for about 6 months. It was rough at times, but we made it through. After we become a two income household again, we refinanced the house and have made a few changes to keep things rolling. We could always do more to save money, but somehow we cannot seem to stay focused.

Now for the good news. I just learned today that we are going to get some of the 10% pay cut back. Only 2%, but I will take it. I hope this trend continues. Being back to where we were in 2008 would be great. It will be nice to plan vacations, again. I hope everyone else is feeling as optimistic as I am.

Passion

Queentuffy and I have been catching up on TV shows via DVD. Our latest is Project Runway (don't judge me.) Though I know nothing of fashion, I like the show. When I was a kid, I wanted all my shirts to have numbers on them similar to football jerseys. Yes, I was that fashion forward.

As I mentioned before, I know nothing of fashion and the industry associated. I still find Project Runway fascinating and entertaining. I don't find the clothes or the judges all that interesting. What I do find interesting is the designers. Watching people follow their passion is great TV.

Watching these passionate people gets me thinking about what makes me passionate. That is where the problem begins. I can't think of anything that I am passionate about. The designers on Project Runway have spent many hours per day for many years perfecting this passionate craft. Some of the designers wanted to do nothing else that they struggled to the point of homelessness to keep the dream alive.

I am a person who has many interests. Nothing I would call a passion. In high school I played sports, was an award winning artist, and gear head (I partially restored a '53 Ford.) Since high school I learned to play the drums and was in and out of a few bands. None of these things kept me engaged enough to be passionate about them.

I wonder if life would be better or worse having a dream you are so passionate about that it is all encompassing. I think this kind of passion makes some people's life worth living. But does it have the same affect on everyone. I don't know the answer to that, but I wish I had a passion to follow. I will keep looking. Maybe one day I will find one.

Toothache Weekend

I couldn't sleep Tuesday night because my one of my teeth was causing me discomfort. So I made an appointment to see my dentist on Wednesday. My dentist thinks that that tooth is abcessing and sent me to a specialist. Unfortunately, I had a deadline at work and could not see the Endodontist until Monday. At the time it didn't seem like a big deal. Until Friday.

Friday morning I woke up and the tooth felt fine. I had a bowl of cereal and headed for work. During my commute the tooth starting hurting. It hurt all day. The only relief I could get was swishing cold water in my mouth and that only works for a short period of time. I forgot my pain medication at home and Queentuffy was gracious enough to bring it to me. I took two vicodin because I was in severe pain. That made me sick to my stomach and went home early from work.

I could not get any comfort. I went to bed after dinner and couldn't sleep. Queentuffy and I got up around 1 am and watched DVRd American Idol episodes (don't judge us.) I took some more vivodin and tried to go to sleep. Finally at 4 am we decided to go to the emergency room.

The er doc gave me a shot to deaden the pain. That was great. We finally got some sleep after 5 am. I slept until about noon and got up because I was hungry. I had another bowl of cereal. Soon after the tooth started hurting again. I quickly showered and went and had the prescription the er doc gave me filled. I took two percosets and hoped for the best. Another hour passed and I took a third percoset.

We almost went back to the er because nothing was working. Finally the percosets made me sleepy. I went to bed at 3:30 in the afternoon. I slept until 9:30 the next morning. The good news is my tooth doesn't hurt as bad. I think it was the cold of the cereal causing the problem.

Monday I will probably have a root canal. Normally I wouldn't be this excited about having a hole drilled in my tooth, but this is going to be such a relief. I can't wait.

Christmas Non-Secular

With the holiday season upon us again, I have been nostalgic. I remember that we would be photographed surrounded by our gifts in a before and after setup. As a child, that was what Christmas was to me - a chance to get gifts and be with family.

I remember being disappointed when I found out it was a religious holiday. I have never been a religious person. Not back then. Not now. Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, et al were the major players of this holiday. Tree, lights, cartoons, singing, and decorating were the major activities. And I look back at that time with fondness.

Maybe I was just being a spoiled child. Maybe I wasn't. Life for a five year old is simple and wondrous. I didn't need anything to complicate something so wonderful. Wouldn't it be great to have that feeling back. Being a kid rocked. It rocked harder during the holidays. My toughest tasks back then was trying to figure out what was behind the wrapping paper. I became a master at working the corners and sneaking a peek inside. Sorry, Mom. I cheated and knew a good percentage of my gifts by using this technique.

But that was the fun. No midnight mass. No worrying about credit card bills or being laid off. Just the giddiness of getting gifts, singing carols, and watching the stop motion TV shows like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Who wouldn't want that?

Easy Resolutions

I usually don't do New Year's resolutions. I don't know why. I have many areas of me that I would like to improve. I think setting resolutions that change a person are very difficult to keep. So, I will set some resolutions that will be fun to keep and still improve my life. Here we go.

1. Finish my bachelor's degree. I am only 18 credit hours away. While this doesn't fit in the fun category, it will create more free time to have fun.
2. Workout more. Again, this may not sound like fun. But, I do like to lift weights. I think that is all I did in high school besides play football. Going to the gym to lift is fun. Going to the gym to run not so much.
3. Be a better husband. This will be fun. Queentuffy deserves better than the usual me. So, I will be stepping up in this area.
4. Be a better friend. I have met some great people, and some have become my friend. I am not the most attentive friend. I don't make the phone calls I should or share my true feelings. Logtar can attest to this fact. I promise to be better.
5. Go fishing more. I have a boat and all the equipment and time. I have no excuses. Queentuffy and I will be catching more fish this year.
6. Drums. I have made friends with musicians this year. And they have rekindled my desire to play the drums. It has been 5 or 6 years since I was in a band. Time to dust off the drums and get back into playing. Maybe I will find a band.
7. Find a career I love or at least tolerate. I have put a lot of effort and keeping employed in 2009. This was made significantly harder because I don't like my current career. I will continue with my soul search and item 1 of this list.

Well. That is all I can think of right now. These should be pretty easy to do with the exception of the last item on the list. Wish me luck.

Career Matched?

I recently read Career Match by Shoya Zichy. It was not what I was expecting, but in a good way. I knew it would deal with what career would work best with my personality. Of course, there would be a personality test. I have taken personality tests before. Including the Myers-Briggs when in college, but the results were less than accurate. So, I was skeptical.

The authors give you a 10 minute test called the Color Q Personality Style Self Assessment. After you finish the results are easy to garner. Your results are given to you in colors red, green, blue, and gold. You are assigned a primary color and a secondary color. I won't go into what each pairing means and just tell you that I am a Red/Green.

The test, also, determines if you are an introvert or an extrovert. I already knew before taking the test that I am an introvert, but I took the test in its entirety, and the result was the expected introvert. So, my final personality type result is Red/Green introvert.

After reading the description of the Red/Green introvert I discovered the authors were right. They nailed it. Their description of me matched my results of the personality test. I was surprised. As I mentioned before I had taken other tests and the results were iffy. Not this time. They were accurate.

Here are a few things the book mentions about Red/Green introverts that are me.

1. Like to initiate and implement change.
2. Excel in assignments that are nonrepetitious.
3. Most productive when left on my own.
4. Is relaxed and informal.
5. Unattractive surroundings will distract and irritate me.
6. Encourages rapport through a sense of humor.
7. Offers a high degree of trust.

After confiming that the description was right, I read on to see what was thought to be a good career path. The book lists many careers broken out by industry. The list is nowhere near being complete or is said to be as such, but it gives a pretty good starting point. Here are some examples for Red/Green introverts that I thought were interesting.

Arts and entertainment

• artist, photographer, entertainment agent, film editor, and art director

Business

• lawyer, product designer, public relations specialist, and business coach

Health Science

• gynecologist, speech pathologist, nurse, and primary care physician

These were just a few careers and industries. Now I have to use the information I have and brain storm on what I want to do when I grow up. I'm still clueless, but I feel I'm getting closer. It will take some hard work and some hard thinking. I will have to do some soul searching. I am confident that I will figure this out.

If you are in the situation as me or just curious about your Color Q personality, I recommend reading this book. It may surprise you.

Where Have I Been

At the beginning of last month I thought it would be cool to post once a day for the month. In reality I posted once the entire month. I know. I'm a slacker.

So, what the hell have I been upto that has kept me away from my blog? The short answer is procrastination. I am the king of procrastination. I'll prove it to you later. :)

Other things have been happening besides avoiding posting here. I finally have two fully functioning knees. In this post I tell you about my knee pain. That was on October 7th. Holy shit! This went on longer than I realized.

After I went to my primary doctor and was told I strained a tendon, I decided to go see an Orthopedic Surgeon. I figured two months was enough time to be in pain. I made the appointment and saw the nurse practioner for the surgeon. She gave me the routine knee check and sent me to get x-rays. These x-rays revealed nothing. Surprise! So they said I needed to get a MRI.

After waiting 4 days for my insurance to approve the appointment, I had a MRI done on a Friday after work. I didn't hear about the results until the following Wednesday. As you can imagine I am getting tired of this thing dragging on. The results from my MRI were inconclusive. I have a little cartilage tearing and a little arthritis in the knee. Neither of which the doctor thought was bad enough to cause the pain I was having.

So, I have to make an appointment and go back to see the orthopedic surgeon for another exam. This exam will supposedly decide which form of treatment I will require. Surgery or a cortizone shot. I wait another week and a half before they can see me again. Yes, I am a happy camper at this point. This time I actually get to see the surgeon. He is a great guy, but a little hurried. He put my knee through the paces, again. Twist the knee and ask me if that hurts. Thankfully it didn't hurt on any of the twists he subjected me and my patient knee to.

After that he explains what he thinks is going on. Which is the exact same thing they told me the MRI results led them to believe. He then did something I didn't expect. He asked me which option I think I should go with - the shot or the surgery. Well, I have a pretty long no surgery streak going and would like to keep it. So, I opted for the shot. The surgeon agreed with my decision.

Okay I got the shot and my knee feels great. It is so nice not having pain or fear of the knee giving out on me. For the first time in a long time I can say my knee feels normal. Its just too bad it had to take from the end of August to the day before Thanksgiving to get it resolved.

Cars

I hope I don't have to think about this seriously for years to come, but what would I want as my next car. I would love to have a car that would keep me away from the gas pump. Nothing would be nicer in my auto universe than never having to pay for gas again.

So, would alternative fuels like hydrogen work for me? Nah. I would prefer to plug my shiny new ride into a wall socket and let it "refuel" while I sleep or while I work. I wouldn't miss stopping at QT once a week at all.

But.

I don't want a "traditional" looking electric car. I want something that looks like a powerful gas guzzler. Maybe something along the lines of a muscle car. You know a '69 Chevelle. I want it to look like it could burn the tires off while going 0-60 in 4 seconds.

Come on Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, etc. Its time to step it up. Create something I would actually want to own. Otherwise, I have to hope my SUV lasts forever.

To recap.

This....

Not this.

My Knee Hurts

As the title suggests my knee hurts. I went to the doctor and she said I strained a tendon in my knee. I looked it up on the webs and discovered that a strained tendon in the knee is also called Jumpers Knee.

I think I over used the knee. I started working out again about a month and a half ago. I don't recall a single incident in which I hurt said knee, but it started swelling and aching one night while bowling. I doubted bowling had anything to do with the injury, but I had to have it checked out.

I saw the doctor about three weeks ago and she prescribed less treadmill and more Aleve. I complied. The swelling has gone down and I no longer have a noticeable limp, but I don't feel anywhere near 100%. I haven't been back to the gym out of fear of making it worse. I didn't figure it was going to take this long to heal. Between the webs and friends experience it looks like it is going to take months not days to heal. Crap.

I plan on going back to the gym this weekend bad knee or not. If this seems like a bad idea, I can't help it. I have a history of rushing back after an injury. I fractured my elbow during the first quarter of the first game of my junior year football season. The doctor told me it would take 3 to 6 months before I could return to sports. 3 to 6 months hell. The season only had 7 games left not including post season. I wasn't going to miss this season. We had a good team and I figured we could go far.

So returning back to practice on Monday I told coach that the doctor said it was hyperextended and I should take it easy for a week. Yes, I lied. With some foam rubber and a lot of athletic tape, I played the entire season. That season was extended because we made it to state playoffs. So, in all I played 8 and a half games with a fractured elbow.

I know it was a pretty stupid risk to take, but I was young and bullet proof. It took close to 10 years before I could completely straighten my elbow. I'm still not sure that it straightens all the way, but it is close enough. Oh yeah, it pops a lot still, too. Still I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Now back to the knee. Yes, I'm going back to the gym. Yes, I'm rushing it and it will probably take longer to heal because of it. No, that isn't going to stop me. I still feel like that 16 year old kid with a fractured elbow. There is no way I'm going to sit on the sidelines.

Careers

I'm always curious about other people's careers. How did you come into this job? Do you like your job? If not, what would you prefer to do? These are just a few questions I would ask you if you were standing right here right now. I'm always curious because I have met people who have a college degree that is not related to their current position. This fascinates me.

Need to Get It Together

There are many things that I need to improve about my life. Don't get me wrong. There a lot of things about my life that I love, but there are the areas I would like to improve.

Like anyone else I would love to get into shape (other than round) and lose some weight. I started going back to the gym thanks to my BFF. We were getting into a grove and then I strained a tendon in my knee. Ouch! The knee is getting closer to normal. I look forward to getting back to the gym.

I have some house projects that need attention. I'm sure Queentuffy would like me to finish those. I think the only way I'm going to finish them is to create a list and start checking off the projects as I get them done.

My career is a whole other problem. In fact it will take another blog post to cover that. The overall theme is it is time to take the steps. They may be baby steps, but steps none the less.

Loyalty

When is loyalty one-sided in life? I can't count how many times I've been asked to show loyalty to this and that. I've never asked for loyalty to be shown towards me. I guess I always figured that my loyalty will be paid back with your loyalty. Was I wrong?

Nothing will let you know about others loyalty to you like hard times. Is your loyalty contigent on times being good? As soon as the chips are down are all loyalty bets off? It seems that this is the case.

When I'm loyal to you, I will do what I can to improve your situation, make you look good, do what it takes for you to be successful. What do you do for me? Make sure we have status quo? I will go above and beyond. I have and will continue to do so for those I'm loyal. I guess you will continue to take advantage of that. Expecting more and giving less.

Well those days are over. My loyalty will now match yours. You can blame outside factors, but we both know its all on you. Thanks for taking advantage of my loyalty. My eyes are open. It won't happen again. I will find someone else who will return my loyalty and they will benefit. And you? You better hope you never need a favor from me.