I Think

man...it's going to be a hell of as summer there in So TX and here in FL. we're We've been having some daily whoopers. Today's t-storm bursts weren't too bad -- not as bad as the other days. In fact, because I knew it was coming, I could watch it and marvel safely. Tomorrow I'll go by the Gulf waters with my cameras late in the day ... mebbe throw a bridge or two in the pictures.

Stay safe.

1077a. One of the moringas got pounded flat yesterday. I made a circle of hardware cloth and propped it up. Maybe it can get strong, but at least the other two look good to this point.
1078a. Slogging in the rain has me tired. More so than usual. I have the weekend to rest. Next weekend the owners will take up half of Sunday. Hopefully I will feel rested by then. Today is my 20 year anniversary on the job.
1079a. I got locked out of my facebook account. The message told me there was a security issue on an unnamed web site, where I am a member, and they shut me down for my own safety. I tried for a time to get back in. The identifications they wanted from me were simply too intrusive, so I opened up a new account. Now I've got to give up on Angry Birds, because it would be all but impossible to recapture all those crowns.
1080a. At this point in the campaign, I cannot see Romney as having a true shot at winning. On the other hand, I never believed for a moment that the Bush brothers could be successful in politics.
1081a. I am greatly in suspense waiting on the new rover to set down on Mars.

Happy 20th anniversary. IMHO, they should give you a raise as you are always available for some heavy nasty jobs.

Thank you, ragman. The boss was flooded in at home, so she didn't get a chance to mention it. I know raises are out of the question. They have never given a raise to the part time help.

There's always a first time.

I respectfully disagree, in this instance.

Well, I sense that you like the satisfaction of fixing so many different things.

My satisfaction is multifaceted. The job I have has benefited me every bit as much as the people living there and the company. I love being of service to them. It makes me appreciated. I rarely had that before on a regular basis. It's only a maintenance job, some might figure. But to me it is much more. I am a better person because of it. Before I came to work here, I could not speak to a stranger without discomfiture. I had a lifelong reluctance to approach anybody I had not known for at least years. In order to work here, one must face the people and deal with them. Which I finally did. In short, it was my therapy, being here.

That does sound rewarding in ways that gio far beyopndd a paycheck. However, that being said, they so seem to work you awfully hard - probably due to their not being able to retain other full-time staff so as to keep the work load manageable.

Staff is in the greatest flux since I came here. They have to get just the right team for it to work.

Good on ya, edgar. I guess my observations early in my life was somewhat similar in that I was very shy as a teenager. During my USAF days, I learned that most of the officers treated me very well, and they had me working with nuclear weapons, so I thought to myself that I really wasn't that stupid. I was selected Airman of the base for six months at Walker AFB, and got a Certificate from the Commanding General.

After I was discharged from the service, I learned that everybody puts on their pants the same way I do, and when they go to toilet, we all do it the same way; it didn't matter what their position in life. I think that's where the saying "some people think their **** doesn't stink" comes from.

When I worked for Florsheim Shoe Company, I was responsible to train store managers in the company bookkeeping process, so I had training classes every summer at our home office in Chicago. At other companys where I worked in management, I had management training classes on personnel management after I attended seminars.

From being shy in childhood, and how I progressed as an adult even surprised me.

It was fun, and I really enjoyed my jobs.

You are doing self-validation perhaps because you know maybe intuitively that is where the true job satisfaction lies (lays?).

I used to think most of problems I experienced (as far as jobs went) was that I was dysfunctional in relationship to how the work world was. Either that world seems to have slipped down to my level of dysfunction..or it always was this dysfunctional and I've discovered that the emperor has no clothes.

I never inspired confidence in anyone before I came here. Even my Navy service just marginally helped and that is because you can find niches in most situations that may help a tad but also insulate you from real experience and change. Most of my work after the Navy involved individual effort in the main, so I never had to step out that much. When I sold my own jobs I could get enough work to keep going, but the plum jobs and pay went to others. Eventually, I took my present job because I had been sliding downward and needed a spot to perch a while. Turns out it was the best move I could have made. I owe it to my wife for coaxing me to apply.

1082a. Yippee. The rain is slowly easing off. By Tuesday the probability of getting more will be below 50%. Areas all around us continue to be flooded. We are lucky to be on a relatively high spot that could not flood unless the deluge came at a rate of maybe 30 or more inches. Hopefully, global warming will not cause that to happen in my lifetime.
1083a. One of the kids that grew up with a nephew of mine is writing a screenplay. I enjoy his posts on facebook. I wish him success.
1084a. My gubmint check comes every third Wednesday of the month. I so enjoy being a socialist.

1085a. Many of us strive to serve others. It is often the driving force in a life. I have come to enjoy serving others at the apartments where I work. You would not believe the need among these people, many of whom are older than me. Most often I help smooth over day to day problems with the units they occupy. Many times a friendly word or a hand of friendship is required. It is not the sole reason I am there and probably not paramount, compared with my own needs, but it is important and rewarding.
1086a. When I go to my job on Saturdays, I go unannounced and perform certain tasks off the clock. Yesterday I planted some begonias that had been sitting in pots over a month and I cleaned mud off of the sidewalks. Not in hope of recognition or awards, but because I want the place to be as good as it can be.
1087a. I watched portions of a movie last night, in which the stars of Hogan's Heroes were involved. It takes place in East Germany during the cold war. A female athlete named Schultz is played by Elke Summers. Bob Crane is an American. The commandant is played by the guy that was known as Clink. Colonel Burkhalter actor was his aide. And the one that we know as I Know Nothing Schultz was a soldier. It had to have been filmed the same year that Hogan's Heroes ended.
1088a. My friend who went in the hospital recently has not been seen or heard from. About four days ago, his car was gone and returned. No word from his daughter. The man is 83. Old, but not too old. I hope he comes home soon.

1089a. The moringas have stayed alive, so far. Yesterday, they exhibited a bit of stress, due to all the rain. They may dry enough to survive. We rarely get this much of it, so if they get through this they should begin to thrive.
1090a. This will be the week before the owners pay us a visit. Still lots of small jobs to get finished before they come.
1091a. When driving, I think up starts to new lyrics, but let them die, these days. Got to stay focused on my main project.
1092a. One of the mockingbirds came back to challenge me at my front door yesterday evening. I had a white bag of trash in my hand at the time. I shook it at the bird and that was all it took to make it keep away. I think it remembers the crazy man and his white bag from some days back.

I find myself in a an awkward position: I'm cheering for a plant.

What have reality shows done to me?!

I have about three seeds left over. I need to plant them while they are still alive.

1093a. After the storms of yesterday, I begin to fear for my moringas. Only a week's dry weather can save them, I fear.
1094a. Doesn't seem to be much interest in Kitty Wells dying. I plan to begin a music thread on country music of the 40s 50s and early 60s. Begin with her and take it from there.
1095a. I fixed two leaky roofs at the apartments yesterday. Both were call backs. I will know this morning how well I did. When I worked as a roof repairman, I had very few call backs. But these apartment roofs sometimes develop persistent leaks that are hard to stop.
1096a. I have concluded that voting for Democrats this election is the only way to begin to establish a line of defense against the persistent calls for dismantling the government while enacting oppressive laws by fundamentalists (conservatives, teabaggers and such). It is just a beginning. Democrats all too often cave before them and/or act just like them. So, in the next four years liberals have to press for new resolve within their own party, while resisting the maniacal onslaught of teabaggers.