Tell me why you called!

I guess I get impatient a lot, but I often wonder why people call and then pass the time with small talk and then after a while tell me why they really called. I try to turn that around, and sometimes people get annoyed at me. When I call someone I will tell them why I called, then pass some time with finding out about their family and what is going on in their life. The response I often get is people hang up on me not realizing I just want to chat for a while. I try to change my style of phoning sometimes and I find when I start off with small talk I forget why I called. Maybe the reason I called is really not important, but I often have to call the person back to find the information I originally called about.

Many novels are written in the same way many people call. Jean Auel wrote "Clan of the Cave Bear" and the book is 8 inches thick. Half of the book is descriptions of the fauna and terrain of the are and only half tells the story. I didn't enjoy reading all the descriptive information, but enjoyed the story. Of course, the description is in the first half of the book, so I just flipped quickly through it till I got to the story. I wish we could do that with phone calls, get to the point of the call, then if we have time, and want to, talk about what is going on in our lives. That is the way I try to writhe this blog, tell you what I want to saay, then include pictures of other things I have been doing which you can look at if you want.

Today I worked in two schools. California High in San Ramon, Calif. is a great school that I always enjoy visiting. The people there are very nice and the kids are polite. I then went to La Paloma High which is a continuation high school is Brentwood, Calif. I had never been to this school before and was very impressed with the kids. They were nice and smart. Some dressed like "thugs" with their pants hanging below their butt and hats on backwards. All of the kids were nice people and their scores were pretty good. Then I went to spend some time with my boss. I really like talking to him because he usually tells me that I am doing a good job and he has heard good things about what I have been doing.

I am usually on the road and don't have much contact with the people I work for/with. I get discouraged sometime because I don't know if people appreciate, or even know, what I do. Talking to Major Renazco made me feel good today. When I got home I took a nap since I had to leave early this morning and I got a call from the recruiter I will be working with tomorrow in Templeton, California (near Paso Robles). He asked what time I would be at the school tomorrow morning and I told him 11, since the session didn't start until noon. He told me it started at 9am and ended at noon. So, I drove down half way tonight and am staying at my mom's house in  Monterey.

Tomorrow I will drive another 1.5 hours south to Templeton and work there for 3 hours. I then will drive to Cedarville, California which is 10 hours north near where Oregon and Nevada border California. I will take my time and not drive the whole distance in one day. I will take lots of pictures and enjoy the drive through beautiful California!!

I have an allergy ... I guess

I have never known I had an allergy, but I think that is the answer to my problem. About 4 weeks ago I had some symptoms of a cold. My nose stated to run very much. I was coughing a lot, because of the runny nose. My voice was rough, because of the coughing. It reminded me of when I was young and my nose often was runny and I always had to have a handkerchief in my pocket. I don't have that problem often in that last few decades of my life, but it is really affecting me now. I haven't had time to go to the doctor lately so I have been putting up with the problem. It gets a little embarrassing to have a runny nose all the time while I'm making presentations to students.

I would have the pointer in one hand and a Kleenex in the other. In addition, I my voice is really starting to be affected and I am going hoarse. I did some research on the internet to see how to stop the runny nose and could only figure out to use allergy medicine. I have been taking it for 2 days now and my runny nose has stopped. I am not sure if I have an allergy, but if the allergy medicine has stopped the runny nose then I am happy with that!!

Run or Jog

Mt. Shasta

I am exercising outside now instead of a gym. I was running around the block for a couple of days which is one mile and now I have doubled that to around two blocks which is 2.6 miles. I always have tried to jog the whole distance, but my mind isn't really into the pain of forcing myself to go without walking. I want to loose weight and be able to run the 5 mile races I have coming up. In the past two days I have decided to try to do the distance faster, not worrying if I can run the whole distance without walking. I realized I was jogging and walking so I changed it to running and walking. I don't think it is the best way to accomplish what I want to do, but I go back to my premise of "do what you will do, don't do what you won't do".

ship mast

I was jogging 2.6 miles in 39 minutes and I have gotten the 2.6 miles down to 32 minutes. The way to increase the speed is run faster, which isn't so easy, or walk less. I am getting energized by seeing the time drop even though I know it won't continue dropping quickly. When I started running with my daughter, Lindsey, she would run and walk like I am doing now as I chugged along trying to jog the entire distance. I might go back to jogging again, but for right now I will try to increase my time for the 2.6 miles and see how I do when I run the 5 mile race on June 1st in the San Jose Giant race. In August is the San Francisco Giants race and I will try to get a better time.

Point Arenas

New Star Trek Movie

 Today I went to the movies again. I had two assignments, first I was to go to Great Gatsby again, 3 screens, to verify what I had done last week. Second I got to see the new Star Trek movie that started today. The Great Gatsby is still one I would recommend you just walk out and don't watch the whole thing. The Star Trek movie was great. In fact, I watched it twice on the same day. It is shown in 2D and 3D so I watched both. The 2D version was very good and the 3D version was better. This was one of those movies you don't think about time. When it was done I thought it had just started. It is also one of those movies everyone applauds when it is over because it was so good.

This movie brought out all emotions, I was excited during the action scenes and interested in the scenes when it showed things about science. The acting was a little too much during the emotional scenes, but everyone in the theater reacted the way we were supposed to. It was like the old Indiana Jones movies where the action started at the beginning and didn't stop until the end of the film. For the Trekies there were many references to the TV show and original movies. There was even a Tribble!! The old Spock was back to remind us of one episode of the show that helped the new Spock think of how to outwit the bad guys.

I would highly recommend anyone that has liked any of the previous Star Trek shows or movies to see this. I don't know about New Generation of any of the other spinoffs since I never liked any of those.

Award Winning Daughter

2013 Santa Clara High Softball Team

Tonight I went to the Santa Clara High School Spring Sports Awards Banquet. My youngest daughter, Sarah, was on the softball team this semester. She played first base and improved a lot defensively from previous years. Her batting wasn't as good as in the past. This is her third year playing softball for the school, first year on varsity. In the past years, on JV, she had gotten MVP and made all-league. This year she wasn't the best on the team and we didn't think she would get any award. She wasn't MVP, she wasn't Most Improved, she was just a normal player.

A hit in a tournament.

 I felt bad because I couldn't really help her improve. I didn't play baseball in high school. I was on the swim team, but that never interested any of my kids. I have been taking my daughters to softball games since 2001 when my oldest daughter played her first time when she was 12 years old. I have been taking Sarah to games since she was 8. She has played outfield, first base, second base, third base, pitcher, and catcher over the years. I have been a strong supporter from the stands and taken her to batting cages over the years, but it has been up to her coaches to improve her game. On her team this year 80% of the girls on the team had fathers that were coaches, some were Sarah's coaches over the years. I wish I could help improve my daughter's skills, but I can just keep encouraging her.

Safe!

We went to the awards night tonight thinking it would be the first in high school she didn't get an award, but we were wrong. There was an MVP, an outstanding offensive player and and outstanding defensive player and we thought that was it. They also had a coaches award and they awarded that to Sarah for her positive attitude. Sarah pulled out another award that we didn't even know was out there. She doesn't live with me and I have never seen all the awards in her room, but it must take up all of her wall space!!

Back in the day...

Farting to the Music

Running in SF

Today I started running on the treadmill and I knew I had to pass gas. I didn't want to embarrass myself because there were many people on the treadmills next to me and on the elliptical behind me so I was going to stop and go outside for a little bit. Then I realized the music was playing really loud and I farted when the drum was playing on the beat. I felt comfortable letting go on the BOOM of the drum. BOOM/FART, BOOM/FART, BOOM/FART was the rhythm that I was able to match. I thought no one could hear it because the music was loudest when I farted. I realized I had more gas than I thought so I was glad I didn't try to hold it. I was smiling and figured no one knew why because of the BOOM/FART, BOOM/FART going on. I finally finished my 2 miles and turned off the machine and started getting down from the treadmill I looked at the people around and behind me. Half of them were laughing and half were turning green from the smell. Then I realized I had my earbuds in and only I could hear the music!!

Running in San Jose

No, that didn't really happen, I just heard the joke a long time ago and figured that was a good way to tell it. These days I am running outside every day. I am running 2.5 miles instead of 1 mile. My daughter graduates from UC San Diego on 16 March which is only a month away. When my first daughter graduated from UC Davis two years ago I saw a picture of myself and promised myself I wouldn't look that fat when my second daughter graduated. I lost 25 pounds since then, from 210 to 180, and I look much better. I think it would be nice to loose 10 more pounds by Jayne's graduation so she knows I lost it specifically for her. I am very proud of her and hope she realizes it. I have already lost 4 pounds and down to 176. I CAN DO IT!!

June 2011 at Lindsey's graduation

My "bragging picture"

Brown Lips

11th grade picture

When I was a senior in high school I went back and visited my favorite teacher. Mr. Bucich was my 5th grade teacher. He enjoyed teaching Science the most and seemed to always have a positive attitude. He told me he had one piece of advice for me and that was to remember that when I knew what I wanted I shouldn't worry whose ass I had to kiss. He used the term "brown nose", but I always thought if you kiss their ass you would have "brown lips". He told me that in 1974 and I have often thought about that.

What color is Pooh's poop?

After I graduated from college I was in the military as an officer. I heard many people say if a civilian had to put up with the terrible things that military people had to put up with they would quit, but military people couldn't quit. That talking was contagious and I sometimes listened to it and thought maybe that was true. Then I would think about Mr. Bucich and think about brown lipstick. I then laughed that brown lips can come from eating too much chocolate also. I tried not to listen to the "naysayers" and if someone would tell me to jump I would ask how high. I know a couple of times I didn't get my lips deep brown enough and I regretted it.

Life is like a Box of Chocolates

Sometimes there are people that ask which is most important work or family. Work is more important! It doesn't mean you leave your family for work, it means you find work that allows you to spend the time you want with your family. But, fight to keep your job. If you think you should have a better job then get the new job before you quit your present job. Never jeapordize your job. If you have a boss that is on a power trip and always wants to show you they are stronger than you then accept that they have the power.

Pool at the family mansion (not my family)

Today I was talking an Army National Guard Sergeant I work with and he made the comment that if a civilian had to do all stuff he was required to do they would quit. I told him he was wrong. If a civilian was required to do all he had to do they would work later and make sure it was done right. People complain too much and don't realize how good they have it. This Sergeant didn't think about how much he gets paid, almost $100,000 a year to deal with the problems he has to deal with. He has 3 years left in the job before he starts getting a pension of 50% his present pay. People should look at what they have, not what they don't have. I was out of work for over 2 years and I have had what they don't have.

I loved this car!!

Happy Mother's Day

Jayne, Lindsey, Mom, Sarah

I have three daughters, and they all have the same mother (someone asked me that once). I have been divorced for over 10 years and I am confident I made the right decision to divorce. I was very unhappy when I was married. My ex-wife had two roles, wife and mother. I can judge her as a wife and I don't feel she was successful in that role. I can judge her as a mother and I think she did a good job at that. She did not do things the way I would have done them, but my kids are well educated and nice people. I am very proud of my kids so I must give credit to their mom. At some time in their lives my kids will let me know if the decisions I made were the best for them.

Before we were married we thought we would be happy forever

I think we need to remember that our kids' mothers are important to the children has more relavence than what kind of partner they were. Children are what is important to life and that should not be forgotten. When I was going through my divorce I did a lot of soul searching in deciding whether I should fight to have my kids live with me or have them live with their mother and me have financial difficulties for a couple of decades. I thought the girls would be better to live with their mother, but I live 10 minutes from them so I am a constant person in their lives. I am not sure if their every day lives were comfortable, but I never heard complaints.

Kids when we were going through divorce

The real test of whether my kids' mom was successful at being a mom is how they do in school (they did good) and how they start their careers after they finish their education (so far so good!).

My mobile home park is home!

I live in Silicon Valley which is one of the most expensive places to buy a house in America. When I moved into my own home I wanted to buy something and not rent something. Not to make a profit, but because I just think it is easier to live in your own home. A simple 2 bedroom 1 bath house in this area could cost more than $300,000. I needed at least 2 bedrooms so my kids could visit me every other weekend. Instead of moving into an apartment I bought a mobile home. I don't have yard work and I have my own space. I live in a very safe place, mainly because we are tucked away in a corner that no one notices this mobile home park is here. We have million dollar condominiums across the street so if someone wants to steal something they wouldn't come to this side of the street.

I have great neighbors. On one side my neighbor is a single guy in his 50s that is quiet and very helpful to me. On the other side there is an older couple that is always assisting me with chores around the outside and the man always puts my trash out of Wednesdays since I am often on the road. Across from me seems to be a halfway house and the residents are often outside and talking on the phone. A police car is outside sometimes. There is also a retired Marine near me that competes with me in displaying the flag and always stops and says hi when I'm outside. There is a very nice Muslim family near me that is very respectful to everyone and nice to know. I have been here for over 10 years and I have always been proud of where I live.

I like where I live and I think it was a good choice of a place to live. I have been here long enough and soon will be ready to move on. I'm not sure where nor what kind of housing I will live in, but I will never regret living here over the past few years. In fact, I think I have lived here longer than I have ever lived anywhere in my life!!

Get up and WALK OUT!

Not me ...

How many times have you watched a movie so bad that you wanted to just get up and walk out? My kids used to make fun of me because I would sleep during movies rather than watch them. I have always sat through movies that I didn't like because I paid for it. I also am usually with someone and don't know if they are as bored as I am. Once I went to a movie with a girl that she got up and left, walked to another movie until she found one she liked. With my new secret shopping stint of checking movie trailers I don't pay for movies, but I can watch anyone I want. I have gone to a few movies for free so far. I have seen Oblivion, 42, Scary Movie V, Iron Man 3, and today I saw Great Gatsby.

Oblivion I walked out, Scary Movie V I didn't even watch after the first 30 seconds, 42 I watched it twice, Iron Man 3 I sat through (but I don't know why), and today Great Gatsby I walked out. I feel like a movie critic now, instead of a thumbs up or down ... I will give it a walk or don't walk. The only movie that I have seen lately that was a don't walk is 42. If you have to go to a movie Iron Man is bearable. I love movies. I like the way they help me to escape, but I don't like movies that encourage me to escape to dream land. Next week is Star Trek and I hope that one doesn't disappoint me!! (and the best part of this job is they send me a check for about $30 every 2 weeks!)

Shop till you Drop

I love you!

Today I did a secret shopping at Ross Dress for Less. In the one I did today was to check if the right sizes were in the right places. I looked at 125 items in Men's jeans, Women's active bottoms, Junior tops, and Junior Dresses. It reminded me of going shopping with my oldest daughter for a dress for her 8th grade graduation. When I went with Lindsey I realize how much work women go through to shop. Not only do they need the right kind of clothes, and style, and material, and color, but if anything doesn't fit they start all over again in another store. We shopped for about 5 hours and didn't buy anything. I was physically exhausted and really didn't know if I could drag myself to the car after shopping.

Just want to cool down after shopping.

After going through all the racks today I remembered that feeling. I don't know how women do a whole day of shopping. I understand why there are food courts and why women go drinking after shopping.

Keeping Communication Open

I usually think I have a great job. I have much freedom to do what I want and I feel like I do things that improve people's lives. I like the fact that I can legitimately drive around Northern California to do my job. If I didn't drive around so much I wouldn't be doing my job.
On the other hand, sometimes, like tonight, I really don't like my job. I don't feel that I am important and everything I do is wrong. I feel that I am not appreciated by my bosses and they ignore me  because I don't make a contribution to the companies mission.
Why do I have these opposite feelings? I think it all comes down to open communication. I go out of my way to make sure everyone knows what I do and try to get feedback as often as I can. I have developed a system using Microsoft Outlook to keep everyone informed and participating. My supervisors only communicate with me when I am in trouble or if they need something. What that causes is anxiety and worry about how I am doing.
I always wondered why the boss has a morning meeting and we just review what we are going to do during the day. We usually do the same thing every day so the meetings seem redundant. I even did the same thing when I was a Company Commander in the Army. Now I realize that routine is important. It reduces the anxiety and increases the contentment in an organization. I will continue keeping the communication open and force more feedback from my bosses (after I figure out who really is my boss).