Worst question in the world

While we were home on vacation, we took a side trip to St. Paul to find a place to live and I had an interview with my new district manager.  Not a huge deal, it's all the rage within the company now.  I didn't have a ton of details as to how formal or informal this interview would be.  I didn't have know what to expect, I went in blind.  I liked that feeling.  If I am given any kind of insight as to what might be ahead, I start to over think things.  If you go in blind, you have to think on your feet and I have found that the first answer that comes to mind is the best.  As opposed to that rehearsed bullshit you have rolling around that noggin of yours because you over think ever possible question and try to find the 'best answer'.  The best answer is going to be the first thing that you think of that you can expand on.

The interview ended up being very relaxed, not insanely formal, but I was asked the one question that I absolutely cannot stand.

'Where do you see yourself in three to five years?'

Oh come on!  How can you honestly answer that?  It is almost a trap question.  Do you give the answer that they look for?  Do you say to them, 'I see myself moving up the corporate ladder.' or possibly answer with something like 'I see myself doing the exact same thing I am doing now.'?  Those kinds of answers satisfy those who ask them.  What would they do if you answered with an off the wall comment?  'In a ditch dead being humped by a meth head.'  'Cashiering at Wal-Mart after a nervous breakdown.'  'In the hills wearing an aluminum foil hat watching the sky.'  

But you are in an interview.  You are at the mercy of the person across the desk from you.  Depending on how desperate you are for a job, you'll give them the answer they seek.  But you can't see that far into the future.





For all we know, the alien army just landed at Area 51......again.

Heat week

I turned on the Weather Channel this morning to check out how hot it was going to be today.  It's something I do nowadays.  Probably because I'm getting old.  There was a weather bulletin that came up that stated the following.

Excessive Heat Warning in effect from 1 PM this afternoon to 7 PM CDT Wednesday.

That covers four days!  FOUR DAYS!  The projected temperatures for this week are the following (this is Sunday through Saturday):  105, 107, 109, 101, 100, 99, 96.  Yeah, finally, on Friday the heat starts to break. 

When we first started thinking about moving, it was because Andrea needed to find a job.  No big deal, people do it all the time.  People that I work with ask me why we want to move and that is always the first reason I give them.  We would like to have two incomes.  It helps keep our heads afloat.  The second reason I tell people is because we will end up being close to our families.  Instead of being a twenty hour car ride, it's only nine and a half hours.  And in the past month or so, I have been telling people that another reason is because it is way too hot here.  There have been over thirty days of one hundred degrees or more temperatures. 





And people ask me why I hate Kansas.  It's too damn hot. 

Not a cat person....apparently

Our cat, Libby, is a one person cat.  She hates everyone else.  Her person is Andrea.  No one else can pick her up, no one else really pets her, and it's whatever.  For the two weeks that Andrea is gone after I get back from vacation, I see the cat just a handful of times.

I just had the funniest and greatest situation with me and the cat today.  While I was sitting on the couch tonight watching television, she came slinking out of the bedroom.  Stopped.  Looked at me.  And walked back into the bedroom to hide under the bed.





I couldn't help but laugh a little bit. 

The great disconnect

While we were celebrating Dad's retirement at the cabin last weekend, I made it a point not to have my phone on.  It was some of the better four day spans in recent times.  Not having to check my phone because I thought I heard it ring or vibrate, not having to look to see what time it was by grabbing my phone, not having to worry about it at all.  It was just a nice disconnect from the world.  The other thing I was away from was the internet.  And you know what, I didn't miss it that much.

The way our lives and the world is now, we are connected all the time.  I laughed at my brother several times because even though he was on vacation, he still was doing work having to take phone calls from some of the morons that he works with.  Granted, he is going to get a full day's worth of vacation time back because he did spend close to eight hours over the course of the week on the phone doing work, but that is still time that he set aside to come home and escape from the working world.  I don't have a job that demands that kind of responsibility, which is nice.  I didn't have a care in the world for the four days we were at the cabin.  I find myself thinking more and more about using the internet less and less.  I shouldn't say 'using' the internet less and less, I should say 'being on' the internet less and less.  It's a time killer for sure.  Facebook is nice, but I find myself checking up on it two or three times a day.  I want to get away from that dependence to see what everyone is doing every waking hour.

I will still write as much as possible, but instead of going from useless website to useless website, I may read a book or go for a walk, or explore the city we are going to be moving to in August.  It's time to get out and enjoy the world.  Take a look in the mirror.  How much time to spend looking around the internet?  Can some of that time be spent reading a book or going for a bike ride?  Maybe it's time to take up a new hobby?  Have you ever wanted to learn how to change the oil in your car?  What about basket weaving, or maybe underwater basket weaving?  Take some time to better yourself and get away from the glow of the screen and the lure of the internet.







What are you waiting for?

Quiet month

Looking back at the month which is almost done, I haven't been writing too much.  I have been on vacation for the past two weeks which has taken up most of my time, which is great.  It's been relaxing.  I really don't care that there haven't been many writings.

Even if I hadn't gone on vacation, I don't really think I would have a ton to write about.  The government is falling apart, which is cool with me, they need a slap in the face from reality.  They need to get all their shit together and just realize that taxes need to be raised on the upper class to help out the budget.  Even if they don't want to give up their million dollar homes, their coke addictions, and their thousand dollar an hour hookers, they need to think of what is best for the people.  The people that they are suppose to represent.

The greatest news for this month is that we are going to be moving in August!  Moving to a suburb outside of Minneapolis.  Partly for my work, partly so Andrea can find a job.  Bigger city, closer to home, and in weather that we grew up in.  Gone are the winters with two inches of snow, gone are the months of too much heat, gone are the obnoxiously loud and overt Republicans who hate women and the working force.  It's exciting and very stressful.  We have been packing up our apartment for the past few months in the event that this situation happens.  It has, so we are a little ahead of the game, but there is still a little bit to be done down in Wichita.  I start up in Minnesota in a month and once again, it'll be nice to get some place new and start anew.

Baseball milestones

Derek Jeter today collected his 3,000th hit.  While he plays for one of the most hated organizations in all of the major sports leagues, as a sports fan you have to be happy for him.  *Sigh*  I hate being happy for someone who plays for the New York Yankees, but his professionalism far outreaches the uniform he wears.  He isn't the first person to reach the milestone, but he is the first to do it as a current Yankee which surprised me, but whatever.

I got to thinking about the greater feats in baseball and which are the most impressive.  Because this started out about the 3,000th hit, I am going to keep it on the offensive side of the game.  There are two feats that come to mind for me and they are Joe DiMaggio's fifty six game hitting streak and Ted Williams being the last player to hit for a four hundred batting average over the course of the year.  Not only are they the holders of two of the more impressive records, they also had pretty awesome nicknames.  'Joltin' Joe' and 'Teddy Ballgame' amongst others.

DiMaggio's fifty six game hitting streak is so impressive not only because of the length of the streak, but checking into the statistics, he hit over four hundred.  Four oh eight to be exact according to the baseball almanac.  And he had a slugging percentage of seven seventeen.  So it wasn't like he was going one for four for fifty six straight games. 

With Williams' four hundred season, I concede that this isn't the only one in major league baseball history nor is it the highest batting average total for an entire year, but to be able to go up to the plate game after game and get a hit four times out of ten, damn that's good stuff.  Consider the fact that a three hundred batting average nowadays is a 'very good season' it makes four hundred look untouchable.  And take a look at the longevity of this streak.  1941.  There have been some very excellent hitters since 1941, but no one comes close since Williams in 1941.  What did he do to follow up this great season?  Oh nothing.  Unless you consider fighting in two wars something of note.  No big deal.  Like your freedom?  Thank Teddy Ballgame.





Unless you want the terrorists to win....

Why I couldn't be a broadcaster

While watching the the Tigers/Royals game tonight, I came to the realization that I could not be a professional sports broadcaster, not that I have plans or dreams to be one.

In the second inning, Ryan Raburn crushed a home run to left field.  The first words out of my mouth were 'Oh!  He hit the shit out of that one!'

That was in the second inning so it wasn't like I had a handful of beers because we all know that one thing that comes out after a bunch of barley pop it's swear words.

'A' looked at me and told me that all I would have to do is just substitute the swear words for catch phrase words.  I responded with 'You mean like "Oh!  He hit the snot out of that one!"'.  She looked at me and said:  'That's just gross babe.'  

Wimbledon

I do my best to try to watch sports that do not interest me.  From basketball to soccer to tennis.  I have found a nice little place in my heart for soccer recently.  I think that it has to do with the fact that it is played in two nonstop halves.  It is nice because it is something that I can turn on and have in the background if I have an urge to listen/watch some sports. 

Basketball I can never get into.  There is always going to be the college basketball tournament which is intriguing because of the brackets that everyone fills out. 

And then there is tennis.  I tried.  I really did.  I tried to watch some matches at Wimbledon this year and even last year.  I just cannot keep interested.  I think that it is the starting and stopping constantly.  There are very few rallies in the matches that can really keep going past a minute or two.  I am not going to say that I hate tennis, it just bores me. 





Kind of like basketball.