bad weather update

The ipod shuffle is done.  I listened to all seven hundred plus songs.  Now I'm just listening to whatever sparks my musical interest at the moment.  For example, I'm going through my Irish playlist and listening to The Wolfe Tones.  

There was a huge streak of storms that stretched from Oklahoma all the way up to Topeka that came through last night.  There were mighty winds (up to seventy mile per hour gusts), heavy rain, and some tornado sightings (nowhere near us, don't worry).  

By the time the storm came through Wichita, the tornado watch had been reduced to a severe thunderstorm watch.  The local news station was advising people to seek shelter in the lower level of the house or in storm shelter, etc. etc.  Across the driveway is the leasing office for the apartment complex.  The basement is used as the storm shelter.  So as A and I are watching the news and seeing the people go down there, I asked:

'So what do you think?' (in reference to going down there).

'I don't know, what do you think?'  

'Meh.'

Nice.  If we ever get sucked out of our house by a tornado, it was because we were to complacent to go to a storm shelter.  

feelings

No music playing at the moment...I'm high off of the Wings winning the Stanley Cup (4th in eleven years!)

A drug me to wal mart today to spend the rest of the gift cards we got for our wedding.  We bought a new air mattress (aka, the guest bed), a new cooler, and a lantern.  The last two are for preparations for the float trip we have coming up at the end of this month.   I always feel two things when I am there:

1.)Pity for anyone who enjoys shopping there.

and 

2.)Dirty.

Banned Chucks and an imprisoned Indian

Currently playing on the digital turntable:  Candy Store Rock by Led Zeppelin.  *Quick aside note:  I only need one more record (In Through the Out Door) to have the complete Zeppelin collection on LP.  I'm quite ecstatic. * 

The other night I had a dream, nightmare really, that my boss told me I could no longer wear my Chucks (pictured left) to work.  I remember asking why and was told that they were made in sweatshops in Asia and that with the war going on, I needed to buy shoes made in America to support the country.  Now, there are two things wrong with the whole situation.  One, work is starting to creep into my dreams.  I hear people joking about how you are in trouble if you start dreaming about work.  The second, is that politics are starting to show up in my dreams.  and I hate politics.  So I woke up thinking, 'Dammit, I don't own any American made shoes."  But who does?  

Another little additive:  

I finished reading 'Prison Writings:  My Life is My Sun Dance' by Leonard Peltier. (I know the internet isn't the best for one hundred percent accurate info, but this will give the basic run down of who he is, if you don't know).  

Read it.

Love it.

Embrace it.

Free Leonard.

Political oppression equals bad karma

Still shuffling:  Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley and the Wailers

A news story came across the wire about an hour which I thought was interesting.  Sharon Stone (yes, that Sharon Stone) is quoted as saying that the earthquake that occurred in China recently is the cause of bad karma.  The Chinese government (in all their oppressive glory) has just been manhandling the Tibetan people, peaceful monks, and their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Stone linked the bad behavior to the earthquake, citing karma as the reason why.  Do bad things and karma will shake your country like a rag doll.  

The fun little tidbit about this story is that the Chinese government released a statement saying that they are going to ban Stone's movies in their country.  I don't know if anyone told them, but they don't need to really ban her movies...no one goes to see them anyhow.  

Not only is she taking flack from the Chinese but there is also a huge backlash about her statement.  Oversensitive people are going online and speaking out against her because they feel that she is being cold and heartless because 60,000 plus people died.  Listen people, she didn't come out and say 'Oh, those 60,000 (plus) people deserved to die because the Tibetan people are being oppressed.'  She feels that karma is flexing it's muscle and trying to stop what is happening.  She is stating her opinion and standing up for her belief that the Chinese government shouldn't be douche bags.  And honestly, sad to say because it is in fact Sharon Stone, I agree.  

I don't really believe in karma, or spiritual revenge, or anything along those lines.  However, with the worldly outcry against this whole situation with China and Tibet, you would think that an organization such as the United Nations would step in and try to calm everything down.  I'm not saying a call to arms is needed, but can't we just sit them on a couch and ask them how they really feel?  

Turning the page at work

The ipod shuffle (it's like the truffle shuffle, but without the Hawaiian shirt):  Seconds by U2

Many new faces and new programs are coming into work.  The store manager left close to three weeks ago to move back home and get a new job.  So out the door she went, and in walked a new manager.  Good guy, as far as I know.  He hasn't been around long enough to make too many enemies yet.  Yet.  

So with a new regime (sounds a bit totalitarian) in place at work, new programs and new thoughts are brought into the building.  The one great thing I like about this new guy is that he at one time owned his own grocery store.  So that means he will actually give my side of the store something more than a second glance.  He and I have had some at length conversations about what needs to happen in order to run two excellent, money making departments.  So new plans are laid, with me on the bottom level.  I am starting to get support from the executive who was suppose to be there the entire time, but his attention span is that of a goldfish.  That would be a good comparison.  

So we had a sit down chat session amongst our new manager and the team leads today.  It went well.  It could have easily gone another two hours.  I don't even have the attention span for that, so thankfully we kept it to an hour.  The main focus was on communication.  Great feed back from all around.  One thing that was brought up was making sure that there are employees in each department at night time in order to make the store looking great for the morning.  It made me laugh on the inside in the fact that I have run my department (and then departments) for close to two years now and have not always had a closer.  It was never really an issue to everyone.  They just shrugged it off and figured whomever was opening would be able to play catch up in the morning.  This is something I have come not only to deal with, but also to embrace.  It makes the first two hours I am at the store go by quickly.  However, one of our clothing departments managers today had the audacity to say, after just one night of not getting everything picked up, that their departments were the 'red headed step child' of the store.  All I could do was laugh to myself.  He is a very selfish person and very moody, so if everything doesn't go right he gets bitchy is the best way to describe it.  

Afterwards, the other grocery managers and I were talking about that comment and they had the same reaction.  What a little bitch was the main consensus.  But we just come in every morning, punch the clock, and go to work.  That's what we do.  There is a reason why some of the grocery managers are well respected within the store (and to some degree, I fall into that statement, as conceded as it sounds.)  Every department has it's pluses and minuses.  It just feels like the food side has a few more minuses than others.  One of the biggest minus is being forgotten about throughout the day and the huge amount of effort we put into our side of the store.