Festive Again

All the years that we lived in apartments, we did not have a real tree for Christmas.  One of the benefits was not having the care and upkeep.  No watering the tree.  We didn't have to anchor it to the wall because it was uneven in the tree stand. There was minimal clean up from the 'needles'.

There wasn't a ton of advantages to the artificial tree.  Yes, it was a tree but there was just something missing.  We use to buy pine scented air fresheners and put them in the tree to try and create the atmosphere but it didn't last that long.  Last year we got our first real tree.  It was wonderful.  Because of this, I feel like we can't go back to artificial tree.  Sure we don't have that special go out and illegally cut the tree down in the middle of the woods before any law enforcement people show up moments because we buy pre-cut trees, but it is great to have a real one in our house.  Every once in a while you'll get a whiff of pine when you walk by.  It can just bring back so many childhood memories of this time of year.

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A post shared by Michael Litzner (@melitzner) on Dec 7, 2018 at 6:47am PST

So, once again this year, we have gotten a real tree for Christmas.  And it is fantastic to have.  

Literary Mountain

Last night I finished reading the longest book I've ever picked up.  'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy is now sitting on my bookshelf after being read cover to cover.  I started reading it last year in December and it took me nearly a year to finish.  I did take some breaks from reading it.  If I had forced myself to just read this book, it might have been done a month or two earlier.  Being labeled as one of the great novels of all time it had always had my interest.  I've wanted to read it for forever, it just sat on my bookshelf for the better part of a decade before I read it.  It's daunting.

With over fourteen hundred pages it gives the reader time to grow to love the characters.  Unless that character is Pierre.  He is one of the main characters and dear god is he insufferable.  I just didn't like him at all.  Even from the get go.  The book kept going and going and I was waiting to start to identify with this guy, but it just never happened.  The rest of the characters?  Good, some even great.  Just not Pierre.

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I have done it! I finished #WarAndPeace. It was enjoyable. It was anguishing at some points. I loved and hated certain characters. It took me less than a year!

A post shared by Michael Litzner (@melitzner) on Nov 7, 2018 at 8:14pm PST

This isn't a book report.  Go read it for yourself if you want the rundown.  No more classic Russian novels for me.  One was more than enough. 

Deck Work

One of the great things about owning a house is that you can make any improvement that you want.  The one terrible thing about owning a house is that you have to do the improvement.  Even if you have a decent concept about how much time, effort, and money a project is going to take, there always seems to be a point when you look around and wonder why you would do something like this.  The payoff, however, is great.  We are very happy the way it turned out and cannot wait to tackle our next project.  Even if it is a small one.

A wonderful feature in our house is the back deck.  It is large enough to have our grill, a couple of chairs, and a few more things if need be.  It was in fairly rough shape though.  The paint was peeling in several places and needed to be redone.  We got help from both of our families at different points in this project.  That is another reason why it is nice to live close enough to family to have that network of support.  We are also a stone throw away from our neighbor's house.  One thing that my wife wanted to put in was a privacy fence on the deck to give us just a little separation from them.  As fun as it is to look right into their house, the fence just adds a little bit more to it.

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A post shared by Michael Litzner (@melitzner) on Sep 23, 2018 at 11:27am PDT

This is a picture of the deck after we got everything was stripped and the privacy fence was added.  

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A post shared by Michael Litzner (@melitzner) on Oct 29, 2018 at 9:07am PDT

The color for the deck turned out great.  We used this product called Deck Over which is suppose to fill in cracks and screw holes.  It is extremely thick and is the same consistency of pudding.  We joked that it looked like chocolate pudding and made us both hungry as we were painting over the course of a few days. 

Hot Take Recap

The 2018 Detroit Tigers baseball season has ended.  Sadly.  But also mercilessly.  Anyone paying attention knew that this season was going to be a bit of a struggle as they traded off any and all pieces that made them contenders in the past.  The fun thing about cheering for a team with low expectations is that if they do well for a stretch of games it feels like some grand accomplishment.  While the prospects the team is waiting for are still in the minors, we fans got to see some pieces of the future play throughout most of the year.  Guys like Jemier Candelario and JaCoby Jones played the majority of the season and both showed what they can contribute to the club going forward.  Christian Stewart got a quick cup of coffee with the club at the end of the season and showed off his bad defense and big bat. 

At the beginning of the season, I wrote a post with some hot luke warm takes.  I stayed conservative with most of the takes and didn't go too far on a limb.  When you are having fun with hot takes/predictions for a team that you know will struggle during the season, you can say things like Ron Gardenhire will get ejected seven times.  To recap, here are my ten bold predictions from the beginning of the year with what actually happened:

• The Tigers will go 72-90 (they went 64-98)
• They'll finish fourth in the division ahead of Kansas City (they finished 3rd)
• Jeimer Candelario will hit .270 for the season (he hit .224)
• James McCann will hit 20 home runs (he hit 8)
• The Tigers will send two players (Castellanos, Fulmer) to the All Star game (Joe Jimenez was the lone representative for the team)
• Joe Jimenez will end the season as the team closer and save 15 games (he had 3 saves and was the setup man the entire year)
• Dawel Lugo will end the season as the every day second baseman with Dixon Machado moving to shortstop (yes and no. Machado was DFA'd)
• Both of those predictions will happen because the Tigers will trade Shane Greene and Jose Iglesias before the trade deadline (nope)
•  Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez will both hit 25 home runs (lolz, no.)
• Ron Gardenhire will be ejected 7 times (he was ejected 4 times)

Like I said, it's fun to do things like that so you can look back and have a good laugh.  The only thing that I came close on was Lugo being around and where they ended the season in the standings.  I look forward to doing this again next spring when we once again know the Tigers are going to flounder and we'll be there every painful step along the way.  

Moving On Up

When I look back at when I started to work in retail, one of the things I remember was thinking that it was not going to be a permanent profession.  Who grows up wanting to do this for a career?  This was back in 2006.  Fresh out of college and newly implanted in Wichita, Kansas I just needed money and a job.  Yes, my wife was working but I did not want to just sit around all day.  I went from October (2005) to February (2006) without work.  I was applying for jobs in the field I went to school for, history and museum studies, but could not find a job.  I couldn't even get a call back.  After the new year, I just wanted to find work.  So I did.  The rest, as they say, is (work) history.

I received a promotion earlier this week to a position World Market calls Lead Supervisor.  This is one step below store manager and for the most part is the person in charge of running the show on a day to day basis.  This is something that I have been working towards for the past year and a half.  The ultimate goal is to take that one last step and become a General Manager, but that is still several years down the road and honestly, I don't even want to think about that right now.  That is a large looming idea that will only distract from the now.  I have my annual hunting trip planned at the end of October, so this promotion is not going to happen until I get back from that. 

My wife and I joke quite a bit about how there are two of me.  One is the goofy, lackadaisical person that just kind of goes with the flow with whatever is happening.  The other is the professional me.  Whenever she comes in to shop around the store, the employees tell her how much they enjoy working with me and that I am constantly working on something or helping someone out with a project.  It is humorous.  I usually get the 'who are you?!' look from her.  She knows though.  All kidding aside, I do my best to keep everything professional at work but still have some fun.  The results are paying off.

The position will be at another store here in the Twin Cities.  It would have been great to stay where I am at now as this is the only store I have worked in, but that presents it's own challenges.  In order to develop myself into a more well rounded manager, I need to get somewhere new and different.  Is it optimal?  No.  I really enjoy working with the people I work with now, but it is time to move somewhere else outside of my comfort zone and familiarity and develop new traits and aspects of being a manager.