Ballet

At work, our favorite radio station is 104.1 - "Voodoo 104.1 ... New Orleans". Because of the station, I'm able to kick ass in the Current Pop Music category in the Song Pop games I play with my friends.

One of the songs in current rotation on the station is The Script's song Hall of Fame. Here are the lyrics. The video is below the lyrics.

 Yeah, you can be the greatest
You can be the best
You can be the King Kong banging on your chest

You could beat the world
You could beat the war
You could talk to God, go banging on his door

You can throw your hands up
You can beat the clock (yeah)
You can move a mountain
You can break rocks
You can be a master
Don't wait for luck
Dedicate yourself and you gon' find yourself

Standing in the hall of fame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

You can go the distance
You can run the mile
You can walk straight through hell with a smile

You could be the hero
You could get the gold
Breaking all the records they thought never could be broke

Yeah, do it for your people
Do it for your pride
How you ever gonna know if you never even try?

Do it for your country
Do it for your name
'Cause there's gonna be a day...

When you're standing in the hall of fame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

Be a champion, be a champion, be a champion, be a champion
On the walls of the hall of fame

Be students
Be teachers
Be politicians
Be preachers
(Yeah)

Be believers
Be leaders
Be astronauts
Be champions
Be truth seekers

Be students
Be teachers
Be politicians
Be preachers

Be believers
Be leaders
Be astronauts
Be champions

Standing in the hall of fame (yeah, yeah, yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah, yeah, yeah)
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame (yeah, yeah, yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah, yeah, yeah)
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

(You can be a champion)
You could be the greatest
(You can be a champion)
You can be the best
(You can be a champion)
You can be the King Kong banging on your chest

(You can be a champion)
You could beat the world
(You can be a champion)
You could beat the war
(You can be a champion)
You could talk to God, go banging on his door

(You can be a champion)
You can throw your hands up
(You can be a champion)
You can beat the clock(yeah)
(You can be a champion)
You can move a mountain
(You can be a champion)
You can break rocks

(You can be a champion)
You can be a master
(You can be a champion)
Don't wait for luck
(You can be a champion)
Dedicate yourself and you gonna find yourself
(You can be a champion)

Standing in the hall of fame

And here's the video...



I'm going through some trying times at work right now and am looking for any kind of inspiration to help me work through this time. One of my philosophies in life is: when I'm not sure how to proceed, throw enough darts at the dartboard and some of them will stick. That is, try enough methods to work myself out of a situation and some of them will work.

Here is where I want to link to the tag of the past times I've discussed some of my other life philosophies, but I see that I have not previously created that link. In the future, I will come back to this post and rectify that. I'll leave this tag for now.

The Script's lyrics and especially the video reminded me of a 1982 Rush song called Losing It. Both songs involve ballerinas - and making a live change. In the Rush song, the ballerina is defeated. In the Script's song, she is not.

The lyrics to Rush's Losing It (with the video following)...

The dancer slows her frantic pace
In pain and desperation
Her aching limbs and downcast face
Aglow with perspiration

Stiff as wire, her lungs on fire
With just the briefest pause
The flooding through her memory
The echoes of old applause

She limps across the floor
And closes her bedroom door...

The writer stare with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined

And streaked with tears of rage

Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision

And he stares out the kitchen door
Where the sun will rise no more...

Some are born to move the world
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we'd like to be
Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee... 

And the most representative video...



My point is that adversity is universal. By zeroing in on one example - the life of a ballet dancer shown in two different songs - we see that there is potential for different outcomes.

We make the decisions. We make the choices. We rule our life.

I read Marc and Angel Hack Life regularly. Their post entitled 5 False Beliefs That Are Holding You Back works with my theme, especially their retort #3 (I am stuck in my current life situation.) and #4 (It's too late to start anything.)

Mardi Gras

Work has been stressful for the last month: I was transferred to another department, and the changes are challenging and ongoing. In the midst of all the upheaval, we had Mardi Gras. In this post, I had planned to post about Mardi Gras and complain about my job. Then I came across this blog post - which put all my complaining into perspective.

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Each night, after she listed her daily gratitudes and wrote in her diary, she would find the countdown calender drawn on pink paper and dressed in white, silver, purple, and red glitter. With her very special pen, she would carefully cross off one more day, informing me of  the new countdown as she called out wishes of sweet dreams. As the countdown slimmed from a month, to a week, and then to days, her excitement grew.

“I don’t know if I should wear a costume this year or not, Mama,” she contemplated in the middle of a lesson on polygons for her sixth grade math class.

“Mama. do you think I will get a shoe?”

“What do you think the floats will look like?”

“Which book should I bring with me to read while we wait?”

“Should I take pictures with my cell phone?”

“I am so excited for beads, Mama!”

She was preoccupied with the parade, the Krewe of Muses, and our Mardi Gras holiday.

Since our first parades as New Orleanians a few years ago, our Mardi Gras holiday has consisted of Muses on Thursday and d’Etat on Friday. Having a spouse working in the restaurant business, Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras were never spent together – he is busy insuring everyone else has their spirits high on these two special days. And because my daughter is a high-functioning autistic child, we stayed away from the crowds of the super krewes. Just in case.

We have always watched the parades along the extended route, sometimes called the family zone, and it has been an enjoyable experience. We have reconnected with old friends, exchanging Mardi Gras wishes while catching up with the latest changes in our lives, and have met many new friends. My daughter has played along strangers, created art while patiently waiting for the show to start, and read her first Nancy Drew book along the parade route. Through the challenges that we sometimes face throughout the year, issues dealing with social and sensory issues, Mardi Gras and Muses was the moment of the year where it all faded away, where we were a normal family embracing the culture in our new city, creating memories of our new life.

As we sat on the sidewalk along the parade route and patiently waited for start time, we talked about what we thought we would see, which bands we loved listening to best, and whether Elvis would make an appearance on his moped. We watched Pussyfooters pass by on foot, 610 Stompers in full uniform, and a few Bearded Oysters with high hair weaving through the crowd.  As parade time approached, as cliche as it sounds, there was a sparkle in my daughter’s eye and a smile so big, it made me wish that she could spend her life this happy – always.

And then they came. Despite sitting on the ground, our feet on the street, they came in front of us, a gaggle of college kids holding to-go cups full of booze, cigarettes in hand, f-bombs flying out of their mouths with no care who was around them.  Once the parade started, we stood, them still in the street. Then the first marching band hit the road, forcing us all to back up, my daughter getting lost in a sea of twenty-somethings drinking a little too much. Some were local, others were not. She looked at me, her eyes tense.

“Mama, I can’t see. And that guy keeps touching me with his beer.”

Despite her 5′ 6′ frame, she was surrounded by young adults too involved in gossiping about who was going to be screwing who, which picture they had on their phones that were “too epic’ to not post on Facebook, and preoccupied by the booze pouring out of their red SOLO cups.

One boy, over 6 foot, came dangerously close to starting my daughter’s hair on fire. Only one float had passed by.

“Excuse me, Sir,” I said, ” do you think you could move over a bit. My daughter cannot see, you’ve spilled some beer on her, and you almost got her with your cigarette.”

He looked at me blankly, then looked at her. He looked at my daughter from head to toe, staring at the patch on her coat that would indicate she was autistic to medical personal should an emergency arise. He sneered at me before laughing in my face.

I put my arms around my daughter, warming her up, protecting her, whispering in her ear.

The tall man with the bear hat on his head paid no mind to us. He didn’t move, either.

“Hey, man! I need to move. This woman is bitching at me because her retard daughter can’t see the parade!” he shouted to a kid a few feet away.

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You can read the rest of the post and all the comments here. I assure you that you'll be moved.

Four Rooms; Four People

I haven't posted an update on my office goings on in awhile.

This past week, our office turned into a logic puzzle. First the set up...

Our office consists of four rooms.

Room 1: Monica
Room 2: Pat and I
Room 3: Keisa and our large (70 copies per minute) copy machine
Room 4: Storage and our lunch room

When we moved into our current office three years ago, I was in Room 3 by myself. That lasted about a week when I switched with Keisa because I didn't want to be in a room by myself.

Early last week, Pat requested that she and the copy machine be moved closer to each other. She is our Copy Coordinator and uses the copy machine the most. She is also our, uh, most senior employee - in her late 50's - and says that her feet sometimes hurt her. Plus, she has arthritis.

The obvious answer was to switch Keisa and Pat. Keisa didn't want to switch. She likes the solitude. Even though I'm the boss, I didn't feel it my place to force the move.

Our next solution was to move the copy machine closer to Pat's desk. We tried that for less than a day, but - because our building and electrical set up is from the 1930's - we kept blowing circuits.

Switching Pat with Monica was not an option. Monica's office has exactly one plug. See previous paragraph.

As we were having our third brainstorming meeting, I mentioned to everyone the puzzle about the fox, the goose and the bag of beans - and how our situation could be viewed as a logic puzzle.

After a few more moves, we ended up moving the copy machine and Pat into Room 4 - and are hoping the electrical set up supports our plan. I also advised Pat that she should keep her original desk in Room 2. I believe that she'll get "lonely" in Room 4 by herself. She's the type of person that needs to talk to someone all day long.

We'll see how this move evolves. For now, we have an office of four people in four rooms.

Paris Trip II

Our Paris trip is getting closer. So close that I am asking my staff, "If you were standing in the middle of Paris, what would you buy?"
Pat - shot glass
Keisa - ash tray
Monica - ankle bracelet

Pat doesn't really drink except once in awhile with her bowling league. Keisa doesn't smoke. Monica, well, Monica is the type to wear an ankle bracelet. I'm so glad I quizzed them. I would have gotten all of them candles from Notre Dame or scarfs.

I was describing to them some of my favorite photos from our last trip to Paris in October 2011. Here are the ones I'm bring to work on Monday.


Lost...

Notre Dame at Night...

Everyone Planning For The Weather Change - Except Me (at the top of the Eiffel Tower)...

Painting the Painting (at the Louvre)...

The Red Menace

Here’s an interesting email exchange I had at work yesterday between our Accounting Tech (the one who pays the bills for our office, but is physically located in another building) and me.

I responded to her a detailed email, highlighting some key points in red. Her response to that email starts below.

ACCOUNTING TECH: I’ve printed these communications for the files but in the future, please use another color for hi-lights. The color RED used in business dealings is insulting. That’s why black and blue ink are the standard choices for written and oral communication. I guess my hi-lights looked red - thought I was using a burgundy………. I’ll refrain from using that one in the future.

[Then before I had a chance to reply to her…]

ACCOUNTING TECH: I’m laughing at myself--- we don’t speak in colors. My bad……………… Sometimes we refer to humans by color which is not cool anyway.

ME: Insulting? That’s the first I’ve heard that. Where do you get that information? We use red all the time – for emphasis, to pull it out from other items in an email. (I just did a Google search for that information, but didn’t come up with anything except that “red shouldn’t be used on a business card in Madagascar”.) And I’ve already heard to never use blue in written communication (that is, on a piece of paper) because it doesn’t copy well. I guess it all depends on the background we come from. I guess everyone has his/her communication preferences.

ACCOUNTING TECH: I was taught that on another job. In the Admin office we don’t use “RED” for that reason. Oh well. Have a great afternoon.

ME: That's cool. No red to you. Got it.

Punching The Clock

At work, we have a new time clock system, mandated by the university.

There are five people in my office. Three of us are salaried and are unaffected; the other two are hourly. Even though I am the Manager of our office - but AS I HAVE SAID OVER AND OVER TO THE HOURLY PEEPS NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU BITCH TO ME - I have no control or affect on the new system.

Today, we had an Office Meeting. I said:

You can complain and complain all you want about this new system. I will always listen to you. I will never get defensive.

This is not my system. I am merely telling you the details that I hear from my superiors. Whatever questions I cannot answer, I will ask upward - no matter how much resistance I get.

[The upper up bosses are "tired" and "frustrated" of questions about the new system and want them to stop. I plan on asking questions as long as I want to.]

Remember this though: This new system is not going away. Whether you like it or not, long term, you WILL be judged by how you react to this obstacle.

Character comes from how well you work with adversity. Grow and learn from this experience.

Will you adapt? Will you fight it? Will you quit? It is your call. I will back any decision you make.

Work Update

My boss has been giving me quite a bit of extra responsibilities at work lately. He also evens it out with some gentle kidding around.

In the midst of a hectic week, he sent me this email on Thursday:
You do know that while I kid with you sometimes, there are not many people I trust as much as you to get things done properly and quickly. Keep up the good work.

I am very lucky to have a boss like that.

Job Update

A quick update on my job.

I am the Manager of the Duplicating & Graphics Department at one of the universities here in New Orleans. Our department handles the copying, printing, graphics, and copy machines for the entire university, as well as some other associated departments around the city and the state. Think of us as an on-campus Kinko’s – with the addition of overseeing 120 copy machines around the campus/city/state.

I got a (sort of) promotion at work. I say “sort of” because my boss gave me more responsibility, but no more money.

I am now also Manager of the Warehouse and Delivery departments. The Warehouse orders and delivers (via many vendors) all the cleaning products used by every janitorial department on every campus (and it’s a shit load!). The Delivery department handles those deliveries, plus the deliveries for all other departments under our larger umbrella department (17 total).

The Manager who formerly handled Warehouse and Delivery is a good friend of mine so we are having an easy transition. It is still tough to take on all these new responsibilities, while still trying to maintain our current customers - and more importantly, increase our sales.

It’ll all work out, but for now it’s really stressful at work. [Sound of me popping open a third beer.]

Recipes for the Season

Continuing what I started with my Cooking Challenge idea, I have been stretching my cooking skills during the holidays. I thought I’d pass on the recipes I made.


Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
For our Holiday Meeting (AKA our office Christmas party)
This recipe is originally from my sister Claudia.

Ingredients:
1 graham cracker or chocolate pie crust
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 can (14oz.) sweetened condensed milk (you can use low fat or fat free)
1 egg
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

For chocolate glaze:
½ cup mini chocolate chips
¼ cup whipping cream


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. With mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy; gradually beat in condensed milk until smooth. Add egg, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well.

Arrange raspberries in bottom of pie crust. Slowly pour cheese mixture over fruit. Some may rise, but that’s ok. Bake 30-35 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool.

In a small saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate chips with whipping cream; cook and stir until thickened and smooth. Spread over cooled pie, then chill pie for a little while.

I used icing to create our university's logo - here blurred for my privacy - on the top.


Layered Dessert (I actually don’t know what it’s called.)
For Christmas Day

Ingredients:
Box of devil’s food cake mix
Eggs as needed for above
2 boxes (5.1 oz per box) of instant vanilla pudding
Milk as needed for above
1 container (12 oz) Cool Whip



Directions:
Make the devil’s food cake according to the package directions. Cool completely.

In a huge bowl, place 1/3 of the cake into the bottom, compacting with a spatula.

Make one box of the instant vanilla pudding according to the package directions. Immediately pour over the cake base, slowly so the pudding won’t disturb the cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Take the bowl out of the refrigerator and add 1/3 of the Cool Whip. Gently place the remaining 2/3 of the cake over the Cool Whip. Then make and slowly add the second box of the instant vanilla pudding over the devil’s food cake layer. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Take the bowl out of the refrigerator and add the remaining Cool Whip. Add crushed chocolate or small amounts of icing to the top.

Cool covered from 30 minutes up to 24 hours, then serve.

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Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Work Update

I am the head of a local university's printing department. Our sales have been sluggish. All of the departments have cut back. When their budget has been cut, they find that they can do without business cards, for example, for their staff. Here is an email exchange between my boss and me today.

Boss: I want you to take a hard look at your staffing level. With the major reduction in business how much excess labor capacity do you think you have? I may look at shifting employees percent efforts.

Me: Is “shifting employees percent efforts” code for moving employees from our department into another one? I foresaw the business reduction back in September. Remember at that time you and I talked about trying to really promote the other areas of our business, and to cultivate an additional base of customers? Let me think about it over the weekend and I’ll stop in on Monday.

Boss: It could be code for moving somebody on a temporary basis anywhere from 10% to 100% depending on need or no need. Any permanent shifts would require longer term analysis. If your November is your January, February and March what would you say?

Me: I do have some ideas. Let me really think about it this weekend and get with you Monday morning.

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This economy really needs to get better. Quick! I really don't want to lose any of my staff. Ugh.

Cleaning Out The Attic

Whenever I have an idea for a blog post, I scribble it on a sheet of paper, later transferring it to a Word file.

I have tons of Word files.

Tonight I'm going to clear out a lot of them.

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Sometimes the ideas are just the title of the Word file, that I know for sure I will remember later the significance, but of course over time forget. Song titles seem to be a popular starting point for me:
Desolation Boulevard (the name of an album by Sweet)
Love Vigilantes (the name of a song by New Order)
Tiny Dancer (from Elton John, resurrected by Cameron Crowe)

The references for the first two are lost to me, but my best guess about Tiny Dancer is that I wanted to discuss "Music Heals All Wounds" or "Cameron Crowe" as one of the answers to "Name the people in history you would like to have dinner with."

Here's the clip from Cameron Crowe's movie Almost Famous to help explain the former. The set up: Billy Crudup ditched the band to go party. The next morning he is found. The scene opens with the band's manager wishing the party goers goodbye, while the rest of the band are still resentful that Billy disappeared. Music heals the wound...


I have before mentioned how cool I think Dave Grohl is. Here is another reason:




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Sometimes the ideas are snippets of thoughts:
- Scott and the bus stop trash can
- $5000 bank error in my favor
- Larry Tyler Moore Parties
- My job: Like a frog in water slowly boiling
- Paw Paw Was A Rolling Stone (We called my grandfather "Paw Paw")
- The Sauna and Super Balls
- In early 2009, I was an expert witness for a case involving the hospital I work with.
- Artificial Hoops
- The Monty Hall Paradox

Expanding on the last one: I have always been fascinated with math, math problems and math puzzles. The more complex the better!

In college, I tested out of my first two semesters of math. I got an A in both my third and fourth semesters. To make extra money, I tutored in the Math Lab during my freshman and sophomore years. I was even a math major for one semester. (When I discovered that I would have to take advanced calculus, I changed my major. Not because I was scared of the challenge. Because the course was only offered at 8 am five days a week. Back then, sleeping late was more important to me.)

Here is the best explanation of the Monty Hall Paradox/Problem that I have found. Plus David Krumholtz is kinda cute.



Or if you're a Kevin Spacey fan, here is a clip from the movie 21 explaining the same thing...


Any of those snippets could be turned into a 1000+ word blog post. I just never seem to run out of current thoughts to explore in details my past ones.

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I am also a big fan of lists. Here are some lists that I never finished enough to blog about...

Name the people in history you would like to have dinner with:
Bob Costas
Larry Mullen Jr.
Jeff Buckley (RIP)
Ryan Adams
Cameron Crowe

Why do I want to have dinner with them? I need time to discuss. That's the reason I haven't posted about that subject yet.



The Top 10 songs of the 1980's:
Change - Tears For Fears
I Melt with You - Modern English
The Great Commandment - Camouflage
The Promise - When In Rome
Dreaming – OMD
Just Like Heaven or The Lovecats or Boys Don't Cry - The Cure
Strangelove or Nothing (or really anything from their album Music for the Masses) - Depeche Mode
Don’t You Want Me - Human League
A Little Respect – Erasure

I can't finish the list because I could add to that list forever - and I can't narrow my choices down to ten.

As you can see, I was a fan of New Wave, pop and dance music in the 1980's. Interestingly though, back in the 1980's I was actually listening to Led Zeppelin and other classic rock gods much, much more than any of those other types of music. I don't think of any classic rock as having a time period. That music to me is timeless.

Here is the video for Camouflage's The Great Commandment. No matter how much I prod, Carlos swears he has never heard this song before.


And here is The Promise, When In Rome's only hit. This is my cousin Casie's Favorite Song of All Time...


I can't find a video for Depeche Mode's Nothing. How about a cute guy lip syncing to it?


In 1987, I was living in our fraternity house. That same year, I was the co-Social Chairman (along with my friends Todd and Sean. More on them one day soon), which meant in part that we had to plan and play the music for our parties.

Imagine 100+ (straight) frat boys dancing to Depeche Mode's Strangelove...


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This summary post of Cleaning Out The Attic is long. Imagine how long the actual posts could have been.


I do have enough material to fill another really long post, but I will stop here. I will finish this post with...


Quotes I Live By

Again, the explanation of each could fill a blog post...

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." - Ernest Hemingway

"Tart words make no friends; a spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar." - Benjamin Franklin

"It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission." - Grace Hopper

"Alcohol. The cause of - and solution to - all of life's problems." - Homer Simpson

Karen's Reggae

One day, I’ll get into the detailed dynamics of my office.

The Short Version: I work with six other people –
3 women, 3 men;
4 African-Americans, 2 Whities Like Me,
3 under 25, 3 over 45

We have a great mix.

I am the Manager of them. They are all fantastic at their jobs so I’m more of a guidance. (I’ve been there 8 years. The rest were ALL hired post-Katrina. Pre-Katrina, our office had 22 people. After a bit of a post-Katrina shake up, I was the ONLY ONE of the 22 to make it through. That was a really traumatizing year or so. I’ll expound on that experience one day.)

In working in such close quarters with everyone, we all get to know each other quite well. One of the things that I’m known for is my music knowledge – and they know I love a challenge.

Earlier this week, Karen told me that she’d love to be introduced to some songs that “were reggae, but not that old stuff that I know, but not songs that are too fast that don’t sound like reggae, but not too new that they’re on the radio right now.”

I love a challenge.

This is the CD that I compiled for her. I did sneak in some older reggae (Come Back Darling was released in 1970), but I think I accomplished her goal.

Knocking On Heaven’s Door - Peter Tosh & The Wailers
Close My Eyes - Matisyahu
King Without a Crown - Matisyahu
Short Nigun - Matisyahu
Warrior - Matisyahu
Anda Sola (Remix) - Arcangel Ft. Don Omar y Calle 13
Mamacita - Collie Budz
Adios - Don Omar
Angelito Vuela - Don Omar
Ice Cream Love - Johnny Osbourne
No Ice Cream Sound - Johnny Osbourne
Taxi Riddim - Johnny Osbourne
Fally Lover - Johnny Osbourne & The Roots Radics
Come Back Darling - Johnny Osbourne & The Sensations
Candle - Matisyahu
Shalom Salaam - Matisyahu
Wanna Go Home - Nasio Fontaine
Tu Eres Un Sueno - Wisin y Yandel

Morning Commute

During my usual morning commute this morning, a large white van pulled out in front of me. I had to slam on my brakes.

Once I caught his eye in his rear view mirror, I gave him The Look. Since he was driving a company van, I made exaggerated gestures, showing him that I was calling the phone number of his office that was posted on the side of his van. (I wasn’t really dialing.)

He got really upset and attempted to speed up to me so, I assume, he could catch my eye and give me The Look or The Bird. Apparently he was paying too much attention to me because he slammed into the truck in front of him.

He and I made eye contact one last time as I slowly drove away, smiling and waving at him.

Sometimes, it’s fun to be evil.

My Job

Work-wise, I am the head of a university duplicating, printing, and graphics department. I work my ass off at my job. It's a tough job, but I really enjoy it.

Last week, I was helping my boss with some graphic work. My Assistant Manager overheard a compliment thrown my way by him. She sent this email to him later that afternoon:

I wish to relay my observations regarding Marshall's value to this dept. I overheard your comment about Marshall's speedy typing when you were in his office this afternoon. He works at that pace all day long every day.

As I gain experience in this dept. I am trying to lighten the load for him, but I feel that I have barely made a dent. After 9 months of training, Marshall is still teaching me the details of running this office. There appears to be no limit to the intricacies of form production/inventory, copy machine contracts/service and duplicating/printing.

Marshall is a fantastic teacher, an understanding boss, a superb coordinator, the king of multi-tasking and therefore, more efficient than anyone I have ever met. As a bonus, he is always cheerful and positive. I think he is probably irreplaceable, so let's hope that nothing entices him to stay in France while he's on vacation in October.

Thanks for 'listening'.

I didn't know anything about it until my boss forwarded the email to me with this comment: "Marshall, this is between you and I. Read below. I forwarded it to [his boss] and [his boss's boss]. I must say I have to agree with everything Karen said. You do an excellent job."

What a kind thing to do! That really made my day.

My Hurricane Katrina Story - Part II (U2 & Green Day)

The Saints (our football team) have definitely helped bring New Orleans back. Having the Saints playing in New Orleans again really brings a sense of normalcy back to us - and for the first season EVER, the Superdome is sold out with season ticket holders.

U2 and Green Day played at the first Saints game held in the Superdome since The Storm. We've hosted nine Super Bowls - more than any other city. Around the city that day, and the weekend right before that Monday night, New Orleans had the feel of hosting another Super Bowl. Plus, since I work two blocks from the Superdome, I was let out of work at 2 pm so I could avoid all the traffic. Go Saints!

Personally, things are relatively back to normal.

My house had sustained minor damage: the large tree in my front yard came down - taking my gutter with it, most of the wooden fence around my house was blown down, my roof lost about 15 shingles, the entire roof of my carport was torn away, my garage had around 3 inches of water in it for about a week, and my hot tub's motor flooded. My area of town thankfully didn't have any serious flooding. (Compared to friends of mine who had 17 feet of water sitting in their house for two weeks, mine was definitely minor damage.) I have fixed everything around my house that I want to for now, but it's an on-going project to finish.

Carlos and I both have our jobs. He's a school teacher and was back to work by October 2005. I work at a local university and went back around the same time. Our department had 179 pre-Storm employees. As of today, we're up to around 40. (My immediate department went from 20 to 3 employees.) We had to lay off the most of the rest because of lack of business, but some just couldn't get back to the city after evacuating because they had no place to live. I'm very lucky!

There are, of course, many areas of the city that will take years to be fixed. Imagine if your house and EVERY house within 10 miles of you had 5 to 17 feet of water sitting in it for two weeks. How long would it take you to recover?

Plus, these people are faced with questions like:
If I return, will I be the only one on my block or in my neighborhood?
What if the levees break again for the next hurricane?
In my area, will there be any schools or playgrounds for my kids? Any grocery stores for me?

We do have some humor about all this. A local organization has an on-going campaign consisting mainly of ubiquitous bumper stickers around the city that say "New Orleans: Proud To Call It Home". Pre-Storm, some clever residents parodied the statement with the bumper sticker "New Orleans: Proud To Crawl Home". Post-Storm, the new one "New Orleans: Proud To Swim Home" immediately started appearing on the bumpers of cars.

I took 100 pictures around the city in October/November 2005. I am narrowing them down to the best 50. Carlos and I are going to go to those same locations in the next couple of weeks to take pictures of the exact same locations one year later. I'm working on a slide show which I'll post to YouTube soon. I'll send a link once I'm finished.

Marshall

Communication Breakdown, It's Always The Same

I am such a wuss.

My co-worker Gilya and I have been battling back and forth for the past two weeks. She creates the purchase orders for me when I need to order something. She's constantly complaining that I'm not following the correct procedures. I'm always complaining that she keeps changing the procedures every time she and I work together.

We're both frustrated with each other.

Yesterday our conflict came to a head when, after all the underlying tension for weeks, I emailed her:

Me: "Nothing's easy with you anymore. You okay? You've seemed very grumpy the last two weeks or so."
Her: "Marshall, I really get tired of debating everything with you. Everything is being done for a reason. Things will go a lot smoother if you would just cooperate."
Me: "You'll get no more debate from me."
Her: "I GREATLY, GREATLY, appreciate it. THANKS!!!!"

I gave in, as I do in any situation like that. I'd rather just avoid the conflict and look like a complete pussy. The bad thing is that when I came home from work last night, I was so frustrated. In the past, I would drink a few beers and lash out at Carlos. I think I did pretty well avoiding that last night. I took a calm walk around the block, jerked off to Academy X, and finished with a hot shower. When I was in the shower, I mentally told myself that the water was washing away my worries from the day. I then called Carlos. I was feeling good by then. It’s not fair to him if I take my day’s stress out on him.

After a good meal of Tuna Helper, I headed off to bed. It was 9:30 pm.

A bit of exercise, a good meal, lots of sleep, and no alcohol seemed to have worked. I feel fantastic today. I’ve already spoken to Gilya this morning. She and I were smiling and laughing like old times. I obsessed about our conflict for no reason.

I am still obsessing that I gave in – again – but I’ll work on that another day.