A different world

I'm a manly man of manly ways with manly means. Okay, I'm kind of a guy's guy. I enjoy sports and physical challenges since the long-lost days of my youth. However, last night, I entered a manly world apart from my manly ways.

I accompanied my cousin Chester the Charmer to a sporting goods store. Now, this wasn't just any sporting goods store. This was an 'outdoors' store. It was filled with all manner of 'stuffed' animals from caribou to beaver to something called a fisher. (I have no idea what a fisher is). It sort of looked like a cross between a opossum and a furry otter.

This store had everything you can think of for the outdoorsman, something I've never quite understood. Why would you want to get away from it all and then take it all with you? They have everything from tents to smokers to guns, ammo, boots, clothing and everything you would need to climb a mountain. Now, seeing as I'm a city/suburb boy, I've never used nearly any of these things, although I could, because I'm a manly kinda guy, you know what I'm sayin'?

Then, we arrived at the gun section. Now, I'm not very familiar with guns, I'm not afraid of them mind you, though I do have a healthy respect for them. Neither am I the guy who's going to tell you you can't have them. I'm still not quite sure why anyone really needs the 'tactical' rifles, as they are called. And there is camo-gear everywhere. Even the guns are camouflaged. It was like walking into a store and not seeing anything because it was all camouflaged!

I was able to watch a beared-hat-guy test fire a crossbow. And believe me, I had entered the world of bearded-hat-guy. I'm sure much of that has something to do with the new Duck Dynasty television craze. For me, I shaved my beard fifteen years ago. There are some worlds I don't need to go back to.

Perhaps some day I will venture into the world of the great wilderness and capture my manly outdoorsman manliness. Someday.

Paper towels

It is amazing how each of us see the same thing differently. Sometimes is may be upbringing, sometimes a difference in culture. And by culture I don't mean America and Asia or Africa or some far-flung world away. I mean, hey, you didn't grow up in my house, kind of culture.

My daughter recently spent some time with us, a few months actually before trotting off to her own place again. Okay, the house is a little more quiet, but...anyway. Lord does that girl go through paper towels when she cleans. Growing up, we used detergent and what we called 'rags' to clean most things. Yep, buckets filled with soap and water and old T-shirts, towels, washcloths, and nearly any cloth item that could be used. We had a 'rag bag' down in the basement they were kept in. Sainted Mother even washed them to keep them clean. We dusted furniture, cleaned cars, scrubbed walls and just about anything else.

My daughter is a paper towel girl. She cleans nearly everything with those. Get the trigger-sprayer and a roll of paper towels and nothing is safe. She cringes when I apply hot, soapy water and a dish rag to the counters to clean them. Hey, the water is very hot and soap, well, soap cleans things. That's what you do with soap.

Okay, I confess I do use paper towels to clean windows and mirrors or any glass surface. Not much more than that, really. Although, newspaper and Windex does a remarkable job on car windshields. I look forward to reducing the expenditure on this over-used item, and anything with a spray-nozzle.

Daughter gone, house back to normal...although she is a really, really good cook. Time to work off the extra five pounds she added to me.

A year has come and gone

Hello world.

It’s nice to speak to you once again. I hadn’t thought I would grace the pages of this blog another time. It was a wonderful way to reach out to others, to laugh and live and think. Yes, think. Sadly, something I believe that most give little consideration to these days.

A year has come and gone since my untimely demise, and the world has continued to turn. The sun continues to rise and begin a new day, and the moon routinely slips across the star-kissed blackness below. For me, it was a graceful parting, and though my world shrank in my final days, it contained those I love the most. That’s me, off to the right there. I clean up fairly well, don’t you think?

So what have I witnessed in this past year? And I say witnessed, not missed. My beloved Yankees and Steelers have had about as abysmal a season as I could have imagined. Such a disappointment. Well, there's always next year. Glad you weren’t here to see it, you say? Ah, but I watched from on-high. There is the biggest television you can imagine up here, though, apparently God is a Red Sox fan. At least the Buckeyes had a tremendous year. I love it when they beat michigan. God gave me that one for a door prize. Though, my Premier League team Arsenal, is standing tall.

My greatest joy has been watching with anticipation as my children have nurtured, and are at last welcoming my newest grandchildren into their world: Ava Elizabeth, born just days ago, and I still await my name-sake; Hudson Donlee. Though I shall never hold you with my arms, or caress your little cheeks with mine, know always that you shall have my heart, and when you feel a warmth you can’t explain, know that I have kissed you with my breath, with my soul, a soul I have freely given to my Lord.

I have come to realize that much of what transpires below is out of my control. The world is a complex place full of people who are just trying to get by. Life can be hard. Not everyone is dealt the same cards and you simply must play the hand you are given. Sometimes you have a loner, sometimes low no trump. (Just so you know, they don’t allow that Euchre rule up here). I hope I was able to help those I could during my time, be a good friend, a good father and husband. One person can’t help everyone; you can only do what you can. That doesn’t mean you sit on the sidelines and watch the world go by, nor does it mean you have to help everyone. That simply can’t be done. But help someone, lift someone up, and you will feel and be the better for it.

Lastly, to my love, to my beloved wife, my soul-mate. We built a good life, a loving life, and watched our family grow and blossom. Though I have slipped the surly bonds that held my mortal being, know that I am with you always. I ask only that you live your life to the fullest in my absence, and know that we shall kiss again in the heavens above, and I shall hold your hand for eternity.

North of 50

p.s. To my brothers and my dear sister, Mom and Dad say hi!

Cry me a street full

I live near a major metropolitan city. Yep, Columbus, Ohio, which is listed as the fifteenth largest city in the U.S. I have lived here all my life. I lived within the city boundaries most of my life. With that being said, I then have full knowledge of what I speak of.

People are whiners. Yep, whiners. This area is a northern city. Guess what happens in a northern city; winter happens. Guess what winters are full of...besides whiners. Winter is filled with snow and ice and cold and wind. Unlike little boys and girls, that's what winter is made of.

Recently, we have been hit with storm after storm. That's also what happens. Snow piles up and gets on the streets. Within two days of an eight to ten inch snowfall, we're already hearing people cry and moan about their streets not being plowed. As a citizen of this city, quite frankly, you are being unrealistic. Columbus has over 6400 miles of streets to plow. There is simply no way the 'snow warriors' as they are called, have the time to get to your little street. Deal with it. Their job is to get the primary arteries and main streets open and passable.

Why would you believe your small residential street is important enough to take priority. With the schools closed for three days, which is a topic for another ramble, don't you think that is a slightly higher priority? Our lives have just become too comfortable and we as citizens too spoiled by what we have. Too many expect the governments, be it city, state or federal to make them as comfy as possible. Quite whining about your street and go dig your own car out. Take some accountability and shovel your sidewalk. Most can't be bothered with shoveling their own sidewalk, which for most is about fifty to seventy feet long, yet expect the city to have their street plowed in forty-eight hours.

Just be grateful you don't live in rural areas. The snow goes away in the spring. Nature is the plow. I'm sorry this is such a hardship on your life, but I'm tired of hearing about it. All news channels should be banned from interviewing whiny citizens about their tiny, little street. Don't like the weather? Move to Atlanta. They know how to handle winter down there.

Half a heart

What would our glorious winter season be like without all the holidays thrown it? Boring huh? We get Christmas, New Years, St. Patrick's in a month or so and Valentine's Day. Most are fun and offer several things to do, except for...the V Day.

I have an issue with the big V. Now, I love My Beloved with all my heart, although we don't do much for V Day. Our wedding anniversary is the same month, so I save up all my romantic skills for that day. My issue with V Day is that it has become so one-sided.

On a daily basis, we are inundated with commercials. Perhaps mine are one-sided because I generally have a sports channel tuned in on the radio. Although, I do have some country stations as well, but the thrust of the matter is the same. All these ads are targeted at guys to buy girls the presents! I can't remember a single commercial this year targeted to the women to buy something nice for the guys for V Day. Women get chocolates, flowers and jewelry. Guys get, uhm, let me think...guys get nothin'. Oh, we get a card from Hallmark (or a 99 center from the dollar store).

I think it's time we invent a holiday for men, since V Day has now become a women's holiday. We need Binford Day. Yup, go out and buy a guy a tool day, and if you know of a woman that's into cars or tools, buy her one too! She'll love that Craftsman 150 piece wrench set, or the Binford 5000 thing-a-ma-bob.

Oh, we have that day...it's called Father's Day. That means we're still short a guy holiday on the calendar.

Snap

Yesterday, My Beloved and I stopped into a local steakhouse for dinner to celebrate our twenty-second wedding anniversary. Thank you, thank you. No applause please. It was fairly busy, odd I thought for two o'clock on a Saturday, but the wait was short. As we waited, another family came in, hubby, wife and two kids. They weren't there a minute before I hear the wife; they seem disorganized. Then she sighed.

I was surprised. I know I shouldn't have been because I deal with this on a regular basis. A customer comes in and makes a snap decision about something they likely know nothing about. Perhaps she was peeved that she had to wait more than a minute. Whatever her reason, she does the staff of this restaurant a tremendous disservice. How would she know if they are organized or not? Has she ever run a restaurant? Doubt it. I am making my own snap judgement, but I'm guessing she doesn't work with the public, does not work in a service industry, and thinks because she knows how to eat at a restaurant, she knows how to run one.

Her reaction would be no different to me walking into a CPA's office at tax time and looking at papers and files laying all over the place and thinking, wow, what a disorganized mess. No, it's an organized place during the busiest season of their year. They know what is going on and where things are. Just because you as the customer don't understand things, doesn't mean there isn't a plan or organization.

Perhaps this restaurant had a person call off. Perhaps they have twice the customers they planned on. Planned on, you asked? Of course. Staffing is planned based on historical customer counts and trends. If you plan on having twenty tables occupied, you staff for that? What? You don't staff for having all the tables occupied all the time? Uhm, NO! It doesn't work that way. No service business can afford to pay all those people standing around doing nothing. It's called running a business on budget and payroll. I have to do it. All retail stores have to do it.

Guess what...if staffing goes up without reason, prices go up. If you think things are expensive now, wait until you have to pay all those people standing around just in the off chance you show up to buy something. Staffing isn't a science, it's an art. Managers need to juggle dollars with insight. Most of the time we get it right, sometimes we don't. We can't see into the future. I can't ask Jeff to come in and work for an hour on Tuesday at one o'clock because I'm sure Mr and Mrs Telerski will come in for fifteen minutes to shop.

Before you make those snap decisions on your next visit somewhere, ask yourself, what would someone walking into your business think? Don't make excuses; they can't see the reasons for something you see. They just see, YOU don't have someone there for THEM. They don't care what the reason is.

Well, at least I don't work for an airline. I'm sure it's the staff's fault that Chicago was shut down by a blizzard and you can't get to Bocca.