Sunday, April 30, 2006
A week ago Friday I was at work when I was informed my job would be eliminated. Of course I would be expected to work in the warehouse. It wasn't stated that way, that was the implication.
I immediately announced my resignation.
A new set of lies began to circulate basically saying the changes have not yet been determined.
No matter.
I have been lied to, lied about, and the time has come for me to retire and move on to another phase of my life; our lives. Memaw's last day was this past Friday. She was honored with a fine dinner, a nice card and a big bonus!
(When I left the same company I think they secretly had a party, celebrating my departure.) Just kidding!
It is sad, all the lying and deception. People insult the intelligence of those around them with all the child-like behavior. They seem to think the truth doesn't shine through.
The injury I sustained was indeed partly due to my age and the consequences of my miss-spent youth. The kind of physical abuse I imposed on my body over the years, not the other kind of miss-spent.
I reported what had happened and my immediate superior denied that I had.
Now they face a law suit.
All they ever needed to do is be honest and comply to the law regarding worker's comp.
Although the doctor has released me I think I shall suffer the concequences for the rest of my life.
I find I must be very careful or the pain begins to creep in.
I do not complain. It was a good run.
I voluntarily engaged in very physical employment the last three years rather than the mental and emotional strain of the office.
There were many opportunities to do differently, I opted to stay and be a delivery boy.
On the other hand, I have a good natural market, sales experience, and although three times I was told I would soon be doing sales part of the time it didn't happen.
My problem with that is not that it didn't happen, but that the manager didn't discuss it with me. He told me what would happen, it didn't, he did not renew the discussion and explain.
In my thinking that makes him a liar.
Two things I don't ever do is tell the preacher how to preach or the boss how to conduct his or her business.
He needed to come to me.
He didn't.
It has indeed been a good run.
God is good.
Shalom
I immediately announced my resignation.
A new set of lies began to circulate basically saying the changes have not yet been determined.
No matter.
I have been lied to, lied about, and the time has come for me to retire and move on to another phase of my life; our lives. Memaw's last day was this past Friday. She was honored with a fine dinner, a nice card and a big bonus!
(When I left the same company I think they secretly had a party, celebrating my departure.) Just kidding!
It is sad, all the lying and deception. People insult the intelligence of those around them with all the child-like behavior. They seem to think the truth doesn't shine through.
The injury I sustained was indeed partly due to my age and the consequences of my miss-spent youth. The kind of physical abuse I imposed on my body over the years, not the other kind of miss-spent.
I reported what had happened and my immediate superior denied that I had.
Now they face a law suit.
All they ever needed to do is be honest and comply to the law regarding worker's comp.
Although the doctor has released me I think I shall suffer the concequences for the rest of my life.
I find I must be very careful or the pain begins to creep in.
I do not complain. It was a good run.
I voluntarily engaged in very physical employment the last three years rather than the mental and emotional strain of the office.
There were many opportunities to do differently, I opted to stay and be a delivery boy.
On the other hand, I have a good natural market, sales experience, and although three times I was told I would soon be doing sales part of the time it didn't happen.
My problem with that is not that it didn't happen, but that the manager didn't discuss it with me. He told me what would happen, it didn't, he did not renew the discussion and explain.
In my thinking that makes him a liar.
Two things I don't ever do is tell the preacher how to preach or the boss how to conduct his or her business.
He needed to come to me.
He didn't.
It has indeed been a good run.
God is good.
Shalom
The morning is cool and quiet...almost. A neighbor's dog just barked, but the cooing of the doves kind'a makes up for it.
The sun is sneaking up from below the palms, that dog won't stop but it's ok.
There are twenty two cabinet doors in our little kitchen, only seven need to be removed now, sanded, repainted and returned. That's forty four hinges and one hundred seventy six screw heads repainted when all is done.
The new laminate floor is installed in the kitchen and hall, molding all around.
The old tile is scraped up from the floor of one bathroom revealing the beautiful terazzo beneath.
This is retirement?
After church and after dinner with Nanny, visiting mother in law to our favorite son, Max, our favorite fourteen-year old will come with us and I get to teach him how to drive my stick shift truck.
The dog has stopped barking.
Ain't God good?
Shalom for now
Poppy
The sun is sneaking up from below the palms, that dog won't stop but it's ok.
There are twenty two cabinet doors in our little kitchen, only seven need to be removed now, sanded, repainted and returned. That's forty four hinges and one hundred seventy six screw heads repainted when all is done.
The new laminate floor is installed in the kitchen and hall, molding all around.
The old tile is scraped up from the floor of one bathroom revealing the beautiful terazzo beneath.
This is retirement?
After church and after dinner with Nanny, visiting mother in law to our favorite son, Max, our favorite fourteen-year old will come with us and I get to teach him how to drive my stick shift truck.
The dog has stopped barking.
Ain't God good?
Shalom for now
Poppy
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Crested Caracara
Sunday on the return voyage aboard Memaw's Kitty we were cruising through Polk
county when we saw a rather unusual bird. At first I was not able to identify it, but later I realized it was a Crested Caracara.
Caracara is a member of the falcon family but accepts a much wider range of food than most, hence our sighting. It was feeding on road kill, a carrion eating Caracara as it were.
Caracara is also the national bird of Mexico.
Ain't God good?
Charlie
Sunday on the return voyage aboard Memaw's Kitty we were cruising through Polk
county when we saw a rather unusual bird. At first I was not able to identify it, but later I realized it was a Crested Caracara.
Caracara is a member of the falcon family but accepts a much wider range of food than most, hence our sighting. It was feeding on road kill, a carrion eating Caracara as it were.
Caracara is also the national bird of Mexico.
Ain't God good?
Charlie
Monday, April 24, 2006
VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
Last weekend Memaw and I journeyed to Orlando where we met up with our favorite sixteen year- old granddaughter Larissa, who had ridden with a team mate and her parents to participate in a volleyball tournament. Larissa’s mom, our favorite oldest daughter would be detained by other events and we were her stand in. We each live in opposite directions and Orlando is sort of in the middle.
When she got to our room she was so excited! Earlier in the day she had gotten her drivers license and the first thing she did was show it to us.
Of all the sports our children and grandchildren have been involved in girl’s volleyball is to me the most exciting. I can’t explain it but others agree.
The games were played three with each opposing team. Wins, losses, and points were tallied and more games scheduled until ……………I don’t know what, we didn’t stay ‘til the end. “Our” girls played until late Saturday night and began again early the next morning when they were eliminated from the competition. They were nearly always busy. When they weren’t engaged in competition they were usually involved in the refereeing process.
The entire event was a roller coaster of emotions; exalting when victorious and agonizing at times of defeat. Ritual little dances, cheers, hugs and sometimes tears, and above it all the sounds of eight simultaneous games in one room. Whistles were whistling, coaches and spectators shouting, balls thudding, (and hitting spectators,) a controlled cacophony of chaotic confusion. We cheered until we our throats were sore and we could barely talk.
And then favorite daughter handed me a copy of a newspaper. In it was a photo of her standing with her bike wearing her cycling gear and the prosthesis she wears in place of her left leg. The article chronicled an abbreviated history of her life as a cancer survivor, leading up to yet another combination sports and fund raising event. Amidst the din I sat in my lawn chair at the edge of the court and cried.
It doesn’t matter if she is an infant, a teen-ager involved in sports, or your favorite forty three-year old daughter. There’s just something about a little girl.
Ain’t God good?
Shalom Y'all
Poppy
Last weekend Memaw and I journeyed to Orlando where we met up with our favorite sixteen year- old granddaughter Larissa, who had ridden with a team mate and her parents to participate in a volleyball tournament. Larissa’s mom, our favorite oldest daughter would be detained by other events and we were her stand in. We each live in opposite directions and Orlando is sort of in the middle.
When she got to our room she was so excited! Earlier in the day she had gotten her drivers license and the first thing she did was show it to us.
Of all the sports our children and grandchildren have been involved in girl’s volleyball is to me the most exciting. I can’t explain it but others agree.
The games were played three with each opposing team. Wins, losses, and points were tallied and more games scheduled until ……………I don’t know what, we didn’t stay ‘til the end. “Our” girls played until late Saturday night and began again early the next morning when they were eliminated from the competition. They were nearly always busy. When they weren’t engaged in competition they were usually involved in the refereeing process.
The entire event was a roller coaster of emotions; exalting when victorious and agonizing at times of defeat. Ritual little dances, cheers, hugs and sometimes tears, and above it all the sounds of eight simultaneous games in one room. Whistles were whistling, coaches and spectators shouting, balls thudding, (and hitting spectators,) a controlled cacophony of chaotic confusion. We cheered until we our throats were sore and we could barely talk.
And then favorite daughter handed me a copy of a newspaper. In it was a photo of her standing with her bike wearing her cycling gear and the prosthesis she wears in place of her left leg. The article chronicled an abbreviated history of her life as a cancer survivor, leading up to yet another combination sports and fund raising event. Amidst the din I sat in my lawn chair at the edge of the court and cried.
It doesn’t matter if she is an infant, a teen-ager involved in sports, or your favorite forty three-year old daughter. There’s just something about a little girl.
Ain’t God good?
Shalom Y'all
Poppy
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Last Tuesday I officially resigned as President of Fort Myers Police Athletic Board of Directors. In the future, if I have any involvement there when I am in town it will be as a non-voting person.
When I was elected President, my stated goal was to maintain a constant presence by having regular monthly meetings, fund raisers, and prove our worth, since the previous year a situation occurred that cast dark shadow over the program and would have caused great trouble had it become public.
Sometimes people get involved one way or the other because when they were children PAL helped them. With me that isn’t true.
I was never involved in Police Athletic League as I child, but I remember Johnny Thomas.
Johnny was a Marine veteran of world war two who became a policeman in my hometown shortly after the war. He visited the elementary schools and taught us safety.
The first time I saw him was nearly sixty years ago. He was in impressive sight as he climbed the steps to the stage, ramrod straight, wearing a blue motorcycle police uniform.
He taught us how to walk against traffic so we could see oncoming cars and get out of the way. He taught us to ride our bikes (those of us who actually could afford them,) with traffic. I can’t remember what else he said, but he made us feel important! He cared about us. When he talked, it was like he was talking to each of us as an individual.
My family moved around the county a lot. Although Johnny was a city policeman and schools were divided by city and county, he visited each once a year and I was glad.
In the higher elementary grades, sixth I think, I became a Junior Patrol member. I had the responsibility of holding a flag on a stick and guiding the other students safely across the street. Johnny was our advisor.
I joined a competitive drill team. Johnny was the person who taught us to drill and took us to Washington D. C. for the national competition.
When I was in high school I was a member of the Senior Patrol. We turned on the traffic lights in the vicinity of the schools and directed traffic at the dangerous intersections. Sergeant John Thomas was our leader there too.
I got to know his wife Hazel, and daughter Dianne.
In the later years of high school I boarded and worked to support myself. Hazel brought Dianne to the shoe store and had me called down from the stock room to fit the teenager. She knew I wouldn’t sell her shoes that fit improperly or were not good for her daughter’s feet.
Looking back now, I realize at least some of the integrity I gained as a youth was a direct result of having known John Thomas.
Shortly after high school I moved far away. I think John later became sheriff of my home county. If he did,I’m sure he served the people well.
Jesus cared about little children. He admonished the disciples when they tried to prevent the children from getting close.
Learn from officer Thomas and learn from Jesus.
Shalom Y’all,
Charlie
When I was elected President, my stated goal was to maintain a constant presence by having regular monthly meetings, fund raisers, and prove our worth, since the previous year a situation occurred that cast dark shadow over the program and would have caused great trouble had it become public.
Sometimes people get involved one way or the other because when they were children PAL helped them. With me that isn’t true.
I was never involved in Police Athletic League as I child, but I remember Johnny Thomas.
Johnny was a Marine veteran of world war two who became a policeman in my hometown shortly after the war. He visited the elementary schools and taught us safety.
The first time I saw him was nearly sixty years ago. He was in impressive sight as he climbed the steps to the stage, ramrod straight, wearing a blue motorcycle police uniform.
He taught us how to walk against traffic so we could see oncoming cars and get out of the way. He taught us to ride our bikes (those of us who actually could afford them,) with traffic. I can’t remember what else he said, but he made us feel important! He cared about us. When he talked, it was like he was talking to each of us as an individual.
My family moved around the county a lot. Although Johnny was a city policeman and schools were divided by city and county, he visited each once a year and I was glad.
In the higher elementary grades, sixth I think, I became a Junior Patrol member. I had the responsibility of holding a flag on a stick and guiding the other students safely across the street. Johnny was our advisor.
I joined a competitive drill team. Johnny was the person who taught us to drill and took us to Washington D. C. for the national competition.
When I was in high school I was a member of the Senior Patrol. We turned on the traffic lights in the vicinity of the schools and directed traffic at the dangerous intersections. Sergeant John Thomas was our leader there too.
I got to know his wife Hazel, and daughter Dianne.
In the later years of high school I boarded and worked to support myself. Hazel brought Dianne to the shoe store and had me called down from the stock room to fit the teenager. She knew I wouldn’t sell her shoes that fit improperly or were not good for her daughter’s feet.
Looking back now, I realize at least some of the integrity I gained as a youth was a direct result of having known John Thomas.
Shortly after high school I moved far away. I think John later became sheriff of my home county. If he did,I’m sure he served the people well.
Jesus cared about little children. He admonished the disciples when they tried to prevent the children from getting close.
Learn from officer Thomas and learn from Jesus.
Shalom Y’all,
Charlie
I begin as I usually end: Ain't God good?
Only God could have, would have, joined Stephen and Leslie Levenberg together.
Two young Jewish people became Christians and now witness their faith in of all places, ninety eight percent Muslim Istanbul Turkey!
They now have ten children, eight of whom are boys. In case you couldn't figure out the other two, they are girls.
The Levenbergs are visiting for a short time in the U. S. and the little fellowship which supports them.
It was nice to talk to Steven today. Next Sunday VCF will honor them with a dinner but Memaw and I cannot attend. We will be in Orlando watching our favorite sixteen year old play volleyball.
I would like to add a link their website but it is too dangerous for them to have one.
Pray for the Levenbergs.
They are God's people in Turkey.
Yes, God is good
Shalom Y'all,
Charlie
Only God could have, would have, joined Stephen and Leslie Levenberg together.
Two young Jewish people became Christians and now witness their faith in of all places, ninety eight percent Muslim Istanbul Turkey!
They now have ten children, eight of whom are boys. In case you couldn't figure out the other two, they are girls.
The Levenbergs are visiting for a short time in the U. S. and the little fellowship which supports them.
It was nice to talk to Steven today. Next Sunday VCF will honor them with a dinner but Memaw and I cannot attend. We will be in Orlando watching our favorite sixteen year old play volleyball.
I would like to add a link their website but it is too dangerous for them to have one.
Pray for the Levenbergs.
They are God's people in Turkey.
Yes, God is good
Shalom Y'all,
Charlie
This little house, Lord willing, is where Memaw and I will live for the summer.
Our favorite youngest daugher and her husband will soon move into the new house on the top of the ridge when we can then have this one to ourselves.
We are so blessed!
There are two infant boys waiting for their birth mothers to choose into which family they will be adopted.
One of the possibilities is our favorite youngest, Rebecca and her husband Vernon.
Will one of these children soon "belong" to Vernon and Becky?
God is in control.
Ain't God Good?
Charlie
The collage is of Stefanie, a teenage girl at our little fellowship who until I volunteered, had no grandfather (or any relatives other than her mom.)
How I wish I could send for her during the summer so that she could visit with us in the Ozarks.
Sadly, finances restrict us from doing that.
The girl with blond hair is her friend, Charissa, who with her Mom and brother also attend.
They are great "kids" and great friends.
Shalom Y'all
Charlie
Friday, April 07, 2006
The most valuable asset any company has is it's employees.
Most are too ready to discard those who do the "dirty" work more quickly than they will throw away malfunctioning equipment, especially when the employee is a "seasond" citizen such as myself.
What is interesting is this old "seasond" citizen was approached by two competitors and declined the offers, shortly before being sidelined by an injury.
Point is, no matter how much they think the workers need them it probably ain't true.
Shalom Y'all
Charlie
Most are too ready to discard those who do the "dirty" work more quickly than they will throw away malfunctioning equipment, especially when the employee is a "seasond" citizen such as myself.
What is interesting is this old "seasond" citizen was approached by two competitors and declined the offers, shortly before being sidelined by an injury.
Point is, no matter how much they think the workers need them it probably ain't true.
Shalom Y'all
Charlie
Monday, April 03, 2006
Imoportant NEWS!
On Wednesday at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00
in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.
This won't happen again for a thousand years.
Now aren't you so glad I told you this??????
Shalom y'all
Charlie
On Wednesday at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00
in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.
This won't happen again for a thousand years.
Now aren't you so glad I told you this??????
Shalom y'all
Charlie
Sunday, April 02, 2006
"You will always miss 100% of the shots you don't take"
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
