Justice Has Been Served! So Why Don't I Feel Good?

The other night I was on my way to my mom's house. She was throwing a Tastefully Simple party. She had invited my fiancée to the party and I was going there to watch her four year old son during the party. We played air hockey and pool in the basement.

So on the way to the party I was driving behind a state trooper and there was a car in front of him. The state trooper had turned off into a church parking lot so then I was behind the other car. We came to a stop sign and opposite us a school bus had stopped. Its lights started flashing and the little stop sign on the bus extended out. The person in front of me decided to go and pass the bus. I knew better so I stayed put. Next thing you know I see in my side view mirror another car come passing by me and I wondered why someone else was passing me to get by the bus, then I realized it was the state trooper when he turned his lights on.

I remember thinking to myself, "Yes, this is awesome! Justice is being served!" Seriously though, how many times have you been driving, seen someone else driving like an idiot and you think to yourself where the cops are when there is a great injustice being done?

So I arrived at the party and I said, "I just saw something awesome!" Then my mom said, "Is it about my friend who is on her way here and just got pulled over by a cop?" Oh crap. All of a sudden I felt bad about feeling good that someone just got pulled over. Sure, what she did was wrong, but why should it make me feel good? Why do we as humans point the finger and laugh when other people mess up and act like we're all perfect because we don't do stuff like that? Too many times we use others as a measuring stick so we can use excuses such as "At least I'm not like that person".

Fortunately, my mom's friend was let go with a warning when she probably could have lost her license. She couldn't tell it was a school bus at first because it was dark out and it was much later than the time school buses are usually dropping off students, it was around 6pm. And I'll be honest, I didn't know right away that it was a school bus at first either. If I had been in front, I may have gone. I've been pulled over for driving like an idiot too. Why should I point the finger? We often step on people to lift ourselves up and try to look better than everyone else by pointing out their faults. I know that sometimes I need to stop being so self-centered and stop using the misfortunes of others to build myself up. I am a broken and fallen person and I'm okay with that, just as long as I always get up and pull myself together after every break and fall.

Culture Clash

I would like to share part of a story from another blogger known as Stacy From Louisville. It's been quite awhile since she's posted anything, but perhaps she's been called to do other things. So I'll set the stage for this small part of the story. On one of Stacy's blog posts she was talking about a guest speaker who had come to the college she was attending. He was a lifelong missionary who had been serving in a secluded area of Africa. Here's the rest:

When he and his wife first began their ministry in Africa a large portion of their financial support came from one particular church. He frequently sent that congregation letters to update them on how his work was progressing. On one occasion he sent several photos. The women of the church were horrified to see the women of that tribe were naked from the waist up. In response to the ungodly, offensive nature of the native women the church banded together to collect t-shirts for each one. The shirts were then sent to the missionary - as a surprise - for those impoverished women.

Several weeks later the missionary sent another letter to the church. In it he enclosed a photo. He relayed that the women were overjoyed with the colorful t-shirts. So much so, they CUT SPECIAL HOLES IN THEM SO THEY COULD WEAR THEM AND STILL FEED THEIR CHILDREN. The picture showed a large group of smiling African women wearing new t-shirts - with the front cut out.

I think I just about died laughing when I read that story. But this story also brings up a good question. Was it wrong for the African women to be naked from the waist up, or was it wrong for the women of the church to think it was wrong? Perhaps in that culture in that secluded area of Africa it is just the norm for women to walk around topless, no problem. Of course here in America if that happened it would cause car accidents, arrests, and just a lot of other problems. But that's our culture, not theirs.

What's wrong in one part of the world may not be wrong in another part of the world. That's kind of how I view the idea of sin. I think when most people hear the word "sin" they automatically think sin is always about bad things or things that are wrong. I think sin is more about what separates us from God rather than what's bad or wrong. What may be a sin to one person may not be a sin to another. In Romans 14 Paul uses food and drink as an example:

It's high time that you welcome all people weak in the faith without debating and disputing their opinions. Here's the issue: One person believes that nothing's off the menu; he'll eat any food put before him with no concern whether or not it has been associated with a pagan ceremony. But here's another believer-we'll call him the weaker-who eats only vegetables because the meat is tainted through contact with an idol. If you are an eater of all things, do not be condescending to your vegetarian brother or sister. In turn, those who abstain from certain foods on religious principles should not judge your brothers and sisters who eat meat-if God has accepted them, you have no reason to reject them.

vs. 1-3

In light of this, we must resolve never to judge others and never to place an obstacle or impediment in their path that could cause them to trip and fall. Personally I have been completely convinced that in Jesus, our Lord, no object in and of itself is unclean, but if my fellow believers are convinced that something is unclean, then it is unclean to them. If the food you eat harms your brother, then you have failed to love him. Do not let what you eat tear down your brother; after all, the Liberating King laid down his life for him. Do not allow people to slander something you find to be good because the kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking. When God reigns, the order of the day is redeeming justice, true peace, and joy made possible by the Holy Spirit. You see, those who serve the Liberating King in this way will be welcomed into the whole acceptance of God and valued by all men. Join us, and pursue a life that creates peace and builds up our brothers and sisters.

vs. 12-20

I think a good example would be something like this: Alcohol in and of itself is not unclean or bad or wrong. The abuse of alcohol is where the problem lies. So even though you may be a responsible drinker, it would not be wise to have even a sip of it if you are around someone who may be a recovering alcoholic. Here's one more thing from Romans 14:

It is right for you to abstain from certain meats and wine (or anything else for that matter) if it prevents your brother from falling in his faith. Hold on to what you believe about these issues, but keep them between you and God. A happy man does not judge himself by the lifestyle he endorses. But a man who decides for himself what to eat is condemned because he is not living by his faith. Any action not consistent with faith is sin.

vs. 21-23

The word sin is a term used in archery. The sin is basically the measurement between the bullseye and where the arrow lands on the target. If the arrow hits the bullseye, there is no sin. So another way to describe sin is to "miss the mark".

But back to cultural differences. I was reading an article in the July/August 2008 issue of Relevant magazine. The article is called "God Bless the Broken Road" by Christine Stanley. The article talks about how missionaries have been doing some good work in Nagaland, which is in north-eastern India. It's great that they've gone there and helped to change lives and share the life and teaching of Jesus with them, but something else happened as well. The Naga were introduced to Western culture.

Like I said, it's great that missionaries were going there to share Christ's love, but the influence of Western culture is erasing their identity. Here is a snippet from the article:

The Naga, an indigenous peopl of Indo-Mongoloid decent thought to have migrated to their current territory more than 500 years ago, have, in just three generations, undergone a rapid religious transformation that's inspired the majority of Nagaland's 2 million people to dedicate their lives to Chirst.
The conversion has proven positive on a number of social levels for these hill tribes, but change didn't come without severe and ultimately detrimental impacts to the very way Nagas understand themselves, their history and their future. In fact, their cultural transformation has been so marked that many Naga believe with certainty that in 10 or so years, the traditions of this culture will cease to exist.

Here are a few quotes from the article that came from some of the Naga people themselves:

The younger generation will lose our identity. We've totally forgotten the traditions of our culture.

We should keep our identity. I highly object to these changes. You see my tattoos? Any man should have these tattoos-they make you handsome. But now, my son thinks not. He has said no to them, and that is his choice.

The missionaries came and we jumped from one life to the next without the journey between, and that's dangerous. So now we have a Bible in our hands but no land or tradition, it pains me.

At first we could not differentiate between culture and faith. We thought that all things our forefathers used were evil-traditional song and dance, ethical values. All these things we disregarded with the introduction of Christianity, and many of these items were destroyed.

We don't just blame Christianity, but also modernity-[Western] lifestyle, dress, music. It was all coming together at the same time, and we could not differentiate, and that was the problem.

I wouldn't put the blame on Christianity as a whole. But there seems to be an American brand of Christianity here in the US and it's that kind of Christianity that so many times is presented to the people of foreign lands. I think the American brand of Christianity may be to blame for trying to convert the world to an American version of Christianity. I reject American Christianity and I embrace a world-wide Christianity. One that works with and through the cultures and traditions of people all over the world. Christianity doesn't look exactly the same all over the world.

So if you happen to go to a foreign land on a mission trip, learn about the culture of the people you are going to see. And it's not wrong to teach them about your own culture, it just shouldn't be forced on anyone. Well, that's all I've got for this one. Comments and other insights are always welcome. I want this blog to start conversations. I want to know what others think, I'm not always happy with just my thoughts and opinions. What are yours?

The Mouth Brow

After finally finishing the Work, Work, Work Edition on this blog I feel it's time to do something pointless but fun. Sometimes I like to type random words into Google's image search and see what it comes up with. Even when I'm doing some serious research and I need to find images, some of the craziest things come up. So I thought I would type in the words "Handlebar Mustache" and see what I came up with. I have chosen the ten best images that have come up. Not all the images that came up were necessarily handlebar mustaches, but I picked them just for being awesome or ridiculous. So here we go:

We'll start of with this picture of Rollie Fingers. (is that his real name?)




Wow! To bad he doesn't have a beard, he'd definitely quality for having one of the best gingerbeards.




How could the ladies resist? Well...pretty easily I'm sure.




Can't forget about the Hulkster? What'cha gonna do, brother?!




You should see how he hog ties a baby calf!



I think he stole those from a ram and glued them to his face.

I think he just swallowed an elf. The poor thing's feet are still hanging out of his mouth.



This guy is like the Pippi Longstockings of mustaches.



More like a crowbar mustache! And check out the sweater that guy is wearing under his coat.



I don't know if this counts, but that is one smug looking emperor tamarin.

So those were my top ten choices, but I don't want to end this post without a tribute to the mustache Salvador Dali.









So there you have it. And just one more thing. The video below just goes to show that having a mustache isn't always all fun and games. Sometimes mustaches make life hard.



THE END

WWWE: Time to get Graphic

So this will be my last entry in the Work, Work, Work Edition of my blog. Gee, I've been working on it since June or July, I can't remember how long ago it was. We have come to the last job I've had up to this point. After graduating from Penn College in 2007 I finally broke into the world of graphic design in October 2007 at a place called Brodart. My main job was to work on the catalog during the summer and then other things throughout the rest of the year such as trade show signage, brochures, flyers, logos, labels, and a bunch of other stuff. It really wasn't the most creative job, it was a lot of production work, but it was good experience.

There's not really much to say about this job to be honest with you, I didn't really like it all that much. I got along great with my co-workers though. The one thing we could always talk about was the show "LOST". I also got to listen to music and podcasts until my boss said we couldn't listen to anything anymore because none of the other departments are allowed to listen to music. So that really sucked when that happened. I listened to about 20 different podcasts every week and it was the only thing that really helped me get through my day, and then it was gone.

My boss and I didn't have a very good working relationship. She never approached me about anything, never gave me anything to do. I would ask her and she would say, "I'll find something for you to do", so I would go back to my desk and wait for something, but I was never given anything to do. And when I would get a project to work on I would get it done quickly and then have nothing to do again. I would be busy during catalog season, but after that, nothing. My boss seemed to avoid me like the plague, she would make small talk with my other co-workers and tell them they were doing a good job, but I would never hear anything like that. The only time she ever said anything to me was if I messed up and then I'd get an earful.

One time she called me into her office and she chewed me out about something and then asked if I had anything to say. I told her that the only thing I ever hear from her is negativity and that she never tells me when I do a good job. I though I would have atleast heard some positive feedback when the marketing team chose my designs out of everyone else's three times in a row. Nope, nothing. Then she told me she would work on that.

I started working on a logo shortly after that. I must have made well over a hundred different designs on that logo. She never asked to see them. I put them in her mailbox but I never got any feedback on them. She just went back to avoiding me like the plague again. But then she called me into her office again a couple weeks after I had told her about her negative attitude. I was let go. I guess that's what you get for telling the truth.

I was never rude or nasty to her, but she was not a nice person at all. I'm sorry I'm talking about someone this way, I know it's not right, I know she probably has issues and maybe I should be praying for her instead of venting all of this on this blog. But I will say she's not the worst boss I ever had. Atleast she never called me on the phone and yelled at me while I was lying on a hospital bed.

Sorry to end this series of posts on such a downer, but it was one of the worst jobs I've ever had and it's mostly because of the boss I had at that job. I didn't exactly like the work all that much, but I didn't really mind it either. I guess I could share one story that's pretty funny though.

I got an e-mail from one of the IT guys, it was an e-mail that went to all the employees. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it went something along the lines of: "The system is going to be down for a few hours today, sorry for the incontinence." If you don't know what incontinence means, then click on it. I usually ate lunch with that particular IT worker so I printed out the definition to incontinence and showed it to him. By lunch time he knew he used the wrong word, but he didn't know what it meant until I showed him. He thought it was funny, he's the kind of guy that can laugh at himself.

Well, I'm glad I'm done with this series of blogs. Now I feel I can get back to just blogging about whatever comes to mind. Some of my favorite blogs are just random ramblings of other people.

I am still unemployed and I have been since July. Please keep me in your prayers. Thank you.

*Blogity-blah-blah-update*

I've got a quick update for everyone. I proposed to April this past Friday and she said yes! Of course I was pretty sure she would considering we had already started making wedding plans. So here's how it went down. Weeks before I proposed to her I asked her if she wanted to be proposed to in a traditional way or more of a unique way. She said she wanted to be surprised, which of course meant she wanted me to be clever.

That's the answer I wanted to hear. It was time for the gears to start turning in my head. April had gone online and showed me the different rings that she liked so I had a good idea of what to get her. But being unemployed, I wasn't sure how I was going to afford one. I eventually figured I would just have to put it on my credit card, so I did. But in the meantime I kept April thinking that I had no idea how I was going to get her a ring anytime soon.

As far as how to present her the ring in a creative way, I had to come up with something clever. For some reason the movie "The Ring" popped into my head. I thought I would just put the engagement ring in the DVD case, but it needed more. I pulled the movie off my shelf and noticed that there's a little tag-line that goes along with the title of the movie. It doesn't just say "The Ring" It says, in small print "Before you die you see..." and then in large print "The Ring". Well, that was a little unsettling, I thought to myself "Eh, maybe she won't see it", but what if she did, it would be kind of creepy. It is a horror movie after all. But it has the perfect title, "The Ring".

So after thinking about it, I decided to write the words "say yes" on a piece of paper and tape it on the DVD cover over the word "die". So then it would say "Before you say yes, you see the ring". To make sure the engagement ring would stay in place inside the DVD box, I used double-sided tape and pressed the ring down onto it so

I made reservations at the restaurant where we had our first date, the Bullfrog Brewery in Williamsport, PA. After we had finished eating I told April I had to run out to the car for a minute. I came back with the DVD box wrapped in wrapping paper. I pulled it out of my coat and said "I got you a little present". She said "What is it, it looks like a movie. She opened it and said "It is a movie". She was a little confused because she's not a big movie watcher and The Ring is probably not a movie she would own. But then she noticed the tag-line that read "Before you say yes, you see the ring". I think it confused her even more, but I think she was getting the idea. She looked at me as if she were expecting me to pull a ring out of my pocket and propose to her. But I just stared back with a smile on my face. Then she finally opened the DVD box and saw the ring. I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.

The ring was even a perfect fit, I didn't even have it sized or anything. When I told her where I got the ring, she told me it was a good place and the owner of the store volunteers for hospice, and April is a hospice nurse. I had no idea! It was such a perfect evening and a memory we'll be able to hold on to forever

WWWE: Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn

So after my six years at Hope Enterprises was over I became a banquet server at the Holiday Inn in Williamsport, PA. Not only did I have to serve at wedding receptions and other types of banquets, I also had to set up all the tables and chairs in the banquet rooms. I hated it. Fortunately, the evening bellman was leaving soon so I got the position after he left. I loved it! I would definitely have to say this was one of my favorite jobs. You meet a lot of interesting people while working in a hotel. I got to meet some celebrities as well. Every year we would get some former baseball players and coaches who have been inducted into Major Leagues Baseball's Hall of Fame for a golf tournament just before the Little League World Series started every August. I met the Goo Goo Dolls, The Blue Oyster Cult (you know, the "more cowbell" band), and a comedian named Eric O'Shea. After Eric was finished with his act he asked me to drive him to a Chinese restaurant and we had a good conversation.

I had a variety of things to do as a bellman. My main duties were walking the hallways and making sure everything was tidy, picking up guests and flight crews at the airport, taking amenities to guests rooms when the asked for them: toothbrushes, pillows, refridgerators, etc. and picking on the front desk staff. Ok, that last one wasn't one of my duties, but I made it a part of my job. I also had to help out different departments in the hotel. I helped housekeeping fold towels, keep the pool stocked with towels, and once in awhile I had to change a room...not fun. I helped in the banquet department by taking a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice to the bride and groom's room during the reception, plus I helped with the banquets once in awhile since I started as a server. I helped the restaurant by keeping the coffee urns filled at the front lobby of the hotel and running to the grocery store for food and other items they needed. I helped the front desk staff by checking guests in and answering the phone. It was a pretty busy job but I enjoyed it.

One of the worst parts of the job though was when a bus full of tourists came and I had to unload the entire bus and make sure all the luggage got to the right rooms. I usually had to take up to 15 or more luggage carts fully loaded and take all the luggage to the rooms. On my last night working at the hotel before I started my new job I was stacking some luggage on a cart when one of the bags came down on my hand. I pulled my hand out and it hurt. The steel casing that holds the retractable handle on a piece of luggage had crushed my hand. I went to the front desk and told them that someone else was going to have to finish unloading the luggage. When they asked me why I showed them my hand, it had swollen and my thumb was twitching uncontrollably. Nothing was broken fortunately, I just put some ice on it for awhile and then I was able to finish unloading the luggage a little while later.

So that's what I did at the Holiday Inn. But this blog post wouldn't be complete without me sharing some stories about my adventures as a bellman. Believe me, if you need to find some interesting stories to tell, work at a hotel for awhile.

Like I mentioned before, I used to pick up flight crews at the airport every night. Most flight crews consisted of two pilots and one flight attendant. I guess you could say I picked up a lot of flight attendants, ha ha.....yea, that's not funny, sorry. Anyway, one Halloween night I picked up a flight crew and one of them was wearing a hockey mask like Jason Voorhees.



When I saw him I said to him, "I'm so glad you finally found a respectable line of work instead of going around and killing people." He just kind of stared at me for a moment, it was kind of creepy.

Another time we had some guests staying with us from Texas. They were doing some construction job in the area. One of them came up to me with a piece of paper in his hand and said "Can you take us here?" I looked at the paper and it was an advertisement for the local strip club. I told him I was sorry that I couldn't because it was against our policy to take people to bars or anything of that nature. The guy didn't give me a hard time or anything he was just upset I couldn't take him and his friends there. Later that evening I was walking the hallways making sure everything was in order when I was paged on my walkie-talkie. The manager on duty said, "Could you please come and get the naked man out of the pool." My reply was, "Ummm.....". Then one of the front desk people said, "Don't worry, she'll have some people help you" which was good because I didn't really want to do this on my own. So about four of us were walking towards the pool when the man came out of the pool room. It was one of the Texans. He was wearing nothing except for his cowboy hat which he was using to cover himself. He apologized and went to his room.

I had to make an audio clip for this next one:




Okay, last story, it's a good one. It was late at night and the restaurant staff had all gone home for the night so the kitchen was empty. I went back there to use the service elevator so I could patrol the hallways. There was a man walking around in the kitchen. It was obvious that he was extremely inebriated. He was carrying around the plunger that we keep in the service elevator. I approached him and asked if I could help him. He said he was trying to find his room. I asked him what his room number was and he told me. So I got him back on the elevator and there were a few unused cigarettes on the floor of the elevator. He had tried to take one out to light it but was way too uncoordinated at the time to do so. As we got off the elevator he was still carrying the plunger and I asked him if he needed it for anything. He told me he didn't so I asked him to give it to me and I put it back on the elevator. I took him to the room he told me he was staying in and he tried using his key card on the door but it didn't work. I had a master key card that opened any hotel room and I was about to use it when I realized that maybe the room he told me wasn't his. So I used my walkie-talkie to page the front desk staff to ask what room this man was staying in. I asked the man his name and I'm glad he was aware enough to remember his own name. The front desk staff looked him up and told me his room was on the next floor. So he had the last two numbers right, he just had the floor number wrong. I walked him up to his room and told him to get a good night's rest.

So those were just some of the things I got to experience while working in a hotel. A lot of randomness and unpredictability. It was a fun job and I was sad to go, but I was about to start my career in graphic design. So I'll talk about that next time.

Calls From Chris: Part Two

WOW! It's been a whole month since I've blogged anything. Remember when I could barely go a day without blogging? Life has been pretty hectic lately, still trying to find a job, planning a bachelor party for my friend, helping to plan my own wedding...oh, that's right, I didn't tell you guys, I'm planning on getting married in May 2010. Even though we've talked about it and started to plan things, I still haven't popped the question. You see, being unemployed really puts a damper on buying things like an engagement ring. Then again, that whole two months salary thing isn't looking so bad, ha ha! Yea, ok, that wasn't funny. So with being unemployed, what kind of ring can I get with no money. An onion ring? One of those rings that comes on a gallon of milk? I don't think that will go over so well. I know something will happen though, as long as the engagement ring comes before the wedding.

So anyway, that's the news right now. Before I conclude the Work, Work, Work Edition of my blog by talking about my last few jobs I wanted to post another installment of "Calls From Chris" So without further ado, I bring to you, Calls From Chris: Part Two: Electric Boogaloo...okay, there's no electric boogaloo.

WWWE: Six Years of Hope - Part VI

Sorry it's taken me so long to get through this but this will be the final installation of Six Years of Hope. We last left off where I was asked to work at another house temporarily with a very aggressive individual because I would rather deal with that than deal with the manager of the house I was currently working in.

There were four things this particular individual would obsess over. They are hats, balls, paper, and bags. If he saw any of these items he had to have them and would mow over anyone to get them. So we couldn't really take him out in public unless we went to a park and prayed to God nobody at the park had any of those four items. He had to take him out because we couldn't keep him cooped-up in the house all day. I remember I came into work one morning and he was sitting very calmly in a recliner holding two brooms, one in each hand. The staff that worked overnight told us "We think he's trying to row a boat." I just said "Okay". Then there were times when he'd get very aggressive towards the staff or his housemates and he would have to be wrestled to the ground until he calmed down. He's not a bad guy by any means, he doesn't know any better when he does these things, it's just how he's been wired I guess.

The time eventually came when they found a new place for him to live. He now has his own space in the bottom floor of a house and staff work with him one-on-one and I've heard that it's a much better situation now. I think he is a very territorial person and that's why he would often terrorize his housemates. So with him gone, that meant it was time for me to go back to the other house I was working at. But I didn't want to go back. It was then that I made a very bold move. I talked to the director who ran both the houses and told her flat out that I wanted to stay at the house I was currently at and if I am made to go back to the other house I would quit. Guess what, it actually worked!

So after this agressive individual moved out, another moved in, so there were a total of three residents in this house. I'll talk briefly about each one of them.

We'll call the first one Rich. Rich likes to shake his head back and forth (kind of like he's saying "no") so he has a really large neck from doing this. We're not sure why he does this, but the manager of the house said he gets a head rush from doing it. Personally I can't stand it when I get a head rush because it hurts, but apparently this guy liked it. He is also deaf and he has a device placed under his mattress on his bet that vibrates when the fire alarm goes off. One night I stayed to cover third shift. We were able to sleep during third shift so that was a good thing. But this particular night the assistant manager came it and pulled the fire alarm for a fire drill. I guess we were due for a third shift fire drill, I just wished she wouldn't have picked the night that I was doing third shift. So I got two of the residents out the door, but when I got Rich up, he decided that he was going to go into the kitchen and get himself a glass of milk. So that fire drill didn't go so well. He could be kind of sneaky sometimes and try to sneak drinks and food. His parents took him home over the weekend every week so he is well taken care of. Plus it was nice to have one less person at the house on the weekends.

The next person we'll call Dave. Dave was the new guy that came after the aggressive guy left. He is a very quiet person and has dementia. It could be difficult to get him to do things or interact with staff or his other housemates. He didn't do to well on outings either. We tried horse therapy with him, but he would never get on the horse, but he would help walk it around the track. Most of the time he would stand in the hallway. We'd ask him if he wanted to sit down but he would usually say "No". The only two things that he did well was eat and sleep. He loved ice cream and he didn't talk much, but the word he said most was "pajamas" meaning he wanted to put on his pajamas and go to bed. We tried in so many ways to try to reach him, but there are some people that just can't be reached. Perhaps they have found a way since I've left, but we tried everything.

Then the third resident we'll call Gary. Gary was retired from the day program that Rich and Dave went to every weekday. I would often work with him in the mornings. I would take him to the park to see the ducks and the geese and we'd often times go for rides in the vans. He liked it when we took the back roads so he could see the cows. He liked to say "MOO!" when we saw the cows. He went to a senior center on Fridays for lunch, but he usually didn't like it. He used to when I first started working there, but then he didn't seem to like it as much after awhile. He loved to watch stand-up comedy. I don't know if he understood what the comedians were saying but he laughed anytime the crowd laughed. His favorite comedian was Larry the Cable Guy. He also loved to watch America's Funniest Home Videos. He was always a real joy to work with even though he did have his "moments" once in awhile. He could be really grumpy sometimes.

My career at Hope Enterprises ended at that house. One day while I was at school one of my classmates looked at me and said "You don't look so good." I told her "I don't feel so good." I told my professor that I wasn't feeling well and I left. I made an appointment with my doctor and met with her a few hours later. After checking me over she found three different things wrong with me, two of them related to stress. She asked me where I worked and she suggested I find a new job. The average employee lasts about three years at Hope unless they move up in the ranks. I had been there for over six years by this time. In the meantime I was able to cut my hours back and it really helped reduce the stress I was going through. I had enough sick time and vacation hours to make up for the hours I was missing.

I went back to my doctor a few weeks later and she decided to run an EKG on me. She didn't like the results. She said that I may be heading for a heart attack and she referred me to a specialist about getting a pacemaker. A PACEMAKER? AT THE AGE OF 27? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? So I went to see this specialist and he gave me a clean bill of health. He said that it was normal for someone who was in my position for my heart to be in the condition it was. I was working a full time job and going to college. He did say that I have an abnormal heart beat and said it wouldn't effect me until I was much older.

A few weeks after all this happened I was able to find another job and my time was done at Hope. I had a lot of good times and a lot of bad times and I was glad I was finished there. And I'm glad I'm done blogging about this job.

WWWE: Six Years of Hope - Part V

So once again I was transferred to a different house. This house had four residents crammed into one little tiny house which was probably only big enough for two people to live in. This was also the first house in which only one staff member was there during a shift so it was different being the only one looking after four people rather than two or three staff. Of course there would be additional staff to do outings, but for the most part it was just one staff per shift. I guess they never heard of the buddy system. Seriously, what would happen if that one staff that's working gets hurt and is rendered unconscious? They probably would have more staff on, but they are only given so much money by the state so I guess they have to do what they have to do.

The residents at this house were pretty calm. None of them really had any behavioral issues. I think the worst thing was one of them liked to try to raid the fridge or cupboards to try and sneak some food. I talk a little bit about each of the residents.

The one that liked to sneak food, we'll call him Rob. Rob is a pretty friendly guy. He enjoys watching the news and he would occasionally go to the mall where the local news station had a news room. His favorite news anchor reported from that room. He also likes listening to his Johnny Cash CDs. He would usually visit his mother on the weekends.

The next guy who we'll call Mark was the oldest living resident at Hope at the time. He was a good guy, but he could be a little grumpy sometimes. I had never seen him do this, but one of my co-workers there told me he was known to flip the bird at traffic lights when they turned red. He spent most of his time watching TV and looking at books and magazines.

The third guy we'll call Rick. He didn't actually have mental retardation or mental health issues so I'm not quite sure how he ended up at Hope. He was the nicest person though. He liked to tell jokes and have conversations with staff. It was kind of hard to understand him, he talked very low most of the time and he stuttered a lot. He had just had a stroke before I worked there and before that I was told that he spoke very clearly. He also enjoyed watching TV, reading the paper, and doing puzzles.

The last one we'll call Don. He was very short and wore big glasses. He kind of reminded me of that turtle from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. He likes to tell stories and joke around. Don actually wasn't at the house much. His dad took him home on the weekends and on Wednesday nights. He needed insulin shots every day. I had never given shots before so I was nervous about giving them. I took a training and practiced on a ball with the syringe and needle. The day came for me to give my first shot to Don. He gave me a little pep talk and said "C'mon Dan, you can do it!" I was nervous, but he wasn't, he had gotten these shots twice a day for a long, long time so he was used to it.

All the residents in this house were great. I was in my busiest semester at college, so things were pretty rough and stressful, and on top of that, the manager of the house I was working in was the absolute worst boss I have ever had in my life. Believe me, putting the words "absolute worst" in italics doesn't do it any justice. Now, I don't like to say bad things about people, so I won't. But if you happen to be a manager, or a boss of any kind, here are some tips to follow:

1) When one of your employees messes up and you're giving them a lecture about it don't ever use the phrase "That's a no-no." It's very condescending and will most likely piss off the employee.

2) If you need to call off and need one of your staff to fill in for you, don't whine and complain when they can't make it in especially if you have denied them time off when they were sick and treated them like crap.

3) If one of your staff calls because they just got backed into by a semi-truck while they were sitting in their car, one of the first things you should say are "Are you okay?" or "I'm sorry to hear that, do you need someone to take your shift?" You're first question should never be "Well, when can you come in?" in a very stern and uncaring voice.

4) The most important thing you need to remember is that if one of your employees has to be taken to the hospital because he/she passed out and a relative calls in to tell you they won't be in that day do not, I repeat DO NOT CALL THE HOSPITAL LATER AFTER YOUR EMPLOYEE HAS REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS AND YELL AT THEM FOR MISSING WORK WHILE THEY ARE LYING IN A HOSPITAL BED!!!

Follow these simple tips and you can avoid becoming the worst boss in the universe.

So yea, it was not a happy time there. After working there for a few months I was asked to substitute at another group home. They were trying to gather up all the male staff they could to work at this group home because they had just gotten a new resident that was very physically aggressive especially toward female staff. I had worked with him before when I subbed at another house a few times. So I jumped at the chance to work at that other house for awhile. Because I would rather work at a house with a resident who might try to rip my face off than work with the manager at the house I was currently at. Says a lot about a person doesn't it?

Yes, I know I'm supposed to show grace and forgiveness to everyone, but there are just some people that get under my skin and she happened to be one of them. Sorry, I'm not Jesus, I'm not perfect.

But anyway, that's the worst of my time there at Hope. I'll have one more for you next time, and then I have two more jobs to tell you about after that and we'll be done with the Work, Work, Work Edition (WWWE) here at Blogity-blah-blah-blog.

WWWE: Six Years of Hope - Part IV

Let's see...last time I talked about the house I was transferred to and I talked about all but one of the residents that live there. Today I'd like to talk about the sixth resident at that house, his name is Chris. Chris is one of the most unique people I've ever met. He's autistic and one of his hobbies is to collect DVDs and VHS tapes. Let's just say he has a lot of them. He remembers just about everything you tell him about yourself or about others. Don't ever tell secrets around him though, it won't stay a secret for too long :)

Chris is able to go out into the community on his own, he just let's his staff know where he's going and when he'll be back. He's very independent. I still keep in touch with Chris to this day. He enjoys coming to Valley Mosaic with me once in awhile. I usually go to his birthday party every year as well. And there's always one thing he wants for Christmas and his birthday, a DVD. He has so many he could open his own video rental store. Almost every time I talk to him on the phone, one of the first statements out of his mouth is "I'm watching a movie".

I'm going to do something new here at Blogity-blah-blah-blog. I have recorded a bunch of messages left by Chris on my answering machine and I have compiled them together in groups of five messages. I thought I would share these with everyone. I've edited them though so all revealing information has been left out such as his last name, phone number, address, etc. so it doesn't interfere with any confidentiality. There will be more where this came from, but I now present to you, Calls from Chris: Part One.