How Many Times Can You Count To 19?

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well we arrived at our apartment at around 3 PM.  It was then I realized there was no way we could get close to the building and that all of our stuff would not only have to be hauled up a flight of stairs, but that it would also have to be moved 50 feet before we could get to said stairs.

Did I mention the stairs?  There are 19 of them.  I know, I counted them.  Lots of times.  Right now as I type this, my whole body is screaming in protest.  "You ain't no spring chicken!" it taunts.  "What in the world were you thinking?" it continues.  "You will pay for this tomorrow and in the coming days!"  It just won't shut up!  But along with the help of a few friends, all the stuff is safe and sound in the 2nd floor apartment.

I apologize that this blog is not more entertaining, my body won't let me type anymore.  Plus, since the DSL internet connection did not set up, I fear that the person whose internet I am "borrowing" will come out of HIS apartment door and see me.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Oh, That Must Have Got Lost In The Move

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well we made it 600 miles in about 11 hours.  Not too bad considering one child was sick off and on the entire time.  Now we only have about 300 miles to go tomorrow and then we begin the daunting task of unloading the U-Haul.  I must say that having peeked inside the truck after today's leg of the journey, I am quite proud of the loading job that we did.  Very few things are not where I put them originally.

The wife and I went through the kid's things last night and many things did not make the cut.  I think we had 12 lawn sized trash bags full of stuff that I dragged out to the end of the driveway for the whole house and at least 2 or 3 were things from the kid's room.  Unfortunately, our kids know their toys quite well.  They have an excellent inventory system in their brains.  They can also remember who gave them what toy and when as well.  It is quite amazing.  So tomorrow evening might not be fun when they discover that many of their toys are "missing."

I am not sure what we are going to tell them exactly but it will be the truth as they see right through stories that don't line up with the facts.  They would not believe we forgot to pack anything since the house was empty this morning when we stopped by to pick up the cat.  They won't believe it fell out anywhere along the way either since at least one of them was in the follow up car in our moving caravan.  We always try to be truthful with the kids answering to a level of what we feel they can understand.

Unless of course we can think of a good lie between now and them (just kidding - but if you have one, email it to me - quick!).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 28

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Today we took all our earthly belonging and crammed them in a 14' U-Haul.  According to the brochure, this thing holds 669 cubic feet and we have it about 2/3 full.  Doing the math, we only own 446 cubic feet of stuff.  That seems like a low number for being in my mid 30's.

As we were going through the kid's rooms and packing things up, we kept finding these small green oval rocks.  I know that they had to come from somewhere from something that was decorative but the wife and I cannot recall what it was.  The daughter evidently liked to play with these rocks (all over the house!).  Just when we were sure we would find no more, there would be another one.

This reminds me of when we first moved into this house.  The previous owner liked to stick things on the walls with thumbtacks (receipts, mail, etc.).  For the first month or so we would keep finding these things all over the place.  We kept them all and stuck them in a piece of wood in the garage.  They total over 100 and even into our fourth year in this house we would still find one from time to time.

I imagine it will be the same with the new owners, only instead of thumbtacks, it will be little green rocks.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Not Quite What I Expected As A Going Away Party

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Today was my last day at work in Kokomo, IN.  Every so often the building will have a small get together to celebrate someone relocating or retiring.  It is usually in the afternoon and there is usually cake involved.  I seldom know the person who is having the party, but I will stand in line for cake and wish them well nonetheless (after all, it is free cake).

There was no such party planned for me (I think it is because I would have had to buy the cake).  I have been in that building in one cube or another for over 6 years and I had planned on wandering around at close to quitting time and saying my goodbyes.  However, when I arrived at work, there was little or no power to most of the building.  We were told that it would be restored in about an hour.  An hour came and went and then we were told it would be noon before power was restored.  Most people went home and logged in remotely leaving the building all but empty.  By the time power was finally restored at 1 in the afternoon, there were only a half dozen people there, none of which I knew.

So my "goodbye tour" of the building never materialized and I left an empty building at around 4:30.  It was kind of sad really and a little depressing.  But given the tearful goodbyes we have had to endure over the last week as we said goodbye to other friends and family, perhaps it is for the best.

Besides, I couldn't really afford cake for the whole building.  I got to pay for the U-Haul.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Penny ('s Worth of Catnip) For Your Thoughts?

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Last night we were up until 10 PM helping people move things out of our house that they had bought from us.  The last thing we sold / moved was my son's bed.  It was a loft bed and as such had to be disassembled before we could move it.  I left it together so the new owners could see how it should look when properly assembled (the people we bought the bed off of originally did this for us however I never got the bed put together as good as they had it).  Anyway, the bed is gone.

Our cat, Tiger (or as I call him -22 since he lost all 20 claws and 2 more things), liked to jump up on that bed and lounge around.  Like most cats, he seemed to enjoy looking down on us humans.  He was not really able to make the jump to the bed as it was almost 6 feet off the ground.  He jumped onto the dresser and then onto the bed.

I walked by my son's room this morning and the cat was sitting on the edge of the dresser looking up at where the bed used to be.  Now I am not one to think that animals have any real deep thoughts (I don't think cats and dogs ponder the existential) but I really would have liked to know what was going through his mind at that point in time.  Was he thinking that we were testing his faith and that to pass the test he needed to jump as if the bed was there and if so it would magically reappear?  Perhaps he is not a great judge of time passing and he was wondering how long the bed had been gone.  Or maybe he was thinking that if he stared long enough, the bed would reappear as if he had the power to create and destroy matter (I think some cats feel they have this power).

I think maybe I am giving him to much credit and he was simply thinking, "This bed disappeared just like my claws and other things did."

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Did We Start a Trend?

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Just as a quick follow up to Monday's post (7/31/06).  The grill did fit in the Yukon albeit sideways and thus some (re)assembly will be required as I guess some grills don't like being put on their sides.  But the good news is, it is not my problem anymore.  I did have to throw in the bbq set the kids got me for Father's Day though (sniff, sniff).  But this is better than being pressured into using the giant tongs, fork, and spatula to cook on the small electric stove in our new apartment.

Right after we announced the actual date we were moving, we were "one upped" by some friends of ours who announced that they were moving to Luxembourg (the country!).  Now these friends were originally a little upset that we were moving but (suprisingly) they have had a change of heart and now forgive us for "leaving" them.

Then just today, another friend told me he and his family were moving to Toledo, OH.  This would have been impressive had our other friends not raised the stakes so high.  Actually, moving to Toledo could be one upped by a lot of things, like (for instance) moving from the couch to the chair (just kidding friend, best of luck in Toledo).

One good thing about us moving though is that we will not have the option of being upset at these friends leaving us.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Will Anyone Miss Me?

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

The countdown to the "move" is coming to an end.  As I am doing ordinary tasks I find myself thinking that "This is the last time I will do this for a while or ever."  For instance, at lunch today I walked down to the end of the strip mall to my favorite pawn shop.  OK, it is really the only pawn shop that I have even been in so the has to qualify it as my favorite I guess but it really is enjoyable to wander around the store.  In the middle of the shop, there is a large section devoted to used CDs.  For some reason I derive pleasure in flipping through countless stacks of CDs.  Since today might be the last time I ever go there, I purchased all the CDs that I thought I might want.  At $2 per CD I can afford to make a few mistakes.  I won't bore you with the list of CDs that I purchased (and it might even make you think less of me if I did, I will admit to buying an old Richard Marx CD though).

Anyway, as I wander around the workplace, I wonder if any of these people will miss me.  I don't really interact with anyone in the building on work related issues.  All my teammates work in other towns and I rarely see them.  I have a few people that I talk to while getting coffee or while coming in or out of the building.  All in all though, I could probably disappear without anyone knowing it.  In my own row of cubes no one is particularly social.  The guy I pass by everyday (for the last 8 months) has never said more than 5 words total to me.  I tried to strike up a conversation one day.  He has this calendar in his cube.  It has been on the same month since the day I moved into the cube.  It has a scene of a golf green with a little mist / fog in the background with the sun just rising.  I have seen this picture over 100 times now.  I tried to strike up a conversation one day and said, "So, do you really like that picture or do you just really like the month of March 2004?"  I thought it was a funny statement that deserved to be the start of a "get to know each other" conversation.  He looked at me blankly for a few seconds, glanced at the calendar, then glanced back at me and said, "the picture."  Then he turned his back to me and went back to his computer.

But he is actually 2 words ahead of the other guy in the cube across from me.  These guys and I at least have one thing in common, no one would miss them if they were gone either.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon