OK, what do I call this...

Eh, what's in a title anyway? If you're gonna read, you're gonna read! If not, then you don't care what I title it anyway. It's a B-E-A-utiful day here today. The sun is shining, the ice is melting, and thankfully there is no damage to my home. What am I talking about? Oh, I haven't told you We had a severe ice storm here earlier this week. It started Monday night, and ended Wednesday morning. We ended up with about 1 1/2 inches of ice, maybe more, according to the news reports. Tree limbs (and tree trunks in some cases) snapped, power went out ... oh man it was awful. Over 100,000 people (that's a low guesstimate) lost power. Many places have been gracious and opened their homes, their businesses, etc. to allow people to eat, shower, and try to make something normal out of an un-normal situation. My block was very lucky. We never lost power, trees that snapped did not go through any homes (they all fell the other way), and we all stayed safe. Went to the office on Wednesday because of no internet in the house. Slow drive, took me about 30 minutes, but made it there fine. Even stopped at the store on the way home. I can now say I've survived through hurricanes, tornadoes, and add SEVERE ice storm to the list.

I've been very fortunate over the past couple of months to reconnect with old friends, and even made a couple of new ones. Some grew up differently than what I remembered them as, or pictured them to be, but that's OK. So have I. To those that I have reconnected with, a small message. Just because I may not agree with you doesn't mean I don't like you. I just believe differently than you, and that makes neither of us a bad person, or bad for one another. It's just an alternate view of things.

Well, that's about it for now. I have to get back out into the beautiful weather and enjoy some springlike winter weather. TTFN!

Manic Monday...

It's 8:09pm CST as I start typing this, and I am watching Monday Night RAW with a fire burning in the fireplace and the smell of popcorn filling my living room.

Well, that's the highlight ...
Now for the lowlight ...

Northwest Arkansas is experiencing a winter ice storm. I have raised the volume of my television to try to drown out the sound of rain/sleet/ice pelting my windows, and hoping that we do not lose power or pipes due to the freeze. This will be continuing through tomorrow, and actually including snow flurries tomorrow evening. Why can't it be ALL snow?? That would be wonderful. I would much rather have a foot of snow instead of the 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches of ICE they are predicting.

I have emailed my bosses and informed them that I will not be back to work until the spring thaw. OK, that's not totally accurate. I advised them I will be working from home tomorrow, and will decide on Wednesday as tomorrow night approaches and see what the weather holds at that time.

My son was released from school early today. We are on the "phone list" for the school to call to inform us when something like this happens, and they called at 12:53pm to advise us of a 1:45pm release. This worked well as the radio station I was listening to did not announce it until 1:36pm, followed by a phone call from Anthony at 1:37pm asking me to pick him up at school because "I don't want to ride the bus home" to which my reply was "too bad, take the bus!" Now, I do not carry any remorse over this decision. The buses get much more respect on the road than a regular car, it's BIGGER, so it can take an impact better (God forbid!), and it was frankly too damn cold out! Plus, I was working, and really couldn't leave for the hour and a half it would take to get to him, get him in the car, and get him home (it's a 13-mile round trip kids!)

TTFN

May my boss forgive me...

OK, I have used this blog as a therapeutic (spelled wrong? who cares!) tool, a forum for random thoughts and ideas, and basically a way for me to remember things, because my mind is like a cracked sieve. Today, on the other hand, I have to vent!

I understand the economic situation in the United States. It's affected my household, as my wife lost her job 2 weeks before Christmas in 2008. Long story short, we are currently living paycheck to paycheck, not due to bad planning, but due to bad timing. Her first unemployment payment should have been here yesterday, and of course, it hasn't shown up yet.

To make things worse, we had a team meeting today. Simply put ... no raise! I have worked there since March 2008, busted my ass for the entire year. Worked with my CFR to make sure the chilled/frozen season was successful, and it was. Took on the Ice Cream business to make sure that we ran it successfully, and it has done great. I've learned the dry business, working it when we were short of staff. All this, and absolutely it's like peeing in a pair of dark pants. It gives you a warm feeling but nothing to show for it. It SUCKS!

Well, I can't leave the company, because jobs are scarce. AND, because I truly enjoy working for the company I am with.

OK, I'm done venting.

TTFN

The Toilet Flushed!!!

If you've been following my rantings lately, you know it has not been the best start to 2009. Ann has been out of work for 6 weeks now. I got paid last week, blinked, and now counting the days until the next paycheck, where I get to blink again, open my eyes, and see what I saw when my eyes were closed ...

The good thing is work is going well. I enjoyed my "day off" on Monday (please note sarcasm, there's no button for it). I worked all day, but I didn't mind. Nothing was going on. I still had the day with my family, even though I bounced back and forth between my work laptop and my television (watched the NY Islanders lose in OT).

Well, yesterday evening brought a whole new adventure. And, I will try to keep this as un-disguisting (not a word? too bad, my blog!) as possible. I went to the bathroom shortly after I got home (forgot the magazine), and when I was done, I flushed. Well, what went in went down, which was the positive of the situation. The negative? The water didn't. It kept going up! I wasn't quick enough to stop the flow from the inner workings (the tank thing in the back), and of course it went over. Add to that the friggin' water was COLD! Well, I managed to stop the flow, so it was only about 1/4 inch of water on the floor, and Ann & Anthony got me towels quick enough so it didn't run out of the bathroom and onto the carpet in the bedroom. I grabbed the plunger (more water on the floor!) and tried to undo whatever did the clog. That didn't work. Ann went out to buy some Dran-O, figured maybe there was something in the bathroom sink that was blocking the pipes, and of course THAT didn't work. I plunged a few times (my exercise for the week) and the water slowly went down. But no WHOOSH from the flush.

This is the first time I can honestly say I am SOOOO grateful for 2 bathrooms in a house. Otherwise, things could have been very interesting. My intent was to let it go the night, hoping a friend was right, and it would work itself out overnight. If not, call in sick to work and hit the home stores for a way to fix the situation. Well, I woke up this morning, flushed the toilet (and froze my feet again .. the towels that absorbed the water were ICE!) and of course, it filled. Oh hell. Out of the bathroom, dry my feet, and look for my phone. Well, the feet dried and thawed out, and I hear WHOOSH! coming out of my bathroom. Could it be? YES, there is a God and he unclogged my toilet. I flushed it again just to be sure. WHOOSH! What a beautiful sound!

Well, the towels are all off my bathroom floor, they are drying (they will be washed later this week when I decide to go to the laundromat ... too many for our washer, would take a month), and I have 2 working toilets again. Someone suggested it could have been frost built up in the pipe (it has been very cold the past few days, much worse at night). So I'll pass on the tip to you that they gave to me. Pour hot water (not boiling, just hot like you would use in the shower) into your toilet and flush. However, do this BEFORE it doesn't WHOOSH! or it's kinda pointless. This will keep the pipes from building frost and allow the toilet to continue flushing.

To a man I am proud to say is more than a "higher up" but a friend, I thank you for beginning to follow these random rants. I hope I am able to keep you, as well as my friends who I know read this, as well as the ones I don't know they read this, very entertained (wow, THAT was long-winded huh?).

President Carter was born with his father's eyes. Well, when that happened, how was his father able to see?!?!? Sorry, commercial caught my attention, and I'm in a mood, because the Islanders are actually winning. Let's hope this lasts.

TTFN!

It's cold!!!!!!!!!

Good evening one and all. I gotta say ... if I wanted to be cold in the winter, I could have stayed up north. Today was a sultry 13 degrees, and that was the HIGH temperature of the day! Add to that a wee bit of snow (maybe a dusting), and they closed schools in the district. Lucky Anthony!

Work has been NUTS this week. I have a schedule that I normally follow, but it has not been normal all week. We have a promotion that had a problem, I've had more meetings than I have in awhile, but I'm smoking less. I have to. No time to take a break to go downstairs and smoke ... they seem to frown on smoking in the office.

Anthony's 15th birthday was this past Tuesday. We went to Steak 'N Shake for dinner. It is a really nice place. I actually had a chocolate shake with my dinner. OK, it was all of 15 degrees outside, but HEY, it's called Steak 'N SHAKE, not Steak 'N Coffee.

Nothing much else going on. Ann is still looking for work. The job market here is tough if you aren't looking in the vendor community. Actually, with the recent economy, it's tough even if you ARE looking in the vendor community.

Well, that's about it. Nothing much else going on. Until next time...

TTFN!

New day...

I checked and noticed I haven't posted anything in a few days. Probably because there isn't anything exciting happening. Ann is still out of work. She applied for unemployment, but is actively looking for employment. Not many are hiring, so we are hoping she gets lucky and can be "right place right time" and get something. Anthony's birthday is Tuesday. He is going to be 15. Time flies. He's taller than me (if you hadn't seen that from the pics on my Facebook page). Work is going well for me. Keeping busy, which keeps me out of trouble. Yesterday we played some Cornhole (Bean Bag Toss is another name for it), then we found out we have to find a new place to play, because they are going to start construction on the room it was in so we can move our desks. That's about it. Bye!

Funny but true...

A good friend of mine sent this to me, and I had to share it with you all...

Part 1: HOW TO SHOWER LIKE A WOMAN:

1 - Take off clothing and place it in sectioned laundry hamper according to lights and darks.
2 - Walk to bathroom wearing long dressing gown. If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.
3 - Look at your womanly physique in the mirror, make mental note to do: more sit-ups, leg lifts, etc.
4 - Get in the shower.
5 - Use face cloth, arm cloth, leg cloth, long loofah, wide loofah and pumice stone.
6 - Wash your hair once with cucumber and sage shampoo with 43 added vitamins.
7 - Wash your hair again to make sure it's clean.
8 - Condition your hair with grapefruit mint conditioner.
9 - Wash your face with crushed apricot facial scrub for 10 minutes until red.
10 - Wash entire rest of body with ginger nut and jaffa cake body wash.
11 - Rinse conditioner off hair.
12 - Turn off shower.
13 - Squeegee off all wet surfaces in shower. Spray mold spots with Tilex.
14 - Get out of shower.
15 - Dry off with towel the size of a small country. Wrap hair in super absorbent towel.
16 - Return to bedroom wearing long dressing gown and towel on head.
17 - If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.

Part 2: HOW TO SHOWER LIKE A MAN:

1 - Take off clothes while sitting on the edge of the bed and leave them in a pile.
2 - Walk naked to the bathroom.
3 - If you see wife along the way, shake wiener at her while making the woo-woo sound.
4 - Look at your manly physique in the mirror. Admire the size of your wiener and scratch your butt.
5 - Get in the shower.
6 - Wash your face.
7 - Wash your armpits.
8 - Blow your nose into your hands and let the water rinse the snot off.
9 - Fart and laugh at how loud it sounds in the shower.
10 - Spend majority of time washing privates and surrounding areas.
11 - Wash your butt, leaving those coarse butt hairs stuck on the soap.
12 - Wash your hair. Make a shampoo mohawk.
13 - Pee.
14 - Rinse off and get out of the shower.
15 - Partially dry off - fail to notice water on floor because curtain was hanging out of the tub the whole time.
16 - Admire wiener size in mirror again.
17 - Leave shower curtain open, wet mat on floor, light and fan on.
18 - Return to bedroom with towel around waist.
19 - If you pass wife, pull off towel, shake wiener at her and make the woo-woo sound again.
20 - Throw wet towel on her pillow.

If there is anyone among you who did not laugh at the truth behind this, there is something SO very wrong with you =)

Happy New Year day 2

Don't ask. I normally don't post unless something happy, exciting, or even important is going on. Just in a mood to type I guess, and nobody in particular to email and tell anything about.

I've been on Facebook for, umm..., I dunno, a couple of months maybe? It's been great. Made connections with quite a few people I work with. Yeah, I could do that AT work, but don't always get a chance to see them and "shoot the bull----" know what I mean? Made connections with people I went to high school with (in some cases, I've known them since elementary school). I don't get to see them, as many are in NY and I am in Arkansas, but it's nice to be able to "see" what they are doing by their posts and comments and such. I've also made connections with family that I haven't spoken to since 1988 when my father died.

There's a story behind this. I guess it's why I'm blogging...

My parents split in 1980. With that, family split. Basically, there were some members of my father's family that didn't want anything to do with my mom. I mean, how could she divorce their brother? And there were members on my mother's side who knew why the divorce happened, but didn't want anything to do with my father. I was 10 or 11 at the time, but I knew what was going on.

Anyway, I saw my dad on weekends when he wasn't working. He would take me everywhere, and I mean everywhere. He would try to fit in a month's worth of stuff into one day. I understood it, and sometimes I said no to it. But I always enjoyed my time with my dad. There were nights we would go see aunts and uncles in Brooklyn or Staten Island. I always loved visiting there. But there were times it felt like they were being nice to me because I was with my dad. When my dad passed away in June 1988, there were members of the family that basically went through my dad's apartment, while I was asleep elsewhere, and took stuff. You would think that they wanted a "keepsake" but nope, they were scavenging for whatever they could get that was worth money. And sure enough, after we buried my dad, my life as a Scarpati was buried with it. I didn't hear from anyone. Nobody bothered to call or write to see how I was holding up, if I needed anything, to tell me to drop dead. What did I get instead? Rumors that I was a bastard who was using my father to get whatever I wanted, get what I can, and now that he's dead, I didn't want anything to do with the rest. Have you ever heard any bigger bullshit in your life?

Oh don't worry. It didn't stop there. My mom died in 2000, and her family pulled the same shit. They didn't want anything to do with me, apparently I was the black sheep bastard child that they would only welcome into their lives because I was my mother's son. When she was gone, I was put out to pasture.

Through Facebook, I've reconnected with a couple of cousins. I've chatted with 2 of them, and I will tell you it's awkward to say the least. I have been holding in anger for the past 20 years, not caring that I felt deserted. I have a family of my own now...my wife and son. I speak with my wife's family, but I don't allow myself to get that close to them, because I believe if her and I are ever no longer together, whether it's divorce or death, they will do the same. I don't want that for my son, but I believe it's inevitable.

OK, I'm done now. Thank you for reading, if you made it this far.

TTFN

Happy New Year

Welcome all to 2009!!

Somehow, I'm alive. We didn't go anywhere last night, stayed home to watch some TV, and I started drinking a little too early and a lot too much. Shortly after midnight, we went to bed. Oh did I pay for it. Got sick more times than I care to mention, and this morning still feel awful. No headache, but sick to my stomach. Just ate some bread, hoping it will help. I don't think it is, though. I'm actually feeling worse than I did before I ate something.

I have a few pictures, but you have to go on Facebook to see them. Sorry :(

That's all for now. Hoping to recover in time to enjoy some Bowl Games!

TTFN!!