Happy Memory & New Home

Maryland Vista
Originally uploaded by brian glass

Here's that view from Sideling Hill that made me happy in the last post. Now it's a happy memory posted here.

For those that don't know, Lisa and I made the move to St Charles, Missouri a little over a week ago. I started the new job on June 23. It's a little boring so far but I'm sure it will improve. It's hard to explain but it's difficult getting used to knowing I'm in one place permanent but then sometimes it seems natural.

Things That Made Me Happy Today

I was driving back home from Virginia for the last time (with Shaw anyway) and was in an extremely good mood. Everything seemed so much better for some reason. I'm appreciating what's around me more. Some of the things from my trip that made me happy were:

• the twang in Dwight Yokam's voice
• a perfect downshift and up shift on a hilly, curvy section of I-70 in Maryland
• the sunrise over the fog covered Allegheny Mountains from Sideling Hill rest stop
• the smell of the woods of southeastern Ohio (sometimes broken air conditioning works out for the better)
• Exactly two Budweisers and 1 shot of tequila.

Don't worry, that last one happened last night, not on the drive home. It was the memory that made me happy. Not a bad day for Friday the 13th.

Last Day

I just got back from my last day at work. I have one more day for travel and that will be it. It still doesn't feel like anything is changing. It's a normal everyday occurrence to leave a job when it's finished so I guess it just feels like moving on to the next job. I'm wondering when it'll feel real. I have to say that I've had a charmed life when the most traumatic thing to happen is changing jobs. Dad worked for the same company for 40 years, Mom tended to stay with a job until she was laid off when a place went out of business. I guess it's a generational and locality thing. Southeastern Ohio is one of those places that has been on the decline for decades so when you get a job you cling to it for dear life, even when it's shitty. I might not live there but I have that mentality.

Well, I can't say I'm nervous about the move. I've been going back and forth on how I feel and right this minute, I'm looking forward to the new experience. Check with me tomorrow though.

Standby For News!

I found this story on the local Fox News website today -

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -- The Montgomery County Council has voted to demolish a house located on future parkland, rather than allow a needy family to live in it.

Residents of Bethesda's Hillmead neighborhood had bitterly fought the plan to house a homeless family on the property.

The county authorized the purchase of the 1.3 acres to expand an adjacent park last year. At the time, it postponed a decision on what to do with the house.

Residents who opposed the plan said they're not opposed to helping poor people, but believe the decision should have been made with community involvement. Supporters of the plan said it was a moral issue.

The council voted 5-4 to demolish the house.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

What caught my eye was that I had seen the story the night before and it's amazing the amount of detail this little news release leaves out. The biggest omission in the quest to make "rich" neighbors look like raging ass holes is the fact that the house was unlivable and required $2,000,000 in repairs. That's 2 million, which was also tax payer funded. How can people get away with this? The caption on the photo actually read "The Montgomery County Council has voted to demolish a house located on future parkland, rather than allow a needy family to live in it."

Of course I didn't do any further investigating, the TV news probably left something else out and the rich people really are dicks.

A Little Book Review

I've been trying to write once a night if I can help it. Not much has been going on so I thought I would write a small review, a reviewette, of a book I'm currently reading. I haven't finished the book yet but it's that kind of book that you really don't have to finish to review if that makes sense. It's called Orphan's Journey by Robert Buettner, and it's the third book in a series about an intergalactic war between humans and bug like aliens "slugs" It's science fiction that has been compared to Robert Heinlein a lot. I guess because of the vague resemblance to Starship Troopers. It's like that book in that the hero wears an armored combat suit but the similarities grow a little thin after that. It feels a little like Heinlein's line of books for adolescents in that it could be written for children (particularly teenage boys) but would fit as an adult book. I think it's aimed at adults actually but is one I would have enjoyed more as a boy. In brief it's about a soldier from about the year 2078 or there about. Through a series of slightly improbable events he finds himself and his friends trapped on a planet with dinosaurs, humans and the slugs. It's written by a former soldier and you get the impression that he's happy to be living the dream of writing. The story is likable enough with just enough violence for a teen boy to enjoy but not enough to shock or horrify a parent. So far it's a nice little diversion or summer book.

This Weekend

Wet Dog, Dry Wife
Originally uploaded by brian glass

Lisa and Moon drove into Stafford, Virginia to visit this weekend (my last with Shaw). It's been a good time. Friday we had veggie tacos cooked in the room. Saturday we went to Prince Williams National Forest and took Moon on the Bataan Death March. We went early hoping to beat the predicted heat of 95 degrees. We got there at around 10:00, it wasn't too hot but the humidity was high. Moon loved running through the water to stay cool. About an hour and a half after we returned to the truck dead tired, sweaty and itchy from bugs. Moon was dead tired the rest of the day.

Lisa and I showered and headed to Potomac Mills mall to see You Don't Mess With The Zohan. You would think a movie written by Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow would have been funnier. It was just okay and seemed about a half hour longer than it should have been. And in spots, it was just plain creepy.

Today we got up early and went to Springfield to have dinner with my friend Don Mears, who helped me get the job with TSA. I've known Don for 15 years, he's a good guy.

That's pretty much the weekend.

From Work

I'm doing something I've never done before and will probably never do again and that is post at work. I've decided that I don't want to do anything today and pretty much haven't. The only problem with that idea is that the time is dragging. I was so bored I even pulled a practical joke on a bird. There was a pretty yellow bird sitting by my truck today (I drove in) and everytime it gave it's very distinctive chirp, I hit the truck alarm. I did this for several minutes. I think after a several times of doing this the bird picked up on it because first he flew to the front of the truck, to get a better look at the lights when they flashed. Then he flew up and sat above the truck on a branch and didn't chirp anymore. It was quite amusing. Then the phone rang and I had to quit.

Now I should get back to work because I feel very guilty.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night

Nightly Storm
Originally uploaded by brian glass

I'm sitting around the hotel in Stafford and the lightning show is magnificent. It's been a nightly event for the last several days. Usually a storm will come in so hard I think the trees behind the hotel are going to snap. It's happening again this evening. A dark mountain of clouds rolls this way from the east and the wind swirls the rain around the back side of the hotel and it almost looks like a funnel cloud. It's been a rainy year so far.

A Little More About Me

Every once in awhile I get an itch to write a little something about myself. I'm sure friends and family know most of this stuff.

1. I own several guns. I believe in the the Second Amendment. I don't know how it applies today but I know what I believe the founding fathers intended when they made it the very second amendment right behind freedom of speech (which, I'm also a big fan of). People who know me casually or only know me from the past few years might be surprised to know that I own guns. I don't advertise it because I hate the ridiculous stigma and automatic judgement on a person's face when he or she finds out I own handguns. I don't care what he/she thinks but a person usually feels compelled to give me an opinion of how I'm wrong and I just don't have all day to explain how stupid he or she is.
2. I am against abortion. It's right about this time people will start thinking that I'm some crazy, religious, gun toting red-neck from southeastern Ohio. But let me throw this curve at you...
3. I'm against the death penalty! Doesn't that make sense? Taking a life is taking a life, right? Of course I'm not against taking a life in self-defense (see number 1). I believe that as great as our justice system is, it's still not perfect. I think it's probably too easy to decide to take an innocent life in both the case of abortion and the death sentence.
4. I am not religious. I do not hate people who are. I do hate it when people make a big deal over it one way or the other. Live and let live baby.
5. I don't agree with all of Bob Barr's platform but until I can run for President myself, I'll go with the Libertarians every time. I sometimes question my own sanity though. I wonder how so many people can't see the logic of less government. Then I think, hmmm maybe it's me that's wrong. But then I come to my senses. I don't want the federal government screwing up my life, I can handle that fine by myself.

So there are a few things you've probably heard me go on about a hundred times.

History

I know it was kind of a given but it seems more final today, for the first time there is a black candidate for President, and even though I don't like Obama it's still pretty cool. Still I wish it had been Colin Powell. We may have a woman vice-President (whom I like even less). I would have never guessed the US was ready. Who says we're a nation divided by race, or sex? Of course the Mormon didn't do too well.

Should Be Obvious

In my travels I've encountered an unusually high number of people who don't know "the angry chair" is the toilet.

A Musical Apology

No I'm not going to sing. As I get older I become softer. Music was and still is a big deal to me. When I was young I had what some might call terrible taste in music. I don't think I did, I think my crime was having limited taste in music. I was listening to a Patton Oswalt CD loaned to me by a friend and Patton talks about how blind he was as a kid. He talks about getting up in everyone's face and declaring that Phil Collins was edgy and punk because on the cover of No Jacket Required he had on a suit with tennis shoes. Then he left his small town for college and discovered Fugazi and a bigger world. I like this story because it applies to me in a couple of ways. First, that was so me as a kid. I'm not talking about thinking Phil Collins was punk, although I did love me some "In The Air Tonight". But I did have that same kind of naive belief. I truly felt that Foreigner was somehow more legit than Toto or Red Rider. I was such a cute kid. I don't even know who the underground bands of my youth were. The Sex Pistols maybe, but I hear (mostly from people who weren't even born then) that they weren't the original punks. So I spent a lot of time making fun of friends and family who liked Journey and Michael Jackson while I was contemplating bands like April Wine, The Michael Schenker Group and UFO (also containing Michael Schenker). My first observation would be that I was a tool. Brent, I'm sorry for making fun of the fact that you liked The Steve Miller Band.

At various times in my life I've made fun of people for liking Paula Abdul (during her first era of success), Natalie Merchant, Michael Bolton (but really that's a gimme), and Eminem. And most of the time it wasn't just a little dig, I kept at it and I knew that on a few of those occasions I hurt some feelings. Music is a very personal thing and even though I knew that at the time it didn't stop me from insulting something meaningful to someone else. Most times I don't mean any harm but having been on the receiving end a few times myself I should know better. So to my cousin and classmates and co-workers, I apologize for making fun of your love of Eminem, Natalie, Paula and even Deee-lite (but not Michael Bolton). And please allow me my Night Ranger obsession.

I like to think I'm growing and maturing (finally, after 42 years) and this one thing as small and insignificant as it seems is the one thing that if I were in a 12 step program would be the first thing I would track people down and apologize for.

I will continue giving my nieces a hard time for liking Akon, and I will continue calling him acorn because they need to believe I'm an old fogey who just doesn't get it, which I am by the way.