School's in for Summer

Two of the online classes I'm taking through College of DuPage--English Composition II and Political Science: American Politics--began on May 29, and I'm already overwhelmed. Another class--History: Western Civilization until 1600--is scheduled to begin June 11. It would be smart for me to drop this class early, rather than getting a low grade.

My circumstances are different from what I expected them to be when I registered for these classes. It was assumed that business would be as slow as it had been for several months, yet that is far from the case. Every day has been extremely busy, and I've found myself staying at the office late in order to work on some assignments for class.

Another factor that does not help the situation is that this is the Summer semester, which means that a 16-week course has to fit into 8 weeks. It has become a frustrating situation. I can't devote as much time into each assignment as I would like to, and am having to settle for the mediocre work I'm able to complete before each deadline.

I have a "2 to 4 page essay" due by the end of the day, so I'd better get on it.

Extremely busy

I haven't posted in a very long time. I't's because the pace at work has tripled in speed and content, if that makes any sense. It was not expected to happen so fast, but nevertheless, it happend and I don't know how long this fire will last.

I've started gardening at home. First, with tomato plants. Then I followed up with cucumber and watermelon plants. We'll see in time if they bear any fruit...or vegetables.

Work and school. No play.

My company finally made the switch to new ownership today--finally, after many months of uncertain waiting. I was host to two auditors who had to visit my office this morning. I'm glad that part is over and I can get back to my routine...albeit under a new company name.

Last Friday, after I had done a full inventory count, I registered for my three classes at College of DuPage, which I will be taking online. I'm eager to get started. However, I have another seven weeks before classes start. That's a bunch of crap.

I'm tired of the bullshit!

In the Sunday Chicago Tribune was an article titled He's the king of small claims about a local man named Derek Monroe who has taken many company's to small claims court for cheating him in one way or another. He doesn't do it for the money, but for "the principle."

"It is about shaming the corporations into doing the right thing," he told the Tribune. "It's to show them that we as consumers are not sheep."

Monroe is doing exactly what I've wanted to do many times, but either did not have the time, the money, or the motivation to go through the bureaucracy of filing a suit. Reading the article about him, however, lit a fire under my ass.

On Monday morning I wrote a letter to Monroe telling him this. I told him that the story about him was very encouraging and that I would no longer put up with the bullshit that company's with which I do business throw at me.

After receiving the letter, he called me the next day on my cell phone. He's a very nice guy. He was excited to have received my letter, offered me some pointers on a problem I was having, and answered a few questions I had about filing small claims suits.

I'm tired of dealing with the bullshit from Drive Financial Services. I'm tired of dealing with the bullshit from Elmhurst Memorial Healtcare.

I'm tired of the bullshit!

Free school

Last night I received my award letter from the financial aid office at College of DuPage. It basically showed that I had received a Pell grant that will cover my tuition for the classes I will be taking this summer. This was exciting! I can't wait to register for classes, which, I'm told, should begin next month.

AJ was supposed to be flying up this evening to visit for the weekend. However, he was unable to leave the family this weekend. He will be trying again next weekend after the 1st of the month, which will probably be better, financially, for both of us.

A Trip to Texas

It was exactly one month ago today that I wrote my last post for this blog. I have since flown to Houston with my son, who had some minor surgery. The visit went well and, for the most part, peaceful, as Aden & Ashton weren't there screaming or crying or demanding to be fed in the middle of the night. I missed them while we were there though.

Hudson and I stayed with both Dayna's parents and my mother. It was made much easier by the car that I had rented, which was a Chevy Cobalt. The weather was much different, though, from that in Chicagoland. Dayna reported single-digit temperatures here while Houston remained suspended in the 60s and 70s during the day.

We were also able to go out on what I was hoping would be a more productive "Family History Excursion" in Tyler County. A trip to the Tyler County Heritage Village in Woodville, Texas, which was stocked with a small library of family and other historical information, was interesting, but one would need at least a day to rummage through the information available, and with no children.

After the Heritage Village we visited my Great-uncle Lee Roy Ard, who was in the Tyler County Hospital. He is very old now and, sadly, cannot be expected to be around much longer. Although I had hoped to be able to interview him regarding our family history and perhaps hear stories of the "good ol' days", but, nonetheless, I was very glad I was able to see him during my visit.

Our last stop on that day was the icing on the cake. We visited Franks Branch Cemetery in Fred, Texas, where many of my recent ancestors are buried. I had been to the cemetery before several times as my grandparents are buried there, but I had not been there since I started studying my genealogy.

Overall, it was a great day.

Am I boring or unorganized?

"...If you're bored then you're boring..." is a line in a song of which I can't recall the title or artist. But it's come to my mind several times recently and I fear it could possibly be applied to my life presently.

I've been feeling bored at work many times in recent weeks. I wonder, though, if it's really boredom that I'm experiencing, or something else. I seem to have plenty of things that I need to do, but most of these tasks I have no desire whatsoever to accomplish. Things like...

• contacting my auto finance company to settle a dispute I've been trying to settle with them for nearly a year;
• contacting my wife's health insurance company to inquire as to why they debited my account two weeks before I expected them to;
• shipping some books back to my book club for credit;
• organizing the cluster-fuck that is my desk;
• et cetera.

I also have plenty of things that I want to do as well. These are in much more abundance and have a much wider range of importance and urgency. As varied as...

• taking some required paperwork to the financial aid office at the college I'll be attending;
• continuing in the current book I'm reading;
• studing the Arab-Israeli conflict;
• writing letters about many issues to send to government officials;
• editing and updating Wikipedia articles;
• packing and mailing some film to Snapfish;
• et cetera.

So I've come to this question: if I'm feeling bored, am I boring, or just unorganized?

I don't have a problem taking care of tasks associated with my job. I usually take care of those things immediately. Business, however, hasn't been as fast as it used to be, so there is a lot of down time.

I don't mind the down time, but it has to be organized. I have to find a way, a method, to organizing and prioritizing the tasks I need to accomplish.

I found a great quote from The Quotations Page, attributed to Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), which says, "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

Have any tips or suggestions? Leave a comment!

A good Wednesday

A few very good things have already happend today. Even though I slept too late to make my 8:15 AM doctor appointment, I rescheduled it for 3:15 PM and it worked out fine. After the appointment, I dropped my prescription at Walgreen's and went home for a few minutes.

I grabbed the mail and opened an envelope from Target. I had recently applied for a Target credit card, so I expected it to be a letter stating that they could not "extend any credit to [me] at this time." I was wrong; I was shocked! Enclosed in the envelope was a Target charge card. It seems that I am moving up in the world.

An Eventful Weekend

A family visitation
After my wife, kids, and I have been living here for eleven weeks, my sister was finally able to visit Chicagoland. She and my mother flew up here last Friday morning. It was good to have family visiting again.

Unlike when my mother visited during Thanksgiving, the weather during this visit has been horrible, filled with gray, wintry skies overflowing with misty rain, sleet, ice, and flurries. A noteworthy accumulation of snow, the one winter result we did want, did not make its expected appearance.

Also due to the weather, I wasn't able to take Priscilla to see the city. It would not have been a pleasurable experience under the conditions. Her tour of Chicagoland was limited to downtown Elmhurst and the surrounding areas. Next time, hopefully, will be much different.

I finally meet Roscoe
After having received his phone number from a mutual friend, and after speaking with him many times and trying to find the opportunity to "hook up", I finally received a call from Roscoe Brown on Friday (the same day my mother and sister flew in). As soon as I saw his name on the caller ID I said, "Yessss!!"

Roscoe is a really cool guy, and he lives in a real cool part of Chicago near the lake. I hung out at his place for a little over half an hour talking until I had to leave.

Hudson and I visit Houston
Around February 5, I have to take Hudson back down to Houston for a minor surgical procedure at Texas Children's Hospital. We will probably stay down there for about a week. During that time he and I will be able to visit family and friends.

In addition, I will be able to make the Family History Research trip to Tyler County that I've long been wanting to. I plan for this to include visiting my oldest relative, whom we call Uncle Lee Roy, who can answer questions about my families history and tell some stories that are perhaps unknown or not remembered by anyone else in my family. It is necessary for me to document this priceless information before it's too late.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict

I am determined to learn as much about the Arab-Israeli Conflict as possible, and from both sides of the spectrum. As of now, my current feelings are that Israel has taken a harsh and abrasive stance against Palestinians and Lebanese -- generally, all Arabs -- since after WWII.

The Jewish people have been persecuted and have persecuted other ethnic groups throughout their history. Not including the present conflict, the most recent trauma suffered by the Jews was WWII itself, where millions of its people were exterminated at the hands of German radicals. Did this onslaught result in the creation of Jewish radicals, a title of which has been averted, instead being called "Zionists"?

Who is entitled to the land once called Palestine? The Zionists say that they are entitled, as God has promised it to them. I have no respect for any people who say they know what God says, or what God wants. Therefore, their argument of divine entitlement holds no water as far as I'm concerned.

The Arabs also say much about God. The difference in their case, as far as I see it, is that their homes were in Palestine. But perhaps they have been seen by much of the West -- namely white Christians -- as less "civilized", less organized, less united, therefore less entitled.

I think history will shed much more light on the issue than can be determined now. However, I believe it is necessary, for the sake of humanity, to ask questions regarding the validity and fairness of this conflict. My goal is to determine first what questions are necessary to ask.

My first resource is a book by Debra A. Miller, appropriately called The Arab-Israeli Conflict. Your comments on the issue are welcome and encouraged.

A week of struggle

Workplace Mishap
I fucked up at work this week. I won't go into details, but I'm feeling regretful. My supervisor's supervisor says that he "will be expecting a Corrective Action Report on this incident." Fantastic, I'll be looking forward to that.

I need a day off in a bad way. It's recently come to my recollection that, despite having two weeks available, I have taken absolutely no vacation time this year. Am I stupid, you ask? No. It was a combination of not having the money to go anywhere for vacation, being back and forth between Chicago and Houston for the past two months, and a year that has flown by without me noticing.

Hellth Insurance
I'm having to go through hell to get a healthcare insurance policy for my family and myself. It's a big pain in the ass. The group insurance policy offered through my company would put me out just under $1000 a month. No thank you. I have plenty of other expenses to worry about.

If I could I would move us to another country that offers universal health coverage. Sure, they take it right out of your payroll through taxes, but it would be worth avoiding the painstaking hassle of sorting through which insurance companies want to fuck their policy holders over the least.

I hate that because of the move I am unable to vote tomorrow.

There are so many things I want to take the opportunity to stand up for. But because I'm not in Houston where I'm registered to vote, and it was too late for me to register here, I'm unable to do that one small thing that involves me in our "democracy."

In states like Texas, mostly Republican -- or at least think or pretend they are Republican -- a Democrat's vote literally doesn't count. One's vote only counts if her or she is part of the majority in a certain area.

After this fiasco, they don't need you anymore. Citizens have little audience with their government until the next round of "voting". Citizens do not take part in the choices that their government makes. By definition, this means that the United States is not a democracy; it is a republic.

Unpacking

We live in Chicagoland now-- my wife, our three boys, Grammy, and myself. We got here (permanently) last Wednesday evening -- the first of November -- on a not so bad SWA flight from Hobby (HOU) Houston to Midway (MDW) Chicago. I'd already been here for work on and off for two months now. It has become our new home. A new chapter in our adventurous lives.

Our new home is in the village of Elmhurst, about fifteen minutes from downtown Chicago. It's a very quaint, historic, and comfortable town of just over 40,000 persons. It used to be the corporate home of the Keebler Elves.

I dispise disassembling and reassembling furniture.

Relocation, relocation, relocation

I can say for sure that this is the last time I'll be posting a blog from Houston. From now on indefinitely I will be posting from Chicagoland, my new home. I'm very excited to be moving there, and to be bringing my family into a new chapter in our lives.

A cold chapter though, as we will be relocating right at the beginning of the snowy winter season in Chicago. But, I'm looking forward to it.

Until next time...

Many things turning

The tables, the tide, the leaves -- they're all turning. I'm back up in Chicago again. I arrived on a United Airlines express jet, a first for me.

I found the small plane much more comfortable than average planes, it seemed like each person had more room to breathe, which is important. What I want to know is, are small planes like that more likely to crash? I just might have to look up that information.

So the leaves that were green just two weeks ago are transitioning to yellow and orange. So lovely! I can't wait to see what it looks like when they've all turned. And I will.

I'm up here now pretty much on a permanent basis. Even though we haven't yet located a house to rent, we're working on that diligently, and hope to move into one by the first of November. It's going to be an interesting and exciting fall and winter.

The Return of Smith

What a crappy day last Friday was! Ughh, horrible!

I won't go into the details, but I'll say that I arrived at Chicago's O'Hare Airport at 6:45 to catch my 7:15 flight. It was by the luck of Randomness Almighty (R.A.) that there wasn't a line at the check-in counter or the security checkpoint, and I arrived at the gate with a few minutes to spare.

Unfortunately that wasn't the last of my Friday woes. Dayna was planning to pick me up after I arrived. A flat tire on the car changed all that.

It was as if R.A. said, "Well, I'll let you make your flight this time, buuut you're going to have to sit at passenger pickup for at least an hour, aaand I'm afraid it can't be Dayna that picks you up. Sorry, Murphy's law."

Eventually, I arrived home and was glad to be back. It will be short-lived though. I'm flying back to Chicago on October 1, and will be there for an indefinite amount of time. I'm hoping that AJ will allow me to come back periodically.

Until then, just thank R.A. that it's a beautiful, sunny day in Houston. What will it mean for tomorrow, though??

Short Suburban Honeymoon

I was thrilled to be picking Dayna up at the airport. We weren't sure that she was going to be able to come up because of the babies at home, but she made it happen and I was glad she did.

On Friday evening, despite not having slept much the night before, Dayna wanted to go bar-hopping downtown. We drove down and I took a random exit, not knowing which was most appropriate. We drove around for a while looking for an area with people and bars, there didn't seem to be one near the loop. I remembered from the weekend before where I had seen an area with bars, so I tried my best to get there.

When we made it there I found a parking lot to put the car. By that time Dayna and I were both hungry and wanted to eat before going into a bar. Dayna wanted to sit and eat, but all those places were closed. We walked around for a couple of blocks with no success. By this time, Dayna was hungry and tired. We decided just to go get the car, find somewhere to eat, and call it a night.

The rest of the weekend was spent between driving around in the suburbs and "relaxing" in the hotel. We had originally planned for Dayna to fly out on Sunday morning around 11:00am, but we both wanted her to stay longer. So we rescheduled for a 5:50am flight this morning. We both overslept because I hadn't set the alarm clock properly.

Ultimately, Dayna caught a flight out at 9:50am this morning. Presently, she is about an hour from landing back in Houston. I was so sad to see her go, and I'm going to miss her this week. We had such a terrific time together and away from the babies. It was like a short but productive honeymoon that we never had. I miss her so much.

I'm going to have to re-adjust myself back to being up here alone until Friday when I fly back to Houston. I hope it goes by fast.

Chicagoland

I'm here
I arrived at Chicago O'Hare International Airport last Friday evening. I met up with Rob from BMP's corporate office in Miami, who brought me out to the office in Elk Grove Village so I could see it and know how to get to it. He gave me some good news about future prospects, which I was glad to hear.

That same evening, I had planned to just stay in my hotel room since it was late by the time I'd arrived. I got hungry though and decided to make a trip to McDonald's. (The McD's corporate office is in Oak Brook, Illinois, just a few miles from the office.) Instead of going back to the hotel, I detoured onto North Avenue from Mannheim Road (the road on which is the hotel). I needed to drop off a prescription to be filled. I didn't find a pharmacy close enough that was open, but I continued driving all the way until I reached downtown.

Although I didn't stay there long, I did get to get a glimpse into what it was like. I dipped into the northmost part of downtown, and, getting tired fast, I headed back toward the hotel.

I tried to be as productive as possible on Saturday. I drove through Arlington Heights, just minutes from Elk Grove Village, and was impressed with the way it looks. I got a little bored and tired pretty fast. I don't spend so much time in a vehicle that often. Much of the rest of Saturday and Sunday I spent in the hotel room. You can't do much without the funds with which to do it.

The Work Week
It was strange to be here at the office last week. I was alone in this eerily quiet place, and unfamiliar with where everything was or goes. But I made due. I talked to Dayna quite frequently -- if a few hours went by without hearing from her, I called her. There were plenty of tasks to keep me busy though.

It went by pretty fast, and on Friday, I was glad that Dayna was coming to see me. After work, I picked her up at O'Hare.

Write, and write often.

I've been trying to get myself into a routine of posting nearly every day. I'd like to one day be able to post for more prestigious weblogs like the Houstonist.

Right now I have TheSmithViewpoint, on which I can post my own more serious discussion, and I'm relatively proud of what it's become. If you look back to the "articles" I posted when I first started that one, you can see over time how much it has changed.

The reason for wanting to post almost daily is because of the English Composition class I took during the Spring semester at Houston Community College. My professor, Ms. Daily, had us start of many classes with freewriting, where the students are to write about anything without stopping for a short period of time.

She taught us this so that when we were given assignments, we would use that exercise to sort of spill out our ideas regarding the topic of the assignment.

I once complimented a fellow blogger on his admirable writing skills. I asked this gentleman to give me a piece of advice on how I might become as talented a writer as he. He replied that the best thing for me to do is "write, and write often." So this is what I'm doing.

The Windy City

I'm going to be flying to Chicago on the first of September to run my company's office up there for two weeks. I'm excited about the trip and I'll be flying Dayna up there for a couple of nights so that we can both be together and away from the babies. I have to confess though, I'm going to miss my family terribly.

However, my purpose for being in Chicago is two-fold -- one, of course, is to run the office. The other purpose is to scout out potential place to live. That's right, there's a very, very good chance that I'll be moving up there.

Our company is currently debating the future of our Chicago office. If it is decided to keep the office there running -- which, as I'm told, is what most of the influential people want -- then I've been informed that the position of running Chicago will be offered to me.

This is an unprecedented break in my life. It would include a substantial salary increase as well as other perks. More importantly, it will turn my family's financial situation around for the better. Dayna and I are very anxious as to what's going to occur in the next few weeks. We're spending a lot of time trying to learn as much about Chicago as we can.

If anyone would like to advise me on anything regarding Chicago, I'm all ears.