Where Was Moses When the Lights Went Out?

   In the dark, of course!

   This morning I began a temp gig at the OSU Student Union Bookstore.  Spring semester classes start a week from today.  Today, though, at around 10:15 or so (maybe a little before), the power went out to the temporary building housing the bookstore as the Student Union is getting renovated.  I took the following picture during the outage, before the power came back on roughly an hour and a half later.  I turned my flash off, and tweaked the brightness a bit to get things visible.

   Fortunately, this power failure happened at a slow time.  Most of the faculty and students are gone this week.  Despite the outage, we continued to get ready for the Spring Semester rush, which will really hit in a week.  We'll get busier each day this week as more students come back into town, and next week we'll really be buzzing, especially during the first half of the week.

   I took other pictures today, but this is the one I chose to post to my Flickr account for my yearlong project.  I find it interesting how we tend to take power and energy for granted until it's gone.

Crisp and Clear

  The weather this morning was crisp and clear and cold.  I think it was about 20° F, give or take a few degrees, when I took this picture.  It's of the OSU Campus Fire Station, which is a familiar landmark in Stillwater.  It's one of the older buildings in town, and it sits on Campus Corner at the southeast edge of the campus.

  Like this morning's weather, my goal for this year is to maintain a crisp and clear focus on everything that I do.  We all have the power to influence others, and I intend to do so in a positive way.  

Welcome to 2011!

   I have decided to start a new project this year - to take one picture a day, each day.  I'll probably take more than one on most days, but I have set a minimum of one.  I've started a Flikr album for this project and by December 31, there will be 365 photos.  I haven't decided how I will choose which photo to add for a given day.  Maybe it will be my best shot of the day, or perhaps the most interesting, or maybe one that tells a story, or one that is special to me for some silly reason.


   Why am I doing this?  The way I see it, it will give me something to focus on each day.  I may also become a better photographer in the process as I try to get the most out of my little digital camera.  This will also give me something to talk about (as if I'm not talkative enough) with family and friends.  It may, at times, give me an opportunity to stretch my creativity as I look for something to photograph.  Overall, I think that this will help me see things from different perspectives, and possibly give me better insight about the complexly simple person that I am.


   Here's my first photo (and the only one I took today) of 2011.  I went to Mass at 9:00 this morning - a clear, chilly day.  My faith has kept me going through these dark times as I search for work, so this picture really has a special meaning for me.

2010 Draws to a Close

  Wow!  What a year I've had.  Definitely one of, if not the toughest of years for me.  I look forward to 2011, though, with hope and an undying faith.  Things will improve.  I believe in me.  I hope you do, too.


HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I Got a Comb for Christmas

  Sometimes, it's the little things that mean a lot.  This year started out tough.  Things aren't any easier here at year's end.  In fact, in some ways things are worse.  But this isn't about the misfortune I've had during 2010.  That's the subject for another time, when I'm feeling up to it (it's been surrealistic, to say the least, and if it wasn't all true, I'd have a hard time believing all that's happened).
  This is about my Christmas here in 2010.  We haven't been able to do much this year, so the focus is on the family.  We've been able to get the kids a few things, although I wanted to do more.  You see, I'm a giver.  I love to give gifts.  It hurts when I can't give what I want to give.  
  I grudgingly accepted this, and so things have been low-key.  I found a great spicy pretzel recipe online, which has been a hit at home.  And we were able to get some bargain-priced things for the kids.  They understand.  They were also surprised that Santa managed to drop off something at our house, even though it seems that the jolly ol' Red Ninja seems to prefer people with nice jobs and/or credit cards.
  As for me, my family knew what I wanted this year.  Santa wasn't going to bring me a job, and I don't have any relatives who are hiring.  But the other thing I really wanted was a comb.  It sounds silly, but I've managed to lose three (at least) combs this year.  Small things, indeed.  But I still have enough hair that I really do need to comb it daily.  I suppose a brush would do, but I'm past my blow-dryer-and-brush days and I really don't feel the need to look like a graying 1980's era metal head (which I am, deep down inside).
  I asked for a comb.  It's something I knew we could afford, and I know I could have grabbed one any old time.  But I also know that my family knows how I've struggled to be a good provider, and how frustrated I've been looking for a job that pays a living wage for us.  A comb would mean a lot.
  And so this morning as we sat near our little tree, passing out the gifts, I noticed a small flat gift, and it had my name on it.  Yes, I got my comb.  And it's a decent-sized one.  Not too big, and not too small.  And it has a handle.  It's big enough that if it gets misplaced, it should be easier to find than the ones that went AWOL through the year.  I got some other things as well this year, but the comb means a lot to me.  I got something I really wanted, something I'll use every day, something that requires no batteries, or 3G or 4G or wifi or subscription or contracts.
  I got a comb for Christmas!

Back to the Ol' Drawing Board.

  Yep, another close-but-no-cigar opportunity.  I was depressed for about an hour or two, but I got over it.  The well of optimism keeps bubbling up within me.  And I know that each rejection takes me closer to things more awesome.  On the way, I may have to flip burgers (I worked as a short-order cook for a brief time - I hope that doesn't make me overqualified, LOL), or push empty carts around the Wal Mart parking lot.  But I know I have a lot of people pulling for me to get that elusive sweet and flavorful job that's out there.


  Christmas is going to be weird this year, though.  Unemployment has put me on Santa's "Naughty" list, and he'll skip over us and move on to people who have jobs and/or credit cards.  But that's okay because the true meaning of Christmas is not about who gives and gets the best present, but about a child who was born to change the world at a time it really needed some changes.


  2011 will be better.

Overqualified? Really?

I think the various HR people really should come up with something other than the ol' "...and we feel that you are overqualified for this position..." line.  Does this mean the following scenario would happen a couple of months down the road:


"We've noticed that your competence has far exceeded that of your peers, due to your overqualifications.  Morale is at an all-time high, and customers are actually praising your customer service skills.  We don't want happy customers, and we certainly don't need happy employees here.  This company is all about the bottom line, and if potential clients and investors begin to think everyone is happy, they may start to assume that we're goofing off, and the recent rise in productivity could be tripled if our employees were miserable.  Everybody knows that a grumpy employee works harder because they fear losing their job.
"If we had any kind of initiative and creativity, we would move you into an area to challenge your skills, but innovation and creativity are looked down upon in this company, and our only choice seems to be to let you go..."


Yeah...I don't think so.  But sometimes I do wonder...