New Shoes in the Rain

Good Saturday morning to all.  We're supposed to have a couple of great weather days here in central Kentucky, with moderate temperatures and somewhat less humidity.  And we actually had some rain a couple of times in the past week, which is a rarity this time of year! I thought I'd post this morning concerning my work status.  As you know, I don't delve into specific names nor do I often talk about my occupational life very often.  But this is a little different. For the first time since 1996, I voluntarily left a position in order to accept another.  Between then and now, though, I've involuntarily left five positions, mostly due to the sales or reorganizations of my employers. Not this time. I have been exploring the market to some degree for a while, as I'm still working to recover the ground I lost during an extended period of unemployment last year.  The job I was in was satisfactory in most respects, but its compensation was considerably lowe...

I have been a Lexington cable television customer since the days when the provider was known as Telecable, and have continued using this service since that time.  During the years I have had this service, I would characterize service as uneven, pricing as endlessly escalating but overall have been more satisfied with this service than the few viable alternatives that have existed. When Spectrum became the owner of the local system, I was concerned, because I had already read that its parent, Charter Communications, was well-known for poor service, particularly poor customer relations.  Not long after they assumed control, my service plan rate increased by nearly twenty dollars per month, and when I called to discuss this change with customer service I was cheerfully told that “oh, you must have been moved to a Spectrum rate plan.” And there was apparently nothing to be done. Not surprisingly, Spectrum offers tremendous deals to prospective customers t...

Greetings, everyone.  Writing on an early Sunday morning, as I was again awakened by some respiratory congestion that seems to be endless, but it's only been about ten days.  I blame our native climate and the mold and allergens that it promotes. I had a birthday on Thursday, if you're keeping score.  57 years young.  Or, as one of my grandchildren pointed out when discussing this milestone, "wow, Poppy, you're really old!"  Not really. I don't dwell on things like this very often, but my father died when he was 56.  For all I knew as a young adult,  he might as well have been 86 at that time.  He just SEEMED old to me, always did. Do I feel old?  No, but I know that I'm well into middle age, at least.  Do I look old?  Probably not, and that's mostly because I'm heavier than average, so my face is filled out and therefore does not show a lot of wrinkles, except around my eyes. This must have been the year of the pop-up greet...

Good Monday to everyone. We're right in the middle of the steamy season here in central Kentucky.  It IS mid-July, after all, so not unexpected that we'd have uncomfortable heat and humidity right now.  I worked for a bit Saturday morning at an outdoor event (our company was exhibiting there) and because it had rained Friday evening, the air was heavy and I don't think my glasses became completely unfogged until about an hour after arrival! Saturday afternoon and yesterday my wife and I attended our younger grandson's T-ball tournament in a nearby community, which has been a pretty constant feature of our recent weekends.  Anyway, the team had some time between games and my son and I went out and bought fried chicken and some other stuff at a nearby grocery store, as we had all had enough hot dogs and such.  Nice change of pace! Anyway, while we were hanging out, my younger granddaughter got her dad's phone and started playing music (note:  it still amazes...

Good Monday morning, everyone.  Hot here in central Kentucky these last few days.  And, yes, it's not just the heat, but the humidity! I have something on my mind this morning regarding the great game of baseball, which most regular visitors to this space know is near and dear to my heart.  I've been a lover of the game since I was a kid, and was lucky enough to pass this love on to my son, who has, in turn, given the gift of baseball to HIS son, my younger grandson.  Baseball is nothing if not dynastic, I've come to understand, so seeing how much my grandson loves the game really touches me. This grandson has been playing tee ball for a couple of years and this summer, at the conclusion of the regular season (a season in which his team won the league championship tournament, by the way) he began playing on a league all-star team.  This team has traveled to nearby communities for tournaments on three of the last four weekends, so the team and their families ...

Good Friday morning, campers!  Aren't these holiday-shortened weeks strange?  This week has been for me, and I'm only working three days this week! I've been thinking a lot about the telephone and how my relationship with it has evolved over time.  Not uncommon that my relationship has changed; everyone's has over time.  But in reading about the forthcoming Apple iPhone 8, as well as watching some different programs on television, I began to think a bit more specifically about this. I'm almost 57, so my earliest memories of a phone are of one located somewhere in the center of the house.  The one we had was a rotary phone, naturally, and was black and heavy.  I always wondered if they didn't make phones out of the same material as a bowling ball.  And my earliest memory of a phone was one located on a stand in our dining room in the house where I spent the majority of my upbringing. We moved to that house when I was seven, I think, and that was t...