Sunday, August 26, 2007
Week Past 08/20-08/26/07
Mon 08/20 I had my second interview at BlueCross/BlueShield. My brother Jo and his family is scheduled to head home to New Jersey at 7:00 pm. Since they have a van it was decided that they'll spend some time for the kids to enjoy the Mall of America before proceeding to the airport. It's my day off so by 1:00 pm I had the house to myself. W went to work. The house suddenly became quiet and still since Mom and Dad, aunt and sis, followed by my brother and his family, came to visit. Solitude. Moment like this I'm reminded of the passage "Be still...and know I'm God". I took the moment to thank God for the brief get together. For keeping everybody safe and in good health for the duration of their stay. For the food and other blessings that we shared.
Fri 08/24 W and some of her staff tendered a small party for some of their clients. No pics this time. I was not really into it as I was pre occupied with the coming inventory of our store. I'm missing a bunch of items and that woud hurt my P&L big time. After dinner they hit the magic mike and sang to their hearts content. Not wanting to be blamed in case another thunderstorm strikes I hied to our bedroom to watch a pre-viewed DVD I just bought "The Proposition" . I did not get the story as I kept nodding to sleep.
Sat 08/24 was my high school batch's reunion. Wasn't able to attend again like last year's. With our inventory prep there was no way. It was hosted again by Eden and her hubby Dennis at their new home in Fallbrook CA. Their theme this year was Hawaiian or luau. Pic below shows the attendees.
Sun 08/24 W and I had brunch at the Wilds Clubhouse after mass. It's our first Sunday together by ourselves. Went to work at 5:30 pm to prepare for our inventory. I had to label our items with enlarged item numbers so the person doing the inventory could easily read it to hasten the process. We did not do it six months ago . It cut our inventory time by almost an hour. It was nice of my District Manager to let me go home around 12:30 am while he finish up the process. They were done at around 1:30 am.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Week Past 08/13-08/19/07
Tue 08/14 another thunderstorm was forecasted. It rained hard late afternoon accompanied by hail the size of pearls. Wish it were pearls! The lawn and trees we planted are finally getting the amount of water needed and then some.
Wed 08/15 my brother Jo, his wife Janea and three kids arrived from New Jersey. Just like my aunt and sis from Boston they would be here only for five days in time for our Mom's 78th birthday. It's good to see them again including my nephews and niece. They rented a van so there was no need to pick them up at the airport. They wanted to try out the Garmin GPS they just bought. Sleek. Just enter the address of your destination and it'll lead the way with voice instruction. If you missed a turn it'll "advise" you to make a "U" or recalculate your position to give the new direction. This gizmo is great especially if you're a limo or cab driver. No fear of getting lost even if your new in the area.
Thu 08/16 we celebrated Mom's birthday at home. I bought the cake and W bought chicken and pasta at Bucca di Beppo. She also grilled some rib eye steak, uhmm yummy. As expected Dad loved it. I'am full.
Sun 08/19 my brother and I took our parents to the airport to catch their 12:00 pm flight. After two months stay with us its time to go back to CA. The day is cloudy and sort of gloomy much like what my parents are feeling as they prepare for their departure. I know it's stressful for them to be travelling on their own at their age. Mom needs a wheelchair as she finds it hard to walk the distance from the check-in area to their departure gate. Airports nowadays are humongous in design to better accomodate the ever increasing travellers and traffic.
Before the day is done I would be tracing their whereabouts as their flight was delayed. My brother-in-law who was to pick them up in LA called and said they were not in their scheduled flight nor in the flight that followed. I called the American Airlines. The first person I talked to was of no help. She kept on saying she cannot give me any information for security reasons. Yeah right, I was giving her all the passengers' information. All I wanted to know was if they were able to board another flight and at what time they were expected at LA. What if it was not a delayed flight and something happened to them in transit. Very frustrating.
Breath in, breath out, now relax. I called again and with a very calm voice I told the operator that I have a problem and I'am very worried. This time it was a guy who answered and was very helpful. He resolved the problem quick. I was able to call my brother-in-law of the new flight schedule and arrival.
My parents were supposed to arrive at 4:00 pm Sunday they never got there until almost 12:00 am Monday. Their baggage came in on another flight. They were able to get out of the airport past 1:00 am. The drive from the airport to the house is another 45 minutes. My bro-in-law spent almost ten hours at the airport. He has to report for work early morning. I can only say I'm very grateful and appreciative.
Cause of the delays: Stormy weather in Chicago their stopover.
Sun 8/19 I accompanied my brother and his family to the Waterpark of America. It's an indoor waterpark so although the weather was rainy that day it was still packed. We were wrong when we thought otherwise. It was also my first visit to the place. The kids loved it.
Pics shows Mom with her 78th b-day cake, Jo/Janea and kids at the Waterpark, and group pic before Mom and Dad's departure and eventual delays.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Week Past 08/06-08/12/07
The Works
Mon 08/06 I had an interview at BlueCross BlueShield. Afterwards, though it's my day off, I attended a lunch meeting at our Eagan location with other managers and our new doctors. A meet and greet. It's nice to connect the face of the other managers from the voice that you hear on the conference call.
The Storm
Early Sat 08/11 at 3:00 am when the forecasted thunderstorm struck our area. Lightning flashed, thunders rolled and gusty winds blew. I did not give it much attention as I was sleepy. Just opened my eyes a bit to peek at the window then went right back to sleep. I did not realize the intesity and damage it caused until I drove to work early that morning. Not much in our general vicinity but when I reached Bloomington at Old Shakopee Road there were tree branches scattered on the streets. I saw an old pine tree that fell and rested on the corner of a house. Traffic lights were dead. When I reached our place of work we had no electricity. I heard power was cut-off between 3 to 4 am. The back-up generator only lasted for two hours or so. We were not able to open until 11:00 am. Sad part is throwing away cart loads of food items displayed in our coolers because it was exposed to temperatures above acceptable level. What a waste and tedious work. They were scanning each item before disposal because it was priced by weight. Wasted food, added man hours. Immediate benefit for me is I don't have to water the lawn and other plantings. Saved on water consumption and man hours.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Week Past 07/30-08/05/07
Wed, 08/01 the I 35 W bridge
I can't help but notice and compare how the situation was handled. I did not see any political figure, e.g. the governor or mayor, at the scene the first hours when the tragedy happened. The only government officials I saw were those involved in the emergency rescue and recovery effort. A press conference was called about three hours after the incident.
If this happened in the Philippines (God forbid) like the Guadalupe bridge (built in the 1950's) in Makati rest assured that it would be crawling with politicos faster than you can say "wassup?" From the Mayor to the Barangay Councilmen. The Senator, Congressman, Governor, and Cabinet Secretary. Grandstanding before the cameras, finger pointing here and there and giving their one cent worth of presumption and assumption as to why the bridge collapsed. For good measure they will apppease the public by declaring that they will conduct an investigation and insinuating that "heads will roll". A parody. Meanwhile the rescue recovery effort is hindered because of their presence.
You'll be surprised how our politicians will instantly become experts in bridge structural design by mouthing words and technical terms fed by their consultants or shall I say lackeys. They'll suck every mileage of publicity that they can get.
The date of the collapse is noteworthy:080107 or 08=01+07 or 08-01=07 or it's the first day of August!! Are you convinced??
