Rantings from a Troubled Man

Hell Of A Day

2006-05-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well its been nuts over here the last few days. My MOTHER-IN-LAW and I have been planning to surprise my wife for the last month or so for her Recital. My wife is a cheer coach and dance instructor, so this past weekend her students were having a performance in the Performing Arts Center in Charlottesville, Virginia so her mom had planned to come and surprise her all the way from Wisconsin. Of course I was in on it and had to arrange picking up my In-law from the airport and still get my wife to her destination on time since we only have one car. That day alone was crazy, to top it off my wife changed her schedule on me at the last minute after I told my Mother-In-Law that she didn't need to rent a car I could pick her up no problem - yeah right! Well I somehow managed to get my nephew to pick up my wife and I was off to the airport, an hour and a half just for that. On my way there I took the wrong exit, so at that point I should have known I was off to a rocky start. Why I didn't run and hide under my bed that point I don't know. Once I made it to the airport and took about 3 rounds around the terminals waiting, wife's mother had finally arrived. She got in the car and off we were, I figured I was in the clear at that point as long as I took the right exit we'd get their no problem. Well suffice it to say, I didn't take the right exit, not only did I not take the right exit but I turned a 1 and a half hour drive into a 3-hour drive. We made it home with about 45 minutes to shower, get changed and get to the performing arts center, which was a 30-minute drive, and get this we stopped for flowers. - sigh - They are nice, they'll die soon but my wife liked them. Well all in all AMAZINGLY ENOUGH we actually made it on time and with time to spare. How the hell we did it, I'll never know, but after that the evening went rather well. My mother-in-law actually heads home this morning, and Shannon not me is driving her to the airport. So it should all go off without a hitch. Moral of this story, don't let me drive to the airport - I have a horrible sense of direction.

Note: I drive campers to and from the airport on a pretty regular basis in the summer. :-)

Cris

National Language

2006-05-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

I received an email from my sister today and I need to pass it on. A little background first though, I have been very interested on the outcome of this vote. I'm a native born Puerto Rican and even though I left the island when I was 13 years old I still have family there and it's my home and very dear to my heart. I speak, write and understand Spanish and English very well and wouldn't have it any other way. I'm a little disappointed on the decision to make English the "National Language", it would seem they've forgotten Puerto Rico once again.

I received this email today from family in Puerto Rico I thought I'd share it with you and I'll leave it at that.

NOTE:

The below email and link are not meant to represent facts on the subject of a National Language but an interesting observation.

Subject: Senate Votes to Set English as National Language

WASHINGTON, May 18 — The Senate voted on Thursday to designate English as the national language. In a charged debate, Republican backers of the proposal, which was added to the Senate's immigration measure on a 63-to-34 vote, said that it was equivalent to establishing a formal national anthem or motto and that it would simply affirm the pre-eminence of English.

"We're free to say what we want, speak what we want, but it is our national language," said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. The amendment was proposed by Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma.

ATTENTION: ADVERTENCIA: ALERTA: ALARMA:

Residents of Puerto Rico......effective on January 1, 2007, the
language of Spanish will be eliminated. All violators will be dealt
with according to each individual circumstance but all will be
processed for deportation procedures either to Mexico, Dominican or Republic or Spain...W-2 Income Statement will be taken into consideration for the processing procedure...

Television shows such as La Comay, Sabado Gigante, No Te Duermas will be translated to the English Language before viewing...La Primera Hora and El Nuevo Dia will be appropriately changed to The First Hour and A New Day...

December 31, 2006 will be your last opportunity to talk and converse with your loved ones, your family, and your boy and girl friends in your own language before the change over.

Have a great future Puerto Rico......This message has been approved by the PNP Party of Puerto Rico, the Don't Push It.Com Website of Pedro Rossello and Luis Fortuno's Web Site....What Me Worry.Com...

You Forgot Puerto Rico!

Cris

Another Monday

2006-05-22T17:43:00.000-07:00

Its actually been a very beautiful day today and calm. Meals started today at camp so no more cooking for the summer, how nice is that? Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner all provided for staff by your friendly neighborhood summer camp. It's nice on the pocketbook not having to prepare meals for 3 months out of the year. Shannon had her dentist appointment today and they gave her a friggin syringe to drain her tooth with salt water. I don't even want to imagine how much they charge the insurance company for that. I understand they don't want to do anything else until they know the status of her pregnancy with more certainty but rinse and repeat, sigh. Luckily her first OBGYN appointment is on Friday, so hopefully we'll know more then and she can have her tooth take care of. Well I just put Aiden too bed after he fell asleep on his food, it seems he didn't take a nap today. Well this is most of my start of the week for better or worse.

Cris

Last Few Days

2006-05-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

Interesting last couple of days, I finally had to attend my first heads of department meeting here at camp. I was a bit nervous about it since the owner told me about it on Monday. However it turned out okay, not much to it really talked about money where it is and where it's going. We also discussed what everybody was doing and filled everybody in on what's going on within each others little world. I can safely say I learned more about the behind the scenes running of this camp in that one meeting than I had the entire 1 and a half that I've been here. There's still much more to learn but I'm trying to hang on withold judgement until I've been to a few more of these meetings. Anyway other than that I've been working and staying busy, excited about the new baby. Shannon has her wisdom teeth coming in now so she's in a lot of pain. So you can imagine that she's not in the best of moods and that sucks. Hopefully on Monday they'll give her something for the pain until they take the tooth out. On a happier note I've been working on some photography lately and I'm happy with some, but mostly just happy to be working on my own stuff again. Go check it out at http://visualinspirations.blogspot.com and tell me what you think.

Cris

It's Official

2006-05-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

It's official, today we found out from the doctor that we are pregnant. My wife is having a baby, oh boy, it's pretty exciting. I don't know if it has fully sunk in yet. I've called my parents, and my sister - whom was not happy with me since I spoke to her and didn't tell her( this was before we were 100% sure). Anyway, we are excited little Aiden has no idea what is going on yet but I think he'll be happy once he realizes it - I hope so anyway. Well after all the planning the new baby decided he or she would pick when to come after all, so we have to make arrangements with work and plan the holidays since it seems this is going to be a New Years baby, kinda cool. I guess we'll see what happens next this will be an exciting and nerve racking coming months.

Cris

Decisions

2006-05-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

It was an enjoyable weekend spent most of it at home with the family. Monday I went into town to pick you our new bikes that was fun. Aiden was curious as to what these new items were for but was distracted by the store with many more items he recognized (Toys R US). I have yet to ride the damn bikes, I did try it in the yard but I've been feeling really crappy the last couple of days today being the worse so far. I hope to feel better so I can give the bike a real test drive, ha-ha. Anyway so pretty uneventful the last few days but nothing to complain about so all is well. I did receive a letter, well my sister received a letter about an apartment she was on the waiting list for here in Virginia given her 5 days to turn in a new application since openings where now available. So it's tough, I called her and told her that basically she had 5 days to decide whether to leave Puerto Rico or wait for another time. It's not an easy decision for anybody to make so I feel bad for her, not like we don't all have a million other things to worry about I had to drop that one on her bright and early. I would love for her and the kids to move down here and be closer to us but I don't know what kind of things she's got going on so it may not be in her best interest as of yet, I don't know. Ultimately it's here decision and I'll wait anxiously for her to make it.

Cris

Buying a Bike

2006-05-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

It's Friday, - YES!

Shannon and I have been thinking we should go out and buy a couple of bikes to ride around in and go to work. It would be good for our health not to mention it'll save on gas. I mean we could walk to work but I for one am to damn lazy in the morning for such a thing, in the afternoon not so bad I turn on my ipod and walk home but then who's going to bring the car. So I think the obvious solution is a bicycle, we're going to look at some tonight after work maybe get some dinner while we're at it. My only concern with getting a bike is that I really would like to use it to get around camp this summer but I haven't ridden a bike in years and I may look like an idiot trying not to run over any kids. Oh well I'll just have to practice before the summer starts; I've got a month still.

Well its been a decent enough week no major disasters, I have however a disaster in my house I need to clean up and my son keeps waking up at 7:30 in the morning to jump on my head or kick me of the bed so he can sleep with his mother. He forgets I always win.

Cris

Who's The Boss?

2006-05-03T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well today I had an interesting morning. I came into my office to shortly be visited by the owner of the camp I work for. He wanted to chat about who's my direct supervisor, at this I almost chuckled; I actually kept it together and listened intently. Apparently he didn't know that he was my direct supervisor so it seems over the last year I've been on my own basically answering to no one. - Yeah right. I know my job and how to do it well so there's no question I gave them no reason to ever question my work ethic. However all of a sudden they realized nobody was actually supervising me or for that matter looking after me. What the hell? I always knew who my supervisor was supposed to be and that hasn't changed. Whether he knew it or not I always got things approved by the necessary people why would that change now. Oh well its not like I'm being punished although I'm sure it will feel like it, I'll get over it. On a happier not the higher powers now want me to be in on the heads of department meetings, "oh goodie" that'll be fun. At least now I'll feel more like I have a say so (which I don’t) as opposed to just passively watching things happen around me.

Quick note!

2006-05-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note - I saw the new Apple ads on their website today, pretty hilarious. Check them out at http://www.apple.com

Graduate School?

2006-05-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

My wife and I had a little spat yesterday about my frustrations with my job and another such things and it got me to thinking about going back to school. This is something I've been thinking about for about a month after I graduated with my bachelor’s degree but my son and family came first at the time. Financially things are much better so today I gave it some serious thought and even picked out a school that seems to have a pretty good program. The Virginia Commonwealth University seems to have a very together and well-run M.F.A program with an emphasis on photography and film, right up my alley. After 2 years out of school the thought is a little scary and after I looked at the admission requirements it was even scarier. The admission requirements are 20 slides or 3 short films, 3 letters of reference, and a letter of intent. Two of those requirements aren't so bad, my work is decent and I'm trying to work on a few new pieces and a letter of intent is simple enough now the letters of reference seem a bit worrisome. I have moved 4 time since I graduated, three of those times out of state so I've lost touch with a few people and the few I still keep up with it may not have the time or feel its been so long since we worked together that they may not feel appropriate. I may be worrying about nothing but it does get me a little stressed. Anyway they aren't taking any new students until next fall so I've got time to prepare and make some new contacts, ha-ha. Well all in all it's an exciting plan and I can't wait to get back to school.

Another Career? I'm still young!

2006-05-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you a little about my job. I'm the Marketing Director at a summer camp in Virginia. I have been working in this position for a little over a year and I've had fun with it. I have been working in camping for about, hmm I met my wife in 2002, about 5 years. I have worked as a counselor and designer for another camp in a seasonal position and now I'm lucky enough to work as a kind of administrator full time helping to market the camp and its off season programs. It's a challenging and sometimes stressful job especially in the off-season, at least for me. In the summer I take on a different role as the camp photographer and sometimes other roles as needed. Anyway over the last few months I've been feeling a little upset at some of my job responsibilities. It isn't that I can't handle them or not willing too but more like I don't think my skills and knowledge are being used to their full potential. I find myself feeling like maybe I can do better if I move on to another job or move into another career all together. Camping is a fun and unique business to be in but one has to love the work and feel like a part of it, here lately I haven't been feeling it the way I use to. Working in the camping business should be about what one can offer the campers and the families as well as the counselors that give up their summers to work with children and gain experience for a very meager wage that most camps offer. Maybe I have lost my way but I don't feel like we are truly fulfilling these goals. Of course my job is to market the camp, create an image that people can relate to and adhere to the vision of the owner and directors as well and here in may be my problem with the entire thing, we don't agree on what the parents and campers relate to. It's my job to do the best I can but ultimately I don't have the final say so or final creative vision so what I have trained to do and what I'm skilled to create isn't what will ultimately be seen by the public. Maybe my superiors who have been in this business much longer than I have definitely have prior experience about what they know sells and what doesn't but why did they hire a young person with new ideas and then completely ignore these ideas and wonder why business has continued to dwindle over the last 5 years even before my arrival. My only explanation is that things, times, and the direction and view of the camping industry changes and it's time that we change with it or I'll have no choice but to move on in another direction because I'm changing too.

Trade In?

2006-04-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

Now, I've been thinking over the last few weeks about getting rid of my SUV (Dodge Durango). Possibly trading it in for a more fuel-efficient car seems like the best choice with the price of gas going up as it has been. It's unreal how just a few months ago I could fill it up for 40 dollars and now it's almost 60 bucks to fill up. Now I'm sure some of you may say that's what you get for buying an SUV but I needed one living in Wisconsin with the snow and a family it helps to have a larger vehicle. However that's in the past now, I live in Virginia and lucky enough to reside within walking distance of my job so going to work is not a problem. My wife on the other hand still needs to use the car and living in a rural area like this one has to drive to get groceries and other necessities, which take a toll on the gas mileage. Anyway trying to get back to the point, I'm seriously considering trade this baby in and getting a more fuel-efficient vehicle. I have a feeling though that it wont be as simple as just trading it in since most people aren't looking for a gas guzzler and dealers are probably in no hurry to pay top dollar for a used SUV and one that I'm still paying on at that. All in all I wish I had listened to my dad when I bought this 8 cyl 4WD 12 mpg monster of a vehicle, I'd be a much happier person now. Well I guess we'll see what happens, hopefully gas prices will level out and I'll be paying only 70 dollars to fill up my tank this summer. Yeah right!