A few months ago it dawned on me what I am good at.

Oh sure there are many things I am good at such as, cooking, yard work, eating, laying around, gaining weight. But in my professional life I have been trying to figure out how I fit into things.

It seems I am very good as a Fixer.

A Fixer is someone who comes in to fix things…yeah, well, duh…

But that is what I do best.

In my career I have been placed in situations where I had to clean up someone’s mess. I am sure you can all identify with that and agree that is sucks. But the thing is, I seem to be good at it.

Here at the City I’ve had to do the same thing. When odd things come up that have possible political ramifications or the possibility of going south or have gone south…they tend to give them to me.

When a road fails and a Commissioner is upset and wants answers, they give it to me. It doesn’t matter what I’m actually working on at the time, they want me to fix it.

Last summer we got a nasty letter from EPD in regards to our City NPDES Permit. The letter threatened $50,000/day fines and all kinds of fun things. My boss gave it to me and the City Manager watched it very closely. It was tough. I had to go back over someone else’s mess and find ways to fix it. It took 6 months, but we got into compliance and I even got a pat on the back from the City Manager.

Now that we are in compliance with the permit, I still have to do the day-to-day stuff associated with it. But the thing is, I am not so good at the day-to-day stuff. Once I get it fixed, I am ready to move on to the next issue and hand off the fixed problem to someone else.

While I feel I’m a good engineer, I think I’m better at fixing things. Yeah, I can produce plans in a timely manner. I can come up with some good designs. But where I excel is when things have gone down the crapper.

One of the reasons I got this job with the City was because of a problem I fixed.

I was working in the private sector with an engineering firm who had a contract with the City to do a mapping and drainage project. I remember it going bad for several years and the City got more upset with each passing month. While I never worked on the project, I do remember hearing about it at staff meetings.

The President of the company got canned partly because of the way he handled, or should I say, didn’t handle this one project. It was not as simplistic as that, but it was close. Anyway, the powers that be assigned me to the project to get it completed. The first thing I did was meet with the guy with the City who I would one day work for. My only purpose was to make him happy. That is how I presented it to him. Cost was no problem, what was it going to take to make him happy?

I was able to figure out what was causing his displeasure and I was able to fix it. After I fixed the problem, he told me that he was taking back his statement about our firm never doing work for the City again.

Later that year, he called me and wanted me to come work for him. It has been one of my better career moves.

So, I am a Fixer. Like I mentioned earlier, I don’t do as well with day-to-day stuff. Maybe it is because I work best under pressure.

One of my favorite movies is Pulp Fiction (WunderWife just stopped reading this post…). No really, I love that movie.

Remember the part where Vincent (John Travolta) accidentally kills Marvin while they were driving down the road?

They had to get off the road and to a safe house pronto to figure out how to get brought in by their little mafia/gang. Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) calls the boss for help and the boss brings in The Wolf (Harvey Keitel).

I identify with The Wolf. Somehow it seems my career is a lot like his part in the movie. Well, without the excessive cursing, dead gangsters and tuxedo…but other than that, it’s just like it:

(heavily edited)

JULES: I don’t wanna hear about no m-f “ifs.” All I want to hear from your a** is: “you ain’t got no problems, Jules. I’m on the m-f. Go back in there, chill them n*****s out and wait for the cavalry, which should be comin’ directly.”

MARSELLUS: You ain’t got no problems, Jules. I’m on the m-f. Go back in there, chill them n*****s out and wait for The Wolf, who should be comin’ directly.

JULES: You sendin’ The Wolf?

MARSELLUS: Feel better m-f?

JULES: Sh*t Negro, that’s all you had to say.

I am the Wolf.

I think I am going to start introducing myself like this:

THE WOLF: I’m Winston Wolf, I solve problems.

JIMMIE: Good, we got one.

Mild Content Warning:

Yeah, so if you have not seen Pulp Fiction, you can get the gist of it from this 30 second clip of it reenacted by bunnies.

Eh, you’ve gotta be good at something.

Tomorrow is Monday.

I bet I get tossed at least one problem this week.

Any takers?

Ratatouille is a pretty good movie. While it is not in the same league as The Incredibles and Finding Nemo, it is still a pretty darn good movie.

The Kids Test: My three kids, ages 7,5, and 3 all enjoyed the movie. The movie seemed to keep their attention and they talked a lot about the movie after it was over. From my kids point of view, it is a good movie

Will I Buy It Test: As a parent, I have grown accustomed to mindless children’s movies. Such as when my 3 year old daughter wants to rent Barbie Princess or Princess Pony…They are terrible movies. Being forced to sit through them should be a violation of the Geneva Convention. That is why when a good movie comes along, I have no problem buying the DVD. I figure that the kids will want to rent it numerous times and that the cost of the rentals and the inevitable late fees will more than cover the cost of the DVD. That is why Nemo, Bugs Life, The Incredibles, Cars, both Shrek movies and both Ice Age movies are part of the WunderFamily DVD collection.

I can sit through any of those movies and still enjoy them. Even though they have been played on a loop for the past 200 hours…

So, would I buy Ratatouille? It’s hard to say. Right now it is a toss up.

The movie is just like all other kid movies. The hero, Remy, is misunderstood. Being separated from his family allows him to discover who he really is on the inside: a chef. After settling into a nice routine, the long lost family returns and he has to make a choice to stay a chef or to return home. Of course he has to stand up to his Dad and of course in the end, his Dad accepts him for who he is.

In the middle there are the usual villains and adventures and love…not for Remy, but for poor Linguini.

The ending is fast paced as you would expect from a Pixar movie and to me, was the best part of the movie.

In the end, Remy is true to himself and his buddy, Linguini, finds his true purpose.

Remy and Linguini

The characters are great, especially this guy:

Good ol’ What’s His Name

The whole shtick about his past cracked me up. He has some French title that I obviously have no idea how to spell.

The evil chef is a great snapshot of many typical French stereotypes.

Skinner

I have to say that one of the best characters is Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole) the evil, and I do mean evil, food critic. I do not want to spoil the movie for you, but the scene with him when he eats the dish he is to critique is a great scene.

Anton Ego

The graphics are superb as you can imagine seeing how it is a Pixar movie.

All in all, it was an enjoyable movie. It kept the kids entertained and I had several good laughs. I read one critic that said the lack of big name stars hampers the movie. I tend to agree. Not from the kids perspective, but from a parents. One of the better things about Nemo, The Incredibles and Cars (as well as most other recent, successful kids movies) was that they all had big name actors. It made them better movies because Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen was believable, as was Craig T. Nelson as Mr. Incredible. Like I said, it doesn’t matter to the kids, but it does help me enjoy the movies better.

So will I buy it? It depends on the kids. If they start wanting to rent it when it comes out on DVD, then maybe I will buy a previously viewed copy. I did that with Cars and it worked out well for us.

But…

If the kids drop it, I am fine with never owning a copy.

Score: A-…and I really, really, wanted to give it a B, but it was an enjoyable movie.

I know, I know, some of you will say that my dog is worthless because she plays soccer…

I guess it is time to step out of the shadows…

This is hard to admit…

But…

I
Like
Soccer

There, I said it and I’m not ashamed.

So, Lucy is now 6 months old and is a lot of fun. She is getting calmer and is following commands better.

Here she is:

And here she is playing soccer:

You don’t say:

Brown said he believed he may be the child of Margaret and Group Capt. Peter Townsend, whose romance ended in 1955 under pressure from the royal family and the Church of England.

See, that royal family is always causing trouble. You do know about the Trilateral Commission and the Queen don’t you?

Gee, if I’d known it was that easy, I would have tried harder to convince people that I was the illegitimate son of Steve Jobs. At least I may have gotten some stock or maybe an iPhone…

But..

Well, it seems Mr. Brown may not quite have all the marbles God intended him to have:

Brown “does not assert that any person or source, informed or otherwise, has ever told, or even suggested, to him that he is the illegitimate son of Princess Margaret.”

“Indeed, he acknowledges they have not. Rather, it seems from his own evidence that the origins of his assertion lie in thoughts, emotions and fantasies which have afflicted him comparatively recently in later life,”

Oh…yeah…I guess those are just voices in your head Mr. Brown and not past memories…

Predictably, a judge has tossed out his claim.

Stupid laws and their need for “proof”.

Several blogs have already covered the story of Sgt. Jill Stevens, 1st Battalion, 211th Aviation, Utah National Guard being crowned Miss Utah. She is also a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

In clicking through the stories, I came across this picture:

Yeah, it looks like your standard “Oh My God, Oh My God, I Won, I Won!” picture, but take another look at the picture and notice this lady’s expression…

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I was robbed!!!

Heh. I wish I had the full version of that picture…

It seems that another former child star has met his end.

Yes, the culprits once again appear to be cocaine, prescription pain pills and alcohol.

A 5-year-old boy grabbed a rabid fox by the neck and pinned it to the ground during a family cookout, protecting six other children before his stepfather could kill the animal.
—
Rayshun’s stepfather, Ryan Thompson, pulled the boy off the animal and kicked it. A neighbor fired a handgun three times but the fox continued to advance.

Thompson, wearing a cast because of a broken leg, said he used a stick and his crutch to beat the fox to death.

Wow. So sad.

Tod, we’re going to miss you.

He was never able to recapture his success from The Fox and the Hound. Years of drunken, coke binges followed as well as the inevitable time spent in the Adult Animal Industry.

He tried to make a comeback with The Fox and the Hound 2, but it was a direct to video disaster.

In the end poor, old Tod contracted rabies while on one of his cocaine-Xanax-Viagra binges and attacked a family at a back yard BBQ.

Let this be a lesson to the rest of you childhood animal stars…you could be next.

The wife and I are heading up to Atlanta today.

One of our good friends is returning from California where she has attended a Ministry School and we are going with her family to meet her at the airport.

While up in Atlanta, we will be checking out Ikea.

According to my brother-in-law and his wife, you can spend hours and hours in an Ikea store…I am not convinced. I usually hate furniture stores; so I am not sure how we can spend several hours in a store…but…I am trying to keep an open mind.

Who knows, I may come back a disciple of Ikea.

Remember when I was all excited and stuff about my new promotion? Yeah, me neither…

Actually, that is not true. I’m still excited about it, but things are not going as planned.

See, I am now doing the job of three people. They have yet to fill my now vacant position and a lady who handles all the paper work, filing, forms, calls, etc. related to plan review is out do to back surgery. (I just returned from the hospital, she has taken a turn for the worse and is on life support in the ICU. Join me in praying for her healing)

Anyway, I am a bit overloaded. As a result, my new duties have kind of been regulated to the back burner. That is until last week.

The section I now head is responsible for Project Management for other departments projects. If the Recreation Department has a project to put up new lights at the little league field (and they do), then my section assists them. We help write the RFP/RFQ for engineering/architectural support and then assist them during construction by providing inspection and administration support.

Sounds easy no?

Well, it usually is, but I have walked into a hornets nest.

It seems that one department is very upset with us. After digging into the history of the project, I can sort of see his side of it, but still, I think we have done a pretty good job. As I wrote previously, I’m a Fixer, so naturally, the first thing I encounter with my new position is having to fix something.

I am meeting with the department head this Friday. My one goal is to make him happy. I can’t change the past but I can work on our future working relationship. Normally I would be a bit more confident in my abilities as a Fixer, but yesterday I walked into work to find a gem of an e-mail from this guy. It seems one of my guys scheduled a meeting and then only notified the director on Friday when the meeting was to be on Monday. Yes, there are areas we can improve our customer service and it is tops on my agenda, but see my earlier points about doing 3 jobs:

Here are a few snippets for your enjoyment:

It is also unfortunate that you planned a meeting of this importance and did not give the XXXX team any more advance notice than an e.mail on a Friday morning before a Monday meeting is scheduled.
—-
This is not the first time your office has made plans without advising the XXXX, i.e. the roofing materials were delivered to the XXXX without notice to our venue team until they were actually unloading the product in the parking lot with no notice given to us in advance.

The continued lack of planning and the failure of advance written (e.mail or memo) notice for meetings or timelines established by your department is no longer acceptable or appropriate when dealing with this department.
—-
I respectfully request that you brief your immediate supervisor, (Me), about this late invitation to an important pre-construction meeting as it mirrors the type of internal customer service levels I have been experiencing from your department on several SPLOST projects coordinated by the Engineering Department project managers.

Nice huh?

Like I said, he has a point, but that is the purpose of our meeting this Friday. There is very little I can do until I have a chance to sit down with him to see what I can do to make his life easier. I did not mind the email as much as you might think, but I was upset that he sent it to everybody and their brother. He should have simply addressed the email to me and I would have called him, which I did anyway.

Oh well. In his eyes we suck.

It is now my job to change his perspective.

I will let you know how the meeting goes on Friday. I am expecting good things.

I got in the elevator in the parking deck after lunch today. Yes, I am too lazy to walk down three flights of stairs.

When I walked into the elevator, I noticed a large roach near the back right corner. I stood in the back left corner.

The elevator smelled of urine and body odor…as usual…homeless people use the elevator as a boarding house and as a bathroom…dual use!

I looked at the roach. I am not sure if it looked at me, but it did shift its feet uneasily.

My first thought was: “Stupid bug! You go squish now!”..but then I remembered all the bad things that happened to Homer after he did that…so, I left it alone.

Just me and the roach…riding down the smelly elevator.

When we got to the bottom and the doors opened up, the roach turned as if to run away, but then stopped. I nodded at him/her (really, can you tell?) and walked out into the fresh air.

It’s been a strange week.

Remember my post from the other day?

Just to catch you up, the guy who is upset has not been content to wait for our meeting tomorrow. Nope, he has felt the need to send two more nasty e-mails complaining about how he is being treated.

I totally understand his frustration, that is why I scheduled a meeting

for
TOMORROW!

That was the earliest he could meet with me. Why he felt the need to fire off two more e-mails is beyond me.

I was talking to my old boss today about my meeting and how I HOPE it goes when I told him about the other two e-mails.

He had the best take so far:

Look, you can call me an asshole if you want, that’s fine. But there is no need to send two more e-mails telling me that I am the same asshole before I have time to change. I get it!

I get the point.

It felt like being in a boxing ring, up against the ropes. I could not catch my breath. Before I could handle one complaint, he fired off another and another…

Tomorrow, tomorrow…I can’t wait till tomorrow is here and my meeting is OVER!

What is it exactly that makes cheese, egg and Canadian bacon all on an English muffin taste so darn good.

Discuss.

On a separate, but sort of related issue…I’m taking a poll.

Should I still continue to get my Rt 44 Cherry Limeade from Sonic during Happy Hour? Especially after this?

The meeting went very well.

He expressed his utter frustration.

I explained how things will be different and appologized for past mistakes.

He seemed agreeable to moving forward.

I assured him that our service to him will improve.

All in all, it was a good meeting. Time will tell if we accomplished anything. Recent history has shown that even after other “good meetings”, he was still upset.

I think we were able to move beyond the old issues. In fact I asked that we not bring them up again. That after today, we would have a clean slate. After all, what happened, happened…it is what it is and there is nothing I can do to fix any of it.

BUT…

We can improve and meet his expectations from today on.

I’m tired and heading home. It is WunderKid1′s 7th birthday today and we are going swimming and having cupcakes!

I feel old.

Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about my life with the railroad. I planned on writing several posts on different experiences I had when I worked for Norfolk Southern Railroad…well, you can see how well that went.

But, I do plan to write about my time in Toledo and Bellevue, Ohio. As well as some of the other interesting places I visited in my time with the railroad.

Anyway, I was digging through old pictures for a post I am writing when I cam across this picture.

I reference this outfit in this post…scroll down to the bottom. It must have been warm that day…I did not have gloves on.

I promise to give you guys the railroad stories that you have been begging for. I know at heart you guys are all a bunch of FRN’s.

Today is Nathan’s (aka WunderKid1) 7th birthday.

I can’t believe that my oldest is already 7 years old. Now I know why my mom and dad would tell me it seems just like yesterday.

Because it does.

Happy Birthday!

Nathan was the first grandkid on either side of the family. When he was born, he was a king among kings. Other grandkids have come and his position has been knocked down a bit, but he is still up there in the eyes of the family.

I remember wondering if I would be a good father, what he would look like and how Jen would do in labor. We would sit around talking about him and wondering what God had in store for him. Looking back it is amazing how much free time we had BC…Before Children.

The week before Nathan’s birth, Jen’s mom, dad and sister all came to stay with us in our tiny two-bedroom townhouse in Fayetteville, Georgia. We had many, many false starts. I lost count of the number of times we went to the hospital thinking she was in labor. The funny thing is, when she did go into labor, man there was no question.

Jen battled through 13 hours of labor…with no epidural…she had some drugs but not the big one. There was a complication with him and it slowed down the birth. Finally, the midwife gave up and called in the doctor. He took one look and ordered a C-section.

We were devastated. Well, I was. Jen finally got an epidural and we knew we would be holding Nathan soon, but I was sure something terrible was going to happen. Thankfully, it went as planned and out came Nathan.

Now what do I do

Nathan is named after my Great-great grandfather Nathan Talley and my Great-great-great grandfather Anderson Talley. I am really big on history and on my family tree. Naming him after my ancestors just seemed right.

My boy

Look at the rolls!

Christmas 2000

Nathan is a wonderful leader in the house. As the oldest he sets the tone for the rest of the kids. Our kids by and large get along great and really care about each others feelings…Madi can be the odd one out on that…but I really believe it is because of Nathan and the way he carries himself.

If I had to say one thing about him it would be that he is a rule follower. That is what he wants to know, tell me the rules. If we go somewhere new or something new is in the house or whatever, just tell him the rules. He follows them. He does it here and at school.

In many ways he is a lot like me as a child. He is a pleaser and he has an amazingly tender heart. Unfortunately he worries like I did and I want so much for him to relax and enjoy the ride. I never had anyone help me to do that, so I went through my childhood without stopping to enjoy the ride.

The funniest trait (and most annoying) is his need to be accurate. If you say something that is not quite accurate, he will make sure to correct you. This can be very funny as he tries to correct his 5-year-old brother and 3-year-old sister. But when he is constantly correcting you…it gets old…but the funny thing is, I was JUST LIKE THAT!

I would bother my mom with questions all day long. But I refused to take simple answers. I wanted to know everything there was to know about a subject. While I can brush off my 5 year old by only telling him the shortest possible answer, I have no such luck with Nathan. Mom was so happy when I learned to read because she would just tell me to look it up in the encyclopedia. Which I did. I guess with Nathan I will have to tell him to just Google it!

Happy birthday Nathan. I am very proud of you and look forward to seeing you come into all that the Lord has for you. You are a wonderful son and I love you more than you know.

My one-year-old lawn mower died Thursday night.

I finished the back yard and I was feeling good, so I decided to try for the front as well. I did the side and was about half way finished with the big part of the front (I live on a corner lot and my front yard is pretty big). I knew I would not have enough gas to do both front and back in one fill up so I was expecting to run out.

Sure enough, the mower started sputtering and so I cut it off and grabbed the gas can. After a quick fill up I started it up again.

It was running real rough. I did a few rows and it never got better. I thought maybe it was because I had run out of gas. So I decided to stop the mower and start it again…

…

I shut it down and it sputtered to a stop and then there was a “Pop” and a flame about 4″ long shot out the side of the muffler! I kid you not.

It never started again after that. Black smoke came out of the muffler and the air was heavy with the smell of gas.

Before starting mowing, I checked the oil and air filter and they were fine. I have only mowed the grass 5 times or so with the oil that is in there now. I changed it at the beginning of summer.

So, what is wrong with my one-year-old mower? It is a Troy-Bilt with a Honda engine. I figured the Honda would run forever.

Because of the gas smell, the black smoke at shutdown and the freaking 4″ flame, I am thinking it could be a fuel mixture issue. Maybe it is too rich? Maybe it is the spark plug. I did not change that from last year, so, I guess it could be that.

Nothing like another hot Monday in South Georgia and the building AC is down. It was 85 degrees this morning and is still only at 79 now…grrr…I need a shower.

I am so disappointed in you guys. All 7 of you have let me down…well, #5 is trying his best, but the rest of you should be ashamed of yourselves. No one has helped me with my broken lawn mower request. I figured at least one of you would have asked the standard questions: Do you have gas? Do you have oil? Are you an idiot? But no…nothing…Please try harder. Geesh.

WunderKid1 has his birthday party tomorrow. This is his first “big boy” party…it is a bowling party. “Big Boy” = expensive! But he is worth every penny. Besides, it will be tons of fun watching him and his buddies bowl.

I got my haircut on Friday. Today I had to suffer through the inevitable “Gee, you got your hair cut” and “You got your money’s worth” and I had the usual replies of “I got a few cut” and “Yep, I like to get something for my money”. God, I hate being nice sometimes.

Speaking of.

Last year my wife and I heard a speaker that changed our lives in regards to relationships and raising our children. (Coincidently, it also corresponded to the demise of this web site as an interesting read…). Anyway. He talked about how we can all be so fake:

Bob: Hey Jim, how are you?

Jim: Great Bob, how are you?

Bob: Super! Working hard or hardly working?

Jim: Ha! Hardly working! You da man!

Bob: No, you da man!

The thing is, we have come to expect that. If I am having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and my co-worker asks me how I am doing, I am going to say: “Oh pretty good and you?” We expect it.

Things go terribly wrong when you ask someone how they are doing and they begin to tell you about their spleen and their no good husband and that their pet fish died. You know who I am talking about. My guess is that you avoid people like that.

Why?

Because they take too much of your time. After all, most of the time when we ask someone how they are doing or what they did this weekend, it’s not because we particularly care, but that we are bored or it’s expected of us.

But…

Often times, those people who spill their guts are really suffering. Sure they may be a pain in the neck, but taking the time to listen to them and to offer some advice or a shoulder to cry on may help them get over the funk they are in. It takes time and sometimes taking the time to listen opens you up to future “counseling” sessions, but it can really change a persons life.

So, let’s stop with the pleasantries. Tell me how you’re really doing.

Really. I want to know.

Dr. Talley is here to help.

Time to go home.

From my crape myrtle in my front yard.

I like my crape myrtles. I have this small one in the front, a medium size one in the back and very large one in the back.

I heard Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust” on the way home from work today and contrary to what they told me in church youth group back in 1990, my urge to smoke marijuana did not increase.

I’m just sayin’

I’ve been working on a Top Secret post. Hopefully, it will be finished tonight. It will be my after action report on a little undercover mission.

Don’t get your expectations too high. But I did want you to know I do have a post coming that hopefully will be worth reading…unlike the usual rubbish on this site.

So, how are you guys doing? Got plans for this weekend?

If I get time I may post about my experience putting up a bunk bed last night…

Remember a few weeks ago when I said I was going to Atlanta and that while in Atlanta, I would be going to the Ikea store?

Well, I lied.

I really did go to Atlanta and I really did go to Ikea, but it wasn’t to for the reasons I stated.

Actually, it was an undercover operation with the sole purpose being to explore the reach of Scandi propaganda. Specifically their biggest export to the U.S., Ikea.

Ace has written about his disdain for Scandinavians (Scandi’s) before. See here and here. After reading his posts, I put together the operation in order to report back to him just how afraid we should all be of the Scandi menace.

The results are…terrifying….

(more…)

Just wanted to take the time to thank the City Commission, Mayor and the City Manager for cutting employees pay.

Thanks a bunch.

Smell that? That’s employee moral.

As you can imagine, we are gleeful at the prospect of going in reverse in regards to our “compensation”.

No, please take it, I don’t need the money I earn.

Nothing like getting $60 less per month, take home, and the only thing that happened was July 1st – the new fiscal year.

Going backwards with the City. Now that’s a great slogan to attract people to work for the City.

Thanks.

I guess I should explain the back story behind getting my pay cut.

Last year the City was having problems funding the Pension Plan. Not sure why, but I think they lost several, several million in the stock market in 2000-2001. Also, they were doing something quasi-illegal in regards to paying for something or another from the Pension Plan.

Anyway…it came down that they were under funding our Pension Plan.

When I hired on, it was a promised benefit to me that the City would contribute on my behalf to the Pension Plan. After 10 years I would be vested and be able to draw from it when I retired. It was a great perk. It cost me nothing and it was just one more little feather in the cap of a City employee.

But, they were under funding the Plan.

They instructed the Pension Board to come up with alternatives.

The first thing they did, which makes total sense, was to make all new employees contribute 4% of their pay to the Plan. Hey, if you know that when you hire on, no big deal. It just means the Pension Plan is not quite as attractive to you, but it’s still an ok perk.

The Board came up with three alternatives…

1 – Freeze everyone’s pension. What ever is in there now, is all you get
2 – Have the City up its contribution to cover the shortage
3 – Make the employees contribute 4%

In the meetings we were told that Option 2 is not really an option. The City Commission was not going to increase their contribution, so really, your choices are 1 or 3.

Gee, guess which one got picked by the employees?

In the name of full disclosure, I did not go to the meeting and I did not vote. I was busy and the information they gave me told me what the ultimate outcome would be. People much more vocal than me stood up and voiced their opinion, but in vain.

In the end, making all employees contribute 4% to the Plan was chosen. The thing that pissed me off the most was that the Pension Board proclaimed to the City Commission that the employees overwhelmingly chose to contribute 4%. They never told the Commission that the only two real choices were freezing or contribute.

I called my Commissioner and told him that the information that was presented was not quite accurate. I did not get much feedback.

So, starting July 1 of this year, every employee had to start contributing 4% of their pay to the Pension Plan. They chose that date because it would coincide with a planned 3% cost of living raise that had been promised to the employees.

3% cost of living + 4% (pre-tax) pension contribution = $30 less TAKE HOME per check. 26 checks per year = $780 less per year for my family.

Also, insurance is going up 10% in October AND they are cutting some of our sick time. I am not sure when this is going into affect, but they are cutting the rate at which we accrue sick leave.

Overall effect:

I have fewer sick days
I have less money in my pocket
My benefits are not as good as they were
My moral sucks.

Yeah, I have a rotten attitude. But when you are doing the job of three people…AND they cut your pay…it’s hard not to have a sucky attitude.

Oh well.

Beats living on the street.

My friend Nancy died today.

Nancy was a fixture at the City of Albany. She worked for the City for 15 years and before that she worked for one of the local engineering firms. A single mom, she raised her two kids and fought to give them all she could.

I think her official title was Engineering Associate, but basically she was the City’s librarian. She was in charge of our huge inventory of old drawings and maps. She knew where everything was, what it was called in 1950 and who designed it. One of her duties was assisting me in plan review. She would get all the paper work ready and do a pre-review, picking up obvious errors and omissions. Then I would review the plans.

We would talk back and forth as I went through each plan. I always had a comment about them that would make her laugh.

She knew everyone in the City. Because she worked with one of the largest and oldest engineering firms for so long, she knew the history of Albany as well. When I hired on almost three years ago, she took me under her wing. She introduced me to everyone who came by to see her and you can’t imagine how many would come by each day. Like I said, she was a fixture at the City. You could not come by the Engineering office without saying hello to Nancy.

I can’t tell you what a wonderful person she was. Full of life. Full of opinions. Full of joy.

There is a section in our local paper called the “Squawk Box”. It is a column of complaints and praise about anything and everything. I would read them at her desk every morning to see if the Engineering Department was in any of them and we would laugh and moan, as the case would be.

She had a tumor on her back and had an operation to remove it three years ago. The operation did not go very well and she suffered nerve damage that limited her mobility. She had to use a cane. Not only that, but she got a very bad infection and it took a long time to heal.

Just recently, the tumor had come back. She was in extreme pain and finally decided to have another surgery.

The surgery went well. I went to the hospital to see her three days after the surgery. We talked about work and people who had come in and just general stuff that we would talk about at work. It was a nice 15 minutes or so.

A few days later something happened. Later we learned she suffered from Sepsis that caused her breathing to become problematic and made her blood pressure drop. They rushed her to ICU.

I got the call two Mondays ago.

She looked terrible. She was on full life support and was heavily sedated. I prayed for her that day and most of the days the rest of that week. I would see her in the morning and in the evening on my way home from work. Sometimes I would drop by at lunch.

Each day she looked like she was getting better.

Last week she started squeezing hands when you asked her. By Wednesday she was off the respirator for short periods of time.

I saw her Thursday and she was on the respirator and asleep but her daughter told me that she had been awake earlier and was communicating.

Friday morning she saw me. It was so good to see her awake. She tried to wave and she smiled at me. I spent 15 minutes or so holding her hand telling her how happy I was to see her awake. Her daughter was there and she told me that the doctors thought she had a few small strokes as well. I told Nancy that she scared us to death and that she better get well.

I saw her Friday night and she was getting her teeth cleaned and her hair washed.

About 30 minutes ago I got a call that she passed away around 11am today.

Apparently she started going downhill Friday night and all day Saturday. Her back wound hemorrhaged and she had a lot of fluid on her lungs. Finally, they decided to remove her from life support and as it appeared everything was beginning to shut down.

She died surrounded by her kids and a few close friends.

I am going to miss Nancy more than you can imagine.

I would complain to her, she would encourage me. I would tell her about my family, she would tell me about hers. We would laugh at the absurdity of the City and shake our heads in disbelief.

She was my friend and I can’t believe she is gone.

I had to tell the office about Nancy today.

It was not easy sitting people down and seeing some burst into tears and others just shake their head in disbelief.

One of our secretaries caught some of the people and I got the rest. I also had to make the calls to the other departments.

Not fun.

Her funeral is on Friday.

Death is a strange thing.

I have a whole post in my head, but I am too tired to write it now. Maybe tomorrow.

Until then, thanks for the condolences.

Georgia twelfth fattest state in the country

Heck yeah!!!!

When it comes to being healthy, Georgia almost ranks dead last. A recent study by The CalorieLab shows Georgia is the twelfth fattest state in the country with nearly 63% of the population overweight or obese.

Here is the rundown.

Come on Georgia…you can do better than Michigan…we should be top ten…try harder next year.

I just love my Penguin Goodfella familiar for my Kingdom of Loathing character.

For those not in the know, information on the Penguin Mafia can be found here.

Anyway, here is the little fella in action:

Step one, start a fight.

Step two, pay him to beat people up

What can I say…it’s a fun little game

Man, I’ve gotta get me one of these:

We take eighteen ounces of sizzling ground beef, and soak it in rich, creamery butter, then we top it off with bacon, ham, and a fried egg. We call it the Good Morning Burger.

Ah, back when the Simpsons had good writers.

Nancy was buried today.

I was asked to be one of the pallbearers and it was an honor to help lay her to rest.

I needed some cheering up today and good old Jeff did the job.

From his post today about reports that astronauts have been drunk for shuttle take offs:

Besides, think about it. They’re sitting on top of four million pounds of rocket fuel and liquid hydrogen in a flimsy aluminum glider built by the lowest bidder.

You wouldn’t get me within a mile and a half of the launch pad or “ground zero”, if you prefer without plying me with three shots of tequila and a line of coke first. No freakin’ way, man.

Thanks Jeff, I needed a chuckle today.

Check out previous editions of “I Wish I Had Written That”

Time to promote my wife’s blog.

As you may or may not know/remember, we are adopting our daughter from China. The old “blog” that we had during the paper chase part of the adoption can be found here.

Not too long ago, WunderWife started her own little blog chronicling our journey to our daughter Mei. We are hoping to go to China in late November or early December. It has been a long trip so far.

Anyway. Her blog can be found here. I have also added it to my blogroll. Enjoy.

A few posts ago I was complaining about a recent “pay cut”. My old friend Tejush, argued that I should jump ship and head to the private sector. Another commenter, Laxpat, seemed to say that the private sector is not all it’s cracked up to be. Sort of.

Welp, it just so happens that I have all kinds of ideas about this topic. So without further adieu, I present my ideas on Private vs Public Sector Jobs.

I have worked in a quasi-Private sector job, a Private sector job and a Public sector job.

Working for the railroad was a quasi-Private sector job because the total workforce was somewhere between 400 and 600 people. Working for a large corporation brings with it a bureaucracy almost as large as a small town. Policies and procedures would come down the pike that had little to do with day-to-day operations. So we had our safety briefings and conference calls. We had little pieces of paper we had to fill out when we were near active tracks. If you got hurt, God help you, there were extensive procedures to follow.

I was just another worker bee in the giant hive of the railroad. The pay was good, the retirement was good (no Social Security – had Railroad Retirement), the company pension was good, the benefits were good and I had the chance at getting a large bonus each year (10% of my pay). Had I stayed with the railroad, I would have been able to retire with a very nice nest egg.

Health insurance was new to me. It was my first real job with benefits. I do not remember how much I paid per month for health and life insurance, but it had to be less than $100. I am sure it is more now, but back then it was peanuts in the grand scheme of things. Because there were so many employees, we had great group coverage. I had a basic life insurance policy that would pay my wife 3x’s my annual pay and I had an additional death and dismemberment policy that would pay $500,000. I was only 25 years old and worth much more dead than alive.

I left the railroad to move back here to Albany. I got a job with a local engineering firm. They had a few other offices across the state, but the total workforce was only around 70 people. The work was good but with it came a new pressure: billings.

I had to be profitable. I had to do enough billing each month to cover my pay and the pay of non-billable people. The pay was ok. I had to take a pay cut to move here, but that was expected because Albany is NOT Atlanta. But two things killed me: Insurance and Vacation.

I was given two weeks vacation. With the railroad I had three weeks and would have more within the next 5 years. At the engineering firm, the most I would ever have was 3 weeks. With the railroad we didn’t have sick leave. Since we were salaried professionals, we were allowed to take the time needed. As long as your work did not suffer. At the engineering firm, every hour was counted. It took some getting use to.

Insurance almost killed me. When I left I was paying over $600 a month for insurance. Luckily it was pre-tax dollars going to cover it, but still, it hurt the bottom line. The company had an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). It gave you the opportunity to own a piece of the company. Each year the company would be evaluated and each employee would be given stock in accordance with their pay. In theory it was a nice perk, but the way they had it set up caused problems. When I left, I was able to have the value of the stock rolled into an IRA, but people who left after me have had their stock frozen. I think this has something to do with the poor financial position of the company.

I would get a bonus each year, but compared to the railroad, it was tiny. Part of the problem I had with the company was that there was no real distinction between high performing and low performing employees. With no incentive to be a high performer, everyone settled into being average…the company is still having problems being profitable.

My job here at the City is a pure Public sector job. My paycheck comes from your tax dollars. Well, not yours…maybe Cullen’s, but he’s moving…so only those of you who live here. Thanks for the money. My family really likes it when I get paid.

There are no billings to worry about. If I need to take additional time to work a design, I can do that. Case in point, I designed a small sewer separation project (see here). It was kind of a hit or miss project. I had to get the line cleaned and TV-ed. Then I had to send our surveyors out a few times to pick up things that were missed or that I needed because I changed the design a little. In the private sector I would have been killed on the fee. The job was only $130,000, so a fee in the private sector would have been $8,000, tops. Probably less. I wouldn’t have been able to spend the time on it that was needed. The project has gone really well because of the extra time.

Insurance is great. I have your standard 85-15 coverage with $300 deductible for each member of the family and I only pay $285 a month. The life insurance is not great, somewhere along the lines of 3x’s my pay.

But, there are the unseen things. Politics enters the equation. Many times we get pulled off of an important job to chase rabbits for a Commissioner. As a result, the jobs we are supposed to be doing get placed on the back burner. The work comes in spurts. There will be months where you just do your job, no real rush or strange projects. You actually feel productive. But then there will be months like my last three where I can’t get anything done because my priorities keep changing, I am short staffed and everyone wants something from me.

So which do I like best?

The perfect job would be a mix of Public and Private sector.

A job where I did not have to worry about the billings and profitability of the Private sector but had the benefits of the Public sector.

A job where I had the financial opportunities (bonus/commission) of the Private sector but the resources of the Public sector.

You know, the perfect job that does not exist.

When I took my current job, I knew I had a choice to make. It is good for my career to have some Public sector experience. Seeing things from this side of the fence will help me immensely in my career. But, there is a draw back. If you spend to much time in the Public sector, you are “tainted”.

What does “tainted” mean? Well, if you are in the Public sector you don’t have to worry about billings or profitability. You can move at a slower pace and you can begin to turn into more of a paper-pushing bureaucrat than an engineer. If you take someone like that and drop them into the Private sector, they have a hard time adjusting and many fail.

So, I don’t want to be “tainted”, but I am advancing in my career. What to do? If I leave now to go back to the Private sector I will have 3 solid years of experience with a medium sized town. I feel that my skills are still up to date and that I would have lots to offer a Private sector firm.

But.

If I stay, I have an excellent shot at becoming the next Director of Engineering. Wow, to be the head of a City department! I am one step below the Director now. The current Director is going to retire in the next 2 to 3 years. He knows I want his job and so he has been positioning me to be able to compete. I feel I have a better than 50% chance at getting the position. The problem is that it is at least 2 years down the road. It will mean having been in the Public sector for 5 years just to get the Director position.

I would want to stay in the position for a few years at the minimum to see any real change, to see my ideas about the Department implemented. By then it will be year 7 or 8. At 10 years I am vested, so I might as well stay a few more years. Then what? I would have been out of the Private sector for 10 years. I would definitely be tainted and by then would have been doing very little engineering. Mainly paper pushing bureaucratic stuff.

You see my dilemma. If I stay I am basically signing on to being a life long Public sector employee in the hopes of getting the Director’s position. If I do not get it, 2 more years will have gone by and if I do get it, I’m locked in.

This is weighing very heavily on me right now. Things are happening, the winds are shifting, and choices will soon be made that will answer the above question.

It is an interesting discussion.

What say all of you?

From Atlanta:

The owner of a car dealership has been accused of killing two employees because they kept asking for pay raises.

Ouch. I guess I should be happy with my “raise” and stop complaining.

Many of you…*cough*…sorry…do 5 readers count as many?…may remember that I gave up on political blogging last March. Instead, I focused on my life, family and job. That change succeeded in crashing my readership down to you 5 people, but that’s ok. I’m not in this for the fame or fortune…no, I enjoy just being able to write about my life.

Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s sad and other times it’s frustrating.

There are times that I really want to write about something that has happened, but I just can’t.

This can be because it is too personal, to private or because writing about it could potentially jeopardize my employment.

Today is one of those days. I had an experience a few hours ago that would make for an amazing post. It would deal with religion, social behavior and jobs.

But…

I can’t write about it.

If you know me, you will get to hear the story, but if you are just a reader, sorry, you are left with your own imaginations.

Look, you guys need to send me some new material.

My IWIHWT posts are turning into a Jeff and Ace love fest.

I know, I know, I need to read more, but dang-it, they both have a way with words.

Anyhoo…

Here’s Ace talking about his “normal” courtship rituals:

That quote is completely taken out of context — they’re referring to the old saw about people being more likely to hook up after being excited by fear or the like. Horror movies, roller coasters, lurking menacingly outside windows wearing nothing but clown makeup and a butcher’s apron. Classic courtship ploys like that.

Man I hate clowns.

Check out previous editions of “I Wish I Had Written That”

Hey, it’s not cat blogging, but I guess it’s pretty close. Still, I’m pretty darn proud of my beautiful kids.

I know, I know, WunderWife must have some STRONG genes to override mine…

WunderKid3 being silly – July 4th

WunderKid2 endorsing Sprite…Hey Sprite, where’s my check?

WunderKid1 having fun as human Velcro

The WunderBoys with their buddy

Thanks to Mark for the pictures. No, I did not take them. You should see the rest of the pictures he took at the 4th of July picnic. Cullen, you would be very impressed.