Saturday, March 31, 2007

My Wired Persona


I don't know what to make of myself. Here i have garnered some Hospitality,Computer and Artistic skills and I have no idea where I want to go with them. I do my best to be of service to people where I work, where I play and where I worship. I drink coffee (two cups a day) to regulate my energy level and to regulate... well, you know. So I guess you could say that I am a wired guy.To create this picture of me on the cover of WIRED magazine I went to a promotional site : http://www.condenet.com/promo/xerox/and uploaded a scarey picture of myself. Then I thought of some gag headlines and they did the rest. Pretty kewl, huh? Anyway, I thought this would be a dynamite pic for my blog.

Wake Up !

Watch the video
It is Springtime 2007 and it has arrived early this year. Already I have renewed my allergy prescriptions ( i.e. eyedrops, nasal medicine and allegra ). With this global warming thing, the prediction is that the pollen count will be very heavy this year. Who knows what the future will bring, but I don't discount Al Gore's premise in " An Inconvenient Truth". It will be nice to ride my scooter around though, because the bugs haven't taken over quite yet. It is usually at dusk when they come out in droves. Nothing a wet washcloth wouldn't be able to clean up, however. It's fun tooling around the valley, breathing fresh air and listening to my Itunes all the while. This is definitely better than an "e-ride at Disneyland".

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Sketching and reflecting


Today, I worked and sketched and worked and... it seams that so long as it stays rather quiet at the CIA, I will be able to upgrade my drawing skills. It is a wonderful therapy and people who come by the concierge desk will compliment me. Later on in the day we set up for a wedding. This means I have to take down the computer, put the phone away and stand out front and act like a host as the guests arrive. This is fun, because I like seeing people all dressed up with thier families and friends in a good mood. That is what working at the CIA is all about for me. Tomorrow i do the cameras at the cooking demo and generally have a nice mellow work day. I love coming to work and watching as the weeks go by. Time has never gone by as swiftly as it has since the new milleneum, but then again it has never gone by so smoothly. The changing seasons and what i choose to do with my life has been on a pretty even keil these last couple of years.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Corn Beef, Cabbage and Blarney


Last night was the annual Corn Beef and Cabbage Dinner at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church where I am currently president of the Men's Club who is sponsoring this event. I was very pleased at the turn out and participation of the members of not only the men's club, but women of the parish who came forward to assist in making this event a success. Most of the crowd was over 60, but more like "18" in vitality. The evening kicked off with a cocktail hour from 5:30 to 6:30 PM as many of the guests arrived on time to fellowship with their fellow parishoners. A beautiful rendition of "Danny Boy" was sung by Alice Costello, amazing stories and Jokes were told by Laverne and prizes were raffled off as the evening moved alone. Some terrific wine and cakes were won by a whole assortment of people who bought raffle tickets. The grand prize was an autographed picture of Joe Montana being inducted into the Football Hall of Fame which was donated by Joe Sr. Lenny and Sonia Murphy won that one, and Lenny informed us that he also has in his possession an autographed "baseball" of Joe Montana which in itself is quite a rarity. Millie Hunt was enjoying her dinner too, and happened to mention that her 93rd birthday would be celebrated on the following Saturday. The chefs and helpers should also be mentioned here... A Big Thank You goes out to Don Williams, Joe Birleffi, Ruben Garcia, Ron Mashburn, Marcia Stagnaro, Pat McBride, Patty and Bill McMahon, Kitty McGuire, Ray Davies, Rich Holston, Rosemary ( our favorite waitress ) and anyone else that made this a very happy event. One sad note though, at the end of the evening, Ricki, who had rode her bike to the event had taken a fall afterwards and ended up with some broken bones. A new parishoner by the name of Nicole, rode with her to the hospital to make sure she was cared for; This really was inspiring to have a newcomer take action like that, and we will keep them both in our best thoughts and prayers.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Thirty years ago...

I was detoxing in my own apartment on Sutter street in San Francisco. I had already gotten an AA sponsor and had worked the first three steps. I was ready to move on with my life. That same week I gave notice at work for a leave of absence. Two weeks after that I resigned. Unemployment afforded me plenty of time to go to meetings. My first sober job was getting people on tour buses in front of the Hilton Hotel in downtown San Francisco. After about six months on that job, I felt stifiled and began running the hills of San Francisco after work. I would make a meeting every day after my run. This was my time. Gratefully, I have not taken a drink or an unprescribed drug since that time. Much has happened between that time and now, and one thing is certain. I never want to go back to what it was like on my last day as a drunk.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

I feel silly


Today there must be a full moon or something. I feel giddy and tickled that I was able to get all of the group photos that I took of the graduating students off of my Ipod and back onto my laptop.I had to download some software to do that though.This morning I had a nosebleed. I think this happens when I use too much Flonase. The stuff really works well on my allergies, so I have come to depend on it first thing in the morning, after I take my wellbutrin.I am usually upbeat, but today I got in a pissing match with one of my co-workers at the CIA. I was wrong and went off on her just because I decided I didn't like her and that she was being arrogant. I think that I am the one that is arrogant. Then a weird thing happened.An AA member walked in to use the bathroom.He told me that he has 15 days to get off of the property where he is presently living.I feel bad for the guy, but not enough to do anything for him. I didn't even let him use our phone ( or my cell phone ) when he mentioned that he noticed that we don't have any more pay phones at the CIA.It looked like he had been back on the sauce.he was a bit bloated and red in the face.I think that this was a sign from my higher power. I am going to try to help this guy out next time I see him.The image above has really nothing to do with this post other than the fact that I wanted to add an image. I know the chef on the left. He is a friend of mine.