Wanna Think Outside The Cubicle?

“Wanna think outside the cubicle?” That was the first sentence of one of the feature articles that headlined the Yahoo website homepage this morning. The article goes on to say “for some people, a desk job can put a hold on career satisfaction”… Really? And then it states, “Some people are antsy and uncomfortable when they must stay seated all day”. Wow, I never contemplated that concept… NOT. I can definitely say in my experience that that statement cannot be any truer!! So how surprised was I that my job is in the Top 5 of “The 175 Best Jobs Not Behind a Desk”… Yes, Construction Management is the # 4 job in the “Top 5 Lucrative No-Desk Jobs”. I am speechless… I know that as a Project Manager in construction we tend to spend some time out on site, but not every day! Unless it a HUGE project and our office is set up on site and even then one does not hardly have the time to go out into the field still… When I was on that massive project up in Buford back in 2003-04, some weeks I felt like I lived in my cave of an office… I would not have time to go out on site for even just a few minutes… that is how busy I was… and most of my time was spent at a desk hovering a laptop! Sure, we get the pleasure of visiting our “projects” at least once a week when we are set up in the “main” office… but, I am still surprised that my job is in the Top 5… maybe the Top 50, but not the Top 5! Maybe that job name should be changed to Construction Superintendent… they are the ones having all the fun outside in the field… while I am stuck inside doing the paperwork and coordination… And believe me when I say that there is not a day that goes by that I do not ask myself why I chose this profession…

The Woman Behind The Woman

I got to spend some time yesterday with my grandmother. She was a hand-full to deal with the entire time I was with her. I tend to spend a lot my time (when I am with her) just watching her... her actions... her posture… her movements… she just seems a little “off-balanced” these days. Almost like her body is leaning physically a little too far to the left. The skin around her eyes seems really red and her other facial skin seems very pale. Her eyes are clouded and her legs and feet don’t move her around too well. Her clothes and hair are unkempt and her little bit of make-up missed the mark. And I just stare. It is so hard to see her like this… I take her out in public and people that we run into all tell her how good she looks… and I just stare in wonder at their words. Her words in conversation never cease to amaze me…the things she remembers, the things she doesn’t. She can half-way carry a conversation with one of her oldest friends for 5-10 minutes and then ask me after they leave who they are… She cannot see the mess she leaves behind in bathroom or on the dresser when she finishes putting on her face, but she can spot a penny on the ground while walking by (and always conveniently when a car is approaching!). She makes it so difficult for me when I order her food or fix her plate and then she destroys the plate, the table, her chair and the floor below with it while trying to eat the food before her. Her nose is ALWAYS running! She is the Kleenex queen…always carry extras when with her. And finally, she is always humped over and yet cannot understand why she is always falling over… balance, grasshopper… But, even with all of that said, I would not trade her for any thing in the world! I mean she is the woman behind this woman…

Bored Out Of My Gourd

I really, really hate being bored. And today just like a couple of days last week, I have spent most of my work day today doing much of nothing. I have a few small tasks on my ongoing to-do list but, nothing of any importance.... nothing to keep me busy... nothing to keep me on my toes... nothing to sweat over... nothing to rile me up or stress me out... nothing to come home griping about to my husband... nothing. And I do not know how to handle this... this nothing-ness... and unfortunately, it is not just me... it is about 3/4 of the folks remaining in our office... only 4 folks out of 10 actually have stuff to do ALL day long... a day full of things to do...and I am jealous! I did not even show up today for work until 9am for crying out loud! And by 10am I was bored out of my gourd! I have surfed the web...printed out recipes...surfed the web...called some friends...surfed the web...checked my banking stuff... surfed the web... emailed some pics of our quail hunting trip...surfed the web...cleaned out my email folders...surfed the web...chit-chatted with co-workers...surfed the web...ate my lunch...surfed the web... organized my Picture folders on my laptop...surfed the web... cleaned out my briefcase...surfed the web... oh, and did I mention surf the web? If only I could go home and get some housework done...laundry washed... fridge cleaned out... garage cleaned up... floors swept... floor mopped... dusting... bathrooms... bedrooms... so much to do... and so much time spent here in the office doing N-O-T-H-I-N-G... I am seriously going out of my mind!!

Guns a Blazing...

It has been steadily raining for about 24 hours straight now... I will not complain since we need the rain so much these days! What stinks about it is the long road trip ahead of us this afternoon to south Georgia... all in the rain... boo hoo. Yes, we are heading out his afternoon to some place near the Valdosta area to do some quail hunting... hopefully the rain will not deter us! We hunt all day tomorrow and come back on Sunday morning... how exciting!! WOOHOO! Watch out birds, here I come!! Details to follow on Sunday night....

Coffee Talk by Kelly

I posted a blog back on August 8, 2006 when I first started blogging that I wanted to share today:

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Grande Non-Fat Latte All The Way!!!
Today I have decided that I am officially addicted to the Non-Fat Latte at Starbucks. Now do not judge me because I actually purchase "high-dollar" coffee products from the largest coffee house chain... I have been known to make fun of "those" people myself in the past... but, here in the last few months I have discovered my love for their latte (non-fat of course- I would NEVER order the fattening one for Pete's sake!!! As a matter of fact- I checked the fat-meter on these puppies and the Grande size (about 16 oz.) has about 160 calories, 0 fat)... Anyway, back to my love for latte's... I am serious! I cannot stop my hands from turning the steering wheel every morning into the Starbucks in the shopping center off Johnsons Ferry Road in East Cobb... it is a sickness I know. And what makes it even more sickening is that now the people that work there actually know my name!!! They greet me each morning with: " Good morning, Kelly! How are you today?" Now most of you know that I am NOT a morning person... but, it actually does NOT even phase me when the cashier lady tells me "good morning" (any one else and I have been known to tell them where to put their good morning)... I think the reason I am un-phased by this normally maddening greeting is because I am whipped by the latte! The thought of that foamy cup of perfection has possessed me into being an a half-decent morning person (well, at least for the 5 minutes that I am in the store and maybe the remaining 45 minutes of my commute to work). Unfortunately for my co-workers, by the time I arrive to the office or job site, the latte is gone and my usual bad morning self is back... And believe me, that crappola coffee they make at the office makes my disposition even worse!!! Oh well, cheap coffee supposedly keeps the office overhead expenses down... yeah, right...
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Well needless to say, I don’t stop by Starbucks as often these days*… I have actually a love for someone else’s java… McDonalds!! Yes, I have decided to come out and admit to the world that I LOVE their coffee!! Of all the coffee places around, Starbucks, Dunkin, Einstein’s, Caribou, you name it… I have to say that Mickey D’s has the BEST java of all- smooth, not too dark, not too light and you cannot beat the price vs. the others!! A large cup of Mickey D’s best brew is less than ½ the price of the Starbucks latte’s… so I am saving money…and that makes my husband happy…and if he is happy about that, then I am happy about it!
*Please know that I do still stop by Starbucks on occasion… I just don’t want to over-indulge on a great favorite!

The Homegirl Network

I have this network of folks back home I like to refer to as “Team Memaw”. This is a group of ladies (or “my homegirls” in slang terms) that I can call on at pretty much at any time to help me with stuff (i.e. her doctor appointments, errands, festivities, etc.). Of course, most of them are her longest time friends from her work, Church, clubs, etc. They are almost like a Fan Club of sorts, but then again a couple of the team members are family members so they don’t qualify as fans… just supporters of her cause, maybe? They are so important to me and really share the burden of my responsibilities as my grandmother’s caregiver. I can also call them at any given time of the day just to chat and vent about the latest saga in my journey with her dementia… yes, they are great listeners! Well, for a change, I received a phone call from one of my home girl’s cell phone in the middle of the day, today… I remember thinking to myself how odd it was for her to call ME at this strange hour… turns out that this particular homegirl was rushed to the hospital today after having a suspected heart attack. It was her daughter calling me from her Mom’s cell phone to let me know about it… scared the crap out of me to be perfectly honest. We verbally agreed NOT to tell my grandmother for fear of riling her up…and we definitely do not want to do that! Of course, my shock turns instantly to distress and worry since this team member does a LOT for my grandmother… I mean a LOT. Of course, they all do a lot but this lady lives pretty close to my grandmother and I can call her on a moment’s notice and she is there in no time… every since that call I have pretty much spent the rest of my work day thinking in the back of mind about this whole ordeal… along with being worried for her health and worried that my grandmother will find out… What makes this even tougher is that this particular homegirl is my grandmother’s sister…. I suppose I forgot to mention that part, huh? The only one left that can still live alone, see with her own eyes and drive a car! Wow, that is the total package!!! I just hope everything turns out for the good… I am not sure how my grandmother would handle this situation….
Now that I have come to the end of this post, I have decided to re-nickname my network of folks… they are not homegirls, they are Angels… Memaw’s Angels… and nobody can never have too many of those!!

Alzheimer's vs. Cancer

I am tad bit discombobulated today. Not sure how I let myself get this way... but, I did. I think it all started when I read the front page of the AJC newspaper this morning on my way through the office break room... the headline mid-way down the page read "Unmasking Alzheimer's: Tests Close In On The Cause*". My heart leapt. I grabbed the section and started quickly reading the front page part of the article... I opened to the inside page where the article continued.. there was an entire page A4 dedicated to the article! So I folded the section, tucked it under my arm and ventured back to my office. On my way there, I stopped to say hello to one of co-workers (whom I have been friends with for a long time now)... in exchanging morning greetings I announced my excitement in that the researchers were honing in on the cause/cure for Alzheimer's. He responds that he wishes they would spend more time finding the cure for Cancer than Alzheimer's... I am awestruck in my tracks! Mouth gaping open... I could not believe his words... Of course, I pounce back that he is crazy because both are bad and why should one be more important to be researched than the other? Which brings me to today's argument: Alzheimer's vs. Cancer... which is the lesser of two evils? And besides, his statements have been bugging me ALL day! How can someone choose one over the other? I have been on both sides of that picket fence and I am here to tell you that NEITHER is fun... I have suffered through years of surgeries, recoveries, and then death with my grandfather for most of my college years. I am now suffering through the beginning stages of my grandmother's stroll down Dementia Lane well on her way to full-blown Alzheimer's... And for the life of me, I do not know which is worse! I guess I am a little biased because his lung cancer was caused by his many years of smoking... and the only reason I know of her developing dementia so early is because four of her sisters have died with it in the past. His could be for the most part removed by surgery, radiation treatments, chemo, etc.... Hers has NO treatments... there are a few pills on the market that supposedly "slow the progression" of shrinking brain mass... but, she has been taking those for over three years now! And I have not seen any slowing of her progression... only progression... FAST progression... My co-worker said that he thinks cancer is more important to research because the victims suffer so badly. Obviously he has not been exposed to an Alzheimer's victim... maybe they are not in constant physical pain... but even if they were, they would not remember it! And they do not have the capacity to tell anyone about it! And the ones who suffer are the people around them... to watch a loved one lose their mind gradually is the most painful experience that I know of... they can be mindless for YEARS... and there are no surgeries to "fix" your brain mass. People with Alzheimer's do not know who they are or who you are or why they do what they do... they sleep/nap all the time and every little ache or pain is elevated to sheer madness... when they are not napping they are angry... they do not know what their actions are... or how their actions affect others... Yes, cancer is bad. Yes, cancer victims suffer. But, if I have to choose between two evils, then I choose to support Alzheimer's... but, then I still support the American Cancer Society too! But, right now, today... I am supporting Alzheimer's Awareness... because that is my world for the moment....


*The article in summary is revealing that one widely held theory about Alzheimer's involves a protein called beta amyloid that gets out of balance inside the brain. The protein sticks together over time causing the brain cells to withdraw, disrupting the links to stored memories and regions of the brain that direct executive function. Over time, the amyloid sets off a toxic chain reaction that causes brain cells to die. The article also says that 5.1 million Americans have Alzheimer's today and because Americans are living longer that the number could increase to 16 million by 2050; therefore, increasing the urgency for an effective treatment. Yikes! Those numbers are shocking to say the least...Maybe a vaccine will developed soon enough... Fingers crossed, blessings counted, thanks given...

25 Years of Greatness

I heard some of the greatest news in quite a long time this past week…. I could not believe my eyes when I read the announcement…it was like coming home… back in the 80’s…. yes, folks I am so excited to announce that they just released the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album- The World’s Biggest Selling Album Of All Time!!!! How freakin’ awesome is that??? I purchased the album off iTunes this past Wednesday night before my flight on Thursday… I used my gift card from Christmas…I listened to half of the album on the flight Thursday night to Jacksonville… it was like butter…. Like AWESOME butter! Listening to those old tunes makes me remember back when I was 10 years old and laying on the couch in the single-wide trailer we temporarily lived in after my parents’ divorce… singing at the top of my lungs with ol’ MJ while staring at the cover of that 33…. Wishing I could be like him… dance like him…. Sing like him… the jacket, the glove, the cool moves….the moonwalk… the spin…he was a ICON… he was the BOMB… and to this very day MJ is probably my most favorite musician of my lifetime… now don’t get me wrong- there are others that I love too… Julie Andrews, The Beatles, Guns N Roses, and more… but, MJ has been my favorite for YEARS. I even own most of the albums he released after Thriller… he has to be one of the most talented musical performers of all time- hands down. Yes, he did some questionable things over the past… the plastic surgeries, the kiddies play farm, etc…. but, when I hear his name or see his picture I always think of his music. And that is what he represents… the music. And the new Thriller album is another great release from the man, MJ…. 26 tracks of all-around greatness… music, videos, commentaries, pretty neat stuff… Go check it out!

Home Sweet Home

I made it home tonight from my overnight trip to South Georgia. Yes, a group of us from my company did a presentation early this morning in hopes of being selected to do an upgrade/expansion to an existing wastewater treatment plant down there. I was pretty sore about going out of town on Valentine’s Day, but when I received my boarding ticket from the check-in counter, I was so surprised to see that my seat was 1B- First class baby! How nice was it to fly in first class on V-Day? Even if it was just a 58 minute flight, it was awesome to spend 58 minutes being treated like royalty…. I couldn’t finish my drink without another one being served to me… the non-stop drink service had to have happened only because I was physically sitting in the aisle seat of the FIRST row and the attendants were pretty much staring directly at me from their station in the front of the plane. I was in heaven! I had downloaded a bunch of new music to my iPod and barely got a chance to listen to a couple of songs before we were already descending into Jacksonville. By the time I made it to my hotel room, I was dead tired… and still needed to practice my parts for the presentation. I woke up very early to shower and practice some more… boy do I hate talking about myself and about our company and how great we think we are! The town where we presented was right on the coast of Georgia, very close to the Cumberland Island ferry. The town was so quiet and absolutely beautiful… I suppose if we are selected, I will be traveling down there quite a bit- not too shabby!! The trip back was pretty uneventful. And now I am home and really tired. After a long week of performance reviews including my own, a very hairy meeting on Thursday on my Conyers project and then this 2 days of traveling, I am hurting and very sleeeeepyyyyyyy….. Oh well, I have the weekend to recover…

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

The other day when I was waiting with my grandmother at the neurologist’s office, I witnessed a conversation at the front desk that sort of disturbed me. A woman came into the doctor’s office with her pre-teen aged son. The son went directly to a chair in the lobby waiting area and she went up to the desk to sign him in. While checking him in, the receptionist asked for their insurance info, etc. and then informed the woman that she had a $25 copay. The woman then gets all bent out of shape because they want money from her…. Now my interest is really peaked as I watch this scene unfold in front of me. The nurse explains to her how the system works and how her insurance requires a co-pay of $25 to be paid by the patient. The woman just stands there… planted in that spot… hands on her hips… mouth gaping open… it was clearly evident that she either did not have the cash to pay it or just did not intend on paying it… so they left! I just sit there amazed… the reason I am blogging about this subject tonight is because this episode kind of goes hand in hand with an article I perused through on the front page of the AJC yesterday… it was an entire article detailing how so many family doctors, general practitioners, etc. are losing their private practices these days because they cannot afford their office overhead, utility bills, membership fees, etc. and pay their own salary. And why you ask? Because of the low-dollar amounts that Medicaid pays them for their services on Medicaid patients. One example in the article was that a typical baby delivery for you or me pays the doctor around $2500-3000 (typical- common), but a Medicaid delivery pays him only $1,300 for the same service. And these patients are not paying ANY portion of these! We the hard-working taxpayers of America pay a portion of ours…. The woman this week is an example of the mentality that someone owes her ALL of it… and that is not responsible for ANY of it… so maybe now she wants to get set up on some of that free Medicaid??? This just seems to be the attitude everywhere you look these days… gimme, gimme, gimme…. Take, take, take and nothing in return…. I see similarities with this concept in all the political crap happening these days too. My husband tortures me daily with all of the political discussions on the television, the Internet, the radio… I am sick of it already! Medicaid, Medicare, HMO’s, PPO’s, universal healthcare, tax cuts, tax increases, stop the war, support the war, border security, help the illegals, stop the illegals, the list goes on and on and on… and we have to listen and endure this for the next NINE months… Count ‘em- 9!

My Sacrifices Are Abundant These Days It Seems

Yesterday was Mike’s birthday… I drove as fast as I could from LaGrange yesterday evening to get home to celebrate. We wound up going out to eat sushi and had a blast at the one sushi bar we frequent the most near home… some odd couple at the table next to us ordered Mike a high-octane drink in commemoration of his big day… it was pretty funny actually… the restaurant brought two birthday balloons out and tied them to the back of his chair right after we first got there and the sushi chef kept wishing him a happy birthday every time he would send us another roll. When they brought him his drink, they all sang him happy birthday in their Japanese language… pretty amusing to say the least. Not much more celebration for us other than the sushi bar since Mike kept telling me that he felt like he was coming down with a cold… Well that is just great! Now I am going to get sick again! This on top of my trip out of town Thursday and Friday for work… oh, yes, my company decided to fly me and 5 others to Jacksonville, FL this Thursday night to stay the night in some airport hotel and then drive 40 miles north into south Georgia to go do a presentation for some project we are competing for…. Do they realize that Thursday is Valentine’s Day for crying out loud?? Yes, I will be in another state from my husband on the romantic day of the year… how special is that? What a way to spend it… with co-workers… or just me all by my lonesome in a strange hotel room next to the airport… Fun, fun, fun… did I mention Fun? I tell you the sacrifices that I make for my employer…

They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Ha!

This morning I had to drive into the city to meet up with two of my co-workers and then we drove together into downtown to turn in a bid for a project that our company was competing for. After an hour of tumultuous driving conditions caused by the traffic nightmare that erupted this morning when they closed the 10th/14th Street exit for the next 16 months… (Yes folks, count ‘em- SIXTEEN months!!) I never thought I was going to make it, but I did. After I finally arrived, we pile into one work truck and head for downtown. When we located the building where the bid opening would be held, we cruised around and found us a nice flat parking lot across the street and then spent the next two and half hours dodging Atlanta’s finest- the homeless vagrants, beggars and street walkers that must spend each day harassing the parking patrons for money, cigarettes, etc. They would come up to the truck or right up to you face-to-face… it is a scene that gets really old, really fast for me. Anyhoo, right before the bid time we finally finished putting our packets together with the final numbers and ran like no tomorrow to turn the bid package in… across the lot, across the street, down the sidewalk, into the government building, through security, the whole nine yards… and believe it or not, we WON!!! Yes, for the first time in over a year our company was low bidder on a project- WOOHOO! After lunch, I cruised the long trip to LaGrange to take my grandmother to the doctor… what a freakin’ nightmare…. Her appointment was at 2:15 and we got there at 2:15 on the dot. And then we waited for over an hour and a half to be called back only to be rushed through the appointment procedure. I went in and told the doctor that the second prescription for memory loss was not helping her ongoing decent into mindlessness and instead of taking her off the meds, he asked that we add another prescription on to the other two! Now he wants her to take THREE high-dollar brain meds at one time! Now I am really upset… to be perfectly honest I do not believe ANY of them work! Her condition seems to only worsen with each passing day… hell, I am the one who talks to her 2+ times a day and endures the painstaking conversations with her… the long cell phone calls where 75% of the calls are spent waiting for her to remember what she wanted to tell me! Do you know how hard it is to figure out what someone else wants to tell you?? Well I do! I do it EVERY day! Day in and day out… and it drives me INSANE!!!!!!!!!!! It breaks my heart to hear her struggle with simple words or phrases. I try so hard not to correct her or fill in her blanks too much… I feel absolutely awful after every phone call. Every conversation ends with her trying to remember what she wanted to tell me and with a promise that I will call her that afternoon or the next morning. I have been religiously calling her every morning and every evening for TWO WHOLE YEARS and she still asks me if I am going to call her again… I honestly believe in my heart of hearts that once you reached a certain point as a victim of dementia, there is no “slowing down” of the progression. And that is all these pills supposedly do… is “slow down the progression”… there is no cure or fix… it is a dead end situation and it SUCKS. And to top off this great trip to the doctor today, my grandmother told me this really great story about her sunglasses that she brought along with her… how she bought them at the store and has worn them for a while now but the arms just don’t fit her too well any more… and I am starting at them in her hands and thinking about the day I bought those for myself in Florida on a beach trip for “girls weekend” a couple of years ago… I let her wear them a few months back and now she thinks they are hers… I think I am going out of my mind. Period.

Just Go Away

We made a day trip yesterday back home to spend the day in country. An old friend of mine from back home called earlier in the week and invited us to go do a little skeet shooting down at the local gun club while we were in town… so we met up with them mid-morning yesterday at the club. There were six of us in total… the sixth guy being some friend of our friends’ family and yet he looked really familiar to me… I just brushed it off as his being someone from around the county that I had seen along the way… so we proceeded to the woods and started shooting. As it turns out, this mysterious friend of theirs turns out to be very quiet and not too “into” the whole shotgun shooting of clay targets… the lingering thought of how I knew this guy from the past kept nagging me the entire time we shot the course. None of us shot too well in the end, but a good time was had by all. We made our way back up the main parking lot and proceeded to pack up our guns, etc. The man of mystery comes over to me and extends his hand to shake mine while thanking me for a fun time… I voice again how much I think I recognize him… I then tell him where I grew up just outside of town… yadda yadda yadda… and then he finally offers… that he works for the development company that bought some land off of Hwy 354… and then it dawns on me! This guy works for the developer out of south Atlanta that bought the 170+ acres just up the road from my grandmother’s home… they are selling it off into 1 acre lots for building new houses… right next to FDR State Park… the land deal that I made several trips back home to fight against… I stood up and fought first at the County Zoning Commission meeting and then again at the Town Council meeting… and this guy was there both times…. He is partnered with the enemy… the developer that I loathed… loathe… even now… to this very day. They took that beautiful wooded land and turned it into an urban-like subdivision in small lots… in an area where families have farmed there multi-acred land for years… 5 miles of highway occupied by 8-10 families and now a “community development” will be built next door… how sad is that???!! This man and I just stare at each other… now I know who he is and why I recognize him so much…the thoughts are flooding me: I stood up and told him and his partner that they were total pieces of crap twice in the past 2 years… I told them to go back where they came from… I told them they were trying to make money at the expense of others… Wow!… what can I say?… I know what…I hope he frickken’ remembers EVERY word of it because I still think the same thoughts and support every issue from back then. I wish they would all just go away… and leave little ol’ Pine Mountain alone to the locals…

Over and Over and Over

This week has been one of the longest work weeks of my life. Yes, I am just about ready to pull my hair out! All of our annual performance reviews are due by the 15th of this month and somehow I ended up have to prepare for and review seven people (other than myself) this week… sometimes I firmly believe that I am a glutton for punishment! I suppose since our boss got fired back in December, I got a few more reviews thrown on my plate than what I would normally do… and it sucketh! It seems like every one has their own little quirks and issues… but, each and every one of them has at least one thing that that sets them off from the rest… more money, new title, recognition, new project, whatever it is… and now I have to sit down sometime over the course of this weekend and fill out my own review sheets on me and send them in… and then sit down one day next week with the VP of our company and the Director of HR and painstakingly go through my review in detail… detail by detail… line by line… issue by issue… problem after problem… over and over and over…. Just poke me in the eyeballs with toothpicks now… Please….

Manning Up

I am woman enough to admit that I did not make it to the polls yesterday... I did not make it for many reasons- traffic, long work hours, traffic, weather, traffic, closed polls too early maybe? Yes, today I want to gripe about why the "decision makers" of our great country only keep the polls open until 7:00 pm. Unless, I come into work late or cut my work day short, there is no way I am going to make it to the polls before they close the doors! Maybe that is one of the reasons they have such a "low" turnout? Why not keep them open until 9:00pm? I bet another two hours would merit MUCH more participation...especially in urban areas of the country. The working man (who I think is most affected by the end result of the presidency pick) cannot just blow off work to go vote! I can't imagine some blue-collar worker explaining that to his boss man when he is late or trying to cut his shift early for voting purposes... and what about his short pay? Now fortunately for me, I am salary-paid and in my position, I do not have the problem of a boss with the big thumb on my head.... but, I have friends and family that do and I am griping for them! Another complaint I have about my trip home last night was that the majority of the traffic congestion that was in the residential areas where the voting locations were! Maybe these Churches, schools, etc. that volunteer their facility for voting polls should have a traffic plan too... even more so if they are located on a major artery road that funnels massive droves of traffic day in and day out! Maybe hire a cop to stand out front and direct traffic? I mean how much would that help? A LOT! Besides, it is only 1 or 2 days a year... it should be the officers duty to his country... Jumping off the soapbox now...

One Less Outdoor Activity In My Book Of Fun

Yesterday the AJC’s top headline just screamed out the inevitable, “Drifter Guilty in Ga. Hiker’s Murder”… it just makes me sick to my stomach every time I even think about that poor girl and how this awful, greedy man took her life from her…And all for the love of money… what a sick, sick man.
Now this story really hits home with me on several levels… first, I have hiked that trail at Blood Mountain before… and it was TOUGH! Vogel State Park is a very beautiful, scenic place to visit in the fall when the leaves are turning colors but it is really a place for camping and hiking only… very secluded… off the beaten path maybe one might say?? I remember all too well how horrific my backpacking experience was on that very mountain. It was sunny and 65 at the bottom and cold, misty and 30-40ish at the top… VERY misleading from the park at the bottom of the mountain!! Needless to say, I only backpacked that trail ONCE. If this girl enjoyed hiking that trail on a regular basis and in the dead of winter at that, well then more power to her! But, now that the tragedy has happened, I am even more edgy about going any where in the mountains by myself… Every time Mike talks about going mountain biking up in the woods north of all civilization, I get a little antsy. I mean riding your bike through the woods alone can sometimes be a little freaky… especially if it close to dusk and not too many folks on the trail that day. Or maybe it is just that childlike behavior of mine coming out again like when I was afraid of the dark as a youngster…I have never grown out of that childlike fear and it is a feeling that I choose not to endure very often. Another point that bothers me about the whole ordeal is that she went hiking alone… who does that anyway? I would never go without a buddy… just in case I fall and injure myself or get caught in an unexpected storm (yes, this TOO has happened to me backpacking!!) and more so just for the company! It makes it more enjoyable to have someone to share the outdoors experience with.
Anyhoo, back to the article… this awful excuse of a man admitted to kidnapping her to get to her ATM and credit cards! And when she wouldn’t give him the correct PIN numbers, he got desperate, tied her to a tree and beat her in the head with a tire iron until she died. What would make a human do this to another? All because he was upset that he lost his job and needed money… Did it ever occur to this schlub to go get another job? I read an article at the beginning of this saga (when they were still looking for her) where folks were calling in and telling the police that they had hired this fruit-loop to do handy-man type work around their homes in the past…maybe he should have gone back to that line of work and not the life-taking one…
In closing, let’s just say that this story has totally really change my perspective now on camping and hiking in the woods of any mountain- no matter how big or small. What was once a happy-go-lucky outdoors activity for fun with friends in nature has now become a task in protecting oneself from the evils of others… animals and humans…
I took this at the bottom of Blood Mountain Nov. 2005

Us on Blood Mountain Nov. 2005