Bye for now

After several months of not blogging, I have decided to take an even further extended break from blogging for a while. Blogging was no longer the therapeutic outlet it had once been, and was actually becoming a chore. Just thinking of logging in to Blogger (IF it would let me log in) made me feel weary, so, until the muse strikes again, this is it.

I have enjoyed meeting new friends in Bloggerland, some of whom I have had the extra enjoyment of contacting outside bloggerland in facebook. I use facebook a lot these days, which may be part of the reason I have let blogging languish. My email addy is steve_hildebrandt@hotmail.com if you want to contact me, or, if you want, use that email address to find me on facebook. (By the way, that is an UNDERSCORE between my first and last names in my email addy... not a hyphen or a space!)

Best wishes to all!

Steve AKA The Phoenix

Ugh!

Been feeling crappy of late. Last week started coughing a bit, just a dry irritating cough. Not often, but enough to let me know that something was happening. Then came the weekend.

We had gone as a family up to a small town just north of my city for Canada's largest TruckFest. There were around 650 gorgeous highway tractor-trailer units on display there, but the main reason we went was the tractor pulls. Every year the Empire State Pullers out of New York State, together with the Great Lakes Tractor Pulling Association, wows the crowds in small-town Ontario with an awesome show. From Pro and Super Stock diesel and alcohol burning farm tractors (souped up something fierce) to single and multi-engined modified tractors, to street legal diesel pick-ups, to heavily modified pick-ups and big rigs. All pulling a special weight transfer sled on a dirt track. I love it! So does Mrs. Phoenix, and for the first time, we took our girls with us as well.

I'm not sure if it was sitting on the ground (we had those neat "stadium seat cushions" with us so we weren't actually "on the ground" but you know what I mean) or the variable temperatures and mugginess of the warehouse where I work during the week prior, but by the middle of the evening, I was blowing my nose almost constantly. By the time we got home (around 11:30 pm) I was feeling really sluggish, so I went to bed. Sunday morning I woke up with a completely stuffed head, and feeling rotten enough that I cancelled our plans to go back to the show for the demolition derbies scheduled for early Sunday afternoon. I just sat on the couch with my laptop and emptied a box of tissues! It was a real disappointment, but what can you do?

Monday, I went to work, but by 10:00 am, I was feeling so poorly, I called Mrs. Phoenix at her work and asked her to pick me up when she came home, which was about noon. I came home and went right to bed, and slept most of the afternoon. Then I spent the evening sitting on the couch working on yet another box of tissue!

Today I woke up with an incredible burning sensation in my chest and as soon as I sat up in bed began coughing fit to kill! At first they were dry, hacking coughs, but eventually I began coughing up large gobs of mucus (I know, GROSS!). The second time that happened, the mucus was streaked with red, and Mrs. Phoenix, a former nurse, said "That's it! You're NOT going to work, you're going to the doctor!" So I called in sick (for the third time in 3 weeks... not good!) and went back to sleep.

Around noon, my wife woke me up to tell me she had called my doctor's office, but he was on vacation until the end of next week, so I had to get ready to go to the walk-in clinic in town as soon as they opened, because if I was late, I'd be waiting for hours to be seen by a doctor! We got there about 5 minutes after opening, and already there was a line-up of 6 people. I ended up only waiting for about 30 minutes until I saw a doctor. He took my symptoms, and then checked my throat and ears. "A touch of bronchitis" he muttered and then said I had caught it early, but because I had coughed up blood in the morning, he sent me for chest x-rays anyway.

So, once again, I'm on antibiotics and missing several days of work. I've been off work more than at work these last 3 weeks! Between migraines, a stomach flu and now bronchitis, I'm surprised they haven't turfed me already! I remember hearing that it is illegal to fire someone for medical reasons in Ontario, but I'm sure any company worth it's salt could figure out some other way to get rid of someone who is sick all the time! It's a good thing that when I am there, I have higher than average productivity numbers and that my lead hands have marked me as one of the "go-to" guys when something needs to get done. That may save my skin in this case.

I tell you, I am getting so sick and tired of constantly being sick and tired! A friend of mine sells a product he claims will "repair my immune system" so maybe I'll give that a try. It's a natural supplement made from barley, so it couldn't hurt to try, right? We'll see.

Well, that's it for me tonight! I hope all my blogger friends are having a better week (or month) than I am!

Happy 4th!

Since I wished all my Canadian friends a Happy Canada Day on the first, it is only fitting that I also wish all my American friends a very

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

I was going to try to simulate your flag in the words like I did with the Canadian Flag, but your flag is just too darn complicated for that! LOL!

'Til next time...

Happy Canada Day!

Just a quick note to wish all my fellow Canadians in Bloggerland a very

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

By the way, is it just me or is it a true indicator of how far our society has slid into moral decay, that Dr. Henry Morgentaler was today awarded the highest civilian award Canada has to offer, The Order of Canada? His claim to fame? Abortion clinics in Canada. The Baby Killer has been rewarded for murder! Almost makes me ashamed to call myself Canadian today... almost.

MIA

I stole that title from another blog friend who also took a long hiatus from posting recently. (In fact, she's still "MIA"! I thought I'd just post a quick blurt saying "Yes, I'm still alive!"

As for posting material, "I gots nothing!"

Till next time!

Mayday! Mayday! MAY DAY!

Happy May Day everyone! Yeah, I know, I know, it's about time I posted again! But, as it says on the top of my blog, this is a "sporadic blurt", which means I'm in no way, shape, or form, a REGULAR poster! See? I always make sure my butt is covered! LOL!

This post is gonna be a mish mash of stuff, a few rants, a few newsy items and who knows what else!

So... here we go!

First off, this just in... Has anyone else tried that new Coke Zero? I caved into the marketing hype tonight at Burger King and tried it for the first time. My opinion? "Real Coke Taste"? Not so much. In fact, for the first time in I don't know how long, I didn't finish my drink and threw it out! It was AWFUL! Ugh! It was more like Pepsi than Coke, and anyone who really knows me knows what a drastic statement that is! LOL! If you are a Coke lover, DON'T BUY COKE ZERO!!! Especially if you haven't tried it yet. If you have and you like it? Ummm... just don't tell me, ok? Ha ha!

I had a rant all lined up for tonight's post, but now that I'm actually typing it, I can't remember what it is, so.... maybe next time.

The raise I mentioned last post finally came through, and the retro-pay ended up being around $300 after taxes and other deductions. Nice little bonus that was. It didn't last long, thanks to all the bills I have to pay! Oh well... at least I'm now making the extra money each pay period which works out to an extra $120 or so take-home after taxes. Stupid government! Winston Churchill hit the nail right on the head with this quote; "I contend that a nation that tries to tax itself into prosperity is like a man who steps into a bucket, then tries to lift himself with the handle." Think about it. Speaking of taxes, we got our income tax refunds finally, and are the glad recipients of approximately $4300 and change between Mrs. Phoenix and myself. Nice to know the government took over $4300 from us last year when each penny was so dearly needed while I was searching for work! That was sarcasm, by the way!

I've been enjoying the hyacinths and daffodils in our garden this past week. I love seeing the first flowers of spring! I find it so uplifting to see all the trees and flowers blooming and leafing out. I just wish that the weather wouldn't be so extremely changeable during the Spring months. My headaches are horrible now and quite frequent. I'm very lucky that my employer has accepted the fact that I am undergoing medical treatment for these headaches and therefore I'm not in danger of losing my job because of them. That is a relief which has helped me to overcome some of the headaches and actually be able to work through them. It was just crazy how I'd get a headache, then the stress of worrying about whether or not my job was in jeopardy would make it worse and worse until I was totally unable to work, which would then make me worry more. It was a vicious cycle I'm glad is not so vicious anymore. My doctor, however, is pressuring me to quit and find a less strenuous job. He says the physical stress of the job is causing all sorts of havoc in my neck and spinal column. I've heard that the Customer Service Department is looking for people right now, so I'm hoping that I can get the required minimum one year service in one's current position before applying for a transfer waived in my case. I had applied for a CS position initially and was almost begged to accept a warehouse position first. The recruiter who called me told me that "most of their best CS and Sales people had first started in the warehouse and worked their way up." So I'm really hoping this might be an option for me. I'd hate to have to quit and lose the health benefits I worked so hard to obtain - the first benefits I've had in over 5 years! It might mean a pay cut, but, I'm thinking, if I can get a desk job, then I'll be able to come home from work without being totally exhausted every day, and be able to "moonlight" and make some other cash on the side. Right now, doing anything after work is next to impossible since I am so bone-tired every single day. Even my weekends are pretty much a loss due to the extreme fatigue I experience after a hard week's work!

Changing topics yet again... Saw some great movies recently. Bought "Alvin and the Chipmunks" for the girls and laughed myself sick though it! It was an AWESOME movie! Two thumbs WAY up! Rented "The Last Legion" and "Beowulf" and thoroughly enjoyed them too. The "Hyper-real animation" of Beowulf had my jaws open many times during that movie. Sometimes I would forget it was an animated movie! Then I'd see a minor character move and be suddenly reminded it was! LOL! Still, an awesome movie - the dragon near the end was incredible! (Burf, that was for you! Tee hee!) "The Last Legion" was another good movie. (I was amazed at the female lead actress they cast! Aishwariya Rai could give Angelina Jolie a run for the "Sexiest Woman Alive Award"! I read that she is a famous "Bollywood" actress, but I had never heard of her before.) I've always liked historical fiction, and the recent burst of "Arthurian legend" movies has really excited me. The idea that King Arthur was either a Roman legionnaire, or directly descended from one is relatively new, but there have been a number of good books and movies written about it recently, mainly the "King Arthur" and "The Last Legion" movies and the books written by Jack Whyte ("A Dream of Eagles" series) and Bernard Cornwell ("The Last Kingdom" series). Loads of fun and food for thought in those, let me tell you!

Saw Spiderman 3 (FINALLY!) recently and enjoyed it immensely. Kirsten Dunst was absolutely heartbreaking in it but I think they skipped too quickly over the "Spidey/Venom" symbiotic relationship. I guess it was too hard to cover it all in a 2.5 hour movie. I think they should have made it two movies and explored the slow realization of Peter Parker that he was being altered for the worse by the symbiont in more depth. They also failed to follow the original comic's story line about how tortured Eddie Brock was as Venom. At first, Eddie/Venom was gleefully evil, but as the comic story progressed, Eddie began to develop a conscience, thanks to Aunt May, whom he befriends, initially to hurt Parker. Eventually, Venom sides with Spidey and fights to destroy Venom's "offspring" Carnage, who takes over the body of a psychotic killer with no moral compunction whatsoever. Venom is killed in the battle, but not before sending Carnage to an alternate dimension from which there is no return. (Can you tell I was a Spiderman comic fan in my younger years? LOL!)

Well, this post has rambled on for quite a while now, so I'll wrap it up and hopefully post again sooner rather than later! Have a good weekend, all!

Finally! Some Relief!!

Some time ago, I mentioned how stressed out I was feeling about my job. Regular (I use that term VERY loosely, LOL!) readers of this blurt might remember the schmozzle surrounding the wages I was earning vs. what I was told I SHOULD be earning once I got my lift-truck certificate. Back in the beginning of March, the company initiated an audit of the salaries of all the lift-truck operators, both "old" and "new". Since then, rumours have been flying around saying there was going to be a raise, there wasn't going to be one, etc. Our managers kept hedging when asked and my stress level went up a little every day.

Eventually, I reached the end of my energy and stamina and I totally crashed. I was at work last Tuesday (April 1st - no joke) when it happened. I began to start shaking, like my muscles couldn't function anymore. I felt so tired, my vision was blurry and I felt sick to my stomach. A few of my co-workers noticed and told me I looked "pale", "awful", "exhausted" and other descriptive comments letting me know I looked as bad as I felt. I called my wife at her work and asked her to pick me up when she got off at 11:00 am. I struggled through the rest of the morning until she picked me up at noon. I got home and crashed... sleeping for the rest of the afternoon. I slept most of Wednesday as well. On Thursday, I slept in a little bit, and then, since my wife was off work, had her take me to the local walk-in clinic I visit when I need a doctor's note for work. The clinic was completely full of sick people and I was turned away at the door, since I wasn't a "regular patient" of the doctors who run the clinic. We also had to take our little Sheltie, Rebel, for his annual vet check-up and rabies and distemper shots. So we tried again that afternoon, with the same results. I couldn't get in to see a doctor that day. So, I called my doctor to see if I could get in to see him. Normally, it takes a week or so to get an appointment with my doctor so I was quite surprised when I was offered an appointment the next day!

My doctor was quite blunt and told me that I was on the brink of a "meltdown" due to too much stress, both physical and emotional, and strongly encouraged me to take even more time off. I told him I couldn't afford it, due to the fact that in less than a month after getting benefits I had burned through all my 6 allotted paid sick days for the entire year! He shrugged and told me to be prepared to get sick again, but gave me a certificate verifying that I was sick during the time I was off so that I could return to work on Monday.

Today, shortly after starting work, I was asked to go see my manager in his office. "Uh oh, here it comes!" I thought. I was almost sure that I was about to either get "written up" for my frequent absences or let go altogether. I immediately went to my manager's office, but when I got there, I saw another co-worker in there already, one that had received his fork-lift training the same day I did. I quickly realized that this must be the last step of the review process that we had been waiting a month for. I went and finished some work I had and then came back to the office once I knew that my co-worker was done.

To shorten this already lengthy post, I received a very good review, and to make it even better, was told I will be getting the full fork-lift operator's wage retroactive to March 2, the day my review started! That means my hourly rate will increase by $2.24/hour! I'm still quite tired, but my stress level has dropped considerably tonight!

That said, I'm going to cut this short, and go to bed.

Torn

This will be another relatively short post.

Just this week, two of my blogging friends have had a major falling out. Both of these friends, who will remain nameless in this post, are very dear to me. I met the second one through the first. I have read some very hurtful things on both of their blogs, and am very saddened by them. What has saddened me even more, is the extremely nasty things being posted in comments by friends of each. Some of these comments are made by people who don't even know the other party. What bothers me the most is, just a few years ago, if things like this had been posted in a newspaper, or any other public medium, there could be slander and libel lawsuits flying. But because it's the Internet, people seem to think that the laws don't apply, and let the anger, hatred and venom fly loose. I feel very badly for both my friends, because I love both dearly. And yet, I can't read either of their blogs without reading nasty things about the other. This hurts me because I am a staunch defender of all of my friends. You hurt them, you've hurt me too. I do hope that the anger will cool off, and that some apologies will come forth from both sides. I want my two friends to become best blog buddies again. I don't know if either can forgive, but I'm hoping they both will.

But please, no more hateful words. I can't take it anymore.

Who do YOU think I am?

I saw this on a good friend of mine's blog, Babzy, and thought it would be fun to try myself. All of my blog friends are of the "virtual" kind, in that I have only met them online, and not in person. It should be interesting to see how accurate the "online persona" I portray really is. If you are interested in participating, click on the link below and follow the instructions. Then try it out yourself! If you do, let me know so I can visit yours and return the favour!

http://kevan.org/johari?name=Phoenix6755

I'm Alive!

Just a quick note to let you all know that, yes, I'm still alive, but just haven't had much to post about. Life goes on with it's ups and downs as usual. Hopefully I'll have something to post about soon.

D'OH!

This post is an exercise in embarrassment for me. I'm still having trouble believing I could be so stupid!

Saturday was my dog, Rebel's grooming appointment at the PetSmart in Kitchener. There are grooming salons in my town of Guelph, which we use, but, every once in a while, we take him to PetSmart to be groomed while we shop there and at other places. I also like the salon at PetSmart because the girls who work there sincerely love animals, and never act like it's "just a job" to them. No matter who is working the counter when we arrive, they immediately start cooing over Rebel and giving him hugs and cuddles. Really lessens his separation anxiety when we leave. Because he is a Sheltie (meaning lots and lots of long dense fur) Rebel has to stay under a dryer for a long time making his grooming appointments around 3 hours in length. We had taken the whole family, so after dropping him off, doing some shopping, getting something to eat at Harvey's, we went to Chapter's and browsed the books for a while. My oldest, J, had received a Chapter's/Indigo gift card and was just itching to spend it! LOL! After a while of that, we went to do what I wanted to do. Which was find the local Mitsubishi dealership and check out the 2008 Lancer. What a dream machine! It's at the top of my list for when I can finally afford a new car again!



After drooling all over the showroom floor (not really, but...) we went to pick up Rebel and go home. On our way to Kitchener, we had passed a big open field with a very big billboard in it advertising a new subdivision with starting prices that seemed too good to be true. So, we decided that we would drive that way back to Guelph and stop and get the information from it, as it's very hard to take down a phone number and website address when passing the sign at 100 km/h (62 mph). So, we drove up the country road until we saw the billboard again. Then it happened!

Those of you readers who live in Southern Ontario will know how much snow we have here. The rest of you will just have to imagine it. LOL! It SEEMED to me that the shoulder was about 4 feet wide, so I put on my right blinker and began moving to the right. As soon as my right front tire left the pavement and touched the "snowy" shoulder, it happened. I immediately felt the van pull suddenly right and begin to tip. There was NO shoulder on that road... just a carved off snowbank along the edge. The ditch at that point was about 4 feet deep, and was completely filled with snow. Because of the salt and sand that had been put on the road, the surface of the snow looked exactly like gravel. Well, it all happened in slow motion, because I had already dumped most of my speed in preparation of a stop on a snowy surface. But the "snowy surface" didn't support any weight whatsoever, so the van slowly slid all the way into the ditch leaving the two left side tires on the road. We found ourselves sitting at a very steep angle, and well, if it weren't for the snow, we would have definitely rolled the van. But the snow had piled up against the side of the van, keeping us at a very pecarious angle, but in no danger of tipping completely onto the side. Well... that was extremely embarrassing, especially since a woman had been following us up the road and saw the whole thing. Fortunately, she stopped and, once I had struggled to open the door and clambered out of the van, offered me the use of her cellphone, which I used to call for a tow truck. Then I stood outside the van in the cold waiting for the tow truck to arrive. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people stopped and asked if we were all okay, needed help, or a phone. There is hope for humanity yet! LOL!

An O.P.P. (Ontario Provincial Police) cruiser showed up about 45 minutes later and the officer's first words to me were "Don't worry, I'll try not to laugh TOO hard!" Wonderful... now even the POLICE are laughing at me! After he confirmed the need for a tow truck (it hadn't been dispatched yet!) he then stuck around and we had a nice chat. Once the tow truck arrived, it took about 30 minutes to winch our van (a 2003 Kia Sedona... minivan, but very heavy) out of the ditch, and $80.00 later, we were on our way. It would figure that I had forgotten to renew our roadside assistance plan last fall! I never need a tow when I have a plan, but when I don't, that's when it happens!

Anyway, we all got home safely, about 2 hours AFTER we had planned to, and I just crashed for the rest of the evening. I guess I had been "high" on adrenaline and arriving home allowed the adrenaline to fade, which made me suddenly completely exhausted.

I didn't have my camera with me, or I would have taken some pictures, just to show how far over the van was leaning.

"All's well that ends well" , is the old saying, and in this case, it's very true. Because the officer could tell that I had been trying to pull off the road, and therefore wasn't speeding, and there was no damage to the van (snow is VERY soft...tee hee) he said there was no reason to even write a report of the accident. Which is a good thing, because the O.P.P. are now issuing Careless Driving tickets for single vehicle accidents requiring a police report! Also, no one was hurt, except for my pride, and having a very cold face and toes!

It's About Flippin' Time!!!

I know, I know, the title of this post could mean a number of things, including the fact that I haven't posted in a while! LOL! But there is one specific reason I used this particular title.

Most of you who have followed this blog (for what reasons I could never even try to guess) will know that last October, I was trained in Lift Truck (forklift) operation at the company where I work. You will also know that the actual certificate, and the promised raise that was supposed to accompany it, were never given by my employer. Well, today, part of that changed!

I was having one of the worst days today at work. I was truly convinced that I couldn't do anything right, and that the first and biggest mistake of my day was getting out of bed! The second, of course, was going into work. I have had a nasty headache for 6 days now, and I am firmly convinced that stress is the reason for it.

Things at work have been quite stressful of late. We keep getting emails read to us at our daily meetings which bluntly say that our best efforts aren't good enough. We are constantly being asked to work overtime. We are constantly being reminded how far behind we are in our orders, and "since we could process over 4500 orders a day before Christmas, why are we only able to average 3500/day now?" I asked if anyone had taken into consideration the large number of employees that had been transferred into a new department in January, and the other smaller, but still significant, number of employees who had left since Christmas; none of them have been replaced as of yet due to the hiring freeze. A blank look was my only response. Go figure. Things at home have also been stressful as the electricity company has decided to become the "Big Bully" now that the colder weather is here and are threatening to cut off our electricity because I'm one bill in arrears with them. This is despite the fact that back in November, we got a huge whopping bill which I immediately disputed. Turns out the 3rd party company I buy my hydro from made an error on all the bills in my town. (Never buy into a contract with a 3rd party energy marketer... since we "locked in our hydro rate", the public rate has gone down to about two thirds of what we are paying now, but since we signed a contract, we still have to pay the higher rate! The "cancellation penalty" is astronomic, to say the least!) So, the Hydro company promised to send out a corrected bill. We get it two months later, three days before the NEXT Hydro bill, which is for DOUBLE our normal usage because we "didn't pay our last bill"! There is no way on this earth I can pay a four month hydro bill on my income. I have tried to make arrangments with the hydro company but they haven't returned any of my phone calls. They just keep sending out bully letters threatening to disconnect our hydro, which, BTW, if I remember correctly, was made illegal in our province a few years ago, after a few people died of exposure in the City of Toronto after having their electricity disconnected during the winter.

Anyway, I digress from the main purpose of this post. As you can see, things have been stressful, and I get nasty headaches when under high stress. So, I was having a very bad day. At one point I was seriously considering stepping in front of a lift truck so that I would get hurt and be allowed to stay home with pay for several weeks, but then discarded that thought as the operator of the lift truck would have had to pay a $25,000 fine for hitting me! Not fair to them, now, right? But that's how angry, upset, frustrated, etc, I was.

So, about 2:45 pm, I hear a page for "All warehouse associates to the Order Desk!" "ALL WAREHOUSE associates"? I figured this meant we were in for another rant from our VP of Operations. I've talked about him before. I'm NOT one of his biggest fans, that's for sure! Sure enough, there he is, pacing around in front of the order desk while we all assembled around. There sure are a lot of us, so it takes a while! LOL! Once he started talking, he told us he had heard that morale in the warehouse was very low and wanted to make some announcements. Some of them were silly, but necessary, due to the completely juvenile behaviour of some of the staff. (Pooping on toilet SEATS and other non-flushable surfaces to name just one... ) Others were more serious and my reason for posting is one of them. (WOW! How did I ever get so far off topic???)

To shorten this post into something digestable rather than the 300 page novel it could be, LOL, let me get to the point.

One of the things our VP did was to officially hand out this to every employee who had taken Fork-lift training in the past year:

WHOOO HOOOOO! I finally have my certificate!!!! He also announced that he had been working on an review of our payscales and would have a further announcement regarding them that he thinks will make everyone happier within two weeks. So... I now have my certificate, and might soon have my raise! I just hope they make it retroactive to the date on that certificate! I mean, they'd better! It WAS promised to me when I was hired!

The other bit of good news was, we had a severe winter storm a couple of weeks ago, and a lot of people either didn't come in, or left early because they were afraid for their safety. Some conflicting information was given out by the management team regarding pay for that day, so to correct it, they paid everyone for that day whether they came in or not, or left early or not. Nice! But what about those of us who did come in and worked our entire shift? He gave each of us that had done so a $25 Canadian Tire Gift Card! SWEET! It's amazing how a little gesture like that can really change how you feel, isn't it?

Anyway, the stress is still there, my headache is still there, but I feel a little more positive than I have in the past few weeks. Thanks for hanging in there to read this entire post! I'll try to not leave so much time between posts!

P.S. My Blogger spell checker isn't working, for some reason, so if I missed any typos during my entry, BLAME BLOGGER!!!

Survivor Meme

My good friend Biddie got tagged with this meme and has asked me to try it myself, so here goes:

The challenge in this meme is to list 25 things I NEED and 5 things I WANT (only FIVE!??). Let's see how hard this is... LOL!

NEEDS

1. I need more stability in my life.

2. I need more sleep.

3. I need more energy.

4. I need to get back to my writing.

5. I need to get outside more.

6. I need to exercise more.

7. I need to finish what I start more.

8. I need to be more careful with my finances.

9. I need to get out more with my friends.

10. I need to let go of past mistakes.

11. I need to be more forgiving of others.

12. I need to dwell on the positive more.

13. I need to be more proactive.

14. I need to control my temper better.

15. I need to take it easier on myself.

16. I need to stop procrastinating so much.

17. I need to spend more time with my family.

18. I need to be more patient.

19. I need to renew my faith.

20. I need to feel accepted.

21. I need support, and to accept that support when offered.

22. I need to continue to support those that need it.

23. I need to continue getting hugs from my girls.

24. I need to let my girls know I love them more.

25. I need to get my health back.

WANTS

1. I want to win the lottery... BIG!

2. I want a new car.

3. I want my employer to recognize my efforts and stop making unnecessary threats.

4. I want to go on a nice long vacation.

5. I want to retire early and not have to worry about money.

Well, that was actually harder than I thought! I got stuck for a while about halfway through the needs section. It was hard to separate the needs from the wants. So often we blur the line between what we actually need, and what we would like to have. I hope this has given you some insight into my mind, and inspires you to try it yourself.

Yet Another Maple Leafs Funny

I keep getting these Toronto Maple Leaf jokes in my email, and since I know that some of my blog buddies are domiciled with Leafs fans, I just had to share them. Enjoy!


TORONTO, ONTARIO (CP) - A seven-year-old Toronto, Ontario boy was at the center of a Toronto city courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her.

When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.


Tee Hee!

Thursday Chuckles

Here's a funny I found while cleaning out my Pogo inbox. I had to re-post it here because I find it hilarious!

BED FOOTBALL

A little old couple prepares to go to bed.

They no sooner hit the pillows when the old man farts and says, "Seven Points."

His wife rolls over and says, "What in the world was that?"

The old man replied, "It's fart football."

A few minutes later his wife lets one go and says, "Touchdown, tie score."

After about five minutes the old man lets another one go and says, "Aha. I'm ahead 14 to 7."

Not to be outdone, the wife rips out another one and says, "Touchdown, tie score." Five seconds go by and she lets out a little squeaker and says, "Field goal, I lead 17 to 14."

Now the pressure is on the old man. He refuses to get beat by a woman, so he strains real hard, but to no avail. Realizing a defeat is unacceptable, he gives it everything he's got, and accidentally poops in the bed.

The wife says, "What was that?"

The old man says, "Half time, switch sides."