As of tomorrow I will be one month into the new job. Things are slower than I would like for them to be. That though is dependent upon my new employer getting some things worked out with the customer. I know that the process is on-going and I've been promised that this time around, I will not be pigeonholed into a specific role like my previous employer did. My task lead this time around wants his engineers to be able to wear more than one hat. That was made clear before I had a chance to voice any concern about being typecast.
The vacation, sick time and comp time policies are also miles ahead of their competition. Vacation time earned has no expiration date, like most companies do. That said, I have to make sure that it doesn't back up to two years worth. Most employers confiscate it from you; allowing only 40 hours carry-over into the next calendar year.
Sick leave is also accrued into a separate account. I didn't know there was any company around that still did that. Folks, this is not a small employer I am working for. They have tens of thousands of employees and a presence in several locations. I am feeling more and more like I did the right thing with accepting the job offer.
On another front......well guess what, I had another dream about that trial. I really didn't want to talk about this soon after the last post but the dream had its own appreciable merit of absurdity. We were standing around the defendant, confronting him......and I was yelling at him. I kept yelling over and over, "you're going to the river! You're going to the river!" We were overlooking a river that the bank we were standing on was some ten feet above the river, and we were going to throw him into it and never see him again.
Thing of it is, I was yelling it so loud in the dream that I woke up Sheila. This wasn't the first time that she's had to settle me down about some dream that's a consequence of being there at the trial. I'd like to think though that it will be several months before I wake her up again in such a manner.
On the ham radio front, conditions haven't been that great lately. I have concentrated on chasing sporadic E, which is much more dependent on season than it is solar flux, and have made some good contacts. And in spite of the dismal conditions, I was able to get France twice one late afternoon on the 20 meter band, which isn't affected by sporadic E.
I have it in mind to try two new antenna projects. I can get to both of them right away but one of them will take a little more effort and probably could use some more deep thought.
And on the political front..........I don't have much of anything to say, aside from the observation that the theater might be akin to watching a squirrel short out a transformer. Yes, this is the second time in two posts I am mentioning the squirrel, but that is how life is sometimes.
End communication. Beep. Boop. zzzzzzzzzzt.
Showing posts with label dreams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dreams. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The Man With the Money
Way back when I was in the fifth grade, the 1968-1969 timeframe, I had a dream one night that I remember well to this very day. There are a few others from my childhood that I could reminisce about, but this particular one seems to stand out from the rest, and also seems to have a relevance to our current events that no other dream from that time period has. It might have inspired an episode for the Twilight Zone, or a short story, but it did neither of those. As that I have been thinking on and off about that dream a lot lately, it is inspiring a blog post. I'm even going to give this dream a title. The title of this dream is "The Man With the Money".
In this dream, The Man With the Money came to our fifth grade class. He was wearing a short sleeve blue shirt, red bow tie, white pants, a straw hat, and he wore a smile that would have caused the CrackerJack Man some intense jealousy. He was in his mid 50s or something like that, cleanshaven, white/gray short hair, with radiant blue eyes to match his smile. The Man With the Money didn't tell us his name. We never knew what it was nor did any of us ask. It didn't seem to matter. He was The Man With the Money. The Man With the Money seemed to have an unlimited supply of money, and he was giving it to us.
The Man With the Money gave me a fifty dollar bill. He also gave me a few twenties, tens, fives, and ones. He handed me a half dollar, which was also neat because when I was a kid you just couldn't get a Kennedy half dollar. The Man With the Money not only gave me a shiny new half dollar with Kennedy on, he also gave me some quarters and some other change.
The Man With the Money also gave away money to the other kids. He had a lot of it. It seemed that once you got done looking at the money that he gave you, that you could go back to him and he would give you even more money. It wasn't like anything I had ever seen before. The Man With the Money had this endless supply of the dough and he was willing to give it away! And more importantly, he wasn't going to run out of it either.
Needless to say, The Man With the Money was very popular with us. We loved him. We were glad that he came to us! I mean, this guy was better than Santa Claus. Forget about the toys or our other wants. Forget about what we needed. The Man With the Money was visiting our school, and he was going to make sure that we had all the money that we wanted!
As what happens with all dreams of this nature, it came to an abrupt end. I found myself in my bed. I was so sure that I had some money that I looked under the covers for it. I asked, "where did my money go?" It was gone! It had disappeared!
I remember feeling cheated. I had had, in my possession, a whole lot of money that had been freely given to me, and all of a sudden, it was gone.
OK. So why did I post this? Where am I going with this?
Stay tuned.
In this dream, The Man With the Money came to our fifth grade class. He was wearing a short sleeve blue shirt, red bow tie, white pants, a straw hat, and he wore a smile that would have caused the CrackerJack Man some intense jealousy. He was in his mid 50s or something like that, cleanshaven, white/gray short hair, with radiant blue eyes to match his smile. The Man With the Money didn't tell us his name. We never knew what it was nor did any of us ask. It didn't seem to matter. He was The Man With the Money. The Man With the Money seemed to have an unlimited supply of money, and he was giving it to us.
The Man With the Money gave me a fifty dollar bill. He also gave me a few twenties, tens, fives, and ones. He handed me a half dollar, which was also neat because when I was a kid you just couldn't get a Kennedy half dollar. The Man With the Money not only gave me a shiny new half dollar with Kennedy on, he also gave me some quarters and some other change.
The Man With the Money also gave away money to the other kids. He had a lot of it. It seemed that once you got done looking at the money that he gave you, that you could go back to him and he would give you even more money. It wasn't like anything I had ever seen before. The Man With the Money had this endless supply of the dough and he was willing to give it away! And more importantly, he wasn't going to run out of it either.
Needless to say, The Man With the Money was very popular with us. We loved him. We were glad that he came to us! I mean, this guy was better than Santa Claus. Forget about the toys or our other wants. Forget about what we needed. The Man With the Money was visiting our school, and he was going to make sure that we had all the money that we wanted!
As what happens with all dreams of this nature, it came to an abrupt end. I found myself in my bed. I was so sure that I had some money that I looked under the covers for it. I asked, "where did my money go?" It was gone! It had disappeared!
I remember feeling cheated. I had had, in my possession, a whole lot of money that had been freely given to me, and all of a sudden, it was gone.
OK. So why did I post this? Where am I going with this?
Stay tuned.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Them Ole Pizza Nightmares
I don't know about you, but sometimes when I have pizza for supper I can get some free entertainment later on that night in the form of weird dreams. Some are absurd, others vivid, and still others will fall in the "nightmare" category. Whatever the type of dream, there are some that you just won't forget. These types of dreams can also occur whenever I have Mexican food or barbecue.
Last night I had pizza, and I knocked off a few beers too. It was a long day at work, as that I had to be there at 5:30 AM to attend a meeting via telecon that was being chaired on the east coast. I hadn't felt like cooking, so the fare last night was a Safeway pizza with two Coors Lights to follow.....or maybe it was three.
I also wasn't able to fall asleep last night when I should have, as that I had to repeat this 5:30 AM thing again today. I set the alarm for 3:45 AM after which I entered the realm of the subconcious.
The subconcious is one of those entities that is probably among the least understood. A co-worker of mine once referred to it as "The Garbage Can of the Mind". In the subconcious, practically anything goes. Whatever it is you can't do in real life is something that you can do in the subconcious. You can float in the air, you can visit other countries, you can meet famous people, you can walk around naked in the grocery store and not be arrested, and you can also live out some encounters that can't really be described here. Garbage Can of the Mind? That sure seems to fit.
Last night's adventure, or I should say, this morning's adventure took place in Lordsburg, New Mexico. In this dream I had somehow picked up my Remington model 870 shotgun from some lady who was storing it for me. During the course of the dream, I was a passenger in a car with the shotgun, and the driver took us to Lordsburg. One of the passengers then grabbed the shotgun and bolted out of the car. He started threatening people with it, and it was apparent that I wasn't going to be able to talk him into giving me back the gun.
In real life, and in the dream, the Remington only had a capacity of three shells. It's a hunting gun, and thus has a "plug" in the magazine to limit the capacity. (This is due to a federal law that regulates duck hunting, which is what I bought the shotgun for when I lived in California). In the dream, this madman was threatening people, and he pulled the trigger. That was one round gone, and two more to go. Two more rounds, but he still had to be stopped.
I took cover, hiding in a room in an old abandoned gas station. I had my cellphone with me, and so I dialed 911. I really needed to stop this guy and I needed to stop him fast. I was going to get help and get this taken care of before he killed someone.
I didn't get an answer when I dialed 911. I instead got that aggravating "menu tree" that you get in real life when you are trying to call someone. I then pressed "0" to get the operator, and I instead got a canned message that said "you have made an incorrect entry. Please listen to all of the menu options before making a selection." And then it was back to if your call is for this type of situation, press 1, for that type of situation, press 2, our resources are very limited so please do not pick the wrong selection, and for this press 3, for that press 4....and on and on and on. The madman is talking loudly and waving a shotgun, and I've got to put up with a menu tree!
The saga ended when the alarm clock went off. It was one instance where I was glad to be rousted from a dream.
So why Lordsburg?
Good question. I go to Lordsburg occasionally to get fireworks, which are not legal in Arizona. I know that I was thinking that I need to do another trip there, and to get this done sometime before the holidaze. I can't remember if I was thinking about needing to go there yesterday, but I do know that I felt the need to get there.
Why the shotgun? The last time I had my Remington out was when Todd and I were looking for rabbits over in Graham County, and that was at least two years ago (we didn't see any rabbits either). There's a possibility that we might go out for quail sometime, but I think the next time out will be for whitetail deer in the Whetstone Mountains.
What's really funny about this dream is that it closely paralleled one that I had in high school. I was living in San Jose when I had this dream, and in this dream my friends and I had discovered this counterfeiter. The counterfeiter was somehow onto us and was wanting to kill us. I found a payphone in the parking lot of this shopping center near where I lived, and I dialed the operator to summon some help. Instead of the operator answering, I got a recorded announcement saying that "the operator will be with you shortly. In the meantime, please listen to the following commercial." I was forced to listen to that commercial, after which "the operator will be with you shortly", after which they played another commercial.....and then another commercial....and then another! I was really glad to wake up from that one too.
I have several other dreams that I could tell you about.....some of them funny, and some of them just plain weird. Those will have to wait for another entry, as that I'm very tired, and I expect that I will be needing to return to the Garbage Can of the Mind shortly after this posting.
Portland was a blast! I got to meet Dave Moser again on this trip, where I learned that he also worked in aerospace engineering. He worked on the Apollo Project, while I worked on MILSTAR, BSTS, Ikonos, Superbird and Globalstar (satellite projects).
Ken and his family are doing very well. I'm thinking of going up there twice next year. I'd really like to do some fishing there, but my godson isn't interested in fishing.
We're having budget problems at work (this is a rare moment, me talking about work). Our systems team will shrink from four people down to two. I'm one of the two who gets to stay, though I could have volunteered for the assignment that was offered to the two who are leaving.
Eventually I'll have four circuit cards to be responsible for. I was a year ago responsible for all four but we hired a few folks who took some load off of me. Now that we're rolling them off, I'm taking them all back.
I'll be busy, but it's better than not being busy.
One of my cats right now is demanding my attention. So I'll now be following the advice that I so much love to give.
He's a good guy, so he'll get his pets.
I'm sure the other one will want his too.
Last night I had pizza, and I knocked off a few beers too. It was a long day at work, as that I had to be there at 5:30 AM to attend a meeting via telecon that was being chaired on the east coast. I hadn't felt like cooking, so the fare last night was a Safeway pizza with two Coors Lights to follow.....or maybe it was three.
I also wasn't able to fall asleep last night when I should have, as that I had to repeat this 5:30 AM thing again today. I set the alarm for 3:45 AM after which I entered the realm of the subconcious.
The subconcious is one of those entities that is probably among the least understood. A co-worker of mine once referred to it as "The Garbage Can of the Mind". In the subconcious, practically anything goes. Whatever it is you can't do in real life is something that you can do in the subconcious. You can float in the air, you can visit other countries, you can meet famous people, you can walk around naked in the grocery store and not be arrested, and you can also live out some encounters that can't really be described here. Garbage Can of the Mind? That sure seems to fit.
Last night's adventure, or I should say, this morning's adventure took place in Lordsburg, New Mexico. In this dream I had somehow picked up my Remington model 870 shotgun from some lady who was storing it for me. During the course of the dream, I was a passenger in a car with the shotgun, and the driver took us to Lordsburg. One of the passengers then grabbed the shotgun and bolted out of the car. He started threatening people with it, and it was apparent that I wasn't going to be able to talk him into giving me back the gun.
In real life, and in the dream, the Remington only had a capacity of three shells. It's a hunting gun, and thus has a "plug" in the magazine to limit the capacity. (This is due to a federal law that regulates duck hunting, which is what I bought the shotgun for when I lived in California). In the dream, this madman was threatening people, and he pulled the trigger. That was one round gone, and two more to go. Two more rounds, but he still had to be stopped.
I took cover, hiding in a room in an old abandoned gas station. I had my cellphone with me, and so I dialed 911. I really needed to stop this guy and I needed to stop him fast. I was going to get help and get this taken care of before he killed someone.
I didn't get an answer when I dialed 911. I instead got that aggravating "menu tree" that you get in real life when you are trying to call someone. I then pressed "0" to get the operator, and I instead got a canned message that said "you have made an incorrect entry. Please listen to all of the menu options before making a selection." And then it was back to if your call is for this type of situation, press 1, for that type of situation, press 2, our resources are very limited so please do not pick the wrong selection, and for this press 3, for that press 4....and on and on and on. The madman is talking loudly and waving a shotgun, and I've got to put up with a menu tree!
The saga ended when the alarm clock went off. It was one instance where I was glad to be rousted from a dream.
So why Lordsburg?
Good question. I go to Lordsburg occasionally to get fireworks, which are not legal in Arizona. I know that I was thinking that I need to do another trip there, and to get this done sometime before the holidaze. I can't remember if I was thinking about needing to go there yesterday, but I do know that I felt the need to get there.
Why the shotgun? The last time I had my Remington out was when Todd and I were looking for rabbits over in Graham County, and that was at least two years ago (we didn't see any rabbits either). There's a possibility that we might go out for quail sometime, but I think the next time out will be for whitetail deer in the Whetstone Mountains.
What's really funny about this dream is that it closely paralleled one that I had in high school. I was living in San Jose when I had this dream, and in this dream my friends and I had discovered this counterfeiter. The counterfeiter was somehow onto us and was wanting to kill us. I found a payphone in the parking lot of this shopping center near where I lived, and I dialed the operator to summon some help. Instead of the operator answering, I got a recorded announcement saying that "the operator will be with you shortly. In the meantime, please listen to the following commercial." I was forced to listen to that commercial, after which "the operator will be with you shortly", after which they played another commercial.....and then another commercial....and then another! I was really glad to wake up from that one too.
I have several other dreams that I could tell you about.....some of them funny, and some of them just plain weird. Those will have to wait for another entry, as that I'm very tired, and I expect that I will be needing to return to the Garbage Can of the Mind shortly after this posting.
* * * * * * *
Portland was a blast! I got to meet Dave Moser again on this trip, where I learned that he also worked in aerospace engineering. He worked on the Apollo Project, while I worked on MILSTAR, BSTS, Ikonos, Superbird and Globalstar (satellite projects).
Ken and his family are doing very well. I'm thinking of going up there twice next year. I'd really like to do some fishing there, but my godson isn't interested in fishing.
* * * * * * *
We're having budget problems at work (this is a rare moment, me talking about work). Our systems team will shrink from four people down to two. I'm one of the two who gets to stay, though I could have volunteered for the assignment that was offered to the two who are leaving.
Eventually I'll have four circuit cards to be responsible for. I was a year ago responsible for all four but we hired a few folks who took some load off of me. Now that we're rolling them off, I'm taking them all back.
I'll be busy, but it's better than not being busy.
* * * * * * *
One of my cats right now is demanding my attention. So I'll now be following the advice that I so much love to give.
He's a good guy, so he'll get his pets.
I'm sure the other one will want his too.
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