Insanity is a dish best served microwaved

I have spent the weekend down in San Diego.  Originally, this was a three-part trip.  First, it was a chance to meet up with my cousin.  He’s an Eagles fan and they are playing the Chargers today. Second, I could see Maximus since he goes to SDSU.  Finally, I was going to see my old buddy Steve from Key Club.  Well the only that came through at the end is Maximus.  So I’ve spent the weekend chilling with him.  Unfortunately, the poor guy has mono and kidney stones.  We’ve been having a pretty low key weekend.  It is a good chance for him to get some rest away from the dorms cause the guy is just exhausted.

But I also learned this weekend that I’m definitely not in my teens anymore.  The guy eats SO much and I can’t keep up with it. I had to run an extra 10 minutes today plus an extra trip on the elliptical machine to pay for the food penance from yesterday.

We also just been hanging around doing cool stuff.  Last night, we went to Dave and Busters to play.  I forgot how much fun that place is… sober.  I got some glee beating him in the basketball shooting game.  It’s really strange because I’ve never played basketball in my life, but I can play that game really well.  I mean I really suck at basketball.  I can barely dribble and run.  When I get roped in playing, I just hang out at the basket and do layups and get rebounds.  One gift for being tall I guess.

Right now, Maximus is still asleep so I’m sitting in the corner writing this as I cool off from my run.  When he wakes up, I think we’re going to head downtown to watch the afternoon games.  On Friday when I got my car, I elected to just pay for them to refill my car.  The rate was great, so I figured it wasn’t a bad deal.  What I forgot is that I got an economy car that gets like a million miles a gallon.  In order to feel like I got my money’s worth, I have been driving around San Diego for no real reason just so I can return the car on empty.  It’s not cheap… it’s being economical with my purchases.

I have a week until I leave for South Carolina with Jen.  I’m excited because it’s going to be a different experience than just hanging around.  She’s done a great job planning out a bunch of stuff for us to do.  We have worked out in our relationship that I’m transportation chair and she is social.  My job is to get us there and make sure we have somewhere to sleep.  Jen figures out what we’re going to do when we get there.  It’s great because I love figuring out travel and I hate figuring out what to do when I get there.

But for today, it’s me getting ready to root on my beloved Patriots against those nasty Colts.  God, I love football season.

It’s a beautiful day here in November.  The sun is shining and the Patriots are winning… again.  Jen and I just got back from a nice weekend in Napa.  We decided to leave early so we could make the most of the weekend.

On the way down, I did something very unusual for my road travels, I stopped to use the bathroom.  Because of my rule of five–I don’t drive more than five hours… I just fly.  So for me to stop for the bathroom, it’s rare.  We stopped in Dunnigan to use the bathroom.  Dunnigan is a little highway town that doesn’t have much.  We pulled into the local Jack In the Crack (aka Box) that smelt like the place had an indoor pool somewhere hidden in the place.

We arrived at Tracy and Greg’s house to meet Baby Lia who is as cute as a button.  We met Tracy’s parents and had a nice lunch before heading out to the wineries.  I was smart and found the item with the most bread in it on the menu for lunch–a calzone.  Greg who works for a local winery knows all the  ins and outs of the wineries.  He took us to some great places to see taste some great wines.  Then he took us on a special tour and showed us he does.

I think I learned SO much about wine just listening to Greg explain what he does.  I learned about different wines and blends, what happens to wines that doesn’t make what it should, and just the process a bottle goes through before getting to market.  It felt like I was in Oz and the wizard took me behind the curtain to see how the magic really works.  It was just so much fun to just chill out and sip on some very good wines and learn the difference between a REALLY (I mean REALLY REALLY good wine) and wines that weren’t going to be much.

After napping off the wine, Jen and I headed downtown to check it out and grab something to eat.  A burger sounded fantastic.  When we ordered, we spent $33 on burgers and fries.  Let me tell you, it wasn’t so special–Nobby’s is WAYYY better.  But we walked around the downtown and checked it out.  It was cool, but not spectacular.

What I learned is that I am not quite ready to be a wineo.  Don’t get me wrong, I love wine.  I am just not ready to be the middle aged people hanging our at wine bars.  We walked around and realized that if we went into any of the places, we would be the youngest by at least ten years.  I love hanging out with friends that are different ages, but not strangers.  Of course, strangers are just friends you haven’t met.

We decided we would just be happier hanging at the hotel and watch a movie.  On the way back, we stopped by Raley’s to get some ice cream.  Now in Chico, Raley’s is where the more affluent people shop in town.  In Napa, it’s where the poor people shop… what a change in culture.

We got back to the hotel and Jen pointed out that the hotel doesn’t have any movies.  Bummer.  Luckily, I brought my swim suit and had an extra pair of board shorts in the car.  I’m so prepared.  We just hung out in the hot tub and came back to find Manchurian Candidate on TV.  It is a great movie, but I hate watching movies on TV because the commercials cut the flow of the movie.

This morning we got up rather early and had some breakfast before heading back to Chico.  We were supposed to hang with a friend on the way home, but he didn’t get up in time.  We wanted to get back home to go for a bike ride (Jen got a bike for her birthday) and for me to watch the last half of the Patriots game.

On the way home, I looked at the gas tank and figured I had JUST enough to get home.  Boy was I right.  When  we got to the gas station, I had about .35 of a gallon left. My laziness almost caused me to push my car home.  But now, I’m home.  The tank is full.  I have a lazy Sunday ahead.

This post has been brewing in my head for a while.  Now given that I have time to think this month, I thought it would be a good fun one to write.  John Mayer, if you love him or hate him, is a damn good song writer for guys.  It took me a trip to Europe to fully understand what his songs are saying.  Since then, they just click for me.  So I thought I’d share my world according to John Mayer.

When I’ve gone out on an emotional limb for someone and got burned:  My Stupid Mouth

This song was soothing for me when I decided to go out of someone and got rejected (I know it’s a surprise that anyone would reject me).  But it wasn’t the rejection that killed me that most, it was the back and forth that drove me nuts.  So for that the line “Just one more thing… why is it my fault” always sticks in my mind.

Living in the Moment:  Say

This is one of my favorite songs from him just because the message is so simple.  Just say what you need to say.  It’s such a simple idea that is sometimes the hardest thing to do in the world. 

Realizing that I screwed up:  Dreaming with a broken heart

I haven’t experienced this too much, but when I have screwed up and realized that it can’t be fixed this song comes to mind. 

When I feel like I’m growing up a little more:  In Repair

This is the one song that plays in my head the most since I’ve heard it.  Everytime I scab my knees, I realized that I’m still in repair.  I keep growing from the situation and I have more to learn.  I’m never going to be where I want to be, but I’m still working towards getting better.  “I’m not together, but I’m getting there”

When I’m missing someone I love: Comfortable

I know this song is about moving on to a new lover, but to me it’s about maybe the good times you had with the same person that you lost that connection.

Understanding where you in the world:  The Heart of Life

The Heart of Life really does explain that you are part of a bigger thing in the world.  How you treat others who love you does have a reflection on your character.  Also, being there for your love ones is more important than what material things you can give.

Living up to your dream:  Bigger Than My Body

Nothing is more inspiring to know that your dreams are bigger than you body can contain… so go out there and do something big. (:

I love clean floors.  There’s something about the squeakiness of the floor makes against your feet.  I know that sounds weird.  Most of my friends and I are reaching the point where we have disposable income in our lives.  Most of my friends have a housekeeper.  First, they are dudes and don’t like cleaning.  I say not so much about that.  I do have a landscaper because I suck at it.  But inside, I want to make sure the house is clean.  It’s also a way for me to survey the damage around the house.  Plus I love the smell of clean.

I spent most of the day catching up on all the backlog work that has been piling up on my desk.  I also got my teeth cleaned.  Afterwards, my dentist (a new one) scolded me for not flossing enough… big surprise.  Why dentist get such glee from giving me a lecture about flossing.  Well dentist lady I floss once a day…  just not enough for her.  I mean she was scraping the crap out of my teeth and then she wondered why they were bleeding?  Hmmm… maybe that sharp hook you’ve been prodding it with might have something to do with it.  What’s that white thing she ask?  Maybe it’s my tooth that once had a home in my mouth.

I have the suits coming to visit again tomorrow.  This time it’s the credit department… he is going to count my three rings and tassels just to make sure I’m not lying.  Woo hoo.  I’m going to milk him for the most expensive lunch I can think of in Chico… teach you to bug me when I’m working….

I’m going to use this movie as a launch point for this blog.  On Friday, Jen and I went to go see Where the Wild Things Are.  People are mixed about the movie, but it got me thinking about so many things.  First, it’s tough to be a child.  There are so many emotions that fly through their lives every day.  Life is in the moment and I think sometimes we forget that.  The movie itself got me going because some of those emotions are still unresolved in my life.  Some that I have been working on and some that I don’t want to deal with at the moment.   Just like Max, I try to make sense of the world that I was dealt.  At times I just want to make it all better and everyone happy, but what I wind up doing it just making it worse.  I keep trying to center myself that the person I am responsible for in the world is me and everyone is responsible for their own actions.

Where the Wild Things Are are really in our hearts.  The passion and imagination we store away time and time again to take of the “real world” keep getting pushed back further and further until we don’t even know where the are anymore.  However, they are still always there and waiting for you to unleash them.  Each Wild Thing whether it be fear, anticipation, joy, or imagination need to be let out now and then to be reminded that they are part of you.

I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone, but there’s one scene that sticks out the most from the movie.  At the end, Max is sailing back home and Carol was running to say goodbye to him after stubbornly running away.  But it’s too late.  Max is already out in the world on new adventures.    I related this to a father/son relationship.  After Carol put his own selfish pride aside that he was hurt by Max it was too late to do what he really wanted to say before he was gone.   I feel this way with my parents.  I think they realized that their own selfish behavior was affecting their relationships with their children too late.  I can’t speak for the rest of the clan, but for me, I was already sailing out in the world well before the realized that I was even gone.  There were others to help push me out to sea–to see me out into the world.   All you can do is howl and hope that they other howl back.  But sometimes, the howl isn’t enough to turn the boat around… there’s so much more in the world that I want to see.

I haven’t been writing for a while.  However, as most people think, it’s not Jen’s fault.  I have actually been working a ton.  Last week corporate (i.e. the suits) were in town helping me out with Grad Fairs.  I actually really like all of them quite a bit.  These people in particular are some of my favorite in the company… however, they are still the suits.  My style in life is that of semi professional.  I could never make in life wearing a suit to work everyday.  One, I would hate it (although I’m not saying I wouldn’t look good).  Secondly, the minute I opened my mouth people would realize that I am not one to be in a suit ever.  I’m way too casual and friendly to be talking down at you from a tailored suit.  I would rather mock you in my dockers.

I really don’t like old people… in the gym.  Thanks to my adventures with Jake on Sunday, I had to workout twice on Tuesday to keep up with my schedule.  It really sucks since I don’t normally work out on Tuesdays at all.  I drove over to the gym (another annoying thing to do, but it was pouring) and started my workout.  I know I have ranted about this numerous times, so what’s one more time,  but they really fuck up my world.  First off, going to the gym is a social event for them before the Price is Right.  For me, it’s my downtime or a way to get me focused for the day.  When I was done with my weights, I went to find a treadmill.  Now keeping in mind that it is raining outside, there weren’t any available up front.  So, I got banished to the back of the gym with the REALLY old people.    I’m talking about people with bottles of oxygen strapped to them.  Here I am moving at under seven minutes a mile and they are taking seventy to get a mile.  God I hope I don’t get to that point.

I think I’m also banned from hanging out with my friend Jake I believe.  For the last two Sundays I have been going to Jake’s for football.  Last weekend, I had a blast.  I was drunk by noon and proceeded to tell Jen.  She also came over to hang because she has know Jake and his family longer than me and hadn’t seen Jake’s dad in a while.  I was also so drunk that I sang Karaoke which I never do.  But all in all, not a bad drunk, more of a happy drunk.  I rode my bike home and was functional the rest of the day.  This weekend, not so much.  Jen even sent me with a list of rules for Jake in a humorous way.  Of course we followed none of them.  The sad result is that I got way too drunk, passed out at 5p,and was a wasteland until Monday afternoon.  I swore off drinking again after drinking half a jar of pickle juice at 1:30 in the morning.  Which as gross as it sounds, really does work.

People that ruin books by turning them into movies should be shot.  Jake and I went to see “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” on Monday as well.  I’ve been anxiously awaiting this movie’s arrival into Chico.  The book is a great guy book.  The guy is a complete asshole with no moral compass what so ever.  His stories are outlandish and crude and part of me wishes I could be like him without the jerkiness.  Well anyway, my expectations were pretty high considering he produced and help write the movie.  It was a tragedy among no other. The book about what a prick he is and how he uses and discards women became a chick flick.  Now, I’m not against chick flicks in any way… see 500 days of Summer… but when you are ready to have some male bonding time laughing at a jerk, it’s definitely a let down.    I was verbally assaulting the movie before it was over. Thank goodness there were only 15 people in the theater… not many people had to suffer from it.  Tucker Max, you should be ashamed.

I hate WinCo.  It has nothing to do with their business practices.  Actually, they are pretty good to their employees and our community.  It has to do with the people who shop there and the store’s culture.  The place just sends me in a panic.  I get all freaked out when I’m around large groups of people.  I get really freaked out when I’m around large groups of stupid people.  WinCo does it to me.

Case in point:

Jen and I are in the meat section and I see this guy sitting on the meat display.  Get your gross ass off that counter!   Grocery shopping isn’t that exhausting.  If you feel the need to rest after walking for 10 minutes, then get one of those motorized carts and then I will ridicule you for being fat like it should be.  But here’s the kicker, he didn’t do it once, he did it twice!  Jen was dying with laughter watching me freak out over this guy.  She could see my skin just crawl when he came near.  When we were checking out, the checker just came on and said (direct quote I kid you not) ” I hate checking”  my response “I hate shopping here.”  At least we are on common ground.

Another example from this weekend:

After meeting Jen’s sister and a couple of other family friends, I needed a milkshake… because I couldn’t have a drink yet.  We stopped at this place in Oroville.  It was a nice night and we both drove separately because I had to do some work in Yuba City.  So I suggested we just enjoyed our shake outside on the benches.  Oh no… this guy was not going to allow us to do that.  He sits down with us and was drunk out of his mind.  He begins to tell us that he has a problem.  No duh… your buzz is wearing off.   I say that my milkshake is the wrong flavor and bail… sadly, Jen didn’t get the clue I was bailing and she finally gets it when I’m darting for my car.

It’s not that I don’t like the homeless. I just don’t want to interact with them.  I bet they are all nice people with stories of why they are where they are.  I also don’t mind helping them, as long as I don’t have them in my face.  I will happily donate clothes, my time, or my money… but don’t bother me in my regular life.  I don’t bother yours–equal respect would be appreciated.  We have many charities in place to help the less fortunate.  I don’t think there’s a problem in our world that doesn’t have a charity supporting it.  If people need help, find the group that is trying to solve your problem.

Does this make me snobby or elitist?  Well I guess it does.  I have worked hard in my life and I don’t want to be bothered by people with screaming children they can’t control or get ran over with a grocery cart by some idiot in a tanktop and jean cut offs.    I don’t care.  I just want to be a hunter and gatherer in piece and quiet.  After this trip to WinCo I decided to screw it… it’s worth the extra $30 a month to shop at Safeway in peace and quiet.  I don’t walk around with a Starbucks latte and my earpiece in my ear (well not always).  I don’t need to pick my food out of cardboard boxes to save a nickel.  I have a bachelors and master degree… I have earned the right to be a bit selective about my shopping.. .that’s what education gets you.  That and a huge college loan debt that will make you stand next to the bums on the street to collect for your education.. .so in reality, we’re all the same just wearing different clothes.

Okay, I’m up at my IMPACT camp.  Day 1 is complete and everything went well.  I need to come up with a more entertaining evening for the first night.  I’m thinking about doing a movie instead next year.  I’m gearing up for tomorrow which is the long haul day.  It should be a good day full of energy and hopefully no lawsuits.  But here’s what has been brewing on my mind lately:

Bluetooths in a Restaurants

Dude, no one cares enough for you to have yours on in a restaurant.  Not only do you look like a prick, but you look like a stupid prick because you’re not talking to anyone.  Face it.  You’re not cool and by doing that you’re advertising to the rest of the world that you’re not cool.  So do you’re self a favor and put your phone on vibrate and when if that glorious day arrives when someone calls you, you can answer it and then be that guy/girl that is rude and talks on their cell phone in a restaurant.

Health Care

Shut up!  Enough about complaining that it’s a socialist way of doing medicine.  I’m sorry, but the last time I checked most of us went to a public school that was paid for by taxpayers.  Most people drive to work or ride transportation that was pay for by the taxpayers.   Our food is subsidized.  Our banks have been rescued by our government.  Face it sweetheart, we’re living in a world that is subsidized by our government one way or another.  Is it socialist?  Perhaps.  No, not really.  It’s ensuring our way of life is preserved.   I bet people complained about FDR when his administration began to pitch social security.  Well that so far has worked out well–until it goes bankrupt, but that wasn’t FDR’s fault.  Was it meant to replace people saving their money for retirement?  Absolutely not.  The title of the program implies its intention “SOCIAL SECURITY.”  It is to provide a minimum for people to live after they are too old to be in the work force.  The same holds true about universal health care.

If you still love Dr. Quaker who will give you your weekly Botox shot, you can still have it.  Just keep paying your private insurance.  But for that family that is struggling to get by on minimum wage jobs, this is for you.  It’s to help you from staying out of the ER because you didn’t go see the doctor when you had a mild cough that turned into something more serious.  We are doing ourselves a huge favor but doing more preventive health care to save us billions later down the road.  If health care is eating up 20% of our GDP, how can you expect our economy to recover.    We need to step in and dictate to drug industry some cost changing structures.  Then I don’t have to worry about our elderly eating cat food because that’s all they can afford to pay for their medication.  It’s wrong in a nation that is a wealthy of ours to expect people to live so poorly in their golden years.

Mid-day Traffic

I have a sweet job.  I’ve told people that many times before.  But seriously, not everyone else has a job like mine.  How can you be at the gym at 10 A.M. on a Monday?  Also, bumper to bumper traffic at 11A?  Come on… be like all the rest of the miserable people in the world and go to work.   The world is my paradise… during the mid day.

This weekend I had the pleasure of meeting Jen’s parents.   After running around during the day trying to make sure that I was ready to go for this big event, I ran late.  Jen had prepped me pretty well for meeting her dad and step mom.   We drove over to Oroville to meet them at the Steakhouse in the casino.  For those not in the area, it may sound a bit shifty.  But in reality, it’s a really nice restaurant that so happens to be in Oroville in a casino.  Now, I wouldn’t drive over for JUST the steakhouse, but it’s a nice bonus.  We got off the elevator and met them while waiting with the rest of the senior citizens for the early bird special at 5 P.M.  The time wasn’t because we were being cheap or because they had to eat early.  Jen had to be back in Chico by 8 to make sure the nice old lady she was helping take care of while her daughter was away wouldn’t try to give the cat its shot again.

Actually it was a good thing we started dinner so early; I forgot how slow the place is.  We sat down and started to look over the menu.  When I am going out with parents for the first time I am always in a difficult situation.  I am hungry, but I know I probably am not paying, so I can’t go overboard on my ordering.  Unless the dad is a being rude or prickish to me… then I’ll have the Prime Rib, appetizer, dessert, and a bottle of wine.  Thankfully, I have never had that situation in my life, but it’s still in the back of my mind just in case I need it.

I usually just listen for the first few minutes when I meet people that are important to me.  I have to take a moment to get a feel for their tone, choice of words, and subject before I just jump into the conversation.  Remember that I am being interviewed to get clearance to date Jen.  I prepared myself to be peppered with questions.  In the first half an hour or so there were no questions at all.  Sweet.  I’ll just drink my wine.  Jen’s dad is a nice guy… doesn’t talk much so there really isn’t a way to judge how I’m doing with him.  His wife on the other hand just talked her little head off.  I now know why Jen calls her chicken.  I listen for another half an hour to her talk about her dog, car, and their morning routine.  All the while Jen’s dad is just enjoying his appetizers and she is her drinks.  A few more drinks in, she keeps telling me that she is supposed to be on her best behavior.  This makes me think if this her best behavior and I’m being polite, when we get to know each other better, she is going to make some great blog entries later on.

Dinner arrives and she makes a funny joke about asking for my background information.  Finally, here is a chance to let my sarcastic side to shine.   I make a joke about her not getting them and it must be Jen’s secretary fault.  All without blinking once.  Oh, you got come with better stuff than that if you’re going to rattle me.  She then told me that she’s very protective of this one (meaning Jen).  Okay, here it comes… the series of questions.  Nope.  She just continued on about her.  I was like wow, for a person that is protective, she really doesn’t want to know much about me.  Alright.

We walked to the car and bid them a good night and headed home.  I had survived the evening.  They were both really nice and very manageable.  I keep reminding Jen that it really takes a ton to rattle me consider the fact that I was raised by my parents.  You pretty much have to blow up something to get under my cool level .

On Sunday it was mom’s turn.  We drove back over to Oroville again to have lunch with Jen’s mom.  I wasn’t really sweating about this one at all because based on previous conversations, Jen’s mom is more like me and it should be easy to find conversation.  I was right.  Her mom was very much like me.   The fact that she had so much energy while battling cancer was admirable.  But she just kept going and going about all the things she was going to do and get done during the day.   She threw Jen under the bus a few times as only a mother could.  We finished up lunch and headed back to Chico.  I was ready for a nap after watching the cops raid my house the night previous looking for some creep.  No, it’s not me this time.

We came back and took a nap and then we went out to the airport to book Jen’s ticket for South Carolina.  I booked mine the night before slightly buzzed, but it was still a great deal.  The part I thought would be the easiest would be the hotel.  Sadly, I was not the only one who was thinking Carolina barbeque for Thanksgiving.  I was only able to book the first and last night of our stay at my timeshare.  But it actually might work out better because we can spend more time in Charleston instead.

After the airport, I treated us to some Dairy Queen and headed to WinCo for another white trash shopping adventure.  The place drives me nuts and saves me money all at the same time.  Jen happened to be the crazy magnet at the store as some very nice, but very crazy old man talked to us for about five minutes about the stuff in fat free dairy products and the difference between pasteurized and ultra-pasteurized.  Neat.  I never knew about it but I never really wanted to know.  We ran through the rest of the store avoiding the crazy man.  We thought we had ducked him until we got to the check out and noticed that he was right behind us.  Thankfully, he was done with educating us and picked a different line.    When I was loading my groceries on the belt, I noticed that I had quite the considerable load while Jen had five items.  It made me realize who was doing the cooking.   I was amazed that she could survive off such little food when she wasn’t with me that I wouldn’t even get out of the car when we dropped off her stuff.  I figured it was pointless to turn off the car when she would have been two minutes to unload her stuff.

We got back to my house and we watched “I Love You, Man.”  I hadn’t seen it and it was very funny.  It made me miss hanging with Jake and I decided to text him up.  When Jen left to shoot the cat, Jake came over and we watched some Top Gun and caught up on life.  It was good to see him and just hang for a while.  I need to do that more.  We have some many old 80s movies to go through and such little time.

I that Corporate America is at a crossroads.  My generation (Y–just barely) is starting to move into the middle level of our careers.  In our movement up we are ruffling the feathers of the older generations with our style of work.  There has been much documentation about how different our generation is and how to respond to it in the workplace.  I ran into my first real taste of it this week.

Without really going into too much details, I learned a valuable lesson about the company I partner.  There is a chain of command and that’s the only way to get done.  Sadly, I don’t roll that way.  Since I started my career I have been known as Hurricane Halford.  This is a blessing and a curse.  The blessing of course is that I can create change and energize the people around me that what I’m trying to do is going to improve our lives.  The downside is that I will take out everything and anything in my way trying to achieve my goal.  When I’m done, trees are knocked down and houses are rearranged.  But just as soon as I roll in, I’m gone and on to the next project.  I have learned to embrace me this about myself and I try to reign it in as much as possible.  Still, I have been very successful in my short career by being able to move obstacles in my way so I’m not going to abandon my work style to appease the uppers.  What we need is a happy medium.

For me, I need to know that if I am relying on someone higher up to get something done that is important to me, it’s going to get done… quickly.  I am not going to hang out for two weeks to wait to hear about it as people pass it on higher up and higher up.  Nay.  It’s more efficient to just let go to the person that can create the change and allow me to pitch my case directly.  I can take the heat and criticism.    I’ve also heard this word “No” from many people but I still haven’t figured out what it means yet.

For my company, the need to realize that this is no longer 1960.  The corporate structure of yesteryear doesn’t work anymore.  We are not in a hierarchy anymore.  People are working in collaboration in order to achieve goals.  My generation isn’t interested in advancing on the backs of others.  When we are done with a job, you can either give us another one within the company or we’ll find a new one on our own.  The days are gone where people are going to stay with the same company for 40 years.  Of course there are people that will–but those will be typically unskilled workers with little area for advancement.  Most are going to continue to look for jobs that fit their lifestyle.  My job does not define me; my life defines me.  My job just allows me the chance to use my talents and get paid for it.  My world doesn’t revolve around my job.  However, it still is very important to me to let me do what I want  to accomplish in this world.

Gone are the days of the three martini lunches.  Although, if you want to bring them back, I’d be more than happy to assist.  Corporate America has to realize that they aren’t the revolutionaries anymore.  Especially Baby Boomers that have drifted through their life mostly with a sense of entitlement.  This isn’t your game anymore–it’s not quite mine yet either.  But it’s going to be soon and if you think it’s going to be the same, you’re sadly mistaken.  You’re going to find a corporate structure more open, more collaborative which will lead to happier, more productive employees.  The president of the company isn’t going to be behind locked doors and someone you only hear from once a year or with a fake signature on a birthday card.  Leaders of American companies in the future will be more innovated, sincere, and available to their companies.  Their families are important to them, so don’t expect them to be working nights and weekends for you.

So it’s time to past the torch, but leave the martini… we’ll take care of that for you.