We'll miss you Scooter

    A good friend of mine was killed in Iraq a week ago.  I am going to miss him.

    He was one of the finest people I have ever met. So positive. He could find good in just about anything or anyone.  If you were down or discouraged, he would encourage you and help you get back onto the right path.

    He had a wonderful sense of humor, never shying away from playing the clown if he could cheer someone up. Even at his own expense.

     Nobody ever had to make friends with Scott. He was your friend soon as he set eyes on you. Not just an aquaintance, a genuine friend. He gave a bit of himself to everyone he met. Old friend or new friend, it didn't matter. If there was any way he could help you, he would.

    He was a doting husband and father who adored his wife and two children. Whenever he spoke of them his eyes would light up and a huge smile would light up the room.

    He was a retired Marine Corps officer who joined the national guard. He didn't have to join up. Knowing him, he probably did it because he thought he could use his experience to save the lives of some of the young recruits in the guard. To help train them so they would be better prepared for what faced them in iraq.

    He will be laid to rest in his home town tomorrow.

    We're all going to miss you Scooter. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to call you my friend. 

 

Taxes and Life

  I received a letter from the IRS the other day.  Apparently, my wife and mother in law changed a certificate of deposit from mom's name to my wife's name, and didn't tell me about it.  Unfortunately, ignorance is not an acceptable excuse as far as the IRS is concerned. Now I have to pay the back taxes and interest on money I never had. ( They cashed it in and put the money back into mother's account about a month ago.)

    I guess you really don't know what you've got till it's gone. ( But the IRS does.) It could be worse. It could have been one of the big CD's.

     We're coming up on my second favorite time of the year. The weather is starting to cool off, and college football season has started. I'm not a total football crazy person like some folks, but I enjoy watching the local college team. 

    My favorite time of the year is spring soccer season. (High school soccer is in the spring around here.) I help coach the high school boys team here. I spend the rest of the year working on new drills and tactics for the up coming season.

     

       Back again. Something is bothering me today.

    The lack of motivation apparent in "young" people in the workforce these days.  (By young, I mean mid 30's and younger, but not exclusively.)

    It seems to me that an employer has to almost give step by step instructions to these employees, and then babysit them every hour of the workday in case something out of the ordinary comes up and the list doesn't cover it. Whatever happened to personal incentive, or the good "old fashioned work ethic" where you did your job the best you could and then looked for ways to do it even better. Employees like that are few and far between these days.  The "new fashioned work ethic" seems to be to do as little as possible, then find a way to do even less.

     Maybe this generation had it too easy growing up. Maybe they had everything handed to them on a platter. Maybe my generation screwed up by wanting to give our children a better life than we had, and not exposing them to any work ethic at all while growing up. Whatever the cause,  there is a problem out here in the "real" world.

    That's  it for now.

     

   

My intro to blogging

   This is my first foray into the world of blogs. I see it as an opportunity to vent where nobody takes me seriously. 

    If I offend, please accept my appology in advance. I tend to get carried away at times. Remember, I am nobody, therefore you should take anything I say with the proverbial grain of salt. I am not an expert in any area, I am not exceptionally smart, and I do not lean towards the left or the right politically.  I guess you could call me the "invisible man".

    I will try to be more interesting  in the future. There are lots of rants stored up inside this little mind just waiting to burst out.

     More later.