25 : Birthday Weekend

Like a bad penny, or maybe a cursed penny, Monday has returned. Seriously, the fact we have to spend the majority of our lives wasting 40 hours out of the total 168 hours we get in a week at work is preposterous. Nearly a quarter of our week is spent doing something we really don’t […]

Been A Minute…

Hey all. Sorry for the absence. It’s that time of year where I put in some vacation time and unplug, spending my time off recording music, painting, watching movies, and spinning records. Also, just attempting to rid my brain of all the toxic waste that’s left in my head thanks to working for a giant […]

Post-American Dream

I’m finding it incredibly hard to believe we’re already in August. This year has been moving at an incredibly fast pace. Seems like it was just February, while March through June was merely a blur in the rear view. We’re already nearly a month past our July trip to Colorado. A couple weeks ago we […]

Middle-Aged Blues, Vacation, Cool Weather

This past Friday was Senior Night at the high school football game. Our son is part of the drum line in the marching band, as well as being a senior. It was our duty/honor to walk with him on the track as the announcer said his name, mentioned his intentions on furthering his education next […]

Gainfully Employed

My son recently started his first job. He’s following in his father’s footsteps as a gainfully employed bag boy at the local supermarket. It’s actually the same supermarket I worked at as a senior in high school. Well, it’s a newer building(the grocery I worked at was recently demolished so the city can put up […]

Coming to terms, records, guitars…

It’s been close to a month since we found out they were closing the plant I’ve been working in for over two decades. There’s been plenty of second-guessing, mild panic, quiet moments of reflection, and craft beer or two drank. Despite the anxiety of the great unknown, I’ve pretty much come to terms with the […]

The Long Goodbye

I started working for Medtronic on September 27th, 1999. I was jumping from one orthopedic company to another. In the town I grew up in, if you didn’t go to college you either worked at Dalton Foundry, R.R. Donnelley & Sons(major printing company for years), or you lucked out and got in with one of […]

The Death of the Working Stiff

Leaving high school in 1992 there was still the feeling that even if you weren’t cut out for four, six, or ten more years of academia you could still find a job. Not just a job, but something that could sustain you. Then maybe even sustain you and your significant other. Eventually, you could even […]

Friday Thoughts

So it’s Friday. You made it through another work week. How’d you fare? Was it a good one? Not so good? I hope things weren’t too painful for you. Me? Ehh, work has become a function like breathing, blinking, or going to the bathroom. It’s a necessary function, but one I don’t really think about […]

Fifteen Years Gainfully Employed

Yep, this is my anniversary month at my place of work. I’ve been working in shipping/receiving/inventory management at (insert orthopedic company name here) for fifteen years now. Before that I was at (insert another orthopedic company name here) for six years. Prior to that I worked for two months in the newspaper industry, a year […]